Stephen Allen

I've also started painting the boats. All the finishing colours I am using are enamels. Where I need a match to the RN paint then I use Sovereign Colourcoats, which spray beautifully and tolerates my cack-handedness with an airbrush. The white for the camouflage is a mixture of one quarter Revell matt white, one quarter silk white, one quarter matt varnish, one quarter gloss varnish, then thin as usual for spraying. You end up with a nice smooth surface. I have been pleasantly surprised with how good the Revell paints are, and they are cheap as chips. I put the white mix over a base of Tamiya grey primer which is modulated with some slightly darker grey along edges and plate lines and other random shadowy places for a worn and weary look. Its easier (for me anyway) than over-thinning the paint - I just end up with splatters and runs when I try that - and lets me build up the desired appearance slowly so that I can compare different parts of the ship to make sure that it all looks within bounds.

Jumping around a bit as I finish off the fittings and sub-assemblies in no particular order. In common with the other Captains Conn was fitted with an RN type 27 foot whaler under quadrantal davits in the port waist. I am modelling both this, and the standard USN 26 foot motor whaleboat carried to starboard, in their inboard or stowed positions. This is to avoid the possibility of ugly damage at the pond if I bump the dock or another vessel - boats slung outboard are very damage prone. It does mean that both boats have to be removable to get clearance for the superstructure to be lifted off to fit and charge batteries, so I have built each boat and its set of davits as a joined up unit. The whaleboat was no problem as it forms a rigid girder when glued to the chocks on each davit - there is a joining piece at deck level as well to add to the strength. The motor whaler took more thought as it simply hangs from its falls, even when the davits are turned inward - no griping spar as the USN relied on two sets of 'Y' griping bands to keep the boat from swinging. I decided to use thin (0.45mm) brass rod and created four hooked lines to form the inner falls from the top to the bottom blocks. Once glued these keep the boat and its davits in the correct places, and the davits can simply be slid in and out of their bases. I am hoping the rod won't be too noticeable once the outer falls are in place. I can't claim any credit for the boats - the motor whaler is sourced from Shapeways with a little bit of additional detail. The beautiful 27 foot whaler (below) is from Micromaster in NZ. This really is a stunning piece of printing, and my only real task is to avoid stuffing it up with a bad paint job. The Quadrantal davits are from Scale Warships, suitably modified. As an etched fret they look impossibly flimsy but once assembled they are surprisingly strong. I built the motor whaleboat davits myself as the bought alternative - 3D printed - would either be finely detailed and not very strong, or strong and made of that horrible sintered nylon that is near impossible to finish.

Making the stanchions was unquestionably the most boring and repetitive job of the whole build, and only undertaken after all other options had been exhausted. USN lifeline stanchions of the period were quite different in appearance from their RN counterparts, the wire ropes running through eyelets to the inside of the stanchion, not through them as is typical of the RN style. This is because the stanchions were designed as part of a safety system, where the middle wire line supports a mesh safety net which is also secured to the deck, either through eyelet holes in the waterway bar, or to a thin rod welded just above the deck if there is no waterway. Happily Conn didn't retain these nets (some Captains did) as they are near impossible to model realistically unless you have trained spiders available to weave them. The etched versions I have seen, or wedding 'tulle' material/flyscreen etc just don't cut it in my view, they either look too rigid or just look like what they started out as. Anyway, in 1/72 scale you can currently get very good etched three and two ball RN style stanchions. You could also obtain superb turned brass RN ones from RBmodel in Poland, though they now seem to be permanently out of stock (I have some of their 1/96 scale RN stanchions for a forthcoming build and they are truly jewel-like in their fineness). Caldercraft currently make turned RN style, although they appear somewhat heavier than the RB versions. But there are no sources for the USN style in this scale, either etched or otherwise and believe me I looked. And then looked some more. I did try to interest a manufacturer in creating an etched set in 1/72, as I am sure I am not the only modeller who would take some, but I never heard back. So in the end I knuckled down and made my own out of micro brass tube, which at least has the benefit of making them fully 3D rather than two-dimensional. The following photo shows my home made USN stanchion next to a typical etched three ball stanchion I used a drilled piece of square brass tube as a fixture to ensure that the holes for the eyelets were all in the same place, and used a little V-groove mitre box to cut the two tube sections, the thinner from 0.8mm tube, and the thicker base from 1mm from memory. I set the length to cut all of the long and then short sections at the same time for consistency. The 0.8mm was simply the smallest tube size that I could consistently drill without crushing or otherwise distorting the end product, but it compares quite well in size with the etched stanchion. I tried 0.7 but kept breaking them. Each finished three wire stanchion has seven pieces; two for the tube, a section of rod to insert into the deck, three eyelets and a small top button made from a sanded down miniature bolt. I tested a number of prototypes by pulling and tugging to make sure that the eyelets would stay put - the stanchion bends long before the eyelet lets go. With the use of a fixture to speed the drilling and limit stops for the cutting - the only really critical measurement apart from eyelet location is the height of the inner tube - production didn't take as long as I thought it would and I finished with my sanity more or less intact. I ended up with spares as I forgot that there are sections of the main deck where the lifelines attach to the depth charge stowage. Then I built the two eyelet stanchions for the superstructure deck. If you go crazy and do this use brass tube not aluminium - I tried and it is just too soft to survive the drilling without crushing or breaking.

