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Going back over 12 months ago I took on a commission for HMS Rodney for a private collector, the model itself would measurer nearly 8 feet long. With regards to the build the customer was able to supply the hull itself so work could begin, firstly by carrying out the hull work including making up the rudder area and rudder along with all portholes and as much of the external hull detailing possible at this stage in the build.
The work could now move onto the hull insides and deck supports this included the supports for the bolts for the three hull finials for mounted the ship at a much later stage. Once all the deck supports were in place the deck itself could be marked out and added and left to set before the planking could start using individual scale planks inc all offsets in the planking pattern.
With the hull now planked the work could begin on the deck area by marking out superstructure positions along with guns etc, I decided to base the model on the 1927/1928 version approx. Now the real work could begin starting at the bow and working towards the stern bearing in mind 90% of the model will be scratch built, firstly starting out with the main guns etc followed by all of the required deck fittings as things progress (see pics) .
Once the foredeck area was complete, I eventually moved onto the main superstructure by carefully marking out the position of the superstructure and beginning the lengthy task of construction which was to include as much detail as possible on all deck levels. After a few months the main superstructure was now finished I moved onto the boat deck area followed by the main mast area which certainly proved to be quite a challenge.
With the superstructure now finished I moved onto the remainder of the rear deck along with the deck areas either side of the main superstructure adding all of the remaining deck fittings along with additional detailing to enhance the end result. After nearly 12 months of construction, I was moving into the final stages firstly by adding all the stanchions and awning supports along with stern and bow flag poles this was then finished off by the adding the rails etc. The model was now nearing completion with only the rigging detailing to be added, once this was in place the final job would be to check over the entire model before mounting it on the finials mentioned early (see pic).
Overall this proved to be a very enjoyable yet challenging build but as you can see from the finished photos well worth it.
