HMS Dreadnought Campaign

Steven Pietrobon · HMS Dreadnought Campaign

As the old campaign on the defunct Airfix forums has been deleted, I'm continuing the campaign here. If you would like Airfix to release a 1/600 kit of the HMS Dreadnought, the world's first all big-gun battleship, post your support here! Since I can't verify the old Airfix names, please repost your vote. A model kit of this ship has never been done in plastic.

Here are some sites on the HMS Dreadnought

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-d/drednt9.htm (see, even the US Navy thinks it is an important ship! This site gives a good summary of why she was so important, first all-big-gun ship with ten 12 inch guns, steam turbine powerplant and 21-knot maximum speed eclipsing all previous battleships.)
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/3514.html (Royal Navy also thinks she's important :-)
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/ (Computer model already available!)

The ship is 160.6 m long and 25.0 m wide, so at 1/600 scale that would give a model 268 mm long and 42 mm wide. This is between the HMS Ajax and HMS Suffolk in Series 3, so the HMS Dreadnought would fit in nicely in that Series. The ship was built in 1906, so its 100th anniversary in 2006 would be a good time to release a kit.

Make no mistake, this is a fake by DaveCov!

Number of votes: 81

Voters: Steven Pietrobon, BAC, Ratch, Neil Taylor, davecov, stuzzar, Sailorman, peebeep, DHDrover, Commodore Rob, Duck the H-bomber, chippy, Tombo1bo, Garry, hms belfast, StarTux, MadduckUK, nr61, Heggy, spudman, Little Kid Falky, Challenger, ejsnotgrass, Brews, frogman, Docgreen27, thebuisnessman, dutch_nzer, Graham Hall, Bigglesworth, skipperjjt, ricman, shannonman, Digs, Warspite, 299_paul, Hawk, Beaufighter, feanor, VMA131Marine, cliver, The Rat, Sgt.Squarehead, miller, FrankS, puttyfinger, do_not_cement, golfnut, airfixteen, richellis, neil"h", agtwalrus, orionv, T16S, Spookycat, rhysduk, daniel7891, viperstickbomb, DJBlackburn, Clashcityrocker, Robcomet, RogerP, captainzlog, Ray Scofield, smithcorp, Bob(K), Paddy O'Irishman, russ, Goggles, jRatz, XN923, Badwolf, chrisbh, Arpie, matchstick, mrdj, AUTHENTIC, Stout Bulldog, diddyman, wayfarer1993

BAC

I'll have one!

Ratch

Stick my name on your list (again

) Steve 8)

Warspite · Dreadnought

I would like at least ten !
Warspite.

davecov

I would certainly like one at 1/600 scale.

Unfortunately, my planned 1/600 scratch-build has become 1/530 due to printing the plans off at the wrong scale.

I still haven't completed it! Never seem to have the time....

Dave

stuzzar

I cannot remember if I put my name on the previous list so I may as well put it to this one

Cheers

Stu

Sailorman

Count me in for one!!

peebeep

I'm up for one.

peebeep

DHDrover

And it's one more from me.

There is a free download of a paper kit available too.

Dai

davecov

DHDrover

'Evening Dave,
Yes that is correct. I couldn't remember where I got it from. There are quite a few paper ship kits available free on the net.

Dai

davecov

Morning Dai!

I only remember that particular link so well because I blagged a copy to use as a starting point for my scratch-build.

Dave

Commodore Rob

sign me up again

Duck the H-bomber

I always liked the name dreadnaught.
Count me in again.

Howard

chippy

Count me in as well

Chippy

DHDrover

Two questions.

How many kits of Dreadnought do you think we could sell to members of the forum? And.

How many kits do you think could be sold worldwide?

I am asking these questions seriously. So give a great deal of thought to your answers. They need to be thoughtful and not in the realms of fantasy.

'Cause we might get a kit in 1/600. 8)

Dai

Commodore Rob

Well I think if it is marketed correctly then there is no reason why it would not be as we recieved as some of the older kits. There are still companies other then airfix that are releasing new ship kits. Also with the money that I am sure they make from the sales of Aircraft then why not take a risk and plow a little casgh into the development of the Dread'

Warspite · Dreadnought

I have spent hours converting the Iron Duke into an Orion. I think at the last count I've six more to do. if a Dreadnought in 1:600 were to be produce and none of these restricted runs please, put me down for at least 10!

