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I figured it was time to start recording this one. This is a kit that was diverted from shop stock after posting the big Bismarck kit and deciding we'd rather not have the hassle of sending 1/200 kits again. Sadly, one of the stunningly good Pontos Model detail sets fell off the shelf one day also. Sad when that happens... Anyway, the model is quite big by everyones' standards except the fleet-scale radio control modellers'. It's going to take this space in our living room eventually, and shall displace the 1/350 version seen here behind it. Whilst it does have the potential to be very nice, it is, afterall, a Trumpeter product and they make bizarre errors for no reason that can be explained. Unlike earlier Trumpeter kits, the parts count of this isn't that high and they have produced some sophisticated toolings to make complex parts in one piece. In the past I have criticised Trumpeter for their 5-piece deck houses. In this case, that might have been better because correcting the daft things wrong with this kit is all the more difficult due to the way things have been manufactured. Prior to starting a thread, I had already hacked out a non-existent bulkhead which Trumpeter moulded in here, which closed off the space behind the conning tower and below the forward Vickers 0.5" quad machine gun platforms. On the real ship this was an open space. I felt that was something I could not live with given the extent of detailing the Pontos set is going to add otherwise. Removing the bulkhead without destroying the kit part was quite difficult, I don't mind admitting. I was also worried about extending the deck before underneath and doing a good enough job of hiding the join. I've spent a good number of manhours on this one piece. There is still more surgery required on this part, e.g. at the aft end where that raised solid "handrail" is to be removed and replaced with PE actual handrail. There are many, many accuracy errors like that in the kit, and the Pontos Model set (unlike all other PE sets for this kit) resolves all which can be resolved with brass. The reason for this is that Pontos Model is the only one which posted images of their design in progress and took active feedback from the HMS Hood Association's Frank Allen and a very fastidious expert modeller from the Netherlands by the name of Evert-Jan Foeth who runs the website http://ontheslipway.com/ which contains many excellent images of hard-to-find details about a number of British warships. On to the hull though. I am reluctant to accumulate a large number of fragile detailed sub assemblies without a hull to store them on, and the hull needs work first. It's moulded in one large piece. The degaussing cables are moulded as rectangular section strips and need to be removed. They take a simplified routing over the hause pipes as shown here. On Hood, these were oddly shaped and looked rather "home made". New plating and cables are provided in the Pontos set. A diagram is shown on the Hood Association website near the top of the page here: http://www.hmshood.com/hoodtoday/models/tamiya/tamiyarvw.htm Another thing that bothered me was the propeller bosses. These could and often are moulded as separate parts to be glued to the hull, but for whatever reason Trumpeter has integrated them in to the hull moulding. I am not sure whether bad research or a desire to simplify the shape to persist with including them on the hull has driven this, but clearly the mould has been designed to withdraw vertically away from the keel, and the shapes of these bosses are not right. As can be seen here of her being built at Clydebank (note that the armour belt has not been fitted yet), these bosses should project at an angle perpendicular to the hull plating. So, I made a start by gluing plasticard inside the bosses to add material I could work down to: This morning I made a start (there is more slimming down to go) with needle files and Infini Model sanding sponge-sticks at reshaping these to something less obviously wrong. Only starboard outer is started here: Both starboard bosses have had a first go here

This is a bit of an impromptu build, after I saw the kit for a very cheap price on ebay, ordered it on a whim, and started it the day it arrived. I wasn't originally planning on doing a wip, but I've been taking a few photos along the way, so I thought I may as well post them. I'm already up to the early weathering stages, after starting the build a few days ago, so it does go together pretty fast. The kit is Flyhawk's latest version of their tiny FT, this time with the 75mm gun and the fixed casemate in place of the original turret. As you can see from the box, this release, like the previous versions, is a '1+1 Double Ones' or, in plain English, you get two. For 12 quid including postage from China, I call that pretty good value. I'll post some sprue shots for anyone that's interested in the contents, then get onto the initial build. There's one main sprue that holds the running gear and hull details. Quite a few of the parts here are for the earlier versions of the FT, and aren't required for this build, so you do end up with quite a few spares. Being a double pack, you, of course, get two of these sprues. You get two smaller sprues, one of which is specific to the 75 BS. That one holds the new parts for the 75mm gun and casemate. The smaller sprue holds the early style wooden idlers. Again, two of each are included. The remaining parts are individual mouldings. Two hulls, two tails, two casemates, and two sets of tracks. Rounding out the contents are the instructions, which are simply a folded A4 sheet (although perfectly adequate for what is a very simple build), the decals, and two identical photo etch frets. And, so you can get an idea of just how tiny the model is, here's the hull next to a regular, industry standard, match (which I had to spend about an hour searching the house for) Okay, on to the build. The first step is to add all the additional panels to the main hull. The main hatches come with moulded tabs for the handles (not that big a deal in this scale), but you do have the option of slicing them off and replacing them with photo etched alternatives. The PE ones looked too 2D to me, plus they would be likely to snap off at a moments notice, so I drilled the hatches and used some 0.4mm copper wire instead. You do need to make one slight modification to the hull for this version, to allow the casemate to be fitted. The bottom of the turret ring is moulded as part of the hull, and the edges of that need to be trimmed away. It's not as difficult as it first seems, and the area that needs trimming is shown in the instructions. The plastic's quite soft, so you need to be careful not to accidentally remove too much, but otherwise it's fairly straight forward. It doesn't matter too much about any rough edges, since the casemate drops down over the trimmed area and hides any overzealous hacking. The casemate itself needs a few extra parts added, including a full set of separate hatches, meaning you could add a figure if you wanted (and if you could find a suitable one). I thought the tiny PE grills would be a nightmare to add, but they dropped into place perfectly with no fuss whatsoever. They do make a really nice detail on the finished build too. The 75mm gun is a very simple three-part construction, but looks great when build as well as remaining poseable I'll leave part one of the build there. As I mentioned above, I'm up to the early weathering stages now, but I'll post the updates in increments, rather than stick everything in one huge post. More later. Andy

