1/350 HMS BULOLO scratchbuild ***FINALLY FINISHED***

[Chewbacca]

Surprisingly with the Easter break and so on I've actually made a fair bit of progress.

 

I'll start with the base purely because you asked about it Steve.  Having skimmed it with Plaster of Paris, I had given it a base coat of black followed by a Vallejo royal blue.  I then followed up with a a series of light mists royal blue with increasing drops of black added before spraying a sky blue around the inside of the well cut for the hull.  Here it is at that point with the model test fitted.

 

 

I then tackled the bow wave and Kelvin wake with a very light spray from the airbrush - and it looked horrid.  It just didn't work.  So I waited a week for it to all dry thoroughly and started again, basically back to the point that it is above though this time I added more skyblue as a base for the stern wake.  Having failed once with the airbrush, I then reverted to trusty hairy stick for the bow wave etc.  Looks much better though far from perfect and still needs more work - sadly no photos of the latest version.

 

Attention then turned back to the boats and I finished off the gravity davits from plasticard, the guardrails around the davits - the photo above actually was taken about 1/3 way through this process.  The LCP(L)s themselves were finished off with some home made decals for their individual pennant numbers.  Only task left for those now is to mount them on the davits and fix the appropriate rigging.

 

Most recently it's been the foremast which I have started to scratchbuild.  the lower section of this mast is a wooden skewer that I clamped into the Dremmel and fired it up to max speed while holding it in progressively finer wet and dry paper to get it to about the right diameter.  I've also started on the mizzen mast using the same process but trying to get the taper on as I go.  That's proving more than a little challenging!  The A frame and lowest platform is plastic rod and plastic card respectively whereas the support frame for the platform is offcuts of PE.

 

Sorry about the quality of the photo - I'll change it for a better one next time I get to the bench with the camera.

 

Now a question.  On the lower foremast platform, there is a quite prominent "thing".  It shows quite clearly in the photo at the bottom of this page:

http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=1769#v

and in this one

https://flic.kr/p/fcg9nz

(where if I wasn't dreaming I would say it was a Type 278 height finding radar!).  Could it be a Type 277 radar which was similar?  I'm struggling tobelieve that in 1944/45 when even some major warships didn't have radar that they would have fitted a headquarters ship with it.  But it doesn't look like anything else?  I'm open to suggestions.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Chewbacca

[Bandsaw Steve]

Sea is looking good Chewie. As for the radar I don’t claim to know much about such things but I would have thought that an HQ ship would have had a high priority for radar and other sensors - it looks like a radar to me. 

[Courageous]

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

Great progress on sea and ship, the detail is bringing it alive

Having just looked up Type 277 radars - I think it's most likely

Does this pic clinch it?

HMS Vanguard

 

Rob

[JohnWS]

I agree with you Rob.

 

One more close-up photo of the Type 277.  This time with the antenna in the horizontal position.

 

https://www.combinedops.com/COM_PHOTOS/FDT 13 FAR EAST REFIT.jpg

 

John

 

[Chewbacca]

Thanks for all of your replies and my apologies for not acknowledging - I've been away for work for a few days and my laptop had dumped my BM password.

 

I'm still surprised because I wouldn't have thought that a Headquarters Ship would be a high priority given that she would always have escorts around her but I am convinced so will look to try an produce one of those this weekend. 

 

Best regards

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

In the second (Malta) pic it certainly looks like a Type 277.  I can’t think of anything else from that era that would need to be positioned so high up - it’s not like it’s some kind of electro-optic Johnson!  An oddity, certainly, but nothing else springs to mind

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Crispin.  My initial thought was that it was more likely to be a searchlight of some description but armed with the weight of evidence above, I did a bit more of a search and found several close ups of 277 (this one being the best) so 277 it is going to be.

