Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I - Orel 1:200

[JP64]

Good afternoon to all paper modellers...

It'a a long time I'm wollowing (very silently) this wonderful forum, and now I thought it's my time to show the last model I'm woking on.

This is my first attempt in a full hull model, the previous I made were all waterline.

The subject is the Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I and now some historical notes (took from wikipedia) :

Imperator Nikolai I (Russian: Император Николай I) was a Russian Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship built for the Baltic Fleet in the late 1880s.

She participated, in 1892, in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America in New York City.

After this mission she was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and visited Toulon in October 1893.

She sailed for the Pacific Ocean during the First Sino-Japanese War and remained in the Pacific until late 1896, when she returned to the Mediterranean Squadron and supported Russian interests during the Cretan Revolt.

In April 1898 she returned to the Baltic and had a lengthy refit, which replaced all of her machinery, before returning to the Mediterranean in 1901.

Returning to the Baltic during the Russo-Japanese War, the Imperator Nikolai I was refitted in late 1904 to serve as the flagship of the Third Pacific Squadron under Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov.

Slightly damaged during the Battle of Tsushima she surrendered the following day, along with most of the Third Pacific Squadron, to Admiral Nebogatov to the Japanese fleet.

She was then taken into the Imperial Japanese Navy under the new name of Iki (壱岐?) and she served as a gunnery training ship until 1910 and then became a first-class coast defense ship and training vessel.

Her career terminated when she was sunk as a target ship in October 1915.

now some info on model.

The brand OREL is one of the most prolific (as far as I know) producer of paper kit of military ship for the end of 19th century period.

Looking around to some interesting and unusal ship to built, looking a full-hull model, I come on Orel website and I was interested in this ship for a bunch of reasons :

• seems to be not modelled so frequently and can be considered still a little new and interesting model to see around;
• her armament is not too much heavy, just a couple of big gun in the forward turret and some little guns in the casamate and quick-firing guns on the upper bridges
• the hull lines seems to be not so complicated to build and cover with paper (don't forget this was my firsta attempt in a complete paper model)
• last but not least, I love the russian navy of the end of that century, also when built from other countries (like french shipyards)

The construction was fairly simple in the hull.. the instruction of Orel kit were enough clear and, as first, I cut the false keel pieces, guing all together on a 1,5 mm thick cardboard, having a better strenght and no joints along the keel.

All the principal pieces of the hull and of the superstructures were glued (unsing spray glue) on the same cardboard. Also the main bridge was directly glued on such media.

I started the building of the model about three-four months ago, working on when my job (and my family) leaves me a bit of free time...

Unfortunately, due a laptop crash, I lost the pictures of the first phases of the model building and now I can juts share with you the very last pics I took a couple of weeks ago..

The model is completey made by paper (the only exceptions are the rigs of the davits ready for boats that were made by a metallic thin wire coated by black paint)

The model is full of mistakes, and I'm still learning a lot reading the threads and experiences of other modellers in this forume, hoping to become better by time and by future models.

I'll be happy to have any suggest, indication, and objections from everybody... it's always a way to learn more !!!

Have a nice modeling time !!
Ciao and write you soon

JP

[Beachead]

Very nicely done. Great build.

[sander1942]

Looks good to me. I think you did a great job.

[Michael Mash]

Hello JP,
This is beautiful work.
The white handrails contrast so nicely with the dark backgrounds on the ship.
Mike

[JP64]

Hi, Michael, Mike, Greg

thanks for the kind words on this model of Nikolai I, but believe me there were many mistakes done during the building.

What I have understood, building this model, is to work planning very well each single phase of cutting and glueing, because the particulars under (and upper) the flying bridge must to be positioned well before to put the bridge on.

Another thing I have learned is to verify very well each part of the building instructions. The Orel kit is well done, coloured and designed, but there is sometimes a lack of clear assembling instructions expecially for some particulars... Perhaps some more drawing of sub-assemblies could help a lot....

In any case, the next step will be to build the quick-firing guns on stern deck and on the masts and, more difficult for me, the building of many boats because the way on which Orel designed the boats is totally different, for example, from the HMV way that I've followed since now...

anyway.. I hope to continue this model in the best way (by my lack of experience) and I'll keep update the building descriptions.

In the meantime I'm still thinking to the next model....aso someone wrote here in the forum, it's quite an addiction !! :-)

have a nice weekend and write you soon

ciao

JP

[jagolden01]

Beautiful build, JP. The full hull looks perfect to me. If this is "full of mistakes" as you say, they certainly don't show.
Looking forward to the rest of the build.
Nice background information.

[PAPER FAN]

Excellent build. Love the colors of the those old turn of the century ships.

[modelperry]

This pre-dreadnaught era of ships is one that appeals to me. Your effort is very nice and I look forward to more. Good Job!

greg

[marco1971]

Hello JP, I am very glad to see your works here, too. Congratulations for the outstanding work you are doing.


Marco

[Hiob]

Very nice work! Did you think about making railings on the mast? It would make it look even better.

I like it a lot, congrats!