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Taking a Liberty No.1 - Royal Navy repair ship


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I have a few projects on the drawing board, all of which involve the Liberty Ships of WW2 fame. My intention is to build at least three different types/classes of ship using the Trumpeter 1:350 Liberty ship kit as a basis; (if I can find more kits in sales or at affordable bargain prices) and hopefully I will be able to produce some WIP's that will keep me occupied during the period from now and through the autumn and winter evenings.

This thread is the first such project and I shall be using the Trumpeter 1:350 kit of the John W. Brown version to make a conversion build. The vessel to be built will be HMS Assistance [AR-17], a repair ship of the Xanthus sub-class of Liberty Ship types. Two were completed for the Royal Navy, one was an aircraft depot/repair ship and served in home waters whilst the other, HMS Diligence [AR-18], served in the Far East as a destroyer depot/repair ship. Their time in the Royal Navy was short-lived, due to the ending of hostilities, and they were returned to the U.S.A. in 1946.

hms_assistance_10_box_art_resized_1024.j


Although my intention is to build this kit as the aircraft depot/repair ship HMS Assistance, I may change my mind and build it as HMS Diligence; if I can find some research data on which destroyers might have been alongside her in late 1945 whilst in the Far East. This will be a waterline version and I hope to place the finished model in a sea setting diorama, but that is a long, long way in time to be concerned with at the moment.

Starting with the base, I have glued a sturdy piece of brass rod in place. This is more to give the model some weight as I don't think these models suffer from any warping or bending up of the hull over time.

hms_assistance_01_resized_1024.jpg



Next element is to add some strengthening plates to the mid deck sections, before adding the bow and stern deck pieces. This area of the kit's deck is unsupported underneath and can bend and cause the joins to part when sanding and fitting parts etc.

hms_assistance_02_strengthen_plates_resi



Virtually all of the deck fittings, especially the hatches, will need to be removed before any further work can be undertaken. The RN versions had much larger accommodation and working spaces than the standard cargo ships, plus they had additional armament and sponsons; most of which will need to be scratchbuilt for this conversion.

hms_assistance_03_resized_1024.jpg



The deck area has been cleaned down to the basic level and just needs all the holes and gaps filled before the actual build can start.

hms_assistance_04_remove_deck_fittings_r



I shall be using plans, which I found on-line, that I have resized to 1:350 so that they match the kit in size. This will help considerably in identifying each structure's required dimensions and their locations.

hms_assistance_05_beside_profile_plan_re



Final thing for this post is to mask all the gaps and joins and then fill with thinned Green Putty. The thinner is cellulose thinners and is mixed with the Green Putty to act like a thick surfacer which I can paint on using a standard modelling paint brush. The holes in the deck have been plugged with white styrene rod and cut flush to the deck.

hms_assistance_06_holes_and_seams_filled



When the putty has completely dried, I shall remove the tape and then get down to sanding everything smooth with wet and dry. Hopefully in the next session I will be able to start making up some of the structures.

cheers

Mike

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Thanks everyone. I'm still researching this as I go along :book: but there are very few images available on-line and, therefore, it is taking me longer than normal to identify actual structure shapes and sizes etc. I hope to have more images :photo: to post by the weekend.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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Ooh I'm in on this as well. Another one of my stash projects, I didn't want to do it out the box as John Brown and hadn't got round to researching an alternative yet, this'll give me some more ideas!

Bob

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The next stage is to make some of the structures, these are mainly for the gun sponsons and directors.

hms_assistance_08_cutting_rods_resized_1

The structures may appear to be lop-sided but this intentional in order to match the slope of the decks when fitted on the model.
hms_assistance_10a_deck_structures_resiz

There will be three Mk.51 gun directors required for this model, the first one is in position on the second structure from the bow and behind the gun position. These are tiny little brutes and are testing my limited skills.
hms_assistance_09_mk-51_director_resized

Here is a view of the structures set in position as a dry-fit test. They all still need additional pieces, such as pipe-work and cabling etc., to be added before they will be glued in place.
hms_assistance_12_deck_structures_dry_fi

At the moment, everything looks a bit clunky but they should look better when surrounded by all the usual nautical and military impedimenta that is found onboard naval vessels.
hms_assistance_13_deck_structures_dry_fi

I shall try to get a bit more done over the weekend.

Thanks again for looking.

Mike

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Ooh I do love a kit conversion, there is nothing quite like a bit of scratch building work to give a degree of uniqueness. I am looking forward to following your build. Looking good so far :goodjob:

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Thank you again for all the encouragement; however, please don't expect this project to be up to the standards of other worthy scratchbuilders and converters.

I have done a little more work on the superstructures, especially the main block plus the mast houses. A new bridge house front has been fashioned from styrene sheet and fitted; the original part with the splinter boards is laid in front.
hms_assistance_14_additional_deck_struct

There is nothing better than a coat of primer and a digital camera to identify all the faults and blemishes in a build! :frantic:

Now that I can see them, I can get on with correcting those items before moving on.
hms_assistance_16_first_prime_coats_resi

It is still looking a bit bare, as if it was still on the stocks, but hopefully it will start to look more business-like as the work progresses.

cheers

Mike

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Not much has been done over last few days as I have spent much of that time trying to identify what goes where. Whilst trying to interpret the very few images that are available, I have had to remodel the forward gun sponson. Deck equipment and machinery locations that have been identified are marked out ready for items to be fitted; note the boom capstan positions around the mast houses will need to be changed from a fore & aft orientation to angled. Another area for change is that the booms, at the base of the masts, are single fore & aft on this ship, unlike standard which had two each fore and aft.

Work is now under way on the superstructure and, with a few differences between this and a standard wartime Liberty Ship, I am having to do a fair bit of scratchbuilding of parts.
hms_assistance_19_supestructure_addition

This is certainly going to be a slow process, mainly due to trying to work out differences from the kit and then making the parts to fit. I'm thoroughly enjoying the challenge though.

Mike

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Some interesting projects on the go there Mike, liking what you have achieved so far.

The Liberty ship is definitely one every ship modeller should have in their stash, I keep meaning to get one myself and don't know why I haven't yet. I take it that this is the usual Trumpeter formula of full hull and waterline plate?

All the best,

Jockster

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Hi Jockster,

yes, I've used the waterline plate with a metal strengthener/weight and discarded the full-hull lower piece. I have seen some really nice full hull builds and I was tempted; however, I prefer to build little dioramas so went with the waterline option.

I have just noticed that I have placed the midships Mk.51 gun director in the wrong place! :frantic: It is the little round piece at the rear (left) on the top superstructure, in between the two flag chutes. It is supposed to be at the back of the boat deck, in between the two 3" /50 Cal gun sponsons. :banghead:

Ah well, more cutting and sanding. <_<

Mike

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great job Mike

very inspiring for me ...after my Richelieu , I begin a series of cargo ships in harbor dioramas of 1930 at 1950

and the first ship will be a civil liberty ...

wait to see the next advances

cheers

nicolas

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