Bridlington & Wolds Scale Model Club Forum
Models => Modelling Projects => Topic started by: Haddock on March 18, 2019, 03:55:27 PM
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Next project folks and it's a whopper.
Got the kit last year at North Shields from "Models for sale", price, £70. This sounds a lot but the same kit is on the Hannants website at £109.99 plus postage so I reckon I've got a bargain.
The colour scheme is Measure 22, Navy blue (5N)below the main weather deck from a horizontal line drawn from the lowest part of the deck down to the boot-topping which should be black. All vertical surfaces above this to be Haze grey (5H), wooden decks and all horizontal surfaces to be Deck blue (20B).
The finished model is 704mm long, that's about 27 3/4 inches. It's supplied as full hull, so needs to be water-lined. The hull is moulded in one piece, the deck comes in two pieces.
There are fifteen plastic sprues and four etched brass frets, some chain, a small transfer sheet and two aircraft moulded in clear plastic (yuk).
The parts count is quite high. If I add together just the part numbers on each sprue I arrive at a total of 584 parts, this doesn't allow for multiple parts with the same part number. the same exercise with the brass comes to 255 parts, that's a lot of modelling for the money.
Haddock.
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Now I know why you have taken over the large dinner table !!!!!!!
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Water-lined.
The waterline isn't marked on the kit, it would have been handy if it was.
If I use the painting instructions as a guide, something doesn't look quite right. The hull looks a lot leaner than the picture.
Some rudimentary measurements and a bit of maths show that the ratio between the kit and the diagram in the horizontal axis is 2.25:1, in the vertical axis, it's 2.70:1 which makes the diagram look dumpier than the kit. This doesn't help when deciding where to make the cut and where to place the top of the boot-topping. I may add a plate to the base to lift the ship out of the water a little.
Haddock.
By the way, I'm using Mrs haddock's best work-top at the moment, it's nice and flat and gives more room to work. Once I'm happy with the hull, I can return to the model-room. The hull can go back in it's box.
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Nice work.
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Cheers.
Haddock.
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Bit more progress folks. Nothing much is glued together, just working on sub-assemblies ready for painting.
I've re-shaped the stern to look more in keeping with the images I can see on t'internet. Good old Milliput.
The plastic is very nice but as usual, the problems start with the etched brass (stop moaning Beesting and get on with it).
The railings round the inboard side of the catapults are in one length with seven bends, each bend is on a stanchion with a tiny gap to allow for the bend but each panel is the right length, that gap, multiplied by seven adds nearly 3/4 of a mm to the length, the only thing I could do was try and lose it in strategic places by letting the brass hang over the edge of the deck, then fill the resulting gaps with PVA. This is where all the time goes. Besides that, I'm happy with the progress.
Not as fast as Zak though.
Haddock.
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Turned barrels and lots of brass.
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Lots of brass, here's some more.
These are the jibs for the aircraft and boat handling cranes, two of these.
First impressions were "flippin' 'eck, this looks so fragile as to be unbuildable", however, faint heart never won fair lady. After some head-scratching, here's my solution.
I've added some brass rod (0.4mm) to the ends of the struts that don't touch the side frames till it's all glued together (hope this makes sense).
Then it's removed from the fret.
Then the first bend.
Then the second bend.
Then the final side (bottom actually) is brought down and glued to the sides.
Finally, the finished article.
Must admit, I failed at the last fence, there is a strange appendage at the end if the jib which refused to bend on the relief etch so I chopped it off and added a plastic disc to represent a pulley.
(Must try harder in future)
Haddock.
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10 out of 10 and a gold star - for excellent work.
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Wow!
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Bit more progress folks.
These are MK37 directors with MK22 fire control radar fitted.
The pictures probably speak for themselves.
Haddock.
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One missing!
Posted the same one twice, silly me!
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Bit more progress.
Cable reels, winches and Carley floats stacked three high.
Quad 40mm Bofors (14).
Single 20mm Oerlikons (34).
Type CX-1 radar antenna.(2 pics).
MK38 directors with MK13 fire control radar antenna.
Multiples of small parts can get a bit tedious, hey-ho.
Haddock.
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You must be a sadist at heart.
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That's a bit rich coming from a bloke that's building tiny guns in etched brass!
Respect.
Haddock.
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Floater-net baskets, there will be 34 of these when complete. I don't think they
look very pretty and I may omit some.
Haddock.
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Progress seems very slow. I'm presently just working through the kit getting stuff ready for painting and looking for problems, there are a few.
Dotted around the deck are ventilators, the pictures show how they are made. In all cases, the etched brass grill is too long, by a substantial amount. I've got round it by adding a piece of plasti-card to the plastic bit, same shape but 0.5mm smaller and the same thickness as the brass, wrap the brass around the plastic and trim to length, then add the brass "lid".
There is also a yard-arm mounted atop the forward superstructure and another above the funnel on an extension thingy. These would carry aerials and signal flag halyards I think. They're square in section and tapered, 0.3 mm square at the smallest end, I've added some 0.3mm brass rod in the hope it will add some strength, for-ard one done, aft one yet to do.
Haddock.
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More.
Haddock.
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Seems a while since I posted anything, I have been plodding on at my usual snails pace so here's progress to date. The superstructure isn't fixed in place as there's quite a bit more detail to add.
I'm debating whether to weather or not. Guam had quite a short career and was commissioned with a dazzle camo scheme, I couldn't find any decent pics to show it, in particular, the superstructure so I've gone for the measure 22 which was applied sometime in 1945, not sure when.
So do I weather or not or should it be just a bit of "dirt" here and there. At 27ins long, it's quite a big thing to manipulate in my limited modelling space.
Haddock.
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Hi Haddock,
It looks good. For me I think a little subtle weathering would be the best approach, as I think ships at sea all suffered from the conditions, sun, salt, rusting, etc even in a short service career.
But it's your model and you are the talented ship modeller, so I'm sure the end result will be superb no matter what.
Cheers,
Bigkev
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Forward superstructure fixed in place and 99% of detail fitted.
Haddock.
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Looking great as always
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Thankyou kind sir.
After superstructure dry fitted. More stuff to add but it's easier done as a sub-assy due to the size of the model, just turning it around on the bench is a major operation, I usually end up knocking something onto the floor.
Haddock.
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Some of the brass looks quite nice.
Haddock.
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There's a lot going on there and after yesterday's little foray into etched brass, I can appreciate even more the time and effort that goes into this. My turn next!
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Bit more progress chaps.
Although it's a long way off, I think I can see light at the end of the tunnel.
Some of the brass is a bit challenging, if anything, in some instances, it's too long so you have to resort to devious methods to get it to fit.
Onwards and upwards as they say.
Haddock.
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You call it "challenging" I call it impossible.
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Looking Good Haddock....
Your tenacity and skill at each model is something to be admired....
Cheers,
Bigkev
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Thanks for the comments.
Bit more stuff added.
Haddock.
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Hi Haddock,
This is going to one impressive beast!
Thanks for the pictures and progress update.
Cheers,
Bigkev
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Not that you can see much but here's some signal halyards and aerial wires.
Haddock.
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Beautiful.
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How do you get it so good -other than skill and patience ??????
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How do you get it so good -other than skill and patience ??????
I'm just bloody-minded.
Haddock.
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Railings and fairleads added to the main weather-deck.
Haddock.
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Hi Haddock,
Great work, deeply impressed and jealous of your skills.....
Bigkev