Jump to content

HMS Somerset F82


Recommended Posts

This is all starting to look quite brilliant. As someone who has one of these trumpy kits sitting half built for months it's giving me hope I could finish it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the intervening period since my last posting I have steadily made progress. I finally got my air brush working and painted a few items. One of which was the Seawolf Silo which is shown in the photograph below. If you were wondering I use Humbrol 127 for the topsides grey colour and Humbrol 27 for the deck both of which are freely available as acrylic as well as enamel paints. As a model maker who was a serving member of the RN I had the advantage of being able to spend some time trying to colour match, I wouldn’t say that it is perfect but they are very close.

17459874588_e0e1e6c75f_o.jpg

Moving on, I have decided to work on the foremast.

First up is the 996 Radar antenna, which brings me to the first error in the White Ensign Photo Etch kit I am using. The PE has a piece which is supposed to be added to the front face of the antenna. In actual fact the Trumpeter kit antenna doesn’t need much enhancement at all and is a very reasonable representation of the real thing with the front face of the antenna being smooth and the back with the phase splitter electronic modules attached.

17621408776_e1621fd41e_z.jpg

I have attached some detail photographs of the foremast and the 996 antenna at various states of rotation.

17621401316_bf835916f4_z.jpg

17027369883_df28bdfe39_z.jpg

17459865208_28c521c7ca_z.jpg

As a consequence I butchered the PE part and cut off the ECCM sensors (the little lollipops on the top) and glued them into their correct position along the centre line of the main antenna as shown in the pictures below:

17647825091_42b743ce82_z.jpg

17025207764_7c8773a0aa_z.jpg

17621407466_31d6d29766_z.jpg

Next I started adding the PE yards I had previously folded to the mast, these fitted nicely. Also I added the ladders which are fitted to the side of the mast. I had to bear in mind that the ladders do not reach down to the deck as the base of the mast sits in some supporting structure.

17461409689_21256a1209_z.jpg

17647823391_11d93b7113_z.jpg

17025206654_4b30f1766e_z.jpg

Last up is the fitting of the guard railing around the 1007 Radar platform. Again this is another error in the PE set and reflects the guard rail arrangements for the first 3 ships in the class (Norfolk, Marlborough and Argyll) which had the navigation radar slightly higher on the mast and the radar antenna mounted on a short pedestal. This can be seen clearly on the following two pictures.

17461303440_c385894059_q.jpg

HMS Argyll

And

17646462622_e6537d4570_q.jpg

HMS Somerset

As a consequence I have had to come up with an alternative solution for the 1007 platform guard railing using other items on the fret which are offered as an option.

17459874398_5b7b164bc7_z.jpg

17647822001_7e4509472e_z.jpg

I suspect the errors in the PE set are due to the fact that it is derived from the White Ensign Models HMS Norfolk kit.

And finally here is a picture of progress so far:

17645363732_ce60f350f8_z.jpg

Enjoy. :popcorn:

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wish I had seen those reference pics before I started on my yards yesterday! :)

It is a real pain trying to keep the hull from slipping all over the place while you attach things due to Trumpeters hopeless stand...

Looking really good Paul.

Cheers

Warren

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wish I had seen those reference pics before I started on my yards yesterday! :)

It is a real pain trying to keep the hull from slipping all over the place while you attach things due to Trumpeters hopeless stand...

Looking really good Paul.

Cheers

Warren

I thought of you when I posted this, I thought Warren is going to hate me now. :weep:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought of you when I posted this, I thought Warren is going to hate me now. :weep:

That is why they call it Sod,s Law you start looking for something try to do it yourself then some one puts up the thing you are looking for typical this is :banghead::banghead:

looking neat there Paul.

Beefy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah is OK.. I am using this one as a practice build for the other two I have.. They will be the right Humbrol colour whereas this one will be good ole Tamiya XF-19

Sod's law indeed! :winkgrin:

Cheers all

Warren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wish I had seen those reference pics before I started on my yards yesterday! :)

It is a real pain trying to keep the hull from slipping all over the place while you attach things due to Trumpeters hopeless stand...

Looking really good Paul.

Cheers

Warren

Hopeless is a polite way to describe that stand, I started off using blu-tac to keep mine still, but found the unused stand from my Zvezda Varyag which fits much better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopeless is a polite way to describe that stand, I started off using blu-tac to keep mine still, but found the unused stand from my Zvezda Varyag which fits much better.

