Steve D

Rob, Yes I'm sleeping, thanks . I agree, the Bofors came together quite well and quickly. When you start these projects, you're never sure (well I'm never sure) that you can actually make every item to a standard that does it justice. The deck house has actually been the major challenge, copper really helped here, not sure how I'd have done it otherwise. I'm looking forward to seeing it painted and weathered, Thanks again for your kind comments Steve

Greg What a great story, I'd love to have a go at that sim. If you need any help or drawings, just PM me, I've now more or less redrawn the entire boat and all the components, as much time spent drawing as building really. Most of the printed stuff will rescale to 1:72, albeit with some loss of detail so again, please reach out, I'll be happy to help Cheers and thanks for the nice comments Stvee

Thanks for the kind words David. As I get older, the tools get better so hopefully they are compensating for my reduced dexterity. It's a really interesting model, I'm enjoying it and have some great detail still to include plus of course weathering to bring the shiny back to a hard fought war boat. I'm under real time pressure this time as I've said, I'd hate not to finish before we move as I'll be out for months then as a house project will take precedence.... Cheers Steve

I really must learn to be tidier one day. It gets like that in 20 minutes after each clean Steve

Very productive day for once. Worked out a quick way to make the stanchions, I was being a bit stupid before with the wire holding the stanchions in place to solder the bases on. It occurred to me that the orientation of the base doesn't matter until the hole is cut, so why not drill that after soldering the base... Made a simple jig to cut all the tubing to exactly the same length and then made up a base the thickness of which is exactly the length of the stalk so that when the tube is run in the hole, the surface is in the right place to solder up the base. Using this method, I made all 40 stanchions in just over an hour . I'm half way through drilling the holes (got bored {no pun intended}, will finish tomorrow). Then I have to make up the wire loops (more boring) so should have these done and primed this weekend. Length jig in the vice, simple cut with the piercing saw, takes seconds, each one identical A fine array of 42 stanchions resulted A few of these have diagonal bracing, I'll do that with a sleeve and silver solder the braces. The stanchions are actually mostly covered by the canvas dodgers anyway (papier mache coming again...) I've finally finished printing all the misc bits, below the 20 mm flak spare ammo in little rectangular trays, etched ammo, printed trays, note nav lights also fitted And I managed to draw a smoke machine I like, here are the two before priming (they have sloped bases to compensate for the slope of the deck). Wire handles and smoke pipe And once primed the detail shows up Its even finally time to paint the deck house, I've stopped soldering bits to it so could think of a reason not to prime it, here is a general view of the boat so far, a mix of prime and final paint... Quite a lot of touch up on the deck lines completed I think its going to be OK Steve

Ah, that makes sense, thanks 👍

Arjan, You are an amazing source of unique type 38 images, wonderful stuff. And, if its any consolation, I hate glazing, mine is never as good as it should be A couple of interesting things jump out at me. One, look at the handrails on the bridge rear platforms, they are dark, not white, should we replicate? Also, what is the strange louver shape circled in red below, its not on any drawings I've seen, clearly a distinctive feature, be good to include if I know what it is Steve

Dunkirk requisition? who's to say it didn't... Good you're carrying on, I want to se it finished Steve

If its of interest, this is my 3D artwork, easy to re-scale to 1:35 and happy to send it if you have a way of printing it Cheers Steve

I wonder if am I the only one who wears out minicraft hobby drills, today was my third in 2 years. I think the bushes just wear out but I can't see a way to replace them, only the whole drill, I should buy a crate of them. I'm sure the first one I had lasted 10 years, sigh... Anyway, I use it all the time, so play stopped a bit until the replacement arrives. In between though, I did manage to sort the first of the vent platform things with 0.7mm wire handrails, this looks so much better. Here you can see it, the near one is just the print at this stage. Just visible in this shot are the speaking tubes on the open bridge, 0.7 mm wire with fine twine wound round it and a super tiny 1.5mm tube end piece (why bother, I ask myself...). Anyway, I think they'll paint up OK. What you can't quite see is the 0.2 mm wire that runs from the sticking up aerial thing to the diagonal entry port to the radio room, now that is absolutely OTT. BTW, there is a second diagonal aerial to fit to the starboard side, it mounts on that upright stanchion, its made but not fitted, very late job that one I've also put together the first torpedo, here is it sitting on the cradles, still waiting on the channel section that joins them together It's all loose at the moment so don't worry about alignment, that still needs sorting. I'm permanently dry trying stuff while I work my way around the model. Pleased with the torpedo surface detail, can be picked out when I paint it, that printer is amazing.... Rubbish shot below of the second gun deflection frame with its quadrant shaped risers. The simple diagonal one I'd made earlier was wrong from pictures, the problem with a plan that doesn't contain sections. Also clear in this shot are the two deck lockers, the large RUL and a smaller one on the kitchen roof that is clear in pictures but missing from my plan, the dimensions are just guesswork, as is the surface detail. From the pictures, the front looks top hung Note also the Bofors ammo clip and the swan-neck (sort of) vents. One interesting little detail that literally no one will ever care about is the two tiny pullies on the forward edge of the kitchen roof (same on other side). These are shown on my drawing, along with one more on the main engine room roof. In the PE sheet for the Italeri kit, these are shown as disks with no apparent purpose, my drawing they are clearly pullies, could be for handling a purchase or moving torpedo's, who knows? Love that gun... Steve

