Italeri Vosper beginners OOB with a twist

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks Kev. While those holes do look like they might have been cut simply to reduce weight it seems like a more effective way to reduce weight would be not to fit that bracket. The bracket is not shown in any drawings I can find, so it’s true purpose is not known. It’s not part of the wind deflector as far as I can see, so must be an addition which serves a separate need.

 

In the absence of further information I think I’ll choose to believe that it’s for the IFF and try to recreate it 👍

[FlyingSpanner]

Back to the IFF, further trawl of reference material proves that bracket is not for the IFF; here’s a shot of the same boat (MTB 97) showing it’s IFF antenna mounted on the foredeck

 

 

I found more boats with bridge mounted antennas, though not much clearer on how it is mounted, it does appear they could be attached directly to the mast itself

 

MTB 234

 

 

MTB 241

 

Heres MTB 90 after refit, in much the same colours and layout as MTB 84 as I’m modelling, though without a deck gun. Seems to have some unknown box shaped protrusion on the wind deflector too. Note also interesting (possibly unique) windscreen mounted on top of the deflector 

 

 

Going back to the unknown bracket on MTB 97, this unknown boat appears to have something similar (though from this angle it’s hard to say), again not mounting an IFF

 

Lastly, and perhaps most useful is MTB 80, with mast mounted IFF antenna. It’s higher than on MTB 84, but maybe this should be my solution

 

 

[FlyingSpanner]

I suddenly kind of arrived at a point where there wasn’t much left to do but start glueing components to the deck, which was very satisfying 🙂

 

 

 

The torpedo tubes need to remain loose until I have the deck screwed down

 

 

I ignored the clear acrylic sheet which came with the kit and used Micro Krystal Klear for the scuttles and skylights. What a revelation this stuff is! Very satisfying to use and super easy!

Some of it is still yet to fully dry (cure?) after a couple of days so I might have applied it a bit thick

 

 

I made a decision on the bridge IFF mounting and attached it directly to the mast. I added some copper wire as detail for its presumed electrical cable, then added the radar PE and painted it all up

 

 

 

I have zero confidence in the PE staying attached, it had fallen off once before I had primed it 🙄

 

 

Also got the depth charges assembled into their cradles and applied the rigging/ropes. I’m aware that the kit layout here bears little resemblance to the real setup in that it has no release mechanism, but I could not find a decent image to work from, so left it as is. I did ignore the kit instructions on the rigging though, instead of two lengths of string and four knots (?!) per cradle, I used one length attached with a larks head hitch at the top then just held the rails taught and glued with CA on the underside. It’s beyond my knot tying skills to achieve success the way Italeri would have you do it

 

 

 

 

Now fitted

 

 

 

Some time back I decided to try to improve the kit life raft whose shape is compromised by the moulding process. I had real issues with the filler cracking and separating from the plastic (squadron grey) so gave up and built one myself

 

 

Now painted and with ropes 

 

 

 

For some reason I’m having thoughts about weaving the netting which should connect the wooden slatted base to the floaty bit (that’s the extent of my nautical terminology right there). I think it probably deserves at least some oars too.

 

Lastly I have been trying to make some rope coils. I found an idea for a jig online, so knocked a couple up out of scrap plastic, but despite this my early efforts have all been failures. I will give the glue a bit longer to dry on my second round of attempts and see what tomorrow brings. Fingers crossed

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Lewis

 

[longshanks]

Coming together very nicely 

 

Kev

[FlyingSpanner]

I just couldn’t resist attempting to build the netting that connects the buoyant ring of the carley float to the wooden floor. I think in a scale as large as 1/35 this would be quite visible. Here’s an image found online of HMAS Sydney’s surviving raft to illustrate 

 

 

The square section raft used on many Vospers is a slightly different design to the typical Carley type, but photos are so few it’s difficult to say what these diversions were. Here’s an image of a stowed raft of a similar type used on experimental MTB 510, though the rope arrangement is different again to the type I’m modelling 

 

 

I came up with a jig to construct a net as a trial/proof of concept. The threads are CA glued where they cross

 

 

I set the ‘ropes’ at 4mm centres, about 5.5” at scale. It’s not fine enough for this purpose, but it proves that the technique is doable

 

 

This works well enough that I think I’ll have another go, with a tighter net spacing, and I will need finer thread, though applying the glue neatly will be a challenge. I’ll keep this first one in the spares box, it might make a nice scramble net

 

Lewis

 

[Arjan]

Neat work Lewis, it's becoming a very attractive model. More importantly, you really seem to enjoy your build.

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[robgizlu]

Super progress.  In no particular order - nice masking and painting - cracking job on the Carley raft and the net is just right.

I've really enjoyed this and one of the nicest examples I've seen built in this scale

Rob

[longshanks]

Hi Lewis this may help you with modelling the float

 

 

Kev

[Terry1954]

Absolutely top job going on here Lewis. Very impressed with all your work so far.

 

Terry

[FlyingSpanner]

Arjan thank you! From yourself that’s high praise indeed. And you’re right, I could never have guessed at the immeasurable pleasure of two hours spent gluing a tiny net together 🙂

 

Rob, thank you for your kind words. This is the first model kit I have built for twenty years (since I was a child), and the first one I have tried painting ever, so I am super critical of it and can only see the parts I should have had more patience with.

