JSC 1/400 Askold

[Robert Woolley]

I have started on my second paper kit, the JSC 1/400 Askold. It looks very nice printed on the cardboard. There are not too many parts. In fact there is a second kit included to fill up the 4 A4 pages, The battleship Novgorod, the donut shaped Russian battleship.
The lines are printed very finely. On my first build, the JSC Mikasa the lines were thick and easy to cut along. Much more care was needed here.
The hull is made up of a false hull, divided into front and back. The deck and sides are added to this. I deviated from the instructions almost straight away as I couldn't get the deck and sides to fit nicely. The false hull was fractionally too wide. I put it down to my construction as tolerances of the parts seem very exact. Instead of gluing the pieces to the false hull I made a shell like I did on the Mikasa
The hull pieces seem designed to glue under the deck but they fitted better butted on the sides. There were tabs at the front of the deck I cut off. At various points the deck juts out for the casemates. At these points I trimmed of a sliver of the sides to allow the deck to remain level all the way through.
The two deck pieces were glued together and the front two thirds of the hull sides but glued on to form a shell then reinforced with copy paper tabs behind.I then put a strip of double sided sticky tape along the inside of the shell hull sides. I cut a slit down the centre of the false hull so I could squeeze it into the hull shell. When in place I lifted the edges and pulled the cover off the tape and stuck the sides. The deck is not stuck to the false hull at all at the front or centre. I used double sided tape to hold down the rear of the deck to the false hull and then put tape along the sides of the false hull.
The rear parts of the sides joins at the stern and is convex shaped. I joined the two rear sides and formed the shape before I added them to the false hull. I was having trouble getting a smooth bend where the parts join until I glued the included eagle shield on the outside and a copy paper joiner on the inside. Then it was easy.
The back hull sides were then glued and taped carefully at the same time to the false hull.
A rather convoluted method that worked well for me and resulted in a nice straight and smooth hull.

[Robert Woolley]

This picture might help explain what I meant by sticking an eagle shield to the back so i could shape the rear nicely. It looks better at normal scale, but still needs some tidying up.

[didibuch]

Nicely made hull.
I will watch your Askold closely, because I have this one too.

Regards
Dieter

[Robert Woolley]

Finally some more work done. I am proceeding more or less according to plan. I am making my own tabs rather than using the supplied ones. Everything is fitting very well indeed. The search lights and platforms were tiny but went together well. The big ventilators were difficult to get right. They should be more tightly rolled but they look the ok. The smaller ventilator at the rear of the last funnel was easier and turned out better. I ended up with a join I wasn't happy with at the back of the funnels so I cut some thin strips of scrap yellow to cover them. Maybe not correct but they look much better. Only small details such as guns and boats to go now.

[Robert Woolley]

Just for interest an early 20th century battleship next to an early 20th century cruiser. Both still works in progress of course

[Paperwarrior]

The Askold is coming along very good. I look forward to seeing more on this project.

Jeff

[Don Boose]

Very nice!

I have read that during WWI, British sailors who saw Askold with all those funnels referred to the ship as "a packet of Woodbines" (Woodbines were a cigarette brand of the day).

Don

[Robert Woolley]

I have finally done a little more work on the Askold. The frame to hold the boats was made from piano wire and painted. Same goes for the mast. The barrels for the guns are bits of plastic.

[Robert Woolley]

I also made the Novgorod that came with the Askold. I really enjoyed making it. It didn't take long at all.

[Paperwarrior]

Excellent work! They look great. You are creating a nice collection.

Jeff