Italian Battleship GIULIO CESARE 1/200 paper model

This is my last build of 2011, and it’s a big one – the Modelik 1/200 paper model of the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare, as she appeared in 1917-18.  I’ve been working on this kit off and on since March 2009, and she’s finally finished!  


Giulio Cesare was a Conte di Cavour class battleship launched in 1911.  She was extensively rebuilt in the 1930s, a process which completely changed her appearance.  She saw some action against the British in the Mediterranean in WWII, but spent most of the war tied up for lack of fuel.  She was given to the Soviets as war reparations in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk.  In this capacity, she served as flagship of the Black Sea fleet. She blew up and sank at her mooring in 1955, and the cause of the explosion still remains a mystery.  Due to gross incompetence on the part of her commanding officer, over 600 sailors were lost in her sinking.

The Modelik kit represents the Cesare late in WWI.  At that time, she had an oddly symmetrical appearance, with both bow and stern featuring a double turret over a triple turret, a bridge structure, a funnel, and a very tall mast.  In between was the boat deck and another triple turret. 

The kit is large but simple and not especially well-detailed.  I added railings and ladders from Tom’s Modelworks.  The masts are brass and styrene rod; rigging is black thread and stretched sprue.