DIpping my toes back into Maritime - a 1/72 Vosper MTB

[Terry1954]

15 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Those PE tube supports look pretty neat

It does look neat, but very fiddly to construct. I've almost done four now, only twelve more to do!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

It's because of the fiddly PE that I got myself one of those PE folding tools at SMW (I didn't just buy kits you know)

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Not much achieved this week due to major distractions around a house sale, which are mostly sorted now. There was also a small hiccup on the etch brass sets which come with the Coastal Craft Models 18 inch Torpedo sets, which I only discovered whilst I was making up more of these brackets...........

 

I discovered that the two complete sets I had purchased had different etched brass:

 

Set 1 above is a correct and complete etch set which makes up the brass for two complete Torpedo supports and shoulders, 8 supports per tube, two tubes. Set 2, the one I had been working from  initially, actually has the lower row of twin holed brackets missing. They just don't exist on the fret. You can see the frets are actually different. A quick phone call to Coastal Craft Models and it turns out that the early etch examples (set 2 above) were wrong, and some may have been distributed in error, before the correct set with the full amount was re-produced (set 1 above). I was duly promised another (correct) etch fret in the post, and hey presto it actually arrived the next day. That is what I call service! Well done and many thanks to Coastal Craft Models.

 

So now, after another session building Torpedo tube support brackets, we have eight completed, enough for two tubes. Eight more to go. And the good news is I have some spares now in case any are ruined in assembly (not unlikely!) I will make up all that I can which will be 20 now that I have some spares, and pick the best 16 for the model.

 

Getting back to the model itself, I managed to close up the hull and here you see her with bridge (so far) temporarily in place. Still more to do mainly on the outside of the bridge, but she is starting to take shape:

 

The join between hull and deck took much fiddling and clamping to get right and I wasn't happy in the end with the way the toe rail(?) and join itself co-habited so I have taken off all but the forward pair of moulded toe rail detail and and that has  enabled me to properly putty some of the worst joins. It was just too fiddly to do that and preserve the toe rail. I have left the front rails for now as these were less prone to problems and they are curved, so would be harder to replace. I plan to replace all the others with square section micro strip.

 

So this is where we are tonight:

 

Looking at that last shot of the front remaining rail you can see the join which still needs making good. They may yet have to be replaced!

 

More soon

 

Terry

[longshanks]

Some great work going on here Terry !

 

Updating a 30 year old Airfix kit was never going to be easy but you seem to be rising to the challenge . . . . .

 

 

Kev

[Terry1954]

17 minutes ago, longshanks said:

Some great work going on here Terry !

 

Updating a 30 year old Airfix kit was never going to be easy but you seem to be rising to the challenge . . . . .

 

 

Kev

Thanks Kev. Yes, there seems to be lots to refine and fix, but for my first Coastal Forces model (ever), I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

Good to see some action on this old girl. FWIW, I would've 'hoiked' those remaining rails off and replaced them all, will look a lot better.

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

Well done Terry - I'm loving this though remembering some of the aggravations I had

Rob

[Terry1954]

10 hours ago, Courageous said:

Good to see some action on this old girl. FWIW, I would've 'hoiked' those remaining rails off and replaced them all, will look a lot better.

 

Stuart

It is as if you read my mind Stuart. Looking at the picture, they really won't do, so they will be "hoiked" off!

 

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Well done Terry - I'm loving this though remembering some of the aggravations I had

Rob

Thanks Rob. Many aggravations indeed............... 😣

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

So all the toe rails ( I assume thats what they are) have been "hoiked" off. You were right Stuart, it will look better. Here is how she looks tonight after some extensive green stuffing, sanding and a quick coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 on affected areas just to see what further tidying up is needed around the deck edges.

 

 

As you can see that deck has taken some major surgery in the form of removal of many moulded on items that will either be replaced from scratch or using aftermarket details. This is my first ever 1/72 model boat and I want it to be a good'n! That said, it's going to take a while............

 

Terry

[Courageous]

3 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

So all the toe rails ( I assume thats what they are) have been "hoiked" off. You were right Stuart, it will look better.

A good place to start with them rails off. I've got some of that Mr Surfacer 1000 and I can't get the hang of it, seems to be overly hard when it comes to sanding it, must be doing something wrong. 

 

Stuart

[Modelholic]

Got one of these in the stash and (hopefully) should have two Coastal Craft kits soon.

What I find interesting is the showing of the sliding top on the port hatchway cover and the TT saddles here on the quay. Does this mean they could be fitted where the crew prefered?

I've built this kit many many moons ago (1980ish) and remember wondering why the mushroom vents were sited in the way of the companionways (Terry's vent chambers)

 

[Terry1954]

Yes, they do seem to be in the way, but appear to be correct according to plans I have.

 

I'm getting me hobby space back shortly so should get this one back into production soon.

 

Terry

[Bandsaw Steve]

On 30/11/2018 at 06:45, longshanks said:

 

 

Updating a 30 year old Airfix kit was never going to be easy but you seem to be rising to the challenge . . . . .

