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1/72 HMS Brave Borderer


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  • 2 weeks later...

What, more bridge details?

 

I'm afraid so!

 

The Captain's folding chair & fire extinguisher are built & added to the bridge partition, as shown below.  I couldn't find a photo of Brave Borderer's Captain's chair, so I used a chair drawing used on my BPB MTB build.

 

49566221028_554a503dd4_c.jpg

 

Next, a mini scratch build project - the Type 974 Navigation Radar located aft of the bridge opening.  Lots of tiny parts made using Evergreen plastic sheet, bar & rod.

 

Here's a photo of the finished radar assembly, & ready for paint;

 

49566222803_e49011cac6_c.jpg

 

And, a photo showing the radar assembly dry fit aft of the bridge;

 

49566225608_cdc25acd76_c.jpg

 

I read, years ago, about an accident caused by the Navigation Radar's range being set incorrectly during a boat demonstration.  I seem to remember it was Brave Borderer in the 1970's.   A troop of Boy Scouts was on board.  The boat hit the breakwater in Alderney, significantly damaging her bow and, luckily, no one was hurt.  Can anyone confirm that this incident involved Brave Borderer?

 

EDIT:  The boat involved in the collision was actually HMS Sabre.  Link to photo of HMS Sabre after collision.  Please see stevehnz's post, below.

 

Next up, I'll start detailing the superstructure's exterior.

 

As always, thanks looking in.

 

John

 

Edited by JohnWS
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Is the only access to the bridge via the small door in the front port corner? 

I'm assuming there's a ladder somewhere in the covered walkway in the lower superstructure.

That radar could be a genuine kit part rather than scratched. Outstanding!

Tom

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1 hour ago, beefy66 said:

I keep saying this but as always amazing details 👍

 

beefy 

Thanks beefy.  It's comments like your's that keep me motivated.

13 minutes ago, Modelholic said:

Is the only access to the bridge via the small door in the front port corner? 

I'm assuming there's a ladder somewhere in the covered walkway in the lower superstructure.

That radar could be a genuine kit part rather than scratched. Outstanding!

Tom

Thanks Tom.

 

A good question about the bridge access & something I've wondered about myself.  Unfortunately, I don't have a definitive answer.  From the information I have, there were three doors on the bridge, two opening to storage compartments and the one in the port corner.  It looks like the chart room/combat intelligence centre was located directly below the bridge, with a ladder located in the same port corner as the bridge door.  I'm assuming this was the ladder that accessed the bridge. :unsure:

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Only just managed to catch up with this after a few months.  Progress is amazing - I've seen shipbuilders' models that aren't as detailed as this!  The radar is a work of art in itself but the one piece that really took my eye was the flag locker.  How on earth did you get it lined up when each individual flag pocket can be not more than about 0.8mm square?

 

 

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So, (thinking out loud here) if the chart room is where the two square windows are on the port side, and the door you can just see the edge of in your 'radar' post is the entrance, there would be a ladder inboard of that door leading to the bridge.

Looking at your pic that would line up quite well!

Tom

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32 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

... the one piece that really took my eye was the flag locker.  How on earth did you get it lined up when each individual flag pocket can be not more than about 0.8mm square?

Thanks!

 

Good eye! The flag pockets are actually approx. .3 x .8 mm.

 

I wish I could say I built the flag locker with very sharp tiny tools, keen eyes, & steady hands ... but I took a more simple route. :blush:  The flag locker is actually a section I cut from the original Perkasa model's molded plastic bridge deck (simulating teak grate?).  No assembly required. 👍

 

John

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25 minutes ago, Modelholic said:

So, (thinking out loud here) if the chart room is where the two square windows are on the port side, and the door you can just see the edge of in your 'radar' post is the entrance, there would be a ladder inboard of that door leading to the bridge.

Looking at your pic that would line up quite well!

Tom

I'm only guessing, but based on the drawings I've seen, the chart room appears to be the same width as the bridge  The visible watertight door(s) would open to passageways that ran along each side of the chart room fore & aft.  The chart room had its own bulkheads & doors inboard from the passageways, e.g. the bulkhead with the windows would be on outboard side of the passage ways.  If my guess is right, the ladder to the bridge would be inside the chart room.

 

John 

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11 hours ago, JohnWS said:

I wish I could say I built the flag locker with very sharp tiny tools, keen eyes, & steady hands ... but I took a more simple route. :blush:  The flag locker is actually a section I cut from the original Perkasa model's molded plastic bridge deck (simulating teak grate?).  No assembly required. 👍

Excellent recycling of parts then!  Thanks

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I've had a little fun today, trying something new (for me).

 

Brave Borderer's  bridge & superstructure have a number of handrails.  Although they're tiny in 1/72 scale, they are really visible in the photos of the boat.  That meant I had to find a way to make the handrails & brackets look as realistic as possible, as well as keep them in scale with the rest of the model.  The handrail brackets ended up being a problem.  I tried to make them using plastic sheet & then foil & wire, but they just didn't look right.  Then I remembered 'robgizlu' mentioned in his ML196 Fairmile B  - Landing Craft Control build that he used handrail parts made for model trains (thanks Rob!).  I did a web search for these parts & found they were only available from GB manufacturers.  Shipping to Canada was another problem.  Finally, after more web searches,  I found a British model train importer close to home (about 30 minutes away).  I was able to visit his store earlier this week and found the handrail parts I was looking for. :yahoo:

 

I purchased a number of sizes of handrail 'knobs', shown below, to use as brackets for my handrails. 

 

49589194783_6716983a58_h.jpg

 

Here's a photo showing Brave Borderer's bridge handrails & what my attempt to build them looks like.

 

49589929182_f4d2003b66_c.jpg

 

I needed to modify the 'knobs', drilling out the rail holes to accept larger diameter handrails, and bend some of the 'knobs' to simulate the actual handrail brackets.  Not easy tasks, due to their small size. 

 

49589688401_47f1241f3a_c.jpg

 

The bridge handrail brackets will be painted, as opposed to leaving them brass.  To minimize having to paint the handrails, I used black plastic stretched sprue for the rails.

 

I'm happy with the results, as the brackets look much better than anything I could scratch build.

 

Next up, I'll be building the handrails that are located around the exterior of the bridge superstructure.

 

Thanks for following my trials & tribulations. :)

 

John 

Edited by JohnWS
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3 hours ago, Courageous said:

... A good bit of lateral thinking that has turned out beautifully.  ...

Hi Stuart,

 

Thanks!  The OO scale (1/76 scale) model train handrail knobs work really well at 1/72 scale.  I'm amazed at the machined detail at such a small size.   Another advantage is they're shiny brass & relatively easy to find when they're dropped (a lot). :winkgrin:

 

John

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