 

 

Now onto the next question.  Does anyone have a set of Gold Medal Models 1/350 Liberty Ship PE in their stash?  As I have said earlier, I am using it for a lot of the merchant ship specific elements but I have managed to misplace the instructions and cannot work out how to fold the liferaft frames.  I've been in communication with GMM but bizarrely, although they have been very helpful, they don't have access to a scanner and are unable to email me a pdf.  They have offered to send me a copy but to avoid them incurring costs for my mistake, they have asked that I I send them a stamped addressed envelope, which of course living in UK and getting US airmail stamps is going to be a little challenging!!  So does anyone have a set of instructions that they could scan and PM to me?

 

Thanks

[JohnWS]

Although i don't have a copy of the original GMM instructions, here are links to the instructions posted on the modelwarship.com site.  The resolution's not the best, but they're better than nothing.

 

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/pe/gm_etch/350-31-liberty/libert-01-p01.jpg

 

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/pe/gm_etch/350-31-liberty/libert-01-p02.jpg

 

John

Edited May 12, 2019 by JohnWS

[Chewbacca]

Thanks John, As you say, not great resolution but more than adequate for what I need.  Thanks very much.

 

Bit of an update on the Type 277 radar.  I'm getting quite adept at making them now.  There are three somewhere on the floor, a fourth where the antenna was a fraction too big to fit into the support cradle (or should I say, the second cradle as the first of those was also gobbled up by the carpet monster) and one that is awaiting the base to be constructed when I had to stop for the day!  I just love the sweet trajectory they make as they ping out of the tweezers in an arc to oblivion!

[Bandsaw Steve]

FWIW whenever I work on small pieces I try to attach some masking tape to them first. This stops most of the escapees flicking off into the fifth dimension. 

[Courageous]

16 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

this one being the best

That's a good find, looking forward to seeing it built (...if you can hold onto the little bugger)

 

Stuart

[dnl42]

Nice work on this!

 

I was scanning my cache of LCM pictures, and I happened upon one that includes a shot of your vessel that I found at Getty Images. It has a good view of the gravity roller davits.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

[Chewbacca]

Thanks for that.  I do have that photo but mine came direct from the IWM website and the resolution is nowhere near as good so yours is very useful to show the detail.  Unfortunately it shows that I missed two rollers per davit - the top one on the outside and the middle one on the inside!

[Chewbacca]

Finished the Type 277 radar.  The antenna is made from spare WEM 1/600 County Class flight deck netting trimmed to a circle of approximate size, pressed around a hemispherical former and then edged with stretched sprue.  Details are then built up with offcuts of PE frame and Evergreen 30 and 40 thou strip.  The base is slightly higher than the one shown in the diagram linked in #33 but otherwise it wouldn't clear the guardrails and more matches this image.  I need to give it a light wash to bring out some of the detail I realised after I took this photo.

 

I've also finished off most of the armament although have still to work out whether there were 20mm, 40mm or no guns on the poop deck.  There are photos that seem to show all 3 variants at different times in here life.  I am tending towards the 40mm largely because of this photo which has the late war aerial configuration and appears to show a Bofors right down aft but it is very difficult to tell.  The forward 3 20mm Oerlikons are shown fitted to their guntubs below and in the raised midships sponsons (which is just dry fitted for now while I work out the other arrangements around there).  The forward 40mm Bofors are also just dry fitted while I tackle the liferaft frames.  I've made one of the midships frames (again also dry fitted for now) but looking back at the photos of the ship entering Malta that seems too large.  I guess that's the penalty of using PE designed for a completely different ship.  I'll have a play around to see what can be done.

 

Finally I started on the weathering.  I'm experimenting with AK Interactive rust streaks which a few friends have raved about.  First impressions aren't convincing me but then I am building it up gradually.  The one photo that I have that is definitely in the Far East seem to show that the rust was quite under control but then in contract, the photo taken in Malta (which must have been taken while she was on her way out to the Far East because the Type 277 radar wasn't fitted in all of the photos taken of her in the run up to and during Operation Overlord) show it to be much worse.  I'm guessing that at some point between Malta and joining the Far East fleet when the blue camouflage was added, all of her upperworks were repainted.

