"WW1 1/2400 Naval - WTJ Light Cruisers" Topic

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Hi all,

Just a little update on what has taken over as my 2015 Project, WW1 Naval. I got a nice big order from WTJ earlier this year and just got round to finishing of a batch of 10 Light Cruisers.

They have come out nice again as they say. There is a big price differential between these and GHQ making the WTJ ships a very tempting option. They also double up as handy fridge magnets (ask 4th Cuirass)

I have a batch of 30 plus Destroyers on the go at the moment which I hope to have done before the new year.

Regards, Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Excellent Work!

Looking nice Ken.

Now, about those bases: I've been meaning to mention…

Nice. I should gather mine off the fridge and play a few games with them.

- Ix

Nice. It's hard for me to get past the absence of masts in what is otherwise a nicely detailed model.

Nice job!

It's hard for me to get past the absence of masts in what is otherwise a nicely detailed model.

The early GHQ models have no masts either. Copper wire, solder, soldering iron… or plastic rod and glue?

I use .020 brass wire for thick applications and .008 guitar string for upper masts and cross trees. I'm terrible at soldering so my stuff is all held together with superglue.

I recently finished the 'Admiral' class turret ships from WTH, and I love them. I hope it's alright if I show a picture.

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Nice work.

The masts tend to snag when you are taking them off or replacing them on the fridge door, I find.

But you can hang things on them, like your keys.

All the GHQ Great War German light cruisers have masts. Their Magdeburg only has a forward mast.

Nice. It's hard for me to get past the absence of masts in what is otherwise a nicely detailed model.

Most modelled pole masts in this scale are several hundred percent too thick. You could perhaps justify leaving them out on that basis. Nice models in any case.

MH

I like adding masts to mine. Thickness doesn't bother me because most all of the details are too thick – especially on GHQ models.

For practical reasons, I don't add spars or rigging. I would prefer to have one or both (even if they would be absent during battle), but I can't find a good way to store the models with all that fragile tophamper.

I notice none of us add coal smoke (myself included). Period photos certainly show a lot of it, especially back in the pre-dreadnought era, and it really dresses up ironclads nicely. It would be tough to pull off in 1/6000, but in 1/2400 it ought to be doable. Has anyone experimented with this?

- Ix

Interesting thoughts re the masts, they do look better and Lowestoft has a fore mast, there is an aspect of practicality thought, these are after all gaming pieces first, models second. I am always catching the masts on the GHQ models and having to bend them back into place.

I like Yellow Admirals smoke idea and I will give it a go when l finish the batch of Destroyers I'm on with.

Regards, Ken
yarkshiregamer.blogspot.co.uk

I am always catching the masts on the GHQ models and having to bend them back into place.

Me too. I like the appearance of the GHQ masts, but they are way too fragile.

In practice I prefer the wire masts I crafted for my non-GHQ ships. They're tough enough to use as grab handles for moving the ships around.

- Ix

I bought a jewelry transport case for my ships. It holds 12 slide-out trays and more than 100 ship models, and 1" trays are deep enough for the ships to fit without the masts hitting the top. If it turns out they're too tall the company also makes 1-1/2" trays, of which the case holds 9 or 10.

A minor point – Coal smoke is BROWN. Oil burners produce Black smoke, but very little unless deliberately laying a smoke screen.

Nonsense, it's gray, just like the the ships and the sea. That's what all the photos show.

Maybe you've been looking at sepia tone pictures?
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I always thought it was more of a "charcoal" color, myself…

But apparently, we're both wrong. It's actually white.

I actually had no idea coal could make white smoke. I read a few places that this is what happens when you get the fires to the optimum temperature. And, I suspect, when you filter out all the particulate matter to meet modern pollution controls.

- Ix

Both lower photos appear to be taken recently in China. The lower photo shows steam, either being released to reduce pressure or to the clear the stack of built up soot, a common procedure on all steam engines whether coal or oil fired. As a child growing up in mid-century America I lived 3 houses from the RR tracks and I became familiar with the oil-burning steam engines of the period. When I was in the navy in the 1960s and '70s we did this often.

The Battle of Jutland occurred when a neutral merchant ship was sighted by both sides in the process of doing this very thing. Both sent light forces to investigate the steam cloud and contact was made when they might otherwise have passed each other without contact.

In the waning days of steam coal burning steam engines were converted to oil, much as the navies of the world had earlier changed from coal to oil. The photo directly above showing black smoke may be an oil burning steamer. It is hard to tell without a clear picture of the tender.

OOPS!
I should have done more research before leaving the above post. It seems the color of coal smoke varies according to coal type/source and the vessel's speed. While some accounts mention "a light brown haze" for ships proceeding at an economical cruising speed, another states…"While with the Grand Fleet the American ships used Welsh coal which burns with a characteristic black, dusty smoke." The ships so described were making 2/3s speed (12 knots). The quote comes from a 1929 book by Rear Admiral Thomas P. Magruder USN. He was a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the Naval War College. He served in the Spanish-American and First World Wars.

Since the two photos of locomotives seem to be Chinese and recent it may be that the upper of the two IS coal smoke. Although Western countries converted to oil long ago before switching to diesel-electric power, China's industries and railways remain largely coal-fired to this day.

Following the First World War America divided its navy into Atlantic and Pacific Fleets with roughly equal numbers of coal burners and oil burners in each. But the quality of coal on the West coast, which came from Alaska, was so poor
and the cost of transporting good quality Eastern coal by rail was prohibitively expensive that the coal burners were sent back to the Atlantic and the oil burners were sent to the Pacific to be near the California oil fields. This also had the positive effect of placing the most modern warships with similar tactical performance together facing the most probable future enemy – Japan.

Although slightly off-topic the following may be of interest to some naval wargamers.
The US Naval War College's Maneuver Rules stated that 100 tons of oil was equal to 150 tons of coal for determining fuel expenditure and for purposes of visibility coal-fired ships were considered to make smoke at all speeds, while oil-burning ships were considered to emit gas but not funnel smoke at all speeds 2 or more knots below maximum. Even at those lower speeds, however, the stack gases of groups of 8 or more oil-burning ships proceeding together were considered just as visible as the smoke of a group of 3 or fewer coal-burners. At speeds within 2 knots of maximum, oil-burners made the same smoke as coal-burners, but vessels with internal combustion engines were considered not to make gas or smoke at all. This last bit of information comes from the US Naval War College Historical Monograph Series No. 21 "Blue versus Orange" by Hal M. Friedman.

Sorry, you've stirred my inner geek. The last photo was taken in the UK and shows the London Midland & Scottish Railway Class 5 locomotive 5305

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And Welsh coal has always been regarded as the best due to the very high anthracite content which makes it burn hotter.

Seems you stirred my inner Welshman too. Patriotic about coal?! I ask you.

Nick