00 gauge Royal Navy vessels

[shortliner]

There is a 1/72 scale kit made of the USS Nimitz, but that works out at 17 feet long!

...and I'm trying desperately not to think how much it is likely to cost!!!

[trisonic]

...and I'm trying desperately not to think how much it is likely to cost!!!

You could always live in it, I suppose.......

 

Best, Pete.

[C&WR]

It's amazing how big 'stuff is' - slightly off topic (but related) I once wanted to put a cricket pitch on a 00 layout... That would be around 1m diameter!!! (most cricket grounds cover around 100m diameter ish).

I was considering part of a Rugby pitch as part of a scenic break on my layout. The idea was to have the posts against the side walls, the dead ball area projecting into the baseboards then some hoardings with spectators.

 

Having measured this up I abandoned the idea. I put the little park in instead.

[Southernman46]

You could always commission.....................................

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306013/The-matchstick-armada-Modeller-spends-62-years-building-incredible-fleet-400-ships.html

 

I hope these get saved when he passes on..............

[orcadian]

Thanks guys, looks like it might end up being done in T Scale or N Scale considering the relative dimensions

T Scale may well be the answer - I forget the scale factor for this, but there are several plastic injection (Airfix type) kits available of modern RN vessels in 1/350 scale, and also 1/700.  In N scale, I can't find any 1/144 or thereabouts RN vessels. One of the UK plastic kit suppliers which does have a reasonable catalogue of warships is,  hannants.co.uk  - on-line and mail order at Lowestoft, retail shop in London, Colindale, near RAF Museum.  They list by scale and type. Ideally you would want waterline rather than full hull kits, but I couldn't see anything larger scale than 1/350, although in resin they do a couple of rowing boats and similar in 1/72nd!

 

If you still have an open Modelzone  nearby, it may be worth looking almost immediately to see if they have any 1/350 ships in stock.  

 

Revell.com (Germany) do a 1/72nd German Marine (sea-going) Search and Rescue vessel in 1/72, which is 44 cm long, and the Revell site has the closest to an N scale ocean exploration vessel in 1/125 (a Revell fit the box scale!), which is 33 cm long.

 

If you are very good with wood, billingboats.com still list a 1/75th Fairmont Alpine ocean-going tug, which is 'only' 100 cm long!

 

Friends who scratch-build ships and sail them on yacht ponds tell me that there are marine model magazines which offer plans, but to a ship-modeller, fine scale and coarse scale have very different definitions than railway modellers understand!  One fully-detailed fine scale ship in, say, 1/72, could represent a whole lietime of modelling and cost a fortune in detailed deck fittings, etc.  They say that a model ship is detailed if at about 20 yards away its type and class can be recognised - at model railway baseboard viewing distances, such a model may well look cruder than a pre-war Hornby clockwork 0-4-0 tinplate 'express passenger' loco!

 

So, you can get a very limited range of detailed plastic kits of 00 small sea-going vessels, one or two similar which would, at a push, go on the back wall of an N scale dock, or a good selection that would probably fir alongside a T-scale railway - but how much T-Scale railway stock can you get?

 

Or you could opt for the easy life and choose a different modelling time period or setting!  The choice is yours - enjoy whatever suits you, and good luck with it!

 

Richard

[Gordon A]

Most of Deans Marine warships are 2nd WW vintage at 1:96 scale.

 

http://www.deansmarine.co.uk

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[Skaran]

Probably not a great deal of help for the Brits here but the RAN has a paper fold up of an Armidale class patrol boat. This is available as a free download at http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/navy/Technology/armidale.aspx

 

The real boat is 186 feet long (74.4 cm at 4mm/foot) so some scaling of the pdf may be needed plus detailing. It could be used to represent the fictional HMAS Hamersley from the TV series Sea Patrol so a promotional visit perhaps.

HMAS Albany

[ChrisB]

You could always commission.....................................

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306013/The-matchstick-armada-Modeller-spends-62-years-building-incredible-fleet-400-ships.html

 

I hope these get saved when he passes on..............