 

 

Kev

Sorry Longshanks but I well remember my dad having built this kit when I was at primary school and that’s a lot longer than 30 years ago. Unless it’s been updated I reckon this kits closer to half a century- which makes the work here even more impressive.

[modelman182]

Great work on this old girl, Terry. Looking forward to seeing you re-commence in your new work space.

 

@Bandsaw Steve has it right with the age of this. Originally released in 1972 and not yet been re-tooled (but multiple re-boxings). Terry's boxing is the 1976 first re-box of the original. Info thanks to Scalemates, of course 🙂

 

Kev

[Terry1954]

43 minutes ago, modelman182 said:

Looking forward to seeing you re-commence in your new work space.

Thanks Kev. I should point out that its not new work space, simply moving back into the existing one. We had an extraordinary number/amount/volume/mass of family to say down here this Christmas and New Year, which meant adopting the hobby room as an overspill bedroom for a few weeks. For damage limitation purposes, I decided to stash everything away!  Will re-commence soon>

 

2 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Sorry Longshanks but I well remember my dad having built this kit when I was at primary school and that’s a lot longer than 30 years ago. Unless it’s been updated I reckon this kits closer to half a century- which makes the work here even more impressive.

Appreciate your comments Steve. It is a challenge though!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Will re-commence soon>

Come on Terry...get your finger out. 

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

Looking forward to the recommencement, Terry.

 

John

 

 

  

Edited January 11, 2019 by JohnWS

[mick b]

Hi Terry,

 

Impressive work so far.

 

I am building one of these myself at present and wondered what you have based your requirement to increase the height of the wheelhouse on?

 

Having compared and measured against the 72nd plan in the October 78 issue of airfix magazine I would say it was pretty much spot on? Granted the windows may be a little large and the rolled up canvas cover too thick but otherwise not an issue. I stand to be corrected if you have other evidence?

 

Cheers

 

Mike 

[Modelholic]

Looking at your bridge improvements have you considered cutting the top of the bridge door to represent the doors' sides? In your pics it looks solid with the rest of the rear bulkhead (and maybe a tad thick)

Tom

[surfsup]

That is some very impressive work.....Cheers mark

[Terry1954]

On 1/24/2019 at 7:03 PM, mick b said:

Hi Terry,

 

Impressive work so far.

 

I am building one of these myself at present and wondered what you have based your requirement to increase the height of the wheelhouse on?

 

Having compared and measured against the 72nd plan in the October 78 issue of airfix magazine I would say it was pretty much spot on? Granted the windows may be a little large and the rolled up canvas cover too thick but otherwise not an issue. I stand to be corrected if you have other evidence?

 

Cheers

 

Mike 

Thanks Mike. I'm using the John Lambert plans from a number of sources, both reference books ad actual plans.  I think these are considered to be amongst the most accurate. I have not seen the Airfix magazine plans and therefore don't know their origin, but wonder whether they may have been more aligned to the model itself, back in 1978?

 

21 hours ago, Modelholic said:

Looking at your bridge improvements have you considered cutting the top of the bridge door to represent the doors' sides? In your pics it looks solid with the rest of the rear bulkhead (and maybe a tad thick)

Tom

Hi Tom. That's a good thought and I'll take a look at that when I resume work. Some real life projects and work have got in the way at the moment!

 

17 hours ago, surfsup said:

That is some very impressive work.....Cheers mark

Thanks Mark, appreciate that!

 

Terry

[mick b]

Hi Terry,

 

The plans in the airfix mag are also Lambert ones of the later 523-530 Vospers with the 6 pdr up front so maybe I’m missing something, still; thanks for the clarification.

 

Regards

 

Mike

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Some real life projects and work have got in the way at the moment!

Less of the chit-chat Terry , focus on this MTB. 

Waiting to take more notes 

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I last did any work on the Vosper. Lots of travel and work stuff got in the way, but I'm now back and able to make some progress.

 

You will recall the last thing I did was strip off the poorly defined toe rails around the deck edge. The good news is I have replaced them now with some fine microstrip. I was pretty pleased with the result:

 

 

The torpedo tube supports from the kit will be used to house the brass etched cradles, on top of which fits the nicely moulded resin tubes by Coatsal Craft. That means some surgery on the kit parts first. This is what you get:

 

 

First idea was to cut the supporting framework away, and then construct them out of the four parts (two sides above) plus two ends.

 

 

This proved quite fiddly in the end, so I decided to assemble the other three tubes complete, and then cut away the whole four sided frame.

 

 

So the brass cradles can then sit on top of these, like so. These are not fixed on yet.

 

 

The resin tube will sit on top of that like so:

 

 

The frames will all be done that way and cleaned up. I think the end result will look a lot better than the kit offering.

 

More detailed deck work will follow soon. The plan is to get everything improved/ready for fitting before deciding which bits go on before painting, and which buts subsequent to that.

 

A long way to go still but some progress at last.

 

Terry

[longshanks]

Good to see you back at the bench 

 

A good compromise that should finish up with an elegant solution.

Toe rails look much better.

 

Kev