Alex Gordon

G'day again Chums,some more progress. James,cheers old fruit.Oddly enough I have a bit of a fascination about stone,I've found it quite easy to use as stand bases for aircraft and it's heavy enough to resist being knocked over. Adrian,thanks old chum.I used goop because I didn't think about Milliput which would probably have been simpler to use.It seems to have got a decent grip on the surface of the stone which is fine by me. The aft Carley Float stowage frames will soon be required.There was quite a lot of flash on them that had to be cleaned up before painting. The paired guns for the little turrets had much the same snag.They might be replaced with wire yet if I've something suitable to hand. The littlest of the little boats don't quite sit where they are supposed to.This was cured by removing the forward locating pin on each one before gluing in place. I made a pair of floats for the folded Walrus by making an imprint of the ones on the unfolded one in some Blu-Tack and adding a couple of drops of sprue goo.A spot of smoothing off will make them good enough for where they are going. The catapult cradle for the rigged Walrus is quite a thing. The hole in its retaining washer is too wide. A brief spin of the cordless drill gave me a replacement from scrap runner which fits perfectly and allows the cradle to slide back and forth too. These two frames fit to the deck below and at each end of the catapult run. I don't know what these two bits are for but they fit on top of a couple of slots on the aft superstructure. The upper floor of the aft superstructure then sits in between and on top of them and presents the opportunity for yet more fillery before the forward deck section goes in to the slot beneath it. The smallest tool on my ever trusty leather punch gave me some pretty much the right size masks for the upper wing roundels.The centre spots were going to be dull red painted circles of the masking tape on the white plastic card in this piccie but that hasn't worked very well so I think they will have to be painted. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Hello again Chums,something I've never seen done before this time. Richie,thanks old fruit.They looked a bit odd without them and it was no real hassle to do it.I didn't shape the wire,I just used it as is. Adrian,cheers old chum. I'm going to use the kit supplied trestles to mount the finished article on.What I was going to do was paint them and then stick them on to about a foot of pretty 2" x 1" wood.The trouble is I don't have a suitable lump of timber to make it from so I had another think. I happened to have an odd end of Indian Sandstone just about the right size that was waste from a patio job a few years ago,seen here still wet after I scrubbed most of the birdy dump off it this afternoon. The hull has a couple of pairs of lines that show where the trestles are meant to go so I took a measurement of the gap between them and set out where to put them relative to the centre of the lump of stone. The problem was the stone surface,being a natural product,is uneven and the bases of the trestles are flat. A 1.3mm packer was placed under one end of one trestle to even it up with its counterpart. Masking tape was then applied around the footprint of each one. More masking tape was applied after I remembered that sprue goo is messy,stringy stuff with the propensity to go anywhere but where it is wanted to.I then splodged a big gob of it on to the required spot. The first trestle was plonked into place and a bit of trowelling and smoothing with a scalpel blade to fill the gaps gave me a stringy mess where I didn't want it. The second trestle had a strip of masking tape put on quick and was placed in position,left for a few minutes to skin over a bit and then trowelled and smoothed. After a couple of hours or so the excess was trimmed away and,after a bit of shaping and tweaking,the masking tape removed. There will be a little refining and filling to do before the surface is smooth enough for painting but the method is showing promise so far. The sprue goo didn't stick to the masking tape so that was an easy clean up.This lot will be left for a week before I try to do any more to it so that all the solvent has a chance to dissipate completely. Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon.

All thumbs most of the time .