Morning All, I didn't mean to start this kit, its been in the stash for a while now waiting for me to build up some skills, and nerves. I was waiting for the canopy to dry before masking on a 1/48 Spitfire and had the glue and airbrush out, and I thought "let's have a look" The next thing I know the hulls been glued together... How'd that happen? I blame SWMBO, saying I need to reduce the stash, as if that's going to happen! I cannot say enough good thinks about Flyhawks kits. I've got the Aurora, Niad and Legion in the stash. They're superb examples of modern manufacturing. The go together easily, smart box layout to avoid breakage and can fit all budgets with the basic or the kits with extras. So on with what I've done. This is the upgrade kit, with photo etch included, I'll be leaving that lot till a bit later. Aurora can be either full hull or waterline. If normally go with waterline but I thought I'd have a look at what she was like with her bottom attached. 5 pieces, a bit of glue and you have a full hull and decks! Primed with Tamiya extra fine primer and then a blast of Lifecolour 507c all over. I masked off the boot topping, Vallejo model air black I think, then tried to get a good B20 substitute. I have the Lifecolour B20 but it looks far to grey. So I mixed up some Model air PRU faded blue and EDSG. After this flurry of activity I got fully carried away and started applying the AK interactive enamel weathering range to her. This is where I got to before I actually stopped and looked critically at her I really wasn't happy with the fake B20, and the Lifecolour grey kept flaking off every time I masked over it. I quite like most of my weathering, but I think I went a bit too heavy. So... Off it all came and start again. I used Vallejo model air sky grey and Tamiya XF-18. Vallejo hull red and model air black for the boot top. Gloss coats addedd in between everything. I think the sky is too light, but that can be corrected with weathering, and I think the xf-18 needs lightening up, again a bit of weathering should do this. Weathering to come on the hull. Whilst I was waiting for some of the layers to dry I made a start on the wooden decks, something I've never done before. Tamiya deck tan and wooden deck tan with a wash of AK interactive deck wash. I think I did about 5 coats of each colour, done in streaks, then gave it a wash with the AK. Think it needs lightening up, and a light spray to bring it all together. Very happy with it so far tho! We, that's a lot of waffle from me with only a few pics, double painting, and only 5 of the 200+bits glued together! This could take a while! Oh, and while I was taking a couple of these pics this morning, I couldn't help put some of the larger parts on, just to see... She enjoyed her little tour round the house, firing off broadsides as she went. We're all 6 years old at heart aren't we? That'll do me for now, up next, finishing off the deck, weathering the hull, working out if I'm going to put her in a seascape or on a pedestal(really should have done this earlier) and onto the really small fiddly bits, oh and pe..... Thanks for looking in. Geoff

This is certainly the smallest armour model I've built to date, and probably one of the smallest I've done in any genre. The FT 75 is an updated version of Flyhawk's original FT 17 kit, which was released a few years ago. The 75 was an upgunned development of the FT 17, with a 75mm Blockhaus Schneider gun in place of the original 37mm, and a fixed casemate replacing the 17's turret. The kit is one of the best available in braille scale, with very nice detailing, and clever engineering which make assembly and painting very straight forward. For the most part it was finished OOB, with the only additions being the tarp and chain on the rear tail. The painting was a mix of acrylics and lacquers and, as a bit of an experiment, the weathering was done entirely with acrylics. The build can be found here Thanks for looking Andy

Glued the hull and waterline together ready for priming while I’m staying in Hospital for PTSD in Sydney as we Zero Clinics in Darwin and also you would notice I have another L Class Destroyer in the background just to keep me busy. But wait I have a big surprise coming up on another ship build, but more on that later.

