1/72 HMS Brave Borderer

[beefy66]

6 hours ago, JohnWS said:

It's aways good to double check.

Triple check and then you still think you have it wrong in the back of your mind  😉

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Andreas.R]

On 8/4/2020 at 6:55 PM, JohnWS said:

A small update scratch building deck fittings, or should I say trying to build small fiddly bits. 

 

I've been spending a lot of time making Brave Borderer's deck fittings.  This would probably go a lot faster if I could train my fingers to keep out of the way. 

 

I'm using plastic rod & card, with a little wine bottle foil, to make the parts.

 

Here's a photo showing what I've completed to date, ready for a coat primer;

 

 

There's a few more fittings to go, & then it'll be time to add a finish coat of paint & glue these parts plus the deck vents & stanchions to the deck.

 

As always, thanks for looking in.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

 

Hello John, a really impressive work for me, i can't finish 3 small parts that look the same! That is the reason why I use 3D printing for such parts with shapeways.

[JohnWS]

Brave Borderer's deck was pretty busy with fittings, storage lockers & weapons.  I've started to add the fittings on the deck.  I'm finding it's a slow process (so what's new? ) as it's taking a lot of measuring & remeasuring to ensure the fittings are located correctly.

 

Here's a photo of what I've completed, so far.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

[Dmitriy1967]

Джон, почему Ты сделал край колоды таким высоким?

На рисунках, которые я видел, он почти не выступает вверх. Немножко.

 

Дмитрий

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Dmitriy1967

[beefy66]

Starting to look really busy on the deks  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[JohnWS]

1 hour ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

Джон, почему Ты сделал край колоды таким высоким?

На рисунках, которые я видел, он почти не выступает вверх. Немножко.

 

"John, why did You make the edge of the deck so high? In the pictures that I have seen, it barely protrudes upward. A little bit."

Hi Dmitriy,

A few of the Brave Borderer's photos show the toe rail around the deck.

e.g. 

 

I made the toe rail basically the same height as the moulded rail included in the Perkasa model kit.  I used pieces of Evergreen 1.0 mm quarter round I had in my parts bin,  as that was easier than having to cut small uniform plastic strips for the rail.  I put the rounded side to the inside with the flat side outward.  When looking at the rounded side in photos, it gives the optical illusion that the rail is higher than it actually is.

 

John

[Dmitriy1967]

Hi, John,

It seemed to me that in your pictures it was the shadow of the sheets covering the deck. But I may be wrong.

I continue to follow the construction of Brave Borderer with interest. Thanks to You, I learn a lot about this ship.

 

Dmitriy

[armored76]

This is one crazy-awesome project!!! 😍

[JohnWS]

All fittings have been added to the foredeck.  There's still some work to do on the foredeck, e.g. adding the anchor, ready use lockers, a pair of boathooks, handrails, plus the Bofors, but the deck is starting to look shipshape.

 

 

Work continues adding the rest of the deck fittings amidships & at the stern.

 

BTW, what's that bright light in the distance?  Could that be the light at the end of the tunnel?   There's still some work do, primarily the weapons, but most of the scratch building is done, & I'm starting to get excited about finishing this project. 

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

 

[longshanks]

1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

starting to get excited about finishing this project. 

 

Ok so what's next...... 

 

 

 

Stay safe 

 

Kev

[JohnWS]

1 hour ago, longshanks said:

... Ok so what's next......  ...

It's too early to think about that.  I'd probably forget what it was by the time Brave Borderer's finished. lol 

 

John

[robgizlu]

John - every time I see your pics my first thought is that they are CAD images.  Your work is so clean and precise 

Rob

[Courageous]

As you say John, looking shipshape.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

Now for something different.

 

Only two web photos of Brave Borderer show a Zodiac dinghy located on the port side of the foredeck.  To make this model a little different from most shown on the 'net, I  decided to include a Zodiac on this build.

