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1/350 HMS Ark Royal, 1987 - sailing back from the Shelf of Doom


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Model Monkey has beaten me to it, but I owe him a big vote of thanks, because after a few exchanges of PMs he has finally solved one of the issues that worn me down to the point where I stopped a few months ago.  It was always my intention to come back and finish - worry not! - but I had reached point where problem solving in 1/350 (I speak as someone who usually works in 1/48...) was grinding down my motivation.  

 

Anyway, thanks to Monsieur Monkey I now have a couple of 3D printed aerials en route to me.  I am up to my waist in 1/48 Sea King at present, but once the aerials arrive Ark will gradually be cold moved from the Dock Of Limbo in which she has sat for so long.

 

More soon - really!

 

Crisp

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53 minutes ago, Kirk said:

Yay! I knew it was just restin'...

 

Incidentally, will you be doing Invincible and Illustrious too?

 

Good Heavens, no!  I only flew from Ark, and she is part of a long-term plan to build 1/350 models of all of the ships in which I served.

 

Ark is under way, and I have the Atlantic Models Glamorgan (to represent my Norfolk) and Euryalus (to represent my Dido).  After that things get a bit more sketchy; I reckon the up-coming Batch 3 Type 22 could be worked to make a Batch 2 (Boxer).  That would leave 3:

 

Broadsword (anyone got the old WEM kit in their stash by any chance?  I am desperate to get hold of one of those).

Blackwater - which will have to be a scratch build unless my drip drip drip of propaganda to Peter Hall persuades him that he needs to kit up the missing MCMV from his collection

 

And the big one, which I know will be a scratch build: Fearless.  That's for after I retire, because it will be a monster of a build.

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3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

And the big one, which I know will be a scratch build: Fearless

 

And you know 3 weeks after you have completed it Airfix will announce a 1:350 super duper tool of her! Nice to see the dust getting blown off this :analintruder:

 

Bob

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4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

Good Heavens, no!  I only flew from Ark, and she is part of a long-term plan to build 1/350 models of all of the ships in which I served.

 

Ark is under way, and I have the Atlantic Models Glamorgan (to represent my Norfolk) and Euryalus (to represent my Dido).  After that things get a bit more sketchy; I reckon the up-coming Batch 3 Type 22 could be worked to make a Batch 2 (Boxer).  That would leave 3:

 

Broadsword (anyone got the old WEM kit in their stash by any chance?  I am desperate to get hold of one of those).

Blackwater - which will have to be a scratch build unless my drip drip drip of propaganda to Peter Hall persuades him that he needs to kit up the missing MCMV from his collection

 

And the big one, which I know will be a scratch build: Fearless.  That's for after I retire, because it will be a monster of a build.

My dido and my Norfolk.. Who are you the old man. Lmao/laughing kitbags

For 

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2 hours ago, junglierating said:

My dido and my Norfolk.. Who are you the old man. Lmao/laughing kitbags

For 

 

 

You know you're getting old when not only the Norfolk you served in is razor blades, but there's been a whole new Norfolk since and she's paid off as well...

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On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 22:06, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

 

You know you're getting old when not only the Norfolk you served in is razor blades, but there's been a whole new Norfolk since and she's paid off as well...

If it helps, we promise not to turn you into razor blades just yet crisp!

 

Martian

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So here we are, back after 6 months of hiatus.   Nothing went wrong, exactly, but I just reached the point where I was getting de-motivated by problem-solving in 1/350, where everything I did seems to open up another problem.  So I went back to 1/48-land for a while.

 

It was always my intention to come back, however, and a chance conversation with Model Monkey un-blocked my mojo.  One of the things that had been bugging me was how to produce Ark's two very distinctive SATCOM aerials at the rear of the island.  They are very prominent, not like the SCOT aerials on other ships of the period (I don't know why; I assume that the carriers had additional gear in there), and - worst for me as a modeller - they need to be identical.

