INWarD2026 Preview: Battle of the Denmark Strait

All participants for my planned International Naval Wargaming Day game are ready for combat. I have also written a short set of rules, where players declare their intentions before moving (which hopefully would result in a more interesting gameplay than just the plain move-shoot routine). Also PoW has to roll for random critical damage at the beginning of the game. 

I'll write up the AAR next week, stay tuned until then!

Would you Duke it out with someone made of Iron?

(For the title I apologize to fans of the real Iron Duke.)

I painted these back in October 2025 but then just shelved the project, and only got to base them this weekend. They are 1/2000 scale scratchbuilt ships of the WW1 vintage Iron Duke class superdreadnoughts.

Construction, as per usual, was done with various thicknesses of balsa wood, plasticard, bamboo kebab sticks and toothpicks, and steel wire for the masts.

I don't know how long the revival of the project will last, but I aim to complete a few more hulls and play some games.

Airfix HMS Prince WIP

Wow, an actual hobby post you say? With pictures?

Let me start by saying I'm not a sucker for vintage plastic model kits. I know some people like to torment themselves specialize in such things, but I'm not one of them.

However, Baroque warship kits in general have always been very appealing to me. I like their looks - and history - better than the later periods. So once I learned of this Airfix produce, I was constantly on the lookout for it.

If you are familiar with the Airfix HMS Prince kit (said variously to be 1/138, 1/150 and 1/180 scale), you might know that the secondary market price for it is, as can be deducted from the name, princely. So I was rather surprised one day when I found it on a local Facebook buy&sell group for about the tenth of the price it goes on ebay. Needless to say, I struck like a hawk and grabbed it. 

Used to Love Her, But Now I Have to Rig Her

I'm on a roller lately with pop culture references in my titles, for which I apologise.

Anyway, my labours on the Zvezda 1/350 Revenge model slowly come to fruition. I put this project off and on for a while now, but seeing the finish line is always satisfying. This is a snap-fit kit originally with plastic masts, sails and shrouds. But of course I had to do it the complicated way.

Steaming towards the Denmark Strait

My 1/2000 scale HMS Hood is now complete and joins the Prince of Wales to hunt for the Bismarck.

Since posting the WIP picture I added the AA suite on the main deck as it was quite featureless.

The paint job is based on the information available on the HMS Hood Association website and is mostly matching her last description before the battle. Maybe I should have added the reddish brown linoleum to the grey parts of the top deck, I'm not sure.

All I have to do is actually build the Bismarck so they could find her...

The High and the Mighty

I missed the date for the Battle of the Denmark Strait with my scratchbuilt 1/2000 project, mainly because I have been working on other things.

However I just managed to complete the build for my version of the HMS Hood, and when I showed the Prince of Wales in its unpainted state the last time it gathered some interest, so here's the model before any primer is being added.

This time instead of PVA I used successive layers of acrylic paste and paint to make surfaces smooth. The ship is mainly built out of balsa and plasticard, and then some bamboo skewers, paperclips, broom bristles and Magic Sculpt. I also found a small decorative rubber ring that is just the right size for the turret rings.

I think most people know the story of the Hood, so I won't bother anyone with that. I won't say anything more than I just like the design.

 Off she sails to the painting table and then to join the already completed PoW.

Worry not if you aren't the Duke of Porpoises...

 

... you can still be the Prince of Wales! (pun intended)

Here's a rare WIP shot of a 1/2000 scale scratchbuilt HMS Prince of Wales. I usually post completed products on the blog, but this one looked kind of nice the way it is, and it highlights some of the methods I use for tiny ships.

My main components for this build were: balsa wood, bamboo skewers, Magic Sculpt, 0.5mm plasticard, push pins and broom bristles. First I shaped the hull, and did the rest in five main sub-assemblies (that is the three turrets and two main parts of the superstructure).

Balsa wood has very large grain and soaks up paint/glue like a sponge, so I learned to harden its outer surface with either mopping on liquid superglue or acrylic medium, and then after many passes with sandpaper some PVA. For the quad turrets I also added some magic sculpt for detail.

I made an attempt to sculpt each of the quad barrels, but in the end I just went with my usual solution of using a single slab of bamboo and painting the detail on.

The occasion for this build is that I want to refight the Battle of the Denmark Strait in the near future, so after painting this one, next up is the Mighty Hood.

During the build I came to appreciate the no-nonsense approach of the King George V class design. Everything has its place and works, and that's about all a fighting ship needs. However, I anticipate building Hood for her excellent looks for a change.

Trashy Fleets - 1/1000 Royal Navy pre-dreadnought

By popular demand (that is, the Mad Padre has mentioned in the previous post that he would like to see some ships), here is the first Trashy battleship.

Now I cheated with this one a little, as the hull was completed some time ago, I just added touch-ups and the base. The model is roughly 1/1000 scale, so about 10cm/4" long, with emphasis on the proportions and general features.

This ship represents the epitome of RN pre-dreadnoughts (not counting the Lord Nelsons), with two pairs of 12" guns in hooded barbettes, and funnels abeam of each other. The ship's got no name yet, as most likely she will not be part of a historical representation of the Royal Navy.

Dreadnought Arms Race

With two German battlecruisers completed recently, I turned to capital ships. These are three Bellerophon class dreadnoughts, basically an updated version of the original HMS Dreadnought. I had lots of fun assembling these ships, and I think the new paint scheme also works well. The hull is 2mm and 3mm balsa, the rest of the superstructure is from various pieces of plastic spears, broom bristles, bamboo tooth picks etc.