The mast ready for painting, with all of the separate aerials attached. HF/DF and Type 244 IFF then lower down the characteristic aerials for TBS, the short range VHF voice radio and the 'ski pole' of BK, which is the USN IFF system, retained aboard the Captains. TBS is a collection of brass tubes, and the circular transponder section of BK is a watch movement from a job lot of remainders. I have also attached a representation of the electrical cabling that runs up the rear face of the mast, based on photos of other Buckleys. The early Buckleys had fairly unobtrusive runs of cabling without the massive brackets that you see on some later DEs but I wanted the mast to look busy and depict at least some connection between the sensors, lights, and their power source. The ladder will have to wait as my longest section turned out to be 23mm too short. I have a longer one on order. after this I think I will go back to attaching remaining fittings to hull and superstructure - it's probably time to do the stanchions.

I slid the mast into place to form fit the wave guide for the SL radar This runs down the starboard side of the mast just inboard from the ladder. Again little bits of photo-etch, this time sections of ladder, form the brackets holding the guide to the mast. The wave guide is a bit of styrene strip bent around and under the platforms.

I think you are right on the purpose of the dark strip behind the ladder - I can't, for example, find an equivalent light strip behind ladders on dark toned paintwork. Quite a few Captains in the 'C' scheme show the same dark strips. I've continued with the mast details, and have added the locations for the various mast lights along the yardarm and at the truck. I won't add the lights until after painting. I've also made up little blocks for the signal halyards. Photos show these to be very small indeed, and none of the commercially available block/pulley combinations are small enough or strong enough. Brass ones go down to about 2.3mm diameter for the pulley wheel, while 3D ones, which can be really small, break very easily. I used small steel washers from Top Studio (scale car detailing parts) to laminate the pulley wheels, and made the straps from bits of 1/144 railing meant for the Revell Fletcher. I never throw any etched fret away there are a thousand ways to re-use it when scratch-building.

The RN fitted a lot of its own equipment to the Captains, and removed quite a bit of USN equipment that was not relevant to its fighting and communication techniques. On the mast the HF/DF sits just above a Type 144 IFF aerial. Lower down the RN retained the SL surface radar. This had both an automatic sweep and a PPI display, which made it highly valued both for the detection of U-Boats and also the control of night surface engagements against S-Bootes. The RN also fitted additional signal yards in a characteristic 'V' at the top of the mast. Most of the photos I have seen of Captains also show that the USN style 'Fighting Lights' were removed, and replaced by the usual RN outfit of non-directional signalling lights on the yardarm - haven't got to these yet, or to the voice radio aerials. The IFF aerial was often called the 'Candelabra' for obvious reasons, and in service it rotates. You can see a really good example of this type of aerial in action aboard 'HMS Saltash Castle' during the last U-Boat hunt in the movie 'The Cruel Sea', whizzing around above Ericson and Lockhart as they get grumpy over the length of the hunt. I built mine by cutting down an etched valve wheel to make a cross, added brass tube for the arms and axle, and used 1/400 scale etched pulley details for the antenna elements. Its very approximate, very fragile, and I have left it as a drop fit because I am bound to bend it or break it at some point.

