HMS Rockrose K51 - 1/350 Mirage kit

[Gelfin]

Flower class corvette HMS Rockrose K51

Greetings all, this is my first build log here and will also be my first maritime build since my youth.
I will be building the HMS Rockrose, K51.
I have not gone nuts and bought the Revell kit quite yet, but instead have chosen HMS Pennywort 1/350 as my base model (Mirage models). The Pennywort was built by A&J Inglis, Glasgow but her dates run very closely to the Rockrose. Strangely tho' the Pennywort was Laid in Dec '39, but only completed in March '42.
Also in my only discovering the models now I have had the fortune to compare all four available and choose the one most suited to the Rockrose's config.
She was built by Charles Hill & Sons, of Albion Dockyard in Bristol.
Laid: 28th Oct 1940
Launched: 26th July 1941
Completed: 4th Nov 1941
During construction a dud bomb damaged her boilers while they were still being built and in a panic the shipyard turned to a pair of 80 ton boilers meant for a merchantman. The stokers said that it was a tight squeeze and everything didn't fit quite where it was supposed, but she could hold a head of steam for a lot longer and was recorded that she reached 18.5 knots at full steam on her way back from her 1943 refit.

Her crew were all chosen for her 4 weeks before her completion and they went up to Tobermory for a month of intensive training before getting their first orders.
My main reason for wanting to build the Rockrose is that she spent most of her wartime career berthed and on convoys around the tip of Africa. She called Simonstown Harbour her base for quite a long while, and her crew even enjoyed a four week rest (during refitting) in Johannesburg and on the Transkei coast. Post-war (1947) she sailed from Devonport to Table Bay (Cape Town), then was sent up to Durban (1949) to be refit as a Hydrographic survey ship by Gilbert Hammer and Co.Ltd, for the South African Naval Force as HMSAS Protea. She continued to serve until 1957 when she was paid off into Reserve.
Dave Donohoe's account of his time on the Rockrose is a wonderful read and is easily found on the web.
She rescued 114 (accounted for) survivors...quite a lot as the result of U172, whom she eventually damaged, but didn't get a confirmation. In other research I discovered that U172 did have to undergo some repairs because of the Rockrose.

My first order of business was to research and gather as much as I could on her before even opening the box. There is so much confused info out there, and believe me my Google-fu is goood. So far I have only found 2 photos of her during the war and two photos of her as SAS. Protea, post 1952 (South Africa independance).
My first Questions to you learned folks (as you knew there would be):
Can anyone please help me with the correct colours needed,
I know of WEM's paint line and will happily purchase them, since I got the model and some Mk1 RN Railings fret from them already. In the first photo ( Durban harbour, early 1943;I assume, since her first convoy in the area was CM042 which sailed 30/05/43) she appears to still have her original RN colours of Light Admiralty Grey and RN Off-white.
Some clarification would be most appreciated.
Do I need to cut out two rectangles in the stern where the Depth charge racks go or do they drop over the side from above. I have no good shots of the stern and there doesn't seem to have been a hard and fast rule when it came to the Corvettes. Some definitely have them, while on others you can't seem to tell.
Since she wasn't a mine-sweeper she carried no rear winch and dolphins, so I will be forgoing them in favour of more depth charge racks. So here's the rub... think I can find a good shot of a rear or breezeway depth-charge rack? I think I found a short one on top of the carley float rack in this photo, am I right?

Okay, if you're still with me... Thank you... and on to the beginning of the build.
To start with I looked at many photos and soon realised that the portholes were anything but standard. The models, all 4, have used what I think was the standard layout suggested by the schematics drawn up in the initial design brief. The actually ships, however are a different story. So I used my two photos and plotted out which portholes had to go and where the new ones would be drilled in.
I made copies of the profile artwork from the instructions and then scaled the copies with new porthole config, until they were exact matches for the hull halves. This allowed me to transfer the locations correctly. I also added the two 'head' drains on the side as the model neglected them.

After I had drilled the holes out, not through, I used a bit of Liquid Green-stuff (from Citadel) on the end of a toothpick that I'd cut down so that it fitted in the holes snuggly. I pressed the tip, with a bit of putty on, into the hole and rotated the stick...then pulled it out. This left a thin rim of putty around the edge of the hole. I cleaned away the bottom half of the lip, thus leaving me the scuttle on top. I did this since I had no wire fine enough to do the job. I will try to get a macro shot of it when it's primed. I then filled the portholes I didn't want with layers of Liquid GS and dropped in layers of White glue into the holes I did want, to build up the 'window' again.

