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Hms belfast and Hms Rattlesnake


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Hi All

 

Firstly thanks for all the kind words of support I recieved during the build, after a struggle motivating myself to finish off the last few bits n pieces I am calling this duo complete (well apart from the 4" twin mount that I am waiting to be delvered) HMS Rattlesnake is peeling away from Belfast after having taken on board some fuel.

 

The Trumpeter Belfast kit is really not an enjoyable experience and the constant discovery of accuracy issues really sapped my patience. there are quite a few well know issues already well discussed such as the central 6" gun and the funnel sizes, to these can be added the completly wrong interpretation of the bulges where these meet the deck and the undersize barbetts as well as dozens more minor issues. Trumpeters usual saving grace is that their kits fit together well however this one doesn't.......ultimatly as gratful as I am for an IM Royal navy cruiser in 1/350 I have to say it was hard work and I am happy that because she only had one sister ship (Edinburgh) I am unlikley to ever be tempted anywhere near another copy! Please please please can the future Nelson/Rodney/Exeter/York and counties (especially the counties!) show a higher level of research than that which (ultimatly didn't) go into this kit.

 

The Flyhawk detail set is a slightly tougher one to judge, on the one hand I think it offers quite good value for money (especially when compared to the much more limited in scope WEM brass set) and some of the parts are really very good and add substantially to the model, however I cant help feeling they dropped the ball here. Some of their more recent sets and those beautiful 1/700 kits look fantastic (too small for my clumsey fingers however!) this set however has a significant number of errors and in many cases simply repeats errors already contained in the Trumpeter kit when they could have been easily corrected with the parts provided. Obvious examples of this are the rear hanger face where they simply duplicated Trumpeters proportions in brass when in reality the doors were much larger and a central opening existed between the doors, also the rails used to transport the 4" sheels to their mounts are simply shown as one dimensional parts which are only slightly better than Trumpeters, in really they are a 2-3 tier system that was just crying out to be well represented in etched brass.

 

The Starling Algerine class kit is in a different league to Trumpeter's and while I made mine as HMS Rattlesnake and because of a lack of motovation when building alongside Belfast I didn't incorperate many of the differences that can be identified in the pictures I had the buold was in general a pleasure.  This is a kit I will build again however next time I will make sure that I set aside sufficient time to build it on its own and I add the work/detail to it that it deserves. Now whens that river class frigate coming ing out???

 

Apologies for the picture quality as they are off my phone.

 

ENJOY.

 

 

 

 

 

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Really nice job mate, I'm just down the road from you in Sunniside, along with Beefy66 on here. Both kits have turned out beautifully. You should pop down to one of our club nights in Washington on a Thursday evening from 6 -9pm. (3 hours of uninterrupted modeling bliss)

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Brian

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Hi Everyone

 

Thanks for all the kind words most appreciated.

 

I am indeed heading up to Perth for the show in a couple of weeks Jamie, won't be there long as the main reason for the trip is to try and get a few more munros bagged! just sseemed a chance to combine the two....... Plan is to pick up whatever of your new colours you have available incluing b5 which I missed at Telford last year as you sold out by I got to your stall.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Great work on Rattlesnake and I'm glad you enjoyed building the kit.  The River class will be out at the end of this month or first half of June barring any unexpected events.

Mike

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Cheers Mike I am looking forward to seeing your River class, if I haven't got a copy by November will pick up one at Telford and hopefully I can complete it alongside a scratchbuilt one I was working on before your anouncement......... Typical I know!

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