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1978 HMS Exeter +++FINISHED+++


Bugle07

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At 17.15 on the 25th of April 1978, in Swan Hunters Neptune Yard, the wife of the Secretary of State for Defence performed the traditional christening at the launch of what would become HMS Exeter, D89.

 

She was a Type 42 Destroyer, second batch, and carried Sea Dart missiles along with a Mk8 4.5" gun. She would go on to serve with distinction in the Royal Navy for over 28 years.

 

Several months later, in Frimley Park Hospital, with a much reduced crowd and to a lot less ceremony, (Although I wouldn't put it passed my Dad to have opened a bottle on my head, may ask him about that) I appeared.

 

A batch one Son, armed, eventually, with large front teeth (x2), ginger hair (as launched, over time this has thinned and darkened) and a warped sense of humour.

 

Would go on to do a lot of stupid stuff (distinction in stupidity) around the world until being tied up (married) at the same time as Exeter was put into Extended Readiness.

 

20190803-172831.jpg

 

So this is my entry to the GB, HMS Exeter D89 1/700 by Dragon. I also have the Skywave/Pit Road boxing of this kit so I may do two entry's, well see as we go.

 

At first I was going to build her just because She was launched in '78, was a RN ship, and there was a kit of her avaliable at a sensible price.

 

But the more I looked into her service, and history, the more I found strange mirrors to my own life.

 

-Falklands in '82, Just as I started school and the first thing I really remember watching on the news with my Dad, who's ex RN and had only been out a few years then.

-Gulf War, same time as I moved to Secondary school.

-A score of deployments to places I've subsequently been to myself.

-She entered Extended Readiness at the same time I stopped wandering the world and got hitched, so She stopped having fun at the same time as me!

 

She'll be spruced up with the White Ensign Type 42 Destroyer Photo Etch, which happily comes with enough parts for two kits(I know one set is for the extended batch 3 ships, a bit of trimming may be needed).

 

I'm looking to do her as She was in the Falklands, with her hull coated in an experimental vivid bright blue co-polymer, anti-fouling boot topping. She also had a black stripe up from the boot topping to the funnel as the Argentinean Navy had their own Type 42's.

 

I'm not sure that I'll do her in a sea scape, I want to but well see if time allows. 

 

Obligatory spruce shots, All untouched and in the bags, even the PE which ironically was delivered today, Just in time for the kick off of the GB!

 

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I'm really looking forward to this group build, think it'll be a lot of fun! Sorry for the long introduction,  couldn't help myself!

 

Well I'm ready to go, will be posting progress soon, and a bit of the history of the ship as we go. Any and All welcome to join in and see what happens to the kit, should be interesting. 

 

Happy Modelling All

 

Geoff

 

 

 

 

Edited by Bugle07
Finished
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Great Intro Geoff and I'm sure you will find plenty of fun and jovial activity within this GB. As an aerosexual myself, the only Exeter I was aware of was of course the WW2 era vessel, however you have now educated me that this famous nameplate was reused once again on this Destroyer. So good to have you on-board and we'll all look forward to seeing your progress and reading your comical remarks. 

 

Cheers and warm welcome.. Dave 

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 I'll  tag along for this ,I have hms antelope  and  hms dragon  in the stash ,I'll  have to see about getting a couple of those pe sets for my two if they do them, 

Edited by Hewy
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Nice to see another maritime model!

I wish 1/350 had the same variety of models as 1/700 has... way to small for my clumsy fingers😅

will watch yours with interest!

 

cheers Konrad

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8 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

So good to have you on-board and we'll all look forward to seeing your progress and reading your comical remarks. 

Thanks Dave, much appreciated. Not sure about the comical remarks, the build itself could be funny to watch tho.

 

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

,I have hms antelope  and  hms dragon  in the stash

Which kits are they? HMS Dragon is well covered in all scales for PE, for both the Trumpeter and Airfix kits. Starling, Sovereign, and most other companies stock them.

 

Not sure about the Antelope, if it's a Dragon kit there may be PE in the kit itself? Think there's an upgrade set avaliable for a type 21 but not sure. Good the see them being built!

 

53 minutes ago, USS_ESSESS said:

way to small for my clumsy fingers😅

You haven't seen these clumsy fingers in action yet! 1/350 is getting there, but I agree that the 1/700 range has a much broader scope, glad of that otherwise I'd be skint as anything!

 

Kits been soaked and washed as I'm not sure of the plastic. Hopefully some work later today will be done!

 

Appy modelling all. 

 

Geoff 

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Hewy, the White Ensign set should fit the HMS Dragon kit nicely.

 

The Flyhawk set will be comprehensive, just fiddly as anything. There PE is quite thin so take care with it, I'm trying to fight my way through the Aurora PE at the moment. Lots of swearing involved...

 

 

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I read some time ago when i got the antelope kit ,it's hull is nearer 1/600, ( very comparable with the old airfix 1/600 kit size wise ,and the deck parts maybe1/700 especially noticable with the main gun,that put me off for a while but i am drawn to building it along with a pe set,your build will probably tip me over the edge 😃, cheers geoff.

Glynn

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And We're off, to a slow start.

