Revell (ex-Matchbox) 1/72 Flower Class Corvette

[robgizlu]

Stew, you asked about what The Shapeways Corvette stuff is like in the Flesh.  I replied to Niall Orr who posted on my Fairmile B thread and dug out some old pics of some of his stuff I've taken - the depth charge rails are a thing of wondrous beauty, the minesweeping kit is for another possible Corvette build or for a table Class armed trawler.  The figure is there to give it scale.

HTH

Rob

[Stew Dapple]

21 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The Bluebell scheme is interesting if only because I can only find one likely candidate of CAFO 679 schemes for small ships that approximates the tones suggested on the Matchbox instructions, namely being MS2, MS4 and MS4A.

 

Thanks Jamie - I was going to pick your brain on the colours when next we spoke so this is just the kind of input I wanted  - I'd appreciate any other pointers too; for the deck colour and fittings etc, and the underside... the original kit instructions show this one anti-fouling red beneath the waterline but the Snowberry and Saucy black below the waterlne which strikes me as a bit odd?

 

20 hours ago, Beard said:

Unless you should stumble across one of my recordings, which is highly unlikely (I hope)

 

Well now you're making me want to try...  

 

20 hours ago, Bangor Lad said:

Going to be watching this with interest.

 

Thanks Dave - do you have one in the stash as well?

 

Rob - thanks very much for that - in case any of you haven't seen it, aside from the exemplary modelling skills at work Rob has posted pictures of some of the 3D Printed stuff he bought here - I think I will be ordering some new guns for sure.

 

Meanwhile, I didn't get round to doing the primer coat as it occurred that I could prime the figures at the same time and save the effort... so as per Al Gunthwaite's instructions on the website I gave them a quick scrub with an old toothbrush and some soapy water and stuck them to coffee-stirrers for ease of handling:

 

 

The Flower Class Corvettes had a crew of about 90. I've got 8 officers and 16 ratings which might mean I am a bit over-officered?

 

In other news I assembled and fitted the rudder, and filled a couple of deep sink marks on the propeller... I'll clean that up later.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

[Beard]

49 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

The Flower Class Corvettes had a crew of about 90. I've got 8 officers and 16 ratings which might mean I am a bit over-officered?

 

You could explain it by saying the ship is being visited by higher command.

 

Alternatively, would a file convert an officers hat into a ratings?

 

I know which one I'd choose.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

 

Thanks Jamie - I was going to pick your brain on the colours when next we spoke so this is just the kind of input I wanted  - I'd appreciate any other pointers too; for the deck colour and fittings etc, and the underside... the original kit instructions show this one anti-fouling red beneath the waterline but the Snowberry and Saucy black below the waterlne which strikes me as a bit odd?

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

 

Hi Stew,

 

The kit deck has wood planking the entire length which is incorrect. It had steel decks, with planking laid behind the aft deck house (i.e. planking on the deck at the very back of the boat) and an area planked between the anchor winch up forward back to the centre of the gun bandstand. The steel areas of deck would have most likely been a typical RN dark grey non-slip paint.

 

There is evidence that RCN Flowers didn't use the red anti-fouling paint but instead used a black tarry type coating (may have been boot topping paint?) for the whole underwater hull based on colour footage. There are photos of RN Flowers out of the water in black and white which only show that there was no demarcation between underwater hull and boot topping. What does the latter prove? Only that the RN Flowers didn't have a distinct boot topping stripe round the waterline and nothing more.

 

At this point in the war, the RN was heavily 'in to' counter shading. They produced whole papers on the subject and issued out. Modellers tend not to bother in our usual heretic small scales but in 1/72 you need to. In short, anything that might cast a shadow was painted a light shade (often white) underneath.

 

I'll PM you about recent discussions - we'll need you up again and we'll make copies of some files I have explaining what was to be done for counter shading and such like. Plenty scope for Stew Dapple Detail Painting^TM with this model

[robgizlu]

Jamie - at the risk of being cheeky, any chance of sharing the files on countershading?  I'm fascinated by the whole paint caboodle.  I read with interest your comments on another site in the debate about colours especially G45.

