Sunday, 11 March 2018

Thoughts on Battleships

As mentioned in my previous post I am now the proud owner of rather a large number of HMS Hood models and also Kongo class battle cruisers. The former is actually a rather nice model although to my eye it looks a little heavy in the upper works. This is not a problem though as I am sure she will paint up nicely. It is a shame though that whilst the QE and R class battleships are available there is no KGV. Luckily there is one obtainable from Historical Boardgaming so I suspect my forthcoming order will include a few!


A Kongo class battle cruiser in the van closely followed by HMS Hood.

The Japanese navy in the Axis and Allies world is represented by the above (of which there were four) and the mighty Yamato. Based on an email exchange with Bob Cordery (and it is something I will check with my copy of Conway’s) I may be able to convert a Hood into a Nagato by replacing the bridge with the Pagoda from one of the Kongo. It is certainly something to think about and as long as the overall profile looks OK it will suffice.

I have plenty of Hoods to experiment with after all....



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2 comments:

  1. Robert (Bob) Cordery11 March 2018 at 12:44

    David,

    Looking at the model of HMS Hood, the hull will need to be shortened both fore and aft of the main deck turrets to reproduce the Nagato. The fore funnel will also need to be removed and the foremast/bridge re-modelled.

    I'm not sure how much detail you are going to include when you paint your models, but a simple grey overall coat of paint and a dark grey wash should pick out the main detail.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  2. David Crook11 March 2018 at 17:03

    Hi Bob,

    I checked with Conway’s and can see what you mean about the shortening of the hull. The foremast/bridge on Hood can be chopped away easily enough and I am thinking of shoe-horning a Kongo pagoda bridge in its place. It does not have to be perfect as long as the overall look is about right.

    For the painting I will be using the tried and tested Tim Gow method of the black undercoat dry brushed with shades of grey.

    All the best,

    DC

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