 

Looking at the kit the first thing I noticed was that the open area under the flight deck is completely bare.

 

20190804-213624.jpg

 

Although you can't see much in there once the flight deck is fitted (more on the flight deck piece itself later) I wanted to have a few bits to represent the machinery. So I had a rummage around in the leftovers I have.

 

20190804-213655.jpg

 

Nothing really jumped out at me apart from the little Roman numeral 3 piece (leftover from a Tamia V class destroyer).

 

So I had a look on the kit itself as there's a large amount of buts not used in this version of Exeter.

 

I thought of using the Phalanx system, maybe sanded down on it's side but decided on the below set up.

 

20190804-214258.jpg

 

It's not much, but with some railing I think it will be enough to convey that it's not just a blank void.

 

I then started on the Sea Dart launcher.

 

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Here's one of the launch rails with the Sea Dart attached. From my understanding, during wartime she wouldn't have had any on the rails until she was just about to fire (20 seconds before?) so these huge representations had to come off and the rails attached in the vertical position.

 

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One done.

 

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And then the other. Both rails and the central unit they're attached to had to be sanded down to get rid of seam lines.

 

All this fiddly work used up most of my table time yesterday. The only other parts I worked on was the bow section, installing the insert for the anchor chains. And the Lynx.

 

20190804-215200.jpg

 

There's a nasty gap on the portside just in front of the breakwater that I'm gonna have to fill somehow. And those anchor chains are going to go, I'll replace them with PE or wire.

 

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I'm not sure if I'll use the Lynx or not, but I'll make it up. The rear rotor and main blades will be replaced with PE and she needs a good sanding down to get rid of the join which is evident to the eye but not so much here.

 

Just for the hell of it, here's Exeter with a selection of bits to show the scale. 

 

20190804-214401.jpg

 

I'm using the Skywave/Pit Road kit at the moment as a test bed for all these bits, and because the joins etc are a bit fluffy. The Dragon moulding seems spot on with no issues, so that will be the display model once all lessons are learnt on this version.

 

20190804-214654.jpg

 

The decals for this version are yellowed, so I'll try and rescue them in the sunshine, if it ever comes back.

 

All the best, more soon.

 

Geoff 

 

 

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So the larger superstructure parts have been glued together, and I must admit there's been no major fit issues(well two, more in a mo)

 

20190811-075840.jpg

 

The midships deck just below the funnel still needs to be cut bact, but overall fit is good. 

 

20190811-080027.jpg

 

Nothing is glued down to the hull yet as I'm going to build and paint in separate, smaller sub builds.

 

20190811-075929.jpg

 

The join line between the deck and the aft flight deck part is going to be a pain to fill, but needs doing. I'll paint the area underneath the flight deck before sticking it on.

 

 20190811-075917.jpg

 

So the large deck under the funnel has to be cut off, in her more modern layout this deck supports the phalanx system, but wasn't present in 82. 

 

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The launcher looks huge, not sure how overscaled that is? I may look at scratch building one instead.

 

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Oh yes, the other job that needed doing was removing a small shelf from the funnel. This was pretty straightforward, it was to the left of the ladder, the top of the side pieces. I used a micro chisle, couple of swpies from a sanding stick and all gone.I then glued the funnel together.

 

And found the the funnel top doesn't match the shape of the two sides...

 

Nothing drastic, I'll be doing a bit of sanding in the future tho.

 

That's it for now. Next up will have Photoetch, so expect some colourful language!

 

Cheers all, happy building. 

 

Geoff 

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Coming along nicely Geoff and am quite impressed by the level of detail already provided. The PE will lift this to much higher levels although as you say, it’ll probably test your vocabulary at times. Glad you’re not doing a YouTube video of your progress! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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No colourful language was used in the making of this post...

 

20190817-214232.jpg

 

The latest session was all about filling and sanding. Above is the flight deck and overhang which needed filling due to a dirty big sink hole.

 

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The same had to be done on the foremast.

 

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Even with a good camera and zoom, this part's a pain to take photos of. And a pain in general. The top third of it's snapped off three times so far! 

 

 20190811-082539.jpg

 

I also attacked the funnel and the deck beside it, sanding sticks on the funnel and a large knife to remove the deck. Above is how it comes.

 

20190818_001157.jpg

 

And this is what it looks like now. 

 

As always the pictures show up a few areas that need smoothing off that can't been seen by the naked eye, few jobs for next time then.

 

So this us where we stand at the moment.

 

20190818_001141.jpg

 

Most of the major parts have been preped ready for PE to be attached, then a coat of primer.

 

None of the larger parts are glued down, to make painting easier, I'll do them all as sub components.

 

20190818_001111.jpg

 

PE will be attached to relevant areas in the next session, including new yard arms for the masts, Radar sets (particularly not looking forward to that) and an assortment of small bits here and there.

 

20190818_001006.jpg

 

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Still got a list of snags to do, the flight deck has a moulded on landing circle that needs properly removing  at some point, but she's getting close to the fun part, painting!

 

Thanks for looking and happy modelling all!