Thanks if it's a goer or if there's a commercial element - please let me know.

Rob

[BerndM]

Nice start on this huge and classic kit.

 

[Stew Dapple]

Hi Jamie,

 

19 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The kit deck has wood planking the entire length which is incorrect

 

I've just had a shufty at the parts, the wood-plank effect is raised so should in theory be easy enough to remove - in practice though there it's a big deck and there is a lot of other raised detail on the parts, location points for the superstructure and fittings... I'll come back to that one...

 

Re: the anti-fouling, black or red then? From what you mention the balance seems to be more in favour of black, I'll probably go with that.

 

I'll be listening out. I'll see what the prospects of a trip north in the next few weeks are as well. Do you have a preference as to dates? 

 

Bernd - thank you  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

2 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Hi Jamie,

 

 

I've just had a shufty at the parts, the wood-plank effect is raised so should in theory be easy enough to remove - in practice though there it's a big deck and there is a lot of other raised detail on the parts, location points for the superstructure and fittings... I'll come back to that one...

 

Re: the anti-fouling, black or red then? From what you mention the balance seems to be more in favour of black, I'll probably go with that.

 

I'll be listening out. I'll see what the prospects of a trip north in the next few weeks are as well. Do you have a preference as to dates? 

 

Bernd - thank you  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

I think black on the hull of an RN Flower class is an extension of a cost saving measure proven to be implemented on RCN Flowers. Red isn't supported by any hard evidence I know of other than typical practises for larger RN warships at the time.

 

I was reading through either CAFO 679 or ADM182/132 last night (I read them both) and interestingly it noted that for ships (not necessarily just Flowers) in Western Approaches schemes, the camouflage was to be painted right down to the water and specifically instructs the reader to paint over the boot topping. That doesn't really change anything in my mind - I'd probably still go with black on HMS Bluebell if it were me. Portraying a tarry type paint in black sounds like an interesting exercise in itself. I'm almost tempted to get my own Snowberry out of the stash!

 

I'll PM you about dates. I'm waiting on an early indicator of what the next trade order's big hitters are going to be so we can do a rough check and order more in if it looks marginal. Oh for big machines! They're after a quantity of Coloursets too. That'll keep us busy for a while!

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Jamie, I'll go with black then, not sure about trying to replicate a tarry finish (that's more the sort of thing I would do by accident) but I'll play around with some very dark greys like RLM66, Tyre Black and AMT-12 and see how it looks...

 

I got the primer on, at last:

 

 

This beast drank nearly half a bottle of Alclad Black Primer 

 

I got the little fellas done too:

 

 

Hopefully I'll get a bit more done over the weekend

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[beefy66]

Looks like very good progress there Stew I will be looking at picking up some of these figures myself at the Northern model show on Sunday for my MTB build looking forward to seeing how yours turns out 

 

beefy

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Beefy - hope you had a good time at the model show? Did you get any of the Gunthwaite figures? 

 

It was like Christmas* at Castle Dapple this weekend, first a big thank you to Rob @robgizlu for the transfers necessary to make up the Pennant Numbers for HMS Bluebell as well as a copy of a picture of her in her earlier paint scheme and some transfers from Al Gunthwaite's site of rank and branch badges for the crew figures:

 

 

Also a similarly big thank you to Julian @Gremlin56 for some very detailed scanned material on Corvettes which was interesting and is a very useful reference, thank you both gentlemen

 

... and these arrived from Hannants:

 

 

... less than £4 each so I thought it worth a shot, however on inspection it appears that there are about 5 injection-moulded parts and the rest is entirely made up of etched brass, so I have no idea how I will get on with them but I'll give it a go as the kit Oerlikons are a bit vaguely-moulded and basic.

