Speedbird 51 Posted April 26, 2020 Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 After 5 weeks of work, and 946 individual scratch-built pieces, my model of the battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary is finished. The scale is 125’ to 1” or 1/1500. The model depicts the Royal Navy battlecruiser as she appeared just after commissioning in 1913. HMS Queen Mary was part of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron during the battle of Jutland in 1916. She was hit twice early on by the German battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger causing a detonation of her forward magazines destroying the ship almost instantly. There were only 18 survivors. The model was made using the John Roberts plans and photographs of the ship. These plans were reproduced in 1/200 and 1/1500 scales and measurements taken from them. The hull was constructed from a single piece of boxwood. Single piece hulls are much harder to create accurately, and require constant checking of the work to make sure it’s correctly aligned. It’s easy to sculpt an asymmetrical hull if one is not careful. The bulk of the detail is brass and boxwood. The funnels were constructed from a thin aluminum sheet so they’d be closer to scale thickness. In 1/1500, funnels appear very delicate and I try to replicate this on all of my ships. Working with aluminum is difficult since it doesn’t glue well nor does it take paint. With a little witchcraft I was able to overcome this. The rigging is 3 grades of tungsten and molybdenum wire. The water base was carved from wood and painted, and the whitecaps are canvas paste. No fancy resin needed, all traditional materials. The base itself was made from several exotic woods I had on hand which I cut and inlayed. If you’d like to see more of my work or read about my construction process in a bit more detail, visit my website: www.josephlavender.com 15 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grunhertz 16,367 Posted April 26, 2020 Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 My word just awesome well done Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Speedbird 51 Posted April 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 Thank you! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gorby 12,916 Posted April 26, 2020 Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Speedbird 51 Posted April 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 Thank you! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skwonk 7,077 Posted April 26, 2020 Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 BZ! Ruddy marvellous. Makes me want to put my 'steaming bats' on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Speedbird 51 Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 Glad you like 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RWG686 24,887 Posted April 27, 2020 Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 I drop in here occasionally (I don't build ships) and I am always impressed by the beautiful work and attention to detail in a plethora of scales Amazing work and a beautiful result @Speedbird..well done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Speedbird 51 Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 Thank you! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dixieflyer 3,316 Posted May 3, 2020 Report Share Posted May 3, 2020 Wow! Just wow. That is amazing, and a fine example of scale modeling (as opposed to kit assembling, which is the best I can do.) Truly an inspiration. Thanks for posting this. Warren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Speedbird 51 Posted May 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2020 Well thanks! I just like to make things. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sub 561 Posted July 28 Report Share Posted July 28 Wow looks amazing 👏 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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