andrewa

Are you still looking for information Mike? I took a dozen or so photos of the large scale model of Endurance model at the FAA Museum last month - think recruiting office model from back in the day - she's post-87 as there are 2 Lynx's on the flihgt deck. Andrew

Looks like an early 70ft Elco PT boat to me, around 10 of those made their way into RN service.

I never knew there was an open bridge option...

2 out of 3 Tribal on the left, Eskimo or maybe Zulu. Ikara Leander in the middle. Ajax or Leander. 4.5 Leander on the right Sirius or Juno in original fit. I seemed to be collecting Pete Halls output but not building them so thought I’d do some catching up. There’s half formed plan to build a chunk of q pier at Portland for a 70’s FOST scene.

No need to the SAR shout just yet... I had to have a word with my self about finishing a few of the works in progress that I'd only just started when I got distracted by Vanguard. Any guesses? Meanwhile I've picked up a few more accessories and played with some designs for the etched safety nets that I'll need at some point, oh and tried really hard not to let some Fearless designs distract me further...

So, although I'm resisting the temptation to turn this into something of a triple build, I did just stumble (coincidence honest) on this, model on the Royal Maritime Museum site, sometime post Falklands, but worth saving I thought... http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/67547.html

Now this will be a good one to follow Very interested in watching this build (or draw) progress, expecially correcting to 1982 fit. I did take a look at my set of Fearless plans the other week, but put them away again for a wee bit longer. And thanks again for the Hermes and friends credit - I can't believe it's still so popular 3 years later... A

Yep everything came together in the end, there’s an RFI post here with the finished article:

I'll watch this one closely - I've got a couple of the original WEM Tons with Peter's new brass in the stash. Fearless is one of many ships on my mind as well - would have to be flooded down in San Carlos with landing craft active. I think modelling board will be the best material for the hull - it should remain strong enough even with the well deck cut away - but that's definitely for another day.

Last update on this build for the year - i've added a few more of the main structures. Funnels we far easier than I expected, some Evergreen Tube split lengthways with flat section inserts scaled out perfectly. I made a long section, then cut both funnels and cowls from it. Base plates are each three layers cut with a circle cutter then sandwiched together and finished with some Milliput. New deck houses include the forward AA director base, deck plates for the bridge, the top tier of the boat deck and the horribly complicated director base/AA mount on the aft superstructure. I've also started the priming and cleanup process. A

Thanks folks, before the chaos of Christmas I managed to finish the secondary barbettes and put together the two funnels, plus start the filling and clean up. So I'll add a few photos tomorrow. Next up will to be to add the remaining deck houses to the mid and aft superstructure blocks. Then it time to work out how best to handle the wood decks... I'm starting to think this is all going too well - so either something is about to go horribly wrong or I'm still overly scarred by Trumpeters finest...

Thanks everyone, considering it started as a plan to save a bit of display space, I'm more than happy with the compliments...

At the moment, it's more relief that I should be able to pull this build off - and not waste alot of cash on the various accessories! And it'll definitely slow down from here on in - this was the easy bit

Really nice result - my first scratch built ship was my dad's old one, that also became a Christmas present and went down very well. A

It's remarkable how much progress you can make with a couple of interruption free days off work... All the main superstructure blocks and barbettes have been put together, Vanguard is quite straightforward with very few curves, just lots of flat plate sections needing some careful measuring, cutting and test fitting. The most complex area is around the 4 bofors mounts at the rear of the forward superstructure nothing too tricky, just fiddly. The majority of the structure is 1.5mm platicard walls with .5mm decks most of the walls are buttressed with off cuts to ensure squareness. I recently picked up a small T-Square which is invaluable in getting accurate 90 degree corners. Extreme close up: Main structural challenge left is the funnels, then some patience whilst everything firms up before a round of cleaning up all the joints and seams.