B/W to Colour

Something of a passing hobby of mine is to colourize B/W pictures, nothing serious and certainly not earning money out of it. I enjoy doing it, there far from perfect but what they do is bring to life that majestic ship.

I don't own the copyright and have tried to contact those owners, please contact me, but remember who coloured them :)

R.T Grogan's Iron Duke, Repulse & Hood

Interesting these 2 wonderful shots were mistaken for HMS Hood!!! 

Click below to see more great actual colour film stills.

Hood Build - Week 47/51

It's been a while again, I've still been working on the model but parts have taken time and I was not going to rush it, I think the hold up was trying to figure out a way to incorporate metal barrels, instead of jumping in and not thinking I took some time out and had a look around at how other modellers have approached the subject.

I've also got myself a new camera (Fuji T200) which has given some excellent results, it's only a small compact but it does have some manual setting and as I workout what they do I can hopefully better my pictures and quality.

What about the live stream the other day at 2844metres down in the Denmark Straight, that was fascinating, for those not aware there is a expedition to recover HMS Hood's bell, located in the debris field of the stern area, the last footage I've see was the ROV come within 10cm of the bell with superstructure overhanging, unfortunately they had to abandon the dive due to bad weather, I hear it starts again on 28th.

Hood Build - Week 43/46

Things are starting to get serious now, these next 4 issues have parts that I have decided to hold off for a while, at least until I know what and how they join to the main hull.  I have also decided to make some serious adjustments to the 'railings', have a look at you own peril.

It seems Hatchette don't follow logic with this build, not a problem as I/we still seem to be enjoying it but it would be nice to finish some areas first.
HMS Hood has hit the news in 2012 it seems, there is talk of bringing the ships bell up and putting it a museum..good I say, those sailors who died need a memorial. Daily Mail story

Hood Build - Week 40/42

Now up-to 30% built?.... doesn't seem it.
3 issues here are supplied with more P/E, wooden parts and parts to be used later..more of that later.

As well as following the magazines instruction Ive side stepped a few things and added my own parts and ideas, not essential but as you will see some parts that are glued to the hull (P/E) could knock very easy, I've covered the possibility only. I've also considered the painting, the deck we are working on is being added all the time and I think it would be wise to consider painting at least some areas. A visit to Halfords and some test painting follows....

Deck Arrangements

I've been working on this for some time as a little project that may be of use at least as a back up in case Hachette miss or incorrectly position items on this deck. I'm hoping as I'm sure most of you are they succeed in doing a good job (so far they have).
Please remember I may have certain things wrong, if that is the case then please post below and I will endeavour to correct it, hopefully we can all pull our resources and figure out what goes where correctly.
I have used the many books available plus the HMS Hood Association web site, many hundreds of photo's and the many hundreds of absolutely brilliant models...too many to list here. As the document tell's 'not to scale' is important, they are for position only.
Again I am no expert but by doing this I can get a good idea of how things work and why they are there and what they lead to, hopefully you'll find this interesting if not informative and an addition to help build this superb model.

I have found picture's of this enclosed area of the ship hard to come by but if you have a source or know of any information that can help re-create our model with as close to the way she looked in May 1941 would be of great help and interest.
Thanks..Colin

click to view the larger image

Hood Build - Week 38/39

Another 2 week update and I'm fully up-to date with the Issues, I'm hoping this weeks wont be too late due to the long bank holiday.
I've finished the porthole 'eyebrows' and I really happy with them, you wont see that much but at least it works.
There's a fair bit of bending to do this week so taking your time and dry fitting again is the way to go. Also make sure you prepare not only the brass for gluing but the wood that is taking the P/E.


I've been working on a plan of this deck area and the other items we are likely to get before the roof goes on. I'll spend a few more week on it before posting the plan here but you can expect to add various size's of Hawser reel's (some of which are on Issue 39's fret), A few hatches, deck lockers and ventilation trucks, some may not come in the magazine but are there, so some scratching to do.