I plan on using my scratchbuilding skills to try and get what I want without resorting to the WEM PE set. Hence why I only bought the railings.
I will rebuild the back part of the bridge with railings and then add the splinter padding (sculpted from Green stuff) to the bridge & searchlight tub. The lower Carley float racks will be rebuilt and the 2nd Thrower will fit in behind the screen. Luckily there are 4 throwers in the kit.
For now I'm waiting for the white glue in the portholes to dry again so I can add another layer.
Thanks for looking,
Any help and comments or crits are most welcome,
G

[bootneck]

Hi Gelfin,

that is indeed a formidable and informative introduction to your build. Research and information is the key to any good project/build and I hope that you are rewarded with lots of additional helpful information.

I shall be following this thread with great interest as I have a couple of these kits, Pennywort and Anchusa, but I have not decided which actual ships to represent yet; mainly as I do not have enough data to start either at the moment.

cheers

Mike

[longshanks]

Hi Gelfin,

I shall be watching your progress with interest

A couple of leads for you to follow if you haven't already seen them

Books

Warshp perspective - Flower Class Corvettes in WWII by John Lambert

Flower Class Corvettes by John Lambert & Les Brown

Builds

http://www.modelshipwrights.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=features&file=view&artid=2065

http://modelshipwrights.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=216606&page=1

Photo etch

https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+1350+Flower+Class+Corvette+Mirage+PE+35171/17584/#.VDjxomctDIU

Forum

http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/Flower/contents.htm

Reference D/C Chutes

Comparing your first picture with the above pictures I would say the rails are passing over the bulwarks.

Cheers Kev

Edited October 11, 2014 by longshanks

[Gelfin]

Hi guys, thanks for the encouragement, I feel I'm in safe hands now

Longshanks, thank you so much for the links, I had found a few but not all. I would love to get Lamberts book!

I have been busy, I prepped the hull halves and mated them up. It took some squeezing and 'cussin' but I got there. The halves were slightly bowed away from each other so I had to glue from the prow backwards, in sections. I used a cheap (Wilko's Di-all) thin CA on the outer join. I dip a thin piece of wire into the glue and run a drip along the seam. Then I used Zap Gel CA on the inside to strengthen the weld. The stern was the real problem as the kit calls for you to cut out a rectangle for the Dolphins and cables, so they didn't really work on that part very hard. I had to really press to keep it together and then had to flatten the lip of the join as it had a peak where it mated together. There are still some small gaps along the bottom of the hull, but since I plan to try my hand at depicting her at sea, that is the least of my worries. I've always been a diorama builder, so it's a no brainer for me, she has to be seen in situ, not static.

My questions today, please:

In the photo (which I have adjusted to improve the details) the blue circle is the area I am most interested in right now. I'm trying to figure out what she had down there. Since there is no recorded event of her minesweeping I am lead to believe that she had no sweeps or dolphins, she never towed either. The model depicts the massive winch on the 'sweep' deck. I want to remove that and add two depth charge storage racks. Doc Brown has depicted similar on his 2nd flower build. The reason I ask now is that I want to remove the moulded base for the winch before gluing the decks in, as cleaning that up later would be a 'mare.

So, can anyone please help me shed some light on this proposal as pic's are few and far between.
My other two observations that I wanted to run past you are the Red and Green circles in the photo.
The red circle seems to show the railings visible through the material covering the bridge. Am I to assume that this is simply canvas covers and that at this early point she had no splinter padding on the bridge or the searchlight tub?
The green circle shows a total lack of mesh or padding around the forward gun-tub, am I right? If so, then I'll have to forego the kit PE for the tub and go with plain two bar railings.

The other question I keep asking myself as I go over the parts and so on is, can I justify the cost of a set of pe ladders and stairs to replace the aztec ones on the kit. There are quite a few and I can see what a difference they would make in the end.

Thanks for looking, C&C's welcome

Garth

Edited October 17, 2014 by Gelfin

[bootneck]

Hi Gelfin,

just a thought, but looking at the ship, with no-one at defensive stations (all guns appear to be covered) and the civilians watching at the entrance; could this be an immediate post-war photo? That could explain the removal of the splinter matting, leaving only the canvas dodgers on the bridge rails etc.

Mike

[Martian]

Regarding the PE; I get the impression that this build is special to you. If so, then I would invest in the best after market parts you can afford, you will never be quite happy with the finished model otherwise.

Martin

[Niall]

The large winch is for the magnetic mine sweeping gear. This gear did not use the floats shown on the instruction sheet.

Your ship was never fitted with this equipment(nor the acoustic mine sweeping gear on the bow). The area it occupied had a single davit near the forward end of the depth charge racks. Some ships also added racks on the deck for extra depth charges between the racks and the rear of the deck house.

