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

[JohnWS]

 

John

[Courageous]

As Kev says, welcome back...again.

Looks like a good improvement over the kit tubes.

My own ASRL has stalled a little but hopefully a restart soon.

 

Stuart

[Modelholic]

A quick question for all the Coastal Forces 1/72 modelers.

What do you use to rig these wonderful models?

Tom

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, Modelholic said:

A quick question for all the Coastal Forces 1/72 modelers.

What do you use to rig these wonderful models?

Tom

I use the two smaller diameter of Uschi line.

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

On 5/6/2019 at 1:07 PM, Courageous said:

I use the two smaller diameter of Uschi line.

 

Stuart

Ditto and for thicker lines - EZ standard

Rob

[robgizlu]

Terry  - a belated Big welcome back from me too.  Great job on the toe rails and those Torp tubes/stands have turned out really nicely

Rob

[Terry1954]

13 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Terry  - a belated Big welcome back from me too.  Great job on the toe rails and those Torp tubes/stands have turned out really nicely

Hi Rob. Thanks! I'm gradually getting some time back now after a very busy  few months.

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

I finished the Iranian F-5E a few weeks back (RFI in that section) but then got distracted by some gardening projects including building a raised vegetable bed in the garden using reclaimed wood from Swanage pier. Then it was time for some reconfiguration of the Hobby space - more shelves were needed and some re-arrangement also took place, so very little time for modelling for a weeks, until today.

 

I thought it was time to get back to my maritime subject, the Vosper. I spent a very pleasant afternoon assembling two of the four new torpedo tube cradles onto the modified kit bases, and cleaning up the tubes themselves.

 

 

They came up pretty good, so eight more supports to construct to produce two more units. That'll be Thursday's task as tomorrow we are off to Winchester for the day.

 

Meanwhile, test fitting tubes and she is starting to come together a bit:

 

 

One of the next things I need to determine is the internal colour for the open bridge area, as some of this will need paint before its all finally glued together as a complete structure. I have quite a few references on these boats, including external paint schemes and colour refs, but nothing at all on the colours of the internal bridge space, so any input from those who know more would be gratefully received. My best guess at the moment would be white or pale grey............

 

Meanwhile a quick glimpse of part of the reconfigured hobby space with new shelves, and some of the completed projects trying out the new top shelf, and in progress stuff on the second one down.

 

 

And finally a shot of the new raised bed in the garden. I can vouch for the fact that those main timbers are some of the heaviest lumps of wood I have ever had to man handle, and they have previously formed part of Swanage pier for many many years!

 

 

More on the Vosper later in the week.

 

Terry

[Courageous]

Looking rather 'ship-shape' there Terry.

17 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

My best guess at the moment would be white or pale grey............

From my experience it would be white if it were fully enclosed but as it's open, white would have a detrimental effect on the camouflage, so 

17 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

reconfigured hobby space

...needs to be more mess.

17 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

new raised bed

Getting into SFG then Terry?

 

Stuart 

[beefy66]

Looks like you have been very busy behind the scenes Terry  

 

beefy 

[Terry1954]

A great day in Winchester today, seeing some of the offspring, and a few of the grand offspring............my youngest grand daughter told me that she thought I made amazing models .............. so there you go, unsolicited evidence from an almost 3 year old!

 

But back to modelling........

 

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

From my experience it would be white if it were fully enclosed but as it's open, white would have a detrimental effect on the camouflage, so 

That's what I thought Stuart, so probably some tones of the colours used on the rest of the boat. I have some reference drawings that show for example, the same "floor" colour in the cockpit, as the rest of the deck. I'll ponder that one for now.........

 

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

...needs to be more mess.

give me time, give me time..............

 

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

Getting into SFG then Terry?

