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Hi all. Carrying on from my Royal Navy theme in 2022 here's my take on the Silent Services two current boats, HMS Ambush is an Astute Class hunter killer submarine and HMS Victorious is a Vanguard class of bomber, the UK's current nuclear strike capability. Both kits are in 1/350 and in keeping with my current builds of the Type 23 and Type 45 surface ships. Starting the the Astute class, this kit was a great little chunk of a kit, nothing fancy and everything available to enable realistic representation of the class of boat. the only thing that I was unsure of was the decals and the strength of the white markings, however when checked online these markings standout on the real thing, so that's good for me. Once competed the base was made from balsa base with a builders insulation core that the boat was sculpted into. when i was happy with that a plaster layer was added for the wave affect. when all that was dry acrylic painted were used for the sea colour. The waves were added with Delux materials waves and highlighted with white acrylic paint. all the was allowed to dry the coated with acrylic gloss varnish. I scoured the internet and eBay for an Ambush cap tally but had to settle for the Submarine Service and HMS Ambush crest badges. Here she is in a heavy swell.. Next comes the Bronco 1/350 Vanguard class of SSBN. This was a quick and easy build as well, having the extra bonus of being able to build it waterline. Again it went together as easy as pie and once sprayed in satin black, coated in sating varnish, the decals (what there is of them) were applied. A coat of Matt Tamiya varnish followed and was left to dry. Like the SSN, I added an Eduard White Ensign for effect and then moved to the base. This was achieved the same way as the HMS Ambush kit but a smoother sea state was replicated. All the same steps and materials were used as I'm more than happy with the way my sea scraping is working out. Finally the model and base were PVA'ed to a Trumpeter display case base, I'm really seeing the benefit of keeping my flotilla on these, for storage and display. I was able to get a HMS Victorious cap tally and so it was duly mounted. The shear size of the Vic was to be hold, she's some size when put up against my 1/350 HMS Invincible from Airfix.

One way or another I have not been able to get to the model bench since April. While browsing the local hobby shop on a Sunday a few weeks ago I found this, which looked ideal as a quick build to get me going again. Not much to it. First task after putting the simple stand together was to blu-tak some fishing weights into the bottom of the lower hull, to give a bit of heft. Then it was fairly swift work and at the end of the first Sunday here was where I had got to: It needed a bit of filler along the join between the upper and lower hulls, but not much. The following weekend (last week) I got on with the painting, my usual brush painted Tamiya acrylics. I decided to make do with what I had "in stock", so the top part was painted XF-69 NATO Black, the underside XF-24 Dark Gray and the front dome XF-1 Black, as was the walkway on the topside. Here was where I was by the end of last weekend. This Sunday, it was a case of some minor touch ups and a couple of brushed on coats of floor polish before putting on the minimal number of decals. I also delay with the rather nice brass name plate by running thinned Italeri acrylic black into the engraved details, wiping away any excess. I needed to touch it up a few times, but eventually I was satisfied. A couple of coats of floor polish to protect the fragile Italeri paint and then I stuck it to to the black stand with some white glue. So here is where I am at today: