Jump to content

PeterMachin

Members
  • Posts

    76
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About PeterMachin

  • Birthday 30/05/1987

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Frome

Recent Profile Visitors

1,091 profile views

PeterMachin's Achievements

New Member

New Member (2/9)

480

Reputation

  1. Hi Ian I bought the Tetra set from Inside the Armour which I think might be Tetra's only UK distributor. It is currently showing as out of stock, but it is probably worth emailing them to see when it will be back in. As for which set to get, I am still glad that I bought the Tetra set. As I move onto the hull, I will be using far more of the parts than I have on the island. Unlike the island where the Tetra parts upgrade the parts which are already there, many of the hull parts add missing detail, and so seem to have been better researched. The WEM set is about half the price of the Tetra set, but has less than half the amount of photo etch and no wooden decks or brass barrels. It does have some boat handling parts which are missing from the Tetra set though, so I may end up getting it as well. Hope that helps Cheers Peter
  2. The lower of the rear pom-pom director stations is now complete, though currently unattached to the rest of the island. As mentioned previously, both the kit part and Tetra replacement are somewhat lacking, so I scratch built a replacement based on the plans. Moving back round to the front of the island, the plans show that the layout of the plotting office structure on B deck is completely wrong. This is the Merit part for the plotting offices on B and C decks with the admiral’s bridge removed. They clearly just carried on the correct shape from C deck down to B deck. And these are the plans for B deck with the layout highlighted which show some stairs coming up from the deck below and a curved protective wall in front of them. And C deck which is correct I moved the front wall of B deck back and added the correct walls and the stairs to the compass platform As @Ex-FAAWAFU pointed out, the mast support legs finish a deck too high, so I need to fix that. The plastic kit parts for the mast have been replaced with brass tube, starting with the mast itself which is embedded into the plotting offices with an additional support added at the base. To get the alignment of the mast supports correct, I have added oversized holes through the Tetra PE D deck. Styrene sheet was then added on top of this to neaten up the holes. As I have moved the plotting offices forward to create a gap between them and the funnel, there is now also a gap between the Tetra D deck and the funnel. This styrene sheet also fills in this gap. The forward pom-pom director stations were also remade as the kit part was a bit crude. There are supposed to be two searchlights mounted on the top platform, but the kit parts would not allow this due to the thickness and height of the walls. The rounded front of D deck has also been given the correct smaller radius, which then blends in with the curve behind it. And finally all the major parts in place. Most of these parts are not yet glued as I still need to work out how I am going to paint it. Cheers Peter
  3. On the subject of references, I did come across this 3D model of the Ark Royal on the Sketchup 3D Warehouse: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/460c401e-9057-4445-851c-7b8cdc4920c4/HMS-Ark-Royal-91 I believe it is copied from the game World of Warships and shows her as she was at the end of her life, with the bridge extension and shielding. Comparing the model to the plans and photos, it does seem to be very accurate so could be a very useful secondary reference, and certainly fills in some gaps.
  4. Thanks. The flange is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, and I do worry that I am focussing on all the wrong things 🤷‍♂️. I have been worrying about how to do those legs though, how to get the holes in the correct place on D deck... thank you for your comments and for your efforts to find photos, the best I could find is the photo that I posted. The flange does seem to be a common feature on on many RN ships, with most of the plans in the John Roberts book showing some variation of it. Thanks for the heads-up. Out of curiosity, I have bought the ebook version just to have a look. There are five photos of the Ark Royal, of which only two don't seem to be readily available online. One of the starboard bow, and one of the port side rear of the island. Both of these views have been seen before, but these photos are fairly high resolution, so could be useful.
  5. Progress has been quite slow over the last few weeks. My work space is currently in my garage and it becomes impossible to heat if the temperature outside is too cold. I am of course still working on the island. To start with I have finished off a few minor things. I added some internal structure to the island so you won’t be able to see straight through the doors I have opened up. I have also added more detail to the wind deflector… …and added some treads to the Pom-Pom platform. Next up are the three rear Pom-Pom director stations. The kit parts are pretty poor, and the Tetra replacements are more detailed, but do not seem to be correct. The plans show all three to be complete, round tubs with ladders for access. The lower one is depicted as being U shaped, and is too small. And the upper ones are about the correct size, but have an opening in the back. I also noticed on the plans that there is a flange around the base of the funnel (orange arrows) which angles up to the level of the director stations at the purple arrow. Merit incorrectly identified this diagonal line as a staircase in the kit. This is shown on the plan views by the blue line around the funnel. On the next level up, you can see that there is some additional structure at the rear of the funnel which also extends up to the director stations, which is shown by the green arrow. It is just about visible in this photo from @Ex-FAAWAFU, by the purple arrow. The kit parts have a straight transition between the lower island structure and the funnel. I have tried to correct this and also add in the flange, although I think it is a bit oversize. The port side has a steeper slope. Once that was in place, the director stations were fairly straight forward and were built from styrene sheet and brass tube, along with the Tetra supports and “Affirmative Signal” panel. Cheers Peter
