Maritime Content

Re. Flickr: you haven't set the photos /album to Public, so nobody can see them! I use Flickr for posting photos here, you just need to set the pics to Public and post the links on your Britmodeller thread - they should automatically display the photos on your post.

Gidday Guy, Bissy jnr seems like a candidate for the next KUTA group build. I've only learned recently what KUTA stands for. Regards, Jeff.

I really appreciate OOB builds - they are something that I can aspire to. Although I can appreciate the builds where a £20 kit has been improved with £70 of after-market, they are not something that I would ever do. So many thanks for presenting another OOB build, I think it looks great, I would be more than happy if that had been my work. Cheers, Nigel

Yep, thanks Jamie, but it’s a matt finish I need really for the oils, I’m not doing a pin wash so I can bypass the gloss coat, I may a) just leave it, or b) try and do it without white spirits, just drag the oils as they are, but I’d need to experiment. As you say, be a shame to make it go all crinkly! Thanks David, have you been drinking? but yes, little Bissy does look rather forlorn at the moment… Guy

Looks great John. I did algae on a waterline by masking the line and very gently dabbing green oil paint with a kitchen washing up sponge. The oil takes ages to dry tho. I’ll post a pic when I get home at the weekend.

Not recomended. The length of the ship in the drawing corresponds to the Kongo BEFORE the modernization, that is, 213m. And the version of the ship for 1944, that is, it should be 222m. As a result, the drawing is suitable only for lighting the stove But the model from Aoshima corresponds to the prototype and in terms of just 222m. The difference is clearly visible in the photo

7 months very well spent, you've done a fantastic job, esp considering it is oob. Paint is exceptionally crisp too. David

It's straight out of the box.

That looks brilliant and very convincing to my eyes. Did you scratch-build any components or use any aftermarket etch or parts? Andrew

Seven month's work. Wow. Shame about the decals but it looks fine otherwise. I salute your perseverance.

It's only taken me a little over 7 months to finish this build. I don't think I have done a bad job I am pleased with the result but the decals were completely shot and unusable hence why in some of the pics there aren't any as I have only had them delivered today they aren't the correct ones but they do fit.

Ooh. Local submarines for local people I says.

Greetings from a wet and windy west country. Fore, 3" gun and aft, 5" gun and two 20mm Oerlikons, gun decks finished and fitted to the deck. I'm glad I bought the BlackCat Models 3D guns, they are far better than the kit parts, and compliment the PE nicely. Things are going to get fiddly soon, as I've got to attach the derricks to the king posts and then rig with cables. Anyway, here is todays progress. Jon

Sam. I have no idea when I'll start. There are others waiting in the stash, I honestly never know which I'll start next, until I sit down at my bench. I will take a couple of days break when I finish Jeremiah. Then decide. Jon

Whilst Lockheed Martin may be the prime contractor, the actual minisubs are built by MSubs here in the UK in Plymouth.

I've been using Aquagloss. Aerosols can be hit or miss - the solvents in them can upset the enamel and cause some wrinkling if you are inadvertently a bit heavy-handed. Airbrush would be better I think - your paint job is too nice to spoil!

Ps I want to add the obligatory subtle (oil paint) rust streaks on the hull, but just realised the paint is enamel (I’m used to using acrylics) so I guess I’ll have to give it a coat of acrylic varnish first. I think it will have to be a matt /semi rattle can - any recommendations? Guy

Yep, I can’t see how it can be wrong really, as you say, it must have been trial fitted and with modern technology, how can it alter? I don’t think it’s warped in any way, although I did give it a coat of varnish (as they recommended). That did make it curl up, but flattened down again once dry and weighted down. I have sent them a photo, but not really expecting any response. It’s just frustrating as I’ll have to either cut the circle bigger (which won’t be easy if I’m going to keep it ‘invisible’) or along plank lines as you suggest.. But… it still looks miles better than anything else I’ve seen! Guy Ps I did also ask them if it’s possible to have a 1/200 Hood or Scharnhorst deck made, they do say they customise on their website and they’ve got a 1/350 version. It’s odd how soon you get used to the scale. My 1/700 Bissie looks ludicrous now. It’s just nice working in this scale. I could get used to it.