 

My initial plan was to make one and then cast some replicas, but despite trying three or four masters I could not get them to look symmetrical.  I tried using a Dremel as a pseudo-lathe, but was just getting more and more frustrated.  The (not very good) best of my efforts can be seen as a comparison in the pictures that follow.

 

So I resigned myself to having to tech myself 3D modelling using Blender or similar, so I could make one up and get it 3D printed.  Then Model Monkey contributed to another thread I am following, so I PM'd him and asked if he did commissions.  Less than a week later I received a small but perfectly formed parcel from the USA with 2 pairs (one as a spare) of RN carrier 1980s SATCOM aerials.

 

In these shots you can also see the island (the aerials will sit on that scratch built platform immediately behind the aft funnel), my indispensable Jacobin plans (reduced to 1/350 scale) and the least poor example of my earlier efforts.  The 3D printed versions (still attached to their sprue) have been given a light coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 to get rid of any tiny imperfections inherent in the process (not that any are visible to the naked eye while they are unpainted)

30973542772_5d8f817f01_b.jpg

31080117466_de6b89671d_b.jpg

 

So we are back in business.  

 

The island has suffered a tiny amount of damage while in storage (nothing that cannot be fixed in an hour or two, but she was dropped at once point), but I now plan to pick up where I left off, namely working my way gradually aft along the starboard side / Alaskan Highway.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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The Vixen is finished, Ant - I just haven't got round to photographing it yet.

 

In Ark-land, the SATCOM aerials are now glued in position, thus finally defeating one of the things that has really been holding me back on this build.

 

30344710893_3a2af352c5_b.jpg

 

Seen from astern (hmm, need to sort out the gap beneath the 909 dome!):

30344710713_931663f736_b.jpg

 

From abeam:

30344710573_0853772d4c_b.jpg

 

From ahead:

30344710383_b1b952bda8_b.jpg

 

Very happy.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

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Glad to see this one back up and running again. getting the SCOT domes 3D printed is a good idea, and the look good. It is something I am going to have to investigate. Did you get the UAA1 antenna sorted?

 

keep up the good work.

Paul

:thumbsup:  

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UAA1 is sorted, but in kit form at present.  It is basically a tiny tapering layer cake, but I haven't assembled it yet because it will  be an awful lot easier to paint and then assemble rather than the other way round.

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So although you didn't come and chat you did get something even better from SMW Crisp, very pleased to see them too

 

I expect you COULD have made them look right but these are very impressive, well done that Monkey

I'm glad to have the excuse to spend more time immersed in maritime affairs again here Crisp, thanks for getting me in here again

;)

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  • 3 years later...

Horribly self-indulgent of me (or perhaps the only way to remember what I did almost 4 years ago...), but I have just read my own build from start to (not) finish, largely inspired by reading @davecov’s epic scratch-build Prince of Wales.  
 

I’m quite encouraged, actually; I had already fixed more of the problems than I’d remembered.

 

Anyway.  Don’t get excited, because her 1941 namesake still has many months of work left to be done - but I’d just like to reassure the usual suspects (you know who you are...) that this build will definitely be finished.  It is paused, yes - but not dead.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/9/2019 at 5:37 PM, Kirk said:

:goodjob:

Glad to see you're underway again.

 

Don't really care how long it takes. It's is both educational and enjoyable watching this evolve. I meant to ask earlier: will this Ark be alone or escorted? 

Alone.  I plan to have her in a seascape preparing to launch aircraft (not dissimilar to my Ark 3 build, in fact).
 

If I add an escort the base becomes vast - and she’s quite large already - unless I display the escort unrealistically close. [The only exception would be a RAS scene, but there are lots of reasons why I won’t be showing one of them].  Carrier captains really do not like escorts so close that they risk collision when turning into wind - ‘goal-keeper’ stationing during Op Corporate being an exception, but a very specific (& unusual) one.

 

P.S.  Besides, it’s taken me about half a lifetime to get this far with one carrier; adding a Type 22 (or whatever) would probably take me until well after I’m dead

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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