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


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Unsurprisingly the Aussies fitted Ikara widely (though their Navy was never huge).  Their Leanders (the River class was essentially a Leander) had the system fitted on the starboard quarter, in place of the RN Mk.10 mortar.  Not sure whether they had a VDS, either.

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6 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Yeah, work great thanks.  Term doesn’t start for another week, though, so who knows what it’ll be like when the hordes return!

I think I do. It will be like trying to heard cats and very noisy ones at that.

 

Martian the Prescient 👽

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On 8/22/2018 at 7:08 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’ve seen pictures of Peter’s Andromeda, Terry, and it looks superb

I've just seen the announcement from Atlantic Models on Facebook. Yes yes yes! So it seems you are happy and I am happy!

 

Terry

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Very brief update; I have been adding the 4 diesel (generator) exhausts on the rear face of the foremast.  Here a photo of HMS Leander herself (also converted to Ikara):

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...amd here the 4 holes drilled into Peter’s resin, with the top two containing a short length of Albion Alloys nickel tube:

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Looks a bit messy this close up cos of the CA, but I am happy enough for now.

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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11 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Looks a bit messy this close up cos of the CA, but I am happy enough for now.

Looks really good to me. Checking my Charybdis plans, that structure scales out at about 1.25 inches? 

 

Terry

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Another session of cutting folding and exceedingly careful filing (plus a lot of measuring in this instance) gives us 6 liferaft racks on the starboard side:

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Futher aft - blurrily in view in the liferaft shot - is the starboard whip aerial gantry:

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Too hot & tired to wear my Optivisor for longer than an hour or so, and you definitely don’t want to be messing about with PE when knackered!

 

So that’s all for this evening; more soon

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Yes, the hangar roof is separate - partly to help you paint it, but also I assume because the configuration of Seacats / directors (even 40mm guns at the very start) on top varied a lot between Ikara / Exocet / Towed Array / Seawolf/ Gun Leanders, and this must make catering for each type much easier.

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Some seriously good PE work going on there.  Interesting that you don't paint the base coat before adding the detail.  My hand is nowhere near steady enough to paint around all that detail so I have to pait as I go. 

 

I'm looking forward to ANDROMEDA being released as I spent 7 months in her as a Sub Lt.  I also hear rumour that Peter's working on BOXER as a future release.

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2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Some seriously good PE work going on there.  Interesting that you don't paint the base coat before adding the detail.  My hand is nowhere near steady enough to paint around all that detail so I have to pait as I go. 

 

I'm looking forward to ANDROMEDA being released as I spent 7 months in her as a Sub Lt.  I also hear rumour that Peter's working on BOXER as a future release.

I talked to him at the weekend, and he’s currently working on all 3 versions of the Type 22 hull, which makes me very happy (having done my watchkeeping & ocean navigation qualifications in Boxer [straight out of the builders’ yard] and then later been Flt Cdr of Broadsword): Batch 1, Batch 2 with Lynx flight deck (Boxer & Beaver only, I think), and Batch 2 / 3 with Seaking flight deck.  Between them that will allow him to offer the entire class in all its guises.  Hoorah!

 

Painting order is one of the things I have to think about the most in all ship builds.  For this one, there isn’t much more that will be added before I paint, for all the reasons you say.  Guardrails etc definitely post base coat, for instance.  On the other hand, I don’t want visible gaps under superstructure parts, which means adding them [and filling if necessary] before paint.

 

I tend to end up kind of modular; the two masts will remain separate while they’re painted (though they’ll have their yards etc fitted).  The davits and boats definitely not fitted until late in the piece.  The VDS somewhere half way; the grey bits probably fitted quite early, but the “yellow submarine” definitely later.  Planning to have the Wasp in Fly 1, nose in hangar and the door half down - which means I don’t need to add too much detail inside the hangar!

 

Anyway... tonight’s unfeasibly small pieces of brass include:

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... the tail fins and cradle of the (white metal) Type 199 variable depth sonar, together with the standard Swann Morton scale reference.

 

And the Ikara telemetry mast, with a caged ladder (pretty prominent on the original) nicked from some spare PE from my Ark 5 build:

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More soon

 

Crisp

 

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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...and this evening’s episode.  Major hat tip to Peter’s prowess at PE design.  This winch arrangement for the VDS (type 199) is complex - 8 pieces of brass in total.  Very fragile while you are building it, but once everything is in place it’s surprisingly robust - and I cannot think of any other medium that would allow anything like this level of complex inter-linked detail in this scale.

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It fits (dry fit to test, earlier in the sequence) right aft in the VDS well, comme ça:

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Note also the HF aerial added since we were last looking back here (the odd inverted-cone-on-a-stick thingy).

 

Other than that, I have completed the port side liferaft racks and whip aerial gantry - you’ve already seen the starboard ones, so I won’t bore you with the details of this lot.  

 

That means I’ve got to this point as I stop this evening (dry fitted masts, hangar roof, a/s mortar & Wasp to show general effect) [the maritime equivalent of running round the room making “vrooom” noises as soon as you have the wings fitted to an aircraft!]

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More soon

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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  • 2 weeks later...

Back from Burgundy, fatter and happy after a week of too much gorgeous food & drink.

 

A little work on the fore-top-mast, adding PE yards and aerials to the white metal main section, then fitting the topmast, and then adding the railings around it.  Delicate stuff that needs patience & a steady hand (& an Optivisor!), so an hour or so is plenty for one sitting.

 

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Ignore the VDS winch frame visible in both pics, and the mainmast visible in the lower one.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Tonight’s eye test results...

 

1.  The foremast, with added ladders on the forward face & railings on the Type 978 (navigation) radar platform.  Starting to get nice & busy now, with still a fair amount to add.

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2. The bridge roof.  Leanders had a very distinctive ridge around the edge of their bridge roof (spurnwater??).  They had it all round the edge of the deck, too (where it was definitely a spurnwater), but those areas will have railings so don’t need added detail.  The bridge roof, however, needs something - this is 7 very carefully measured & trimmed sections of spare railing left over from Ark Royal.  Still the 2 rear sections to add, but I’m pleased with how this looks.

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3.  The wee ladder up onto the bridge roof (which for some reason gives me great pleasure)

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4.  Finally, the rear face of the mainmast, which has also sprouted an ex-Ark ladder

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Out tomorrow night; more Thursday.

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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