Just for you @AdrianMF

G'day again Chums,some cobbling together to show. Adrian,James,thanks chaps. I've started gluing the little boats in position as well as the superstructure components.Working from the middle at the aft end upwards and then outwards seems to be the thing so far. This little boat is supposed to live under the mountings for the little boat above it but it wouldn't go in because its locating pins were too long. The holes to take them are present so that's definitely where it's intended to go. I cut the pins off and it still wouldn't go because the lumpy bits on its deck conflicted with the mountings for the little boat above it.I moved it forward a little to where it doesn't foul and,after filling the holes with some stretched runner,glued it on and that'll do. I've also found where the odd one out Carley Float is supposed to live. The searchlights for the aft end of the bridge have been fitted as have the sticky out bits between the hangar doors. The radar rig for the front of the bridge has been painted. The square hole on the underside of its mounting plate is meant to fit on the square peg on the plate below it but the peg wasn't tall enough to locate and has had a bit of plastic card added to make it do so. The rudder has had a spot of fillery. The propellors have been painted.A drop of Humbrol 225 Middle Stone as a base coat. This was then wiped over with some ground up pencil lead to give a metallic sheen,left pair done right pair waiting.They could probably do with a little more but it's a start. The little gun turrets needed some cleaning up before painting. The Walrus engine pod has been painted. Masking for the fuselage roundels has been started.That's the back end of a 0.7mm drill bit used to punch the hole in the masking tape.Whether or not this works remains to be seen. The Walrii looked a bit odd without their interplane struts so I drilled a few 0.4mm holes from underneath and fitted some made from copper wire.I haven't decided whether or not to make the floats for the folded one yet,I had a bit of a go and found them too small to work on. The bottom of the hull has had its coat of paint,I'm quite pleased with how it's come up. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

I built the Monogram 1/48th scale one last year, https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235111895-monogram-f-100-in-148th-scalefinished/ . I was a bit heavy handed with my attempt but it wasn't a hugely problematic job.

G'day Chums,may I present my attempt at yet another Hobbyboss Wildcat Easykit.There aren't many photos of this airframe out there but Arma Hobby have a splendid video on their site here https://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2021/11/09/the-fm-1-wildcat-aboard-the-uss-nassau/ that shows it as part of an aircraft carrier recovery sequence.Some food for thought,this film was shot on a flat calm sea.What would it be like on a choppy,stormy ocean. The kit scheme seems to be part way through a repaint so I've chosen to depict this aircraft after completion.The white paint was Tamiya acrylic,the blues were Colourcoats enamels which I really must explore further. This is the third one I've built so far,there are lots more schemes to go at which will be done sooner or later. Thanks for looking in Chums,hope you enjoyed.

Not everywhere,photo found here https://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/153628/1987-trabant-601s-unheimlich-maneuvure She's looking good so far old chum.

Please tell me this thread isn't turning into Five Word Story .

I can't let you have mine,I've got a use for them .

Hello again Chums,we're a little more adventurous this time. Adrian,cheers old chum.Yes,I'm going to use the kit supplied trestles.I hope the links I posted in your Ark Royal thread were of use,I'll repost them here too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HACS http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-066.php https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/80/cd/c080cddaa764d84c4f3632f770e00ebf.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c7/67/65/c76765e6208f8ff817ecf1b8b1d46a7e.jpg https://ontheslipway.com/high-angle-control-system-mk-iii/ Jeff,thanks old lad.It was fairly straightforward,just fiddly. Richie,thanks old fruit.Give it a go,just don't do it to a deadline. The tops of the funnels have a very visible cage on them,photo from Model Monkey. I made a former by filing the desired shape into the end of a length of thick runner and,using some tinned 0.2mm wire, I shaped and soldered together a couple of roughly lookalike bits. I actually had five goes at it,these two are the best of the bunch. A spot of matt black paint was sprayed on and they'll pass muster for this build. While I was feeling enthusiastic I thought I'd do a bit on the cranes too. It'll soon be time to assemble the Walrii.The engine pod assembly will have to be painted before fitting. I've made a replacement propellor from thin plastic card too,the kit one just doesn't do it. There are three variants of the Carley Floats in the kit,all revolving around which way up they are glued to their mountings. A spot of cleaning up was followed by some tiddly gluing for the first batch. There will be some tiny painting of the back faces. I think these might be Paravanes. They should look like this and they sit on the top of the forward Carley Float stowage. I cleaned up what I could reach while they were still attached to the runner and then glued them into place. I've started thinking about fitting the superstructure.The main thing was how to get the glue into the joint without making a mess of the paint job,I devised a cunning plan.I drilled a few holes through the deck around the outside of the locating flange where the aft superstructure is supposed to sit. The superstructure was clamped into place,the whole lot turned upside down and liquid glue put through the holes.Capillary action took it round the joint and a bit of wiggling made sure that a little squodge of melted plastic came out of the side reassuring me that the job was going according to plan. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

There's a new page in the Kama Sutra,it shows the Gas position.You're in all day but no one comes...

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I've never seen people move so fast as when the audience realised that the trapeze artist had dysentery.

