Francis Macnaughton

By chance when I was looking for a plan I had bought from John Lambert about 10 - 15 years ago of the Austerity Director which he had suggested might have been used by converted landing craft to control gunfire support, I found that with it was a full plan of the Simple Tachymetric Director which he had considered might have been an alternative. The list I mentioned in fact only went up to 1999, so he had enough time to produce a lot more drawings than I thought. I'll send you a scan when I have visited the local copy shop firm that can handle the whole plan at once.

Further to my last, I have checked my copy of John Lambert's list of drawings and he did not list the STD as one that he had already done or was planning to cover in the future.

Hi Paul, There are a few references in Friedman's Naval AA Guns and gunnery but no drawings or pictures as far as I can see. I can scan these if you like. A quick google throws up reference to a National Maritime museum photo N70550 which purports to be of Nubian in 1960 with a STD (that's what it was officially designated!) but you would presumably need to pay to get a ccopy of the photo. Does Collingwood have any sort of museum for this sort of kit by any chance? Regards Francis

Didn't this use to be called "Death to the French" ?

Hobby co is the UK Tamiya agent and you should be able to get a set from them. I ordered a set for a tank over the phone fairly recently and they supplied them very promptly. https://www.hobbyco.net/contact-us

Is there any forecast for when the 1/144th scale Type IX u Boat will be released yet?

There is actually - the Hachette HMS Hood which came in 140 issues in the same way that the Hachette Bismarck did and which used the same mixed wood/plastic/cast alloy and photo etch materials. You can still find unmade examples on ebay.

No problem at all Lindy and the plans I did are in 1/72nd scale which works out at almost exactly 80cm long. Look out for a pm later today with enough to get you started.

My old steamer between 1980 and 83. I hope this goes forward smoothly and can sustain itself - there are plenty of other ones that have not lasted in the long term but as it is part of a larger scheme maybe this one will work out. Being Clyde built must have helped get more support north of the border. Sobering thought that Ambuscade spent so much longer in Pakistani service than in the RN!

"British Heavy Cruisers 1939-45" by Angus Konstam (Osprey NVG190) shows a starboard side view of Norfolk from the Bismarck period with virtually all of the hull and upperworks aft of A 8" turret in what would probably be 507A apart from the centre and forward funnels and some of the bridge while A turet and the bow are in 507C. No source is mentioned to indicate where this came from.

Hi Mike, I was interested to see that you are now doing a 1/35th scale Whale span - I did a couple for the Mulberry Harbour SIG stand at last year's Telford show as shown and we have the ambition to add a further 3 spans where the space allocation allows at future shows. I have been through quite a learning process on how best to make such large structures and you are very welcome to take advantage of what I have to offer if it helps - after all you sent me all that info in the first place! My spans are mainly made from 0.3 mm alloy lithoplate which has the advantage of strength when folded to form the main girders and is also very cheap to acquire if you can find a suitable lithographic printer. Some of the more detailed bits, such as the box ed ends to each main span are from a dedicated 0.4 mm brass photo etch set I have designed,this being thick enough to relief etch the fairly prominent bolt heads and other raised detail and also ensure consistent results for things like the oval holes in some of the supporting girders. I have also made moulds for other parts, including the roadway tread plates and the ball and socket bearings at the end of each girder. You are welcome to access these – just let me know if you are interested. Finally, I found that I got a lot of help from the Beckett Rankine document “Secret notes on Floating Bridge Equipment January 1944” which clarifies exactly what each component looked like at an appropriate level of detail for 1/35th scale – especially pages 122 to 131. This went a long way towards providing what Futter drawings didn’t really cover. Regards Francis

Only mention of maritime is the extra bits for the S-26 S boat. Looks like the long promised Higgins PT boat in 1/35th has been quietly dropped..

I was wondering if the cyber attack also had any effect on parcels inbound from abroad as well. Is anyone in a position to say if there has been any disruption to deliveries here in UK?

There is a lot of good stuff on making a viking boat hull at Model Ship World such as: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/24335-gokstad-viking-ship-by-bigpetr-148-card-cca-900-ad/page/3/

It makes a nice basis for radio control - i did this one as for the Mulberry Harbours after D-Day

The link gives you a fairly high resolution copy of the original General Arrangement plan and you can then scale directly from that on the basis of the beam is 32FT 8" and the length is 114ft http://ww2lct.org/mk5/images/schematic-Mk5.jpg

Is that a markings scheme provided with the kit or did you find a supplier of alternatives?

There are plans for the German Pinguin at: http://dreadnoughtproject.org/plans/KM_Pinguin_1939/

Is this thread of any help? http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=51885&p=876446&hilit=satellite#p876446

In fact Peter Hall did a dedicated Fearless/Intrepid 1/600th PE set under the Atlantic Models brand later on in 2018 https://www.atlanticmodels.net/onewebmedia/Instructions Files/Fearless600.pdf

Taking stock of where I have got to, I have still got lots of bits like the boats to finish and attach as shown below, let alone the railings and yardarms so I very much regret I will have to miss out on completing the GB this time. I will continue reporting the build - is it Ok to do that in this thread or should it go elsewhere? Apologies for the disappointment.

Progress with things enough to fix the hull to the display base and with my attempt at a sea scape made from rough art paper cut to fit within a stripwood frame and the bow wave made from normal paper stiffened with thin CA superglue then painted with various watercolours and fairly thick acrylic white with some acrylic gel to give a rougher surface for the sternwash. I should now be able to start adding all the other fittings and photo etch with the foremast going last as the yardarms are very delicate indeed. Still aiming to finish before the end of Sunday.

FWIW I look like needing a few days more to finish my HMS Ambuscade build - a week at most.

Sorry for the long gap - some recurring health issues haven't exactly helped but there is nothing like an imminent deadline to focus on getting something done! The main progress since June has been in completing adding extra detail and correcting some minor errors in the superstructure and also adding some of the photo etch detail like doors and hatches to the basic shape then painting the main hull and superstructure before starting to add the more fragile items like the masts etc. I have also progressed the display base so it is ready to have the hull attached as soon as all the hull work including pennant numbers has been completed. Paint was Tamiya TS-80 Royal (Navy) grey Originally I wasn't going to show any pennant numbers as these were painted out while we were at Gibraltar but as the photo (taken while alongside Stena Seaspread late June after the surrender ) shows the sea had soon removed most of the grey paint. This was the first time I had been off the ship ( not counting an equatorial Hands to Bathe) in 2 months! The photo etch is very comprehensive but fragile so I will need to add each item only when I am sure that everything else around it has been taken into account as it would be very easy to end with a bent yard arm or two.

Is this the one?