1/600 HMS Ulysses 1943

[Modelholic]

There's no mention of pom-pom directors in the book, which I find strange as they were widely fitted by 1943

Could you post a pic of the number descriptions for the Ulysses diagram?

Tom

[ArnoldAmbrose]

On 9/2/2019 at 2:41 PM, Courageous said:

Interesting bit of 'scratching', if only you can show where they go/ went?

Gidday all, I'll include another photo of the aft superstructure, showing the most recently added hawser reels.

The inboard reel on the port (left) side is the towing hawser and hence the rod used to make it is slightly larger than the others, although it is not evident in this photo. I'm a bit hesitant now to zoom in too close as it reveals my shoddy workmanship and painting for all to see. Painting-wise I'm still in the stone age - Humbrol enamels straight out of the tin and onto the model with the hairy stick, as I did it 45 years ago. Maybe I need to improve my technique. This photo also shows that the searchlight platform is slightly crooked when viewed from above, but I don't think I can fix that. I might do more harm than good.

     Steve, I have two copies of the book, and the diagram is only in the hard cover copy, inside the back cover. I missed it when I read the book for the first time.

And Tom, your wish is my command, here is the diagram and legend.

You are correct regarding the pompom directors being omitted from the story. I could have fitted the fwd director OK, but the others would have been a problem, The midship area would have needed a bit of re-arranging I think, but there simply wasn't space for the aft pompom director. As I was making Alistair MacLean's ship and not an actual Bellona I decided to do without them, and be faithful as much as I can to MacLean's description of the ship.

     One of the leading characters in the book was Leading Torpedoman Ralston. That was Alistair Maclean's actual role while serving on board HMS Royalist I believe so I'm assuming Ralston's "job description" in the book was accurate. Other statements in the book I found a little vague or ambiguous, ill defined. Radar was one, 20mm Oerlikons another. Plus some of his terminology. For example "had laid him gently on the ground". Ground, not deck. I don't know if MacLean was using non-naval terminology for the benefit of landlubber readers, or if his alcoholism was affecting him. I am inclined to believe the former, as the book was written 10 years after the war, 30 years before he passed away. Regardless, it is a jolly good read. I'll talk more on radar and Oerlikons when I get to that stage of the model.

     I'll stop rattling on.Thank you all for your interest and comments. Regards, Jeff.

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by ArnoldAmbrose

[Courageous]

...and all becomes clear.

1 hour ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

towing hawser and hence the rod used to make it is slightly larger than the others,

What, you didn't coil scale cable onto them...shoddy! 

Now I see where they live, I can understand the need to 'busy it up' those decks.

 

Stuart

[ArnoldAmbrose]

12 minutes ago, Courageous said:

What, you didn't coil scale cable onto them...shoddy!

Yeah, well I didn't want to show off! 😁 Would my brush strokes on the drum count?😀 Regards, Jeff.

[Ripaman]

Brush strokes would work brilliantly Jeff  

 

Regards

Richard

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, time for another update on Alistair MacLean's HMS Ulysses, although I don't seem to have much to show for two weeks. Life got in the way a bit, as it does from time to time.
     Below is a photo of the model's current state.

     I've glued the bridge structure to the model plus the deck house supporting the midships (Doyle's) pompom. I didn't realize until after that I hadn't finished painting the starboard side. Oh well, I managed. I've also fitted the midships 44-inch searchlights and some more Carley floats, the vertical floats mounted under the wing 20mm gun-tubs. They still need a bit more paint. The depth-charge equipment is added too, and in the foreground are the boats. They're somewhat simple as Airfix parts usually are but I've added rear keels to the motor boats and rudders to the whalers, rather crudely but.
 

     Above is the bridge structure added, the close-up photo showing my rough workmanship (again). It still needs the paint touched up. This entire structure is scratch-built. I managed to make the wind deflector system fitted to RN warships. This is to the front and sides of the fore-bridge, plus I've added the wind shields. On the brown 'duck boards' are two binnacles, made simply from styrene rod.
     The rear (upper) bridge contains on each side (from front to rear) a set of look-out binoculars, the searchlight control station and on the protruding sponson a 10-inch signalling lamp. Sorry but I couldn't make the shutters or operating handle on the lamps, or the focusing rings on the binoculars. 😁 The unpainted deck in the centre is where the DCT (Director Control Tower) will sit. It has the chart room and ASDIC shelter attached to the front of it.
     Below the bridge structure, at shelter deck level are my scratch-built paravanes, four in all.
 