I went down the route of carving some small rubber shims from an eraser to fill out the stand a little (white wedge below):

SAM_1109_zpsoxwcitds.jpg

They worked well but Trumpeter really should be able to do better given the rest of the kit.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Nice model of HMS Kent crennis, I especially like the weathering on the props and prop shafts, very realistic.

As for the issue of the stand, my solution was cut the hull off at the waterline which I must admit is a little drastic. :banghead:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a post which is a little out of sequence but was requested by Jockster and will be of use to Warren who are both building HMS Kent.

As promised here is a diagram of the wire aerial rigging for Type 23 Frigates.

18157072601_84fbd25187_z.jpg

I will come to this at a later date when I come do my own rigging.

As for my own model of HMS Somerset there is not much to report at the moment, I hope to make some progress over the weekend if the opportunity arises.

Edited by Paul E
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Firstly an apology for the length of time that has passed since my last posting on here, it would be nice to say that I have made great progress but sadly that is not the case. Highlight of progress so far has been the work on the main mast (yes, the much smaller mast at the back of the ship is called the main mast, it’s a hang up from sailing ships I think) any way I digress.

I determined that some of the antenna although beautifully presented on the photo-etch were a little two dimensional for my tastes, so I took it on myself to bulking out the items on the fret. The results can be seen in the following photographs;

The IFF Lolipop Antenna:

18652857229_392c78cd59_z.jpg

UHF Antenna

18218388753_fc7caf1c95_z.jpg

and I decided that I need to manufacture new items for the Christmas tree V/UHF antennas

18833930672_6b55232902_z.jpg

The reason for this is that the pole mast that sits on top of the main mast needed some extra detail adding with circular plates fitted half way and at the top of the pole

18812774766_9b3bb6c8b7_z.jpg

and then with the little christmas tree on top.

18652864079_149b687f23_z.jpg

That done I got on with the serious business of adding the photo-etch detail to the mast.

18841733111_a4edc9f1e1_z.jpg

18839027705_559fdfe17b_z.jpg

18216448504_daa6face96_z.jpg

That’s it for now. Progress continues although slowly, hopefully I will be able to provide an update soon.

Enjoy.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had quite a productive weekend working on HMS Somerset and the model is slowly coming together. Unfortunately I have been finding it more difficult to get the updates up on to the WiP forum on account of a recent software update of Flikr. I now have found a work around so I am hoping to get my postings up on to the forum on a more regular basis.

Anyway here is progress on the GWS60 Harpoon Missile launchers. I used the White Ensign photo-etch which is very good and produced a very satisfactory result:

18833939212_acd23b85e0_h.jpg

The inside of the efflux deflectors have a heat protective material on the inside which is a dark brown colour.

19088157016_05029f3233_b.jpg

18493686673_1a1fcb2cc4_b.jpg

The frames and side of the efflux deflectors are topsides grey.

19114326555_58430a5d6d_b.jpg

I was just remembering whilst I was writing this, that the Harpoon Missile canisters were a slightly darker shade of grey. :chair: I'll have to think about how I am going to fix that.

Another post soon.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice Paul, glad you said about the heat material as looking at pictures, I just figured it was bare steel going rusty! How about a filter wash of grey/black mix for the Harpoons?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have been slowly progressing by adding PE detailing and painting the forward superstructure.

The lifebuoys were “enhanced” with some etched brass to represent the automatic release stowage:

18216452444_aea6159569_h.jpg

19361231498_24c8a4034f_b.jpg

and then the etched brass railings added:

19362663569_e48da34979_b.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more pictures of progress in detailing of the forward superstructure, progress I’m afraid is still slow.

19392922770_478cae6ad0_k.jpg

19393024498_bdda9a4a52_k.jpg

19393036010_69725fd78f_k.jpg

A “highlight” though in what is turning out to be a not very exciting build has been the realisation that the forward 911 tracker radar is not in the correct position. The tracker radar does not sit on the centreline but is actually offset to starboard.

17187081835_a577c3194c_k.jpg

This means that the moulding that Trumpeter has helpfully provided to locate the radar base on the bridge top needs to be adjusted.

The easy answer would be to file the moulded hump off however this would leave a hole, so I carefully hacked the moulding back with a sharp craft knife.

19642105176_b72636039a_k.jpg

and the forward 911 tracker is now sited more correctly.

19688704692_6b7ac2372d_k.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...