1/350 Borodino pre-dreadnought into WW2 escort/AA ship

[gabeus]

Hello

Little progress visible, but a lot of sanding done. I think that the bow is more or less done. At least for now.
I'm going to close the holes of casemates since there will be no mounts there, which is an obvious modification done to many dreadnoughts after WW1.

A little teaser: The armament and a lot of equipment will be Italian built, so the story of the ship gets more and more complicated. Stay tuned

[PFJN]

Hi,
That looks good.
 

[gabeus]

Hi,
That looks good.
 

Thank you

[gabeus]

Hi, again some little progress - port casemates closed. Again white polistyrene and CA glue...
After the starboard work done I'm going to glue the decks so in fact close the hull. Things will definitely be more interesting since it will be work around the armament and superstructure and other stuff

 

[Rick Lowe]

Always interesting when the guns go in...   

[gabeus]

Thank you!

I have something interesting for you 

As I wrote before I decided to put a lot of Italian stuff on this hull. To be precise I bought a model of Italian heavy cruiser "Pola" and now I'm using parts from it, so let's jump to the things visible in photos. Right now it's a dry fit...

I made 2 round plates from polystyrene (1mm) that enable installation of 2x203mm turrets on the original barbettes. Without them the turrets could fall into the hull
Then using parts from "Pola" I create the main superstructure.
It is not finished obviosly because I'm not entirely sure where excatly should I install all the superstructure, funnel, boats, etc. I have to say it is a lot of fun when reusing parts, some of them will be glued backwards, some cut, some bent... I like it a lot 

Enjoy the pics 

[NARSES2]

Coming together nicely 

[gabeus]

Coming together nicely 

Thank you <3

[gabeus]

Good evening my friends

Time to report the progress. I made the superstructure, it was hard and fun at the same time but more fun.
I also decided to glue one funnel a bit aft of the ship and for a reason: no more boilers, no more reciprocating engines, no more steam - we're fans of diesels here! I imagine having 4 diesel engines of ~5000 HP each. Those should produce more power than the original power plant of the ship and make her lighter, so max. speed would be something like about 20 knots. On moderate speed the range may be impressive like let's say 9000 nautical miles on maybe 12 knots.
What do you think about it?

Here are the some photos: Everything white is either putty or polistyrene parts I made from scratch. Left and right supports of the main masts are also hand made On the top of the superstructure you'll find the orignal rangefinder from "Pola"

Hope you enjoy this work

[gabeus]

Some more photos

[Old Wombat]

Much pointier bow!

Looks like she's coming along nicely.

[gabeus]

Much pointier bow!

Looks like she's coming along nicely.

Thank you!
I image that such a bow improves the seaworthiness and maybe speed or at least better efficiency of propulsion

[kerick]

That's quite a different hull shape. That's going to look very interesting. I kept seeing in my minds eye another turret in place of the superstructure above and forward of the rear turret. Carry on!

[NARSES2]

Coming along nicely    The bow extension certainly makes her look sleeker especially in that overhead view

[gabeus]

That's quite a different hull shape. That's going to look very interesting. I kept seeing in my minds eye another turret in place of the superstructure above and forward of the rear turret. Carry on!

Thank you!
I was thinking about another turret for some time since I have 2 more from Pola. I decided not to, because is it a pre-dreadnought era hull after all. Not really long and designed to carry only two main turrets. In terms of armament she is a pre-dreadnought in the cruiser world if I can say so.