Alex Gordon

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.

G'day again Chums,there has been paint. Pat,Ray,thanks chaps. Jeff,thanks old fruit.You are quite right,prepainting is the way forward. I'm finding it a bit difficult to decipher the Airfix paint guide,particularly which bits are supposed to be 64 and 65. Thankfully Jamie Duff of this parish has created a splendid work of reference which can be found here https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0730/0927/files/HMS_Belfast.pdf?v=1609588664 and has been thoroughly useful.It also has me convinced that I really should invest heavily in Colourcoats paint.Added to this image,the origin of which I've forgotten,things will be a little less arbitrary. Anyway,the big turrets have had a brushful between them,seriously I washed more out of the brush than went on the plastic.I've never been keen on wastage. The pointy end deck has had a drop of 96,the light grey bits are Xtracolour Silbergrau because I'm less than convinced by the slightly brown hue of my tin of 64 and being as Jamies jottings call for white behind gunshields and the like I'm going to punt that would probably include the underside of decks so there's been some of that too. There has been some fiddly teeny tiny masking because my brush skills and eyesight aren't what they were followed by a full brushload of 71 toned down with a highly thinned dark brown. More soom Chums,thanks for looking in.

Yes. She doesn't drink in my local these days...

Hello again Chums,a little bit of offering up this time. Jeff,thanks old lad.Having read your last I went hunting for yet more photos and found this here https://www.model-monkey.com/product-page/1-350-hms-belfast-funnels which has a few more images. Adrian,thanks old chum.Oddly enough I was thinking much the same thing as I was reading your Ark Royal thread.I haven't dared to look for any Pom Poms in this one yet but if I find any I now know what to do.I remember many years ago having cause to explain to a complete novice the difference between squadron code letters and serial numbers on a photo of a Lancaster and realising that knowledge we take for granted just doesn't exist for some folks. AlxBNE,cheers old fruit.Yes,you and me both. The various sub assemblies so far look like this.I'm going to have to modify my fillery methods to suit the tiny propotions of these bits. I thought I'd dry fit the forward superstructure and see what fettling and pre-painting will be necessary. After no small amount of fiddling and some profane rhetoric this was the result. All those little nooks and crannies and there is a lattice mast to go on there too which has been molded solid but would look better if it wasn't. Just after I took that piccie I breathed out a little too severely and the whole lot fell over.Again. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

G'day old chum,I built one in the 2020 Spitfire/Seafire GB not so long back.It's wonderfully straightforward to put together.The finish is probably painted silver rather than NMF but that can still be tricky to get right.Good luck and enjoy the build.

There's a reason for that.This takes up too much bandwidth. Looking good so far old chum,along with some superb solutions which I will shamelessly half inch somewhere along the line .

G'day again Chums,some more to show. Jeff,many thanks old fruit.Would that be this photo by any chance? Photo found here https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-cruiser-hms-belfast-stands-in-dry-dock-at-portsmouth-news-photo/830200768 Mr T,thanks old lad.It's odd snippets of gen that really do add to a build and bring it to life. Adrian,cheers old chum.I could have a go at the Sea Fury fuselage using the other Hobbycraft kit that I recently acquired as a pattern but that might be cheating and I'd still have to sort out a wing to fit it to.It's a bit frustrating not finding the box with the goodies in,my stash isn't large,is all in one place and I always check before anything is hoofed out that something useful isn't in there.Everything happens for a reason,I know sweet nothing about floaty things but that is gradually changing with this build. There has been the strapping together of more warped and bent bits. As I move away from the larger easily identifiable components I'm finding that the bits to complete a subassembly are distributed throughout the frames and it's taking several goes to locate the bits required.This is not helped by most of this stuff being teeny tiny. The crane jibs were fairly obvious though. I've no idea what this is but it has been glued together. There is going to be a bit of filling and fettling needed. Yet more ejector pin lumps to be removed. Here's where we are at the moment. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

A mate of mine from many moons ago found his four year old self at a funeral. "What's in the box Mum?"

