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  1. Having become bored with my more elaborate builds, I thought it might recharge my modeling mojo to take on a simple Japanese destroyer – and perhaps actually finish it! Tamiya’s of the 1/350 scale IJN Kagero seems like a perfect choice. If it lives up to the Tamiya reputation of great fitting parts, assembly should be a snap. Just to keep things interesting I picked up the Infini brass upgrade set for it too. I’m hoping to complete this one fairly quickly with a minimum of the scratchbuilding which tends to bog down my projects. We’ll see, but this should be a fun, straightforward build! True to form, Tamiya’s Kagero hull parts fit beautifully and the hull went together quickly. My only quibble here is the split hull design. While the waterline/full hull option here is nice, molding the lower hull separately builds in a bit of extra effort to integrate the lower and upper portions. I definitely prefer the simpler single hull approach of their earlier USS Fletcher kit. That said, the join was pretty good and only a little Mr. Surfacer 1200 was needed to blend things.
  2. My first surface ship and first go at an ocean. I'll be doing more, a nice break from a lifetime of aircraft. White Ensign PE set. Inspiration for ocean and technique credit to "Studio Blue Ocean" of Youtube Things I have leaned from this project 1) rigging is hard 2) I still hate photoetch 3) creating the sea was as satisfying as the ship, but I unsealed her, ripped her out and repainted the hull and the entire sea 3 times before I was happy. I know she is supposed to fly a black flag from the rear mast but I forgot. I will get around to it! Shot against white card outside with sun dipping in & out of cloud, the white balance was doing odd things but you get the gist. Thanks for looking!
  3. As I sit here waiting for the final bits of glue to dry on my 1/48 Gazelle, I have decided what the next project will be. I've gradually been assembling the bits I need, and I have a 4-5 week window without too much work, so can make a decent start as the Autumn draws on. If you follow aircraft WIPs, you might already know me from the Gazelle in the Helicopter 2 GB, and a long-running (and ongoing) 1/48 Barracuda III. But this will be my first ship since building the Airfix 1/600 Fearless about 45 years ago... This is going to be Ark Royal (5) as she was when I served in her in the late 80s, on my first front-line tour on Sea Kings (820 NAS). Based on the Airfix Illustrious, obviously, but there are quite a few differences to be adapted / reworked / scratched. In no particular order: - Different shape to the ramp; Ark's was built at 12 degrees right from the start, whereas the other 2 were modified, so Ark's was a different shape underneath as it faired into the hull; - Ark had Phalanx as her CIWS throughout her life, rather than Illustrious' Goalkeeper. I have acquired some Veteran Model 1/350 Phalanxes, so that's sorted - but I need to modify the sponson on the port quarter, which is not as deep as Lusty's; - Similarly the bow CIWS deck, and a much smaller one on the starboard side of the island; - The port quarter of the flight deck is a different shape; my Ark didn't have the "bulge" alongside 8 spot; - I have to reinstate the Sea Dart installation, which means completely re-working the starboard forward flight deck; no Spot 0, as in Lusty, different profile, visible fo'c's'le, capstans and other Fish-headery, DF aerial on a pole, rather than (as later in her life) up the mainmast; - Speaking of masts, the mainmast needs major rework to reinstate UAA1 and the 992 aerial, and lose 996; the mizzen is much smaller, without the large radome she acquired in her later life; - SCOT terminals further aft, just by the mizzen mast; - Two 909 domes to reinstate, though at least the superstructure beneath them doesn't appear to have changed much; - Different catwalks - the excellent WEM PE set includes the earlier catwalks, thank goodness - and Ark didn't have a stern catwalk at all at this stage; - A Cheverton in the port midships davit (just aft of the SRBOC sponson); - Different deck markings; I will be able to use some of Airfix's decals, but there will need to be some serious maskery later on in this build - at least the lines were all straight on the flight deck I knew, unlike these semi-circular things later on! - A few other more minor differences to do with 20mm placement, configuration of liferafts etc The CAG has been assembled; some extra Airfix aircraft sprues, 8 WEM Sea Harrier FRS1s, half a dozen Trumpeter Sea Kings a plus the WEM conversion kits, plus a couple of the WEM Air Group PE sets - the aim being to have 8 SHARs, 9 Sea King 5s, 3 AEWs & 2 HC 4s, which was what we carried for the trip to Australia in 1988. I know how I am going to do the HAS5s and the AEW2s; still working out how to get the HC4s right. So lots of work to do! I have made a start; the hangar deck is built, and I have cut off a) the stbd aft flight deck "bulge"; the forward area of the flight deck; c) the port aft CIWS sponson. I'm working from a lot of reference photos, a couple of books, plus the excellent Jecobin plans (suitably reduced in size to make them 1/350). More soon (including pics of the destruction); pull up a chair!
