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HMS Belfast


salmo G

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Hi All

 

Been a regular reader here for a few years lurking in the shadows however this is my first post, Trumpeters 1/350 HMS Belfast. Tricky one to assess this as while on the one hand its an IM british cruiser in 1/350 (are there ny others?) its also riddled with issues...... overall I think I probably welcome it however to make a truely accurate representation will take an awful lot of work. I plan on tackling some of the more obvious issues and will be adding bits from Flyhawks detail set (not as useful as it could have been this one as its also got quite a few issues) as well as various updates from the likes of Northstar, Flyhawk, shapeways etc to try and add some finess along the way

 

So far I am about a month into the build and have chosen to go waterline, biggest issues I have come accross so far are the bulge shapes which verge on the side of fantasy and the barbetts which are simply too small to match the turrets (and just to add insult to injury they are not even all the same size!)

 

Photos are from my phone so apologies for the quality!

 

 

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Looking very good. a special for me. The Belfast was launched 6 months before I was born

 

Work that out. Belfast is 79 years old. Past her recently on a mini cruise on the Thames.

Still a little beauty. Went on her some years ago. Amazing they were using hammocks.

 

Will be looking in Salmo.

 

Laurie

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I have one of these in the stash and am interested to hear what the actual issues are.  I will be following this thread with the hope that you will provide more details of what needs correcting, perhaps including size differences and placements etc?   Your progress so far looks very good :worthy: and it looks like we will see a very good model when finished,

 

Mike

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Hi Bootneck

 

some of the issue with the hull are as follows.

  1. In plan view the bulge that was added to the hull extends beyond the edge of the original deck, best ref for this is the AOTS book, many photos clearly show this as well, a big giveaway in photos is the area in front of the step in the hull, its very obvious here, unfotunaatly as far as I can see Trumpeter made the hull the correct width and simply faired the bulge in at the top which looks all wrong. I have "scabbed" a bulge on which is a comprimise as while it looks a much better shape its made the o/a hull width too wide.
  2. The areas at the very front of the bulge are also too extended, compare any photor of this area to the kit to see what I mean.
  3. In section the area of bulge behind the armour on the front half at least should have an extended vertical area above the armour, this is all but missing from the kit.
  4. The area of the hull immediatly behind the hanger should be metal, Trumperter have planking here.
  5. Fairleads are the wrong shape and located too far inboard, I have used some 3d printed items here however these are also not quite correct but once located correctly and modified with a few bits of plastic card look a little better. The ones at the very front of the hull are totally wrong (that includes my representations as simply I couldnt be bothered!)
  6. There are a lot of deck fittings missing or wrongly located (I dont generally mind this type of thing as they only take minutes to make up usually and having them seperate eases painting.
  7. The 3 vertical supports for the mid part of the deck should be at the deck edge not inboard as represented by Trumpeter.

TBH it probably would have been easier simply to scratch build a new hull.......however I kept trying to work with what was provided.

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I hadn't spotted the bulge issues on my build - and it's now far too late to do anything about that, but a few other items that I did spot that may short cut some research - 

 

Gun crew shelters should only have spray/blast shields on inboard faces, not all around the roof

4" gunshields are the wrong type for Belfast - they should extend further rearwards on the sides and top

Rear funnel deck house should have ventilator inlets on each side

Representation of the 4" Ammo hoists and conveyor is terrible

Fore superstructure should have an alcove between the two hangar doors on the lowest deck level

The boat booms on aft superstructure are wrongly located

Most of the rest of it is down to details 

 

Oh - and be really careful with the way the deck houses and superstructures fit to the guides on the decks - I had real issues despite lots of test fitting and adjusting.  If I did it again, I'd carve most of the guides off, just leaving enough pegs to guide assembly without causing fit problems. - Boat deck to main deck, aft superstructure and aft funnel almost led to the whole lot going in the bin

 

Can't wait to see the result - will be good to see what else I missed!

 

Andrew

 

 

 

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Hi Andrew

 

Thanks for that, I've seen your Belfast build and some of your earlier stuff as well, most impressive! it also seems we have a similar taste as you finished your scratchbuilt Jamaica (at least I think it was yours?) about the same time as I finalised a similar model of Hms Gambia (yours looks a lot better!)

 

I had spotted most of the bits you mention but not all so many thanks! i,ve also spotted a few others but more of that once I progress a bit more, I am hoping to get the main hull mods finished before Telford next weekend so i can start painting it when I get back.

 

I,ve already working on the boat deck and rear superstructure bits on and off alongside the hull (thats how i know about the bad fitting bits!)  as i said origionally I AM glad that Trumpeter made it however if I can spot such obvious issues with a couple of hours research no idea why Trumpeter can't? (especially with such excellent reference as the AOTS book available and of course the real thing sitting down in London!)