Since I’m at the stage of my other two builds atm, where I’m now down at dirty end of small detail painting, assembling/ fitting and glueing PE and small parts such as guns, masts, small boats etc. I’ve started this wee build while I’m waiting for paint to set or glued parts to set etc. This build will be a slow one as main rate of effort will be on the J Class and HMS Ariadne, but it will also depends on the weather and I’m going fishing and hunting trip for most April. Today’s wee job of adding the black waterline and which will be followed by the rest of the hull.

Well I’ve started another L Class Destroyer “HMS Lance” by Flyhawk while I’m in Hospital attending a PTSD clinic here in Sydney. The is glued together and awaiting to be primed.

These models coming from Flyhawk are in a different league .The kit is just superb,it comes with everything you need except the the wooden deck which I have bought.The masts are very thin,I,m going with then,to see how they go,but might have to change to bass.Watch J1 this is a small part ,and yes lost it already,however ,were it went, no one will know. . The last photo is to show the detail in this model.I have added nothing.

We all know the sad history of HMS Barham and the film of her end.So went back to happy times and the model that Trumpeter produce of Barham 1941 is very close to 1937 version.Only have to take off the two 0.5 inch machine guns on B turret,add neutral stripes and the High angle control system without any radar on the fighting top.I also have HMS Valiant as 1945 Pacific colours and HMS Queen Elizabeth as 1918 waiting next on the slip way after Barham.

I've been watching your Yamato (davetwin and Jockster) and Akagi (ComfortablyNumb and Warren) masterclass builds in awe, and thought, "I've got something like that in the loft...!" This was 2011's birthday present and while the sea is drying on the USS Decatur I couldn't watch it sitting there any longer and decided to start! This kit needs no intro as it's venerable and well-known (plus I reckon at least 75% of the people who frequent the board already have one!) but I'll be building it in an unusual guise and using the Flyhawk Super Deluxe Ultimate Uber-Mega Ultra Detail Set on it! You can probably make out from the picture how much ground this set covers. Also adding the Scaledecks High-Detail wood deck, for reasons that shall become clear.... The Flyhawk set is probably the most intimidating aftermarket accessory I've ever bought. 25(!) sheets of PE, resin replacements for just about every piece of equipment, brass barrels and other accessories - it's a monster which will keep me well occupied for a while! Resin and brass parts - I couldn't physically take a picture of all the brass frets, I don't have enough floor space. Nice to see the resin 5" twin turrets, these are notoriously poor fitting in the kit. There are also resin replacements for all the vents, AA directors and even individual oxy-acetylene gas bottles So.... on with the build! Al

In case those of you in the UK haven't heard yet, I have started an online shop based in the UK for small scale ship modellers. Currently in stock are resin kits and accessories from Combrig, Samek, AJM, Orange Hobby, L'Arsenal, Niko and North Star, with etch from Lion Roar, Flyhawk and my own brand Starling Models. Other accessories in stock include 3d Modelparts, Master Barrel and Uschi van der Rosten's excellent rigging thread. Also in stock are kits from Flyhawk, I will be importing all of their new releases this year, all at very competitive prices. In time I hope to release some kits, some of these will be those formerly released under the Fine Waterline label with some upgrades. It is still very early days so in time I will hopefully be adding to the list of brands in stock but for those of you in the UK who are finding it difficult to get those much needed kits and accessories, stop by and have a look. http://www.starling-models.co.uk Mike

Couple of preview shots of another sexy new 1/72 thing from Flyhawk: If that's not a well presented 1/72 kit, I really don't know what is.....Keep 'em coming Flyhawk!

OK, I'm a bit late starting and I'm going for a different subject.....I was going to build the new Masterbox Tank Mk.Is, but those have been masterfully covered by other members, so I thought I'd offer up something new and a bit exciting from the orient, the Flyhawk 1/72 FT-17: This is a brand new kit from a new company and the quality is absolutely exceptional.....The slide-moulds used on this kit are amazing (just look at the tracks & hull tubs), the detail is incredible and you get two kits in the box for around £15 (inc. P&P from China)! Dragon and Trumpeter are so dead.....Flyhawk just stole the future!

One of best looking battleships,lucky for us the Italian Navy did not use then to their full advantage,the usual Wooden deck and Photo etching from flyhawk I had to use the P.E. for the Roma as there is no p.E. for Vittorio opps ,there are a few difference between the two ships.I picked Vittorio because didn't want to the do stripes on the bow and just after she was commission she had no stripes.Then I found out that Roma was the same after getting the superb book ."The Littorio Class" by Erminio Bagnasco and Augusto de Toro.This book is a must have Anyway after checking the difference it was too late to change .Will not be doing that again, the cross checking and double checking has made it a much longer build than l planned.This is a nice kit and shows of the good looks of this class

This was started last Nov 2012 bit too long for me,other ships kept getting in the way Link for build http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234929546-hms-renown-august-1945-1700-trumpeter/ Link for trawler http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234931996-round-table-class-trawler-1700-white-ensign-models/