Modelik 1/200 Czarist Battlehsip Petropavlovsk

[Corporal_Trim]

I've had this kit on the back burner for quite some time waiting for the card modeling muse to return. After a lot of time away from the hobby (except for a couple of simple armor builds), I am feeling the urge to tackle another project. The ship is a pre-dreadnought, a robust 1/200 in scale, and appears to be a fairly straightforward build. All written instructions are in Polish, but the diagrams should help a lot, with a nice 1:1 mast / rigging plan included.


My questions are two-fold.

1) Has anyone built this particular ship, or Modelik ships in general, and if so, how did you find the fit, clarity of the drawings in terms of illustrating the critical assembly steps, and so on ?

2) This kit features a full hull and I want to build it as a waterline model. It's not set up like Digital Navy's ships to be built as one or the other according to the builder's preference. The internals are off the egg crate construction variety, with the bulwarks designed to be alternately attached from above and below. But looking at the parts sheets, I think it's certainly do-able, in any case it should be easier than trying to convert a plastic model to a waterline version. Worst case scenario, I'm only out the $14 I paid for it if things go horribly wrong.

If anyone has any advice to offer regarding converting a full hull model to a waterline version, I'd like to hear about your experiences with it.

 

[jrts]

Hi Steve

Convert a full hull to a water line kit :shock: NAAAAAAAAAA build it as it is :lol:

I just finished the Modelik "USS Leutze" and nothing on the kit fitted right.
Now this just may be a one off so it will be intresting to see how this build turns out!!
With the "Leutze" kit I had to scan it and run it through an edit program to change some of the most basic stuff.

It would be a good idea to run a rule over the kit checking the size of parts against the white spaces for that parts on the deck.
I found that even in a small destroyer some of the parts were upto 5mm out, thats a big opps in a ship of this size.

Iam going to try another of Modelik's ships just to see what happens.

If you do find fit problems don't let it beat you, keep at it and do let us know how you get on.

Rob

 

[jasco]

I agree with JRTS. A lot of the ship's character is hidden by the water.

 

[wunwinglow]

Interesting point. A ships natural environment is in the water, so I would probably build waterline, not full hull. Seeing it full-hull means it is in drydock, that means it is broken, and not going anywhere! I remember an old modelmaking friend who was also an F-111 crewman, saying he hated models of aircraft with all the access panels opened up. OK, it showed off the modelmakers skills, but to him an aircraft on a ramp with maintenance panels open, meant it was not ready to fly, probably wouldn't be, and that he wasn't going flying that day!!

Tim P

 

[Renaud]

under repair

During his life, a plane spends much more time ( 2 vs 1 at least) under repair in the hangar, with a ceiling separating it from the sky and the landing gear out. In the same way, medieval knights come up to our mind fighting all day long!

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Interesting point. A ships natural environment is in the water, so I would probably build waterline, not full hull. Seeing it full-hull means it is in drydock, that means it is broken, and not going anywhere!

Tim P

That's my feeling about it as well. I've always preferred waterline ship models, in any medium.


Thanks for the feedback about Modelik, Rob. Yes, let's hope the USS Leutze was not representative of the company's offerings in general.

 

[jrts]

Hi Steve

I hope it was a one off as well for both of us :roll:

As I gave Modelik's Leutze a very bad write up (it deserved a bad write up) Iam going to build there HMS Sheffield next.

If this turns out the same I for one will never buy another kit from them.
But and I mean a big but, if yours and Sheffield works out fine then it will look more like a one off.
I would then give another of Modelik's kits a bash

So Steve it will be good for all of us if you keep us upto date on any fit problems and I shall do the same.

One thing though check the part numbering before you start. As on Leutze about one third of the parts had the numbering wrong as well!!!

Could Modelik's neck be on the line here :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have fun

Rob

 

[DN]

It so happened that I know the designer of the Leutze. It is old design and he is aware of its shortcomings. Some of you guys are building his new designs right now and they are perfect. So, what I'm trying to say is that everything changes so quickly in card modeling, that it doesn't make sense to judge a publisher or particular designer on the basis of one, old model. Go for the newest releases, and there are good chances you will avoid this kind of surprises.

 

[jrts]

Hi Roman

I totaly agree, thats why Iam going to build HMS Sheffield to see what happens

But I will say this!!

If it was known that the kit had these problems, it should have been withdrawn straight away and not as it is still on sale.
That in itself does not do them any good service, selling a known defective kit :shock:

A few builders I know have bought this model and tossed it in the bin.
Some more builders may well do the same unless warned about it!!!!

