Thursday 9 May 2019

Ironclad Scratchbuild No 3: Rolf Krake



I was pleased with my previous attempts at 1/2400th scratch building, the USS Onondaga and USS Dunderberg / Rochambeau. so thought it was about time that I tackled something new. I have a 1/2400th Figurehead scale model of the Rolf Krake, the Danish turret ironclad launched in 1863, but I've always thought it looked a bit puny and under scale. It also doesn't match well with the Tumbling Dice ships in my 1864 flotilla. 


As a result, I decided to calculate the scale dimensions of the Rolf Krake, using an online scale converter tool, to see if the model I have is actually accurate or not. It turns out that it's not far off, being slightly thinner in the beam than it should be but pretty much spot on for length. Using the data available, which doesn't always match depending on which source you refer to, here's what I worked out:

Beam: 11.6m = 4.845mm = 5mm

Length: 56m = 23.3mm = 23.5mm

So, I could just use the existing model I have but also quite like the idea of scratch building my own version, using a spare Tumbling Dice sea base as a starting point then constructing the hull and fittings from plastic card. I may bulk it out a bit as well, so that it isn't so tiddly and looks a bit more robust. I'll have a go at the weekend, once I've shifted the British ironclad painting a bit further forwards.

2 comments:

  1. That's one that got away but I'll g back and have another go one day. It's more likely to be in a large scale though.

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