Tombo1bo

Put me down for one.

Steven Pietrobon

The old campaign got 70 votes, so that would be the minimum that would be sold. I'd like to think that at least 10,000 kits could be sold, like the TSR-2. There are resin 1/350 and 1/700 kits of HMS Dreadnought. The 1/350 kits seem to have sold well. Here's an excellent build of the Combrig 1/700 kit.

Garry

I would've a couple. But if Airfix would not do a full kit why not do some weapons/fittings packs so that we could modify current Airfix kits. This way they could keep the 1/600 scale alive.......Garry

Steven Pietrobon

Vote update. After over a month, we have 15 votes from the following.

Steven Pietrobon, BAC, Ratch, Neil Taylor, davecov, stuzzar, Sailorman, peebeep, DHDrover, Commodore Rob, Duck the H-bomber, chippy, Neil Taylor, Tombo1bo, Garry

Keep those votes coming in folks!

Ratch

Did you retain the list of votes submitted on the Old Site

Steven Pietrobon · Yes, I have the old list. There were 70 votes as of 31 March 2006.

Yes, I have the old list. There were 70 votes as of 31 March 2006.

hms belfast

count me in as well i,ll have a couple

StarTux

I voted on the old site, throw my vote in too here...

MadduckUK

id buy it!

nr61

I've just bought my first ship model a 1/350 Russian protected cruiser but if a 1/600 Dred was to be available I would be sure to get one.

Who could resits such a famous ship?

Flash Flash

Add me !

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for all your votes. We're now up to twenty.

spudman

You can put me down as well steve (if its not too late)

Spudman

Little Kid Falky

I'm in
I don't build ships much but I'd find a time for this if it got released...

Challenger

....and me!

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks a bunch for your votes! The campaign is still on.

Steven Pietrobon

Seeing that Airfix are going to return, now that Hornby have bought the company, I thought it would be prudent to pop this back to the top and gather a few more votes.

Ratch

What's the score now Steve

Steven Pietrobon

I keep the score in the first post of this thread. Only 23 votes I'm afraid. We got 70 votes in the old Airfix forum. I'd like to get 100 votes, before we have a case to present to Airfix. Trev did say that if Airfix got 100 requests for a 1/4 scale chicken, Airfix would do one!

Ratch

I suppose some of those 23 will be repeated from the Airfix 70 (mine for a start)

ejsnotgrass

Although not generally a ship modeller put my name down.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for voting ejsnotgrass!

Brews

well, I'm still in.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks Brews! Allright. We're now up to 25 votes! One quarter of the way to getting 100.

Dai, you've already voted! :-) Check the first post.

DHDrover

Me too.

Dai

Commodore Rob

Gosh I had forgotten about this, hopefully with the new lease of life we shall see some development in this area:0

Commodore Rob

apparently I heard that Airfix/Hornby had a questionairre about what subjects they should build next at the telford show. I did not go as I had other things that clashed but did anyone ask for a Dreadnought?

frogman

Put me down as well. No hang on, don't put me down, well, you know what I meant...

Sean

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for your vote frogman!

Docgreen27

Put my name down on that list asap.. I've always wondered why they never did one. Cheers

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks Docgreen27. Yes, its amazing that a plastic kit has never been done of this very important battleship.

Owen

Presuming that the list of voters on the first page is up to date, I don't think I've put my name down. I swear I did, but if I have already, put me down again for the Dreadnought!

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks Owen! Up to 28 votes now.

dutch_nzer

put me down to

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks dutch_nzer!

Graham Hall

OK, having just seen a programme about Jutland on Discovery Ill sign up for one of them thar ships.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks Graham! Thirty votes in total now. Seventy more to go, and we might have a chance of getting this done.

Bigglesworth

Put me in too...

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks Matthew!

skipperjjt

I'm not a ship builder except on odd occasions ,but you can have my vote steven

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks skipperjjt!

ricman · Dreadnaught

You can add my name to the list I would definitely have a couple.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks ricman!

