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Friday 30 September 2011

Thinking about a possible design for a model warship

Whilst I have been waiting for the coat of paint to dry on my latest batch of model hills, I have been idly flipping through one of the numerous books about warship designs that I own. Amongst the ships that caught my eye were the two Coastal Defence Ships that were bought by the Thai Navy in the late 1930s. The two ships – HTMS Thonburi and her sister ship, HTMS Sri Ayuthiya – were built by the Japanese and were armed with 4 × 8-inch guns, 4 × 3-inch AA guns, and 4 × 40mm AA guns.

The ships had a very definite Japanese look about them, as the following image illustrates.


I thought that this design might be the basis of a ship model that I could make for one of the navies of my imagi-nations ... so I did a bit of 'cartooning' of the original drawing and think that it might have possibilities.


I don't know if I will every get around to using this design ... but just playing around with the possibility was a nice way to spend thirty minutes of my time.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    A word of caution about your stomach. Don't think it is always the food. Go get checked for gallstones.

    I, like you, kept thinking the food was too spicy. For a while. Then, late one night I'm in ICU without a gallbladder.

    Just a word to be careful.

    Jim

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  2. Jim Wright,

    Thanks for the advice.

    In actual fact the food was not spicy ... the problem was that it contained garlic and a lot of onion, both of which I love but which I know will give me stomach problems.

    That said, if the problem persists, I will definitely go to see the doctor.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. Hi Bob,

    PLEASE let me in on how you do this! I have been having hankerings of a generic ship building exercise ever since I read about your old Fletcher Pratt school/college game!

    I am thinking about 6 to 8 inches being the largest size of model so they will look like 1/1200th except the vertical aspect will be larger.

    All the best,

    DC

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  4. Re. Thonburi and Ayuthia - MY HOBBY STORE has a plan for an 18 inch long model of the Ayuthia,and there was a brief description of their careers in Model Boats magazine of December 1875.

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  5. David Crook,

    It is something that it is easier to show than explain. Basically I use a scanned image which I manipulate using Serif PhotoPlus and Microsoft Paint. I will try to show you how I do it when we next meet.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  6. Joppy,

    Thanks for the information about the plans. Any model I build will be smaller than 18 inches, but a set of plans would be very useful.

    I remember reading the article in Model Boats many years ago. It was where I first read about these two sister ships.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Did these ships fight the Vichy French in the Second World War?

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  8. Geordie an Exiles FoG,

    Yes they took on the might of the Vichy French Squadron ... and lost.

    That said, although both ships were sunk, they were later salvaged and repaired.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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