HMS Invincible R05, 1981

[Paul E]

I wasn’t originally intending to document this build, but following a brief exchange in the Maritime Discussion section of the forum I have decided that I should share my trials and tribulations with this kit. Unlike my other build posts I am starting this part way through my build so there are no photographs of the box, instructions or sprue.

 

So for the pre- amble; I was given this kit of HMS Invincible as a birthday present and it has been in languishing in my stash for a good few years along with the White Ensign PE set which I bought to go with it.

 

 

Revell no longer make this kit but it is still available through Dragon along with Illustrious and Ark Royal in later guises.

 

I have elected to depict Invincible as she was prior to the Falklands war because I have a soft spot for the blue/white colour scheme of the Sea Harriers.

 

 

It is my intention to keep to the original kit as much as possible but there will be one or two minor tweeks to the kit but nothing on the scale of Bootneck’s Victorious model so this should be quite a straight forward build.

 

As I have already mentioned I have made a start by gluing the hull components together and converting the model to waterline in common with my other ship models. This was a relatively simple evolution as the kit has a moulded line for a guide.

 

 

The fo’c’sle part needed a bit of filling to mould it into the shape of hull but on the whole the parts fitted together nicely. This is the point where the modifications to the kit start.

 

There are openings in the “garden wall” that surrounds the fo’c’sle that need to be cut out. These are for the fairleads for the fo’c’stle mooring equipment. The fairleads themselves (which I have not fitted yet) are included on the PE fret.

 

 

 

I am using a set of Jecobin plans for reference along with a number of books I had picked up along the way.

Sticking with the hull (if you excuse the pun); I have removed the moulded on markings on the flightdeck. However it is important to remember the locations of the aircraft lifts, and so I scored the positions around a template. I was tempted at cutting out a lift and depict an aircraft being moved from the hangar to the flightdeck but thought better of it in the end as it didn’t fit with the minor tweek philosophy.

 

 

Next steps for the hull will be to paint the flightdeck and start the fitting the photoetch grills and details for the cut outs.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Paul E]

I have also started work on the island superstructure which will have modifications from the original kit. The first modification was out of necessity. Somewhere along the line I managed to lose a piece off the sprue, this just happened to be the aft part of the superstructure. Fortunately the moulded on lights on the part would have to be removed anyway, I had spare photoetch watertight doors so the loss was not disastrous.

 

 

I also filed off the moulded flight deck lights on the forward face of the island. These will be replaced by Photo Etch items at a later date.

 

 

Next on the list of things to be modified are the lower and upper bridges. There are applying very prominent features on both bridges which are not present in the kit mouldings. Firstly there are hand and foot rails which run around the bridge below the height of the windows. This is made from 0.1mm soft copper detailing wire. The other modification is applying plastistruct strip to represent the bridge window wiper motors above the bridge windows:

 

 

 

I have also started to enhance the detail of other fittings including adding rails to the top of the funnels. These were fabricated by chopping up some spare 3 bar railing I had.   

 

 

Next up will be detailing the masts.

 

Thanks for looking.

[matt_w]

I want to have a go at ship modelling and I did consider this scale, but its far too small for my fat fingers & I wouldn't have the patience!

Hats off to you, you must have some steady hands, its looking good so far!

Ill be watching this one

 

[Lifeline]

Wohooo!! 

 

I'm going to build the dragon Illustrious and the WEM PE.

Not decided to build the modern version or older one, but since I'm a newbie in ship modeling, so definitely going to follow this...

 

Great progress you have there, @Paul E

 

Cheers,

Mario

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Great start, Paul!  Having wrestled (gently!) with the funnel-top rails in 1/350, I know how hard they are to manage - I shudder to think what it must be like at half the size!

 

It might just be the photo - and/or the fact that I am so used to Ark Royal - but the forepeak looks a slightly odd shape?  It kind of looks as though it goes inwards again at the top (at garden wall level); is that right for early Invince?

Edited February 28, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Paul E]

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Great start, Paul!  Having wrestled (gently!) with the funnel-top rails in 1/350, I know how hard they are to manage - I shudder to think what it must be like at half the size!

 

It might just be the photo - and/or the fact that I am so used to Ark Royal - but the forepeak looks a slightly odd shape?  It kind of looks as though it goes inwards again at the top (at garden wall level); is that right for early Invince?

You do have a point. Of course the Ark came out of build with a Daleck on a box in the forepeak so the rake of the bow was more pronounced and this was added to both Lusty and Invince at refit. However that said, the kit moulding for the foredeck for Invince doesn't align very well and the curve of the fore peak didn't follow through. I have tried to correct it with filler but obviously I need to add a little more, although I have to say the photos do exaggerate the size of discrepancy.   