 

Apart from the foregoing my modelling time at the weekend consisted of scraping off the raised 'planking' from the decks. I used some plastic strip to make a border between the wooden deck and the steel deck, you can just see the white strips - all the planking to the left of them had to be scraped off and it felt like it took about two-and-a-half lifetimes:

 

 

I'll need to give them a bit of a sanding too, to ensure a nice flat surface.

 

Interestingly the Revell and the Matchbox instructions differ at this point, the Revell advising to fit the decks now and the Matchbox advising to build the rear superstructure before fitting the deck. I'm not sure if there is any advantage to be had one way or the other but as the Revell instructions are the more recent perhaps the instructions were modified in the light of experience.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

[Al Gunthwaite]

Hi Stew

What's the resolution like on the transfers?  Have you printed on clear or white paper? I'm interested to see how you get on with them (I don't know of anyone else who has used them).

Al

[Gremlin56]

4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll need to give them a bit of a sanding too, to ensure a nice flat surface.

 

Interestingly the Revell and the Matchbox instructions differ at this point, the Revell advising to fit the decks now and the Matchbox advising to build the rear superstructure before fitting the deck. I'm not sure if there is any advantage to be had one way or the other but as the Revell instructions are the more recent perhaps the instructions were modified in the light of experience.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

 

I have (semi)built the original Matchbox Corvette and the Revell version (didn't eventually complete either). I remember the rear superstructure being warped on the Matchbox , and both versions being dreadful to line up and fit properly. Just my though,

Julian

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi Stew,

 

Bluebell there in her earlier scheme (in your photo) looks very much to be in a typical Western Approaches scheme comprising white and Peter Scott Blue / Western Approaches Light Blue. Have you a preference as to scheme? (for purpose of having colours ready this weekend )

 

There are some nice photos (showing some subtle paint scuffing etc) here:

http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/topic/645/HMS-Bluebell#.WTUYy5gzWHs

[CedB]

Swabbing scraping the decks, tiny rank transfers and now brass bits??!! 

Crikey matey, this is a whole new life you have ahead of you  

[robgizlu]

3 hours ago, Al Gunthwaite said:

Hi Stew

What's the resolution like on the transfers?  Have you printed on clear or white paper? I'm interested to see how you get on with them (I don't know of anyone else who has used them).

Al

 

Hi Al

I printed out on Clear paper as you suggested.  I think resolution is excellent.  I'll give you a shout when I use them.

I think they are very Fine indeed

Rob 

 

Stew - I've nearly built one of the 20mm Oerlikon (parts all cut out - mounting assembled etc).  IMHO the barrel in undersized and they are my least favourite Oerlikon in 1/72.  Coastal Craft's are more expensive but a lot better detailed

Rob

[Stew Dapple]

9 hours ago, Al Gunthwaite said:

 

Hi Stew

What's the resolution like on the transfers?

 

 

Hi Al, the resolution looks quite good, not sure how well the colours will show up on the navy blue when it is painted but definitely worth a go  

 

9 hours ago, Gremlin56 said:

I remember the rear superstructure being warped on the Matchbox , and both versions being dreadful to line up and fit properly.

 

Ack! Still, better to know in advance; thanks Julian  

 

8 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Have you a preference as to scheme?

 

Hi Jamie, I do like the Western Approaches colours, but the later scheme appeals more to me. Nice link too, thanks 

 

6 hours ago, CedB said:

Crikey matey, this is a whole new life you have ahead of you

 

You don't know the half of it Ced, these shipbuilders are a funny bunch  

 

5 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Stew - I've nearly built one of the 20mm Oerlikon (parts all cut out - mounting assembled etc).  IMHO the barrel in undersized and they are my least favourite Oerlikon in 1/72.  Coastal Craft's are more expensive but a lot better detailed

 

Ack! Again. I may have to reconsider my plan; thanks Rob  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[stevej60]

Great to see this project Stew one of those kit's I've been close to buying over the year's but I'll save my money and watch this one

look forward to more!

[Al Gunthwaite]

3 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

 

Hi Al, the resolution looks quite good, not sure how well the colours will show up on the navy blue when it is painted but definitely worth a go  

 

Stew

You need to paint the area where the transfer is going white and then touch up afterwards.  The colours ought to show up fine.

