ArnoldAmbrose Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Gidday All, here is a model of Alistair MacLean's HMS Ulysses, the cruiser that was the subject of his book of the same name. This book was written in 1955 and first read by me in 1970 I think. The ship was a fictitious vessel, the fore-runner of and very similar to the Bellona (Black Prince) class of light cruisers. The ship was armed with eight 5.25-inch dual purpose guns, twelve 2lb pompoms in three quad mounts and eighteen 20mm Oerlikon AA guns, plus depth charges and six 21-inch torpedo tubes. The model is in the scale of 1/600, as are most of my model ships. It uses an Airfix Ajax hull shell along with the shafts screws and rudder, main gun turrets and HACS (high angle control station) came from a KGV kit, main DCT (director control tower) torpedo-tubes rafts search-lights anchors boats and davits came from a Belfast kit and I scratch-built just about everything else, including all decks superstructures funnels masts depth-charges and light AA guns. The funnels have grills on top but they're not very noticeable in these photos. Here is a photo of the bridge structure. I built the wind deflectors around the fore-bridge and added the windscreens. On the port side of the fore-bridge is Admiral Tyndall's raised arm chair. It's a bit rough so I didn't zoom in any closer. The captain's shelter is inside the round base of the DCT, with the door on the stbd side I think, as shown here. The rectangular structure just forward of the DCT contains the ASDIC cabinet on the stbd side here, and on the port side it contains the chart house. Doors are on either side. Directly below the fore-bridge is a twin pedestal 20mm Oerlikon mounting. It features in the story. The black dot on the front of the gun position is the navigation light, obviously not used when 'darken ship' conditions apply. Below and aft of that gun position is a twin powered 20mm Oerlikon mounting, and forward of the bridge structure is one of the quadruple 2lb pompom mountings. It is a bit blurred because the camera was focused on the bridge structure. There is more detailed discussion and photos in my WIP thread regarding the choice of guns and fittings on the model. As you can see, my scratch-built parts are nowhere near the quality of PE parts but I prefer to make my own if I can. Thank you for your interest. Regards to all, Jeff. 44 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Nice job Jeff, its good to see the finished item after following the build, best I dig out my copy of the book & read it with these photos in front of me, just the thing to help paint a mental picture. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Looking sharp ! Kev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 Gidday All, thank you for you kind responses, the likes and comments. And Stevehnz, I managed to make some funnel grills for this model. Nothing fancy, just stretched sprue across the tops of the funnels but as you suggested to me some time ago I think it improves the look of the model. They're not evident in these photos but a photo in the WIP thread (post #18 I think) shows them a bit better. Thank you for the advice. I've got to give some thought to making better radar scanners I think - what I've used here (fly screen) was a bit crude. Again, thank you all. Regards, Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Fantastic to see it completed as I've been following your build thread with great interest - so much so, that you inspired me to buy a copy of the book. Ebay produced a lovely hardback edition with dust cover from the first year of publication (for about the cost of a new paperback), & like Steve, I'll be refering to the pics of your excellent model when re-reading it. Really impressive work, let alone for such a small scale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rio Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Love, read the book half a dozen times and always thought of doing this. Rio 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripaman Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Very nice Arnold love all the scratch work Regards Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Nice job Jeff. Hoping to see this one at Wasmex 2020! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 Gidday All, thanks again for the responses. And Steve, that's the plan! 🙂 Regards, Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Very nice. Keep up with the good work Jeff. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 great work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batt Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Belter of a model. I cannot understand why this is one of the very few Alistair Maclean novels that has not been filmed as it is one of his best books. However, looking at how Auntie (Beeb) has embraced CGI recently there may still be hope. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 On 11/8/2019 at 5:58 AM, ArnoldAmbrose said: . As you can see, my scratch-built parts are nowhere near the quality of PE parts ... But much more 3-dimensional. Lovely model: have been watching with interest and enjoyment. Thank you for sharing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One 48 Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Nice one, read this book in early 70's too, love his novels, need to go dig this book out again for a refresher read. Great build mate, nicely done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelholic Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 I think Captain Vallery would approve. Loveley build. Tom 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted November 17, 2019 Author Share Posted November 17, 2019 Gidday and thank you all. Your responses are very gratifying and yet humbling. I very much appreciate them. Regards to all, Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutcastJoel Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Thank you for building this, it is a really lovely model from probably my favorite book! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whittingham Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 Wonderful! Looks fast just standing still! TW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Great build to follow and a great finish Jeff, lovely stuff! Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 A favourite book of mine, and it's great to see it brought to life with such attention to detail. Beautiful work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Looks excellent Jeff - a great tribute to a great book. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now