One step forward and one back. I built the basics of the mast quite early in the piece, as it was needed to help with getting the bridge structure and the mast supports aligned and in the right place. The rake and squareness of the mast are critical to the ship's appearance. It is a typical ww2 era USN pole mast. Because it is braced by passing through or butting against two separate superstructure levels, the lower section of the mast is a reverse taper, to allow it to be stepped in the completed structure. Because its an operating model, I built the mast from telescoping aluminium tube to keep top weight to a minimum. Now that the rest of the ship is getting close to completion its time to go back and finish off the details. I plan to leave stepping the mast to the very last stages, as once its onboard it makes moving the superstructure around a delicate job. I have thought about leaving it removable, but that leads to problems of rigging and de-rigging and keeping it square and true. If I can work out a way of temporarily but firmly fixing it in place I will try that. Here is the mast on its building stand, with the access ladder being tried out for size and position. On Buckley based Captains the ladder runs up the starboard side of the mast all the way to what would have been the SA radar platform. On USN ships the yardarm sits behind the mast and on Buckley's the yardarm stands proud of the mast supported by a couple of brackets. I found that a couple of large etched ringbolts suitably modified worked to hold the yardarm firmly. Everything is pinned and glued with a high strength epoxy, as my soldering skills, limited as they are, are not up to successfully soldering brass and aluminium together.

Thanks David, you are too kind! In this scale you can just keep finding and adding new detail, and the end result is you never get the model on the water. Just to round this out, I lightly weathered the searchlights with a little drybrushing with oils, gave them a coat of clear varnish, then fitted the lenses. I was initially somewhat stumped as to how to model them. Clear acrylic discs are easy enough to come by, but these searchlights had noticeably domed lenses. I could carve masters and vacuform or smash mold them but that seemed like too much hard work. Some searching on the internet brought up some alternatives ranging from very expensive - small glass lenses meant for various kinds of cameras or laser devices - to ridiculously cheap - something intended for jewelry and craft called a cabachon glass bead. These come in various shapes, from spheres to high and low domes, and in various diameters. They are not 'engineered' so the height of the dome and diameter are only roughly correct and not guaranteed. But they come in packets of 50 or 100 for next to nothing, so you can do some test fitting and comparison to find the best matches. I bought a packet of 50 low domed cabachons with flat bases from a local online craft supplier and found that they were actually quite consistent. Preparation took next to no time. I masked and drew a circle on the rear of each cabachon with a black sharpie. This depicts the opened light-tight shutter of the searchlight: The little glass bead captures the domed shape of the lens very nicely, and lets the vane detail from the interior show through. they are practically drop-fits into the searchlight and were secured with a little acrylic glue around their circumference. Quite happy with these!

The searchlights freshly painted, but not yet weathered or shaded. I could have added more detail but you have to stop somewhere and I think these will be good enough for government work. What is really noticeable is that with this USN style of light unless the the inner signalling vanes are open, the brightly polished silver reflector at the back of the drum is never visible. I'll try to finish off the searchlights next time around, and show (hopefully!) the lens installed.

The first step after removing the searchlight section is to cut and assemble suitable pieces of brass and aluminium tube to form the body of the light, then temporarily mount it to the pedestal to make sure that everything stays square: Details are added to the new body. Outside details include the signalling key and the prominent top mounted air circulation exhaust and intakes, and the lower square section, which houses electrical gear for the carbon arcs that illuminate the light when switched on. These types of combined searchlight/signalling lamp also had internal vanes that open and shut to allow the operator to send morse code. They also had an internal light-tight shutter, much like a camera's, but I am modeling that as fully open so some of the internal detail can be seen. Adding the external equipment underneath the light drum interfered with the sit of the light in the pedestal, so I also raised the pedestal arms with some additional plastic strip to restore the correct clearances underneath. This last photo shows the lights ready for painting with added external cabling (metal tie wire) and detail. Its all just bits of plastic sheet and strip, with the circular sections punched out (discs) or heat formed around metal tubing (circles).