 

 

 

 

 

[Courageous]

Adding the stuff is improving her no end. Looking really nice.

 

Stuart

[Chewbacca]

Been putting off rigging the davits for far too long but had a day off from work yesterday after working 22 hours over the weekend so finally got around to tacking the job which I finished off tonight.  Unfortunately the photos don't really show just how fiddly all the respective lines were and of course looking at them from this angle, I've actually hidden a lot of the work behind the boats.  All done with extended sprue.  I was tempted to use EZ line but I wanted to be able to get the boats level without any elasticity.  They also don't show that as a result of doing all of this under the magnifying glass, I forgot about the foremast on at least 3 occasions and send the 277 radar flying across the workbench.  It's all back together but looking a little battle scarred now!

 

Apologies the second photo is slightly out of focus.  I'll retake it next time I get the chance and replace it. 

 

BTW, almost every photo I have of BULOLO seems to show her with B2 missing (bar the ones when HM King George VI was reviewing the landing fleet at Beaulieu Roads in May 1944) so that's how I've portrayed her.

 

The shiny patches on the funnel are Klear ready for some decals to go on when I've printed them.  I forgot the do those ones when I did the LCP pennant numbers

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Chewbacca
Improved quality photo

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Rigged in a proper seaman-like manner.  As one would expect!

[Chewbacca]

Cheers.  I've swapped the second photo over now but even that's struggling a little with focus on the left hand side.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Chewy, nice photos and model. I've found that when taking close-ups of models I stand off a bit and zoom in, rather than bring the camera in. I think it gives a greater depth of field, that area that remains in focus, plus more even light. More knowledgeable photographers could give you more advice here I think. HTH. Regards, Jeff.

[Chewbacca]

I'm sure that you're right Arnold.  I think the thing that would improve it no end is to use a proper camera rather than my phone but then the phone is in my pocket when I'm modelling and the camera usually upstairs.  The phone supposedly has a better resolution that my Canon EOS anyway!

[Courageous]

11 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

struggling a little with focus on the left hand side.

 

10 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

close-ups of models I stand off a bit and zoom in, rather than bring the camera in. I think it gives a greater depth of field

Arnold is correct in that it is a depth-of-field issue that on phones, is mainly due to being too close; the closer you are, the shorter your focal length, the smaller depth-of-field. 

Stand back, take your pic and then crop in (which you can usually do on the phone). If you're using a camera, work in Aperture Priority, select something like f16 (the higher the f-stop, the greater the DoF) and take your pic. The downside of an f16 is that you may need extra light and a tripod, if not, the shutter will be open for longer and then you may get camera shake causing a blurred image.

 

HTH

 

Stuart

[Bandsaw Steve]

All looking rather fabulous Chewie!

 

Looks like some more progress has been made on the seascape. Might I request one or two shots on the next posting please. 

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Steve and will do.  It's all packed away for safety now as our cats have a habit of running amok and they will run into it if I leave it out but I'll give an update on the seascape next time its out (hopefully this week work permitting).

 

This weekend just gone has mainly focussed on putting together the last two l'Arsenal Bofors, building the radio office that sits between the bridge superstructure and funnel and detailing the Flag bridge.

 

I finally found some plans for her though 😀  A US website is offering the original 1942 General Arrangement plans following her 1942 refit.  But at $235 I think not 😲, especially since she had at least two more design/layout changes between August 1942 and July 1945.

 

Best rgds

Edited June 9, 2019 by Chewbacca

[Chewbacca]

Oh the joys of scratch building without plans (despite the discovery of the US plans noted above) and really rather sketchy information.