Kev, If it helps, everything I build seems misaligned to me. If people start pointing out my misalignments, I'll just stop posting As you know 1:48th scale is my favourite scale, its large enough to show plenty of gratuitous detail, and still small enough that people can appreciate the overall finish and not focus on the errors. At 1:24th, it would be firewood, at 1:48th its still a fine model that needs finishing 🙏 If it is really upsetting you (and believe me I know that feeling soooo well), stick it in a diorama and use a strategic coil of rope or other stuff to draw the eye away Steve

Thanks Greg, I'm doing my best to do it justice. What seemed a simple project going in actually really testing me quite a bit Feel like I'm on the home straight now though, we are moving house in a few weeks so I'm under the gun to get it complete Cheers Steve

The problem with scratch-building is creating each piece in such a way that it doesn't let the other items down. The bridge rear platforms are just not good enough in the light of day and after painting. Not only are the platforms slightly tilted, the 1mm rod is too big, out of scale, shame. So, today's I've redone the 3d model, added the platform to it and re-printed. That didn't work, too fine now, printing separated, so re-re-printing, results tomorrow. Meanwhile this is what I mean about just not up to snuff, see how large those handrails look? The new version will use 0.8mm wire, not a big difference in size, but it will look so much better While all that printing was underway, I've sort of completed the port torpedo tube assembly (just door hand crank to add) one down, one to go, shame some of the detail is hidden by the checker plate steps Steve

In ascending order of thickness Knife Snips Piercing saw Angle grinder (only for very fine work....) BTW, I use the small steel wire brushes to clean stuff for painting, leaves a polished and slightly scored surface that is great for adhesion Looking great! Cheers Steve

Sorted the canvas on the main deck and primed it, well worth the extra trouble, one handkerchief did the lot. There were a couple of bubbles but they will be hidden by the gun platform Spent the rest of the day sorting out the first platform behind the deckhouse, hopefully the second one will go quicker and better. Still it gives me the dimensions I need to print the lockers Work list getting shorter, torpedo tube mechanism and torpedo racks still to make, torpedo heads and tails drawn for printing, the last bend is in sight Steve

Very cool print Pascal, but in my world, guns are made of metal, its the law...

Some silver solder, most solder paste, last few bits cyno. There comes a point where more adding pieces with solder paste is too hard to control unsoldering other pieces in the process. The tube to tube T joints are all hard soldered, soft solder is just not strong enough. Really, initial sub-assemblies are silver soldered, then soft soldered together. Occasionally, I use solder wire when I need the joint to have strength, its all a matter of practice and multiple errors... 2 part epoxy is too messy (at least the way I use it)... If you have a pin hammer, you need to buy a doming block, let the fun begin... Cheers Steve

Thanks Kev, its a key component so it had to be right, the etching design worked OK, but I must admit, I'm glad there is only one. Actually looking forward to seeing it painted and weathered so I can highlight some of the detail you can't see clearly in brass. Getting there Steve

Some part so this build are a challenge I enjoy, making the guns is one of those, at least now they are both complete. Over 100 separate brass parts later, the 40 mm Bofors is ready to prime I'm really pleased to have that bit done in a way I'm happy with, it makes or breaks the model Ammo cartridge will be printed btw, there are limits..... Steve

Stage 3 , crew platform and gun sight gantry done Getting there, today was another 40 pieces Steve

The challenge Stuart is finding shells that fit

30 pieces so far, recoil cylinders, traversing gear, gun sight frame and seat frame to go, plus that unusual curved shell case chute () , this one is a marathon not a sprint... Steve

Just very cool thanks

Arjan, That's another great picture I don't have, thanks. Note the black staining around the kitchen chimney, logical, hadn't thought of that. I had noticed the forward strakes seemed to be only introduced in the S-100 boats Steve