Chewbacca

Fantastic. Thank you everyone for your very speedy responses. Every day's a school day - and that's what I learned today

I was browsing Flickr and came across this photo of NELSON's turrets dated to 1940: I've never seen that device on the left hand side on the top of Q turret with the 5 x 4 matrix of tubes before. Someone suggested that it was the forerunner of Hedgehog but it is way smaller than Hedgehog and as far as I can tell, its forerunner was the Fairlie Mortar which threw a full size depth charge and the tubes in that box are probably not more than 6-8 inches across.. It looks to me more like a chaff launcher, but I think the first shipborne based chaff rocket launcher was the Corvus, not introduced until the 1960s. Anyone any idea what this might be? Thanks

Apologies for being absent without leave for a few months. That other project I mentioned is now finally complete and with a two week sojourn to visit friends in Cyprus, I can now get back to the bench. First task was to tidy up the bridge wings which I did before heading to sunnier climes But then I got back and realised that the kit bridge wings look nothing like the originals which extend right out to the ship's side. So I removed the originals in their entirety and scratch built some new ones from plasticard. I also took the opportunity to make and fit the mounting for the HFDF aerial which sits just above the bridge and remove the bulwarks to the visual sight operators (at least I think that's what they are. One is removed on this photo: And they are both gone here. I will add them back in from 10 thou plasticard after painting Next up was to start adding detail to the aft screen of the fwd superstructure. It became readily apparent that the sponsons at the after end of that were too low so I raised them up with some 40 thou plasticard which looked more realistic. In that photo above, you can also see the air intakes for the aft boiler room - the quadrant shapes either side of the slot for the funnel. Unfortunately, although the curvature is right, they are not vertical which these photos below show quite well - there is a much better photo in "Ships of the Cold War Fleet" by Clive and Sue Taylor, a book that I thoroughly recommend to any modeller of Cold War Royal Navy ships: So more plasticard surgery, firstly to make the inner faces: And then to add the upper plating: Those photos above of the real ship shows a rounded tube that appears to surround the intakes. I have still to add those from probably 30 thou styrene rod once everything else has set. Next task was to make the new deckhouse that sits on the Sea Cat deck which was a simple structure from plasticard with some PE doors added from Peter Hall's most excellent Atlantic Models generic 1/600 RN doors set. I also took the time to add some more details to the bridge structure including extra lockers, doors and the sponsons for the SCOT satellite radomes. I took the liberty to dry fit all of the major components to show where I'm at: Which then showed that the Sea Cat deck was too short. There would not be sufficient space between that deckhouse and the mainmast, so I have extended that platform a further 2 mm aft which should open up the space sufficiently. I realised also that the deck was too narrow and that although there was a very slight lip between the hull and that deck, it was not wide enough to walk along so I filled that walkway with 40 thou plasticard as I extended it aft. Now waiting for everything to set. Thanks for watching

A company that I know through work produced an AI tool to help the MOD conduct objective interviews of servicemen post indidents, operational deployments and so on and someone suggested to them that with a bit of a tweak, it could be a very useful tool for veterans to record their memoirs and get them into a book form to pass on to friends and family. I ended up in their beta testing programme. As part of beta testing, we identified a bug which has since been easily fixed, but it meant that I ended up actually writing well over half of it rather than letting the AI software do the writing. It probably won't ever be published but at least I have something to hand down to my children and their children when they get around to producing grandchildren. I am, however, about to embark on another book which will be written longhand. 9 years ago I published "TVR: Cars of the Peter Wheeler Era", and that same publisher has just asked me to write a follow on. I can't give too many details as I haven't signed the contract yet.

Been way from BM for a couple of months while I finish off writing a book. This is simply stunning Rob - BZ.

Stunning, simply stunning

That is some seriously impressive modelling. Could you elaborate a little on how you get your PE designed and printed? I've often thought that I would like to go down that route but never worked out a way of doing so that wasn't prohibitively expensive

Dorset Print Man (I think he advertises on Faceache and Fleabay) does some pretty good 3D printed ships. I've seen his 1/350 QUEEN ELIZABETH and it is huge but very well put together. I've never built one but looking at them when he's been at local shows I would say the quality's not as good as say, Atlantic Models resin, but it's pretty good and nothing that a set of generic PE couldn't put right. He has a wealth of especially modern RN subjects. Of course you could always try drawing and printing your own. This model of HECLA was drawn in Fusion 360 and printed on an Elegoo Mars resin printer:

Agree with everything said there. I've landed a helicopter on about half a dozen US carriers and they've always had the wires rigged.

Given that I have a stalled Airfix 1/600 TIGER to BLAKE conversion which thus far all I've managed to do is put the hull halves together, waterline it and remove all of the after decking ready for the new Flight Deck and hangar, I think that is well under the 25% rule. However, I don't want to hang on too long so yes if it's in the first few months. Otherwise I've just offered up an Airfix 1/48 Merlin HC 3 in the RW GB to be converted to an HC 4 with folding rotor head and tail pylon so that could be an option. Like Mike, my models are always conversions of some description so I'm sure that whatever I have lined up when this starts it is likely to qualify. Now whether it can be finished on time is another matter...

