Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Dreadnought

[ridgers22]

So this is my chosen subject for this amazing SIG. I was down in Edinburgh this weekend and popped into Wonderland models and saw this on sale for only £19.99 so i had to have it. Its being a good 10 years since iv built a ship so i though what the hell lets do this

Anyways heres the box and content photos











Hopefully i will have time to get this finished in time but i will definitely be taking my time with this. I will also be trying my hand at rigging this

Thanks
Wayne

[5Craven]

Great choice there mate and at a bargain price as well I shall be following this build with great interest.

[robertw]

A floaty thing nice!

[Willem]

What a beauty of a kit! I'll be following your build with interest.

[T3hGuppy]

Nice had this on my want list for awhile.

[ridgers22]

thanks guys hopefully get it started by the weekend. Just finishing another WW1 build at the moment.

[generalgrog]

Nice choice..looking forward to watching!!

GG

[ridgers22]

A (not so) quick review on the Trumpeter 1/350 Dreadnought

Happy reading

HULL AND DECK
Dreadnought, as modeled by Trumpeter, is in a two-piece full hull configuration, side-by-side, with internal bulkheads for stiffening. This method appears to be a growing trend with plastic model ship manufacturers. The hull halves for Dreadnought are almost indentical, with only the number of hawse holes (two to starboard, one on the port) differentiating them.

The hull has some raised hull plating lines on the upper hull sections, with square ports and scuttles (portholes) with eyebrows (also called rigols). There are also regularly spaced mounts for the torpedo net booms and anchor points for the boat booms also molded on the hull; however the torpedo net shelf isn't apparent. The external armor plate for the wing mounted turret barbettes is also molded integral to the upper hull works.

Below the waterline there are two openings for the broadside torpedo tubes on each side; sadly, Trumpeter appears to have missed the fifth and final submerged torpedo tube which should be in the stern. The bilge keels have been molded separately, which allows a more scale appearance- there is an outline etched into the lower hull to aid in placement. Likewise, there are similar etched ovals for the shafts, shaft bearings and skegs.

Hull appears about 1mm short at waterline- but this is well within measuring tolerance- call it "to scale." The surface of the hull halves is nicely devoid of the grease and raised mold lines seen for years on Trumpeter kits.




The one piece deck has regular deck planking and many of Dreadnought's hatches, vents and skylights have the basic shapes molded on, with a reinforced outline to aid positive placement of the superstructure. There are also a series of round hollows, where the photoetched coal scuttles and escape hatches will be placed. The "X" turret barbette has a large sprue remnant which will require removal.




SPRUE L (Flying Deck)
This part is labled sprue "L", but is consists of a single "flying deck." This is the primary superstructure part, running from the fo'c'sle to amidships. It was wrapped in protective foam in two places, with the foam having been sealed with a newer, wider clear tape. Unfortunately, this wider tape allowed the foam to be drawn too tightly around this deck part, damaging some of the fine detail. This is doubly unfortunate, as some of the deck bulkheads are the thinnest Trumpeter has ever molded, and the places which are deformed are where the 12-pdr pedestal guns will be placed.

The deck has the same regular planking see on the main deck, as well as the skylights and vents. The superstructure bulkheads have scuttles, vents and hatches- these appear correctly spaced. The "A" turret barbette features the styrene remnant as the "Y" barbette on the main deck.





SPRUE A
Sprue A has both the 45' and 50' steam pinnace's, as well as the sailing launch and sailing pinnace, and the racks for the boat deck which support them. This sprue also features the parts to make the two funnels, the breakwater, and the parts for the conning towers. The upper/boat deck pieces, "A3" and "A20" will need numerous holes drilled/opened up before attaching to the flying deck.




SPRUE B
B has the bilge keels, the shafts with skegs and the shaft bearings with struts. Some anchors are also hear, along with booms, catheads, and some various external details.




SPRUE C
Sprue C the bulkheads for reinforcing the main hull halves, and the large foremast/yard assembly for the foretop. This part has some attendant flash and awkward attachment point, so take care when removing from the sprue. This part may be prone to breakage or sanding out of round. C also has a small deckhouse and some additional deck gear (winches, reels, pipes, booms, etc.)



SPRUE D x2
This sprue has Dreadnought's weapons; the 12" Mark X guns and turrets and the 12-pdr anti-torpedo boat guns, as well as a host of other parts; rudders, screws, searchlights, cutters and even more deck gear.

The turrets appear to have a good shape, with the three viewing hoods separate multi-part photoetch assemblies. The 12" barrels are slide-molded, with open muzzle crowns.

The 12-pdr guns are all identical, molded with the pedestal mounts as one piece.

The rudder has a good shape, and the screws have the correct number of blades.





SPRUE E
This half-sized sprue has a few more parts for the bridge and fighting tops and the included nameplate is attached here. However, the main focus of this sprue are the torpedo net booms. Dreadnought carried 13 on each side; 12 30' booms and a single 12' boom forward. All are on E, and most have three attachment points to the primary sprue- and look quite fragile.



SPRUE F
This sprue has the platforms for the bridge and main superstructure area, as the mast/yard combo for the mainmast, and another deckhouse. The platfoms have the same planking detail seen on the decks, but the bulkheads are slightly thicker than on the flying deck.



