HMS Dido (Ikara Leander) 1979 - [WAFU’s away match]

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Those of you who know me (largely from prolonged builds in the aircraft section - notably a 1/48 Seaking HAS5, as yet unfinished) will know that I recently got a new job after 2 very frustrating years of unemployment.

 

Though this is a Very Good Thing by any standard, it has meant that I have not touched a model of any sort in about 2 months - also partly because of the hot weather, which made my man cave barely habitable.

 

The job is in London, which means that I am staying up here 2 or 3 nights per week.  Aha!  Modelling time.  The Seaking is much too delicate in its current state to be moved up to the Smoke, so I have decided to start something new.

 

I joined the RN in 1978, straight from school, but was lucky enough to get a university cadetship (paid to be a student; what’s not to like?).  In the long Summer holidays you were sent to sea for about 8 weeks - I assumed that we’d be doing fishery protection in a Ton, or similar (which would have been fine), but for some reason best known to the Admiralty, even my Summer 1979 training came into the Jammy Sod category; I joined HMS Dido.  

 

In Perth.  

 

As in Western Australia.  

 

She was part of a task group (I think led by Norfolk, and I remember a Type 12 and a Tribal being with us, among others) that deployed for 7 months - I joined her in Fremantle and left to fly home from Sydney in mid-trip.  It was rough, I tell you (actually it really WAS rough crossing the Australian Bight, but that’s another story).

 

So Dido was my first ship, and since I have a long term plan to build every ship in which I served (Dido, London, Norfolk (both DLGs, not the later 22 & 23), Fearless, Boxer, Ark Royal, Broadsword & Blackwater, in that order), she wins.

 

The kit will be Peter Hall’s (Atlantic Models, for those who don’t know him) 1/350 resin, white metal & PE kit - and if you have never built an Atlantic kit, do yourself a favour and do so, because they are stunning.  In due course, Norfolk & London will also be from the same stable.

 

While I was away from the forum, Flickr seems to have followed Photobucket into oblivion / flithy lucre (it won’t let me in without signing up for Yahoo, and since I’d rather poke out my own eyes than go back to Yahoo, I’m looking for my 3rd picture host in 9 months).  I seem to have settled on Village.Photos...but have yet to work out how to post from there onto here using an iPad...  [Any tips gratefully received!]

 

So pictures will follow in due course.  Thus far nothing much to see anyway; just cleaning up parts and poring over references.

 

But it is nice to be back.  @perdu, @Martian Hale and my other friends, you’ll find me over here in the watery section for a while.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

[Test photo - showing the work done to remove the 4.5” turret base and 2nd breakwater, and fettle the Ikara handling room etc to fit onto the front of the bridge screen.  Plus the Jecobin plns of Euryalus, Dido’s sister.  This is all dry fitting at the moment]

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

The test seemed to work OK, so here’s the obligatory start-out shot, showing the kit, the Jecobin plans (essential for any ship build, I reckon) and my primary references.

 

 

More soon

 

Crisp

[Terry1954]

Good to have you back on air again and with one of my favourite class of frigates no less! I succumbed to an Atlantic Models ship at Telford last year - the type 41 HMS Leopard. My first 1/350. It is indeed stunning and I hope to start it when I have several ongoing aircraft projects finished.

 

Will follow this one with much interest, as I have been the Sea King.

 

Cheers

 

Terry

 

 

[perdu]

Well you knew I'd be hanging around by the bar, no Horse's Necks though

 

Bit quiet in here at the mo'

 

They'll all no doubt be along soon

[Richard E]

The guru returns to his mountain top Man Cave to deliver more wisdom.

 

Good news about the job Crisp (ah the joys of working in London) and looking forward to following another of your masterclass builds sir.

[Chris Hewitt]

Good to see you back .Anything Leander ,got to watch.Its been a real problem,getting a host for pictures. I have been posting more pictures on F.B.because of this.l see photo bucket have dropped their prices,however still going to cost,£36 per year.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Chris Hewitt

[Chewbacca]

I look forward to following this with interest.  I've got a similar long term project to build every ship I've ever served in and was treated to the Atlantic Models NEWCASTLE And ARROW for father's day to become GLASGOW and ALACRITY.  I've got the AM (or was it WEM?) BRAVE somewhere in the stash that I bought for next to nothing second hand at the Yeovilton Show some years back which I must get around to starting but I think the fact that they're all resin is putting me off. 

 

 

[robgizlu]

Looking forward to this

Rob

[PLC1966]

Interesting stuff, how big is the model ?