[Darby]

B***er! I knew my fo'c'sle didn't look right somehow. Wood and trees and all that sort of thing etc. Fairleads; must drill out when I get back to Cornwall-land. I have managed to get the flight deck painted on last week though. Think I'll pass on the idea of wiper motors though.

[Paul E]

2 hours ago, Darby said:

B***er! I knew my fo'c'sle didn't look right somehow. Wood and trees and all that sort of thing etc. Fairleads; must drill out when I get back to Cornwall-land. I have managed to get the flight deck painted on last week though. Think I'll pass on the idea of wiper motors though.

Wise idea. my eyes ended up in both watches.

[junglierating]

Nice stuff I shall be watching

[Paul E]

Thank you for the comments  . Here is the next instalment.

 

Detailing of the masts hinges around removing the moulded on yard arms and replacing them with the photoetch starting with the foremast which was a relatively simple affair.

 

 

The mainmast followed in a similar manner however I was not satisfied with the photo etch replacement s. Where I could get away with the 2 dimensional nature of the yard arms on the foremast I was not happy with it on the main mast. So out came the copper detail wire again and I fashioned the correct shaped tripod arrangement for the mainmast yards:

 

 

I also had a go at the part that attaches to the top of the mainmast. This is supposed to represent the UAA1 electronic warfare antenna and the 992 surface search radar. I amended this bit by removing the moulded on yards and the top platform which was a little too thick for my liking.  The platform was replaced with a thinner piece of plastic card and some 2 bar etched railing attached around the edge of the remodelled platform. The two PE yards were then fitted.

 

 

I have retained the radar antenna for fitting at a later date.

 

The other mast I have worked upon is the mast that supports the 1022 air search radar antenna. This didn’t need butchering, just some 3 bar PE railings being attached:

 

 

The 1022 radar is provided in the PE but there seems to be a lack of information of how to construct it in the instructions that come with the PE. Fortunately for me I have constructed one of these before for a Type 42 model and so knew what to expect. However I am doing this WIP to help others with a similar build so here are a series of photographs showing how the components of the 1022 radar are bent and joined together ending with the completed article fitted on the mast.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally for this post a view of the superstructure and masts dry fitted together.

 

 

Next on the agenda is the fitting of the walkways around the hull.

 

Thanks for looking in.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Coming on nicely - and making we start itching to get back to my Ark Royal.  Having built a PE 1022 antenna in 1/350, I doff my hat to anyone who does it in 1/700!

[beefy66]

Great details as usual but 700  my eyes are aching just thinking about it 

 

beefy 

[Lifeline]

Great progress, Paul..

I'm taking notes.. I was actually trying to comprehend the WEM instructions, and your in progress pics really helps.

 

Cheers,

Mario

[Nick C]

Lovely work Paul, as a few others have said, I struggled in 1/350th!!

 

Cheers

 

Nick 

[robgizlu]

Impressive work all around

Rob

[Paul E]

Thank you for the comments  they are much appreciated as always.

 

My apologies for the delay in posting an update, I have been wrapped up doing other things recently and so the build of HMS Invincible has been put on pause. As an upside though, my model making work area is much tidier.

So as mentioned in my last post I have started work on the walkways around the edge of the flightdeck. These also took a lot longer than I expected.

 

The photo etch kindly provides the new bulwarks with the cut outs in place to replace the moulded plastic walls, they are thin and would look accurate.

 

And that is as far as I am going to go in praise of the PE!

 

If you are a masochist then fitting the PE walkway walls is for you. If you are a sadist you will enjoy reading about my anguished attempt of fitting the walkways. If you regard yourself as normal, fit the kit items and read no further!

 

The idea was to replace the moulded bulwarks of the kit with the PE items, to get a nicer more accurate look to the model.  Without thinking I selected the starboard side walkway and cut off the moulded wall as can be seen in the picture. This seemed like a sensible idea as the moulding is inaccurate because there are no scuppers in the starboard bulwark:

 

 

So far so good, that is until I offered up the PE part. And it didn’t fit as it was too tall! No problem says I and I trim about 1mm off the top.

 

 

At least the PE is at the right height, the disparity around the step down can be readily fixed with a bit of filling. However spot the problem:

 

 

There is no part on the PE fret for the bulwark aft of the liferaft containers. Fortunately I have spare brass, a steel rule and a sharp knife. Disaster averted but teeth gritted!

 

Now is the point when I should have known what was coming when dealing with the port side. You would think lesson learnt. Oh no! I do it again; I trimmed off the moulded bulwarks without checking the PE!

 

I offer up the largest part of the PE bulwark to the walkway and….disaster! Not only is the piece too tall, it is also too long and worse of all the stepdown didn’t even align!

 

Take a Deep breath and count to ten.

 

Out came steel rule and sharp knife, again. However because there are scuppers in the bulwark I have to cut the 1mm off the bottom to get the get the scuppers to align at deck level. Of course the advantage of this is that the misaligned stepdown gets cut off too:

 

 

With the height fixed and a solution for the misalignment sorted it was necessary to look at adjusting the length:

 

 

One down, five more to go!

