HMS RODNEY my Kitchen

[jkrenzer]

I decided to build the HMS Rodney this summer while alos rebuilding the kitchen. In a previous thread I said Junyo was next but oh-well. Any way, I believe the Fly Model Rodney to be more difficult and more time consuming than my 42 yr old kitchen. I plan to spend this summer on both and thought it would be neet to show both.

Below I have the kitchen before photos and I spent 2 hrs laminating Rodney's formers, 1/16 inch balsa as always.

Tomorrow I will finish my Sharnhorst since it is supposed to rain all day. I will submitt her (his - German) photos then.

By the way I have built several ships, remodeled several rooms bu this will be my first ktichen.

 

[jaffro]

Haha, this will be an interesting thread to watch... I'm wondering what's older though, the subject matter of the model, or the kitchen?

 

[lriera]

Are you going to rebuild the kitchen in paper? it will be very interesting to look at. A kitchen model at 1:1 scale. :mrgreen:

The model looks great, I am going to follow your build.

 

[gippolot]

Ah, the Rodney. I can't really say why, but I always thought she was so beautiful.

Here's hoping she can compete with the kitchen.

Andrew

 

[exzealot]

I will be watching this one. I have Fly Model's Alaska, but I hesitate to start cutting until I see someone else build one of their ships.

I just hate it when home projects get in the way of modeling!

Good luck.

Ken

 

[bclemens]

Wow! I build my models in the kitchen- Trying to do what you are doing would be for me a recipe for disaster :mrgreen:
Best wishes!
Bruce

 

[eibwarrior]

jkrenzer,

This will be a unique thread for sure. I love the Rodney! Great choice. I too have this model and will be watching very closely. Best of luck, and can't wait for your next update.

 

[redhorse]

This looks excellent! I love the Rodney and wish I had that kit, I can't find it for sale anywhere now... plus I'm into remodeling - two hobbies at once!!

 

[jkrenzer]

7 and 4

7 hours into the kitchen and 4 into Rodney. Rodny still leads in fun time 4 to 1. I had a bad round of golf and took it out on the kitchen, hence the 1 good hr.

Amazing what you find when you tear into your pre-owned home.

The Rodney deck has glued very well onto the balsa backing and is less than 1 mm off from tip to tip when measured against the keel form.

The one pic shows the Rodney's hull pieces before glueing next to my recently complete DKM Sharnhorst.

 

[lriera]

Very good job on the kitchen and very good job on the Rodney, what more would you ask for?

 

[jkrenzer]

Some more photos of my progress.

Pic 1-3 are the Rodney's skeleton. Nothing is glued just placed in position. The process has been very smooth so far. In picture 1 you will see on the left in the trailer the kitchen's right side. I will take it to the village dump shortly.

The second picture just shows the skeleton form the opposite diagonal. It shows the balsa backing.

The last photo is the exposed right wall of the kitchen.

So far my hr count is kitchen 14 - Rodney 9.

You really do not see the hours in this hobby until you stack them up against something else.

By the way on the bottom photo at the far right is the back of my wife's head and the dogs paws, the dog is sun bathing, she is on the computer. She would kill me if she knew I got her in the picture.

 

[Teamski]

Man, you got way too much time on your hands! For me, it's either the ship or a life. I can't have both, it seems, hehehe..... Ships are looking excellent! The kitchen....well only time will tell.

-Ski

 

[edi]

seems to be a lot of work for both!
I know about the kitchen, I`ve done mine this winter, pfffffff.....
And the Rodney, hmm I still have to do her, oops, the Nelson in 1/400.
Will watch your advance on both with great interest:thumb:

Edi

 

[Zathros]

I always thought the HMS Rodney was so different with her guns mounted forward like that. Do you happen to know why it was done so? It is a fine looking ship.

 

[Tim Crowe]

I would think they put all the big guns mounted forward so to give maximum fire power with the minimum exposed area for return fire. Rather than expose yourself to a broadside or having to waste time positioning

Not having ever built a ship with any internal structure i'm going to ask a really dumb question;

- If you've mounted the decking on 1/16 balsa wouldn't it then sit too high

 

[Gregory Shoda]

Zathros: As to the rationale for positioning all of the 16 inch guns forward, the official British reason was to save weight. Weight was very important as the Nelson & Rodney were built under the terms and conditions of the Washington disarmament treaty. No battleship could be built over 35,000 tons standard under the terms of the Washington Treaty. (This ensured that the Hood would be the largest battleship in the world for 20 years as she was completed before the treaty took effect.) The British were not convinced that a satisfactory battleship, mounting 16 inch guns could be designed. However, the pressure was on to build 16 inch gun battleships because the Americans already had 3 Colorado class ships and the Japanese had 2 Nagato class ships each armed with 16 inch guns. Prior to that time, 13.5 inch, 14 inch and 15 inch guns had been sufficient for a ship to be considered a "super dreadnought."

By bunching the 3 turrets forward, the armored area could be reduced, thereby saving weight. The belt armor ran from the forward turret to the secondary guns astern. An added benefit was that the magazines were placed at the widest part of the ships enabling greater protection for them from underwater attack.

The French copied the idea of placing all main armament forward in their Dunkerque and Richelieu classes. However, they were not at all satisfied as they contemplated moving the second turret aft in the proposed third Richelieu that was not completed.

The British were also not all happy with the Nelsons not having the ability to fire aft, Admiral Beaty having to defend the design by saying that British ships did not run away & therefore were not interested in shooting backwards!

 

[Teamski]

Also, as a result, the Nelsons were slow boats.

-Ski

 

[jkrenzer]

In response to the deck question, I only place the main deck on 1/16 balsa, very close to 2mm as recommended by the designer for card stock thickness. 1/32 is close enough for 1 mm and I some times use that for the superstructure decks although except for the first superstructure deck most of them are card stock exclusively.

The bulkheads and keel also go on 1/16" balsa. It is easier to cut and to sand.

Just bought the cabinets, ooof.

The Rodney has not been touched in a week, but I will do some light skeleton work later today.

 

[jkrenzer]

Progress Report:

38 hrs on kitchen vs. 10 hrs on Rodney.

I have the Rodney's skeleton finished. I will now add strips to each buckhead for applying the skin. I am using black card stock instead of white just to see how it looks. I will post the preskin photos once I get there. The deck is very smooth, I am expecting a clean build.

The cabinets are on order, new drywall is up. I have to putty and sand then wait for the cabinets to arrive.

 

[redhorse]

The kitchen looks like a real chore. I bet it will look great when it's done. The Rodney looks good too, I'm gonna have to try balsa one of these days.

It also looks like you have been having some very nice weather :mrgreen: