Italeri Vosper beginners OOB with a twist

[FlyingSpanner]

Here’s a glimpse of the amount of material I’ve had to remove from the deck to get the superstructure to fit again

 

I don’t know how clear it is in the photo, but I had to sand the all the vertical faces of the raised section (bridge floor) to get the superstructure to sit low enough

 

Having enjoyed my bout of brush painting yesterday I began some more on the rest of the Vickers turret parts. This load of components does all seem overly complicated. Can anyone who has completed one of these kits tell me whether it is all supposed to move once it’s assembled?

 

 

These torpedo tunes have been hanging around for ages and I’m getting sick of looking at them in their half-completedness, so I thought I should put some effort into getting them cleaned up ready to compete the assemblies and get them painted. It was going okay until I promptly snapped the eyelet off of one of them

 

No amount of searching produced the broken part so I made another (ish) out of 0.8mm welding wire. 

 

 

 

It’s not perfect, but it’ll do. Not sure whether to replace the other one too so they match, any thoughts?

 

Last job this evening was to attach this tiny PE eyelet to the front face of the wheelhouse, which is presumably for a handrail/lifeline type affair. I guess I won’t be using it with a gun mounted on the deck, but having had my fingers burnt elsewhere ignoring the instructions I thought it best to fit it anyway.

 

Its not much to show for an evenings effort

 

Lewis

[longshanks]

53 minutes ago, FlyingSpanner said:

Not sure whether to replace the other one too so they match, any thoughts?

 

 

I would 

Keep up the good work

 

Kev

[JohnWS]

 

John

[beefy66]

All starting to come together now as for the Vickers gun I think it is up to you if you want it to move but I would fix it in position that way things should not break off.

 

beefy

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks guys

 

Now a matched pair

 

 

Again not much to show for my efforts tonight, and it feels like it’s all been repairs. The levers/handles got snapped off the bridge telegraph so needed to be remade 

 

 

 

It still needs a bit of fettling to shape it properly

 

And then when I tried to continue with the torpedo tubes one of the tiny eye bolts remained on the sprue when the rear cap was removed. Several attempts to reattach it mostly just resulted in mild irritation so I made another. It ain’t quite right but it’s the best I can do 

 

 

I’m definitely not replacing the other three so they match! 😬😄

 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

Now I’m ready to paint the superstructure I could really do with some photo colour interpretation help. I have the below drawing from Coastal Craft History Volume 1

 

 

Which clearly shows white shadow shading beneath the bridge wind deflector on both the side and front of the bridge structure, with a G45 grey deflector. I think that this would be ‘correct’ for the admiralty scheme

 

The image of the boat on which this drawing is based is in Mediterranean MTBs at War (as far as I can tell)

 

 

This looks to me like the white shadow shading extends aft behind the wind deflector at the same height to the rear of the bridge sides. That part I’m fairly certain of.
 

What I’m not certain of is what colour is the wind deflector itself? The front face looks fairly dark but I think it is deep in shadow, so colour is difficult to gauge, but the sides of the deflector look as close to white as they do to G45 to my eye. Same goes for the life ring

Anyone care to weigh in?

[Arjan]

9 hours ago, FlyingSpanner said:

This looks to me like the white shadow shading extends aft behind the wind deflector at the same height to the rear of the bridge sides. That part I’m fairly certain of

 Indeed, the Coastal Craft illustrator clearly misinterpreted that area of the bridge . I've noticed before that the illustrations are not always reliable so it's wise to verify the various details,  The exact colours of the wind deflector will no doubt remain a mystery. No matter how many period pics exist of a certain subject, some details will remain elusive.

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[FlyingSpanner]

Minor update, superstructure painted, boat now looks vaguely boat like. I went for grey on the bridge wind deflector in the end. It’s hard to say what it is in that image above, and grey is more ‘correct’ for the admiralty light scheme

 

 

Masking was a faff, not really sure how I could have done it differently, maybe liquid mask for the awkward parts?