There were at lease 3 types of tall depth charge racks, a simple taller version of the "standard" type and at least 2 with extra depth charges stowed underneath.

[Niall]

One other tip is to look for photos of HMS Saxifrage as this was built in the same yard at the same time.

[Gelfin]

Hi guys

Thanks so much for the feedback.

@ Martin: Yes sir this ship has crept into my heart. The courage and determination of the crew's in horrible conditions and their almost unsung story had me from the start. To find out that the Rockrose became part of the fledgling South African Navy was brilliant. I wrestled with the idea of the WEM pe for quite a while, but am resolved to continue as is for now. If all goes well, then I will attempt the 1943 version of HMS Rockrose with full pe added.

@ Bootneck: I see where you're coming from, but if you look at the 2nd photo in my Original post you'll see HMS Rockrose shortly after her 1943 refit in East London Harbour. Her mast has moved aft the bridge and she has two sponsons either side of the engine room, 'funnel deck'. I believe she also had her vents and 'air-con' refitted. Wouldn't she still retain that fit if it were a post-war shot?

@ Niall: Thanks for that input, it's really hard to find any decent pics of the storage racks, but I'm gonna have a bash at it.

I hadn't thought about the other ships, I'd only researched which of the four models ships was built closest to the Rockrose.

4th Nov '41 K51 Rockrose

6th Feb '42 K04 Saxifrage

23rd May '42 K93 Lotus (Cmdt. Estienne d'Orves)

8th July '42 K144 Meadowsweet

I'll check them out, thanks

I have progressed a bit more with the kit. Filling gaps along the keel, fitting and filling the engine room roof and getting all the deck parts ready to glue down. I had to clean up and file away a part of the locating lug at the nose, grooving it so that the foc'sle deck can fit in properly. I hate a mold line or a join to show, so I am slowly working my way through them. I also used blue-tack to hold the four parts of the wheel-house in place so that I could align them all and then I ran thin CA into all the joins, cementing it onto the deck now, since I can and it won't cause trouble when it comes to fitting the deck to the hull. I cut away the 'triangle' behind the stairs running up to the bridge. I plan to paint a darker area behind the stair so that it hides the fact that they are aztec-y.

Thanks for looking,

I'll add pics tomorrow, ...as proof

G

[Gelfin]

Well I finally managed to get a chance to take the pics, and got some more work done this weekend.

I've been having fits with the joins of the wheelhouse, they are just so obvious. I have now lathered on some more liquid Greenstuff and hopefully that will solve the problem once and for all. All the little gaps are slowing me down as I have to fill and then move on or wait. decided to try and get some of the other sub-assemblies done, so began on the funnel deck. The finish on the funnel is so basic thst I had to try and improve it somewhat. I also could not face using the top-piece as it is modelled closed off, so that had to go.

I began by rolling out some wine-bottle lead foil to get it as flat as possible. Then I scratched through my watch-cog collection (Bought a small bag full on flea-bay) to find a cog with narrowly spaced teeth that weren't too broad. I then glued the cog onto a toothpick and set up my funnel-wrap. my first attempt worked great, but I got it a bit skewed when applying it to the funnel, so had to strip it off and sand down the whole funnel tube (1.5 hr wasted).

Then I started again. This time I was more successful. I then champhered a piece of plastic-tube for the top piece of the funnel, and wound a thin piece of wire around the bottom edge of the ridge. I thinned the inside of the funnel by more than two thirds. Bringing it level with the inside edge of the capping tube.

I also filled and cleaned up the edge all around the hull where it meets the deck, hopefully the primer will be kind to me.
I knew that there was a lot for me to do on the bridge, so I began by cutting away the sidewalls and rear walls leaving only the frontal plates and wind-deflectors in place.

I'm still slicing away the edging of the gun-tubs and removing the platforms(blocks) for the searchlights. Quite happy so far tho', especially with the funnel wrap.

Thanks for looking,

C&C's most welcome

G

[Martian]

That funnel rocks!

Martin

[rs2man]

I have to agree with Martin about the funnel - superb work

[longshanks]

Hi Gelfin,

just love the funnel, how high is the funnel?

Going back to earlier questions. Do you need plans of depth charge racks?

Reference bridge rail canvas/splinterpadding, I have it in my mind that the splinter padding was introduced for protection against aircraft macnine guns, if thats the casewould it be required around Cape Town?

Keep up the good work, enjoying your masterpiece in the making

Kev

[Gelfin]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated

@Kev: I measured the funnel this morning and it comes in 0.2mm oversize, so approx. 87mm higher full scale. I think that the white top piece makes it look much bigger...you had me worried for a bit there.

