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Hello all. I have finally chosen my subject for this Group Build. I had thought about USCG Itasca (found out it was not Navy), then thought about converting it to HMS Gorleston (too much needed and I preferred Itasca's colour scheme), so, after going through my stash, decided to get on with Stage One of a long term project I have in mind. Namely, building as many HMS Gloucesters as I can. I have this resin Pre-WWI kit, and also Dragon's Type 42 Liverpool/Gloucester, and am on the hunt for Flyhawk to release a WWII cruiser (hint hint) that is Gloucester, or an alternative I can convert. This is the model I will be doing first: A rather attractive but flimsy box. Inside, when I first opened it I found a load of white Wotsits (but less smelly) and found they were polystyrene chips (probably tastier than Wotsits) that protected a long, thin hull, a ziplock bag of smaller(!) parts, another with a fret of photo-etch, and the usual minimal instructions. No colour advice either. When I said smaller parts, I really meant it! Pin-head size for some of the parts! They have been moulded well though, and thankfully none of the fragile resin is broken (that may well change when I get started!). The hull of Gloucester is very fine, it looks reasonably flat and it does not rock when I press fore and aft when it is on a flat surface. and has lots of great detail moulded in, Reviews suggest it is pretty accurate. It is interesting to compare the hull with a Battleship of the same era, so here is an image of Gloucester next to HMS Dreadnought (another I thought about doing for Family reasons): Finally, the small photo-etch fret - It looks okay, but not up to White Ensign standards. I will also be using some etch railings (Fine Pre-Dreadnought) by White Ensign or Atlantic models and, if they fit, some coaling scuttles by White Ensign. I have asked elsewhere on BM about pre-WWI colour schemes but I am going to go with using Colourcoats GW02 (#2 Grey) as the main hull and superstructure colour, and as Combrig have supplied a bit of a rigging plan, will use either UNI-Caenis fly-tying thread or get some Uschi ultrafine rigging thread. I will get this lot washed (carefully!) and then get started, but I will also be doing another build on Maritime WIP of a stalled scratchbuild, so I expect to be on and off with both regularly. As usual, any advice, hints or tips, and especially warnings if I let you know what I am going to do is a right cuckoo, please let me know! Thanks for looking, Ray

Hello all! I have just finished a little beauty of a kit, the Combrig 1/700 sea-going tug. It is marketed as the Russian tug 'Rus', but the illustration on the box shows her in her earlier guise of 'Roland'. I got it from Mike at Starling Models. Built in 1903, Roland was, the the time, the world's largest ocean-going tugboat. She was bought by Russia in 1904 and was eventually sailed on the ill-fated expedition to Tsushima. She was in a collision with the Russian collier Anadyr, and after the crew were taken off, eventually sunk by Japanese vessels. I have searched high and low for references, but came up with a blank. I found an article on Wikipedia, then promptly could not find it thereafter! I have found no build of it either. I therefore (notice how I did not start that sentence with 'so'!) used the sole photograph on the box as my guide. The instructions are fairly basic (as usual with Combrig), there were no colour guides either, so what I have ended up with is conjecture. It is a small model with good detail (how accurate I know not), and went together very easily. Being resin, some parts were brittle - a davit was in four pieces when I got it, and an anchor was in two. Being a modeller, I cracked on with the job and used my initiative, so the finished result has two ship's boats rather than three, and a repaired anchor. As usual with newer Combrig kits, this came with no masts, so I was able to try out my still new-found skills at soldering. I need to find out how to solder with solder paint, it should hopefully improve the joints on these small pieces of brass. However, I cannot do that yet, so the files came out and I filed off a lot of the excess solder. Location holes for the funnels and ventilators were just the right size and needed no adjustment. Things like the bollards and capstans were just glued to the deck. For a lot of the gluing, I used PVA as most of the stuff was not load-bearing. I used AmmoMIG rigging line (0.02mm) for the rigging secured with a hint of CA. The name-plates were printed out using the 'ARIAL' font at 3 and 5pt size settings, in Bold. Railings were from Atlantic Models, their Superfine Railings. The base was MDA, covered with some textured card and painted with Humbrol enamels, a mix of Midnight Blue and Medium Sea Grey. I depicted the surface as a 'calm sea' so no white horses. The wake was a departure for me, I tried something new. I spread out some thin PVA where I thought the wake would be and mixed in some 'No Sand Polyfiller'. This is a very light mix, and with a bit of working around with a probe, produced the effect I was after. The wash on the outside of the wake was the same principle, but I worked the pollyfiller in a bit more with water, that left a more light, foamy impression. Any way, enough waffle, her she is: I may have made her going at a fair old clip. I have not been able to find out her top speed. Will you forgive me please? As a last photograph, here she is with the obligatory pen for size comparison: Thanks for looking (and reading!). All the best, Ray