  4. Following on from the Fujimi Fuso c.1944, I present the Fujimi Kongo - also at 1/350th size also of 1944. I'm nearing the end of another ship and starting to look at what is next. I haven't seen a build log of the Kongo here - if anyone has recommendations to read please let me know! It will likely be a bit of time before I get my teeth into this. Planning will be important. The kit will be a hopefully straight forward out of two box build: Fujimi 60049 sometimes 600499? nominally October 1944 - 38 part build sequence with 22 sprues no photo etch apart from a chain. Pontos detail set 35020f1 with 10 A3 pages of instruction, 309 pieces of brass, 134 pieces of resin and 7 sheets of brass plus a wooden deck. But looking through the details I see some steps are marked x28 (!?!?) so my sanity may extend far enough and it is possible aftermarket guns may be acquired. Anyway here is the kit: stand and 1:1 paint scheme taken out. It looks not dissimilar to the Fuso which is good - i.e. very well engineered compared to Trumpeter or Tamiya from what I have seen. The paint scheme suggested is the same as for Fuso i.e. H17 Hull and H83 structure. Which would mean two models with the same paint jobs which I'm not super keen on. Kongo is the last of the foreign built Japanese capital ships built in Barrow in Furness in the UK. Roughly analogous to the battlecruiser HMS Tiger, the class had slightly larger (14inch vs 13.5 inch) guns, and by WW2 was almost unrecognisable compared to her 1912 launch. The debate about are they battlecruisers or fast battleships appears ongoing. More history will come but this is kept here for my memory. http://www.combinedfleet.com/kongo.htm
  5. I have had the “I Love Kit” boxing of HMS Ark Royal III in the stash for a little while. After struggling to finish my build of the KGV, I had planned to leave it there for a couple of years and focus on clearing some of my aircraft backlog, but my unexpected success at SMW has given the motivation needed to make a start on it. Unlike my previous build on this site, I am starting this log at the very start of the project. So far I have the model, and the Tetra Model Works detail up set and aircraft detail set. I am of course looking at other aftermarket from Micro Master, Black Cat, and others. I did use quite a few items from North star on the KGV, but they seem to no longer be active, which is a shame. I have not yet decided when or where I will be depicting this ship, though I am leaning towards depicting her as she was towards the end of her life, the worn paint scheme seems to be an interesting challenge. As far as can tell, there were not many significant changes to her through her short life, so I will get on with the build and hopefully when I know a bit more about her, I will be able to nail down a date and configuration. Here are the obligatory box shots. In terms of references, I only have the British Warships of the Second World War by John Roberts and a copy of the Profile Morskie plans at the moment. I have of course also searched IWM for every picture they have along with scouring Google for anything else available. Detailed photos do seem to be particularly hard to find for this ship though. As others have said, there are some issues with this kit, some more significant than others. On the less significant end, I honestly don’t think that the level of detail is much better than the Tamiya KGV kit which is 30 years older. A lot of the parts are simplified, and will need to be replaced, and surface detail is lacking with scuttles and some basic hatches, but not much else. They also seem to mostly be in the wrong place. In terms of more significant issues, the first thing I noticed when I first looked at the parts, is the thickness of the hull pieces, which is particularly visible around the cutouts at the bow and stern. In the second picture you can also see some of the oddly shaped scuttles and one of the backwards hawsepipes. Pretty much all of these cutouts seem to be too tall, significantly larger than in the plans, but many are also not quite in the correct place. I would like to try and do something about this plastic thickness issue and the general sizes of the cutouts, and I have some ideas, but I will need to do some testing before messing up the model. I have reduced the side profile from the John Roberts