Light Cruiser NOVIK / JSC / 1:250

[PeterW]

Since the summer isn´t a summer worth the name, it´s a good opportunity to start a new model.
Thus I want to start my first building report on this forum.

I´ve chosen an older model of JSC, the russian light cruiser NOVIK from 1901 (not to be mistaken with a later russian destroyer with same name)

It is scaled in 1:250 and is sporting the white & buff color scheme of the pre-war time, before being sent to the Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur.

The cruiser was part of an extensive naval shipbuilding program of the russian fleet in the late 1890´s. The goal was to counterbalance the growing influence and military strength of the imperial Japan in the Far East.
Since the russian maritime industry could not stem the entire fleet program on its own, it was a common practice of the russian navy, to have different kinds of warships built abroad.
By this way the cruiser NOVIK came into being. The contract for the ship was given to the german Schichau shipyard at Danzig (nowaday Gdansk)
After completion, the cruiser proofed to be one of the fastest ships at that time.
Quit impressed by NOVIK´s performance, the russian Admiralty ordered 2 more ships of more or less similiar design to be built at russian slipways, becoming the Isumrud and Schemchug.

The early JSC models are often said to be a bit tricky and not that detailed as later ones.
We´ll see, what comes out at the end. At least there will be room for "creative" ideas.
I´ve collected a good bunch of pics from various sources on the Web for that purpose.
Anyway, the "centerpiece" of my refernce material is a booklet from the russian GANGUT publishing house, which i purchased from ruslania.com.
Albeit written in russian language (which i can read to a very limited extend only) does it contain very good copies of the original shipyard General Arrangement plans and a lot of drawings and pictures.

[PeterW]

As common with JSC, the hull structure is made of a base plate, boxes and small supportive frames on the sides.
Permitting the hull to be completed quite fast, this kind of construction requires a good and exact folding of the boxes.
Otherwise you get differences in height, which are hard to overcome.
I´ve got a slight difference on one side ...

[PeterW]

... i managed to level out the difference on the framework ... i guess.

The next step is the support deck, which covers the hull base.

Due to its size it consists of 2 parts, which need to be glued together.
Unfortunately, the after part is wider than the forward one. Comparing the support deck with the Middel deck, which comes on top later, shows the difference on the aft part.
Scoring a little bit more to the inside did solve this problem.

The support deck is glued in place, the hull sides are the next to attach.
Being separated into fore and aft part, they should be glued piece by piece, starting on bow and stern, towards the midship section.
The bow parts fit nicely to the shape of the hull. The stern parts do not - at least not mine.

I´ve tried back and forth, but they won´t fit as necessary.
On the stern the sides are protruding over the deck.
My first thought was to cut off the excess. But this would have cut away the ships name.

Amidships, there is a gap, either to the deck level or to the waterline, depending to which level i try to align the part ...

[cgutzmer]

looking mighty fine! Thanks for the great notes on pain points

[PeterW]

With the hull now closed, i put the (wooden) middle deck in place.

I diverted from the building instruction at this point.
According to the instruction, the bulwark should be attached to the hull first. Afterwards the middle deck, with the inner bulwark, should be inserted ... or something like that.
I didn´t get it ... being confused

So i glued the middle deck first (carefully aligned) and glued the bulwark around the deck shape accordingly.
With this method i could cover the little gap between hull and deck (you remember ...)
All glueing tabs i removed, of course.

Next, the inner bulwark stripes were glued. To have a clean edge, i added a thin stripe of coloured paper on top of the bulwark.

The sloping bulwarks in front of the ... what is the correct english term for these "gun balconies" ... i had to replace by custom made pieces, as the original parts were way to large and the shape was not matching the curve at all.

Further added are those boxes to the inside of the bulwark, the stowage for the crew´s hammock nets.
As common in those days, the ordinary crews were sleeping in hammocks. If not in use, the hammock nets where stowed in these boxes on deck.
During battle, the also provided some additional protection against splinters.
I could not determine for sure, how the boxes really looked on NOVIK. Where they open to the side, just covered by canvas? Or did they have flaps / doors?

To add some detail, i glued supports to the after bulwark, using the GA-plan in the Gangut book as reference.
To late i discovered (with magnifier), that there was a door in the aft of the bulwark, leading to the after deck. And some hawsers, too ....

[PeterW]

The next critical part is the forecastle deck.

Built on the german shipyard Schichau / Danzig (Gdansk today), well known for their torpedo boats by then, the cruiser NOVIK sported the whaleback-like deck, similiar to those torpedo boats.

For resembling a look-alike bow, the models designer did a quite ... unnecessary complcated support construction of thin and angled boxes, which shall support the forcastle part.
To form the curved shape of the decks sides, there are cut-lines drawn. Unfortunately, these gaps would be to wide, if cut out accordingly (see the pictured original deck)

After many thoughts i ended up scanning the part, and redrawing it in CorelDRAW, with the cut-lines as single lines only.

Further I used the opportunity to change the appearance as well.
The original (paper) deck is entirely grey and redbrown, separated by the breakwater.

If you´re studying contemporary pictures of the ship, you´ll find the whithe colour extending at least over the curved side up to the railings.
Again, using the GA plan in the Gangut book as a template, i "repainted" the sides white.

When fitting the selfmade deck, i tried to shape the part without cutting the small lines - and it worked!
A little water on a brush, a knitting needle and my palm - and the "cutless" whaleback forecastle is in place

[PeterW]

Finally, an aerial view of the present condition

The deck houses and the after gun platform are the next jobs for the yard people.
But this will be for the morning shift ...

Regards
Peter

[JHSurf]

Originally Posted by PeterW

The sloping bulwarks in front of the ... what is the correct english term for these "gun balconies" ... i had to replace by custom made pieces, as the original parts were way to large and the shape was not matching the curve at all.
....

I am not sure if there is a term, but gun balconies works well. I dont think anyone would be confused by that description.

Nice work by the way!

[Bkeefe]

How about sponsons?

[Don Boose]

Your model is excellent. I appreciate your detailed and clear description of the problems with the kit and the way you have corrected for those problems.

Don