Ratch

33 Steve

Getting there

shannonman

Count me in.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks shannonman!

ricman

Put me down for more than one Dave.
Ric

Digs

I'd buy one for sure.

Paul

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for your votes ricman and Digs!

Steven Pietrobon

Somehow, I had forgotten to record Warspite's vote. Up to 36 votes now.

Commodore Rob

do you ever think we will get enough?

Steven Pietrobon

Who knows? I'd like to get up to 100 votes before making a petition to Airfix. Trevor Snowden once said on the old Airfix site to someone requesting a 1/2 scale chicken, that if he could 100 people to also want that, Airfix would consider it! At the current rate though, it may be several years before we reach 100 votes.

299_paul

Haven't built a ship yet but I have about a dozen in my stash, put me down for a vote to make it a bakers dozen!!

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for your vote Paul.

Hawk

Im in !!!

Beaufighter

I would be interested to understand the thinking behind the development process generally. The TSR2 seems to have been a fairly penny-ante project - they made, what, 10,000 of them? As I have noted before that is not a lot of gross revenue to Airfix. If it sold for £17 that's £14.50 before the VAT and I would guess the retailers would pay not more than a tenner. So assuming Airfix wanted a modest 10% return on effort then they had £90,000 to spend on researching, designing, and tooling the kit, then creating decals and instructions for it, and finally producing, packaging and distributing 10,000 of them. That's ignoring any contribution to overhead costs it was expected to make.

So I'd be surprised if 100 signatures would convince them (which hasn't stopped me adding my vote!) The product development challenge must be to work out what will sell from the pool of potential subjects that either has not yet been done, or has been done but badly, or has been done but at prohibitive cost.

Ratch

When I worked in the toy trade, prime cost was generally 1/3rd the retail cost. Prime cost consisted of the overhead, materials and labour content. New toolings were costed to pay for themselves over three years. The prime cost of a 'Shoot' football was 33p and it retailed at 99p. We had 18 frames of 36 moulds and made more than a million pieces per year

I'm sure that Humbrol/Airfix worked to a similar model, so on a limited run kit, the R&D and tooling costs would make up a bigger proportion of the prime cost (which I would estimate worked out arounnd £5.00 for the TSR.2).
In the case of this campaign and the 100 signature mark, I'd suggest that 100 sigs would represent a significant interest from a small part of the modelling community. They might well consider the payback period of a ship to be a bit longer than that for an aircraft

so the 'Limited Run' element might not be considered viable. In any event, all we can do is promote our interest in such a kit, and hope the manufacturer can see the potential of such an investment in new tooling

feanor

Ayup Steven,...

In light of Ratch's comment, Consider me signed up too. I think i'll start a 'Big Ship' collection....

Flash Flash

VMA131Marine

I voted for this on the old forum, but add my name to this campaign as well.

According to Wikipedia, the Bellerophon class (Bellerophon, Superb, Temeraire), St. Vincent class (St. Vincent, Collingwood, Vanguard), HMS Neptune and the Colossus class (Colossus, Hercules) are nearly identical to Dreadnought. If Airfix were smart, they would tool the kit so that all these ships could be built from the same basic tooling.

Beaufighter

cliver

yes I would certainly vote for an HMS Dreadnought on the shelves ! (and on my shelf too) !!
cliver

Steven Pietrobon

Wow, thanks to Hawk, Beaufighter, feanor, VMA131Marine, and cliver for their votes. Now up to 42 votes.

Heggy, I'm a bit reluctant to go around other forums to send them here to sign up. Other ship forums are not really into 1/600 scale, preferring 1/700 where a kit of the HMS Dreadnought is already available, although in resin.

I believe Beaufighter is correct. Neptune and Collossus are quite different to the Dreadnought, Bellerophon and St. Vincent class. They both have ten 12" guns, but the turret arrangements are quite different. Checkout WW1 Warships for an excellent overview of all the Battleship and Crusier classes.

