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Revell Type 143 Albatross Class Fast Attack Craft


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22 hours ago, Bugle07 said:

Great Work so far! I'll be watching this. I'd say replace all of the hand rails, but it's your build!

 

Geoff 

Thank you Geoff.

 

I decided to look at the hand rails on the superstructure with a view to replacing them and I consulted a reference photograph on schnellboot.net. 

 

schnellboot-seeadler-s68-p6118-10.jpg

 

 

The hand rails are a very different design to the Royal Navy type that I am used too. While I could replicate them by butchering a ladder on the PE sheet I have decided that it would be very difficult to achieve a tidy enough result that would improve on the moulded items in a reasonable time frame. So I have decided to stick as is and replace the ladders and guardrails only with my PE.

 

Paul

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On 29/03/2017 at 4:38 PM, Martian Hale said:

Looks miles better already!

 

Martian

 

19 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Nice job and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the railings turn out.

Rob

 Thanks guys,

 

This is quite a nice model and it really only needs a couple of tweeks, to improve it. I am going to have a first go at the guard railings on the superstructure this weekend.

 

Paul

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Thank you for your support and kind comments. :thanks:

 

As promised I started on fitting some of the guardrails onto the superstructure this weekend. The starting point for this is the PE set that I had designed. I wanted flexibility in my PE design as I intend to use the same PE for railings on other 1:144 scale projects that I have on hold. This meant I needed to follow a different approach to the convention commonly used where stanchion and rail are etched together which are too limiting for my needs. My photo etch has the stanchions only (2 and 3 bar) and I am using 28 SWG wire for the railings component.

 

32946788893_62672174eb_k.jpg

 

For anybody who has built larger scale ship models my approach to fitting the guard railings would be familiar. Fundamentally I marked out where the guard rail stanchions were to be sited on the superstructure and drilled 0.45mm holes for the PE stanchion to stand into.  I then cut off the number of stanchions I required from the PE fret and tested the hole was deep enough. The diameter of the hole is important; each stanchion has a small flare at the base that sits at deck level to ensure its correct height.

 

32916703774_e9e5d0b849_k.jpg

 

Next I cut 3 lengths of 28 SWG wire for the railings. I prefer to use longer lengths than I require and cut back to size once the railings are glued in position.

 

32946797303_cffd67522b_k.jpg

 

The wire was pre-bent to the shape I required, and the stanchions slotted on to the wire and then the stanchions dropped in to the drilled out hole in the superstructure, tided up for alignment and then glued into position with super glue.

 

33603383182_99a08ad8cb_k.jpg

 

finally the excess lengths of wire were removed.

 

33603393502_2e875b58a9_k.jpg

 

Sounds simple, what actually happens is a frustrating 10 minutes wrestling with trying to coordinate multiple moving pieces into microscopic holes. :swear:

 

For longer straight lengths of railing the approach is similar but there is more flex in the wire and one or two stanchions can be glued in place first.

 

33616192892_1c909d8699_k.jpg

 

The wire was pre-bent to the shape for the upper railing.

 

33772848875_355d4a2e2f_k.jpg

 

and the wire for the lower two railings were pushed through the lined up holes of the stanchions.

 

33388113310_900c963d40_k.jpg

 

Once in place the stanchions need to be aligned vertically and glued into position.

 

Whilst fitting the railings is time consuming and quite fiddly when compared to the fixed railing type it is actually far more robust when glued into position.

I am very satisfied with how this has turned out and it looks quite good even if I say so myself, certainly better than the moulded plastic railings provided with the kit. I have plenty more to do though and I will chip away at the railings as I continue on the build in other areas of the model.

That’s it for now.

 

Thank you for looking in.B)

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Thanks Kev,

 

But it's not really my idea all I have done is to shrink down a technique usually used in larger scale ship models. The advantage of having separate stanchions is that more complex railing structures can be achieved like this one on my 1:96 scale (rather dusty) model of a Type 42. 