 

 

When laying out the location of the Zodiac on the deck, I noticed that two deck vents are located where the Zodiac should go.  I don't how Brave Borderer's crew addressed this, e.g. remove the vent inlet heads, position the Zodiac on & over the vents, etc. 

 

 

I'm using a 3D printed Zodiac from Shapeways.  I decided to modify the Zodiac by drilling two blind holes in its bottom, so it would fit over the deck vents.   I also removed the steering position & bow deck light.

 

 

The Zodiac covers in the BB photos look like they're vinyl or have some sort of smooth surface.   To simulate the cover's material, I went on a household search to see what I could find.  The material for the cover had to be paintable, relatively smooth, thin & very pliable to fit over the Zodiac's top surface.  I ended up finding a roll of paper adhesive tape that's used for attaching paper backing to picture frames.  This tape is very thin, paintable, & conforms to complex shapes. One drawback is it's one sided adhesive coating.  To get rid of the stickiness, I stuck a layer of (clean ) dry toilet paper to the adhesive side of the tape, & then removed all the layers of the paper leaving only one layer.  This maintained the thickness I wanted & covered the sticky adhesive,

 

 

I cut the tape to size, applied a coat of primer & a coat of acrylic paint.   I formed the 'cover' over the Zodiac & glued it in place using small dabs of liquid CA glue.  Two tie down straps cut from the picture frame tape were painted & glued in place.  Deck chocks for the Zodiac to sit on were made from plastic strip.

 

 

Here's a photo of the finished Zodiac fitted over the two interfering deck vents;

 

 

And finally, a photo comparing the model to the actual boat.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

 

 

 

[Dmitriy1967]

Well done. Exactly like the picture!

 

I wonder what engines were put on the Zodiac in those days?

Edited August 29, 2020 by Dmitriy1967

[Roger Newsome]

At some point in their career, according to wikipedia, they were used for fishery protection which may be the reason for carrying an inflatable. I wonder where the engine was stowed?

Fantastic build so far. 👍

Roger. 

[JohnWS]

Thanks Roger!

14 hours ago, Roger Newsome said:

At some point in their career, according to wikipedia, they were used for fishery protection which may be the reason for carrying an inflatable.

Can you imagine what the crew of a fishing trawler might be thinking after seeing Brave Borderer approaching at speed, carrying torpedos & big 40mm guns?  I wonder if Brave Borderer's skipper was thinking "Go ahead, make my day."  

 

John

[Roger Newsome]

9 hours ago, JohnWS said:

Thanks Roger!

Can you imagine what the crew of a fishing trawler might be thinking after seeing Brave Borderer approaching at speed, carrying torpedos & big 40mm guns?  I wonder if Brave Borderer's skipper was thinking "Go ahead, make my day."  

 

John

I've got a pretty good idea what they'd be thinking having served on three fishery protection ships and now working with quite a few ex fisherman. 🤣

[Terry1954]

Your excellent work continues I see John. The deck fittings and now the Zodiac look really neat.

 

Like @Dmitriy1967 I'm curious about the type of outboard engine they had back then.

 

Terry

[robgizlu]

Masterly  

Rob

[JohnWS]

3 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Masterly  

Rob

Thanks Rob.  You're making me blush. 

 

John

[JohnWS]

Hi everyone!  I just got back to modelling after a few weeks sabbatical with the family.

 

Here's where I'm at;

 

#1  I've added the fittings, vents, & the Bofors gun mount to the deck at the stern.

 

 

I made the fittings & vents earlier in the build.  They just required gluing in place.   The Bofors gun mount was a new build.  It was a little tricky as I had to laminate plastic sheet to get the required height & then shape the profile as the mount is higher facing the stern & lower facing forward.  I'm waiting to add the exhaust nozzles in the openings in the transom until I've added the flag staff at the stern.

 

#2  Scratch building the Auxiliary Deck Mounted Fuel Tanks & Roll Off Racks.

