Ulfberht Project Scratch Concept Design 1:250 Scale

[Tapcho]

Love those ship's boat and the platform looks very nice and busy. Will there be a crane for the plane?

Tappi

[Michael Mash]

Originally Posted by Tapcho

Love those ship's boat and the platform looks very nice and busy. Will there be a crane for the plane?

Tappi

Thank you Wireandpaper.

Thanks Tappi!
Yes . . . cranes to hoist the aircraft are on the drawing board.
Mike

[Michael Mash]

Thanks to all for your interest in this project.

Ulfberht will have six 47mm guns arrayed in platforms along the top of the bulwarks. Images 195, 196 and 197 show those in steps of assembly. All the platform parts are paper.
The 47mm guns were created on page 11 of this thread.

Six winches will be needed by the crew. Four will be installed on the main deck, and the remaining two will be installed on the aft deck. Each winch assembly is comprised of 9 parts, all paper.
The tiny control wheels (seen in the foreground of image 199) are laser cut.

Best Regards,
Mike

[Tapcho]

Nice 3-pounders. Immaculate workmanship which is your trademark.

Tappi

[Michael Mash]

Thank you Tappi.

Happy New Year to all.

To provide the crew with quick access to the gun platforms mounted on top of the bulwarks, short ladders have been created as seen in the first three images. All the parts for the ladders are paper. Images 204 and 205 show the platforms installed on top of the bulwarks, forward and aft.

At this point, it was necessary to create the torpedo boat davits and test fit them before installing the final two 47mm gun platforms. Things are beginning to get crowded, so some attention must be given to where things will be located, relative to each other.

The final two images show some preliminary work with torpedo boat davits and catapult parts.

Best Regards,
Mike

[Mike1158]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and no mistake.

[romanmodels]

coming along nicely Mike

[Michael Mash]

Thank you Mike1158, and thank you David.

I am a big admirer of catapults on battleships and cruisers. I have not had the chance to build one since 2008, so I was enthusiastic about the idea of including one in this project.
This group of photos document the creation and installation of the aircraft catapult.
It is hand cut from paper. Quite a bit of work went into it so I was motivated to provide photos from a variety of angles.

Best Regards,
Mike

[Tapcho]

First I didn't know what to think when I saw the catapult on top of the turret but then I Googled for pictures and saw that this desing was actually used over the years. So why not, shows just how little I know of warships. Anyway its wonderfully executed, very precise and gallant structure.

Tappi

[Michael Mash]

Thank you Tappi.
I did not realize that there may be some who are not familiar with turret mounted catapults on warships. For them I should add the following: The design seemed to be popular during the 1920s thru the early 1940s. It was very clever because it allowed the catapult to be rotated into the wind to assist launching the aircraft. Also, the catapult could be rotated to bring it within reach of the cranes so the aircraft could be pulled from the water (after landing) and repositioned on the catapult. I provided a pair of images. The first shows the catapult on top of turret number 3 aboard battleship IJN Fuso (courtesy of Digital Navy). The second shows the catapult on top of turret number 3 aboard USS Arizona (Digital Navy). The photo of Arizona is my own project from 2008. Note that the colors and markings of the two aircraft I made for Arizona are not historically accurate. Unfortunately, back then I was not as diligent in the pursuit of historical accuracy. At the time, Digital Navy released the kit as she was in 1941. I was attempting to build her as she was in 1937, when she still carried biplanes.

Of course, there were never any aircraft catapults on predreadnought battleships. (Ulfberht is a fictional vessel).
In any case, there is quite a challenge in modeling such a device. So that is what inspired me to create this one.