AcronymDefinition

SFGSpecialty Finance Group (various locations)

SFGSan Francisco Giants (baseball team)

SFGSpecial Forces Group

SFGShanghai Film Group (Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group; Shanghai, China)

SFGSan Francisco Globe (digital news company; San Francisco, CA)

SFGSquare Foot Gardening

SFGStanCorp Financial Group

SFGSum Frequency Generation

SFGSo Far Gone

SFGSusquehanna Financial Group (various locations)

SFGScouting for Girls (band)

SFGSymmetrical Field Geometry (JBL speaker technology)

SFGspotted fever group

SFGSpecialty Foods Group (Virginia and Kentucky)

SFGStylus Force Gauge (Shure)

SFGSecurity Forces Group

SFGsystemic functional grammar

SFGsuperior frontal gyrus

SFGSuperior Financial Group (est. 2005; Walnut Creek, CA)

SFGStructured Finance Group (GE)

SFGSignal Flow Graph

SFGStandards Fund Grant (UK)

SFGServicecenter Fachverlage GmbH

SFGSecure File Gateway

SFGSolutions for Growth, Inc. (Georgia)

SFGSingle Figure Golfer (UK)

SFGscope for growth

SFGSugar Frosted Goodness (online creative community)

SFGSociété Française de Garantie (French: French Warranty Company)

SFGStrategic Fulfillment Group

SFGSumitomo Financial Group (Japan)

SFGSt Martin, Netherlands Antilles - Esperance (Airport Code)

SFGSourced Finished Goods

SFGSemi-Finished Goods

SFGShort Fat Guy

SFGSugar-Free-Games (website)

SFGSociété Française des Gazons (French: French Grass Society)

SFGsugar-free gum

SFGSarkissian Financial Group (Canada)

SFGSpiritual Formation Groups

SFGSociété Française de Galvanoplastie (French: French Electroplating Company)

SFGstatistical flow graph

SFGSample Frequency Generator

SFGStudent Filmmakers Guild

SFGSilver-filled Glass

SFGSulfur Hexafluoride Gas (used in ophthalmology)

SFGSurface to Face Grenade (gaming)

SFGShore Family Group

SFGSutherland Forest Grove

SFGSpecial Food Grade

SFGShift Finger Gear

SFGSanta Fe Guides LLC

SFGSamarbeidsrådet for Geitkontroll

SFGSociété Félix Guyon (French: Felix Guyon Society; urology group)

SFGSaint Fons Gerland Savate (French boxing club)

SFGStatic Frequency Generator (400 hz electrical source for Combat Systems aboard US Naval Warships)

SFGStandards Formulating Group

SFGSuffield Financial Group

SFGStrategic Funding Group

SFGStar Fox Galaxies (gaming website)

 

You will need to help me there Stuart!

 

7 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Looks like you have been very busy behind the scenes Terry  

I have indeed Beefy. There is a saying apparently that goes something along the lines of "now that I'm retired, I don't know where I found the time to actually work". Tis true I can attest!

 

Anyway folks, at least for now, there is soon to be a burst of modelling activity............

 

Terry

 

 

[JohnWS]

Terry, here's my uneducated guess regarding bridge paint colours.  

 

I've always been confused as to what colour(s) to paint the open bridge on Coastal Forces vessels.  Many of the CF camo schemes include painting white areas to lighten shadows & blend those shadows with the rest of the surrounding paint colour, e.g. between the MG turrets & chart house on Fairmile 'D's, & between the MG round ammo ready lockers & chart house on the British Power Boat MTB's.

 

I've just assumed the bridge bulkheads could cast shadows, & I've opted to paint the bulkheads on my open bridges white to mitigate these (imagined) shadows.  I've also painted the decks the same colour as the main deck to blend the bridge deck area with the rest of the boat, when looking from above.

 

John

Edited July 24, 2019 by JohnWS

[Terry1954]

14 hours ago, JohnWS said:

I've just assumed the bridge bulkheads could cast shadows, & I've opted to paint the bulkheads on my open bridges white to mitigate these (imagined) shadows.  I've also painted the decks the same colour as the main deck to blend the bridge deck area with the rest of the boat, when looking from above.

Thanks for that John. That is sort of the direction I think I'll take.

 

A little more brass work today. This involved fabricating two of the four saddles on which Vickers guns or 2 inch flare launchers are mounted. I've folded them up but not glued yet, just to test fit. What I find odd is that they fit great, but the two lower outward folded plates, each with four bolt heads visible, don't seem to have anywhere to fix. On pictures and plans these flanges don't appear to be present, so I may just have to fold them back inwards, or chop them off!

 

 

Any suggestions welcome. These items are from the Coastal Craft set for 18 inch torpedo tubes.

 

Thanks

 

Terry

[JohnWS]

Hi Terry.

