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I'd guessed that but had difficulty reconciling this with the ?"frame" that the ship rested on in the first pic - it must be the heat Rob

Sitting back to watch this with interest - those turrets look good. I'm mentally limbering up to begin my HMS Valiant soon Rob

Great choice and nice start - Graham. I still haven't quite workd out the "Paul Hollwood" "tool" works??? Results are good, however Rob

How nice is that hull and deck finish !!!! That looks really (wood) authentic Rob

Great looking Paravanes - you thoroughly deserve that lie down!! Rob

Whoa - that Sea Fury is a Beaut!!! If I may ask - how did you get such a Fab gloss finish? The funnels on Takao are bonkers!! Looking good Rob

Wow - even by your standards Jon - that was............................................quick! Looking top -notch - I think Jeff called it right Acrylics or God's own? Rob

Another thoroughly professional clean and meticulous build Jon. I love the colour and actually seeing it - makes it more realistic than the verbal description alone. It really does not look that odd particuarly used in Tropical climes. Another great advert for the fabulous Black Cat kit Rob

RFI now up: Closedown Summary So as is customary here's my (slightly belated) Closedown Summary Trumpeter HMS Naiad: Something of a Curate's egg - this one. Hull and deck fit together well and surface detail such as doors and superstructure (moulded-on) rails are good. However fit of nearly ALL the superstructure pieces that attach to the deck was poor with nearly each requiring whittling so that it would fit over the raised formers. Very odd! Not a Huge problem but decidedly poor for a modern kit. As portrayed the hull comes with a moulded on Degaussing wire that surrounds the whole hull. Euryalus didn't have one so this needed to be carefully removed. The main guns are dimensionally inaccurate and wrongly shaped. The Ship's boats especially the 30 ft Fast motor Boat peculiar to the Dido class were poor and as with all Trumpter kits that I have built to date, frankly incompatible with anything approaching an accurate build. The same applies to secondary armament. So Thanks heavens for 3rd party 3D print suppliers!! In contrast - there are multiple vents supplied that seemed to festoon this class. I chose to replace mine with Micromaster offerings but in truth the kit supplied ones would suffice, all be it cleaning them up after sprue removal is tedious. In contrast with my comments about fitting structures to the hull - fit otherwise was actually very good "between" structures. Jon @Faraway mentioned the fragility of the masts in his excellent build of HMS Hermione. Suitably warned, I prepared to replace mine with brass. However the detail on the masts is good and being Tripod structures, despite being relatively gracile given their size (in-scale) they fitted well and were more than strong enough to take rigging. Definitely points scored there. The kit comes with an extensive suite of Photo-etch iincluding ALL railings something that Trumpter have not always included. Very useable they are too - being of good thickness and not too fragile. There are PE parts to detail other structures such as masts and radars at mastheads - Lots of points scored for this! I built this kit immediately after the Foreart Type 42 and whilst they are of a different era, the Foreart kit stood out and illustrated perhaps what we should be expecting with modern kits - accurate weapons and creditable attempts at ship's boats. Trumpter kits are not cheap - I feel it's time they raised their game, what was acceptable a decade or two ago seems less palatable in 2025. That said the Dido built into a realistic representation of it's class, and remains the only choice in town! You pays your money and you takes................... Aftermarket 3D print items: Whilst there is considerable duplication of products between manufacturers no one company supplies everything that you need for an accurate build of a vessel such as this. So here's the listing Micromaster: superlative detail and provide items that others dont such as weather hatches and a full complement of ship's vents. All liberally used here. The 5" Gun turrets are a joy to behold. As are the ship's boats. I declare a conflict of interest here as Simon Percival and I corresponded about production of the 30ft FMB - photos of which are sparse. His result is excellent and by far the most accurate available. The HACs, Torpedo tubes and Searchlights all further add to that necessary delicious detail. I think that this build actually used in excess of 25 different Micromaster products. Black Cat Models: supply a slightly different range. For instance the Quad Pom Poms are available from them and not MM. Curiously their Carley rafts are more detailed than MM. They supply sundry items like the rope coils that IMHO are essential to give that "working ship" feel. In addition they supply the Best figures on the market, a profusion of which are used here from the Royal Navy sets. And.........Ben supplies the rather marvellous Harbour Defence Motor Launch, (HDML) a super little kit in it's own right that features "out-front" in the dio. I haven't seen anyone else build another - you should - they are excellent! Swordfish Models: The relative new kid on the block - their range overlaps with that of both MM and BCM but they are also highlighting "Detail-up" kits for separate classes. As well as buying guns or boats - you can buy superstructure parts. I used the Dido bridge part which is a "drop-in" alternative to the plastic kit offering but supplies attached platforms and ships stairs. Slightly lazy but sadly I am. Fit was excellent though surface detail could have been sharper if I'm honest. At £10 it was a good buy. They also supplied the Paravanes - surface detail is not as sharp as MM or BCM Painting and Finishing I am still suprised how vibrant the colours were that comprised the Royal Navy palate throughout WW2. The few colour photos that exist all attest to this. Resolution Colourcoats capture the tones perfectly to my eye. And as I've written ad nauseum previously - Colourcoats are a joy to use both spraying and brush painting and remain easier by far than using acrylics. Smell is minimal and drying time comparable to acrylics. I spend 200% less time cleaning my airbrush using Colourcoats than I do with Vallejo acrylics. If you haven't tried them you really, really should give them a go. I was helped enormously with the challenging colour scheme using the profiles that @foeth EJ and @Vlad produced - Fellas I remain in your debt. An acrylic Mig Ammo Light Grey filter was used and minimal weathering with oils. Sealing was done with Klear. Rigging was done with Infini 20 and 40 Dernier thread with a few pieces being done with Modelkasten metal wire. Depth markings were from Sovereign now availabe at Resolution Hobbies Base was finished as all my bases are with a modified Flodberg technique using Liquitex acrylic medium and Gloss Varnish Name plate was from Name it - always an absolute pleasure to deal with Julie and Paul. Thanks for looking supporting and commenting Rob