Pressing on with the remaining details. Conn had two of the USN's standard 24 inch searchlights, one mounted each side of the bridge. I had purchased a pair of these from Shapeways. They would look very acceptable with a little detail work, but I wanted to show more of the workings of what was a fairly complex piece of equipment, and also make the lens a bit more realistic. These are the purchased lights, and I have already started by cutting the searchlight section from the pedestal, so that I can use these with the improved mounts. And this is what the real thing looks like:

Hi Graham. There is an instruction for USN contract paint finishing on the web at History.navy.mil, dated June 1943. According to this the Primer coat for new construction exteriors above the waterline should be Formula 84-D, dark zinc chromate. This is a dark green according to the included table, and is meant to maintain a dark appearance if there is any peeling of the top coat. By ‘45 Duckworth would have been through at least one repainting from the delivery scheme, so dark patches might be anything underlying including a very rusty or stained previous camouflage, not necessarily the primer coat. cheers Steve

The Captains were very quickly fitted with additional life-saving floats. Conn carried a total of 10 floats, consisting of a mix of original USN balsa floats (square type) and RN Carley floats. By April of 1945 Conn was one of a number of RN and RCN ships that likely had floats painted in a high visibility red and yellow scheme, the actual pattern varying from ship to ship. There is an excellent colour photograph of HMCS Thetford Mines, which shows the colours (and also how sloppily the painting was carried out), and further evidence is contained in a written account by Sub-Lieutenant Colin Wilkinson aboard HMS Narborough, referencing the colours used and why. Its an amusing anecdote. The reason for doing it is obvious but what is less so is why requirements for camouflage painting were relaxed. Feel free to speculate. I am yet to find a source of authority/permission for this practice, it was not universal and seemed to largely fade out post-war. I have been trawling through the IWM, Navyphotos, various books (there is an excellent shot of a Captain, HMS Rupert, in Franklin's Buckley book, showing floats with a diagonal check pattern) and have so far come up with a list of 20 plus ships, all photographed in the 1944-45 and post-war period which have floats that clearly have these high visibility markings. Captains, Lochs, Bays, Castles, a River, an Algerine, the Canadian cruiser HMCS Ontario (in colour no less). Patterns include red ends and yellow middles like Conn, diagonals like Rupert, reversed yellow, red, yellow, and some with half yellow, half red divided down the middle, especially Lochs. Whether these are representative of larger numbers of ships I haven't yet determined, as the online photo holdings are chosen for other reasons (or are random). It would probably take written evidence to go much further and I have a ship to build. Anyway, the pattern used on Conn is clearly visible on her forward floats, so I have used the same pattern for all. I will try to get a better photo once I have them attached to the superstructure. cheers Steve

The essential long range sensor for the Battle of the Atlantic. the HF/DF. Captains were equipped with either the RN version of High Frequency Direction Finding for interception and bearing data on U-Boat transmissions, or SA air warning radar, but never both. RN Escort Groups usually had a mix of ships equipped with either sensor. It couldn't have been a top weight problem as the USN operated Buckleys with both the radar and their version of HF/DF carried on a pole mast aft. It was probably a manpower issue for the RN, with each ship only being able to be provided with the bare minimum of technically trained ratings. My HF/DF started life as the Scale Warships 1/72 etched antenna. This is a bit delicate for outside use, and being right at the top of the mast it will be the first thing that idiots will point at while saying 'What's that? Oh, sorry...' . To beef it up I cut the bottom section off and slid 0.5mm brass tube over the vertical sections, and used these for the internal angled sections and the top as well. A couple of fixtures helped keep the whole thing aligned as I glued it all back together and added some strengthening tabs from plastic sheet. I am pretty sure I also used the little Albion Alloys joining tabs on some of the corners. This all gets mounted to a central Aluminium tube which is a slide fit into the top of the mast. That's so that I can mount it last before sailing, and remove it first. That's the theory anyway!

