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ships.html
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---
layout: build-collection
icon_small: "https://combo.staticflickr.com/pw/images/collection_default_s.gif"
id: "198063996-72157721664798767"
label: ships
title: "Ships"
---
Ship models were where I started in modelling. My father had served with the Royal Navy in WW2 and I developed my interest in warships and the navy from his stories. From an age of about 9 I was reading books on the navy and making models of battleships from plasticene. Then, out of the blue,one day in 1962, Dad brought home a plastic warship kit for us to build together. It was a Nichimo 1/750 scale full hull kit of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in her original configuration with 8 x 5 inch guns and 1950s jets. Building it with him was fun and got me started in the hobby. Although the model has been gone over 50 years, I still have some of the aircraft.
Not long after that, in 1963, I bought my first kit, Airfix's 1/600 HMS Cossack, which I built solo using bottle glue and a matchstick. I left it unpainted. Over the next 3 and a half years I built a total of 16 ship models, almost all of which were in Airfix's 1/600 series. I also did a Revell 1/535 Missouri and a 1/1200 Pyro Yamato. The finished models sat on a shelf above my bed, collecting dust. From 1965 I started painting all my new builds and I then went back through the collection and painted all the earlier ones as well. The paint was gloss enamel and it was pretty awful stuff, being very thick and usually full of dust and hairs by the time I got enough coverage. By 1966 my modelling skills had improved significantly and the last two ships I built, the SS France and HMS Hood, were reasonably presentable for a 14 year old. At that point, modelling stopped and other interests prevailed, though I continued to collect new kits.
In 1969, I came back to modelling but I focused entirely on new genres of interest, small-scale armour and aircraft. In 1971, I branched out again and decided to have a go at refurbishing some of my old ship kits. I started with Airfix's HMS Devonshire. I stripped the paint, cut it to waterline, added some new details and repainted it with Humbrol matt enamels. I finished it in 1974. It was certainly a big improvement on the original, and between 1971 and 1978, I started a further 7 refurbishments of the old ship collection. I never finished any of those. My free time back then was limited and there were much better kits to build. However, I kept collecting new Airfix 1/600 ship releases - the collecting instinct had taken hold. Sadly, I disposed of all of the old ship models, including the refurbished Devonshire, between the 1970s and 1990s. There was one exception, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, discussed below.
In 1971 I became aware of the new Japanese waterline series of ship kits and in 1972 I bought my first one, Tamiya's original Yamato kit. I proceeded to collect quite a few of these highly detailed kits and in 1974, I started the first one, the destroyer Shiratsuyu, which I finished in 1978. I still have this model (M47). I started another, the Chikuma in 1981, but my modelling interest was mainly with 1/35th armour by this point and I didn't finish it until 1987. However, the turning point in ship modelling came in 1984, when I decided to complete the Airfix Ark Royal (M55) which I had barely started 18 years earlier in 1966. I finished this model to a much higher standard than any ships I had done previously. Although I cut it to waterline, I made only a few other changes to the kit. It was widely admired at the club I belonged to at that time in Brisbane. I was encouraged by this and went on to complete the 1/700 Fujimi Chikuma (M58) mentioned above and then start the refurbishment of the Airfix 1/600 Queen Elizabeth I had built in 1965. That project took me through to 2001 and was my last involvement with 1/600 scale. After, starting the QE in 1987, I went on to make a few more 1/700 ships during the mid 90s, but the models (M83, M86) were disappointing. It was a difficult stage in life between jobs and my heart wasn't in it.
In about 1998, I met a prolific ship modeler of the same age as me, Lester Abbey. He modeled exclusively in 1/700 scale, focusing on the WW2 Pacific Theatre. Lester, who was American, taught me about using photo-etch railings, brass rod and fine rigging. He had a huge influence on my ship modeling and I will be forever grateful for that. It was a huge loss when he died in an accident in 2016. The first models I used these new techniques on were the 1/700 U-Boat (M89), the Vosper MTB (M93 & M108) and the Peter Veliky (M94). Prior to this, I had already started collecting resin kits of 1/700 ships which were unavailable in plastic, starting with Navalworks USS San Francisco in 1994. I bought most of them from Pacific Front Hobbies in Oregon. The next few ships I built were all early, craftsman-style, resin kits. Combrig's Peter Veliky and Classic Warship's Seydlitz (M95) and Lion (M99). They were difficult and time-consuming but ultimately very rewarding to complete. Steve Wiper, the proprietor of Classic Warships helped me out with plans for the building of the Lion.
It was at about this time (2001) that I developed my technique for sea-scape bases and I have made them ever since for all waterline models. Since 2003, I have made the sea-scapes to cover the entire MDF bases. This is certainly better for subsequent photos but in my opinion, also looks better than little irregular patches of sea centred on wooden display plinths.
From 2003 onwards, I have continued to build plastic and resin ship kits, in various scales including 1/72, 1/144, 1/350 and 1/700. They are easily the most challenging models to make well. The best of my ship models to date are undoubtedly the SMS Emden (M150) in 1/350 and the USS Forrestal (M202) in 1/720. It was inevitable that I would come back to make another Forrestal, as it was where it all started back in 1962. The other model I will give special mention to is HMS Amethyst (M112) which I built for my father and gave him for his 80th birthday. Now that he has passed, it has come back to my collection.
There are two other people to mention, my friend and fellow modeler Fred Liedel, who has been a source of encouragement for the last 35+ years and my wife Christine who has been accommodating of my collecting excesses and supportive of my modelling for 25 years.