andrewa

One of the best looking Spitfire versions in my opinion with both the Special Hobby and Airfix kits having fairly big issues, I built the SH kit a couple of years ago, and I've had the Airfix XII since it was launched, but couldn't face trying to improve the fuselage. I figured I'd try what Supermarine did and stick a Griffon on a Mk.V. This was slightly more involved than my Seafire III conversion, Wings and fuselage from the firewall back are Eduard Vc, Rudder is a spare pointed one from the VIII/IX kits and the cowling and spinner are from the Airfix XII kit. Mating the cowling was pretty straightforward, just needing a some fairly extending sanding to the upper cowl to reduce its height, but panel lines were a perfect match all around - including the wing fillets. Carburettor intake was about the only place I needed any filler, just to blend the joints. Paints are Tamiya, decals are HGW and weathering is a mix of techniques including watercolour pencils - that needs a lot more practice, but I'm really happy with some of the effects - less happy in other places though. I also had a go at recreating the only photo I've seen of the actual airframe (https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205451985, using the SH kit in the foreground

Apologies for the clickbait title, not a new release sadly, but my fairly straight-forward conversion of the Eduard Spitfire Vc - that will hopefully lead to them announcing one. Main mods were: Four bladed propellor spare from the Mk.IX kit Eduard 6 stack exhausts reinforcing plates from 5 thou platsicard Scribed wingfolds, adjusted wheelbase walls and openings removed outer cannon stubs arrestor hook from 5 thou plasticard with scratched hook Paints are the Roy Sutherland Tamiya mixes for EDSG and Dk Slate. Decals are from a few sources and the stencils are the new Eduard ones with the film softened with decal set and removed. Andrew

Sorry - only Sorry - only just saw this question. I honestly don't remember, but possibly Hawk Graphics RN ship decals - they don't seem to be active any more, but you might get lucky - I just picked up the same in 1/700 scale from avrmodel.com

Victorious is still on the slipway, but probably not using this hull - I’ve never been entirely happy with it - especially all the hull openings - I’ve ordered one of the 3D-wild Illustrious 3d printed kits to use for a new starting point meanwhile I’ve started turning a Flyhawk Illustrious into a 1941 Victorious to go with the 1965 version - that’s the next project when I’m done riveting an Airfix Merlin converted to an HC.4….. now if I could just find a bucket of time to help get all this done!

My first ever proper attempt at a ship kit (not counting a few long-ago Airfix ships) was a 1/700 WEM Flower-class corvette, it didn’t end well and since then I’ve never got further with 1/700 than buying kits, looking at them and putting them back in the box. After a few too many wings and wheelie things recently I was feeling brave... The original plan for this kit was a trouble-free OOB build of a modern resin kit to see how I got on with 1/700 scale that wouldn’t involve lots of masking, would be big enough to work on and would let me see if I could adapt my seascaping methods to the smaller scale and smoother seas. While the kit is sold as a 1966-fit Victorious - and the airgroup is, it soon became clear the ship was 1958 fit. The differences are not huge, but they are significant so rather than try sourcing a 1/700 Scimitars I decided a conversion was the way to go. The main changes are: ‘Alaska highway’ deck outboard of the island, plus the vehicle servicing garage Deck-houses port and starboard replacing 2 of the gun-houses, plus details. Weather-balloon filling station right-aft on the portside flightdeck Added deckhouses, floodlights and lockers on the island. Re organised the life raft stowage. I also ended up masking and painting most of the flight deck markings which no longer matched the period I was modelling. The escape is blue foam carved to form a wake pattern the covered with a sheet of watercolour paper soaked in white glue and primed in blue. Then a few layers of AK water and foam gels and my usual cotton wool technique for spray. Once I’d finished all that and got the hull painted, weathered and mounted. I noticed that not only were the port-side aerial masts removed by this stage, but also the outrigger bases were removed, the port-side whaler opening was plated over and 7 whip-aerial bases were required - all of which needed some delicate surgery and blending to not damage the etch that was already in place. Everything else was straight-forward if delicate, flight deck vehicles and crew are by Starling Models - lovely but tiny - but not as frustrating or delicate as 1/700 pitot tubes!

