1/3000th Italian

[pierre the shy]

Reduced my led pile a little further by starting work on some long held 1/3000 Navwar Italian ships, some of which are needed for a scenario this coming weekend.....nothing like upcoming game requirements to get a bit of motivation going 
Cleaned up 10 destroyers, 10 cruisers, 4 battleships and 1 carrier (the Aquila which was never fully completed).

Carefully drilled out 1mm holes for extra masts on the cruisers and battleships using me rotary drill (without any bloodletting or broken drill bits  )

Prepared bases (couldn't fit the complete name "Luigi Di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi" on the base so just called her "Abruzzi" in the end.

Next challenge is to figure out how to evenly paint the diagonal red/white aerial ID stripes on the foredeck of each ship.....paint deck white first then dip an old marker pen in red paint to make 2 lines which can then be painted between?   

[paulr]

Looking forward to seeing these on Saturday

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I've just done it with white background and a horizontal 00 brush.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Photos later

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

GTHe worst thing on WW2 Italians is those deck stripes. (I know that is stateing the blindingly obvious) Anyone know why they did it, must have attracted a wondering torpedeo armed Wimpy, Beaufort or later Beaufighter ?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Because they had a tendancy to attract their own air force without them!!!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Work in progress

[pierre the shy]

GTHe worst thing on WW2 Italians is those deck stripes. (I know that is stateing the blindingly obvious) Anyone know why they did it, must have attracted a wondering torpedeo armed Wimpy, Beaufort or later Beaufighter ?

During the latter stages of the Battle of Calabria/Punta Stilo on 9 July 1940 the Italian fleet was attempting to withdraw and was in fairly close proximity to the British fleet when an Italian air raid of some 100+ aircraft arrived. In the confused situation some 50% of the planes attacked their own ships. Naturally the Regia Marina were not impressed and amongst other measures decided to paint the foredecks of their ships with red and white diagonal stripes.

Nice job on the models Lemmey 👍

[toxicpixie]

During the latter stages of the Battle of Calabria/Punta Stilo on 9 July 1940 the Italian fleet was attempting to withdraw and was in fairly close proximity to the British fleet when an Italian air raid of some 100+ aircraft arrived. In the confused situation some 50% of the planes attacked their own ships. Naturally the Regia Marina were not impressed and amongst other measures decided to paint the foredecks of their ships with red and white diagonal stripes.

Nice job on the models Lemmey 👍

Well at least they got stuck in, didn't go home with full loads

Nice work there Lemmy!

[Techno]

Looking good, Will.

Cheers - Phil

[O Dinas Powys]

GTHe worst thing on WW2 Italians is those deck stripes. (I know that is stateing the blindingly obvious) Anyone know why they did it, must have attracted a wondering torpedeo armed Wimpy, Beaufort or later Beaufighter ?

It's not about the combat effectiveness, it's about the looking good whilst steaming up and down the med! 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Italian ship yards got bonuses if the ship went faster than the design spec, so bits got left off. Course in any sort of weather British ships could steam rings round them. Better seakeeping

[steve_holmes_11]

Italian ship yards got bonuses if the ship went faster than the design spec, so bits got left off. Course in any sort of weather British ships could steam rings round them. Better seakeeping

And the heaviest thing when it comes to displacement savings is ... armour.

Never mind, we'll get some admiralty chap to rewrite the doctrine and assert that "Speed is armour".


Yeah, but can it outrun a fully-laden stringbag?

(Not while anchored).

[steve_holmes_11]

If that sounds disrespectful, it's not intended that way.

One of the best "what if" Naval settings is France Vs Italy in the Med (Assuming WW2 didn't break out).

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Bismark couldna out run Stringbags, but her flak couldna hit cause they were too slow.