After several false starts and dead ends I was on the verge of giving up my idea to build a model battleship inspired by the design of the battleship used as a token in the game of 'Monopoly' when I remembered seeing a 1:1250th-scale model of a Russian battleship many, many years ago. It formed part of the Russian fleet in one of Eric Knowles's naval battles using Fletcher Pratt's Naval War Game rules, but I don't think that it lasted very long and was sunk quite early in the game. From what I could remember, it looked somewhat like the 'Monopoly' battleship ... so I spend some time looking through the relevant section of CONWAY'S ALL THE WORLD'S FIGHTING SHIPS: 1860-1905 and found it ... or – to be more precise – them. The ship I remembered was one of the Admiral Ushakov-class battleships/coast defence ships.
The class consisted of three ships, Admiral Ushakov, General Admiral Graf Apraksin, and Admiral Senyavin, and they were originally designed to counter the armoured ships that had been built for the Swedish Navy during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
As the following photographs show, they look vaguely similar to the ‘Monopoly’ battleship.
Admiral Ushakov
General Admiral Graf Apraksin
Admiral Senyavin
I have even managed to find a plan of the Admiral Ushakov-class battleships ...
... and I am seriously thinking about basing my next attempt at modelling my 'Monopoly'-inspired battleship on a version of this class of ships.
The class consisted of three ships, Admiral Ushakov, General Admiral Graf Apraksin, and Admiral Senyavin, and they were originally designed to counter the armoured ships that had been built for the Swedish Navy during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
As the following photographs show, they look vaguely similar to the ‘Monopoly’ battleship.
Admiral Ushakov
General Admiral Graf Apraksin
Admiral Senyavin
I have even managed to find a plan of the Admiral Ushakov-class battleships ...
... and I am seriously thinking about basing my next attempt at modelling my 'Monopoly'-inspired battleship on a version of this class of ships.
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I might suggest you try to find a copy of Jane' Fighting Ships 1905-1906. I have a reprint, unfortunately the previous owner felt the need to stick photographs from magazines over the schematics of most of the Russian and Japanese warships from the 1905 War. I also have a copy of Jane's Fighting Ships 1898; unfortunately in that one there are only drawing of the ships, without any schematics.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Jhnptrqn,
ReplyDeleteI actually have a copy of both the reprint editions of Jane's Fighting Ships you mention in your comment, but Conway's was closer to hand.
I have now had a look at Jane's ... and it has reinforced my desire to use this design as a basis for my model.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteWhile certainly more detailed than you want, you might want to look at the following web site. He has lots of Pre-Dreadnought models which might inspire you a bit:
http://www.virtualscratchbuilder.com/
You might also want to take a look at the "click to enlarge" images of the Old Glory Pre-Dreads. Not all have images, but those that do have the simplified lines that I think you are looking for:
http://www.oldglory25s.com/index.php?cat_id=788&catname=%271/600%20Scale%20Ironclads%27
I hope that these sites help inspire you, sir.
-- Jeff
Bluebear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. It is not a website I had previously come across.
Likewise I would not have thought of looking at the 'Old Glory' website for inspiration and ideas ... but it is an excellent idea. Many thanks for this as well.
All the best,
Bob
The Blogger bug deleted the following comment from David Crook when I tried to write a reply:
ReplyDelete'Hi Bob,
That ship has a charm all of its own and would make an ideal base to start from.
Have you any thoughts on the turrets at all?
All the best,
DC'
David Crook,
The turrets might cause me a few problems but I think that I might have a solution as I think I have found a source of tubing that has the right diameter.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, you might want to check out the USS Indiana and the USS Iowa. Both of this class of battleships also resemble the Monopoly battleship.
ReplyDeleteJhnptrqn,
ReplyDeleteHaving looked at images of USS Indiana and USS Iowa I can see the resemblance to the ‘Monopoly’ battlseship.
All the best,
Bob