HMS Indomitable strikes a handsome profile--I hope to have greater
freeboard in future ship classes,
but this profile shows the ship's strength fairly well. The folding
seaplane on the fantail is still in evolution
even now, and I will post the latest generation as soon as photos are
available (with a better camera!).
Details of the upperworks are more readily visible in this picture,
and they complement the ship well.
This is HMS Indomitable at her best--showing off a full broadside
of 13.5" shells. The banding on the
funnels is notable, as are the various turret-tops from boats to small
anti-torpedo-boat weapons. The mixed
grey/blue/black/white colour scheme is fortunately not visible here.
The hull curvature is generated with 1 x 4/
2 x 2 hinge bricks, and the outside is in fact free of any link with
the ship besides those hinge bricks; its shape
is held by a framework inside the bow that also tacks down and stabilises
the plating on top. Tiles are at the
juncture of deck and bow hull.
This is the midships section of Indomitable. The torpedo
boat is for scale, but also to give an
idea of how immense the ship really is. The aft section is similar
to Majestic's (and was, in fact,
rebuilt from that original), but has been lengthened and modified to
serve the needs of a high-speed
capital ship.
A view of the "new" c.1928 fantail of HMS Indomitable, complete
with aircraft catapult,
folding plane, and crude first-generation crane. I like the small
QFG on the stern much
better as supporting guns than the ones in that position on Majestic,
but the other types
look much more imposing.
Launching the plane...the ship is stationary, the torpedo boat destroyer
on the left--which, you may note,
has one of Majestic's old TT--is fortunately moving.
As with Majestic, one of my very favourite Indomitable
pictures was ruined by the
intrusion of the camera strap. This photo gives an excellent
sense of scale despite
that unfortunate occurrence, and also allows for good contrast between
parts of
the ship done in different colours. They match! The only
problem? I had to remove
furniture from the room this picture was taken in, in order to turn
it without taking
it apart. I didn't try to stand it on end until much later, when
I found to my great
surprise that it was a) longer than I am tall, being 2.10m in length,
and b) strong
enough to be held up like a prize marlin, or tucked under the arm like
a loaf of
French bread. However, the stern tended to buckle when all weight
was set upon it,
since it massed about 18kg.