Thought I should post photos taken of my 'disarmed' HMS Hood before she was sold to Larry Dingle last Sept. The model was built with the first hull from my 1997 mold, now owned by Strike Models, and used plans from 'Anatomy of the Ship: The Battlecruiser Hood' to represent her as on trials in 1921. Detailing hadn't been completed - you can see the main gun directors are missing from the conning tower and foretop.
More photos: The model has fiberglass decks with planks scribed in the gelcoat. The Level 01 superstructure is fiberglass, as is Level 02 aft and under the bridge. The hatches are 1/8" plexiglass and fit into recesses molded into the decks. The drive system uses Mabuchi 6V 500 series motors with Master Airscrew 2.5:1 geared reduction drives (fully enclosed) and Raboesch U-joints with 1/4" UNF inserts for the reduction gear output and 4mm inserts for the shaft end. The shaft tubes are 6mm/1/4" O.D. with 4mm shafts and the props appear to be Rivabo 35 or 40mm 4-blade, with 40mm 5-blade drag props. The bilge pump is one of Carl Camurati's. Compact and the best output of several different models I tested with the same motor. The rudder is a modified Robbe kit (see Profintern build thread) with a much enlarged rudder, made by cutting thin brass to a pattern, bending it around the rudder and soldering the rear edges together. (Hood's rudder is now allowed to be 50% larger.)
Part of the gear system that rotated Y turret (a side mount) through 180 degrees using 2:1 gear reduction. The smaller gear was on the pivot shaft for the turret. The system was removed and will probably be used for the aft 18" gun on HMS Furious. The bolt sticking through the foam water channeling material held a plastic clip that secured the aft end of the Gold'N Rod control cable from the turret rotating servo, located in the bow with the rest of the radio equipment.
Fiberglass portion of the superstructure molded to the deck after it was installed. The curved base of the conning tower ahead of and bolted to it was made from 3 layers of 1mm sheet styrene and the narrow transverse plate between them is plexiglass. The grooves in the rear wall are for the tripod's rear legs.
That's some nice fiberglass work you've done there Really good looking ship, did anyone get a chance to shoot the pretty bits?
Thanks Guys. As expected Hood turned poorly and the dual stern guns in X turret were very hard to bring on target. She was never used in a fleet battle because I was unable to eliminate intermittent firing problems with the sidemounts (in A, B and Y turrets). Although they would all fire at home I don't think more than 3 of 5 guns ever fired reliably on the water. The nearly useless dual stern guns in X turret were the only ones that were reliable. Hood had a couple of brief fights against Stokamoto's Bismarck and was easily defeated due to unreliable guns and poor maneuverability. The second battle was a declared sink because after launch I discovered that a pair of delinquents who were caught piling sand on the model had filled the bilge pump's outlet. The two battles were brief so there was little damage to details other than the loss of a few bollards and a deck hatch or two from the low quarterdeck. I sold the model without BB cannons and CO2 system to Chris Osborne in Saint John , NB in 2002 or 2003. Several years later, after using it as a non-combat RC model he sold it to another NABS member who wanted a higher price than I'd sold it for so I didn't buy it. It went to a new member who I later helped install a new CO2 system but he decided not to continue in the hobby. I bought it back with the new CO2 system installed but no guns around 2011, but wasn't motivated to complete it because NABS was no longer active. Last year I sold it to Larry Dingle. It had been banged up a bit in the 8 or so years it was away but I fixed most of the cosmetic damage. It was still missing the fore topmast and mainmast battle ensign and gaff when sold. The original CO2 system, servos and BB cannons, which were installed on brass turntables with elevation screws, are in storage in case I build HMS Vanguard after I retire.
