Dutch beauty: light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter (C801)
Today I share photos of my latest adventure in resin kits. This model represents the Cold War-era Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter, which served Her Netherlands Majesty's Navy between 1953 and 1972. This ship was then sold to Peru, where she served until 2017 as the Navy's flagship Almirante Grau. She held the distinction of being the last all-gun cruiser in service anywhere in the world (although towards the end of the career she also carried Otomat SSMs).
The reason I decided to build this model is plain to anyone to see: what an absolutely beautiful ship!
Someone has said we live in the golden age of scale modelling, and one of the reasons is the fact that you can get kits of obscure subjects like this one. I fully agree! The kit is sold via eBay by Doggy Industries (who, in their Facebook page, define themselves as "a small workshop operated by Liu and his friends in part time"). This model is entirely out of the box, apart from rigging (which used Uschi 0.03 line).
In fact, the construction was as straightforward as one can hope, considering that one needs to deal with a large number of photoetch parts, many of which sub-millimetre in size. But I only have praise for the kit, which in my view establishes a new standard for photoetch in ship modelling. For example, each door comes as an individual part, and can be modelled either opened or closed. Each piece of railing is identified by a number, and fits precisely where it should. All complicated sub-assemblies have clearly indicated bend lines (masts, radars come to mind). And, in what I thought really helped with keeping my anxiety levels low, the kit comes with a large complement of spares, including those you are most likely to lose to the carpet monster.
The only serious problem I had was with a warped piece of resin (part of the aft superstructure) which resisted my attempts to reshape using hot water. This finally yielded to strong clamping, but the result was not optimal. I also needed to scratch build a portion of the mast, but this was entirely my fault (I knocked it out and lost it, not noticing until days later). I also had an issue with a resin part missing from the kit (one of the eight 40 mm Bofors mount), but this was quickly fixed by contacting Doggy Industries in Facebook, who mailed it to me.
Many more photos, and details of the construction, can be found in my web site (https://www.marcellorosa.com/1-700-ships/1-700-deruytec801). If you are planning will be very happy to discuss and share a few tips.
Thankyou for the shots in your hand..the perspective really shows just how wonderful your model is
Proud to be Dutch! What a beautiful ship indeed!
Nice work, Marcello. It is indeed a beautiful ship. The kit sounds great, especially with pre measured PE.
Indeed a beautiful ship, Marcello @marcellorosa1
Exceptional amount of details on this small build.
Well done.
Beautiful model of a beautiful ship! Congratulations!
Gorgeous model of a great subject!
Awesome job as always, Marcello!
Congratulations!
You are too kind, Spiros!
That is indeed beautiful. And i appreciate hearing your opinions on the Doggy Industries kit. There are so many choices these days, and I know some of them are weak. I don't need anything more in my stash, but perhaps I will try one of those Doggy kits.
And I presume instructions were included?
Thanks, Rick. The instructions come with the kit. In this case they were 3 sheets printed in colour.
I detected one mistake: in the aft mast there is a platform just under the big radar, which the instructions tell you to place back to front (according to internet photos). Unfortunately I only noticed this too late, so my model propagates this particular mistake.
The instructions also tell you to place one of the fire control radars on the deck ahead of the bridge, but this is not included in the kit (it comes with only 3 copies, which appear in the diagrams of the built model at midships and aft). I contacted Doggy Industries through their Facebook page, and they sent me the extra one at no charge.