Sink the Bismarck! HMS Ark Royal, 26 May 1941

[Harley John]

Those little boats are fantastic.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Oh. My. Word.  With the 16’ “fast dinghy” and 25 fast motor boat in their way with my final order, I reckon this has knocked that particular problem out of the ground.  There is no way any amount of adaptation of Merit’s offering could have come close to this - and like many small details, it will all add to the overall effect.  

Also, credit where credit’s due; I’ve just been saying “Shapeways”, but the designer is a Kiwi outfit called MicroMaster: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/micro-master

 

Chapeau, oh upside-down Silver Fern-y peops.

 

Crisp

Edited December 2, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Not much visible work this evening; mostly tidying up these boats and checking fit with the hull parts.  Not for the first time, it turns out that nothing is wasted: Ark carried a 32’ cutter quite low down in the ship, and the Merit hull opening is not quite large enough to fit a MicroMaster boat... so I’ll use a blinged-up Merit boat instead (making a virtue of the fact that it’s not quite big enough)

As with all 3d printed parts, seen close up the boats (especially the hulls) show visible ridges from the printing process.  There are contours on the roofs, too, but I doubt you can pick them out in the photo above [to put things into perspective].  I am going to experiment (on the inboard side of a boat a first, so if it doesn’t work it will be invisible) with some Mr Surfacer action on these, so watch this space.

 

Been bonkers at work for a while now, but my main outputs (the accounts for last year) were signed off by the board this evening, so I hope that things will now settle down enough for me to get some proper time at the bench.

 

Crisp

Edited December 3, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[giemme]

I really admire your tidiness, Crisp. Even though this build is totally out of my area, it's a pleasure watching your WIP develop.  

 

Ciao

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Ship builds are totally unlike aircraft, I reckon, Giorgio: it’s much more modular.  With any ship, but especially a large one like a carrier or a battleship, there are a lot of sections that are almost mini-models in their own right.  It’s therefore pretty easy to get lost or to do things in the wrong order unless you really think about it and plan ahead.  It sometimes feels as though I’m doing more thinking than actual building at present, but it will pay off in the long run!

Edited December 3, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[giemme]

Then I could never build a ship....

 

Ciao

Edited December 3, 2019 by giemme

[Martian]

2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Been bonkers at work for a while now,

What do you expect if you go and work at St Trinians? 🙄

 

Martian 👽

[ArnoldAmbrose]

6 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

It sometimes feels as though I’m doing more thinking than actual building at present, but it will pay off in the long run!

Gidday Ex, I understand that! In my case throw large segments of 'mindless vegetative state' into the mix. 😴 Those boats look very good. Regards, Jeff.

[TheBaron]

Thanks goodness there's another picture of the miniature fleet - I've been getting withdrawl symptoms...

 

Am tempted to ask about the distinction between a cutter and a pinnace but don't wish to distract from the business in hand. 

 

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Tony, have you read your Patrick O’Brian?  [And if not, why not?  They are brilliant].

 

The difference would originally have been to do with the rig under sail, but once you get into motorised versions the distinction becomes very hazy - even by Ark’s time I guess it would have been as much to do with tradition as anything else, snd I don’t recall ever seeing “pinnace” used in my career (whereas “cutter” was still fairly widespread). In case that doesn’t provide enough scope for confusion, there is also a cross-over between names which denote(d) rig and those which denote(d) function.  
 

In the age of sail, “Pinnace” was often used in much the same way as yachties use the word “tender”; a small, light boat used ferry messages, people etc. between larger ships. “Cutter” was more precise: fore & aft rig, usually single headsail, short bowsprit. So in theory, I guess, a pinnace with that rig could be a cutter at the same time...  

 

Just to make it worse for you, part of the confusion in this build is because the brass-laden “cutter” in the phot above is actually a gallant attempt by WEM to make a pinnace out of Merit’s much too small hull.

 

There will be a short test later, so I trust that’s clear!