Hello again Chums,a little progress to show. Dave,many thanks.I didn't see any mistakes on your build. Adrian,cheers old chum.Thanks for the instructions link,it will help greatly. Tim,I think that's where this one came from. Jeff,cheers old fruit.Thanks also for the offer of assistance with the map.(Puts on best Captain Mainwaring voice) I was wondering how long it would be before someone spotted that.You are quite right of course,it is Supermarine Walrus,photo found here https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-06CL-Belfast.htm not Westland Walrus,photo from Wikipedia. I had a read of your Scratch Building Ship's Fittings thread earlier today and found it well worth the effort.Do you know if the Belfast had the opposition rotation screw set up by any chance? I haven't looked at that bit yet. Cliff,Mr T,Tony,thanks for popping by chaps.Please feel free to keep the dits coming. With a view to painting this thing somewhere along the line while still being able to glue it together I've had to start thinking about masking.There are half a dozen bases for the smaller turrets that come into contact with the deck below them which need their gluing spots kept clear of paint. After a little headscratching I found that their diameter coincides with that of one of the tools on my ever trusty leather punch.Half a dozen (no,I didn't drop any) circles of tape were made and positioned under each base using the tip of a scalpel blade and a bit of patience. That's that bit masked off. There are lots of bits of superstructure to put together so I started on that part of the job.There is a lot of warpage on the various components. There are also lots of components and they all need to be de-part lined and cleaned of flash and the odd ejector pin. I've realised that there is going to be plenty of dry fitting required to make sure I know about all the little nooks and crannies where it will be difficult to reach in to paint.Like here for example,how on earth am I going to get into that lot with the deck colour,side camouflage and underside counter colours? Anyway things have been strapped together and glued into bite size chunks. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

Here's the decal sheet. Just to save us from probing about in the dark. I never did finish mine,that's why the decals are still intact.

G'day Chums, I'd like to join in with this one if I may. I was going to scratchbuild a Sea Fury fuselage but a rummage through the stash failed to unearth the box that all the bits and plan were in and I have absolutely no idea where it has gone.This one came to the surface however and since I've never finished a ship in the 45 years or so that I've been playing this game this seemed to be a suitable substitute. This bagful came my way a lot of years ago as part of an incomplete box set rescued from the bin on Boston Green on auction day by my old chum Moggy Bob.I have no map for this one so I had a bit of a trawl of t'interweb and found images of in a build thread on ATF by @davecov.Being as he knows what he's doing and getting it right can't be improved upon I'm intending to shamelessly plagiarise his offering as far as I can. In the bag are the hull and the main decks, funnels,smaller decks,cranes,turrets,little boats, one and a half Westland Walrus and lots of bits that I don't have a clue what they're called but I'm sure I'll find out sooner or later. I started by putting the hull halves together.This took a bit of pushing and shoving but it got there. Having poured in the glue I plonked the main decks into place temporarily to make sure that the hull would be the right shape.This involved me having to work out which bit was which for the pointy and blunt ends. There are lots of ejector pin marks in various places which will need to be sorted out,I started with the little boats. Just look at all these Carley Floats.These can't all go on this thing can they?They're tiny too.I had a bit of a dig around for gen on these,https://ontheslipway.com/carley-floats/ gave me an understanding. The funnel halves didn't take a lot of working out. Anyway I'm off into the rabbit warren that is finding out about this thing,see you soon Chums.

It would appear that you just don't have enough kits to apply the goodies to.How you explain to SWMBO about redressing that balance however... Have a few of these,you're going to need them

What's brown and sticky? Denso Tape. I'll bet you thought I was going to say Stick...

How should one ask the time from a man without arms or legs? "Got the time on yer Cock?"