As far as the splinter padding goes, I have so far found that the Rockrose worked the Freetown area and the convoys there arriving on Christmas Eve '42 (short on rations), then on to Lagos until Feb '43 when she made her way down to Simonstown. She then ran the troop convoy WS 5B all the way to the Suez. After that she worked the Aden Durban run until early '44 then moved on to Mombasa, Karachi and the Straits of Berbera. I believe that around the Cape it was more a cat and mouse with the subs since the Axis forces didn't have any carriers or flightstrips in the area. I'll have to check pics of the other corvettes working the area.

I am determined to try and make the Depth Charge racks, yes. All I have so far is three ref. pics.

This one I believe is from Lambert's book, I gleened it off the web. Below the aft gun-tub is a rectangular rack, with smoke pots in front of it. Is this a DC rack?

HMCS_SHAWINIGAN_CREW

Just to the right of the crew, is what appears to be a DC rack, am I right?

And Capt Brown's (on Warseer) build of HMCS Chilliwack, sweep deck.

This is all I can find, so please any other images would be most welcome. Obviously, considering the size they will be I will be trying to 'fake' it as best I can.

Thanks again for the Likes and comments, they really help to drive me on with this build.

G

[Niall]

I have Lambert's drawings of depth charge racks and he does not cover the tall types at all. The only drawings I have found for them are the small scale side and plan views in Lambert and Brown's ShipCraft book on the Flower Class. Here is a photo of the starboard rack I designed in CAD and had 3D printed for my 1/72nd scale Flower(The depth charges are separate parts) -

On the photos you posted -

In the first, the structure behind the smoke pots is nothing to do with depth charges. I think it is a life raft.

In the second the structure in the 2nd photo seems to be the storage rack behind the taller dropping racks.

[longshanks]

Hi Gelfin,

Sorry I didn't me to panic you, I was making the point that you had achieved such detail on a very small piece.

We will let you off the 0.2mm ;-)

I agree with Niall the structure behind the smoke pots is not DC. I would suggest its a paint float.

Made from empty oil drums with wood platform, when in port the crew would put it over the side and stand on it to paint the ship etc. still see them on ships today, indeed in the dim and distant pass I've used them :-(

I reckon Niall is also right on the second photo, the reload DC rack was a lot lower.

Also I reckon his 3D printed rack gives a very good/clear idea of the dropping rack.

Kev

[Gelfin]

Big thanks to Longshanks for the wonderfully detailed pics of the depth charge storage and racks, really gonna help a stack when it comes to building those.

I have been trying to keep the build rolling along by applying all sorts of superstructure details and deck 'furniture'.

The rear carley float racks have been abandoned as there will be the second set of DC Guns set up behind the plating. I cut sections of square plastrut and glued them in place. The carpet monster got one of my ready boxes, so I had to make one out of plastrut. Luckily it's just a rectangle. That's the one behind the funnel deck.

NOTE: The instructions tell you to place a deck hatch panel next to the box (also in white card), it also tells you to place the same hatch at the end of the engine deck (as you can see from the second pic), since I had already glued it down there I had to make one for the midships hatch.[Part no. B70] There is only one in the kit, so be aware of this slip.

I also added some lockers against the front wall of the wheel house. I scribed down the middle of the square rod before cutting my bits off. This gave me the impression of two doors.

I have seen just how many winches were used all over the decks of these vessels, and since I only get 5 in the kit I wanted to use them more efficiently. I opted to keep two back from where the kit suggests, 1 of them because it wasn't placed there on my Ship, and secondly since I wanted to spread them out a bit more. The kit has you place 4 on the engine deck alone, so I only have two there, and one on the foc'sle near the winch.

I thinned out the leading edge of the plastic on the little canvas dome on the aft engine deck, this makes it look much more in scale without compromising strength. Since money is tight I opted to use the 'aztec' steps, but I will try to paint them black first and then 'highlight' the treads with a drybrush of grey. This should disguise their real shape a bit.

The aft water-tight door is made of paper, since there isn't one on the model, I also moved the steps to the rh side since Rockrose def. doesn't have any on the left and the hatches were encroaching on the space there. The black dots are the spacings for the bracings that I must still glue on.

I have remade and fitted the steam pipe on the back of the funnel, but since I have two more to go and it is fiddly I haven't got any pics of that yet.

I have built the kit depth charge racks but they are really ugly from the top, so I'm trying to figure out how to make smoke pots to hide the joins on top.

Slowly getting there, really enjoying the eye-twisting details of this model. (And I thought I wanted to build bigger stuff...)

C & C's most welcome

Thanks for looking

G

[longshanks]

Hi Gelfin,

Coming along nicely !

Your most welcome to the info, I hope it helps

Kev