Potentially me as well please. Airfix 1/48 Sea Vixen

Count me in depending upon when it starts. Several choices: Airfix 1/48 Sea King HAS 5 (probably finished as an 826 Sqn aircraft from 1984), Airfix 1/48 Merlin HC 3 (which will be converted to HC 4 with folding head and tail pylon), Italeri 1/48 Wessex HAS 3 (as Humphrey, ANTRIM's aircraft in 1982) or Revell 1/32 Lynx HAS 3 (to be built as XZ 724, one of the two cabs I flew with BOXER Flight in 1988).

I'll throw my hat into the ring for this but it will wholly depend on when it crops up in the calendar as to whether I will be able to participate. My plan will be to build an 892 Sqn F4-K from ARK ROYAL's final deployment to the States using the Hasegawa 1/48 kit as the base.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently - have been away from the bench for a few weeks on another project which is nearly finished. Thanks everyone for your kind words. Jeff - I understand where you're coming from with the ship's bottoms and I do have plans at some point to portray one of my models full hull, but she will be in a dry dock as that's the only time I've ever seen a ship's bottom. I know what you mean. I was taken to Chatham Navy Days as a 6-year old and from that moment forth I knew what my career was going to be. Henry Leach was one of, if not the greatest, naval officers of the 20th Century; sadly I never had the privilege of meeting him. Son of Captain John Leach who lost his life in command of HMS PRINCE OF WALES off Singapore in 1941, Henry Leach joined the navy in 1937 and was promoted Commander in 1955 aged just 32 but surprisingly, for someone who had acquitted himself very well up to that point in his career, was not immediately appointed to a sea going command. That came 4 years later in 1959 when he took command of DUNKIRK as a Commander. He obviously did well there because he was promoted Captain on the strength of his DUNKIRK report. Sir Henry was appointed First Sea Lord in 1979 and was about to retire when the Argentinians invaded the Falklands. According to Margert Thatcher's memoirs, her political advisers, including Secretary of State Sir John Nott, were advising that we neither should, nor could take military action and allegedly it was only Sir Henry's intervention that resulted in the decision being taken to send the Task Force. I remember his name being revered throughout my time in Service and the current Navy Headquarters on Whale Island in Portsmouth is named the Sir Henry Leach Building in his honour. But back to BLAKE! I know that one might think it a bit early, but I've started work on the base. I want to portray her at sea, underway and probably at Flying Stations with a Sea King on deck burning and turning. So I opted for the Plaster of Paris technique, but slightly modified in that I incorporated a polystyrene foam under layer. With that Plaster of Paris technique, I always find it beneficial to do the base early where the hull is relatively easy to handle - I don't want it painted or with lots of "sticky-outy-and-uppy-things" that will either get damaged by the Plaster of Paris or make it difficult to manipulate the hull. To mitigate against any damage, I wrapped the hull tightly in clingfilm. Then make up the Plaster of Paris - actually I'm using a bag of British Gypsum that my builder left after he did some work for me three or four years ago. It's not quite as fine as Plaster of Paris but it sets a lot slower and isn't quite so exothermic. I have known genuine Plaster of Paris generate so much heat as it cures that it can warp a hull. I covered the polystyrene to a depth of about 3-4 mm and then taking my wife's rolling pin, also wrapped in clingfilm, I created a couple of depressions to represent the swell. I'm aiming for about Sea State 3-4 with a 1 to 1.5 m swell so a 2 mm depression is about right. Then taking the clingfilmed hull, press it down into the plaster firmly but once only. I don't want any lateral or longitudinal movement. Once it is in position, I then used a crafting palette knife (actually my wife's cake icing palette knife but don't tell her, I couldn't find mine!) to start forming firstly the bow wave and then the Kelvin wake followed finally by the propeller wake. I'm aiming for BLAKE to be at about 15-16 knots so there would be a good degree of movement and a lot of water to disperse. Incidentally, the observant among you will have noticed a series of almost straight lines coming off the hull stbd side midships. They shouldn't be there but are a hangover from my poor attempt to flatten out the plaster. Somehow I didn't spot them when the plaster was wet so they will need to be filled. When the plaster was dry enough to handle, I gently teased the hull out of the opening and then left it to one side to fully set. I will next need to fill those lines and some air bubbles that have appeared, enhance the bow wave slightly which is a bit weak on the port side and sand it back to smooth out the graininess of the Gypsum plus smooth off the edges so that it is all level with the edges of the polystyrene. Thanks for watching

BLAKE is now waterlined Before: After And cleaned up. Just need to add a plasticard base which I've since done but haven't photographed.