That'll be retirement - Dear Boy As I said above - after finishing 2 comparatively big builds I'm going to have a few weeks off. Need to pick the fitness up and get a few cycle miles under my belt - man does not live by Ship models alone Rob

I hadn't noticed !!! Every time I visit Mumbles now it is traffic grid-locked!!! But great walks and riding - and as you say - Joe's ice cream - nothing quite like it Porthcawl is my nearest surf break when I feel up to it! The Revell 1/144 Corvette is a great kit - I've yet to see one built as Buttercup - look forward to seeing it. Vlad - thanks - in no small part due to your colour profile after EJ's work. I don't think my camouflage is as accurate as yours on Cleopatra Rob

Dolch Ant, appreciate that. My mate has challenged me to reproduce Oystermouth Castle. She was a Castle Class Admiralty Trawler. We both grew up within walking distance of Oystermouth/Mumbles and went to school there. It will be scratchbuilt with some MM/BlackCat detail pieces. And HMS Minerva from the Falklands war also beckons But I'm having some time off first - or my wife will disown me - spent several 12 hour days getting Euryalus sorted last week Rob

Hi Archelaos - apologies , as you correctly guessed i never saw the first thread. I do not have Intermediate Blue 71.299. From the Vallejo colour chart alone it looks too light. I do have MC70.989 and it's far too "light" grey without any of the blue tint of 507C. 507C is a particularly difficult colour to match and I spent considerable time coming to my mix above. Living in Poland why don't you just buy the Resolution colourcoats with some Colourcoats thinner? You will NOT be disapointed. It sprays easier than The Vallejo paints and is 3 x easier to clean the airbrush. IMHO these mixes were for pragmatic use only, in the event of absolute unavailabity of Colourcoats. Sorry not to be of more help Rob

WIP here: Thanks for looking and all the support through the WIP. Rob

She's an absolute Beaut Graham!! Beautifully presented - Love the sea scape and the bow wave What a Fabulous brace - and a stunning endorsement for Neomega Rob

Hear, hear Rob

Graham - pleased about your workspace - there's Never enough room. As to clutter - I try, I try and yet every build I'm found wanting It's pathognomic of modelling As to the build - Fab just flippin' Fab. Great looking Sea Rob

Hi - Mike has ben having IT issues. Pleased to say still trading though in his newsletter/online Mag this week he's announced that he'll be concentrating on 1/700 only and intends to doscontinue 1/350 models with the exception of the WW1 monitor still to come. Keep trying and check out his FB page for updates HTH Rob

What Pete said And check out Chris Flodberg's work on http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37923 He posted as SargentX. Rob

When you find some let me know - I've been searching for aeons!!!! Cracking little kits. Looking tremendous. The early part of this blog portrayed HMS Campion, and when I looked there weren't many of these Corvettes left - then Big Boys came and made me do it. So sorry but I've quietly explained to Mrs M that it was Totally your fault Keep it coming - the yellow looks Fab in a Pink Floyd kinda way Rob

Hi Steve - it's the brown colour decking - it was a canvas that was attached using brass rails that you have beautifully replicated - used up to the start of the second World War - then overtaken by Semtex - a rubbery "painted-on" compound HTH Rob

Blimey Jeff - you're cracking on with this. It was a surprise as to how big it is in 1/72 - seeing it next to your hand and the CD disc. As to Deck colour - with a Mosquito doing 250-330 Kn, I'm not certain the deck colour would matter particularly - wake and over all profile - Yes And as to slipperiness - the RN painted decks with abandon??? And not obviously with anti-slip??? Looking great! Rob

Alan - it's all hugely impressive - love the swimming pool tiles - and I lov the colour all round Delighted it's been fun - it looks it - keep it coming! Rob

Lovely work Steve - that corticene with the dividers looks terrific. Rob

Thanks to you all. Today was rigging... And this is an Aide Memoire to remind me what colours to use for RN uniforms!!! Finishing line in sight......... Rob