book to 1/350 and made some comparisons to the kit. I believe that the length is okay, but it seems to be too tall (~4mm), and too wide (~6mm). Also, the bow profile is quite different. Interestingly though the stern is much closer. The error seems to be mostly in the top two decks which appear to have been stretched upwards, and possibly outwards as well. With the exception of the bow profile, which needs to be more bulbous and less pointy, I really don’t think there is anything I can do to correct this, short of binning the whole lot and scratch building it instead. Anyway, I doubt many people will pick up on these issues. I am sure there are various other things which I will find during the build, but for now I thought I would point out the main things which I need to think about. I don’t want to seem entirely negative, and I am happy that there is a kit of this ship, but if I can spot these issues with my relative inexperience and lack of resources, I don’t know why Merit would not have bought copies of the shipbuilders plans to get these basics correct. I suppose on the plus side, it will give me more of a challenge than if I was able to build it straight out of the box. Anyway, on that note, enough moaning, onto the build… Cheers Peter
  6. I started on a Mikromir submarine a long time ago. The build halted when it came to the etch parts. A bit of short run with fuzzy placements of parts. The instructions for the photo etc was a bit vague to put it nice. Some time there was a pic of the etch part and the plastic part it should be mounted to. Nothing to say where. I skipped lot of the small part as they were to small to be handled and I doubt that some of them would not stay as the attachment points was to small for glue to hold. Anyway, it is ready for paint.
  7. I have this very small model of the UB I. It is little confusing of the producer of the kit. U-boat Laboratorium or Kombrig? Even more confusing is it when it get to the instructions. This is what you get but it is not up to date with the kit. Parts 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 are not included in the kit and as you can see that the etch fret included (At the right top of the pic) is different to the picture in the instructions and has no part numbers on the fret. But I'll do my best to get it together.
  8. After the Graf Spee, what else could I assemble but the HMS Exeter. I got the kit several months ago, and have been adding some aftermarkets for a better experience, like: 1. Eduard Big Ed PE, 2. Infini models Brass Masts, 3. Scale Chain 4. Master Model 8" barrels 5. Master Model 4" barrels 6. Wooden base (same as used for the Graf Spee) it will be a waterline model The length of the HMS Exeter vs the Graf Spee surprised me, it does not seem too much shorter. Marco
  9. After 1 year of absence, i finally return. This time i want to recreate the Preparing phase before the launch in the Aircraft carrier Kaga. it took me quite a while to gather material and also research, in the end i think i did a decent job recreating the scene. Thanks for watching and cheers from Vietnam
  10. Finished the Polar Lights NCC 1701 Built this in 2020 just before my 1/1500 Star Destroyer build. Has full LED lighting - with Sequenced Strobes and Nav Lights. Built the base with 3 Switches, so Lights could be selected. Warp Drive, Photon Torpedoes, Nav/Strobe etc. Took a lot of wiring and soldering that's for sure. All ran on a plug in mains 240V 2A PSU - Used aluminium hollow tube for the stand and wiring. The Hanger deck is fully lit, just cant seem to find any pictures of it the hanger deck at the moment
  11. Hi, this is one of several ship models I've completed over the last couple of years. The very nice Bronco kit is a joy to build. I had a good reference photo of Chih Yuen in an interim paint scheme (the Elswick builder's grey hull (originally all-grey) with the yellow/buff superstructure and funnel elements. I added what appeared to be a strake around the upper hull missing from the kit, opened up the numerous casemates/ports on the poop (as per the photo), raised the foremast derrick/boom (as per photo), and added the stern davits and various boats (as per photo). Crewless at the moment - looking for some suitable 19C figures. Highly recommended kit. Cheers, GrahamB Damn - just noticed a loose rope on the aft boom.