Hello again Chums,a small bit of progress. Trevor,thanks for chipping in old fruit.Once the gargoyles have got their lids on the scary looks will probably become scarier.I haven't got as far as painting the ancillary bits yet never mind gluing them on. Stef,Muchmirth,cheers chums.Anthracite it will be,probably lightened slightly on the upper surfaces. I found the vision port covers and prepped them for fitting.I was going to have a couple of them open but I just didn't feel like scratching up the hinge bits to do so. The seats have had a coat of Humbrol 173 Track Colour which looks sort of leatherish to me with a few slightly darkened highlights to represent creases.These will have a coat of satin varnish to make the leathery look a bit more leatherlike. I've planned for putting in a driver,this chap from something else Tamiya was to hand so I started trying to shoehorn him into the seat.After bending his leg and and shortening his feet he would sit in the seat. Some had to be removed from both hips to get him to fit into the lower hull. Offering up the upper hull revealed that he was too tall and had to have a load removed from his behind and more from the feet. I've no idea how I'm going to make the arms fit convincingly. Anyway real life and lack of mojo mean that this one won't make the deadline but will be finished eventually. My thanks to all who chipped in and generally encouraged.

@vangosThanks old fruit but there are no underwing fuel tanks on that one. @BuzI'm planning an F4J(UK). All the photos I've seen of 74 Sqn F4Js some of the grey fin jets have a full set of missiles and the centreline and wing stations occupied but none of the black fin airframes do. @JulienMy apologies,I should have thought on a moment longer before posting.

Would aluminium foil work as a base for the flag decal? You would be able to shape it afterwards so that it hangs suitably convincingly. Regarding the disintegrating decals I found that one thin coat of Klear,once dry but still fresh,would hold the image together for long enough to get it into place and it would settle into panel lines with less angst than when I discovered the shortcomings of the decals. She's looking superb so far old chum .

Last time I read that was in a 1987 issue of "The Interceptor". Thanks old fruit .

Thanks all for the kind comments.Just for giggles I fished out the Italeri one of these I did a few years ago without the aid of the references I've used this time. @Troy Smith Were you born a sadist or has this tendancy developed from a lifetime of cynical appreciation? https://modelbrouwers.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=224&t=42870&sid=c3271d034bc51ed06831bd12e13b001a https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304638347082?hash=item46eddc474a:g:a1YAAOSwn5FjLfV~

G'day again Chums,a little more to show. Bissyboat,thanks for chipping in old fruit.I've read all sorts of comment on Tamiya figure moulding,some of it quite unpleasant.For my money their figures can be very good and far and away better than my paintwork can do justice to. I've given the faces a second coat of slightly lightened base colour,Humbrol 61 Flesh,and slightly reddened base colour for lips and ears.The effect is very subtle and I'm not the best photographer. I've tried a bit of paint on the wheels to find out what's best for Dunkelgrau.On the left is Humbrol 67 which most stuff I've read boils down to as an out of the tin recommendation.The centre wheel is unpainted and the right hand one is in Humbrol 32 which to my eye has a slight greenish tinge.They both seem a tad dark in my opinion but I'm getting nowhere with finding out what it should actually look like. The consensus seems to be that Dunkelgrau is RAL 7021 which Revell reckon is 9 Anthracite https://content.revell.de/downloads/usa/TES_Revell_Paint_Match_Guide.pdf https://panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage https://ral-colours.co.uk/ral-classic-colours/grey-shades/ral-7021/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234961582-panzer-grey-what-would-i-use-in-172nd/ If anybody has any thoughts or enlightenment please feel free to chip in. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Hello again Chums,just a couple of odd bits this time. Adrian,thanks old chum.There wasn't much wrong with Matchbox kits,the few I've built were well worth the effort. Mukund SB,thanks for dropping in old fruit.I do try to show as much reference as I can,I very seldom match the build to it but it's there and hopefully saves the next one along the path a bit of leg work. Bissyboat,cheers old bean.The number of different shades of Feldgrau in the photo upthread it wouldn't surprise me if someone had started with maroon and still arrived at a useable shade . Now that I've finished my Spitfire and Meteor I can get my head back into this one.Look at all these wheels. The front wheels go together with no problems and the joint is hidden on the inside anyway and will disappear under a coat of paint. White paint has been sprayed onto the relevant bits,Tamiya acrylic instead of Berger enamel this time on the basis that the acrylic won't yellow over time.There's another coat or two needed yet. There's been a bit more done to the gargoyles too. Now I need to sort out a decent Panzergrau.Thanks all for looking in,more soon.