     Above is the quarterdeck with the depth-charge gear, again all scratch-built. Until recently I thought the only depth-charges carried by RN cruisers were in a single rail (rack/chute) of about six charges mounted on the port side of the quarter-deck. However I've recently seen a photo of HMS Hermione (Dido class) that clearly shows the depth-charge rail, plus two Thornycroft depth-charge throwers. I've also found a reference to HMS Royalist (MacLean's ship) carrying the throwers, but no photo. So it looks like MacLean knew what he was talking about here. In his book he states that the maximum pattern was six charges so to achieve that with a balanced layout I've gone for two rails of four charges (each dropping one at a time) and four throwers. Each thrower has two reloads nearby, plus a rack containing reloads is behind 'Y' turret. If this is incorrect then I'm invoking the "Whiff" clause. 😁 In the centre of the quarterdeck is a capstan.
     That's about it for now. I've started work on the boats, and soon I'll have to give serious attention to the pompoms and 20mm Oerlikons. 
Thank you for your interest and regards to all, Jeff.

[Chewbacca]

This is moving along really nicely. 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I'm long overdue for another update on HMS Ulysses. Life got in the way somewhat, plus I hit the wall a bit. 
     I don't have all that much to do now, although some of the tasks to do aren't easy - for me, anyway. The boats, davits and torpedo tubes are done but once fitted they might restrict access to the base of the tripod masts so I think it will be best to do the masts before them. However, because of the rake to the masts the mainmast might over-hang the after AA director tower a little, so before the masts are fitted I should install the AA directors. However, these are mounted on towers, the after director needs to see over the aft quad pompom, so to get the correct height of the tower the pompoms need to be done next. Well, the after pompom anyway, but I might as well do them all at the same time.
     Of all the parts I've ever scratch-built over the years I think quad pompoms (and German quad 20mm) are the ones I like doing the least. I curse whoever invented the mountings, and the Royal Navy for adopting them as their main rapid-fire AA weapon. Why couldn't the RN have done the decent thing and adopted the Swedish 40mm Bofor instead, like the Americans did. Much easier for modelers to build! (Also a better AA gun but that's beside the point. 😁) Still, we all have to do things we don't want to from time to time, so here goes.
     Below is a photo showing the stages of the mounting's construction. Thirteen pieces, although only twelve are visible here.

1.     The main base (floor) made from 0.5 x 4.8mm styrene strip, and the shaft of 0.75mm rod to mount it to the model. This piece is inverted at present. As usual I've made the rod of excessive length for ease of handling. When the mounting is finally finished I'll cut off the excess and use it for something else. Under the base will be a base ring, made from 3.2mm strip, 0.25mm thick for the fwd mounting and 0.5mm for the other two, their gun-pits being a little deeper. Glued on top of the base is the first part of the gun assembly. You can see the slots on it to allow the lower pair of guns to fit snug. To start the slots I used a fine saw then filed them round. For very fine files I use a set of gas-welding nozzle cleaners. They work a treat on styrene.
2.     The first part of the gun assy glued to the main base. The base ring was glued under the main base next. As the base ring will not be visible I made no attempt to get it round, but left it octagonal as seen above.
3.     The two levels of magazine boxes. These were made from 0.5 x 0.75 styrene strip, 2mm long and 5mm long. With hindsight I should have used 0.5mm square section instead to be more accurate. Oh well, I'm not redoing them now. To get the 2mm piece exactly midway along the 5mm piece I used an extremely complex and precise item of equipment - the mark 1 eye-ball!
4.     The two levels of magazine glued together. Notice how they are staggered. The upper box is to the rear of the lower box. I've then slotted the upper and lower surfaces for the guns to fit. The depth of the slots is half the thickness of the guns.
5.     The lower guns fitted. The piece is inverted here. The guns are simply stretch sprue, about 0.3mm thick and 4.5mm long.
6.     And the upper guns fitted also. What is not shown here is s small piece that fits between the upper guns, as the real guns themselves fit into a casing.