I have no interest in ships whatsoever but this guy's skill is amazing and should be an inspiration to us all. I am much more familiar with aircraft and those he has created (entirely from scratch) are incredible when you consider the complexity of fuselage and wing shapes. Take my hat off to the guy.

[PhilJ W]

Most of Deans Marine warships are 2nd WW vintage at 1:96 scale.

 

http://www.deansmarine.co.uk

 

Gordon A

Bristol

They actually make a container ship in 1/76 scale. It is a coastal vessel and the model is 110 centimetres long, just under 4 feet. Their 1/96 scale naval vessels have been used on 00 scale layouts without the scale difference being too noticeable, in fact the only thing that 'jarred' was that it was alongside another vessel of 1/72 scale.

[BlackRat]

As you probably guessed, ship building is a hobby within its own right.

 

Ships tend to be big...........which is why there aren't many kits in OO 4 mil.

 

have a look at the thread re the Scottish ferry on here, scratch built and see if you can have a go.

 

BUT, unless your dockyard layout is massive, any ship is going to look wildly under scale or massively out of place.

[Pacific231G]

Apart from only including one end of a ship, the obvious trick is to finish the edge of the baseboard as a dock wall. Then the viewer's point of view is as it were looking down from the deck of a larger ship we suppose to be docked there. That was the basis for the smaller of my two plans based on Dieppe Maritime published in Continental Modeller in January 2010. Doing that wouldn't preclude having a much shorter dock to the side or behind the main quay with a vessel of more manageable size.

 

The one catch in all this if that, if you are modelling a modern naval port after about the mid 1970s, they were making little or no use of the internal railways to move stuff around wthin the dockyards. I believe that Portsmouth Dockyard closed its rail connection completely in 1977. If you examine it on Google Earth you'll see that Devonport does still have both an external rail connection to a single yard and a system within the dockyard that appears to be completely unconnected from the outside world. These are though for a very specific traffic and none of the tracks actually go onto the quayside.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3809747.stm

 

At Devonport in particular you can still trace the layout of much of the disused quayside trackage though much of it it has been removed, built over or buried. You can also measure the lengths of individual ships using Google Earth's ruler.

[lefrog97]

They actually make a container ship in 1/76 scale. It is a coastal vessel and the model is 110 centimetres long, just under 4 feet. Their 1/96 scale naval vessels have been used on 00 scale layouts without the scale difference being too noticeable, in fact the only thing that 'jarred' was that it was alongside another vessel of 1/72 scale.

In that case, maybe using 1:96 scale vessels would be an idea to follow up on?

[souwest]

• Hi

Look up westbourne-models.co.uk - they do, or rather Deans Marine models do a 1/72 model of an Island class patrol ship - 800mm so not small.  This was a popular and attractive class of fishery protectin vessel, during the 1970s to 90s.  They were based at Rosyth (which was/ is rail connected).  Dont forget that the RN have a number of civvie contracted tugs - used to be RMAS but now Serco so any 4mm tug could be painted in black hull, buff uppers and not only tug - vessels like PAS boats, lighters, oilers, ammunition barges are all still in use. 

 

If you are modelling a naval base dont forget all the parafanalia - anchors, containers, ship's boats, and vehicles delivering all manner of items.

 

The old airfix magazine did a feature on various ships including plans 1/600 of the Invincible class.  Yes too big to model in 00 but you could use as a backscene and as others have mentioned in part.  You would be able to get a way with a scale smaller than 1/72 if you did this.  Plans are available couresy of a fellow davco - should be searchable.

 

And if you model any given day at 0800 when Colours is piped you have the perfect reason for evenryone standing still at attention - "Colours"!

 

Rosyth and probably teh others had a number of pre-grouping wagons painted black with PSTO(N) markings - some are preserved at Bo'Ness and some in Pompey dockyard.  There's a book on Devonport - Guzz dockyard - they even had a passenger train.

