JohnWS

Looking great, beefy! John

Third time's a charm? 🤞 John

My go to site for American navy ships is NavSource. One NavSource photo of Mullany shows the WWII era radar antenna on her main mast. Here's the link: http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/pix1/0552818.jpg The NavSource site includes many photos of the Fletcher class destroyers & there probably is a better photo of the radar array on the other ships in the class. John

beefy. Another nice tribute build. John

Rob! A fitting tribute. Those are handsome ships. I especially like the camo pattern & colours. Having attempted to scratch build a similar 1/350 RIB & its launch & recovery system, I really like the detail achieved by 3D printing these parts on this model. John

Glad to see you back on the Severn build Rob. I have to admit as well, that posting updates won't be the same without Kev's 'observations'. Looking forward to your updates. John

No argument here Steve. A very impressive build ... & the base doesn't look too shabby either. Can't wait to see the finished product. John

John

Great work Stuart. 'You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!' John

Very sorry to hear of Kev's passing. He was a true gentleman. His modelling skills, sense of humour, advice, and willingness to help will be missed. Condolences to his family and friends. John

So sorry to hear of Kev's passing. His modelling skills and sense of humour will be missed. Condolences go to his family. John

Nice work fixing the lift opening David. John

Looking forward to following these builds Stuart.

Glad to see you back Kev. I do miss your updates & comments. Even though you're not up to par, the quality of your work doesn't show it. This build looks great. Hope you feel at least a little better as this build proceeds. Looking forward to your next update. John

Thanks beefy. It was a good trip. There was a few things on the Regina build that I wasn't too sure about since I couldn't find a photo reference, e.g. the tie down location & hardware for the main mast flag lanyards. Now I know. Another detail was the operation of the bear trap device on the hanger deck. I knew a little about the bear trap's operation in general. But having a sailer plus a helicopter crewman explain the operating details alongside the actual equipment was pretty cool. John

I agree. John

My wife & I just returned from a short visit to the Canadian west coast & tours of the RCN dockyard & the supporting RCAF maritime helicopter squadron near Victoria, British Columbia. I had hoped to see at least one Halifax class frigate during the visit to compare my Regina build to the real thing. As it turned out, the visit exceeded my expectations. Three frigates were in the dockyard in various pre & post deployment states. While touring one of the frigates, much to my surprise I saw HMCS Regina berthed in a far corner of the dockyard. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit Regina but only take a couple on long distance photos. A photo of HMCS Regina; After finishing the dockyard tour, we moved on to the RCAF Maritime Helicopter Squadron facility. This squadron flies & maintains the CH-148 Cyclone helicopters that are carried on the west coast Halifax class frigates. This was my first chance to get up close & personal with the Cyclone to compare my scratch built helicopter to the real thing. My last visit to the dockyard was in 2014, and unfortunately only one frigate was there at that time undergoing refit. So seeing the three frigates docked there this time was pretty exciting. Now I can get back to completing the Regina build with a little more confidence & motivation. Thanks for following along & I hope to have a Regina build update soon. John

I was going to say she's 'cute', but 'dinky' works. An impressive build due to her size beefy.

There was some method in my madness making Regina's wood display base. I wanted to add a dust cover for displaying Regina. As luck would have it, I found one of my old plexiglass display cases. I originally built the case back in the 1970's for a Revell 1/130 USS Ashville Patrol Gunboat model. Size wise. it fits perfectly over the Regina model. I made Regina's wood base so the display case would be a perfect fit over it. The case still needs a little polishing to remove some scratches, but it works. My reuse-recycle project for this week. ♻️ Here's a pic, John

Nice work Jon. John

Thanks for your feedback Chewbacca. I've had the 3D printer sitting idle on a desk next to my modelling 'bench'. Every time I've run across a small detail part I wanted to add to the Regina build, e.g. the Cyclone helicopter, fairleads, bollards, inflatable boats, the decoy launchers, etc., I've looked at that printer and sighed. My modelling life would have been a lot simpler if I knew how to use that printer. BTW, that decoy launcher you've drawn looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing. John

Thanks beefy & Rob. I've only sprayed clear lacquer over ModelMaster acrylics in the past, & Tamiya paints are new to me. I'll give a light coat of Tamiya's TS80 a go & see how she looks. 'nearly' is a relative term on this build. 'nearly' could mean three or four months. I'd like to get this build done by the end of the summer if I can fit in some modelling time. I still have a few scratch build parts to make, plus adding my box full of pre-made parts to the model. This should happen relatively quickly if time permits. My incentive is that I have a 3D printer sitting in the wings idle, & I really want to spend some time to learn how to use it (after Regina is finished). John

A build update and a paint question. I took a little diversion and built Regina's wood display stand as well as designed & printed a nameplate. I've also added a few more scratch built details to the model. As shown in the next photo, I've added antenna details & a couple of horns to the main mast area. To minimize the chances of handling damage to the tiny pre-made parts, I've been doing paint repair & touch ups to the hull & superstructures before gluing the parts in place. Unfortunately, I've scuffed the flat painted surfaces on the sides of the hull, resulting in a few visible shiny spots. So here's the question. I'd like to spray a flat clear paint coat on the sides of the hull to remove the shiny spots & give a uniform looking surface finish. I've used Tamiya acrylic paints for the base coats & I'm now considering applying Tamiya TS80 Flat Clear Spray Paint for the top coat. Is the TS80 spray paint compatible with the flat Tamiya acrylic paint? I'd hate to damage the acrylic paint job for the sake of a few shiny spots. Any advice regarding your experiences spraying clear coat paint over acrylic paint will be appreciated. Thanks again for following along. Stay safe! John

Nice recovery Rob. She looks great. That camo makes a big difference. Have fun in France. John

Looking good Jon. It's a fiddly job, but I like the look. John