Here is the finished quad gun assembly, including that extra piece. Yeah, I know, I've omitted the cartridge ejection chute under the guns, the guard-rails and sights. Plus the two rear rounded corners of the main base should be raised. Maybe next time.

One down, two to go, plus I plan to make a spare while I'm on a roll. The technique I used here is still under trial, and I shudder at the mere thought of trying to make octuple (eight gun) mountings in the future!

That's it for now. Hopefully the next update will soon. Thank you for your interest, and regards to all, Jeff.

[Seahawk]

1 hour ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

 I shudder at the mere thought of trying to make octuple (eight gun) mountings in the future!

I shudder at the mere thought of trying to do what you have just done.  The prospect of trying to make 3 even passably similar to each other would surely tip me over into gibbering wreck territory.

 

Great stuff!

[Hewy]

Jeff ,A smashing job with some really intricate work in this scale 👍, 

[Murdo]

Love those scratchbuilt pompoms. Superb work sir!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Thank you all for your kind comments. Regards, Jeff.

[Ripaman]

You are doing some micro scratch building there Jeff lovely job 

 

Regards

Richard

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I have a bit more progress on HMS Ulysses to report on. I've glued the main DCT to the bridge and added the anchor cables. The chain I used for the cables is a bit over-sized but it is the finest I have, it'll have to do. I know there are other methods and I might look into them when I do smaller ships - I have some destroyers planned.

     I've dry fitted the three quad pompom mountings, and also the two HA directors. These directors came from an Airfix KGV kit, the same that supplied the 5.25-inch turrets. I had to raise them on towers. I've deviated from Alistair MacLean's version of the ship in that I've fitted a HA director on the aft superstructure as per the Bellona class. MacLean had a main director there, but I didn't think it plausible. AFAIK the only British cruisers with two main directors were the second group of Town (Southampton) class and HMS London, and she only got hers after an extensive rebuild. Those ships were all much larger than this vessel. (Mr MacLean please forgive me).

    I've also added a bit more clutter er fittings to the quarterdeck, a hatch near the depth-charge chutes and various ventilators, large and small. The bows and quarterdeck are now pretty much done. In the foreground are the boats, and I've made a start on the powered twin 20mm Oerlikons. I'll need six of them and some pedestal mounted Oerlikons as well, all of which I'll scratch-build.

     The next major task is the masts, with radar fitted. They should be about as much fun as the pompoms. 🙁 The completion of the build is now in sight, hopefully in a couple of weeks, barring hiccups.

Thank you for your interest. Regards, Jeff.

[Seahawk]

14 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

I've deviated from Alistair MacLean's version of the ship in that I've fitted a HA director on the aft superstructure as per the Bellona class. MacLean had a main director there, but I didn't think it plausible. AFAIK the only British cruisers with two main directors were the second group of Town (Southampton) class and HMS London, and she only got hers after an extensive rebuild. Those ships were all much larger than this vessel. (Mr MacLean please forgive me).   

I'm with you in feeling that, as an AA cruiser, Ulysses would need a second HACS much more than a second DCT.  What did the Didos, from which Ulysses is supposed to have been devoloped, have there?

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Seahawk, the Didos also had a second HACS on the aft superstructure. If ever these ships had to engage two surface targets simultaneously I can't see why a HA director couldn't be used to range on one of the targets. I imagine it would be like ranging on a VERY slow torpedo bomber at zero elevation. My guess anyway. Thanks for the comments. Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Looking top notch Arnold!👍

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I said a couple of weeks ago HMS Ulysses should be finished in a couple of weeks. Well I'm afraid it's not done yet, but in my defense I didn't say WHICH couple of weeks! 😁 Life got in the way a bit, again.

     I've been making 20mm Oerlikons, what fun. In his book Alistair MacLean says they are twins. AFAIK all RN warships in WWII carried single pedestal mounts or twin powered mounts. Twin pedestal mounts were more common in the USN than the RN. I've only seen a single photo of a twin pedestal mount on a RN light craft. This doesn't mean of course that some RN heavy units and destroyers didn't carry them, but I am unaware of it. I won't give details here as I don't wish to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read the book but would like to, but in various instances in the book MacLean makes references that imply both powered AND pedestal twin mounts, and sometimes these statements refer to the SAME mount. So for the model I'm invoking the whiff clause, hedging my bets and providing all three types. The mountings at boat-deck and shelterdeck level will be twin powered mountings (the most common on the Bellonas), the mountings just below the forward bridge (which feature in the story and are ambiguous as to their type) will be twin pedestal mounts and those just forward of the rear funnel will be single pedestal mounts. So there! 😁

     Below is a photo of the full outfit, and as usual the close-up is not kind to me, showing them with all their faults.

