Small scale battleships

[Don Boose]

Many thanks for the back story, Robert! It helps to put you and your superb models in context and adds to the fun of reading your threads.

Don

[Robert Woolley]

I have another ship to add. This time a Japanese cruiser, the Hashidate. It was one of three cruisers ordered from France. The first two were made in France but the Hashidate was made in Japan. It was laid down in 1888 and completed in 1894.They were very unsuccessful designs. They were too slow and the main 12.5" gun was useless. It could only be fired at certain angles, otherwise it destabilised the ship from the recoil. And it was very slow to load and fire. During the Battle of the Yalu River during the Sino Japanese war the Hashidate averaged one shot per hour! She received damage during the battle, and had ten crewmen killed.
It later saw action in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and then Tsushima, where it actually managed to hit the Russian cruiser Oleg and assisted in the sinking of the battleship Kynaz Suvorov.
It served in various roles until the early 1920s


This is another ship from Papercraft Etsutan. I made it as it was when painted grey, after the heavy tripod mast was changed into a lighter one.
It was a fun model but the scale baffles me. It is close to 1/800 in beam but around 1/675 in length. It should be around an inch shorter, even in this small scale. But the proportions look right side on. So it looks fine by itself but too big next to other ships in this scale.

[Robert Woolley]

Next is the Japanese cruiser Yoshino. It was built in England and completed in 1893. It saw service in the Sino Japanese war and later the Russo Japanese war. It played a part in the seige of Port Arthur, but soon after was rammed in the side by the Japanese cruiser Kasuga during thick fog. The Yoshino sank with 319 of its crew.

I think this is a beautiful ship and would like to make a large scale model of it. This one scales out close to 1/800.
I have interpreted the pictures above as being buff and white. The model is a simple box with the different deck levels shown by shading. I reworked them to provide the different levels. I also made the bridge a little bit bigger than supplied. I still have to do the guns, boats and masts.

[Don Boose]

Two more excellent little models, Robert! Again, just the right amount of detail for the scale and very clean, precise craftsmanship. Cruisers of that era were lovely ships, and Yoshino is no exception.

Don

[Mike1158]

You folk who model in these small sizes amaze me, nice work there. Not sure I could pull it off without creating a bunch of banana's.

[rebelatsea]

I have been trying to download some free models from papercraft etsutan without success, Does anyone have any useful suggestions?

[Robert Woolley]

The free models are found on the third link written in Japanese just under the Home link. There is a picture of the model and a small grey box at the bottom right of the picture. Click on that and the model will download. It took me a while to figure that one out myself, and then it was by accident.

Robert