 

Like all language, nautical terms evolve.  Words that once had a very specific meaning turn into something else.  “Destroyer” is originally an abbreviation of “torpedo boat destroyer”: small, fast, agile, designed specifically to counteract little craft attacking battleships (pre-submarines).  By the 60s, a destroyer was an escort (itself a loaded term by then: escorting... what?) designed primarily for air defence (Type 42, 45 etc), as opposed to a frigate (Type 21, 22, 23) which was primarily anti-submarine.  A modern destroyer is thus easily the size of a WW2 cruiser (long range, to counteract commerce raiders and police the empire where a battleship would have been overkill).  The Type 45s are huge!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Incidentally, this isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty decent place to start.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms

[Paul H]

4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Tony, have you read your Patrick O’Brian?  [And if not, why not?  They are brilliant].

A second recommendation for the Patrick O'Brian Master & Commander books!  I really enjoyed reading them over 20 years ago, and am about to re-read the whole series.  The film acts as a pretty decent trailer to the 20 (or thereabouts) books.

 

4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Like all language, nautical terms evolve.  Words that once had a very specific meaning turn into something else.  “Destroyer” is originally an abbreviation of “torpedo boat destroyer”: small, fast, agile, designed specifically to counteract little craft attacking battleships (pre-submarines).  By the 60s, a destroyer was an escort (itself a loaded term by then: escorting... what?) designed primarily for air defence (Type 42, 45 etc), as opposed to a frigate (Type 21, 22, 23) which was primarily anti-submarine.  A modern destroyer is thus

easily the size of a WW2 cruiser (long range, to counteract commerce raiders and police the empire where a battleship would have been overkill).  The Type 45s are huge!

As for the size of the Type 45s, agreed!  To put their size in perspective, they are not much smaller than the battleship HMS Dreadnought - a mere 27' shorter (500' vs 527' LOA) and only 12' 6" narrower (69' 7" vs 82' 1" beam).  Something I hadn't appreciated until I saw the hulls from 1:700 scale kits of each side by side.

 

 

As for Ark Royal, really enjoying each update to this thread, and the attention to detail being paid to getting everything just right.

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Paul H

[TheBaron]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:07 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Tony, have you read your Patrick O’Brian?  [And if not, why not?  They are brilliant

I did! In one gorgeous two month binge several years back I got through the whole series. You're right about their brilliance Crisp - I was completely transported into that floating world he evoked and bereft when it was over.

 

On 12/7/2019 at 5:28 PM, Paul H said:

A second recommendation for the Patrick O'Brian Master & Commander books!  I really enjoyed reading them over 20 years ago, and am about to re-read the whole series

I may have to join you quite soon on that voyage Paul...

[Coors54]

Plus 1 for Patrick O'Brian, I'm just about to re embark on HMS Surprise (book 3 in the series), I must have been through the lot several times over the last 30 years.

 

Best line - "Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"

 

O'Brian is Jane Austen for blokes!

 

Dave

 

PS love the boats Crisp, got to get some for my Warspite now.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Decided to leave the boats alone for a day or two & get back to the island.  I have almost completed the reconstruction of the wind deflectors on the front of the compass platform, and also started on the separate section with the 8-barrelled pom-pom immediately abaft the island.  
 

This is quite complex, because it has distinctive deck markings, curves upwards towards the stern and has numerous support brackets on the underside; the hydraulic cylinders for the crash barrier were under here (which will need some scratch building), as well as the meteorological balloon gas-filling station and a partial shelter for the “roof rats”.

 

Tetra add a plate on top (seen here dry fitted) and a second one underneath (not fitted yet) to which the brackets will be soldered.  Scope for ill-fitting parts and frustrating fettling of delicate brass, you might think, but my confidence grows with each week that Tetra’s designers really know what they are doing, since everything seems to fit really well.  
 

Island thus seen here from port fwd.

 

...here from starboard aft:

 

...and here from above

More soon

 

Crisp

Edited December 11, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[giemme]

Impressive details!

 

Ciao

[Martian]

Very tidy work, the Martian is impressed!

 

Martian 👽

[Fritag]

Your skill with etched brass is notable, Crisp.  When you turn back to doing 1/48 aircraft you’re gonna find it a doddle.

 

12 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

abaft

I had to google that to check it wasn’t a typo   (made me think of the consequences of youthful excessive alcohol consumption).  Bl**dy Navy and its language......(oops should whinge about that on a maritime thread - when in Rome etc.)