  12. Hi guys, welcome to my proposed build for 2021, after I have finished my tug that is. As the title says, this will be a scratch build of the Japanese steam ship, Fushimi Maru. She was laid in 1913, launched in 1914 and her first voyage in 1915. Built primarily for the NYK’s European Routes with a typical routing in the 1920s were Yokohama, Kobe, Moji, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malacca, Penang, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Port Said, Naples, Marseilles, Gibraltar and London. Why may ask, why this ship? It’s a family history connection where sometime after WW1, a Spanish ancestor of my partner, travels from Gibraltar to London. I suggested ‘would you like me to build your Grandma’s ship and here I am, albeit a few years later? Anyways, the Fushimi Maru sailed her European routes until the outbreak of WW2, where upon she was pressed into military service as a troop ship. Unfortunately for her, she was sunk by the submarine USS Tarpon in 1943. Searches found little, most being postcards that show very little detail and images that tend to be from the 1930’s, neither showing the detail needed to reproduce a model of the 1919 era. I did come across this photo a couple of years ago: Once a museum exhibit at the Mariners Museum, Virginia, USA of all places. I approached the museum with the view of getting more details about the model and maker but at the time, my request fell on deaf ears and the project went on the back burner. I tried again a year later and must have contacted the right person at the right time, put my questions forward and to my surprise, the museum sent me a copy of a publication 'International Maritime Engineering' Vol. XX No. 7 and dated July 1915. Struck gold is all I can say, a very useful document indeed containg descriptions of things ranges from berths, holds, engines, boats, winches, etc and also had a Profile and deck plans. Brilliant! Further requests were made about the model or its maker but nothing could be found. I asked about the possibility of photos of the model exhibit and to my surprise, a member of staff was asked to liaise with myself about photos. In the end, I got about 20 images of the exhibit from stem to sten, both sides, with some nice close-ups…and they didn’t ask for a dime and declined a donation. Why can’t more places like this exist? I will be building a waterline model and I don’t think I’ll have any problems with the mid-section or the bow but the stern under section leading to the rudder is problematic to someone who doesn’t have a clue, unclear images or lack of profiles to get the curves. I’m thinking plastic but would wood be a better option for the hull? I chose the scale of 1/350, hoping to find generic offerings to make things easier but it doesn’t seem to be that easy as yet. Later on in the build, I'll be looking at possible cutom 3D options for the winches, custom PE for the davits and as for the boats... Until then. Stuart
  13. If you have looked at any of my current builds (Seafire 47/Seafang; HMS Brinton and/or Walrus), you will know by now that I have fractured my wrist. I cannot model one-handed, so I have been wracking my brains about what I can do for the time until I get my left arm back from the menders. The power of modern technology is at least helping in one respect; I am dictating this post into my MacBook Air and will then cut & paste it into BM; no one-finger, one-hand typing for me! Right, so you can't build models for a while, Crisp - why start a new thread then? Because... well, read on. Many of you already know that I served on board HMS Fearless in 1981-1982, including during the Falklands War. The ship, therefore, for reasons that will be obvious, has a very special place in my heart, and it has always been a long-term plan of mine to build a model of her. Kits were very thin until a couple of years ago; basically there was the ancient 1/600 Airfix job. It can be done - one build in particular on the internet shows a wonderful result from that particular elderly sow's ear [http://steeleelstudios.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/marine-art-and-modelmaking-hms-fearless.html]. But it's not my scale - I am very much a 1/350 man when it comes to ships - and if I am going to spend hundreds of hours scratch building, then I might as well scratch build the whole thing. The utterly stunning Hermes, Broadsword and Yarmouth build on this very site (take a bow, @andrewa) shows what is possible and has been a massive inspiration to me. If you have not already seen this masterpiece, then go and look at it now. Actually, do so even if you have; it is superb modelling. [No pressure, then, Crisp…] There will be two Fearless builds shown in this thread; one will be the scratch built 1/350 one I have wanted to do for so long. This will be built docked down in action, as in San Carlos Water, probably as on about 24th May 1982, when