 

In the 1990s Rosyth got the contract to refit Mk 1 coaches to mail driving trailers, and also London Underground vehicle repairs.  I recall several BR vans both there and in Plymouth.  DMU shuttle service for Navy Days.

 

Sounds like a good way to combine 2 interests - good luck.

 

Souwest

[Southernman46]

Does anyone know where I can source 00 gauge (4mm scale, 1:76) models of current (modern era) Royal Navy ships and submarines for use on a dockyard layout? Any help would be greatly appreciated

No idea where you live but Chatham Historic Dockyard is still there complete with rail system, slips, Ropery, the most exquisite 18th century timber covered slipway, mastpond and HMS Cavalier & HMS Ocelot - give you a great flavour. Most of the branch to the main line at Gillingham is still there too. This was in daily use right up until the Dockyard closed and for some time afterwards taking contaminated soil away to Calvert behind 56's. The unique nuclear flask wagon MODA 95780 was a regular visitor during the 70's as Chatham was a nuclear sub refit yard.

[GBMRG]

Hello,

 

Noticing your interest I might suggest the following link if you wish to have a Royal Naval vessel.

 

http://www.jecobinplans.com/estore/index.php?

 

Also, don't forget you could always consider modelling the support craft used in a Naval dock yard; i.e. tugs, lighters, fuel barges, waste oil barges, etc.  All would be considerably smaller than a warship.

 

I hope this is of help.

 

Kind regards,

 

GBMRG

[James Harrison]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it (I havn't seen it in this thread yet) but Airfix have a 1/72 Vospers Motor Torpedo Boat in their range:

 

http://www.airfix.com/search/?q=A05280

 

A 'vintage' craft?  Yes.  But consider.  Smaller craft tend to see longer service than do destroyers, frigates etc etc etc.  These particular boats postwar were stripped of their armament and sold into private use- some are still in use as houseboats for example.  I'm sure there are any number of examples of the odd one or two being retained as harbour craft, liberty boats etc etc etc. 

[Kris]

There is a MTB moored at a yard on a creek (possibly the River Lynher) between Saltash and St Germans. It's very visible from the train as you go over the viaduct. I believe that it is under restoration to WW2 condition. 

[C&WR]

I remember an old MTB being tied up on the way to Thorpe St Andrew in Norwich when visiting family there as a nipper & I'm pretty certain there was some kind of patrol vessel used by the RNR or Sea Cadets right outside the station forecourt.

[25901]

Well Deans Marine do HMS Guernsey in 1/72 that's only 820mm long but at £259.44 is a bit pricey http://www.deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/products_id/470

but these two http://www.deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/products_id/172 and http://www.deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/products_id/173 are less than a £100 and would look good next to a Airfix lifeboat

Most of there stuff is 1/96 but you can fit them into a tighter space, all depends how deep are your pockets but I like the "Dante" and wonder how she would look as a Royal Navy ship

 

 

 

[Bezzy Oppo]

If you're looking to be prototypical to the modern era you could actually get away with nothing tied up alongside; dockyard derelict and overgrown, desolation, tumbleweed etc.

 

HMSL Gleaner - well having worked on her aside for the tiny white duster you wouldn't really know she was anything to do with Pusser. Which is how the survey flotilla liked it when I suffered 8 years' service.

 

If you're going down the scratchbuild route look forward to seeing your endeavours.

[Phil R]

You might be able to use the 1/96 scale ships (or smaller) in the background - "out at sea" as a means of forced perspective.

Obviously no good if you want a vessel moored in dockside, just a thought.

 

Went to many Navy Days as a kid, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Rosyth, as my dad's main interest is the Royal Navy. I remember going on the Rosyth DMU shuttle (mentioned earlier in the thread) from Inverkeithing around 89/90, it was a 1st generation set in Strathclyde orange & black.

 

They were great days out if the weather was good. If it rained, particularly at Portsmouth, you got wet. Very wet.

 

Regards

 

Phil