1/72 HMS Brave Borderer

[JohnWS]

Hello again!

 

After a couple of months of research & deliberation, I've decided to attempt scratch building my next model using a 1/72 Tamiya Vosper Fast Patrol Boat Perkasa model as the basis for this build.

 

 

I built the Perkasa OOB many years ago.  It almost survived 3 house moves, but sadly ended up it the scrap bin for parts salvage.  I still consider the Perkasa as one of the best quality plastic kits I've built & couldn't bring myself to throw it in the garbage.  

 

If all goes well, I'm going to turn my old Perkasa model into this;

 

 

I'm really not sure if this conversion build will be successful, but let's give it a good try anyway.

 

First up, disassembling the Perkasa model.  Luckily the bridge & engine room superstructures are only snapped in place for ease of removal, & the build is so old most the glued parts come apart with very little persuasion (no CA glue back in the day).

 

 

The most obvious difference between Perkasa & Brave Borderer is the shape of the superstructures.  So, I'm going to attempt to modify the superstructures first.  If this works out, the rest of the build should be relatively easy (famous last words).

 

 

I found a set of detailed drawings & a number of photos of Brave Borderer on the 'net.  I've scaled the drawings to 1/72 scale for reference.

 

To get a better idea of what work needs to be done, I'm using Photoshop to overlay the scaled drawings on photos of the Perkasa model parts.  Here's the starboard side of the bridge & engine room structures with drawing overlays.

 

 

 

I plan on making drawing overlays for the port side & top view of the superstructures, as well.  As luck would have it, I'm finding some size discrepancies between the Perkasa model, the drawings, & scaled photos of the actual boat.  Being a stickler for accuracy & detail, it looks like I may have swallow a little modelling pride & make a few judgement calls to make everything look close to the actual boat. 

 

I'm going to continue transferring the Brave Borderer drawing dimensions onto the Perkasa parts before starting any conversion surgery.  This will probably take a few months to complete based on the limited modelling time I have available over the summer.

 

I'll keep you posted as work progresses.

 

As always, thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

[phildagreek]

Looks like an interesting project.

[longshanks]

Nice one John

Will be following with interest . . . .

 

 

Kev

[stevehnz]

Hi John, I'll tag along too if I may.

Steve.

[dnl42]

Well, this will certainly be interesting to watch!

 

I have enough problems building a model, I have no idea how you'll rebuild a model into a different vessel...

[JohnWS]

38 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

... I have no idea how you'll rebuild a model into a different vessel...

I'm sure there will be a lot of trial & error.  

 

John

[Kevin Aris]

i will be here watching (stalking)

[beefy66]

Another great looking project I will be taking notes. 

 

beefy 

[Courageous]

Looks like bit of a cult following, i'm in. I have the Perkasa on the shelf waiting for some attention so what ever you do will, as usual, be detailed and to a high standard.

 

Stuart

[bootneck]

Hello John,

I shall also be following your build with interest.  I have been trying, fairly unsuccessfully, to obtain enough details so that I could scratchbuild her in 1:144 scale.  This thread could become the source of information I will need. 

 

cheers

Mike

[JohnWS]

Oh, oh, the pressure's on. 

 

Thanks everyone for coming along for the ride.  It should be a fun journey.

 

BTW, who's bringing the beer?  

[Terry1954]

OK, here I am with the beer. This looks VERY interesting!

 

Terry

[beefy66]

On 6/16/2019 at 1:51 PM, JohnWS said:

BTW, who's bringing the beer?  

Well I have just been given this lot I think my family are trying to tell me something when it comes to my birthday  

 

 

So should be well sorted for when this gets going fully

 

beefy

[Courageous]

   

 

Stuart

[longshanks]

Happy Birthday Beefy 🎂

 

Kev

[Murdo]

Definately following this one!

 

I vaguely remember an advert back in my young days of a RN crew running along a wharf to a Patrol Boat then setting off at speed which may been one of these (Brave Borderer, not Perkasa). Does anyone else remember it?

[JohnWS]

Here's a couple more drawing overlays;

 

Edit: Bridge Structure Footprint photo updated June 21, 2019 to show new drawing overlay, below.

 

 

 

Comparing Brave Borderer & Perkasa transoms, it looks like there will be a number of modifications to the Perkasa model for the Brave Borderer build.  I've identified the key areas requiring change with red arrows, in the following photo.

 

 

Due to the major modifications needed, It looks like I'm going to have to replace the Perkasa model's deck with a blank plastic sheet deck similar to my ELCO PT Boat build, plus replace the Perkasa transom with blank plastic sheet as well.

 

John

 

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by JohnWS

[Courageous]

A few tentative steps and away we go .

I've been doing a little investigating myself with the view of maybe doing 'Swordsman' but that's different again! Interesting times ahead.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

6 hours ago, Courageous said:

I've been doing a little investigating myself with the view of maybe doing 'Swordsman' but that's different again! Interesting times ahead.

Hi Stuart.

 

Brave Swordsman was my first choice because of her uniqueness.  Sadly, I couldn't find much detailed information about her.  Just a few stbd/port side-view photos.  Hopefully you have better luck.

 

 

John

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

uniqueness

They are both unique. I do find it rather weird that you can find more info on one but very little for the other. As for 'better luck', I think your research techniques will produce better returns than mine. Hopefully the 'hive mind' of BM Maritime will produce the results we all want.

 

This might be useful for some bits

 

Stuart

Edited June 18, 2019 by Courageous

[JohnWS]

Another drawing overlay.

 

Edit June 21, 2019; as follows;

 

I received new technical information regarding the deck & superstructure layouts from BM member 'longshanks'.  Thanks Kev.

 

As a result, I've updated the Brave Borderer bridge drawing overlay to include the correct bridge layout, as shown below.  Note the bridge opening is close in size to the opening included on the Perkasa model.

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by JohnWS

[beefy66]

This is getting very interesting with all this reference material. 

 

beefy 

[JohnWS]

Next, separating the Perkasa's deck from the model's hull.

 

 

Note all the paint 'splotches' on the interior of the hull.  I used the inside of the hull to mix & match various paint colours when first building the model. 

 

Next, I printed a scaled Brave Borderer deck plan drawing.

 

And finally, cut out the deck plan & test fit it to the Perkasa hull.  

 

 

Not a bad fit, & one more step closer to starting the actual build.  

 

Thanks for checking in.

 

John

 

 

[Courageous]

20 hours ago, JohnWS said:

Not a bad fit,

Glad about that. 

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

Intriguing concept John.  Looking forward to seeing this unfold.  I'm confident that you'll smash it

Rob