this well-known photograph was taken (from one of the Rapier batteries on the hill). [You can tell it was around May 24th, because that Lynx on deck is Antelope's - she had blown up the previous day. I spent much of the war working on the flight deck - this was before I started my flying training]. I have assembled quite a few detailed parts for the 1/350 one, mostly from Peter Hall at Atlantic: I have 4 x Seacat launchers, a Cheverton (Captain's barge), motor whaler (sea boat), 2 x 40/60 Bofors guns, some basic LCU hulls (which may or may not be suitable for adaptation), and plenty of Seaking material which will be left over from Ark Royal. I also have lots of resin bitts, fairleads, hawser reels, etc. and PE RN pattern doors, hatches and ladders. As you would expect, I have lots of reference material, of which the three most useful books are these - two widely available, and the other (the home-produced pamphlet which every member of the Ship's Company took away with them when we got back) definitely not. Ewen Southby-Tailyour's book is particularly good because it has some clear photos of areas you don't normally see (like the inside of the tank deck0. I also have copious plans from Jecobin - and we will come back to those. The second Fearless model - which will be the first to be finished, no doubt - will be half the size; the L'Arsenal 1/700 resin and PE kit. It was launched at ScaleModelWorld in about 2012, and you won't be astonished to learn that I snapped one up instantly. I will not be starting it yet (too many other builds on the go, not to mention the wrist thing!), but I will give you the statutory intro shots. The box: And the contents: The L'Arsenal kit looks very nice, though it's not perfect; it is billed as Fearless as she was in 1982, but some of the details show her as she was a few years later, post-refit - notably the guns (which are BMARC 30mm rather than ancient Mk.7 40mm Bofors) and the chaff launchers on the bridge wing (which are SuperRBOC rather than the old-fashioned Corvus). Nothing, though, that cannot be fixed. I also found a build of this kit in an Airfix Modeller Magazine back issue, in which he says that the only problem he encountered was that the flight deck in his copy was a horrible fit. Yep, me too. Time for some plastic card, I think. Really nasty, bubbly casting on that flight deck, too - which is odd, because the rest of the kit is beautifully cast; here, for example, the fo'c's'le with a Swann-Morton No 11 alongside for scale. Rather than repeat the San Carlos scenario at half the size, I will probably build the L'Arsenal version to show her as she steamed back into Portsmouth in July 1982, missing one LCU (F4 having been sunk) and bearing her battle scars. ANYWAY... why start this thread now, when I cannot model? Because the one thing you definitely need when scratch building is a really good set of plans. I have these; the 1/192 Jecobin jobs, which are excellent, and of which I have already produced numerous copies reduced to 1/350, which will be cut up to produce templates etc. You will note that I have plans for BOTH Intrepid and Fearless - because neither of them show the ship in the 1982 configuration. Intrepid is as built, when the rear of the superstructure was very different. Fearless is as post-refit, with Phalanx, modern guns, a revised comms fit etc. So what I plan to do during my enforced lay-off is to combine the two sets on my computer, and generate a full set of plans for Fearless as she actually was in 1982. Those of you who followed my SeaKing rivet marathon will recall that i did something quite similar then. There will be no modelling in this thread for some time; but in the next few weeks there will be updates showing progress towards accurate plans for the time I wish to depict her. More soon-ish Crisp [P.S. Why "explicit women"? Because the motto under Fearless' crest is EXPLICIT NOMEN - essentially, "The name speaks for itself" - but shortly before the Falklands malarkey we had to pulp a load of publicity leaflets (for open days etc) because it had a misprint; the junior officers immediately adopted the revised motto.]
  14. Back after a bit - attempting to build my first resin model: Atlantic Models 1/350 HMS Laforey but being built as HMS Loyal. Paints are/will be Sovereign Hobbies Colourcoats series - also a first step away from Acrylics. I washed the hulls and glued them together with loctite super glue, and attached the rudder and propellor shafts. I've primed the hull and deck with Mr Surfacer 1500 and painted the deck NARN-54 RN Dark Deck Grey. I might highlight some raised parts of the deck later in RN Green. Taped off the upper hull and applied NARN 42 anti-fouling red. Pulling back my Tamiya tape and I see some of the primer has lifted. Oops. I guess I didn't clean it enough. Might need to rethink my taping of the hull lower hull again (I was going to have a black line around the hull. TBC.