I worked out the problems, but not all can do this and don't have the money to waste.

Iam off to check Sheffield with a rule :lol:

Rob

 

[Corporal_Trim]

I had to complete another project first (25mm Lepanto-era war galley), but I started the model over the past weekend. Just finished the egg carton framing. Very, very early in the game of course. But so far everything fits fine.

I also rolled the dice on the conversion from full hull to a waterline model. I should know by next weekend whether I've pulled that off successfully or not. Pics upcoming, provided it works out okay to continue the build.

 

[Jim Krauzlis]

I'm looking forward to this build, Steve...do you have any pics of the model cover to show what she looks like?

Hope your conversion works out well for you.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Thanks, Jim. I'm reasonably confident of successfully pulling off the conversion. What's concerning me more at the moment is my total lack of Polish. It's been a matter of common sense up to this point, but some future steps to be done shortly are really baffling me. For example. I've got details of how to assemble part #23, but nowhere is it shown where the completed assembly goes on the plans. I'm guessing it may be an anchor chain locker which goes behind the hawse hole, but who knows for sure ? There's a Polish woman at work whom I think I'm going to be calling upon for assistance.

The Petropavlovsk was Admiral Makarov's flagship at Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. Makarov was far and away the best Russian naval commander of the war, and had he survived, the outcome of the war may well have been different. Unfortunately for the Russians, the ship struck a mine during a sortie and sank quickly, taking Makarov and hundreds of sailors down with her.

Here's a little bit about the ship:

http://www.battleships.ru/warships/Petropavlovsk.html
http://www.battleships.ru/3dredering/petropavlovsk.htm
http://modelyard.narod.ru/english/ships/petro/petro_s.htm

There's a shot of the cover page and a built model at the Modelik site, but they're awfully tiny. I'll include a picture of the cover art first up when I start posting build pics. That should be this weekend, unless some unforseen disaster occurs with the ship.

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Looks like things are working out fine with the waterline conversion, so here goes: First, the cover art. Nicely atmospheric, but not particularly useful. For example, the rear secondary turret in the painting has no barbette, whereas the model has it. Oh, well.

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Here's the framing, the usual egg carton construction. All parts reinforced to 1mm. The bulkheads are full hull, so I cut them all off where they fit the central portion, which is now has become the base (since I have converted the ship to a waterline model).

 

[Corporal_Trim]

A detail aft. The ship is recessed at the stern with an admiral's walk (I'm not exactly sure what's the technical term for it).

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Decks go on. The main deck comes in three pieces. You can see that the ship has a tumblehome on the sides, in the French and Russian style. That will make things a little trickier when the hull goes on. The cardstock is quite thin on this model, and no reinforcement specified for the hull. That might lead to "starved dog" syndrome, but on the other hand should make it a little easier to form it to the contours of the framing.

 

[Corporal_Trim]

And a detail amidships.

 

[Corporal_Trim]

Here the side and base of the secondary battery gun turret area is added. I'll do the edge painting as I go. It so happens that Games Workshop "Codex Gray" acrylic paint matches the battleship gray of the Petropavlovsk model almost perfectly, so I lucked out there.

 

[Jim Krauzlis]

Nice going, Steve!

I think this waterline conversion is going to work out wonderfully from the looks of her so far. I love watching a build from the formers up to guage what I should do once I tackle one of these larger ships, and your photos are helping a lot. Does the kit designer mention using the 1mm to laminate those parts or is that something you decided; I know most of the formers and some decks usually require lamination, just wondering if your design for the waterline version made any changes to that.

Nice, clean work, as usual!

More when you can, please.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[Renaud]

about tumblehome

http://postcards.delcampe.com/item.php?language=E&id_enchere=04163598
http://postcards.delcampe.com/item.php?language=E&id_enchere=03866853
http://postcards.delcampe.com/item.php?language=E&id_enchere=05825661
Russians officials were so impressed by the Jauréguiberry , begun in 1891, the same year as the Franco Russian alliance, a successful ship which proved to be easy to handle at sea, that they ordered from the same private shipyard " Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée ", la Seyne sur Mer near Toulon, an improved similar ship, the Tsessarevitch, which fought at Port Arthur later on. And they used this very design to start themselves the building of their five "Borodino", which suffered from being vulnerable because of their thinner armour, and were all sunk at Tsoushima, except one being captured.
Petropawlosk is a different building, but she is very reminicent of French influence;
All these ships rolled too much as soon as the sea was bad.