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Eye-balled, it’s about a foot long

[Courageous]

On 8/14/2018 at 8:36 AM, Chris Hewitt said:

Good to see you back .Anything Leander ,got to watch.Its been a real problem,getting a host for pictures. I have been posting more pictures on F.B.because of this.l see photo bucket have dropped their prices,however still going to cost,£36 per year.

Why not try this... it's what I use and it's free.

 

Nice to see you back Crisp. My first ship was going to be HMS Galatea but I was drafted into submarines instead. Will be interesting what you turn out.

 

Stuart

[beefy66]

Looking forward to this I have a few of the Atlantic Models kits so could do with some expert tips on how to tackle them   

 

beefy

[rich2010]

Great! Looking forward to a mixture of some more interesting snippets from your upcoming memoirs and learning more about any of the technical thingy bobs that you explain so eloquently.

 

Ooh, and a bit of model stuff too. 

 

I've got a handful of Peter's boxes in my stash - I'm too scared I'm going to chuff them up to even start them. They are wonderful looking kits.

[longshanks]

Dido was my first RN ship and my last …..

When I was at school a couple of moons ago we went out on Dido for the day, some sort of recruitment drive.

All very exciting with two Brave Border boats going past as if we were stopped (I believe Dido was at full tilt. We could afford the fuel in those days)

 

All looking good until we went below where they showed us the 'bedroom', a telephone kiosk with twenty hairy ar** seamen sharing...….

 

 

 

I joined the Merchant Navy and had a lounge & bedroom with en-suite.

but no guns 😞

 

Looking forward to a master class

 

Kev

[Bugle07]

Did someone say Leander? I'm in! 

 

Can't wait to see what you do with her Crisp.

 

 Beer at the ready as this should be grand!

 

Geoff

 

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Since the kit was (unsurprisingly) originally of a fairly standard gun Leander (i.e pre- Exocet, Ikara, towed array, Seawolf etc), you have to make some changes to turn her into an Ikara version.  The most obvious one is the removal of the 4.5” turret and associated mounting, but also the second breakwater and the 20mm mountings just behind the bridge.

 

Then you start adding things - the Ikara “zarebra” and handling room in place of the turret, the Ikara tracking / guidance radar under a prominent dome on the bridge roof, SCOT satellite aerials on either side of the foremast, plus SATCOM office in front of the mast, and the platforms for 40mm Bofors guns in place of the 20mm.  Some of these, as you can see, are white metal.  In this shot it looks as thiugh the starboard SCOT aerial is much higher than the port, but that’s an optical illusion!

 

You can probably also just about make out that I have filled the gaps under the edges of the superstructure and Ikara section with Vallejo putty.

 

Here she is seen from the port bow (thus proving what I said about the SCOT aerials):

 

The cover over the Ikara launcher, the hangar roof and the two masts are not glued, but everything else is.

 

I have also fitted the two chaff launcher platforms just abaft the funnel (here seen from above):

 

This was all actually done last night, so there may be more later this evening.

 

Superb kit; the casting is astonishingly good.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

Edited August 21, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

A little more work this evening.

 

First, the Mortar Mk.10 and Sonar 182 (towed acoustic decoy) winch.  The winch and mortar base are glued, the mortar itself not.

 

Then a test build of one of the Bofors 40mm guns.  The barrel and breech are L’Arsenal (actually from a different mark of the 40/60, but this part looks identical), and the white metal mounting comes with the kit.  Really beautifully cast; once painted they should look great.  This is mega close-up.

 

This shows the signal deck and 40mm area closer up.  The moulded round dustbins are the TI sights; hard to improve these, since they essentially looked pretty much like dustbins in real life, too - I have thinned the walls a bit, but basically left them as they are.  The white metal 20” signal projectors are the kit’s.  I have added the brass 40mm ready use ammo locker (from Flyhawk’s mega-useful “1/350 British Navy WW2 assorted boxes” PE sheet) and the two pedestal sights between the dustbins - L’Arsenal again (they’re actually WW2 USN battleship / cruiser sights, but they look close enough (& I won’t tell if you don’t). I am mostly just busying up the area - warships need lots of stuff going on around the upper deck to look right.

 

Finally, as she looks as I stop this evening.  Pretty pleasing so far.  I haven’t yet decided whether to build the Ikara covered or not; here with the missile launcher exposed.

 

More tomorrow, I hope.

 

Crisp

 

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[beefy66]

Well it looks great and at a very fast pace so far  👍

 

beefy

[Terry1954]

That certainly is a superb looking piece of moulding you are building upon. I have the Jecobin plans for HMS Charybdis in her 1982 configuration after Exocet and Seawolf conversion. The AM website shows HMS Andromeda with that fit ((not sure of its released yet), so I'm fancying that one myself. They are also listing some exciting new Cold War RN releases.