33832442045_7961b8e678_h.jpg

 

However I do think that 1:144 scale is probably the minimum limit for this technique though.

 

 

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I have been asked about the 1:144 PE railings set on Longshank's Clyde Puffer build on the forum; so I will repeat what I wrote there should anybody be interested. If anybody is interested in getting hold of a set of this PE please let me know, I had the PE made up professionally so I can get repeat orders if I want as long as I meet a minimum pre-order value.

Just as an explanation; I deliberately designed a generic set of 1:144 scale railing stanchions and ladders so I could use them on other projects that I have other than this Revel Type 143 kit. To give an idea the set has 168 3bar stanchions, 56 2bar stanchions and 30 handrail eyes as well as vertical ladders.

 

33490202252_d471aaf8d9_k.jpg

 

The only other thing needed to make up the railings is 28SWG wire which just happens to be available as sewing supplies in Hobbycraft. 

 

33262818050_1ef797e611_k.jpg

 

So to repeat what I said on Clyde Puffer build if there is enough interest I am more than happy to get a repeat order made up. If anyone is interested please send me a message. All I need is 5 people to want one of these sheets to make a re-order viable.

 

The cost by the way would not be prohibitive at £10 for a sheet. 

 

Anyway onto some other aspects of my Type 143 build; this time the foremast that supports the Fire Control radar dome.

The kit needs some minor modification adding the support lattice work to the forward and aft faces of the mast.

 

33493218095_e349686246_k.jpg

 

These were made from round profile plastic from Evergreen.  I have yet to decide whether to make more embellishments such as adding cable trays to the mast structure or not.

The other thing I have spent time on is making the Oto Melara Guns, these are unchanged from the kit. I just wanted to make and paint them just to see how they look.

 

32684069673_696a8995eb_k.jpg

 

Other than that not a lot has happened beyond looking at the mounting arrangements.

 

I hope to make more progress this weekend.

 

Thanks for looking.

Paul :thanks:

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3 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Lovely work Paul

I'm in for a 1/144 fret - message to you

Rob

Thank you Rob,

No problems with regards to the fret. I placed a re-order today.

 

1 hour ago, Martian Hale said:

Wonderful brass work!

 

Martian

 Thank you Martian,

It just needs a bit of care and patience.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

After a brief break from modelling over the Easter holidays work has resumed. I have spent some time sorting out the mounting base so that the Perspex cover fits snuggly so the model will look “tiddly” for display when finished. I will probably spend the next week working out how to model the sea scape.

 

On the model itself I have been progressing with the fitting of the railings on the superstructure:

 

34142093546_fd06c2a1ba_k.jpg

 

which is now complete:

 

34220047895_026654878b_k.jpg

 

I will need to consider painting the superstructure next.

The other thing I have decided to have ago at is the mast which I need to add PE ladders too at some point.

Any way I will finish with a picture of how the model looks so far with the bits I have constructed dry fitted together:

 

34089229611_24dd068f36_k.jpg

 

Enjoy and thank you for looking. :thanks:

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Hello Paul,

Interesting construction. Very professional.

Regards, Orion, The Netherlands. 

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Hello Paul, this is doing well.

 

I think the railings solution is excellent, great work on designing the stanchions, and very nicely applied to the superstructure.

 

Ray

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2 hours ago, Orion said:

Hello Paul,

Interesting construction. Very professional.

Regards, Orion, The Netherlands. 

 

2 hours ago, Ray S said:

Hello Paul, this is doing well.

 

I think the railings solution is excellent, great work on designing the stanchions, and very nicely applied to the superstructure.

 

Ray

Thank you. :thanks:

Even if I say so myself I think the railings really do make all the difference to this kit and I am glad I made the investment. I know I have a long way to go but I am actually very pleased with this model. I just hope my painting skills give it justice.

 

Paul.

