Russian Battleship Borodino - 1/350 Zvezda

Couldn't pass this one up for the price.  Another 1/350 early iron warship.  The Borodino-class battleships were completed around 1904 and saw first major action against the Japanese in the Battle of Tsushima.  Unfortunately, 3 of the 5 battleships were sunk there.  But it's a cool looking pre-dreadnought era battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy.  During wartime, the naval ships were repainted black above the waterline.  I've seen a very black version online, at prefer other grayish-black examples, so Vallejo's German Gray will be used instead of black.














And work has begun.  Below waterline painted deep red.


Superstructure floors are chocolate brown, windows are deep sea blue and walls are German Gray with some weathering.  


Drilled out the portholes in the cabin areas.  They still need a little touchup with black.  


Lifeboats painted.  Zvezda didn't include oars, so they'll have to be fashioned from styrene stock.  Some touchup still necessary.


Larger gun turrets painted, touchup to be done when barrels are installed.


Add-ons of metal gun barrels, wooden deck, railings, and figures are on order.  

I started this since the Zeppelin-Staaken's landing gear collapsed under the heavy weight of the plane.  That one has been temporarily placed on hold.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

You are one busy builder! Thanx for posting something quite unusual!

im liking this, great to see a floaty boaty thing

Looking good mate

Got some goodies in the mail yesterday and started work.

First, the Artwox wooden deck.  Because it was so long and very sticky, with many cutouts, I laid it down in three pieces.


Next, the barrels for the big guns.  The plastic barrels are cut off, holes drilled, and new barrels get CA'd in.


Forgot to photo the smaller barrels, but they are super tiny. Lots more barrel work to come.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

Wow, that is a lot of work you have ahead of you. Very much looking forward to watching this come together.

Continuing with gun barrels.  The two large 12" gun turrets are complete - they're the easiest of the bunch.


Next, the six smaller turrets (6 inch guns) - a little more tedious.  Got two done so far.


And a picture for size comparison.


And on to the next smaller 3 inch gun.  I cut off the little nib intended to mount the barrel, because it seems almost impossible to drill a pilot hole in the gun without being skewed or having the bit walk off the tiny surface.  So a few of them look a little off.  Luckily they'll just be sticking out of the lower deck, slightly obstructed. There's 20 of these.


And to yet come are the smallest guns - the 2 inch deck guns. They should be easier than the three inch since the barrel mounts to a shield.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

Got the 20 3 inch guns installed below deck.  And luckily they're all below deck since they were a bear to install.  Not as goofproof as on the SMS Emden model.  The interior walls aren't quite straight, but the gun barrels look OK.









A comparison of the 2 inch guns - before and after barrel replacement.


And a something to give an idea of size.


Coming along OK so far.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

More than okay Mike, it's brilliant. The decking and replacement gun barrels are superb.

Mike, the brass barrels make a v-a-s-t difference, even more so on the 3" QF guns.

Awesome work! I especially like the pic of the aft guns with that 'V' of visible deck slats, so very cool.

Got the upper level installed.  The fit of the decks is not as exact as it was on the Revell SMS Emden.  If I knew that earlier, I would have tried to lay the wood down after the deck piece was installed and filled at the edges.  



In this shot, you can see that the forward section of the upper deck fits perfectly, and the rear mounts right against the provided pins.  However the recess for the center gun turret is way off center.


With gun turrets temporarily installed.
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The editor doesn't want to insert any more pics for some reason, so I'll call it complete for now.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

No idea how I missed these up dates. Only thing in my defence is I don't always see new post indications in blue.
This is increadable, so much detail in such a small area, great work Mike.

Great progress Mike, it looks brilliant.

Excellent progress! With such a small scale the amount of detail is stunning. Though the centre gun recess is off it isn't as noticeable with the gun in place, maybe just mount the gun to obscure the issue because it would a shame to damage it trying to rectify the situation.

Looking good mate.

Another update here.  This ship is quite frustrating to add railings to.  Many abrupt angle changes in the deck lines.  Close up photos show I'll be doing quite a bit of touching up.   I'll be glad when this is done.









On some of the superstructure, I had to switch to a shorter 3 rail railing because the gun barrels didn't clear.

Thanks for looking,
Mike

Looking brilliant Mike.

Excellent progress! The railings look great, especially given the scale.

This is really looking fantastic. I really dig the colours and detail of the decking. Keepm at it Mike. I'm looking forward to seeing this completed.

Added the stacks and the rear lifting booms here.  


Added ladders and a catwalk to the rear stack.  Will do the same for the fore stack.






Thanks for looking,
Mike

Lovely result Mike, the decking is brilliant!

Wow, that's rather more detailed than I ever expected it to be. Nice.

Great work Mike, I am not a fan of ships for some reason, but the builds you crank out grab my attention. Really nice work all round, keep at it.