 

I just need to get much other stuff off the bench, but this build s tempting me to lay down a keel very soon!

 

Terry

 

 

[general melchett]

Great start Crisp, certainly highlights the sleek lines of the class, looks like a lot of fun and I look forward to progress. Will you be making a water dio to plonk it on?

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Yes, she’ll eventually be waterborne; the kit has a full hull option but I far prefer ship models that show them in their natural element.  I’ve seen pictures of Peter’s Andromeda, Terry, and it looks superb - definitely not released yet, but not far away I think..  Must. Resist....

Edited August 22, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Brief update this evening, and this will be it for the weekend cos we’re going away.

 

Further progress with both masts, with the radars fitted.  Next stage is to fit PE, including to the white metal topmast which will go on top of the foremast.  They look quite basic in this extreme close-up, but with some paint and at a normal viewing distance, they’ll be very effective.

 

...and here a view of the whole ship as I stop this evening.  Added today:

- the Corvus chaff launchers (white metal, just forward of the [roofless] hangar);

- the Ikara cover [I’ve decided that since the ship didn’t fire an Ikara during my time on board, it would be misleadingly macho to portray her steaming around as though during WW3!]

- the first bits of kit brass, namely the two shelves under the 40mm platforms (onto which will eventually be fitted liferafts), and a stowed davit (the hockey stick johnson visible lying down on top of the Ikara handling room)

- I’ve also fitted the starboard 40mm RU ammo locker, but you can only see the port one here.  Trust me, it’s there.

 

 

In view of the fact that some of the painting will happen before fitting delicate stuff like PE rails, we’re not that far away from primer now.  Maybe next week, depending on how I get on.

 

More after the Bank Hols.

 

Crisp

 

P.S. It occurs to me that some of you might not be familiar with Ikara.  It was a weapon very much of its time - designed to get a torpedo to a submarine target quickly, in the days when helicopters were relatively slow and constrained by weight.  The US ASROC (anti-submarine rocket) system was a similar idea.  It was an Australian design and a good one for its day; simple enough to be reliable and robust, but capable - at least, any lack of capability was at least as much because of 1960s sonar performance (valve technology and the most basic of computers for signal processing) as any deficiency in the weapon.

 

The missile looked like a small snub-nosed pilotless aircraft - rocket motor in the tail, short wings - with a normal Mk44 torpedo slung underneath it.  The missiles were stowed in the same deep magazine as the 4.5” that the system replaced, but preparation was quite involved; they didn’t just pop up straight from the deep magazine onto the launcher, like a more modern missile.  For instance, the wings were fitted by hand in the handling room (the boxy structure between the Bridge and the launcher).

 

As submarine technology moved on, weapons like Ikara became obsolete; the days of diesel boats getting really close in to attack were pretty much over.  And steaming around transmitting on long range (for the 60s!) active sonar very much went out of fashion when giving away your position was simply to invite an over-the-horizon missile attack from a Charlie or similar.  Plus better helicopters (notably the Lynx, which was infinitely more capable than the dear old Wasp) made torpedo-carrying missiles un-necessary.

 

The first 8 Leanders were converted to Ikara.  The only other RN ship to carry it was HMS Bristol, in her early years.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[John Darlington]

Hi Crisp, I'm following this build as I have also built this kit, but as HMNZS Southland, ex HMS Dido after it was sold to the RNZN.  It was pictured in a posting here on BM until Photobucket ransomed my pics. 

 

I too joined the Navy, in 1977 and I remember Norfolk visiting Auckland in '78. 

 

I did quite a few enjoyable years on Southland and was Ops Room Supervisor when we fired the very last Ikara in the world.  We used third party targeting from HMNZS Canterbury against an Austarlian O Boat and the Aussies said according to their telemetry it was the most accurate firing they'd ever seen! 

 

Everything you say about the Atlantic Kit is true, I've done two Leanders and a Type 42. 

[Martian]

This is coming along very nicely: more please!

 

Martian 👽

[Terry1954]

38 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

more please!

Yes, more please!

 

Really liked the Ikara summary. I recall thinking at the time it came about, what a sophisticated system it was. If I remember correctly, the Australian Navy had three American Charles F Adams destroyers, re-fitted each with two Ikara launchers amidships, in place of the American ASROC launcher. I remember my feeble attempt to convert the Airfix 1/600 CFA to an Australian Perth with Ikara. I don't think I ever finished it, probably due to lack of references in those far off days!

 

Terry