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Welcome to my Build diary of Billing Boats 1:100 wooden kit of HMS Warrior. to my knowledge the only Kit available of this historically significant ship.
The build diary will begin soon but before we crack on with the build I wanted to share a little history as to why she is so important to British Naval History.
Although not the first iron ship, nor the first to use both sail and steam, Warrior combined these and other technological developments together and presented the greatest advance in ship design for centuries. She kept the peace by deterring the enemy. All other warships were obsolete the day Warrior was launched. She was to the victorian Navy what HMS Hood was to the interwar Navy, a symbol of British sea power, a peace keeper and a real head turner.
In fact her outer hull design was taken from the largest wooden ship built by the British HMS Mersey. Warriors lines, rear gallery and mast arrangement are all lifted from Mersey's design
https://morecroftfamily..../2012/11/hms_mersey.jpg
The French had launched a ship often sighted as the first Iron Clad, well that depends upon your view I suppose, but the News of the construction of La Gloire and naval expansion across the Channel caused an explosion of anti-French feeling in Britain. The Press stirred fears of an invasion. Despite innovations like the paddle steamer, Great Western and the iron-hulled, screw driven SS Great Britain. The Admiralty had become complacent in their rule of the seas and suddenly had to respond to a French fleet designed to out gun and out perform the British. The French had begun building ships clad in Iron from the waterline up, due to manufacturing issues in France there was not enough iron to meet demand.
The Navy was not convinced that ironclad warships would ever completely replace wooden ones but recognised that the safety of the country depended on bettering the French threat as soon as possible. As Did the Queen, who asked if the Navy could hold its own in a war situation.
in November 1858, the navy commissioned a design for a new Ironclad frigate, the new ironclad was to be called Warrior. Warrior and her sister ship Black Prince were the fastest, largest, strongest and most powerfully- armed warships in the world, and confirmed Britain's place as the ruler of the waves.
Isaac Watts, Chief Constructor to the Navy, developed an entirely new concept in warships. A revolutionary idea was to house the main guns, boilers and engine in an impregnable armoured citadel. This box was to be constructed from 4 ½ inch thick wrought iron plates bolted to 18" inches of teak, then mounted on the 1 inch thick plating of the hull itself, behind which were the frames and timber lining. In all this represented a total thickness of some 2 feet. The bow and stern were constructed of wrought iron plates 1 inch thick. Watertight compartments were formed to limit the spread of water inside the ship, the first time this, soon to become worldwide practise, had been used in a warship.
Just 4 months after La Gloire was commissioned, Warrior was ready for launching and to make the Royal Navy the envy of the world, but at a cost of £400,000, twice that of a standard wooden ship-of-the-line. plus the additional cost of saving the ship builder from bankruptcy.
Fixing the armour plates to the side of the ship was a Difficult task, each one had to be bent to fit the curve of the ship's hull before being tongued and grooved in order to fit closely to the plates around. In all some 202 armour plates had to be put onto the ship, weighing a total of 960 tons. When completed the 100-strong fitting out party of seamen sent from Woolwich had installed 25 miles of rope, 660 blocks and 80 hearts & deck eyes.
Warrior was first commissioned into the Royal Navy on 1st August 1861. As she was a new and innovative ship the next few months were spent establishing her performance in trials. In June 1862, Warrior was ready for active service in the Channel Squadron, patrolling coastal waters and making voyages to Lisbon and Gibraltar.
Warrior was the focus of attention wherever she went and when she toured the British ports in 1863 as many as six thousand people a day came to marvel at this symbol of British Naval power. she was the largest, fastest and most heavily armoured and most heavily armed warship in the world. Not for nothing was she described as "The Black Snake amongst the rabbits in the Channel".
Wooden warships had attained their optimum length, their multiple gun decks making them unstable. Warrior's ingenious design incorporated just one long, very stable gun deck - 100 feet longer than any previous warship. Her firepower could blow any other vessel out of the water. While wooden ships carried 32-pounder guns, Warrior had 68-pounders and 110-pounders.
Two full days were needed to load the 805 tons of coal required to fill her hold. Tons of dry coal blackened the gun deck to such an extent that it took a week to clean up afterwards. It is not surprising, therefore, that Warrior was the first warship to have washing machines.
Despite her leaping ship design Warrior was obsolete within a decade. She was relegated to the reserve Fleet ranks and in 1883, withdrawn from sea service. she was used as a depot ship for two years. Her name became Vernon III, the Navy's torpedo training school. Nobody wanted the old battleship when she went up for sale in 1924. Five years on, she inherited the name Oil Fuel Hulk C77 when starting life as a ship keeper's home and floating oil jetty at Pembroke Dock in Wales. However, the Royal Navy kept her in reasonable condition with occasional maintenance trips into dry dock keeping her hull intact. Warrior was the only example of the 45 iron hulls built between 1861 and 1877 to survive.
When in 1960, HMS Vanguard submitted to the cutting torch, Warrior remained as Britain's last surviving battleship, a fact not lost on several influential people.
a committee, chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh, meeting in 1968 to discuss Warrior's future. From this emerged the Maritime Trust, formed to raise money for the preservation of our naval heritage. Following the announcement that the oil depot would close in 1978, and that Warrior would no longer be needed, Sir John Smith agreed that the Manifold Trust would underwrite the cost of restoration, estimated between £4-8 million, and the ship was handed over to the Maritime Trust in 1979. Warrior was towed 800 miles to Hartlepool where the world's largest maritime project ever undertaken then began. In 1983 ownership was transferred to the Ship's Preservation Trust, which became the Warrior Preservation Trust in 1985.
On June 16th 1987 After an hour of careful manoeuvring, she entered her berth. At 5:45pm the tow rope was dropped and Warrior was home to stay - taking her place within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. I visited her the following year and was total bold over by her.
I have been waiting to build a model of Warrior for 29 years and truly hope I do her justice.
You can find a kit review at this link. build will begin very soon.
http://forum.model-space...spx?g=posts&t=12048
Jase“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Will be following Jase, good luck with her....  Regards Alan
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 Nice ship kit ,have fun building her Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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 Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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It's a huge model, good luck with its build and look forward to seeing what should be an impressive end result and watch out for those Rabbit's
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Looking forward to seeing this one Jase as I have it in my stash Martyn Building ?
Completed. Soliei Royal . Sovereign of the Seas . Virginia . Scotland . San Felipe . Corel vasa , Santisima Trinadad X section , Vasa
Next Build ?
When sailors have good wine, They think themselves in heaven for the time. John Baltharpe
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 Rank: Super-Elite        Groups: Registered
Joined: 30/01/2013 Posts: 4,604 Points: 13,607 Location: Monmouthshire UK
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Will be watching this one all the way Jase, best of luck with it Steve
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Rank: Super-Elite   Groups: Registered
Joined: 08/03/2014 Posts: 2,970 Points: 8,502 Location: united kingdom
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I loved reading the history lesson (and so pleased it had a happy ending) will be following along also. Ken's the name modeling's the game.
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Thanks all for showing an interest. I have been mulling over the issue of showing the iron plates. At this scale the plates would be 6.3mm x 9mm Found this copper foil tape that is the correct width, it will make cutting the plates real easy. Obviously I will need to get the planking super smooth first as the tape will not be forgiving at all http://www.craftcellar.c..._tape.html#.WOqVFTx4VR4
Jase “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Rank: Super-Elite Groups: Registered
Joined: 27/01/2014 Posts: 5,060 Points: 14,980
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There no doubting that Warrior is a fine looking ship Should be an interesting build to follow
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As the plates were made of iron I would have thought 0.3m Plasticard would do the job better than copper tape and look more realistic, just an idea Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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Hi Andy, many thanks for your suggestion. I have thought about using plastic card it defiantly has some advantages over the foil in terms of hiding any unevenness on the hull. However I am a bit concerned that I may have problems with making it fit near the screw. it may be when I have completed the hull I change my mind but at the moment I am thinking the fool tape will be quick. although I will have to spend more time on hull prep so maybe no quicker?? Once I have the tap I am going to play about and see if it is the solution I think it is, could still be plastic card yet. Jase “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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With a model that size I still think the tape will look wrong and that plasticard is the way I would do it, yes there may be some challenges in placement but nothing a modeler of your experience cant handle. With its size it should look correct so a little extra time taken here will make all the difference to the finished build, no master piece was ever rushed. Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Some modellers use thin card to replicate the iron hull plates.