 

Thanks for the diagram Kev, I don’t suppose you have one that’s dimensioned? 😂 
I tend towards wanting precise measurements to work to and struggle with just making something that just looks right. Care to take a stab at the net hole size?

 

Thanks Terry, I really appreciate the feedback 👍

[longshanks]

I would guess at 50 - 75mm square 

 

Kev

 

[Courageous]

Looks like a much simpler way of doing netting than the method I have used. Would be interesting to know if your netting would roll up tightly...

 

Stuart

[FlyingSpanner]

Started on the new net, this will not be over quickly 🙄

 

1.4mm centres, so 50mm at scale. I could have done with thinner thread but this was the finest we have, and my patience does not extend to ordering more and then waiting for it to arrive
 

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Would be interesting to know if your netting would roll up tightly...

 

It rolls up fairly tight. You could get it much tighter than this but it took me so long to make I didn’t want to risk damage 🙂

 

 

What method did you use? My wife suggested I crochet it, but I don’t have the mental capacity or will power to develop another skill just for one task 

Lewis

[longshanks]

Rolled up gauze ??  

 

As used in 1/72 diorama

 

HTH

 

Kev

[Courageous]

10 hours ago, FlyingSpanner said:

What method did you use?

Almost like crochet but I used 'clove hitch' knots secured with CA.

The thread was the smallest I could get and it ended up being more bulky than I'd like. Yours does look more refined, looks great but would've needed to be tighter without damaging it.

8 hours ago, longshanks said:

Rolled up gauze ??

I tried the gauze and although it looks fantastic in your dio, it didn't work as rolled up netting for me.

 

Stuart

[FlyingSpanner]

I did wonder whether holding a thermoplastic thread (nylon?) in a jig and then applying gentle heat to fuse the joints where the threads cross might work. I don’t think we have anything suitable, but if I come across some I might give it a try. I’m a bit all netted out at the moment though 🙂

 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

Ding ding, we have a winner!

 

On 18/06/2020 at 22:46, longshanks said:

Rolled up gauze ??  

 

Thanks to Kev, gauze saves the day

 

Painted

 

 

Cut, compared with my trial ca glued net

 

 

and fitted...

 

 

 

Its really not much in the grand scheme of things, and most people would perhaps never see it, but I feel it adds something. It matters to me anyway 🙂

 

So what happened to the 1.4mm spaced CA glued net? Well it was a total failure really. I used a thicker CA gel on the bigger spaced proof of concept net, but that was too imprecise for the much finer joints, it just spanned the square of the net and looked terrible. I used Zap thin CA instead but it’s so thin it soaked right into the length of the thread.

 

 

When it was cut from the jig I was left with a rigid mesh 
 

 

And when you try to roll it it just falls apart

 

 

 

The gauze I had ended up being exactly the same thread pitch as I was aiming for anyway so that worked out perfectly.

 

 

In summary, CA glue and a jig works fine for a larger strand pitch, and gauze works for finer stuff. I’ll happily use either technique again as required.

 

Enough nets, back to some plastic now 🙂

 

Lewis

[longshanks]

Looking good 👍

 

Kev

[FlyingSpanner]

I spent a little time this evening touching in edges here and there on the hull working towards getting ready for clear coat, there is still more to be done but progress was made.

 

The torpedo tubes have stanchions for some sort of rigging, presumably a lifeline or similar. These are provided as separately moulded parts in the kit, which just butt to the face of the tubes. A sub 1mm diameter rod glued end on with rigging through the eye is just asking for trouble, especially at the outer extremities of the model. Anyway, I’ve already snapped three of the four off, a couple more than once, so figured there must be a better way.

 

 

Some Caldercraft 10mm brass stanchions seemed like the right tool for the job

 

 

Tube surface drilled at the correct angle and stanchions CA glued in

 

 

The ball top to the stanchion is probably a little heavy for what I’m trying to represent, but I don’t really know if there is an alternative. Let’s see how long they last 🤞
 

Lewis

[FlyingSpanner]

I finished the touching in of the hull and got a coat of gloss on ready for decals. The decals I sourced aren’t quite right, as they have no drop shadow, but it’s the best I could do without going custom.

 

Decals on and a bit of weathering to the hull:

 

 

Once the oil paints have had an age to dry I’ll give it a coat of matt

 

It was difficult to know how far to go with weathering, as many of the images of MTBs are ‘as new’, on builders trials or acceptance trials etc. It is harder to find images where the boats are actually in service.

 

I have these two images in a book published in 1943, which show well worn boats

 

 

This one is particularly untidy, I suspect it may have been on fire

Lewis

[Paul Bradley]

I think your weathering looks good - nicely understated, it's there without drawing undue attention to itself. Less is more. 

[longshanks]

Nice subtle weathering

Like it!!

 

Kev

[FlyingSpanner]

Thanks guys 👍

 

On reflection I think those two images I posted are the same boat, see the stripe in the torpedo scallop to denote flotilla leader

[Modelholic]

Lewis,

I'm not so sure.

There are differences.

The two forward ventilators and the wheelhouse roof are different.

Regarding weathering, I remember a starboard quarter shot of a boat (It might have been posted on one of the coastal forces' builds here on britmodeller). Thought I'd saved it but, alas, can't find it, maybe a different class or even a BPB or MGB but it was positively filthy!

Tom

[FlyingSpanner]

Good spot Tom, you’re right. When you look properly (as I should have done first time around) there are many differences