That's really great.

I've made some slow but steady progress on Victorious, gradually adding the etched brass scuttles - of which there are at least two types, slightly larger ones with eyebrows fitted and a few small ones without, plus a number that were plated over with solid sheet - lots of research needed to get their locations right. I've also worked on the various platforms and sponsons that abound on this ship initially those that penetrate the hull plating so I can gradually tidy those up before moving onto the many that were just externally mounted, each one is different, and often changed through the war, so again lots of double checking. Many of the supports feature a triangular cut out and have unique dimensions so must be individually measured up and cut out. Bow and gun deck webs fitted along with the first 40 or so scuttles, the platform in the bow was built for a searchlight, later replaced with an oerlikon and is hugely complex to fit to the hull shapes. various pen marks on the hull to help with alignment, it'll all look a lot neater once it's primed Pompom platforms and more scuttles Boat decks, platforms and details (and a few more scuttles - more to add) Wasn't happy with some of the stern platform supports so reworked those. I also needed to move the location of the quarterdeck openings by a few mil. Finally, I've blocked in the island structure - in part so I can start thinking about the airwing placement.

Some fiddly stuff this weekend, the Illustrious class had many refits through the war, so getting the details to match the time period is a bit of a game, the ships were fitted with 4 HACS directors to control the 4.5" turrets and which could be linked to one or multiple pairs of turrets. As built, the starboard forward HACS was mounted above the island,) port forward was in a recess on the flight deck edge with hydraulic gear to raise/lower the director. Port aft was similar(but possibly without the elevating gear) and starboard aft was in a slightly higher position, with a different shaped cut-out By 1944, Starboard forward was moved to the previous location of one of the pom-pom mountings ahead of the island (a key difference between the sisters when looking at photos) starboard aft was repositioned lower and the flightdeck cut out changed to match the other two deck mounted HACS. Port forward HACS Starboard Aft HACS, the photo also shows a few of the deckhouses built out over some of the boat decks, presumably for additional accommodation/stores etc. Victorious also had a large gallery mounted around the stern for additional light AA, supported by a set of large triangular webs, sadly not solid, so lots of cutting later: Next big job will be marking and drilling 150+ scuttles before fitting brass surrounds. Andrew

Crikey - is that etch on the back face of the antenna?

I've got a bunch of the posca pens - there's not a massive difference in the nib size for the two smaller pen sizes - I use both - but smaller is better for detail stuff, they are best used where you have a moulded feature - that needs to be contrasting colour. I've got a couple of the grey colours as well - 'grey' is useful for creating a little contrast with the leatherwork grey - for electronics/ antenna and canvas covers, they have good coverage, dry matt and are pretty resistant to varnish/weathering. By the looks of it I used the pens for the danbouys and petrol can racks on Ajax It's also worth looking at 'Gundam markers' (amazon). I've got a green and red that come up glossy metallic which work well for navigation lights.

@Chris Hewitt some interesting photos there - looks like a Whitby class in a couple of them - including the interesting red- leaded gun house, batch one County class and someone's satellite tracking ship - US I presume as she's that close in to the harbour

Not posted yet - I've got 2 Leanders and a Tribal that I'm going to put into a harbour wall scene when I get motivated

