andrewa

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...

Wow! - ditto on Gorby's comment - I'm in awe of the detail at that scale...

Afraid so, there are a couple of other fixes I made that you’ve not got to yet - and a couple you got that I missed, I think we both spotted the stanchions under the chaff launchers, towed decoys, nav lights and the strange cable deck fitting... happy to share or keep quiet - your call

Go on Crisp - fold the blades and tail - you know you want to...

Pretty similar, deck plans cut and sandwiched together. Plumbers solvent weld is a great, cheap way to glue up such large pieces, along with a few wood screws! Compared to Hermes there are a lot more openings in the shell (60, I counted) So most of the hull was clad with plasticard then endless rounds of car body filler and sanding before cutting out the openings - I’d roughed in the galleries and focastle/quarterdeck first. Once you get into the details this is a really complex hull - and as for the cutout edges of the flight deck - don’t think the pilots had much say in that.

Hi Crisp, Missed this build up to now, looks great and so much of it mirrors my build experience - especially discovering those extra details, fixing the fairleads, yer masking still makes me shudder... don't worry about the wasp - I've built three and they are good and solid. Do worry about the boats in the davits - I can't remember what I screwed up now, but I could not get them to sit level - have the same problem on both my Leanders. Andrew

Hi everyone, The real world has got in the way of spending time on here or tackling any big scratch builds recently, but I've found a bit more time on my hands over the past couple of months so after finally finishing two Leanders and a Tribal frigate from Atlantic Models plus gaining some inspiration from @Ex-FAAWAFU's Ark and @Dancona's Victorious builds I dusted off a scratch build of Victorious that I started a couple of years ago... My main reference for the build is the AOTS book, along with the new book of Builders Plans, along with every book and photo I can find... I'm just about happy with the main hull build, and about to set out on adding the many details needed with help from Shapeways and the WEM Ark Royal brass set amongst others. Still bits of clean up needed, but it looks like an Illustrious class to me now... Andrew