 

Rob

I misunderstood - I didn't realise that you had printed off the transfer sheet.  Have you "fixed" it with a varnish or "fix"?

 

I'm quite excited to see how these turn out.

 

Al

[robgizlu]

1 hour ago, Al Gunthwaite said:

Stew

You need to paint the area where the transfer is going white and then touch up afterwards.  The colours ought to show up fine.

 

Rob

I misunderstood - I didn't realise that you had printed off the transfer sheet.  Have you "fixed" it with a varnish or "fix"?

 

I'm quite excited to see how these turn out.

 

Al

 

Hi Al

I used Microscale Liquid decal fix as you suggested.  I'll be sure to post some examples up when I use them.

Rob

[beefy66]

Quote

On 6/5/2017 at 4:40 AM, Stew Dapple said:

Thanks Beefy - hope you had a good time at the model show? Did you get any of the Gunthwaite figures? 

 

 

Hi Stew good progress here and yes I got 3 sets of the Gunthwaite Figures No's 7,15,27 and some other stuff from Coastal Craft stand a very good day at the show all round.

 

Cheers Beefy

[Al Gunthwaite]

On ‎05‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 11:13 PM, robgizlu said:

 

Hi Al

I used Microscale Liquid decal fix as you suggested.  I'll be sure to post some examples up when I use them.

Rob

Good Stuff!

Al

[Stew Dapple]

I had a weekend away at the Sovereign Hobbies secret base, hidden in an old volcano in Aberdeenshire, but before I left my Shapeways 3D printed stuff arrived - I was very impressed with them and gave them the suggested soak in soapy water overnight, then left them on the window-sill to cure fully while I was away. It's best not to rely on their being consistent sunshine in Scotland at this time of year but I think they got enough UV. Here they are:

 

The 4.5 inch gun, which will require some assembly:

 

 

The 'square'-type gunshield that I ordered in error:

 

 

... and the curved gunshield correct for HMS Bluebell that I ordered to replace it:

 

 

The ready ammunition for the 4.5 gun:

 

 

... the twin Lewis Gun installations:

 

 

,,, and finally, my favourite, the 2-pdr Pompom:

 

 

I remember reading a few years ago a question as to whether 3D printing would ever have a useful modelling application and I think on the strength of these parts we have actually got there. The delicacy of the pieces and the quality of the printing exceeds what I had expected by quite some way. The only problem is that now I am thinking I need to replace the Hedgehog rockets, the depth charges and the Oerlikons so it looks like it could become a bit pricey.

 

On my trip to Aberdeen Jamie of Sovereign Hobbies was able to sort me out the (probable*) correct colours for the late camouflage scheme for HMS Bluebell as depicted in the Matchbox kit, MS2 Dark Grey, MS3 Medium Greenish Grey and MS4 Warm Light Grey:

 

 

As usual my camera has failed to capture the subtleties of the colours but as a rough guide, MS2 Dark Grey (RN05 above) is similar to RAF Ocean Grey but a bit lighter and slightly less blue, MS3 (RN06 above) is like a paler, more greyish RAF Sky and Warm Light Grey (RN12 above) is like a paler less saturated version of RLM02. I hope once they are applied they will cover a wide enough area to photograph a bit better. I'll be doing the decks in another RN dark grey and I got some IJN Deck Tan (IJN09) for the wooden parts of the deck.

 

Apologies that this has all been a 'look what I bought' thread instead of a 'look what I built' thread, I hope to get back to the construction shortly  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

* 'Probable in the sense that there is, as always, some debate about this, but I can't remember what the other colour candidates were. Sorry

 

 

[Beard]

The 3D printed bits look, well, amazing. I suspect that this is going to turn into a very expensive build.

[Niall]

Glad you are pleased with my 3D print designs.

 

I used the GLS hedgehog on my build. - Link -

https://www.djparkins.com/product.php?productid=18197&page=1