 With a maximum power of 18,000 ihp they were able to achieve 20.5 knots. In peacetime they cruised the Adriatic Sea and partook in Navy maneuvers and gala days, goodwill visits etc. At the outbreak of WW1 the 3 ships formed the III division of the battlefleet and spent most of the war based at Pola. In company with other units they took part in the bombardment of Ancona 24/5/1915 expending 24 rounds of 9.5" shells at Signal and semaphore stations as well as 74 rounds of 7.5" aimed at an enemy gun battery and other port fuel installations. In February 1918 he undertook further duties in quelling a mutiny at the port of Cattaro before returning to Pola. They were stationed at Cattaro from 4 April 1918 until the end of the war, thereafter being ceded as war reparation to France, though being scrapped in Italy in 1920 :
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| The 1/700 model kit of Erz Ferdinand Max was produced by WSW way back in 1994 . A side by side comparison with the far more recent Austro Hungarian offering of KuK St Georg from the same firm shows how resin technology and especially the master making envelope has been extended. By today's standards some of the detailing was a bit clunky and simplified. Sadly this manufacturer eschews Photo etch technology other than in its most basic form, so much of the detail was cobbled together from a variety of sources. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The hull casting matched the 1:100 Peter Kovacs plans well,
apart from the plan view case mate profile being rather bulbous, this was
sanded back and the joints to hull sharpened.
All the porthole depressions were very shallow, to avoid these being clogged with paint I re-drilled them all. All the deck hatches were featureless on their upper faces, these all had appropriate relief etched hatch lids added( WEM). and skylights had windows drilled in. |
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| The weakest point on the kit were the funnels, the thin handrails being represented as broad bands. The resin items were scrapped and replacements made using aluminum tubing carefully compressed into the correct profile oval shape, the handrails being added from fine copper speaker wire. |  |
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| The funnel grates were made from cut up N-scale Railway modeling PE Factory windows-- a good source for all kinds of useful PE...! |  |
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| The bridge windows were simply raised bumps , and would not do! |  |
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| I cut the upper bridge walls away and spliced in some carefully selected 1/400 ladderstock. Care is needed to obtain the correct height/width ratio; there is vast variation in proportion and scale of PE ladders from different manufacturers having a large of stock to make a selection from helps the eventual item used being from L'Arsenal. As the cast on splinter shields were in reality canvas covered railings they were cut away also on the upper bridge level also. They were remade using GMM Gold plus railing , colored and then covered with white glue, painted on the outside after the glue had dried . The outer bridge support pillars were replaced with brass tube and moved in accordance with the Peter Kovac plans. |  |
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| The large resin lower mast was replaced with a copper tube of the correct diameter in readiness for the stainless steel tapered upper mast to be inserted within later; the lower fighting top and both lookout platforms were re-made with the gun clearing arcs being cut into the paper splinter shield with scissors! On the aft mast the oval platform was made of brass PE surround scrap. |  |
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| These platforms and fighting tops had their elegant curved supporting
brackets added made of bent scrap 1/350 handrail longitudinals
The long pole -masts were made of tapered stainless steel rods, these were selected from a veritable stock made for me by my friend Steve Foulkes, thank you. Being stainless steel they have huge springy strength despite the fine taper, unlike brass items these do not distort under rigging loads vital on tall masts. |
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| The admirals stern walk had its cast on splinter shield removed, the remaining deck thinned down and the decorative railing added ( WEM). a new roof was made of CA infused paper. |  |
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| The aft searchlight deck was supported on numerous thin
brass legs, these were cut from 1/350 handrails. --this was tricky balancing
act!
The 3.7" guns on the boat deck edges had small low splinter shields of various shapes and radii , these were made of CA infused paper. |
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| The boat supporting skids as supplied with the kit were
cast on a wafer, virtually impossible to separate without damage they also
did not correspond to the Kovac plans or photo I had of that area, so they
were all re-made using styrene strip and copper wire.
The circular range finders had their tops removed with a cutting blade, the cast items not being a true interpretation of the real thing. These were re-made using a washer, white glue and styrene strip to give an undercut, sighting slit and a sharper finish. |
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| Fore and aft of the superstructure the four resin diagonal
stairways were cut away and remade using WEM stairs and a platform and
splinter shield made of paper.
The 37 mm Vickers shielded machine guns were scratch built using small pieces from (WEM) KGV Yagi aerials for the shield and other tiny bits of brass. |
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| The boat cranes were distinctive in having 'ladder' steps up both sides
of the jib. This posed a problem in replicating it consistently and giving
a sharp end result.
I ended up using pieces of the aforementioned 1/350 WEM KGV aerials sandwiched between two pieces of copper wire the end result was pleasing to the eye and a pretty accurate representation of the items on the original ship. |
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| There were numerous cowl vents that needed replacing as well as some that were simply missing. An easy method is to use cored lead solder available in various sizes-- it bends very easily and the flux core makes a handy centering guide for the micro drill in a pinchuck to open the mouth in a painless manner. |  |
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| After the railings had been finished I applied all the awning stanchions. These were made of 1/350 (ISW) railing longitudinals, and glued on outboard of the rails, the in-progress photo before the 'sea' has been painted allows them to be seen; the dark green colourscheme disguises many of these fine features when viewed against a dark background. |  |
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| The awning supports on the upper bridge decks all had a small curve
at the top edge to project the awning further outboard of the deck these
were very fiddly to make, install and rig!
The complement of ships boats was basically correct, they were painted carefully to give them depth and fitted with oars made of brown sprue with the ends flattened with pliers. Where applicable I also cut the oar notches in to the gunwhale with a sharp blade. I substituted one pulling boat and replaced it with a steam launch. This was made from a launch hull hollowed out with a motor tool and issued with a fore deck, boiler, engine and tall funnel. |
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| The resin davits supplied were an unsuitable shape and brittle. New
items were made using 5 amp fuse wire.
Glazing of bridge windows and portholes with white glue is always a fraught time... will the glue dry clear... or remain white...? |
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| The ship is crewed with GMM PE figures which give the model
a sense of scale and purpose.
Rigging is all stretched sprue, I experimented on this vessel and used light brown sprue for the signal halyards for a lighter look, the usual black for standing rigging. All the yards had foot ropes. These were replicated with the use of sprue, slowly and methodically. The ship is painted all over in 'Montecucollin' green, the nearest match as researched by Falk Pletcher in PSM mag 1997/2 being Humbrol 31, with the lino decks getting the WEM colourcoats Corticene treatment. The pink boot-top is as per the original, the lurid hue being a result of the saltwater reacting with the boot-top paint. This was changed (!) at the outbreak of WW1 to dark grey whilst the remainder of the vessel was then re-painted in a light blue-grey. The Ensign was an HP-models item adapted by re-painting the red raggedly printed edges with watercolors prior to folding it to death and painting shaded sections into it. The water is artists watercolor paper, infused with CA to make it rigid and impermeable to moisture molded over cocktail sticks to represent a slight swell. All in all a highly enjoyable model to build, despite showing its age the kit is fundamentally good and pretty accurate in its basic dimensions. |
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| I was fortunate in having the afore-mentioned Peter Kovacs
Plan and detail drawing booklet plans available here:
Primary printed sources used were: AustroHungarian Battleships Paul J Kemp
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| .More of Jim Baumann's work. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