Sam. I’m so glad you’re doing this build, I will be using it as a guide when I do mine. Although the more I read of yours, the more I’m thinking of delaying my attempt. Jon

That's really weird. It's almost like it's swollen - only wood doesn't really swell much along its grain. Perhaps the best thing to do is get nifty and cut round the outline of the planks like a square waveform to give you an invisible join there. Normally his decks have been perfect fits when I've seen them used before. I wonder what's happened here It's just a PDF cutting file followed by a laser, and he doesn't make the PDF until he's iterated into a master pattern that fits his sample kit.

Just found this fascinating project. The Leander class is one of my all time favourites, and this one is shaping up superbly. I'll tag along on this one for sure! Terry

Really impressed with the colouring of the deck but that fit round the secondary armament is pretty bad, it is going to take a fair bit of surgery to correct that without it being obvious...

N6453. Thanks. That'll be the main Pup in the diorama. Sorted. : ) Edit: So a colourised photo from one of Mr Bruce's books. Cabbage green aicraft notwithstanding, this is unlike many others in that there are specific, different, 'sections' to the ramp.

No actual mistakes as such I am pleased to be able to say! I have found that in late 1940 four other manufacturers’ boot topping became Admiralty quality authorized for use so Peacock and Buchan’s lost that monopoly. Otherwise everything I have found recently simply confirms what I suspected and so enables me to fill out the story and generally to be more certain about particular practices and dates. The big difference however is that I have now consulted most of surviving Ship Books/D495s at The National Archives and also found a considerable number of Fleet Orders specifying which bottom composition was used on particular ships. In some cases the D495s state the colour of the paints used on a ship’s bottom; in other cases knowing the name of the manufacturer and knowing the limited number of colours in which they supplied their anti-fouling it is possible to deduce their bottom colour even from black and white photos. (If we know that a manufacturer’s anti-fouling came in, say, black or grey only and if in a photo of a ship known to be using that manufacturer’s paint there is a good contrast between the tone of the boot topping and the hull below then we can say it was grey rather than black etc). I will do a ship-by-ship list. My faith in what builder’s models show has also been strengthened as, so far, in every case where a D495 survives for a ship for which there is a builder’s model I have found that the builder’s model faithfully represents what the D495s record re a ship’s bottom as it left the builders. However a note of caution as things are never entirely straightforward. I have found that some ships left their builders in their protective coating with no anti fouling painted on at that stage (KGV, DoY, Anson, and Howe are all examples of this having their anti-fouling painted on at their first docking at Rosyth immediately after leaving their builders). A builder’s model may therefore not always be a guide to the colour of a ship’s bottom once in service. KGV’s builder’s model at Greenwich features a brownish red bottom yet her D495’s show that she used bottom paints manufactured by Moravia from 1938 – 1945. Their anti fouling came in black or grey. Wartime photos clearly show her bottom was lighter than her boot topping so we can say that in wartime service her bottom was grey. Why then is the bottom of her builder’s model a brownish red? Her D495 tells us that she left her builders in protective only with no anti fouling. Moravia’s protective came in grey or red and that red must be what we see represented on the model. Indomitable’s builder’s model at Yeovilton @iangis perhaps another example of this. I am told and photos seem to show that her model’s bottom is a slightly greenish grey. Her D495s tell us that she left her builders in her second protective coating with no anti fouling applied to her hull bottom and that the manufacturer of the bottom paints used on her then was Peacock and Buchan’s. Their second protective was “Slate” which was a greenish grey. (Indomitable received her Peacock and Buchan’s anti fouling at her first docking which was at Liverpool, September 1941, after trials and leaving her builders but before working up.)

I couldn't resist a little research. I found the purpose of the mini-sub quite interesting. Wikipedia says... The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) was a midget submarine operated by the United States Navy and United States Special Operations Command. It provided stealthy submerged transportation for United States Navy SEALs from the decks of nuclear submarines for use as an insertion platform for covert and clandestine special operations missions. The ASDS was cancelled in 2009 due to cost overruns and reliability issues, after the prototype was destroyed in a fire in 2008. As of 2019, the Navy plans to replace the ASDS with the Dry Combat Submersible, a similar midget submarine being developed by Lockheed Martin.