 

I ran into the same problem on my BPB MTB build.  I fixed it by carefully (to not break the PE at the bends) re-bending all the saddle bends the opposite way so the flanges are bent inwards & the bolts are facing up.  An easier solution would be to leave as is & just bend the flanges inwards.  

 

 

If you do decide to cut the flanges off, check the fit of the saddles over the TT's see if there is enough saddle leg length to attach to the TT rails without the flanges.

 

John

[Terry1954]

Thanks John. For a moment I thought I had done something wrong in the folding! Will think it through as to which way to go with these.

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

A little more work this afternoon. Whilst thumbing through my Allied Torpedo Boats book by John Lambert and Les Brown, I stumbled across this picture of the Oerlikon well..

 

 

The picture showed a slightly deeper inner step at the centre, compared to the others, plus the lightening holes around the edge.

 

The Coastal Forces resin set for the Oerlikon has a slightly more simplified version, albeit better than the Airfix representation:

 

 

So I decided to try and replicate the real thing more accurately.

 

Fist step, slice off the lower level thus

 

 

Next step clean up and fabricate a plastic strip which will fit the circumference, and test fit:

 

 

Satisfied that this will all work, I then took the plastic strip and marked the positions of the lightening hols on pairs, then drilled them out before fitting.

 

Once I was happy that would fit and the holes were the right size I reassembled everything this

 

 

A small bit of filling and cleaning up, and I think this now looks a little more like the prototype.

 

One thing I need to check out are the actual support brackets that fit below the platform, and onto the deck. Coastal Forces supply these like, which look very convincing and accurate and again a 100% improvement on the Airfix supports which were moulded to the deck and very solid.

 

 

However in the above mentioned publication there is an excellent drawing of an Oerlikon platform for a 70 foot Vosper and it looks as if it is make of sheet metal with lightening holes:

 

 

I realise the 73 foot boats may have had a different fitting arrangement, but it is very hard to find any decent pictures of the lower part of the platform.

 

I think I'll sleep on that one!

 

More soon

 

Terry

[Martian]

You seem to be well o top of this one Terry.

 

Martian 👽

[Courageous]

On 7/24/2019 at 10:57 PM, Terry1954 said:

You will need to help me there Stuart!

Terry, I quoted your raised beds so SFG must be for Square Foot Gardening surely 

Good correction on the bandstand step height and holes. Will you also be fitting the numerous tread strips that seam to missing  just asking.

13 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

One thing I need to check out are the actual support brackets that fit below the platform, and onto the deck. Coastal Forces supply these like, which look very convincing and accurate and again a 100% improvement on the Airfix supports which were moulded to the deck and very solid.

With the increase in step height you've made, would these supports be tall enough? If you're going to make a new set and fit lightening holes, you'll need a punch/ die set...better that drilling 

Carry on

 

Stuart

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Terry, I quoted your raised beds so SFG must be for Square Foot Gardening surely 

Ah but you see, it's a three dimensional raised bed, so Cubic Foot Gardening I think ........ 🤣

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Good correction on the bandstand step height and holes. Will you also be fitting the numerous tread strips that seam to missing  just asking.

Thanks. Re the tread strips, how did I guess you would spot that! If you look closely you will notice that the tread and segmentation of the bandstand in the photo does not match the one I am using in that the segmentation reduces on the real thing as the platforms reduce in size. On the model the strips that run into the centre, all line up radially, but on the real thing they don't and in fact they reduce in number as you move towards the centre. Also on the real thing it seems that those tread strips are all equal length (or near as dam it) so replicating that would mean scratch building the whole set of base rings from scratch I reckon. Modellers licence has to come in at this point.

 

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

With the increase in step height you've made, would these supports be tall enough?

Good point and I had allowed for that in my original calculations assuming the lower floor would fit neatly inside my new ring ....... then yours truly went and glued it on the bottom edge, so I'm a millimetre or so too deep. I have a plan to sort that though as I also need to modify the kits pedestal on which the original kit bandstand fitted. The replacement bandstand is not an exact match in size at the bottom.

 

The amount of surgery this kit will have gone through by the end will be considerable!

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

14 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

You seem to be well o top of this one Terry.

 

Thanks Martian. It's turned into quite a challenge, but enjoyable at least.

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

Some further progress and also some time to reflect on the differences between some of the aftermarket bits I planned to use, vs using the existing kit parts.