  15. Hi All. I have been a member here for a few years, but this is my first time posting. This is also the first ship model I have built as I usually build aircraft, and occasionally armour, cars, sci-fi, etc. I actually started this model nearly three years ago, but I have had a number of breaks from the project during that time, so I am only now on the home straight. I thought some of you might be interested in the build process, so I will try and document what I have done so far over the next few days or weeks and will update it going forward. Apologies if there are a few steps missing, I have not been very consistent with pictures of the build, but I will show you as much as I can. I also have some questions about various details which I am trying to work out. This was originally supposed to be a relatively simple build, using the Tamiya Prince of Wales kit and the Pontos KGV upgrade set. However, due to a lack of detail in the Tamiya kit and a few inaccuracies in the Pontos kit, this project has somewhat spiralled out of control and become much more complex. Because I was not happy with my original painting of the hull, I ended up buying a second POW kit, and in addition to the Pontos set, I have also used Eduard photo etch as well as detail sets from North Star models, WEM, Micro Master and various others. I have also ended up doing quite a lot of scratch building to try and get what I hope is a reasonably accurate model. I decided to depict her in early 1942. The reasons for this were that I didn’t want to do a complex camouflage scheme for my first ship model. I also wanted to include the catapult and Walrus. The catapult was removed in February 1944; however the ship was given a camouflage scheme following the collision with HMS Punjabi in May 1942 and kept this until late 1944. I also prefer the look of the pom-poms to the UP launchers, which were removed in December 1941. This is the best, and pretty much only picture that I have been able to find of the ship during this period and has been my main inspiration for the build. Despite what the text on the picture says, this is in fact KGV, not the Duke of York, although I believe the date is correct. As far as references are concerned, I have the following books, one of which in particular turned out to be less than useful, and hundreds of photos and other information found online, mostly from the IWM. While waiting for the kit to arrive, I made a start on the base. This was a solid piece of oak from an old bookshelf, larger than the model and with a routered edge to allow for a Perspex case. I also added cut-outs under each end to make it easier to lift For the pedestals I used some brass handrail fittings, but cut down to around 4cm high. Next, onto the build Peter
  16. A few weeks ago I started building a 1/700 resin & PE kit of Ark Royal 2, the pioneering First World War seaplane carrier. However, I think it’s fair to say that, as a committed 1/350 man when it comes to ships, I am finding the scale a real challenge. The kit is great, and I will continue to build it... but I find that 45 minutes in teeny-weeny über-delicate brass-land is enough - and when I do achieve things I find that it pays to let everything really cure and stabilise before moving on. Anyway, as those of you who’ve been kind enough to look into that build already know, I have been interspersing WW1 pioneers operating flimsy Shorts & Sopwith machines with experiments with the next Ark, the WW2 aircraft carrier. I have now decided that this deserves a separate thread, before it all gets too confusing. So here we are. This will be the 1/350 Merit kit, released 2 or 3 years ago to a fair amount of excitement from us RN fans, especially RN carrier fans. We understand that market forces mean that yet another Yamato or Bismarck will sell like hot cakes... but even so. I am sure I’m not the only person who finds it utterly weird that model companies will invest in the wherewithal to produce 1/350 kits of, say, Graf Zeppelin (never finished) and even Peter Strasser (barely even started, and never officially named), but not of Illustrious, whose aircraft changed the Mediterranean war in a couple of hours. Still... Nazis sell. So a mainstream kit of a British carrier is something to be celebrated! The Merit kit is... very good, certainly, though not completely without errors. Definitely the basis of a good model. The game changer for me, however, is the Tetra Modelworks detail up set, which takes us to a different league in detail. I have also obtained some other after-market RN detail goodies - notably from North Star: - HACS Mk.IV directors (the Merit ones are basic, to put it mildly, and have a radar which was never actually fitted before Ark’s demise); - winches (to populate the boat bays etc, which are devoid of anything much by way of detail); - RN anchors (one of the most obvious Merit mistakes is that the anchors are much too small); - RN bridge equipment (of which there is none); and - paravanes (US cruiser paravanes, but they’ll look close enough when stowed). This will depict Ark at a very specific moment, at about 1900 on 26 May 1941, as she turned into wind to launch 15 Swordfish of 810, 818 & 820 Naval Air Squadrons on a torpedo attack against Bismarck - the attack that jammed Bismarck’s rudder and sealed her fate. The Merit kit includes 5 Swordfish (plus 4 Skuas & 4 Fulmars, none of which will be used for this build), and I have ordered 2 boxes of Trumpeter Stringbags, which come in batches of 6 (and are by all accounts essentially identical to Merit’s, which is hardly a shock). Anyway. For some discussion of colour schemes and stuff, plus my early test runs with Tetra’s wing fold PE on a Fulmar, see the old thread. This evening, along with a very frustrating session of clumsiness in 1/700, I did manage to get the undercarriage on my test Swordfish (test because I’m playing with ideas for how to improve it... like maybe rigging it): here seen upside down.. ...and here resting on her own two feet: Even this is a right performance: Merit provide the u/c in two parts - a V-shaped part that fits into two holes in the fuselage, and a straight piece with the wheel. Getting them to line up is not simple - though eventually I landed on a technique that seems to work, namely gluing the V-strut first, and only then adding the straight oleo/wheel section. This design means that getting the aircraft level is a challenge - dry fitting completely impractical! The wheels are too thick, I think; I’d already reduced them before fitting, but once everything’s dry I’ll experiment with getting them a bit better yet. But basically it’s a pretty credible Swordfish (or will be with a second wing!), for which kudos to Merit. The next experimental Stringbag will be a folded one. Anyway. We’re off. In due course I’ll show you some more of what comes in the various boxes. More soon Crisp
  17. Hi, It's my old Big-E, that I'd built twenty years ago, I have removed the planes and the island, changed the aircraft, rebuild the island, and applied the wheathering... It's the Enterprise in 1986-88 (Carrier Air Wing 11). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It's the last aircraft carrier I built...
  18. Hello, gentlemen! A thousand pardons! I've been working on this project for two months now and I've never managed to write anything about it. But my modesty isn't accidental - the project is really daring. Anyway, I haven't done anything like that in my life. So, at the risk of being a bad guy I decided to convert the well-known model HMS Warspite from Academy to HMS Malaya for 1940 in 2 colour alexandria camouflage: (as usual - thanks to @dickrd for the advice) I am planning to use the hull (after some modifications), armament, dinghies (they of course will also need modification) and some details of the lower level superstructure. Also of course photo etched rails, gangways, chains, winches and some other little things will be used. The rest I want to make myself. I must say that nothing is new under the moon and similar work was already done by Phil Reeder in 2014. Giving credit to this brave modeler, I want to end up with a model with more attention to detail. Even if that job takes five years! I'm not in a hurry! ( I will try very, very hard to take my time ). And if I end up being the man began to build and was not able to finish, let my notes help the more persistent follower. Or maybe (you never know?! ) inspire Trumpeter to release a Malaya model in 1/350 😈 What have I been doing for 2 months? I started making the hardest part - the main superstructure. Here's how it looks at the moment: It's far from finished but it's moderately optimistic. All sorts of little things, including a homemade aeroplane (Malaya had Swordfish and not Walrus at this time) and of course homemade sailors in jackets. These are the chains I plan to use: on the right prefabricated anchor chains, North Star, from a set of flat chains from Microdesign I plan to use the thinnest for the paravan. Here is the work plan for the hull: 1. First we need to saw off the boules - they will interfere with the mounting on the stand. We will leave more at bow and stern as I want a rough sea again. 2. Add casemates fore and aft. 3. A lady should have a waist. Warspite has one too! But is it worth messing around with it? Can it be seen only when looking at the model exactly from the stern? Unfortunately, no. It is clearly visible in almost all the Malaya and Barham photos because of the distinctive shape of the rubbish chute: Warspite has that detail in a different location, so the waist is less visible. 4. Next - portholes, exhaust spigots, sheet metal borders etc. 👨‍🔧👨‍🔧👨‍🔧👨‍🔧 🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚🪚 sawed off! To be continued
  19. Having finished HMS Roberts, I decided to go both backwards and forwards in time. So here is my next build: IJN Fuso with the premium kit c.1944. Some mixed feelings about doing an IJN vessel, but the mix of photo-etch and modifications needed should be almost a halfway house between a Trumpeter kit (where photo etch is included) to doing a Pontos upgrade kit (which involves a lot of modifying pieces I think). But my Japanese will need to improve (or my usage of google translate is about to increase a lot). There are 4 photo-etch plates, with brass (?) gun barrels. First thoughts: the points of contact with the sprues seems so much more thought out in Fujimi than in Trumpeter, and looks like a lot less sanding is needed.