 

 

Brave Borderer was capable of carrying 4 auxiliary fuel tanks, 2 on each side.  For special operations an additional 6 tons of fuel could be carried in the four deck tanks.  These tanks drained into the main fuel tanks as fuel was used.  Also, the deck tanks were mounted on roll off racks so they could be quickly jettisoned in the event of imminent action.  It should be noted that adding the auxiliary fuel tanks resulted in limiting the amount of armament that BB could carry.

 

For my build, I'm adding 2 auxiliary fuel tanks, one on either side of the bridge superstructure.  I've had to make a couple of assumptions when building the tanks, 1)  The internal main fuel tanks were welded light alloy construction & were held in place by galvanized mild steel straps.  I'm assuming the deck tanks were made the same.  2)  The exterior colour of the aux. tanks appear very light or white in B&W photos.  I've decided to tone the colour down a bit & paint the tanks Tamiya Light Aircraft Grey.

 

Here's a photo of the tanks & racks as they sit today.  Some details such as the hold down straps & goose neck vents still have to be added.

 

 

I made the tanks from leftover 3/4" x 1/2" pine wood door stop trim, & I added  .010" plastic sheet cladding over each surface to give them a smooth look.   The roll off racks were made from pieces cut from plastic sheet & strip.

 

 

And finally, #3  Torpedoes & Roll Off Racks.

 

 

I'm reusing the torpedo racks that are included in the Tamiya Perkasa kit with a little sculpting to add some detail.

 

I'm only using two 21" MKVIII torpedoes due to the addition of the two deck aux. fuel tanks -  1 forward of each of auxiliary fuel tanks.  I found the torpedoes supplied in the Perkasa kit were lacking detail & were a little larger in diameter than scale, so I ordered a pair of 3D printed parts.  I was excited when I found the torpedoes were made by Micro Master.  Unfortunately, they were only designed by Micro Master & were only available here through Shapeways.  Much to my disappointment when they arrived, I found they were actually printed by Shapeways (I should have known).  Also, a number of propeller blades had broken off & were lost due to the poor plastic bag packaging used by Shapeways.   Shapeways customer service promptly sent me replacements, but the second shipment was damaged, as well.

 

 

Finally, Shapeways refunded my money & I was told I could keep the parts.  Luckily, I was able to find enough blades to repair the 2 torpedoes that I needed.

 

Here's a photo of the torpedoes & racks primed & ready for finish paint.

 

 

And a photo comparing the Perkasa torpedoes to those I'm using on the BB build.

 

 

One final photo showing the starboard aux. fuel tank & torpedo dry fit in place.

 

 

Next up, I'll be finishing the tanks & torpedoes.

 

Thanks again for looking in & adding your 'likes' & comments.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

 

 

 

[longshanks]

I fine exercise in micro engineering 

 

I hope your family appreciate the sacrifices we have to make for them to have a holiday. i.e. Lack of updates 

 

I had a horrible thought tonight, you're running out of things to do......

 

Avoid the numpties and stay safe

 

Kev

[JohnWS]

3 minutes ago, longshanks said:

I had a horrible thought tonight, you're running out of things to do......

Hmmm, let's see - finish the 2 aux,. tanks & 2 torpedoes & install, build 2 rocket launchers, make & install the stern flag staff, make an 'I-don't-know-what-it's-called' thingy for the port side of the transom, glue on the 3 exhaust nozzles, glue on the remaining 7 Bofors RUL's, assemble & paint the 2 Bofors guns, add the radio aerials & rigging, add some tiny details to the bridge superstructure, install the handrails & stanchions, glue the superstructures in place, add the crew, make the display nameplate, do paint touchups, ... and those are the ones i can remember.  Gee, those should last me at least to the New Year.

 

I'm going to have to lie down for a bit now.  I'm worn out.  

 

John

[longshanks]

8 hours ago, JohnWS said:

I'm going to have to lie down for a bit now.  I'm worn out.  

 

Me too and I only read the list...

 

Avoid numpties and stay safe

 

Kev