 

Fist more progress. Some while back I managed to construct the small brass supports for two of the four torpedo tube fittings. Eight in all for two tubes, each using 3 pieces of brass, to be bent and glued at a certain angle to achieve a realistic looking support. So this week I decided to tackle the other two tubes, so another very tricky (for me) session with the etched components. Hey presto, the remaining eight supports complete:

 

 

Before I show her with all four tubes and supports test fitted (which starts to look like an MTB should), I need to explain what I did next..........

 

I compared the modified Coastal Craft Oerlikon bandstand with further pictures and plans from the references I have from several sources and I wasn't happy that it looked right, certainly for the version of Vosper I am modelling. Mainly the tread pattern and stanchion distribution. Here is the modified Coastal Craft version with my extra depth modification:

 

 

And here is the kit part. The tread pattern matches almost perfect to plans and photos for this boat. Those mould ejection marks will need to go of course.

 

 

Note the cut out for the deck hatch (correct but obviously could be added to the aftermarket one), the tread pattern itself (correct to plans and photos) which is quite different to the resin replacement, and the stanchion fixture spread (correct again on the kit).

 

So the decision was made to use the kit part after all, with suitable modifications. 

 

Modified aftermarket part on left, partly modified kit part on right.

 

 

So using the kit part I believe I get a better representation of the prototype, but further work is needed in the form of a base for the Oerlikon pedestal, and the lightening holes around the edge, as per the first attempt. This time I will, better align them with the actual tread pattern!

 

There is one other issue. Both the above examples have been modified to a realistic depth, so the hull of the Vosper needed modifying to remove the built in plinth in order to enable the platform to sit correctly. So out came my trusty but very crude circle cutter followed by endless circular scribing motions until the raised platform dropped out as a neat disc. It actually dropped inside the hull which led to 15 minutes of frustration to get it out!

 

 

The hole of course needs plugging, and before it is plugged, there needs to be some sort of support, so I used a couple of sturdy box section plastic rods, pushed in and then pulled up and cemented to the underside of the deck. 

 

 

So this is where we are tonight.

 

 

None of the tubes or the deckhouse are fitted permanently yet, but I think she is starting to look the part.

 

Next task is to plate over the deck and complete construction of the gun platform and its supports.

 

As I pointed out at the beginning of this build, I had never built a 1/72 Coastal Forces model before, and although its a new experience for me, I'm rather enjoying it but there is a lot to learn.

 

More to come soon.

 

Terry

[Courageous]

10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Mainly the tread pattern

Crikey, I thought for a minute that you were going to add all those treads after what I said

Putting the bandstand aside with or without its issues, the tubes fitted with the PE looks pretty neat.

Carry on the good work.

 

Stuart

[TheBaron]

Some exquisite Vospering Terry and an excellent repurposing of Swanage pier!

(My youngest had his first scuba lesson under those timbers..)

 

May your raised beds bring you many happy lettuces and your bandstand sprout a stout Oerlikon.

[Terry1954]

2 hours ago, Courageous said:

Crikey, I thought for a minute that you were going to add all those treads after what I said

We haven't got to that bit yet!

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Some exquisite Vospering Terry and an excellent repurposing of Swanage pier!

Thanks Tony. The old part of the pier lives on all over the locality!

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

Not much happened in the way of any modelling over the last four or five days as I have managed to succumb to the Shingles virus, and have felt distinctly not great! I even had to cancel my planned trip up to the Avon IPMS show yesterday which was a big disappointment. I'm told by the doc that my body is fighting it well, but things may take a few more weeks to fully recover. I had it once before about 30 years ago and it's not pleasant.........

 

Anyway, did a little fiddling last night on the theme of the modified Kit bandstand using parts of the aftermarket offering and some very rough scratch building. I decided to try and fabricate a baseplate for the Oerlikon support as I wont be using the aftermarket version due to the tread pattern issues.
The bolt heads are from the MAFVA site, they do several sizes and these are the smallest. This was just a trial to see if it would work.

First a roughly cut disc, then some sketched in guide lines, then the bolts. These are extremely small and some of them went to the great carpet monster god, which in my case is a wooden floor, but they still just disappear!

 

 

And a test fit of the support piece. Bolt positions are not perfect but this may work.

 

Need to see what it looks like under a coat of paint.

 

Hopefully more soon.

 

Terry