SPRUE J
The final sprue for Dreadnought has the bridge and radio shack deckhouse, and the remaining ship's boats.



PHOTOETCH
Dreadnought includes three frets of photoetch. Trumpeter has been expanding the including photoetch with its kits, to the point to where some parts are only available as etch, with no plastic equivalent.

These frets include the expected parts- railings, ladders and stairs, along with angled supports for platforms. They also include the large number of round coal scuttles for the main deck and the parts to make the vision blocks for the main turrets. The also include the gun port doors for the 12-pdr's, although most of these were removed in early 1907.

DISPLAY BASE
The old school 1/350 Trumpeter display stand included.


DECAL
The included decal sheet has the flag of the United Kingdom and White Ensign, both stiff and waving shaped, and simple yellow name decals for the stern.


INSTRUCTIONS
A 28 page instruction book is included, using Trumpeter's standard construction order and methods. These instructions include what may be first time Trumpeter has used Roman numerals to identify an assembly.

A full color poster showing the painting steps is included.


CONCLUSION

The lack of an HMS Dreadnought in 1/350 plastic was one of those issues that has been baffling modelers for years. This offering from Trumpeter is now the *2nd* kit in 350 inside of a year- and looks to be the better kit. Not only was HMS Dreadnought's importance as a watershed moment is the sort ship with historical importance that modelers crave. Additionally, there are many other Royal Navy ships that can be easily converted from a Dreadnought hull- so expect this one to be around awhile.

Thanks
Wayne

[Jan01]

Nice looking kit, see there is plenty of PE to go with this.

Its been many years since I last built a ship.

Good luck with this, can't wait for the end result.

[martin57]

nice looking kit plenty of good detail , good luck with it

[ridgers22]

thank you guys.. with the camel complete it leaves me open to start this grand kit.. looking forward to it

[ridgers22]

So i got round to starting the dreadnought last night. Only had an hour so went about putting the hull and deck together. The deck itself is 2 pieces, The main deck and the super deck. Part fitting is amazing apart from the seam line i needed to fill on the lower hull halfs As you will see in the photos but that was no biggy. She is a fair size model with meany meany tiny parts so it will be a slow build but one im defo looking forward to.

Here are my starting photos









Hopefully get more done over the weekend so stay tuned

Thanks
Wayne

[Rob]

What a wonderful looking kit, great price too. I will watch this with interest

[Gav0909]

Coming on nicely. I started building a ship a while back and had to give up. Was too small for my liking. I will get back to it one day, but not right now!

Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[ridgers22]

thanks gav... this will defo be a learning curve for me. lets hope for the best lol

thanks
wayne

[UKguyInUSA]

That looks like a nice kit, will follow this build closely, but looks like you've already made a good start

[Joesdad]

Wow Wayne, what a brilliant kit. I vaguely remember build a boat when I was a lad, so this is going to be really interesting. I enjoyed your review mate, didn't understand some of it, but enjoyed none the less.
Please continue.

[Jamesday1998]

wow! awesome kit and youve had a great start!
kutgw and ui will be waiting eagerly for the next update!!

[ridgers22]

So after 3 days iv got the wooden deck finished (i think)

Right.. I will try to explain whats going on here in the photos.

This is the technique i used after watching a few youtube videos.

1, Starting with the base colour of Tamiya Buff with a little Red brown i airbrushed the whole deck and left it to dry.


2, After a little trip to the art store, I got a few diffrent colours of browns for diffrent coloured planks.


3,After 2 days and very sore eyes i may add, I individually coloured random single planks all over the deck starting with the darkest colour working to the lightest.. And here are the results


4, After this step i airbrushed a light coat of buff over the whole deck to tone down the striking colours.


5, With the pain staking task over, I Sprayed 2 coats of Klear to protect the decks paint work, After this had dryed i went on to wash the whole deck with a Black/brown wash. After 10 mins or so i proceeded to clean all the wash off leaving it only in the plank lines. This was easier said than done with so many little spaces to get into. With a day to fully dry i added another 2 coats of Klear to seal the work that was done.



The end results



This is the 1st time iv EVER done deck planking this way and i must say im really pleased with the out come. I must say if i was to do it again i would use a lighter wash as i think its a little dark now. But for my 1st time im pleased.

Next task is to try and find out how im going to mask this thing....

As always comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

Thanks
Wayne

[Tamiyasnob]

Excellent work, really look's very convincing. I think the colour of the wash look's fine, to light a colour and you lose the effect. Top job mate

[Jamesday1998]

great work on the deck! it looks awesome! the differnet colouring of the wood and wash have realy made it look realistic and good!

[DC87]

Fabulous entry and a brilliant start, great thinking on the deck - looks the part, be sure to add extra layers of gloss as the decks would be well scrubbed especially if in port.

[Deacon]

Watching this with interest mate.

A great choice and loveley work on the deck.

[Prop72]

Excellent choice of kit to enter - great job so far

[ridgers22]

Thank you for following this guys.
Due to work hours last week i didnt have a day off to do anything at all on this but i now have 3 days off so im planning to put some hours down and make some progress
Please be patient but i will get something on here soon

Thanks
Wayne