Ian M's HMS HOOD. Trumpeter 1/200

[Ian M]

Been plugging away an hour here and there. To be honest, taking photos is not worth that much at the moment; all the parts going on are vents, boat stands and other tiny bits.
I had a bash at a couple of the railing sections today though. That deserves a photo. (and a bloody medal LOL).
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Only another 1m left to do.....
Then I better have a go at that rigging. Fun fact.
I have a great book on the Ship "Anatomy of HMS HOOD" Unfortunately the diagrams for the rigging are all about befor the last refit, so the details for the main mast and all the radio wires etc are not a lot of use!

[Ian M]

The fun starts now:
The picture that follows is the result of SIX hours tinkering. First making a couple of dozen eyelets, then drilling the decks and funnels, gluing them in place, painting them and then finally getting the funnels tied to the decks. As to if it is 100% correct? who knows? A very intense search on the interweb, scouring all the Photo I have in books, this looks about right.
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The blocks around the top of the funnels where, lucky for me only rigged up when paint or repairs where on the to do list. So I slip for that ! Yeah.
Next up, the radio wires....that little round tower, between the funnels, in the tiny pip in the middle of that I need to plant no less than five 'wires' which go to make a web, radiating out to the funnels, and the two bracing arms between them the 5th runs up to the masts rig.....
At the moment I am fighting the main boom crane. There are a lot more ropes on that bugger than the two crappy bits of PE Trumpeter provide in the kit. More on that later. Sorry dont do pictures of failure lol.
Oh the ships boats. How lucky am I? When the Hood set off that fateful day, the boats would have been covered with tarps, So.... Mine are now tarped up and the paint drying. Piccies when ready.

[BarryW]

This is coming along beautifully Ian.

In 1935 my grandad was aboard HMS Renown when she collided with the 'Mighty 'ood' and a propeller was broken off the Hood. That piece of prop was cut up into pieces and shared among the crew of Renown and I remember clearly seeing it in a display cabinet my grandad had. As the eldest granson I was always supposed to have that when he died but my aunt got in their first, snaggled it, and gave it to her son.... My dad just let it go... It rankles with me to this day.

[dave]

Looking good Ian

[papa 695]

Nice work Ian

[Guest]

Looking good, regarding the eyelets, L'Arsenal do 1/350 eyelets, they may do 1/200.

[Ian M]

In 1935 my grandad was aboard HMS Renown when she collided with the 'Mighty 'ood' and a propeller was broken off the Hood. That piece of prop was cut up into pieces and shared among the crew of Renown

Funny old world in it. My grandfather was on the Hood when as he said it, Renown sailed right up our arsenal ...
He had a portrait photo with his cap with HMS HOOD on the band. I would have loved to of had that, but someone got hold of it first!

[Ian M]

Looking good, regarding the eyelets, L'Arsenal do 1/350 eyelets, they may do 1/200.

Cheers for that, it's quite quick and easy to make them just a pain in the butt. Takes about 10 seconds each....

[Guest]

One day I will attempt this kit (or the Bismark 200!) and I will use this thread as reference.
Great work. It's got me looking up ww2 battleships as a project!
Thanks for the inspiration.

[BarryW]

Funny old world in it. My grandfather was on the Hood when as he said it, Renown sailed right up our arsenal ...
He had a portrait photo with his cap with HMS HOOD on the band. I would have loved to of had that, but someone got hold of it first!

Its a small world Ian. Aparently it was my grandad's captain who was held responsible in the Courts Marshal....

[Ian M]

Had a session last night and after three hours had got most of the main mast rig on. Still a few more to go on yet, but not long befor the mast can go on and I can carry on.
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All the photos I have been able to find show all the ropes on the main jib in a 'relaxed' state, so dont worry if they look to slack. The drops will be tighter though once the mast is in place....

[papa 695]

Rather you than me with that rigging Ian, but your doing a great job.

[Ian M]

Rather you than me with that rigging Ian, but your doing a great job.

Thanks Ian. Actually one of the hardest parts is trying to find clear enough images to work from. As I said earlier, the book I have is great, but the rigging details are just outside the time frame for the model....Artistic licence time....?
Point of interest. the thread I am using is actually a left over from the fly tying box. I have some of that Ushi (?) thread but a) it is far to thin and b) bloddy impossible to work with. Three spoles 0.001, 0.002, and the thick one... 0.003! needs to be at least the double.
The guys for the funnels are in fact sewing machine thread. Very nice and smooth and easy to work with. All connections tied off and locked with CA.
I will be fitting the mast today then its onto the radio wires...Oh and a heap of signal lines. gulp!

[tr1ckey66]

Good job on the rigging Ian. Hood is really coming along nicely.
Cheers
Paul

[Ian M]

I'm going slightly mad..... so says the song.
Well here is my excuse:
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the really straggly ones are signal lanyards that have yet to be fixed at the bottom, still fighting with positioning for those.
the very short sticky out ones are jut tag ends that have yet to be trimmed.
Still a good way to go yet, but as I wrote before, getting good, usable pictures of the rigging a la 1941 is a challenge. Once I have gotten all the radio and signals do da mi gigs, sorted its on to the fiddly bit :0