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Sink the Bismarck! HMS Ark Royal, 26 May 1941


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On 2/12/2020 at 9:57 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Sooner or later I am going to have to bite the bullet and finish that bridge....it’s not supposed to have gaping holes on either side...  

 

Stung into action by my own post, this evening I went back to the bridge / compass platform.  It’s still not finished, but the holes are plugged on both sides; believe it or not this is still the aftermath of my ineptitude with the wind deflectors about 6 months ago - basically I cut away too much of the Merit styrene in order to fit the Tetra brass, and then compounded the error by bending some of the brass 180 degrees wrong, thus causing it to completely fall apart when corrected.  I have all the bits (& there were a LOT of them!) and am having to painstakingly rebuild it bit by bit.  What was it I said above about doing nothing in a rush?  
 

Anyway, it’s now close to being fixed.  The white over-exposed blob is a patch of filler where I cut away too much Merit.  (Don’t you just love unforgiving close-up photos...?]

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After yesterday’s work, I also decided that I need to start getting some paint onto some of these places, or they will become almost completely inaccessible as the island gets busier - this is particularly true of the decks, before they gain all sorts of sights, flag lockers, signal projectors, etc etc.  A coat of Mr Metal Primer, then some normal primer... and then some of @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies’s lovely dark deck grey (NARN23, from memory - I’ve put it all away again!).  I also gave the inside of the funnel its first coat of tyre black, because we’re now not a millions miles away from the point where I want to glue it, and it will be almost impossible to paint once glued in place.  However, that isn’t why I have taken a photo from below; that’s to show the complicated brass girder work underneath the twin pom-pom sights which sat in tubs on the back of the funnel.

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[Hmmm, I bet that was a fun place to have your action station; funnels on steam ships get extremely hot.]
 

Wonderful though Jamie’s paints are, I confess that I am only just getting back into the habit of using enamels, and I am still making some basic mistakes.  In particular, I started working on painted brass bits way, way too quickly - long before it had properly cured.  No harm done; it can easily be repainted.  But still inept.  Hence the nasty patchy mess visible under that new platform on the funnel.  Still, the pom-pom deck visible in the background looks nice.
 

Following my own advice about not rushing rather better than sometimes, I stopped this evening after only fitting one of the two ‘tubs’; the process of rolling the brass to the right profile is time-consuming and involves a lot of trial and error - so I stopped with only one built.  [That paler grey is primer].  You can also see another newly-added piece in this shot; on the left of the funnel base as we look is a plate with 3 sticky-out bits - these will be the underside supports of the odd flying bridge thing that 30s RN carriers had.  I’ll explain what it was for when I fit it...  but that’s where it will go shortly, alongside the funnel.

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Finally, the whole island seen from port.  

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Getting there.  More next week.

 

Crisp

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The bottle tops are a hangover from painting the flag lockers - plus I use them for CA glue etc.  I’m doing this build away from home, so having to be trebly certain not to damage anything in the room, cos it ain’t mine to damage!  Bottle tops are perfect.

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On 2/13/2020 at 2:44 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Do absolutely nothing in a rush.  Invest in really good lights.  Make sure you have the best tiny tweezers you can afford.  If you get tired or frustrated, stop at once.

Not the worst relationship advice I've heard...

 

If that Island of Delight looks this good in its raw state it will be sublime under paint, for sure.

 

Is my memory at fault or was there some discussion here a while back about some kind of signal board behind the island and you not being able to find a reference shot of it?

 

 

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1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Is my memory at fault or was there some discussion here a while back about some kind of signal board behind the island and you not being able to find a reference shot of it?

Your memory might be partially at fault.  There was indeed a signal board behind the island, but I don’t think the discussion was this thread because I have more than one shot of it. [From posts in the past couple of days you will already know this was taken in 1940 at the latest, because the large screen on the port / inner side of the pom-pom deck is not fitted.]

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[Second photo included because it shows so many details otherwise rarely seen - close-up refs like this are very rare].

 

The signal board Tony’s talking about is the square, slatted thing on the rear of the two tubs - like some giant 1950s Skiffle group washboard.  It was controlled from the port side of the bridge, where Commander (Air) lived - a position which gradually evolved into Flyco.  The slats moved to show a large picture of the “Affirmative” flag (Flag Charlie nowadays, but I’d have to consult my Dad’s Seamanship Manual for the 1940s version) meaning “clear to land”; it was a signal for aircraft in the visual circuit, cos they had no R/T - telling a Swordfish to land in Morse code to the TAG was not a realistic proposition!

 

[Incidentally, those photos have left me with a cliff-hanger.  I’ve only just realised that the tubs are not the same size.  I think I’ve fitted the correct one to the correct side, but will only be certain on Monday evening!  It’s Gator’s Grip, not CA, so correctable with care if I’ve been a half-wit]

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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21 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

it was a signal for aircraft in the visual circuit,

Thanks Crisp. Those were the exact two pictures I came across in Norman Friedman's British Carrier Aviation a couple of days back that I associated with this thread but the brain obviously had a misfire.

 

 

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39 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

The slats moved to show a large picture of the “Affirmative” flag (Flag Charlie nowadays, but I’d have to consult my Dad’s Seamanship Manual for the 1940s version) meaning “clear to land”; it was a signal for aircraft in the visual circuit, cos they had no R/T - telling a Swordfish to land in Morse code to the TAG was not a realistic proposition!

Fascinating. I guess it served a similar function to the signal square on airfields? Were the slats able to convey other information?

 

Terry

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1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Were the slats able to convey other information?

