1/1200 HMS Dorsetshire (Airfix)

It was never part of my model-making plan to build this in this scale. The smallest I've worked before is 1/700, so dropping to half this scale was a self-imposed challenge to explore just what's possible.

It came about by accident. For years now I intended to scratch build HMS Norfolk using the Polish JSC 1/400 scale card model cut-out, fold and glue kit for templates. The JSC card model booklets are a wonderful resource thanks to their detail and accuracy. See sample scan on left. Scan them, size them to whatever scale you want to build, print out, attach to your chosen material (styrene, wood, metal) and cut. Saves a huge amount of time making drawings to work from.

With an HMS Penelope using this technique still to be completed, HMS Norfolk was back of the queue. Until I bought the Airfix 'Sink the Bismark' set on a whim when visiting the Hornby/Airfix headquarters in Margate. This contains Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Hood, Ark Royal, Suffolk and two Tribal class destroyers (why no KGV/Prince of Wales or Rodney?) in 1/1200 scale.

The individual kits in the collection scale accurately, contain very few separate parts, and are variable in quality across the collection (e.g. twin 4-inch AA guns in Hood and Suffolk bear no resemblance to one another). Fine detail in injection moulded polystyrene is unattainable in this scale, so things like light AA are just crude lumps of plastic. However, the hulls and superstructures are pretty good.

The kit of HMS Suffolk attracted me as the basis for a Norfolk or her sister Dorsetshire. These two ships were the last two of the County class built, and differed considerably from the earlier ones - Suffolk being one of the original Kent class, modelled by Airfix as reconstructed in 1935-1936 with cut-down quarter deck and boxy aircraft hangar.

I decided on Dorsetshire (the ship that disposed of the flaming wreck of the Bismark with torpedoes - although the German survivors claimed they scuttled her) as refitted in 1936-1937 with four twin 4-inch AA amidships, two directors sided on the bridge, and two 8-barrel pom-poms and directors abreast the after control. This entailed some research and making drawings to work from because the JSC card kit represents the ship as completed and before this refit.

Turning to the kit, most of the superstructure including the hangar was sawn off with a rotary cutter and the resulting holes in the deck filled, and the quarter-deck aft (flush with the fo'csle deck) was built up. Eventually, almost the entire superstructure was scratch built. The only remaining parts from the kit were the hull (with bulges sawn off and scuttles drilled), the modified deck, funnels and 8-inch turrets. The pom-poms in the kit were rubbish and so were the ship's boats, so I filched these from the Hood model in the set (they were much better). Twin 4-inch AA, 0.5-inch AA, torpedo tubes and everything else was scratch built. There is no PE in this scale, hence no railings. But the masts are steel wire soldered together for strength against the tension of the Caenis thread used for the rigging and aerials. Finally, I had to have a crew: stretched sprue, painted blue, cut into 1mm lengths, stuck on the decks and a blob of white paint on top of each for headgear. Madness doesn't come much better than this.

The colour pallet was kept very limited and the tones constrained - I believe at this scale you must do this for reasons of scale colour, perspective and atmospheric haze.  For example, with the model on a desk top and viewed from a normal sitting position, in scale terms the model is about a third of a mile away. Sovereign Hobbys Colorcoats greys for hull and decks offset with teak for the wooden decks. Dark grey (not black) for funnel tops and light AA. Predominantly grey for the sea. Just pinpoint highlights of bright colour on the navigation lights and signal flags and white foam (no pure white elsewhere in the sea) behind the plane and the boat to draw the eye in.

As for the setting, I was inspired by Peter Fulgoney's model of HMS Sussex depicted in 'Shipcraft 19,County Class Cruisers,' Les Brown, Seaforth Publishing.  His lovely diorama has a Walrus amphibian taxiing across the water to be picked up by the ship's crane. The ship is turning slowly to starboard to create a calm sea on the lee side for the aircraft. I copied this idea shamelessly but for my sins added one of the ship's motor boats following it as tender (sweet).

After finishing and photographing the model, I felt a little unhappy about the aircraft/boat crane, made from a solid piece of poly sheet cut to shape with a scan and print of the paper-based crane wrapped around it. Afterwards I replaced it with a thinned-down one from the kit, with Caenis thread cable wires, but I only took one photo to show it. Regrets? Using stretched sprue for the funnel guys rather than Caenis thread. This resulted in big ugly glue spots on the funnels. Personally (and I know others can do it perfectly well),I won't use stretched sprue for this type of work again.

Learnings? Never accept the plausibly impossible: you will find a way if you are determined to do. And it will NOT take you less time to build in this scale compared with 1/700. It takes just as much time.

Gallery updated 6/27/2018  © ModelWarships.com