Fitting out continues. The Captains were fortunate in being the first class of Allied escorts to be fitted with radar guided anti-aircraft missiles: Just kidding, and apologies for the poor photo! These are Snowflake rocket flares, one to be fitted to each side of the bridge. I have only found a single illustration of a complete Snowflake on the web and have done my best to replicate what I saw with brass tube and plastic sheet. The US Navy pub that contains the description of this device sounds distinctly sceptical about the inherent safety of this British device, warning that it should be attached to a long lanyard, and that the lanyard should be enclosed to avoid anyone inadvertently tripping over it and setting the thing off accidentally - I wonder how they found that out? And this is the additional night illumination available, six 2 inch rockets attached to each side of 'B' gun shield. these had the advantage of being trainable with the gun. I used the rockets and brass etched end pieces from the DJ Parkins set meant for the Matchbox Corvette. I just couldn't get the thick etched connecting rails to fold, so I replaced them with Plastruct angles. You can now get a much better 3D set from Micro Master in NZ. It looks okay now that it is painted. The gun shields were developed from the few photographs that show them aboard the Captains. They were also used on the Colony Class Frigates and Cathedral Class Minesweepers, also Lend Lease ships with 3"50 guns. Most Captains had at least a shield for 'B' Mount, as this was manned at cruising stations, Conn was one of the few to have shields on all three mounts. Archer resin rivets are very useful for detailing pieces like this. The 3"50 guns inside the shields are from Di Stefano at Shapeways, though I have replaced the barrels with turned Aluminium ones originally meant for Sherman tanks. The 76 mm barrel is an almost perfect match for the naval equivalent and plugs right in to the 3D printed gun. The overall size of the shield emphasizes just how small the gun was; it 'couldn't put a dent in a pat of butter' according to one CO and could not pierce the pressure hull of a U-Boat, the most serious drawback of the class. If the war had lasted the RN had plans to replace it with the 4 inch, and of course the USN traded up to the 5"38cal when it begun to refit its own Buckley's.

Thanks David its just a touch under 1.3 metres. Its really a little ‘un in our TF72 club. Is your Louis the ISW resin kit? I have one of these and it is a surprisingly good little kit, one of the best from the range. Steve

And finally, the extremities of the ship, showing the anchor and cable gear, and at the stern, the depth charge arrangements and the beginnings of the Foxer gear. Conn remained fitted with the original USN K guns throughout her service, and the number of disposable arbors needed and stowed everywhere is noticeable. One of the more repetitive and boring fabrication tasks of the build! Back with more later in the week! cheers Steve

I won't bore you all with a blow by blow of the build to date, but will try and keep up with progress from this point on, now that I have worked out how to more easily link to photos as things progress. These photos show the current state of play and pretty much illustrate the choices I have made about appearance. I have depicted Conn in what seems to be the 21st Escort Groups take on Admiralty Scheme 'C'. Overall white with a B55 panel on the hull, a full boot topping with a lighter coloured antifouling underneath which I have interpreted as red. A lot of the deck gear, such as bollards, fairleads etc appear to be painted the same colour as the deck, there is a kicking strip along the base of the deckhouse and gun shields, and most of the ladders have dark strips painted under them, all the better to be found in dark of night I presume. I might add to my previous post by noting that there are more than two photos of Conn available, I meant to say overall photos of the ship. There are also a couple of photos of the crew and officers mustered on the forecastle (useful to show the colour of deck fittings and the very pale overall paint scheme) and one of the CO, Lt Cdr Hart, towards the rear of the bridge, which was helpful for working out access to the Director Tower this ship was fitted with.