In real life the iron plates measured 3 x 12ft and were set in a tongue-and-groove fashion in order to closely fit atop the available surface of the hull. In all, some 202 plates were fitted which were bolted through the 18" thick teak underlayer. The iron plates were made from hammered and puddle iron.
Warrior's ironclad hull was a serious design deficiency. Since the knowledge of how to apply copper to iron did not exist at the time, the Warrior’s iron hull was easily fouled by barnacles that greatly reduced her speed and maneuverability. (The British and the French had previously attached copper to the bottom of wooden ships in order to discourage fouling.)
Because of her 420ft length, only a few shipyards in England could dry dock her to remove the fouling. Warrior's entire service was confined to the English Channel area so she could be close to English dry docks.
The Warrior had both steam and sail so she could theoretically use both to travel to America. The ship was fitted out and ready for action June 1862. However, overseas service was out of the question, at least until new dry docks had been constructed (near the area of battle).
It wasn’t until 1866 that a floating dry dock was invented and was launched in 1868. Its purpose was to be taken to Bermuda where it could be used to remove the fouling from ironclads. Without the floating dry dock, the fouling prevented the ironclads from leaving the English Channel area. Bermuda was chosen so that British ironclads could challenge American ironclads if necessary. The fouling of the hull would disable Warrior once it had crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
Another Warrior design deficiency was that it's screw propeller shaft was above the water line and a canon shot could have disabled the vessel. The shaft should have been protected by armour.
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Look forward to seeing this one start. Chris On the bench 1/350 Revell Tirpitz Platinum Edition (Pontos PE and Wooden deck) plus extra Eduard PE set and extra MK1 door sets.
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Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 19/06/2013 Posts: 4,588 Points: 13,553 Location: West Yorkshire
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looking forward to seeing this progress, the history of the ship was interesting to read.
Al
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 Rank: Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 20/04/2012 Posts: 1,787 Points: 5,292 Location: Thurso
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Good luck with the build, ilook forward to seeing your progress.
Graeme
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 27/02/2017 Posts: 410 Points: 1,220 Location: Lancashire
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Hi, Very nicely written intro to your project Jase. I must admit I hadn't heard of her before now  should have paid more attention at school anyway good luck with your build May.
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Hi Jase Looking forward to seeing this one come together. One of my favourite ships of all time! With regards to the steel plating I'd go with thin plasticard for the main part too, but for the more intricate curved ones, how about this- http://www.ebay.co.uk/it...b888:g:q0cAAOSwPc9WwEZ7 This could be pressed into shape over the hull and then cut to size? It's very similar to the DecraLed self adhesive lead strip which I've used for many things from leather straps to simulated iron re-inforcing bands. Best of Luck! Robin First wooden ship: The Grimsby 12 Gun 'Frigate' by Constructo Second: Bounty DelPrado Part Works Third: HMS Victory DelPrado Part Works 1/100 scale Diorama of the Battle of the Brandywine from the American Revolutionary War Diorama of the Battle of New Falkland (unfinished sci-fi), Great War Centenary Diorama of the Messines Ridge Assault Index for the Victory diary is on page 1
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Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 28/07/2014 Posts: 4,269 Points: 12,713 Location: Scotland
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Hi Jase great looking kit look forward to the build regards Phil COMING SOON =1/72 Italeri diorama`s Battle for the Reichstag and Stalingrad battle at the tractor factory 1/16 Trumpeter King Tiger with loads of extras ON THE GO= refurbishment of 1/25 Tamiya tiger 1 , amt Star trek kits and space 1999 models
So Much to Build,But What a Hobby!
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Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 20/10/2016 Posts: 4,504 Points: 13,548 Location: Wiltshire
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This will be a great build to watch Jase! Regards, Phil W Completed projects: 1/43 scale Bedford HA van / 1/43 scale MG TD sports car
Current projects: 1/48 scale U-boat [U230]
Future projects: 1/148 scale railway diorama / 1/50 scale R/C Volvo F89 logging truck / 1/148 scale Thunderbirds Fireflash
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