Part 2: Funnel and waist Funnel: Sirens on funnel (I think I sliced some inner insulation from ethernet or phone cable) Hatch on funnel rear face Rack of oxy/acetelene? cylinders on staboardside - and a couple in the same location on the port side Couple of other trunks/hatches on the starboard face I think you've already got the hand/foot rails around the top of the funnel Waist: Winding drums for the davits (can't remember what the kit did there) Another view of the antenna bases relocated to the rear of the liferaft racks Also another view of the rigging And better view of the rear face of the foremast (and wonky whaler) Mainmast Hand and foot rails hatch and porch? over on front face Oval opening both sides, platform and inclined ladder from hanger roof to port, ladder only to starboard (4.5" Leanders had platform both sides) Hanger - I added a few discs and strips to make the light bar? across the hanger face a more 3D look. GPI is just slightly hollowed out with a disc of plastic glued in to look the part. Posca markers are really good for little details like the markings on the Sea Cat bases Quarter deck and stern I think you have the recessed hawsehole in the stern to the side of the VDS well. Make sure to include a horribly silvered draught marks decal for true authenticity! Raised blocks (tackle?) at rear of flight deck and near stern davit operators console Capstan aft aft of limbo well Netting at forward end of limbo well petrol canister rack and decoys (you have these spotted) Small cable reels near back end of flight deck netting Railings around limbo deck don't follow the deck edge on the starboard side 3 electrical? panels just aft of the limbo well (just small pieces of plasticard with smaller pieces stuck to them) Finally a couple of vague recollections - but I can't recall what the problem and solution were: Something about the railings, companionways and flight deck netting didn't add up for me - I think something was shorter/longer than I needed it to be so had to fix an issue (could well have been my fault) I reshaped my chaff launcher mountings quite a lot to get them and the railings to fit, but can't remember the details of why I thought that was needed. I think I started with the VDS cable reels on deck, then ended up with them on the forward bulkhead of the well - no recall on why that happened though -maybe I found a photo. As Pete calls out the areas of netting on the hager roof changed from ship to ship. Mixture of fixed and collapsable railings throughout the ship - I tried to show the difference by painting the wire ones a dk grey colour I can't think of anything else but shout if you'd like me to elaborate on any of the specifics. At least none of it adds up to major surgery! A

Also, if you haven't encountered them yet, Posca paint markers (https://www.posca.com/en-uk/) are brilliant for some of the details like the nav lights, wooden toppings, rubber seals on the life rafts etc.

The game's afoot! ...a couple of qualifications first though... this is a shelf queen for a good year or two between build and finish so can't recall everything I did at the time, so may either miss bits, or claim credit for Pete Hall's hard work in places... also, Ajax was my plan, Dido may have had subtle differences.... while I'm fairly good with obscure names for bits of ships, may not get them all right, or even know what they are... and this close I can see exactly where the paint wasn't quite right! Ikara Zareaba: Staboard side Triangular web between Zareba and bridge front, just below flying bridge Air-conditioning box just aft of hatch is bulkier than mastered Conical/trinagular vent on launcher housing, just aft of forward ladder (I think the master has one modelled on the portside, not staboard, should be both. Think I might have added handrails somewhere. Deck: Deflector/coaming behind launcher cover Collapsable RAS davit on deck I think I did something with the large locker and the long hatch (missile loading?) on deck - can't recall what though. Portside: Triangular web between Zareba and bridge front, just below flying bridge Triangular web between zareba and deck, just aft of the RAS platform Vent just behind that Small hatch in deck just forward of the superstructure. I might have done something with the deck lights (small triangles on the bulkheads) here and there - possibly one on the bridge front? Foremast/signal deck: Platforms under ESM antenna 2x RU lockers and spare barrel/cleaning kit? locker for Bofor Not in shot, but there would be flag lockers inside the coaming (can't remember if they were in the master or not) Electrical panel and cover? on rear face of the mast (Don't miss the glass in the hatches to the flying bridge like I did!) Move the aerial bases to the aft end of the liferaft platforms Tiny binoculars for the lookout positions! Spurnwaters/tripyouuponadarknightatsea around the edge of the deckhouse Biggest one, but quite easy is the set of cable conduits between the satcom house and the antennas - I just used .20 square evergreenv strip trimmed to size once fitted and set Rigging: I know this is still to come, but I think it took me a while to work it out I'll pick up with the the rest later...