 

Gary

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I'd love to see the Gambia - The Crown Colony class and decendents are some of my favourite ships,  I'm slowly gathering the parts I need to build Blake (pre-helicopter conversion)  and would like to build Swiftsure at some point.

 

I managed to get hold of a copy of the Profile Morskie book on Belfast when I was researching Belfast and I'fe a feeling Trumpeter used that as their primary source - many of the same errors are present in the book, including the innacurately sized Oerlikon and 4" RU lockers, deck surfaces and other omissions.  And as you say - she's not the hardest ship to find out about.

 

Andrew

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Bit more progress to report before this weekends trip to Telford, main hull work all complete, deck painted and the rear superstructure finished, works now underway on the boat deck and thats proving a bit problimatical! but more on that next week.....37513550954_bc7a1f64e5_h.jpg38168937866_e274b0755b_h.jpg38192140492_b3bda2d857_h.jpg24422113058_04f5b52dde_h.jpg24422113058_04f5b52dde_h.jpg26517561169_d240249cfe_h.jpg

 

Now all I need is some extra pots of colourcoats and hull painting can commence. FYI i realise the decks were probably painted at this time but i am sucker for a wooden deck so lets call it artistic licence!

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After a frustrating Telford trip where I got neither the brass or paints that i needed i've managed to get the main painting of the hull finished, just the boot topping to do and then a touch of weathring before I can start adding the railings along with the smaller deck fittings.

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Latest update

 

Railings are on and nearly all painted, rear deck superstructure coming along nicely and made a start installing the new deck fittings. What 'ive learnt so far is that you simply cant take anything Trumpeter have done at face value....... good example are the bollards, apart from the fact I think some of them should be a different size Trumperter suppliers the right amount of large bollards but not enough locating holes in the deck ......hmmm still its an IM british cruiser and I will be grateful! just hope if their Nelson/Rodney/Exeter/York come out they use aa different designer lol

 

 

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Great stuff. That is really looking good very nice workmanship.

 

Matter of interest I remember reading about the Belfast and about the deck. Found information which rewards your artistic licence.

Lack of camouflage

The wooden deck was originally painted with camouflage patterns to prevent it being easily spotted by enemy planes. But the Admiral of the time decided that he hated the look of it so stripped it back to its original teak. Luckily the Belfast did not suffer any aerial attacks due to this purely aesthetic decision.

https://londonist.com/2016/09/secrets-of-hms-belfast

 

Laurie

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thanks LaurieS thats a weight of my mind! I can sleep easy tonight  lol spent a couple of hours today fitting various deck fittings and if i get any spare time tomorrow plan on working on th boatdeck getting it ready for paint.

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Regarding the colour of the decks I'm planning on building Belfast , but modifying her to Korean War configuration, with a re-positioned boat deck, etc. I have quite a few photos of this period, and it looks like the upper decks were painted ( Dark grey ? ) I do have a photo of a model in the IWM collection which shows this, so would be interested on anyone's thoughts regarding painting ( or not )  :cheers:

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Not too much progress to report this week, added quite a few deck fittings and made a start on the blocks that sit on the boat deck, also made a start on the 4" shell transportation rails as the raised line on the kit just dosent cut it!

 

Struggling to find carley floats that look the right size, both the kit and flyhawk examples are much too small, the closest ive found so far are a couple left over from the Academy Warspite, I might have to make a mold of these so I can cast some more, if thats the case I may as well prepare a couple of other items I have to mold as well and have a casting week shortly.

 

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All the details are really starting to stand out now  :yes:

 

BTW I,am just down the road from you in Sunniside small world in it  :D

 

Looking forward to seeing this one come together

 

beefy

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Hi

 

Not much to report this week as I had a weekend away to experience the bright lights of Edinburgh. I have however made a start on the bridge superstructure, usual story of issues and neither Trumpeter or Flyhawk are due any credit for this. Probably the biggest issue is the rear face with the hanger doors which I needed to totally replace as the doors were much too small and missing the central opening. I've also made quite a few box's, pedestalls etc both from scratch and various detail sets to populate the various decks.

 

The top of the bridge is a flyhawk resin casting which replaces the inaccurate Trumpeter one, i;ve also added a bit of detail to one of the directors and made a mold box for this and some carley floats and wrapped cable reeels (I HATE making etched reels.....) hopefully get the mold made over the weekend.

 

TBH there are so many issues with the superstructure that at most mine is probably only 80% accurate, about 20 years ago I scratch built a model of Belfast and I am sure it was easier than trying accurise the Trumpeter kit......37991200745_1752c6c1a0_k.jpg25006397578_5f75c71532_k.jpg25006396858_b29b1efc74_k.jpg37991198765_1f7584f08d_k.jpg

 

 

 

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