The tinfoil idea seems to be coming up well,she's all looking splendid so far old fruit. You mentioned over in my Belfast thread that you were turning your thoughts to the rangefinding kit,these links might be helpful; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HACS http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-066.php https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/80/cd/c080cddaa764d84c4f3632f770e00ebf.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c7/67/65/c76765e6208f8ff817ecf1b8b1d46a7e.jpg https://ontheslipway.com/high-angle-control-system-mk-iii/

G'day again Chums,I've had a bit of extra spare time this last few days so here's a bit more. Adrian,thanks old lad.The logistics chain must have been quite entertaining to organise,no nipping back to the yard because you've forgotten something. Jeff,thanks old fruit.I don't know whether or not to mention that the catapult cradle for the Walrus can slide too. Having masked off the boot topping I thought I'd fit the propellor shafts.There are four rigs,all handed so I worked one at a time. There's a little bit of filling to do where bits meet the hull but nothing serious. Spot the deliberate mistake.The rudder didn't want to go in. I didn't want to chop any bits off so a spot of lateral thinking was required.I drilled out the mounting hole obliquely and then filed an angle into the inner bit of the rudder. A spot of fillery and a slap of paint and no-one will ever know. The big turrets are all but done. The little boats are well on the way. It seemed a good idea to tackle the screws.There are four of them. The moulding isn't spectacularly problematic apart from one of them. I was going to have to clean it up anyway so it became the test item for changing the rotation.The blades were removed by scoring and snapping,that way I wouldn't have to replace any lost material. Some filing,sanding and the odd profane statement later and the blades were glued back on after triple checking that I was setting them the right way round. A little more fettling will see them nicely finished. These lumps look like radar receiver units. They just needed the part lines removing. Once done they were made ready to paint. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Hello again Chums,some more to report. Adrian,cheers old fruit.An absolute pleasure. Jeff,thanks old chum.The piccie of the funnels is tops nearest,the bottom being slanted to set the backwards rake when fitted.The bottoms of them require a bit of sorting to make them sit plumb when viewed from along the length of the ship.Thanks for your HMS Jamaica link,it was well worth the time taken to look through the whole thread. The upper slots for the side screens have been narrowed to make the fit a lot less sloppy by fitting a strip of plastic card to the outer edge.One door,this one,doesn't do the full travel because the gun position post is in the way but the other three do the full trip so that'll do. The crane bodies were victims of the mould alignment monster. The upper bridge section has been packed with thin plastic card,clamped and glued together. The lower slots for the side screens were backed with plastic card to stop see through. There are five paired anti aircraft guns all in various states of moulding not quiteness. The really dud one above had a couple of lengths of copper wire cut and fitted to replace the gun barrels,the rest cleaned up reasonably well. A spot,literally,of light grey and then black paint later and they're done. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

You could always throw a bit of road grime about and fingertip a little something in it on the back doors You're making a splendid job so far old chum.

Many moons ago I seem to recall reading something about Airfix box art,the jist of which was everything looks right when it's heading from the top right to the bottom left. You're making a cracking job of that,keep up the good work.

G'day again Chums,a little more progress to show. Adrian,cheers old chum.Could you ask your "friend" if they are perchance attempting to channel my inner Enzo? Jeff,thanks old lad.I'm not going to open those bits up,as you correctly surmise they are completely hidden by surrounding structure.Feel free to post links to relevant images though,someone else may find them useful.One thing I've found while researching this build is that decent images don't come up without a lot of lateral thinking for search terms.This page https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filters[themeString][HMS Belfast]=on came up while looking for something else completely. I've made a start on the big guns,all twelve of the flash and part line ridden non circular cross section things.I did try to turn one from copper wire but decided that it would be quicker to clean up the kit items instead. The funnels were made ready for paint.One is longer than the other so I had to sort out which goes where so that I put the right colours in the right places.The long one is the aft one. The little boats have been stuck to cocktail sticks with liquid latex ready for painting.I found this page https://ontheslipway.com/royal-navy-ships-boats-of-wwii/ which gives an overview but I don't know what I'm looking for so I couldn't make the most of it. The guns have had their undersides painted white and the turret ends light grey. While the light grey was on the go I thinned some and dunked the crane jibs in it,there's no danger of getting a paintbrush into all those nooks and crannies. I'm going to half and half the hangar structure so the locating lugs for the doors will have to be modified. These screens go in front of the torpedo tubes. There are slots provided so that they can be slid together or apart.It would be a bit of fun to make them work properly wouldn't it. The funnel bases needed a little fettling to make them stand plumb vertically. This lot goes together to make the Pom Pom deck. There are Pom Poms in this kit. They should look look like this,photo found on Reddit. Photo found on Pinterest. and this film was worth a watch too I'm just going to paint them,they're tiny.The locating lugs on the underside of the deck are not far enough apart to take the lump it stands on. About 1/3rd was trimmed off the inside faces of both of them which cured that. The upper part of the bridge doesn't sit properly either,some jacking and packing will be required. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Showing just fine at this end,only this one not playing http://village.photos/images/user/fd79ce29-243f-41b8-a088-6fca483be61a/resized_222764bc-3650-4207-bef6-167459bfba40.jpg