  6. Thanks, I hope it makes it a little bit clearer what I am doing, not just showing a completed part. Thank you. It actually ended up being a bit more straight forward than I thought it would be. I think sketching it out first definitely helped.
  7. I have continued with the pom-pom platform. I first built some walls for the “balloon filling station”, which is attached to the rear of the funnel. To this I added a raised platform and the previously made truncated cone, which I mounted on a piece of tube. This then formed the base to which I added further detail I will come back to the support structure underneath the platform, along with all of the smaller details, once I have completed the main structural work on the island. Cheers Peter
  8. Thanks for the idea, I was thinking about how to bend some sheet into a cone. So I gave vacuum forming a go, just making a plug from a few layers of styrene with some brass tube through the center. I put this in my drill and used used blades and files to get it to the correct shape. Using the brass tube, I mounted it vertically in a small vice I have. I then used a small heat gun to soften some 0.5mm styrene and quickly pulled it over the plug by hand and held it for a few seconds to harden. After some trimming and smoothing, this is the result. It did take quite a few attempts, but I have managed to get one which looks like it will do the job, and it was actually pretty straight forward. Cheers Peter
  9. It is pretty close to the plans, I think it is just the perspective, and the lack of the support structure which makes it look longer and thinner than it should be I think it is a bit taller than it should be though, which won't help with how it looks. This gives me enough to make a start though, I can always modify it later if more information comes to light. I think I need to start with the inverted truncated cone which supports the pom pom, if anybody has any ideas how to do this, let me know. Cheers Peter
  10. Hi Crisp. Thanks for sharing those pictures, I have seen numbers 2 and 3 your Flickr album, but must have missed the first one. I also found this picture in your album which gives a slightly better angle and shows a height change on the port side of the platform. https://www.flickr.com/photos/146063632@N05/50959360083/in/album-72157709128091737/ I have used those photos and the plans to roughly sketch out what I believe the configuration of the platform may have been before I commit to building it. This is extremely rough and it is almost certainly mostly incorrect. It also doesn't include the support structure yet. If there is anything here that doesn't make sense, or contradicts photos or the plans, let me know. Cheers Peter
  11. I have not really made much more progress yet, but I am looking to tackle the raised pom-pom platform at the rear of the island next. It is clear that the version supplied by Merit does not seem to bare much resemblance to the real thing, and the Tetra additions don’t improve it much. The plans in the John Roberts book show the general arrangement at the flight deck and A deck, but the profile view seems to show that there are a number of different levels and a complex support frame. Flight Deck A Deck Starboard Profile Does anybody have any good information about this area as the plans, and the few pictures I have, are not very clear? Cheers Peter
  12. You definitely need a good pair of side cutters for it (I have a new pair of the Tamiya 74035), but it does make the process so much easier I probably won't be spending the £150+ that the set seems to cost for that one part, looks like I will have to scratch build something
  13. Apologies, it looks like we will be continuing with this first part of the island for a little while longer After trimming the vanes of the wind deflector, I added strip along the top… …and made the triangular supports underneath. These were oversized pieces of strip which were then trimmed to size with side cutters afterwards. I also used this method for all of the splinter shield supports on the KGV, and find it much easier than trying to accurately cut and attach dozens of tiny triangles. I have added the basis of the rangefinder platform, but I won’t continue with this, or the rest of the compass platform until I have decided on the configuration I am representing. In the meantime, I have scratch built and installed a new HACS platform for the side of the island Cheers Peter
  14. Thanks for finding that @iang, i think i will hold off on completing that area until I have decided on a time frame and have some more information about the exact configuration at that time. Hi Crisp, welcome on board, and thank you for sharing your insight. I am taking a lot of inspiration from your fantastic build, and I am sure I will have lots of questions to pass your way. I have been looking for a copy of the Kagero plans, but they seem to be very hard to come by these days, I can't even find any overpriced copies on Ebay, so if anyone knows of anywhere it is in stock, I would be grateful if you could let me know. I did find the atlantic models boat set, so will be placing an order for that. I have also seen that Micro Master do an anchor set for this model which I will need to get, along with a whole load of other parts. Regarding the compass platform, I see that you have replaced yours with brass, and include the mesh in the floor. Are those parts from an aftermarket set, or are they scratch built, or did I just completely miss them in the Tetra set? Cheers Peter
×
×
  • Create New...