 

 

[FlyingSpanner]

Bit more done. Torpedo tubes pretty much ready for primer

 

 

 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

Got the torpedo tubes and a load of deck furniture primed and painted in G45 surrogate (Mr Hobby 035 IJN Grey) so had to arrange it all on deck for a quick vanity shot. It’s a useful enthusiasm boost too

 

 

I have begun to paint some of the detail on the bridge and wheelhouse too

 

 

 

I may attempt the masking for the white shadow shading band on the torpedo tubes tomorrow if I can find the patience 

 

Cheers, Lewis 

[FlyingSpanner]

Any tips on masking this?

 

 

For reference here’s the goal;

 

I’ve tried masking tape stretched lengthwise, but there are too many ridges.
 

I’m thinking maybe paint it in masking fluid then somehow knife this off at the right height? This gives the next problem that the tube slopes upward towards the front, so you can’t reference off the table surface to get a straight line to cut 

 

Or, draw pencil line at correct height and cut many individual pieces of masking tape and fit down to the line. Sounds laborious and suffers the same problem as above of how to draw the line at the right height in the first place 

 

Any help appreciated 👍

Edited May 24, 2020 by FlyingSpanner
Typo

[Arjan]

I used 3 mm wide masking tape and hand painted the camo colour. Afterwards I still had a lot of touching up to do so the masking tape was of limited use. In the end nobody will notice that the lines don't run perfectly straight so don't worry about it too much.

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

 

 

 

 

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks Arjan, I’ll give it a try 

 

When you say hand painted do you mean brush or airbrush freehand?

 

cheers

[Arjan]

I used a brush but I had to be careful because the Tamiya paint dries so quickly. This characteristic makes painting larger areas with a brush slightly tricky. I usually try to paint as quickly as I can while trying not to cover the same  surface area twice. It's best to apply a thin coat and allow the paint to dry thoroughly before brushing on a second one.

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Modelholic]

Are you sure the tube is tilted? I think that's just a perspective issue from the drawing

Put the tube on a flat table surface and measure the distance front and back between bottom of tube and surface, level with a 'shim' (if I'm wrong about the perspective thing. I find a suitable slice of a block of pencil eraser good for this sort of stuff) under one end. Find something that you can horizontally rest a pencil on (block of wood?) at a suitable height to draw the line then firmly hold the tube and drag the pencil/wooden block combination around the tube so you're left with a line parallel to the table surface. You could tape the pencil to the block (or bluetack it) if you wish.

Rattle can or hand brush only I believe?

I'd paint the tube the lightest colour first. Could you 'notch' a strip of masking tape at the required intervals and apply it? Then spray the top colour. You'd have to hand brush the ridges and support structure.

Tom

Edited May 25, 2020 by Modelholic

[Modelholic]

Arjan,

If iI'm brush painting Tamiya acrylics I thin them 10% with isopropyl alc. I find it helps!

But you're right about them drying quick. Don't know if anyone can recommend a retarder.

Tom

 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Modelholic
bad spelling

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks Arjan, I had wanted to spray the white, but the demarcation line crosses too many surfaces to mask it well, so I’ll be brush painting too. Wish me luck 😬

 

Cheers Tom, yes I came to the same conclusion last night, after much faffing around and procrastination. I shimmed the aft end of the tube up and precariously balanced a pencil on a dvd case and a stack of Magnum sticks 🙄. Once I had a line drawn which was reasonably consistent I can have a stab at masking. I found some PVC automotive fine line tape which has a bit of stretch to it, it seemed to be a little easier going making it fit over all the ridges and flanges.

 

 

Time will tell how much it bleeds under and whether it lifts the grey off

 

Lewis

Edited May 25, 2020 by FlyingSpanner

[GrantGoodale]

I would not be overly concerned. I doubt that they used masking tape on the real thing.

 

FWIW

[FlyingSpanner]

What feels like 47 coats of paint later

 

 

I’m quite pleased with that really. The bleed under around the ridges and flanges was to be expected, but I’m pleased with how crisp the line has remained. With acrylic brush painting I had expected to see paint bleeding under the adhesive all along the edge, but this PVC tape seems to have stopped that.
 

 

Now to do the other side.

 

 

While preparing to get on with painting the hull I realised I had forgotten the scuttles and cavitation plates, so tackled those.

 

it was fairly straightforward apart from assembling the cavitation plates wrong and having to redo them both 🙄

 

 

 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

A happy couple of hours spent tinkering this evening assembling the twin Vickers turret
 

 

 

 

It all felt a bit more complicated than it needed to be, but I don’t know whether I’m levelling that criticism at the kit designers or the turret designers

 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

Well it’s been over a week and I must have spent at least an hour each day working on this, but apparently I have very little to show for it.

 

I have finished the white shadow shading on both torpedo tubes now; the masking didn’t come off quite as cleanly on the port tube so I have some more finishing and touching in to do, but broadly I’ve been pleased with how these have come out. Lots of lessons learned

 

 

Over a period of a few days I masked off the deck sections whose vertical faces are to be painted grey. 
 

 

I’m using Gunze 35 as my G45 surrogate, so far only in an aerosol can, but for these smaller areas I planned to brush. Despite buying the correct thinners I just could not get the paint to brush nicely, it lifted the previous colour, was impossible to keep a wet edge, and dried almost instantly on the brush. After a few trials with different thinners to paint ratios I had a google and quickly discovered that I was not alone in struggling. Left with little choice as I’m needing the colour match I persevered, it came out okay in the end, if a lot thicker and a little less tidy than I would like. 

 

I decanted some of the Tamiya AS-8 spray (which is what I’m using as my B15 surrogate for the deck) so that I could touch in the blue. 


 

 

Still lots more grey touching up to do

 

 

I also assembled, primed and painted the depth charge mounts, torpedo loading saddles, and some other small parts

 

 

 

Then had a go at the wheelhouse glazing. I tried using some acrylic glue my wife had, but found it less than ideal with quite a lot of squeeze out which is not easily removed.

 

 

 

I was placing an order for some other bits so picked up some Micro Krystal Klear to try on the clear view screens. Again, I’ve found it a bit messy, but I think that’s largely down to my technique 😬

Lastly, I have finally glued the bridge wind deflector on. I’m using Gator’s Grip for this, not really sure whether this the right tool for the job but I’ve not been satisfied with using CA to attach painted parts

 

 

It feels like I’m not far off from being ready to start attaching stuff to the deck for good

 

 

Thanks for reading
 

Lewis

[robgizlu]

God job - nice work

Rob

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks Rob 👍

 

 

Does anyone know of a clear image of the IFF antenna mounting when it is positioned on the bridge wind deflector?

It appears almost as if fitted to the mast in this image of MTB 84 at the stage that I’m modelling

 

 

But the profile in Coastal Craft History shows it forward of the mast

 

 

The Italeri kit would have you place it on a stub mast at the bow

 

 

This appears to be how the antenna was fitted when built, then perhaps moved later, perhaps when deck guns were retrofitted?

 

Heres MTB 77 from the kit booklet

 

An earlier photo of MTB 84 doesn’t show the antenna fitted at all

 

*Just in case I’ve got my terminology way off, I’m referring to the part that looks like an inverted wire coat hanger 😁

 

Thanks

[FlyingSpanner]

Well I finally got the hull painted, which feels like a bit of a milestone. I have been putting off the masking for the grey for weeks!

 

 

Bit of a slip up with the masking to tidy up where I’ve managed to get black onto the grey, and some edges to touch in where the waterline crosses the chine. Overall I’m pleased 

 

 

I also mounted the superstructure to the deck. I used Gators Grip glue, and lots of clamps, left to cure overnight.

 

 

The following day I removed the clamps and the superstructure pretty much came away with it 😕

Now re-glued with Tamiya thin cement. Fingers crossed

 

I have searched my reference material and can find no further photos or diagrams of the bridge IFF antenna mount. The only possibility so far is this image

 

 

Could this bracket with two holes mounted between the wind deflector and the mast be part of the IFF fixture?

 

 

Any thoughts?

[longshanks]

You thoughts are correct. The IFF aerial was indeed moved to the starboard wing. I doubt the lightening holes were for the mounting but if it fits I would use it.

 

Nice job with the painting

 

Kev