Hello again Chums,paint and construction this time. Adrian,Jeff,Bissyboat,Bobby,thanks all. The hull has had the last of the camouflage applied. The Walrus hangar doors have been offered up and found not to fit. This might have something to do with its surrounding superstructure not matching up with the deck properly. I dug out a couple of thicknesses of plastic card and knocked up a filler piece from three tiny little slivers which will fill the gap well enough. The torpedo tubes had a bit of flash around the edges. The inside of the bridge has been painted. Yet more of the forward superstructure has been glued on. The prepainting seems to be doing the trick,all those nooks and crannies neatly () painted. The aft superstructure has started to go together.It needed some serious clamping to push it together. The backs of the gun positions have had a coat of the light grey,I can't see them being the deck colour or the outboard camouflage colour and I don't think they count for the white countershading either. The torpedo tubes have had a coat of the light grey and the torpedo heads picked out with black. The deck mounted platforms have had their paint slathered on. The hull has been masked for the boot topping. It's really odd,a little while ago I was whinging about not getting any pace to this build and now it feels as though lots of progress has been made. Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon.

G'day again Chums,more paint. Adrian,thanks old chum.All of that is a good way of looking at it. Jeff,thanks old fruit.Progress has been made as you are about to see. I've started painting the Walrii. This piccie is of the unfolded one sitting on the tailplane of the Smer 1/50th scale Walrus,the size of which I'm more used to playing with. There has been paint on the forward superstructure,that's a 3/0 paintbrush there. There has been light grey paint on the hull,Xtracolour X255 Silbergrau in place of Humbrol 64. The first bits of the bridge have been glued together.The clamps were needed because it required a push to get it tight together. There was a slight ledge that showed up on one side. To be fair this could have been half and halfed across both sides but it doesn't matter because it will be hidden by the Carley float frame that sits over it.Oh crumbs,I've got that lot to do as well haven't I. The hull has been masked up and given the next grey,Humbrol 123 Extra Dark Sea Grey in place of Humbrol 27,largely because I'm not convinced about the 27 but that's immaterial 'cos my tin of 27 has dried up.It was getting on a bit,it was old enough to be a 20th birthday present and that's a while ago. It wasn't all sweetness and light on these ships,photo from the Daily Mail More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Hello again Chums,some small progress. Jamie,many thanks old fruit.We don't need fame and fortune around here,we're all celebrities in our own right.There are some big names in that list all of whom I'm grateful to for making my life a little easier on this build. Adrian,thanks old chum.I'm trying to paint subassemblies before gluing them together so that the joints between decks and superstructure are as clean and tidy as I can make them and the tiddly bits on the decks have their colour all round them while I can get at them. There was some fillery required on the front of the bridge superstructure,not enough to warrant digging out the Milliput so I tried to knock up some sprue goop which sort of worked but I really need to work up a jarful to make life easy.Guess who doesn't have a spare jar to hand. The big turret tops have been masked and painted,now they need a tidy up to remove the odd errant drops of paint that have gone over the side into the gun recesses. There has been more white on the main deck underside. I have to admit that I'm really not enjoying this build.There are some of the tiniest bits of fillery needed all over the place before I can paint,the white bits in this piccie. Add to that paint that won't cover in one coat like it used to so it's two coats with their attendant drying time,I daren't put any Terebene in the paint it's too thin already. Then there's the cleaning up of the dried meniscus line around the tiddly bits on the decks so that they look suitably sharp rather than badly painted sticky out bits. It's no wonder I can't get any pace into this build.Ne'er mind,onwards. Thanks all for looking in,more soon if I can ever get anything finished enough to put together.