Bonhoff

Kit cost me £39.99 - Think I've spent £30 on 4 cans of white primer so far (Might get used elsewhere) £30 on the GLS parts and £20ish on the Colourcoats paint and thinners. IanJ

I'm not a user of 3D printing (Yet) but my view would be to do the funnel as a separate part and perhaps more supports depending on the part orientation when printing? Kind regards IanJ

Painting continues Sprayed the hull in Sovereign "Colourcoats" White enamel, using their own thinner in it and it sprays really rather well. Next was to work up the timber decks a bit further, as mentioned previously these sections were sprayed in Tamiya Deck Tan, once this had dried I applied a coat of Johnson's to seal it. Next up was a thin wash of Citadel "Seraphim Sepia" to hopefully highlight the planks and then another coat of wax. The timber decking was then masked off and all the joints sealed with more wax to stop bleed through. Then it was a case of spraying the appropriate Colourcoats enamel over the steel decks.... With the purchase of two more cans of primer, this model has cost more in paint than the actual kit did! KR's IanJ

Bear in mind that you can always argue that the policemen could be very tall. A mate of mine is a retired bobby measuring in at 6'7" so there is a precident. IanJ

Lethal to lettuce varieties

@Mig Eater Thanks, my plan is to insert it into the deck of an Airfix M4 and hopefully build up an M4A2 / Sherman III of the Sherwood Rangers. IanJ

Talking of UM kits, their one saving grace is the many spare parts that you'll gain for future use. To that end, can anyone confirm the usage of these two engine decks? Would the one on the right, part 78, be appropriate for an M4A2? Thanks IanJ

I've done one - And one it shall remain for evermore....🙂 IanJ

As I'm using the GLS Oerlikon Set, I had to remove the locating bosses for the original cannon. And then it was time for paint.... 2 cans of Halfords white primer later (and I still need more) I then sprayed the wooden deck areas with Tamiya Deck Tan. I'm using Sovereign enamels and have already laid a coat down on some items, impressed already! IanJ

There was a nagging doubt at the back of my mind - I'd constructed the wheelhouse early on, following the instructions. I've been searching online about flower wheelhouse interiors and happened upon both the "Sackville" walkaround and the various builds of Revell's 1/144th Snowberry.... In both cases, the entrances into the wheelhouse were shown at the bow end on both Port and Starboard side and not the stern as indicated in the instructions. What to do? It didn't look like the wheelhouse was going to dismantle without a fight, all I could do was scrape off the doors and indicate new ones at the front with evergreen strip. While I was at it, a floor went in and the inner partitions were built, presumably one room being the radio room and the other, the captain's cabin? I followed the approximate lines of the 1/144th Snowberry but noted that someone had commented that the actual partition layout should be mirrored, this was done too. I have a 3D printed ships wheel somewhere and will have to scratchbuild a telegraph and another pelorus. And then I need to behave and start painting.... IanJ

So - Last night's efforts were centred around the 4" Gun Shield. Once again, I wasn't impressed by the one supplied by MB as it looked too boxy. AutoCAD to the rescue again - Draw up an outline and transfer it to a sheet of styrene. (Which looks a bit like a ghost in flattened form... Whoooo!) And built up to this A blastbag, a couple of training wheels and a gunsight will see this done. Wheelhouse next? KR's IanJ

I'm hoping so... IanJ

Ditto!

Bit more tonight - The ready use mounts for the 4" shells have all been drilled out to lighten them a bit and glued to the gun deck. KR's IanJ

I've just won a Narvik Destroyer on the Bay of "e" so can you put me down for that once the Flower has blossomed? Probably one I can build at my desk at lunchtime like the old days.... IanJ

Hi all, Stuff has happened over the last few days - The mast got built and I made a start on the 4" gun deck. MB had the deck as just being smooth, whereas in reality, there were timber (Not sure what they're called, heelboards? steps?) or anti slip added to the deck, whether this was to help manhandle the gun round on to its target I couldn't say, but I needed to do something about this. First off - Make a template, I have access to AutoCAD so.... 10 minutes later I had a drawing. Next step, cut out where the heelboards needed to go. This then creates a stencil, I then drybrushed paint to mark out where the plasticard steps are going to go, once I'd done one side I turned it over and did the other. Tadaaah! Next, I cut a strip of 10x40 thou into segments 7mm long and started gluing carrying on until.... The 4" gun is built up, as is the pom pom (Which Daisy briefly decided would also make another tasty chew toy!) but I've still got to add some details to the main gun, while the 2pdr is there as backup if time runs short towards the end of the build. Take care, IanJ

My eyes! My eyes!

Caused by the consumption

I too would be more than interested to find out about the price of these exciting things too. I could then make a model of the unarched Escort Mk2 rally car that I navigate in... IanJ

So, the work continues.... There isn't a massive amount of interesting parts at the moment, what there is, is lots of very repetitive assembly of things like depth charges, lockers and smoke pots. In an effort to break the monotony - I took a look at the skylights over the engine room. It would appear that MB had gone with an 8 panel skylight, which (IDK) may or may not be correct for the Bluebell, but, if you refer to the same item on Revell's 144th Snowberry, it's got 10 panels. It's also too tall. That was simple enough - I used my Trumpeter engraving tool to cut most of the base off, I find that it produces much cleaner cuts than a scalpel or saw. Next was to extend the skylight by 1 bay - A quick measure indicated that I needed to add 11mm to the length so it was time for the saw and then rejoin the two parts again. And then to sort out the infill, Not sure how much I'll get done this week as I'm helping my dad prepare his 009 layout for an exhibition next weekend. Some decent weather wouldn't go amiss either, as I could do with getting some paint on and spraying primer in the house would be frowned upon. IanJ

Whilst causing olfactory distress.

My dad served on HMS Ulster at the time of the reversing fail, but wasn't present on the day - He came back to port (Dartmouth IIRC) to find the ship 20ft shorter, after being present for my arrival into the world. I've got the majority of a Frog HMS Undine, a photo etch set and a plan.... IanJ

"My Perfect Cousin" by The Undertones?

It could get better

with a nice pudding