  20. 1:350 Klingon K't'inga Class Battle Cruiser I.K.S Amar As seen in Star Trek The Motion Picture This is the POL950 Model complete with the add on Lighting kit. Polar Lights did a really good job with this kit as i believe the planning team created this with advice & direction from the 1/350 Resin Studio model Creator over in the US. Fit is really good for something so large 60cm in length. Looking forward to Polar Lights's later release POL997 'Kronos One' LIGHTS ON: LIGHTS OFF: Back ON:
  21. Hello everyone, A few years ago I built HMS Illustrious escorted by HMS Kent; I thought I'd try a 'then and now' and build HMS Ark Royal escorted by HMS Zulu. They'll be in the med shortly before Ark Royal was lost, I think that's plausible as they were both stationed there. I've been gathering bits for the last year or so and am finally ready to start putting them together; Got some bits from Micromaster, which are absolutely beautiful, along with the detail up set from Tetra Model Works for Ark Royal and the WEM set for Zulu along with a quad 2pdr from North Star. Also the Ark Royal boats set from Atlantic models and some replacement 4.7 inch turrets from Shapeways along with a few 3D printed bits and bobs of my own design. When I built HMS Hood I made a spare 4 in gun mount for the X position on Zulu. One thing I'm struggling to find is individual PE ladder rungs in 1/350 - I've seen them before but can't find any at the moment does anyone know where I can source some? Going to be a long build, but hopefully I'll be able to make a start next weekend, probably on Zulu first. Cheers Nick
  22. This is the Bronco kit in 1/350. They pretty nicely detailed with photo etch included for the rails. These are a little fiddly but do look nice on the completed kit. In fact it was the photo etch that caused this kit to end up on the shelf of doom a few years ago, but I decided to either finish it or throw it out. Two options are given, U 37 an U 40. I chose to do U 37. The submarine had a long and successful career, embarking on 11 war patrols between the outbreak of WW2 and April of 1942, sinking 55 ships at 211,000 tonnes. After this, she was designated a training vessel in the Baltic, where U 37 would serve out the remainder of the war. Unlike many U boots, U 37 suffered no casualties through the entire war. On May 5th, her crew scuttled her in Horup Haff. I guess she got this colour scheme during her training days, as the Baltic tends to be a bit icy. Colours used were White Ensign Models schlickgrau 58 for the conning tower and upper hull with schiffsbodenfarbe III for the anti fowling. Decks were stained black with white being sprayed in a rough manner over the 58 grau for the camouflage.
  23. Well with time on my hands this week and waiting for stuff to dry in-between the S-Boot build i have started on this kit hull and deck made up with deck painted ready to apply a lot of decals first up also lower hull red on. Stay Safe beefy
  24. Does anyone know of a review of the Trumpeter 1/350 Luda class destroyer "Chinese 166 Zhu Hai" ? Many sources seem to suggest it was derived from the Russian Cold War Kotlin class, and if that is the case I am considering converting and back dating it to a 60's era Soviet Kotlin. Any views or references? Thanks Terry
  25. My other build is a kit thats been in the stash for quite a while, picked up for $8 at a local show. USS England, a Buckley class Destroyer Escort, was quite successful serving in the Pacific. Between May 19th and May 31st in 1944, she sank 6 Japanese submarines.
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