I have had one of the Trumpeter 1/350 scale Buckley Class DEs sitting in the stash for a number of years, and had always planned to build it as HMS Conn. Conn was one of the 78 US Built Destroyer Escorts transferred to the Royal Navy during the second world war, and was the Senior Officer's ship for the late-formed 21st Escort Group operating out of Northern Ireland. By 1945 Conn was either fitted with or fitted for virtually all of the additions and modifications that the RN made to these ships, and hence looked very different from the original USN version of the Buckley. I still have the Trumpeter kit, but my interests have turned to larger scale radio control vessels, so Conn was a natural choice for my first serious foray into 1/72 scale. The build is based on the Southern Cross models fibreglass hull. This is an excellent hull, very faithful to the ship's lines, and only needing a little work to more accurately reflect an RN unit. The position of the anchor hawse lips needed to be moved up to deck level, and I built the extended bilge keels after reading and comparing a variety of sources on how long they should be and how deep. They are a lot bigger than the original USN keels. Everything else is scratch-built or bought in from various makers of resin, etch and 3D-printed fittings and weapons. The chief issue right through the build has been working around the paucity of reference material on the layout and certain fittings, and the fact that no two ships among the 78 appear to have an identical fit. Conn is particularly problematic as despite the ship's excellent war record, there are only two photographs of Conn currently available either in print or on the web. Fortunately, there are many photos of other Captains available and in particular a series of photos of other Frigates of the 21st Escort Group which have helped to clarify some appearance and camouflage issues. Written references that have proved especially useful are Donald Collingwood's 'The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War', Bruce Hampton Franklin's 'The Buckley Class Destroyer Escorts' and Al Ross 'Anatomy of the Ship: The Destroyer Escort England'. Franklin's book contains Buckley Plans dated November 1943 from the actual building yard for most of the RN Buckley type, Bethlehem Hingham, and the plans in the 'Anatomy' publication are the next best source for clearing up issues. Discussion on this board with members who know a lot more than me has also helped with my thoughts on camouflage (and anti-camouflage!), but I take full responsibility for the choices made.

Some time ago, in a discussion with other members of the board, I posted some photos of the Captains Class frigate I am building in 1/72 scale. At the time I said I would post some updates as the build moved along. It's now progressed to painting and fitting out, so its high time I shared some photos so those interested can see how things are coming along. This is a radio-controlled model and, as such, there needs to be provision for access into the hull for batteries and maintenance, but beyond this I am seeking to keep the build as close as I can manage to its likely appearance and configuration in April/May 1945. https://cdn01.hobbyphotohost.com/p?i=a247b899de80955e364e783094c46384

Graham You have done a beautiful job. Really captures the essence of a hard worked escort. Steve

Thanks Michal your excellent rendition of Copper Cliff has been an inspiration! Lower Float has not yet been completely painted by the looks of the photo, with a darker shade showing through. I wonder if this is the brownish shade you see on one of the Thetford Mines floats - it matches the centre of the upoer float in tone. cheers Steve

Thanks Ewen The description as Uganda was that of the original post, so thank you for the correction. Now that you have pointed out the correct ship I was able to find the colour image on the Library and Archives Canada site. I had looked for Uganda but, of course, it wasn’t findable as such. Beautiful picture of a handsome ship. Many nice surprises in the library, more colour photos from a sequence including Thetford Mines and other RCN frigates in line ahead and a great shot of HMCS Monnow escorting a surrendered U Boat. Steve

https://groups.io/g/rcnhistory/topic/looking_for_a_photo/83192203?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,20,83192203 afraid my attempts to copy the photo have failed, but the above is the URL - post by Darren Scannell. If you type ‘carley floats Uganda’ into google it is the fifth hit or so down the page. Perhaps it is a local command initiative. Interestingly some, but not all, of Julian Glossop’s models in the IWM collection have rafts painted red or yellow, or yellow and a darkish brown. The models span a range of war years, and it is likely that some from the earlier war period are not correct, but clearly there was something about carley floats in ww2 that spurred Julian to render them thus. In the absence of a source of authority its really a ship by ship assessment based on photos. Thank you very much for your thinking on this. Steve.