It shouldn't be too hard to convert Dreadnought into Bellerophon or St. Vincent. Use some plastic rod to make a second mast and turn around the first mast, with some scratchbuilding of the rear mast and bridge for a Bellerophon. The Bellerophon is 0.5 mm longer at 1/600 (at the rear), so this modification is not worth doing.

To make a St. Vincent, do the same as for the Bellerophon, but add a 4.7 mm section aft of the rear gun. The St Vincent also used a longer Mk.XI 12" gun, which were 5' longer than the previous Mk.X (2.5 mm at 1/600). St. Vincent is also 1 mm wider in scale, which might be difficult to do. Not sure where it is wider.

The Rat

I am an aircraft person.

Given a diagram and an explanation I have a 50/50 chance of telling one end of a ship from the other.

I have horrid memories of traveling from Liverpool to Montreal on HMS Carinthia in '62, a trip on which even the stewards got seasick.

BUT...

This is an injustice I have harped about on other boards ad nauseum, and I have signed on here specifically for this noble cause. There is no excuse for not having a model of one of the most important ships in history.

C'mon Airfix, PONY UP!

#1 son is the ship guy in the family, I'll send him over.

Steven Pietrobon

Thanks for your support The Rat.

Steven Pietrobon

No HMS Dreadnought from Airfix this year. Perhaps next year? Keep those votes coming in folks!

cliver · HMS Dreadnought

Excellent choice for a new kit... to be followed up by a range of the famous battleships and battlecruisers of WW1....

Steven Pietrobon

From the Airfix March newsletter

"Airfix have signed an official agreement with the Royal Navy making us the first model company ever to have an agreement of this type. This will enable Airfix the right to exclusive information and historical records which will further enhance our models and gift sets."

This is fantastic news. Maybe we will see a HMS Dreadnought in 2009! I'm going to let Martyn Weaver at Club Airfix know about this thread.

Sgt.Squarehead

Steven,
I can't for the life of me recall whether I've placed my vote in support of the Airfix Dreadnought or not.....If I haven't it's an omission on my part, consider it duly placed. If I have, consider this a 'Come on Airfix where's our Dreadnought' rant.

Even though I don't build warships, I am impressed no end by the skill that our nautically minded members demonstrate in building them. After seeing some of the contributions in the Belfast GB I shall never moan about Sherman headlight guards again!

Great news about the Airfix deal.....Here's hoping!

For what it's worth & all the best

Steven Pietrobon

I've listed the names of who have voted in page one of this thread. You havn't previously voted, so I've added you to the list. This now makes 44 votes, only six more till we reach the half-century.

Beaufighter

With a Dreadnought in the range one could then model five different WW1 capital ships from Airfix kits in 1/600, the others being Hood, Repulse, Warspite and Iron Duke.

miller

You can add my vote, I think Airfix should do more ships from ww1, British and German. Is there any ww1 German ships in 1/600 out there?

Ratch · Re: HMS Dreadnought Campaign

FrankS

Just noticed I´m not listed yet - please count me in, Steven!

Best regards

Frank

puttyfinger

Steve
I thoght I'd added my name, which I definitely did on the old Airfix forums - but apparently I haven't! Please tack me on!

Puttyfinger

do_not_cement

...and one for me. Haven't built a ship in years...

golfnut

Add my name too please Steven. A worthy subject if ever there was.

Peter

Steven Pietrobon

Well spotted Ratch! I've deleted the extra name. Thanks also to miller, FrankS, puttyfinger, do_not_cement, and golfnut, which brings the total up to 48 votes.

puttyfinger, I restarted the list after the old Airfix forums closed as people may have changed their names when signing onto the Airfix Tribute Forum.

miller, here are some WWI 1/600 Geman Motor Torpedo Boats.

I got a reply from Martin Weaver in which said he has added HMS Dreadnought to the list.

Ratch

Keep up the good work Steven

airfixteen

Although im not a Floaty builder, considering that the dreadnought was a great piece of Britishness, add my name please Steven!

richellis

count me in!

ginger75

Please add me to the list.

HMS Dreadnought Campaign

Dreadnought

Dreadnought

Dreadnaught

HMS Dreadnought

Re: HMS Dreadnought Campaign