 

Geoff 

 

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This is coming up rather well isn't it. There's some great progress going on, which is hardly what I can say about my build... (still plenty of time right?). 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Lots of swearing was involved in the making of this post...

 

Time for some PE work tonight I thought, keep it simple, just a couple of bits then quit. 

 

Started off well.

 

20190819_232541.jpg

 

Grills added to the section just in front of the funnel. 

 

20190819_232519.jpg

 

The walls of the part in front will need thinking as it's a snug to it before the pe was added, but not an issue.

 

20190819_232629.jpg

 

Lights on top of the hanger added next.

 

Folding the 3 lights on each side was interesting but got there in the end. 

 

The language I was using got an 'are you ok?' from the wife.

 

20190819_232643.jpg

 

Next up was the 1099 radar, 3 parts, here shown next to the kit part which is naff.

 

I was pretty happy with this until I left the table for a minute whilst I let it dry.

 

Moving knocked it onto it's back and the ca pooled and now looks terrible, what's left after clean up can be seen on the left of the radar. Any tips on getting rid/dissolving ca?

 

My language when I found I'd done this got a quite, 'I'm going to bed soon, are you?' from SWMBO.

 

This was the point here I should have quit. But no, one last quick bit I thought, yard arms on the foremast, how hard could they be?

 

20190819_224829.jpg

 

Umm, quite hard actually. From 3 foot they look fine but up close they're a dog's ear.

 

The commentary whilst I was making this made the wife run upstairs with her hands over her ears!

 

At this point I did stop working, apart from placing all the bits onto the hull, just to see how it looks.

 

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May look a bit better under a coat of paint, we'll see. 

 

Glad I've got two of these kits, and two sets of the pe. This one's definitely the practice kit...

 

Hope all's going well in the other GB builds, will catch up tomorrow and see what's been going on.

 

Geoff 

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Just say’n, is it mandatory for all you ship modellers to post such large updates? It’s certainly not a criticism, just different to what I’m used to reading... and it’s all good stuff. Now colourful language goes hand in hand with modelling and I swear like a trooper and have hardly ever used PE, so Imagine if I did!

 

The good Mrs RL is never short of a word when it comes to my modelling. Whenever I’ve had a moment or two of terse language I often get “You’re really not good at this are you... why don’t you start another hobby?’ .. you can imagine how good that makes me feel. 

 

All your hard work and effort is paying off so keep going it’s educational and entertaining. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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13 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Great progress Geoff, to 'dissolve' CA you can apply acetone to it.

Ray, thanks for that, now whilst the missus isn't looking it's time to (yet again) raid her makeup bag for modelling supplies!

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Just say’n, is it mandatory for all you ship modellers to post such large updates?

Yup, it's in the contract!

 

Thinking about it, part of it IS to document they way we're putting the ships together.

 

There's no hard and fast rules about how most ship kits go together, (unlike say a ww2 plane where it's cockpit, fuselage, wings, undercarriage prop and bits) so keeping some kind of record helps you to remember what's been done, and what hasn't.

 

And with a shed load of itsy teeny weeny evil s.o.b.'s to deal with and short working time due to eye strain (in my case, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) looking at the a record really helps, I'd normally just scribble it down on paper.

 

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

You’re really not good at this are you... why don’t you start another hobby?’

Every, single, time I work this is all the missus says to me (apart from stop swearing!) You are good at this, it's just were going through a painful learning process... Can take some time to get through it, I think (40+ years?).

 

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

All your hard work and effort is paying off so keep going it’s educational and entertaining. 

Much appreciated Dave, cheers for that!

 

Now time for a beer!

 

Geoff 

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Having just finished a shake’n’bake kit I’ve come along to see some proper modelling in action! 

 

I’m struck by how unique each and every ship is, even if it’s one of a class, and by the complexity of their through-life modifications.

 

I avoid PE in my aeroplane modelling but with all the railings I guess it’s mandatory for ship modelling. Just imagine what your language would be like if you had to make it all out of stretched sprue or soldered brass wire...

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Trust me Adrian, this isn't proper modelling by a long shot!

On 8/28/2019 at 10:32 AM, AdrianMF said:

Just imagine what your language would be like if you had to make it all out of stretched sprue or soldered brass wire...

I did try rigging a ship with stretched spruce, not doing that again in a hurry!

 

Good to have you along!

 

Geoff 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, with the holiday done for another year, I thought I'd see where I was and get a good session in tonight. 

 

The Sea Dart launch has been bugging me for some time, it looks too large.

 

20190811-075943.jpg

 

You can see here it's almost to the top of the bridge, whereas in real life it should be more like half way up.

 

So, first idea was scratch building one.

 

20190906_233238.jpg

 

Not too bad from a distance and for a first attempt, but too clunky.

 

So I altered the original instead, to see what it looks like.

 

20190906_233145.jpg

 

I removed the base and although it's now not 100% accurate, it is in scale.

 

What's the verdict, use the scratch or the hacked kit part?

 

20190906_233203.jpg

 

20190906_233218.jpg

 

That managed to take up the whole evening and a few beers so I'll stop there an mull it over. Must remember to put the kit launcher on the right way round if I do use it...

 

Cheers all!

 

Geoff 

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