[Starship Modeler's eighth on-line modeling contest: Departures]

Entries Page
Contest Rules
Our Sponsors

Unholy Alliance



Visit Our Sponsors


DP9-logocolor.jpg

[King George V]




[HMS Hood]


by Jerry Oliver

Scale: 1/700
Year of time divergence: 1899

What if .... on December 8, 1899 beings called Shadows from the planet Z' Ha' Dum discovered Earth? The shadows found that Earth nearly at peace with itself. With their belief in Controlled Chaos, trhese aliens saw a chance to experiment with a low technical race with much potential to grow as a member of the galactic community.

The Shadows started to work in the background, and manipulated the governments of Earth into an arms race. That arms race lead to the First World War. To the Shadows' disappointment, the war ended too soon for their plans to take shape. During the war, the technical advancements were minor, but nothing like what the Shadows had hoped for, so they developed a new plan. Agents for the Shadows started to ask the governments of Earth their age-old question "What do you want?" The governments gave a variety of answers, and the British gave the answer the Shadows want to hear.

The shadows started by helping the British develop new technology for the Royal Navy., including a new rapid firing 16" gun, smaller, lighter and faster engines for ships, metals that are stronger and lighter, and many more advancements. The most visible and frighting was the bio armour. The Shadows helped British scientists develop a very weak version of the armour used on their vessels.

It was discovered that the armour had some spines growing on it. At first the Navy tried to cut them off, but there was nothing they could do. There was nothing strong enough to cut the new armour. Another glitch of the armour was the effect it had on the crew. The first ship to be fitted with the bio-armour reported that the crew heard screaming while they slept, and soon the crew was not sleeping at all. The Shadow agents soon had come up with a solution to the problem; agents working for the shadows showed the scientists how to reprogram the armour so that it does not scream, but sings. By 1940 all the ships in the Royal Navy were fitted with the new technology.

While the Shadows were helping the British, they were also putting their new plan into effect. World War 2 began in 1940 with the US fearing that the British were planning for war. That led the US to launch a preemptive strike into Canada . . .

My model depicts the Battle of St. Lawrence in 1942, where the combined fleet of United States, Japan and Germany went head to head with the Royal Navy, and lost...

The Model

My model diorama consists of 3 Tamiya 1/700 battleships: Nelson, Rodney, King George V, battlecruiser Hood, and a 1/700 Hasegawa Japanese destroyer Arashio. I would have liked to have found a British destroyer but there was not time, so I hope you people forgive me a little for the substitute.

The Tamiya models were a dream, they just fell together. At first I was just going to build the Rodney and the destroyer, but I had such a blast in building them that I decided to buy the KGV and have two battleships and the destroyer. Things soon got out of hand and I got the Nelson and the Hood too. I modernized the Hood similar to the Queen Elizabeth and the Renown, and modeled the superstructure after the Vanguard. The shadow spines are made from sprue that I heated up on my stove.

I painted the models gloss black and metallic black. The veins I panted Napoleonic violet and navy blue grey. The water was painted with Aquamarine.

I made the water with a product called realistic Water (Crap). It took me about an hour per coat, and I layered the crap trying to make the water look real. I found that if you put the crap in a container and let it sit for 24 hours, you could mold the waves a lot easier. To top it all off I screwed up the water while I was dry brushing the white caps. It took me three days to fix it. Now that I know what I know I think I would have stayed with my first plan and just have one battleship and one destroyer.

I'd like to thank my friend Tom for the wood and helping me prepare it.

Image: Overall (BIG image)

Image: HMS Rodney

Image: Side view of the scene




Go back up | Starship Modeler Home | Site Map | Feedback

This page was last updated 16 May 2003