[robgizlu]

Love those Shapeways boats and love the continued precise and skilful brasswork 

Rob

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

43 minutes ago, Fritag said:

I had to google “abaft” to check it wasn’t a typo   (made me think of the consequences of youthful excessive alcohol consumption).  Bl**dy Navy and its language......(oops should whinge about that on a maritime thread - when in Rome etc.)

For once, not the Navy’s fault; blaming us for nautical language is like saying it’s the fault of Her Majesty’s Crustacea that so many aircraft parts (aileron, nacelle, fuselage...) are in French.  Besides, we are an island nation of heroic sea-farers (it sez ere), so this kind of stuff is picked up at birth.  Or something.

 

Every generation of newly-minted Naval officers - but especially the Fleet Air Arm ones - starts out saying all this arcane language is ridiculous and claiming they refuse to use it.  In my era people used to talk about the “Campaign to Undermine Naval Terminology” [I’m sure you can do acronyms...], and I was amused to read that the “Air Branch” RNVR types during the war had the same attitude - talking about ‘walls’, ‘ceilings’ and ‘going downstairs’ when on board ship.  It wound up the Fish’eads (so Plan A was achieved), but it never lasts.

 

Every time they somehow end up talking about “going ashore” when in the Wardroom of an airfield, and similar; it’s a slippery slope.  The bottom line is that, like most jargon, it wasn’t invented just to be difficult: there is a genuine difference between a capstan and a cable holder, it really does matter whether you’ve tied a bowline or a clove hitch, and aircraft are “launched” and “recovered” because the whole thing involves a lot more people than just a pilot lining up and opening the throttle.  [Winkle might have been able to do the first jet deck landing with the ship out of wind and not at flying stations... but he was a genius; lesser mortals need everything to be working as designed].

 

Besides.  I can’t believe a lawyer has the gall to complain about incomprehensible language!

[CedB]

I've given in and started following as I don't want to miss the banter…

 

Besides, who can resist a pom-pom? 

[Terry1954]

8 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Winkle might have been able to do the first jet deck landing with the ship out of wind and not at flying stations... but he was a genius; lesser mortals need everything to be working as designed

Just started reading his book 'Wings on my Sleeve'. A brilliant read by a brilliant aviator. I'm only about one third through but hilarious snippets that stand out so far are the relationship he had with some LSO's who dared to wave him off and the time he first flew a Sikorsky R-4B helicopter, having never been trained to fly such things! There are many many more snippets like that, amusing, sobering and thoroughly absorbing.

 

I'm sure you have read it but I recommend it to anyone who is interested in flying in general and Naval flying specifically.

 

Terry

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I was lucky enough to have met Captain Brown more than once - he remained remarkably spry and active right to the end of his life, and was often around at Fleet Air Arm events and memorials.  A more modest man would be hard to imagine, but anyone who has ever flown anything should be in awe of people like Winkle.  Strapping yourself into aircraft like the DH108 Swallow and assorted captured German experimental prototypes (in the latter case, usually without any papers or indication of how - or whether - the damn thing worked) required massive courage.  Being able to actually fly them and live to tell the tale required piloting skill miles beyond the dreams of the rest of us.  The DH108, for instance, killed 2 test pilots of massive ability; Winkle took it up and was instrumental in working out why it was (in his words) “a killer”.

 

He was a lovely man, but there aren’t many who can aspire to anything like his level of ability.  I honestly think he could fly anything.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Tonight’s fun while waiting for the election result.... continuing the pom-pom platform immediately abaft (behind, Hendie) the funnel.  Both brass plates described last night are now in position (1 above the styrene, 1 beneath it), and 7 of the 13 supporting brackets are safely installed.  Full marks to Tetra’s designers once again; the fit is superb.  [Fairly obviously this is all dry fit at present, so gaps between deck and superstructure aren’t a problem]

 

First, seen the right way up from starboard;

...and then turned upside down;

More after the weekend (unless the election keeps me up & I do some more during the lulls!)

 

Crisp

Edited December 12, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Terry1954]

6 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

unless the election keeps me up & I do some more during the lulls!

That may well be what happens to me, and I have a commission to build!

 

Terry