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 th

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 shape

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

@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

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 betwee

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 ph