Evening All,
Many thanks to you all for the very kind and encouraging comments: I really do appreciate them all. Frederik: well someone has to turn an idea into reality, and as nobody else has come forward to do so, I suppose that I might as well have a try!
Progress on the S38 Africa/Hibernia project has been delayed again, this time by my error of judgement. When I made the block for the barbette I laminated three pieces of wood, but then thought that it would be too deep so I removed one of them. After I had installed the wood strip for the decking I realised that I should have left the three wood laminates, so I had to add the third after the decking had been laid. I also had to remove the vents on the foredeck and replace them with larger ones when the barbette was finished. This meant cutting and shaping a piece of wood to almost the correct dimensions, gluing it to the top of the existing barbette and finishing it in place. That required some careful filing and sanding, plus a little filler, and then repainting. I also had to protect the wood decking form the dust from the wood grain filler. In all a right fiddle which had I thought more carefully at an earlier stage of construction I could have avoided. When the barbette was complete I added new vents.
A new part of the structure was the forward superstructure and flying bridge, on to which the ramp was fixed. I am only representing the front faces of those structures - I am not building a model of a warship! The bridge was set about three feet (1 meter) ahead of the flying bridge, so I cut out both as a single piece from 60 thou card, and then separated them. I used a small block of wood to join them together with a scale gap between. On the Africa and Hibernia two small guns were mounted on each side of a central observation post: I have deliberately left these out as they had nothing to do with the launch ramp and would only add unnecessary complexity to the model. Instead I added some smaller details to the front face of the forward superstructure and cut out the windows in the section between flying bridge, and cemented the observation platform on the front superstructure:
After this had been painted I screwed it to the rear of the base: I did think about using epoxy but decided that a stronger attachment was desirable given the small area of contact. The turret was painted and placed on the barbette. The sailor figure gives an idea of the size of the 12 inch gun turret and foredeck of the ship:
I made a paper template for part of the launch ramp and placed it and the part completed S38 on to the turret just to check alignments and sizes:
I made up the ramp from basswood (lime) strip with a strip of beech for part of the runway. The difference in colour of the wood can be clearly seen on one of the contemporary photographs taken on the runway. The gaps and solid platform sections are based on photographic evidence but I cannot be certain that the dimensions are 100% accurate, but at least it looks proportional when I tried it for fit on the model:
I have still to give the wood platform a wash with light grey to tone down the lime wood. The next step will be to make the supports for the ramp and attach them to the top of the turret and foredeck. The canvass screens which were draped to protect the superstructure of the ship and which covered the observation platform will be made from paper and glued in place when ready. I will post more when I have completed that part of the model.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