Are you thinking like one of those weather reporting stone-on-a-chain things Terry?

Slats wet: raining

Slats white: snowing

Slats on their side: windy

etc

Edited by Kirk
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13 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Fascinating. I guess it served a similar function to the signal square on airfields? Were the slats able to convey other information?

 

Terry

No, I don’t think so - I think it was just “Yes” which you could either see or you couldn’t.  I hadn’t thought of the signal square comparison, but you’re right - we were still taught about signal squares in the 1980s, but I never actually ‘read’ one from the air.  Some of the info (duty runway etc.) doesn’t really apply to carriers anyway!

14 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

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There was, however, a system of visual signalling to aircraft in the circuit using flags on special masts sticking out horizontally from the ship; they were hinged so they didn’t get in the way when not in use, and you can see the starboard one tucked away in this photo: the hinge is above the HAC director platform (I mean actually above; up & left as we look) just above that rectangular box that is propped over the edge of the deck [which is actually a flag locker for this system], and the mast itself is folded away along the bottom of the funnel.  
 

[Edit: looking at it again after the Argus photo below, the starboard mast was telescopic.]

 

There were two or possibly even three equivalents on the port side (which makes sense given a left hand visual circuit is standard).  I haven’t been able to find anything more about how it worked, apart from a fleeting reference in one of those YouTube instructional films about deck landings.  I think it was just a means of telling which flight / aircraft to land in which order, but I’d love to find out more.  
 

My model will eventually have the masts deployed, obvs; you’d expect nothing less.

 

Some Japanese carriers had something similar - and the IJN was heavily influenced by the RN between the wars - but I am not sure whether their horizontal masts were for signalling to aircraft or just because they had no island.

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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IWM “More Hurricanes taken to Malta: November 1940”.  See the horizontal mast sticking out from the island?  [Argus behind]

MORE HURRICANES TAKEN TO MALTA. NOVEMBER 1940, ON BOARD THE CRUISER HMS SHEFFIELD. OPERATING WITH FORCE H ESCORTING HMS ARGUS, LOADED WITH HURRICANES, THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN TO MALTA. THE FORCE LEFT GIBRALTAR ON 14 NOVEMBER 1940.


IWM of Ark sinking, taken from HMS Legion, port side looking aft.  The T-shaped mast thing.

Ark Royal sinking, 13 November 1941, seen from HMS Legion


They clearly continued to use them - or at least to rig the masts for flying ops.  I haven’t yet found a pic of them with a flag hoist [do you hoist sideways?], but the signal would only be there when calling aircraft in to land.

 

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

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Just got back from the Bovington show, where I had the pleasure of meeting @Terry1954 over lunch.  Came away with assorted tools & refills; job done.

 

Storm Dennis meant that the journey there was pretty hideous; 40kt+ winds, turbulent even in a car, throwing it down with rain.  Then it occurred to me that the weather today is pretty similar to 26 May 1941 - if anything, slightly better.  And I wasn’t about to attack a battleship in a biplane.

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2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Just got back from the Bovington show, where I had the pleasure of meeting @Terry1954 over lunch.

It was indeed a pleasure Crisp. I too picked up a few tools and paint, but I'm back again tomorrow with the club, so no doubt more things will be acquired!

 

The weather seems to have worsened down here near the coast, and as you say, imagining an attack on a battleship in a biplane in similar conditions, seems almost unreal. Much respect to those who did that!

 

Terry

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If someone could point out to "Easy" jet that you can fly a biplane in this, I'd appreciate it. They cancelled circa 350 flights today and forgot to mention it to both people "servicing" the "help" desk. You can't plan the weather or point strips of tarmac into the wind at will, but it is possible to manage an airline. 

 

Back on topic, I'm itching to see how new tools will be put through their paces.

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Further work on the port side of island:

- scuttles on 03 & 04 decks (6 of them per side, though you can only see 2½ of them here);

- railings from Admiral’s bridge aft to ladder;

- ladder up from 03 deck to 04 flag deck;

- 3 supports / strengthening brackets on this side of the funnel (will be under the flying bridge).

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Same seen from above, showing the top of the ladder, which also has a railing around the top of it - and you can also see the pom-pom director tubs which I was working on last week, behind the funnel.

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Here seen from aft.  My nagging fear that I had the taller tub on the wrong side was borne out - but glued with Gator’s Grip, so fixable.  Plus our old friend the shutter...

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More soon (I’m busy tomorrow night, so probably Wed).

 

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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10 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

AND there’s a programme on the TV this evening about Ark 3.  Video-tastic!

...which was pretty iffy on a lot of the history (over-simplified, and that’s being very charitable - though this was Channel 5, so why am I surprised?).

 

But it did have a number of pictures that I’ve never seen before, including some beautifully clear shots of her in dry dock.

 

Still, you can never watch too much film of a Swordfish in flight, eh?

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28 minutes ago, CedB said:

Ah, found it; 'World's Greatest Warships' Ep 3, available on demand :) 

I'll watch it later…

Have a drink every time they show film of an Osprey while talking about Swordfish.  You’ll end up quite mellow...

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I'm loving this more and more, not so much the fabulous model making ( which is fabulous) but more the detail and minutae of driving these ships to war to help save a nation

 

Who knew what the little things were for huh?

 

The signalling dooberries that helped sailors stop flying and get breakfast, the bludgets that meant other sailors knew what was going on on the ship next door

The whole gamut, possibly the best place I ever learned so much about carriers in wartime

 

Reeman hide and tremble, the Ex-FAAWAFU is aboard.

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