 

Way back in Post #6, you may recall that I'd found a couple of photos on the IWM website in which I thought there were ladders up from 01 to 02 deck towards the aft end.  Well I was sat there last Monday on a day off from work (having worked all weekend to get some customer deliverables finished off to deliver to the MOD at 0830 Monday morning) looking at this photo https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205156280 when reality dawned that this Bofors was exactly where the aft ladders came through the deck.  So they needed to be removed and the access filled.

 

 

It's not 100% level but the filled holes are covered by the Bofors so it's good enough for Government work as they might say.

 

You'll also recall that back in Post #40, I was pondering over the after armament.   I knew that when she was converted from Armed Merchant Cruiser to Headquarters Ship that a pair of 2 pounders, later swapped for Bofors, were fitted just forward of the bridge screen and a second pair on 02 deck (as noted above).  I had looked at this photo:

 

many times and convinced myself that the gun on the poop deck was also a 40mm Bofors, but had always had slight doubt as why would you only fit a single Bofors on the centreline when there is more than enough space for a pair.  Then the US plans got me thinking.  They are dated 17 June 1942 which is the middle of the refit in which she was converted to a Headquarters ship and they do clearly show all of the Oerlikons and 2 pdrs  but they still show that the aft most gun remained a 6 inch.  And to be fair, in that photo above, that after mounting does look larger than a single Bofors.  So armed with that as an assumption, I set about scratch building a BL 6 in Mk VII.I.

 

Again, with no plans, a Wikipedia article and just one photo (linked from Wiki), I set about transforming some 10 thou plasticard, Master Tools 0.3 mm brass tube, a different diameter selection plastic rod, Albion Alloys 0.1 and 0.2 mm nickel rod and spare PE wheels etc into something that looks vaguely like a 6 in Mk VII.

 

 

 

Also in #40 I highlighted doubts about the height of the frames for the Carley floats and the IWM photo confirmed it.  The top photo above shows the original frame built as per the GMM Liberty Ship instructions on the right and the cut down version on the left.  The photo below shows both cut down frames in place.  They're still not quite right as there should just be two uprights on the inboard end rather than half a support frame complete with cross bracing but they're near enough.

 

 

The top photo highlighted that the port side 20mm gunshield was way off line which I hadn't spotted previously so this gave an opportunity to correct that though I still haven't replaced the broken barrel.

 

Just aft of there I had two semi-circular shelters but was unsure quite why they were there.  The US plans indicated that they should have an Oerlikon on yet my shelters were not large enough to put an Oerlikon on so they both had to come off, the deck cleaned up and larger shelters built with a platform on top to hold an Oerlikon.

 

Starboard side removed

 

New platforms in place

 

Finally Steve asked for an updated on the seascape.

 

As noted back in #26, I skimmed the foam with Plaster of Paris and used a small craft trowel to build up the bow wave and Kelvin wake from the plaster.  It was initially painted as noted in #26 but I wasn;t happy so took it back to basics with a black undercoat, several misted coats of Vallejo royal blue with increasing drops of firstly Vallejo gunship green then drops of Vallejo black.  I used a light sky blue with a increasing drops of white spray around the inside of the hole for the hull and stern wake.  once it was all dry I then brush painted the waves and tops of the wake with Tamiya gloss white.

 

After leaving it for a week, I then went over the whole base with a very thin wash of extra dark sea grey with a couple of drops of black, especially over the waves to tone the down as they were far too prominent. Once that was all dry and the ship glued to the base using white glue, I started to fill the gap between the hull and the surrounding water with Liquidex. whilst using the same medium to give a little more height to the bow wave.  I'm still not 100% happy as for some bizarre reason I have 2 wayward waves.  On the port side, the wave  just behind the first bowwave is far too far forward and out of the correct pattern whereas on the starboard side I have an additional half wave starting just below the bridge that is a bit pathetic looking and shouldn't really be there.  Not sure at the moment how best to correct them but am open to suggestions (any that start with rip the model of the base and start the base again will be ignored!).

 

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by Chewbacca
Typos corrected