In my defense I'll state that I've only scratch-built singles before, both types of twins are new to me and I still have to refine my technique, particularly with the magazine drums. I think I might try to redo the drums on the twin pedestal mounts. As you can see they're really bad but I didn't know until I saw this close-up photo.

 

     I've started on the ship's masts but haven't anything to show for it yet. I'm having a few problems, bits of ship are in the way of the tripod legs. More on that later, so that's it for now.

Thankyou for your interest, and regards to all, Jeff.

[Courageous]

There's that giant matchstick again...

We are our own worst critics and I'm sure, once you've painted and fitted your weapons, they'll look great. So, carry on with your good work.

 

Stuart

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I have a bit more to add on HMS Ulysses. I've made the lower tripod masts, and added the boats, torpedo tubes, light AA weapons and both HACS.

 

 

     The tripod masts gave me a bit of a fight. The masts themselves (the centre leg of each) weren't much trouble but I had to shave off bits of superstructure to fit the supporting legs. And I had to re-drill the locating holes 1mm rearward for the legs of the aft mast because the searchlight platform was in the way. You can see that in the above photo. Once the masts were fitted and painted (that was 'fun' too) I was able to fit the boats, davits and torpedo tubes. These all came from Airfix "HMS Belfast" kits, although the two whalers may have come from the "Ajax" kits that the hull came from.

     This evening I fitted all the light AA weapons - the quad 2lb pompoms and all of the 20mm Oerlikons - and the two HACS (high angle control stations). These last came from the same Airfix "KGV" kit that supplied the main turrets. I had to mount these on towers. The scratch-built 20mm Oerlikons look OK I think, from a distance. Don't zoom in too close. I also added the spent cartridge ejection chute to the front of each quad pompom mounting, although they're not very visible in this photo.

     The main DCT above the bridge is mounted on a cylindrical tower, inside of which is the Captain's shelter. The door to this is on the starboard side of the tower I think. Immediately forward of the tower is a rectangular deck-house. This contains the chart room on the port side and ASDIC cabinet on the starboard side, the chart room taking up about two thirds of the available space, the ASDIC cabinet about one third, making it about as roomy as a broom closet.

     I'm planning on making the top masts with radar this weekend. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the radar at present, although I have a couple of tentative ideas. Once the top masts are done and the paint touched up I've pretty well finished the build. So until then, regards to all, Jeff.

[Bugle07]

All your scratch work is looking superb!

 

Really looks the part now, great stuff.

 

Geoff 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I've made and fitted the topmasts to HMS Ulysses, with the radar fitted. I'm no expert on British radar of WW2 but I know that there was quite a range of different types, for different purposes. In his book Alistair MacLean simply refers to 'radar'. I don't know if his knowledge of radar was limited (he was a torpedoman on board HMS Royalist) or he was simplifying it for the benefit of his readers. In his book the ship was fitted with two scanners, one at each of the mast-heads, each set being independent of the other and capable of the functions of air early warning, surface early warning and surface ranging (blind fire). In my limited knowledge the set that comes closest to that description was the "Type 281BP" set, so that is what I have tried to copy for this model.

     To make the radar scanners I went to enormous trouble and expense - they're squares cut from scrap flyscreen, glued to the mastheads by 5-minute Araldyte. Hey, whatever works! 😁 Again, they're not up to the standard of PE antennae but I think they look better and more authentic than anything I could have made.

     There is one more little job I wish to try, that is the Admiral's chair on the port side of the fore-bridge. I've already made one but I think it looks a little big so I'm trying to make a smaller one. If I can't, or it looks too shoddy I'll omit it. Other than that, and no doubt a bit more paint touch up that close-up photos will show up, and to replace the 'working stand' I think this model is finished. I'll take more photos for the RFI section soon.

     Thank you all for your interest and comments, and Mr MacLean, if you've followed this build thread from Writer's Heaven I hope you approve.

Regards to all, Jeff.