 

 

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On 4/24/2017 at 6:33 PM, longshanks said:

Doing a grand job Paul, as you say the PE railings/ladders are lifting the standard.

Being in possession a set of your PE railings I can honestly say they are value for money

 

Kev

 

Hear, hear from me too.  I'm delighted with mine.

On 4/24/2017 at 5:12 PM, Paul E said:

 

Thank you. :thanks:

Even if I say so myself I think the railings really do make all the difference to this kit and I am glad I made the investment. I know I have a long way to go but I am actually very pleased with this model. I just hope my painting skills give it justice.

 

Paul.

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more - cracking work

Rob

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A quick update, I was supposed to start preparation of the seascape this week but I ended up tinkering with the mast instead. I decided in my wisdom to take a look at fitting the radio antenna on the yard arms, a quick job one might think, that is until I lose all sense and decide to add that one extra little touch!:bangin:

The kit instructions show small pieces of stretched sprue of different lengths glued to the mast yards. That might do, but ship masts and antenna is one of those areas where my job and hobby coincide and I wasn’t happy at leaving it as per kit instructions. So drawing on my knowledge and looking at the few clear images I could find I determined that the radio antenna fitted to the end of the upper yards looked like this:

 

34237936936_d67ddd46fb_o.jpg

 

I had a quick think about how I was going to achieve this and resolved I can reasonably achieve the effect I wanted using a 1:350 scale PE ladder from which I cut off a six rung length and one of the sides:

 

34228758496_9f44d4a2c9_k.jpg

 

Next I attempted to bend the PE to make a hexagon (although they actually came out circular) and then I bent the rungs to a point to make the cone:

 

34269057605_b6811b6a16_k.jpg

 

I needed to make three of these which were glued on to 28 SWG copper wire and then onto the tips of the mast yard arms:

 

33885313150_6bd7a2fe27_k.jpg

 

I don’t know how effective they will look when painted but at least I know I have done it.

 

That is it for now. Thank you for looking. :thanks:

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On ‎26‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 10:16 PM, Martian Hale said:

This is looking very smart with the brass in place!

 

Martian

Thanks Martian, it really does make a difference.

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I have been working again on adding detail to the mast, replacing the moulded ladders of the kit with Photo Etch.

 

33595294413_9d70bc9a1b_k.jpg

 

I have also added the halyard blocks which are also PE. These came from the Alliance Modelworks set which I bought for my Ton Class builds

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235001978-ton-class-mine-hunter-hms-brereton-and-minesweeper-hms-wotton-1350-scale-atlantic-models-kit/&page=4

 

29809370882_5c88adecfc_k.jpg

 

I know the blocks look like clam shells but there is method in my madness. When I come to rig the halyards I intend to pinch the cheeks of the blocks together over the halyard.

 

34246180862_40be8f3a9d_k.jpg

 

I am not worrying too much about the rigging at the moment as I have plenty of other things to worry about before I get to that.

 

I have now parked the mast and the superstructure and I have turned my attention to the hull to get it ready for painting. To be more precise, I took a look at the moulded anchor capstan and decided that the model would benefit from a new one,

 

33595319913_01a5f88099_k.jpg

 

So I delved into my box of plastic bits and with a few bits of plastic rod of differing diameters knocked up a more representative capstan.

 

34405205515_ec51125d80_k.jpg

 

33563340364_2b3b435486_k.jpg

 

I also routed through my box of bits looking for fine anchor chain to replace the kit moulded item. After a bit of experimenting I determined that the best match was the 1:350 scale PE offcut from one of my other builds.

 

That’s it for now, I am definitely working on the base sea scape next. :thanks:

 

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Stunning PE work there Paul I need to learn to be a bit more patient and a lot less heavy handed with my builds  :bangin:

 

Beefy

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That capstan looks so much better that the kit, as does all the extras you're adding. Fantastic! 

 

Geoff 

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