Airfix 1/600 Ark Royal with etch - withdrawn

[AdrianMF]

What have I done?

 

Airfix Ark Royal, WEM etch set and Tom's Modelworks 1/600 figures, and to top it all some 1/600 decals for the aeroplanes. I haven't done a ship since I was a nipper (well, apart from a very different one, here), I've used about three pieces of etched brass ever and hated every one, and I'm not sure how my 1/600 figure painting skills will shape up. Still, after looking at all the ships with immaculate teeny-tiny details at SMW I wanted to have a go, and now I've got one!

 

Wait - this GB ends in June?

 

This year??

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Rodders154]

so looking forward to this build

 

[PeterB]

Hi Adrian,

 

Seem to remember this built up into quite a nice model - except perhaps for the planes - Swordfish, Fulmar and Seafire perhaps, or was this the one with the Avengers? Perhaps that was Victorious.

 

I will watch with interest.

 

Pete

Edited April 6, 2020 by PeterB

[JohnT]

I remember this coming out in 1966 when I was a kid and buying it all excited and desperate to get it home. I wonder how it’s standing the test of time? Looking forward to this one so chair pulled up and refreshments to hand 

[Murdo]

          

[AdrianMF]

15 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Swordfish, Fulmar

That’s the one! Four open and two folded of each.

[JohnT]

38 minutes ago, PeterB said:

except perhaps for the planes - Swordfish, Fulmar and Seafire perhaps, or was this the one with the Avengers? Perhaps that was Victorious.

 

 

Peter

if I remember Victorious has Sea Vixen, Scimitar and Skyraiders. Possibly a Wessex or two as well or maybe I knicked  one off the Devonshire/ Fearless I had 

 

Just looked on Scalemates and Victorious was an even earlier moulding from 1959.  So that’s why no Buccaneers!  I was eleven when I got mine in 1964

[PeterB]

I suppose that, being a little bigger than 1/700 ones it might be possible do do a bit of work on them - they are rather basic as I recall. The decs should help I guess as painting the roundels would be a darned sight harder than the Hinomaru on my various IJN planes. Conway says the official compliment was 60 aircraft though she rarely had that many apparently.

 

Pete

[Andwil]

Wow, I don’t which is the more daunting:  using all that etch, applying decals to 1/600 aircraft or painting tiny 1/600 figures!  🔬

 

AW

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, I did this one a few years ago. To enhance the aircraft I added undercarriage, plus prop blades or discs to the aircraft, plus torpedoes to the swordfish. These additions where done with styrene, as I don't do etch. They were rather basic but I think improved the model a little. I can include a photo if you wish. HTH. Regards, Jeff.

[CliffB]

I built a lot of the Airfix warships back in the day.  This was always my favourite .

Enjoy your build Adrian.

 

Cheers

[AdrianMF]

4 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

I can include a photo

Include away! I’m going to need some inspiration because it suddenly looks all a bit daunting...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Adrian, the ship itself is straight OOB, which was how I built models way back then. The aircraft were added much later.

The camera was focused on the close Swordfish, hence the others are a bit blurred. The prop disc was simply punched from a sheet of clear styrene, but a shirt box cover or similar would probably do as well.

     I actually attached the undercarriage to the flightdeck first, then lowered the plane down onto it. I used a triangle shaped scrap piece of styrene (paper would do) for the footprint of the plane, with small holes where the wheel legs would go through the deck. I marked then pin-pricked only the two main wheel legs. Then I drilled two parallel 0.5mm holes into the deck where the wheel legs will go, then redrilled to 0.6mm. To get the correct angle I made a drilling guide to help me. This guide was simply three strips if 0.5mm styrene strip sandwiched together, the center strip having a gap (at the desired angle) for the drill to do it's stuff. The wheels were discs cut from a 1.2mm styrene rod and glued to the legs, which were simply 0.5mm rod. The leg rod extends about 2mm below the wheel, this 2mm was glued into the deck with the wheels sitting on the deck. When the glue was dry I cut the legs to the correct height, using a gauge I made. The height is the distance from deck to underside of plane plus 0.5mm. I cut off the lugs representing wheels off the aircraft, sanded the underside smooth, then drilled holes in the underside of the plane for the legs. I found it too difficult to get the wheel legs into the holes under the plane so I drilled them large (about 0.8mm) but shallow. This gave a crater effect and self-centered the legs into the holes. When the glue was dry the plane was held quite firm. As the wheels are outside the legs they tend to hide the leg going all the way down to the deck. I thought I took photos when doing all this, but I can't find them. If this narrative is a bit confusing I'll take some more as a demo. All this was done after the ship was finished, so it won't hold you up if you wish to proceed with the build. As you can see from the twin 4.5-inch gun in the foreground, my workmanship and painting were rather rough.

The torpedo is simply 0.75mm styrene rod, cut 8mm long, rounded at the front and tapered at the rear. Then a disc of the same rod was added to the rear to form the prop guard. The roundels on the wings were hand painted, and in some cases look it too. The prop blades are from 0.25 x 0.5 mm styrene strip. HTH. Regards, Jeff.

[Colin @ Freightdog Models]

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what you do with a ship, judging from your previous Airfix classics its going to be a good one, no pressure though! Will you be cutting it down to waterline, or going with the full hull?

 

Colin

[AdrianMF]

I will do full hull but I want to do a seascape around it. I will have to up my game from previous attempts:

 

I used crumpled silver foil  and rather runny Polyfilla. The Polyfilla was just a bit of five-minute fun and I don't think the silver foil would scale up well. There are some good looking sea bases and some in-depth youtube tutorials out there so I hope I can get something more acceptable knocked up.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

[AdrianMF]

32 minutes ago, Colin @ Freightdog Models said:

no pressure though!

Thanks Colin

57 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Adrian,

Thanks Jeff - it's good to see how you approached it. The legs and wheels look great. 

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Richard E]

14 hours ago, JohnT said:

if I remember Victorious has Sea Vixen, Scimitar and Skyraiders. Possibly a Wessex or two as well or maybe I knicked  one off the Devonshire/ Fearless I had 

Sea Vixen, Scimitar and Sky Raiders only so your Wessi were probably borrowed from elsewhere.  It looks like you can now source a replacement Victorious air group from Shapeways. 

[rob85]

“What have I done” I think it’s called biting off more than you can chew, and welcome to the club!

 

I joke, Adrian this is well within you expertises! And you’ve got ages, you have April and May and we’re on lock down!

 

good luck, I’m looking forward to this!

 

Rob

[AdrianMF]

Sorry folks, I realise this simply isn’t going to get done by the end of the GB. I’m making an effort to complete all the builds that I have started and not finished to try to tidy up my work area, and this would just add to the clutter, with small delicate PE - a recipe for disaster!

 

I will pick it up again in the Maritime WIP one day as a regular build.

 

Thank you for all the encouragement and advice. It is all very useful for when I do get to it.

 

Sorry to have to drop it and sorry I couldn’t do a ship for the Navy GB.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Adrian, I rarely start a model if I already have one building, so I do understand about not having too much on the go at one time. Also, this is mean't to be fun, and chasing deadlines could put pressure that leads to mistakes.

But you're aren't getting off the hook that easily. 🎣 We fully expect to see this in the maritime WIP sometime in the near future. 😁

 

All the best, and stay safe. Regards, Jeff.