 

 

 

So far so good until:

 

 

Yes it is too short! I think you get the picture as to why this has tested my patience. Out came the spare brass again.

 

Hopefully with some careful filling and filing it will not be noticeable.

 

Next job was to sort out the step downs. I elected to use plastic card in the end as it was more malleable and I feel I would get a better finish.

 

 

And that’s that, finished………..I hope. Apart from tiding up and painting.

 

Anyway here are the results of fitting the PE walkway bulwarks:

 

 

 

Had I known what I was letting myself in for I would not have bothered with the PE bulwarks. And my advice is stick with the kit moulding, carefully drill and file out scuppers and carefully file down the thickness of the bulkheads. I think you would still get a good result but with less frustration and annoyance.

   

I have yet to decide what I want to do next. But finishing off fitting PE to the hull and painting it are quite high on the agenda.

 

Thank you for your patience and looking.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

You have just reminded me of one reason why my Ark stalled!  In my case, PE is the only option (because the Airfix Lusty has totally different catwalks), but even then I had to adapt the PE along very similar lines.

 

I have all the parts, but some very delicate soldering work awaits when I start again...

 

Yours, however, looks excellent 

[Martian]

Some lovely work occurring here!

 

Martian

[Paul E]

I know it has been a while since I posted any progress on this build. In fact progress is actually what is lacking. I don’t seem to be achieving much at all with this model.

I had a look at some of the detail on the model and decided that it would benefit from some minor enhancements, starting with the Aircraft refuelling hose reels. I bought some photoetch cable reels to help with this task:

 

 

For the hose reels located on the Island structure I decided to “face” the moulded reel with one side of the reel photo-etch.

 

 

 

The reason for this is that these reels are less visible than those which are located in the walkways around the flightdeck.

 

For the reels in the catwalks I filed off the mouldings completely as my intention was to replace them in entirety with PE reels. The reels located in the walkways needed a little more detail, so I wound some fine copper wire around a rod to represent the hose.

 

 

and fitted it to the PE reel frame.

 

 

The other task achieved was painting the hull and the superstructure Topside Grey.

 

 

And finally a view with the parts dry fitted together:

 

 

That’s it for now. My next and not so exciting but fiddley task is to fit the railings in the hull cut out.

 

Thanks for your patience, I am hoping it will be worth it in the end.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Paul E
spelling

[Paul E]

I know it has been since I last posted on this build, things are still progressing even if it is a glacial pace, so thank you for your patience.

 

Fitting the railings into the hull openings is a slow and laborious task with the PE rails having to be cut carefully to size to fit into each of the openings. Once cut to size the railings were carefully glued in place. Not very exciting I’m afraid.

 

 

I have also added the photo etch to the island superstructure:

 

 

Before I can fit the superstructure to the hull I need to address the issue of flight deck markings. The Jecobin plans that I have are not very helpful on this front. I did however find this very useful photograph in one of my books:

 

 

The kit decals are somewhat lacking with regard to the flight deck markings, providing only the thick black and white flight line and none of the white lines.  My fix to this was to purchase some 1mm with white line decals from Fox Transfers:

 

 

 

Applying the decals is quite challenging, particularly trying to keep the lines straight.

 

 

I am not too happy about the kit supplied flight centreline decal, it is too short and the white bands either side of the black line are uneven. Had I known before hand I would have invested in more decals from Fox Transfers and done my own. Any way although I still I have a way to go, I think you can see where I am going with this.

 

The next update will have the flightdeck markings complete. Soon I hope.

 

Thanks for looking

Paul

Edited May 21, 2018 by Paul E
grammar

[Martian]

This is looking very smart!

 

Martian 👽

[robgizlu]

30 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

This is looking very smart!

 

Martian 👽

Agreed - and the glacial pace I completely identify and sympathize with!

Rob

[Martian]

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Agreed - and the glacial pace I completely identify and sympathize with!

Rob

Glacial? compared to me he's like Usain Bolt!

 

Martian the Slow

[rich2010]

The 1mm decals look quite good. The kit white bits less-so.

[Paul E]

Thank you for the comments, the pace of the build has slightly improved due to the influence of the bad weather over the bank holiday weekend. However this should be seen as an abnormal event unlike bad weather on Bank holidays.

 

So I have managed to finish the markings on the flight deck. This was a tricky and time consuming task particularly trying to keep the lines straight. Even with pencil marks for guidance they still managed to go wandering off. Any way here is the finished result, firstly of the bare flight deck:

 

 

And one with the island in place:

 

 

I am not sure what my next steps will be, but I need to do some painting of the masts and funnel caps and I need to start looking at the boats.

 

Thanks for your patience, and I hope to have an update soon.