Here is a sequence of 14 photos of the Imperial War Museum Battleship model of HMS Agamemnon 1908 at 1/48 scale that I restored in 1981. I have grouped the photos to show similar shots before and after restoration. The War Museum was bombed during the war and the models damaged so were then crated up and sent around the Country for safety. They subsequently all ended up in the Museum overflow store at Duxford . All the crates are numbered and this is one of many I restored in the 1980’s

When a crate is opened you can see that the packers nailed 4×2 timber lengths across the fo’castle and stern areas to secure the model for transit. In doing so they wrecked these areas, in addition of course to the bomb damage. Many models still sit in the store in their crates. Although the model photos are black and white, taken long before digital cameras were around, the colours are overall dark grey. Humbrol supplied quantities of HG4 with dull red underside and no bootline. Humbrol colour designations have long since changed. All the decks were teak finished.

When taking the model apart, many fittings that were pinned on had beneath them a screw that enabled the next stage of dismantling to be achieved, the deck coaling hole cover plates being the favoured place to hide a screw. Rigging was mostly stranded wire that had disintergrated but easily replaced by clamping several wires [or many depending on the thickness needed] in a vice and holding the line taught with the other end in a small drill. When running the drill the wire twists together and shortens considerably in the process. Although this was suitable for the 1/48 scale, it can be usefull at 1/96 as well.