Flak barge 1945

[phildagreek]

As I wait for a couple of bits to arrive so I can finish off my LAV III build I began to ponder the next build. Sat in the shed looking at my stash, these two popped out;

 

Flak 9 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 8 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

These were both gifts from my brother in law when he finally decided to concentrate on wingy things and I've had them for a few years now. I'm not really into WWII German stuff, not because of anything political just I find their uniforms near impossible to paint, but the spotter on the half track had a pretty simple outfit on. But what to do with them? Then stumbling around on Wikipedia (how much trouble does that get you into?) I came across a picture of a huge flak barge, which while it wasn't what I was thinking about it id make me think...........

 

That was some days ago, so here's some photos.

 

Flak 1 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Inspiring huh? But it's the starting point, time for some measuring and cutting. Measure twice cut once? Yeah, not in this model shop.

 

Flak 2 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 3 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 4 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 5 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 6 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 7 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

And hey presto, from some plastic card, a straight edge and new knife blade a waterline flak barge begins to take shape. Some blood was spilt.

[phildagreek]

I'm thinking the barges were pretty rough, this is February 1945, skilled workers and supplies are in short supply. The inner skin of the barge is covered in rectangles of cut plastic with brass picture wire in between the "plates" to replicate the welds.

 

Flak 10 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 11 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 12 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Gun platforms, textured plastic card to look a bit like early diamond plate.

 

Flak 14 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Gun platforms need guns.

 

Flak 15 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Early paint work, easier to photograph than just white card.

 

Flak 18 by phil da greek, on Flickr

[phildagreek]

The man.

 

Flak 19 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 20 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Stop your heckling, early days.

 

The deck. The gun platform sits proud of the deck and is painted the sea grey that the barge will be painted (actually EDSG), but the deck can't be that colour as well, too much grey. So I guess a wooden deck then, which means planks. That means lots of cutting which I didn't fancy, so the excellent Hattons provided some plastic strips. I'll admit that I went a little narrow on the sizing but hey ho.

 

Flak 21 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 22 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 24 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Let that dry for a bit, more work on the look out.

 

Flak 25 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 26 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Yeah, that smock might be a little too grubby, I don't care if it is Feb '45 and he got issued with it in '43, it's a little over grubbed. Now we need a ladder/ramp to get from the well deck onto the gun deck.

 

Flak 23 by phil da greek, on Flickr

[beefy66]

Well this looks interesting and very different  

 

beefy

[phildagreek]

Guns.

 

Flak 27 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 28 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

In progress, I drilled the barrels out a little bit, that was 8 times good fun but it is worth the effort as it really makes the difference. The gun crews will be a bit exposed up there to any cheeky Typhoons or Mustangs on a gun run, so maybe some sand bags. These are the Tamiya classics from the spares boxes, wrapped in a couple of layers of toile paper and a wood glue & water mix to give some texture to them.

 

Flak 29 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 30 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Made some bollard tie up things out of scraps, it will need to be anchored in the river somehow & later to be towed out of the way.

 

Flak 31 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

And here is where we are right now, the deck was undercoated with a thin mix of Humbrol 110 and then darkened with another coat in several places and then a couple of coats of Winsor & Newton burnt umber oils. The last coat was messed on a bit with some W&N turps in an effort to imitate some grain and generally make it look knackered. It's late war, there's only a few left who don't know it's all over and there's nothing left in the maintenance fund.

 

Hope you're keeping up with this foray into floaty things, share your thoughts!

 

[phildagreek]

Actually, here is where we are right now, as I didn't put the picture into the last post. I surprise myself some times.

 

Flak 32 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

A little bit of simple, brush applied in a hurry with only a small supply of white paint camouflage aimed at breaking up the outline so the Tiffies and Mustangs go somewhere else.

[GerryW]

15 minutes ago, phildagreek said:

wrapped in a couple of layers of toile paper

Good grief, people were fighting for this stuff not to long ago and now we observe "layers" of it being shamelessly wasted for pure pleasure. 

 

Gerry

[phildagreek]

2 hours ago, GerryW said:

Good grief, people were fighting for this stuff not to long ago and now we observe "layers" of it being shamelessly wasted for pure pleasure. 

 

Gerry

I got to the shops early!

😉

[phildagreek]

Updates, slow & steady progress. Photos will explain

 

This fella got himself to Slops & sorted out his smock.

 

Flak 36 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 37 by phil da greek, on Flickr

Guns need bullets & bullets need boxes.

Flak 40 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

The Buffer, or his German equivalent said he wanted some camouflage on the guns.

Flak 34 by phil da greek, on Flickr

Flak 35 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Flak 41 by phil da greek, on Flickr
Flak 42 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Barge looking smart, slightly different shades of grey but that’s wartime paint. But if the Buffer wants the guns camouflaging then I guess the barge needs it too. Applied roughly with a rough brush & the paint thinned down, wartime conditions you know.

 

Flak 43 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

Flak 44 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

Still a few cables to run, enjoy the weekend & thanks for looking in.

 

[phildagreek]

A little bit more.

 

Flak 45 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

Flak 46 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

Flak 47 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

And a test fit of the guns,

 

Flak 48 by phil da greek, on Flickr
 

Looking something like, thanks for looking in.

[beefy66]

Coming along a treat there Phil 👍

 

beefy

[Dermo245]

This is cool - such a great idea!

 

Dermot

[perdu]

What Dermo says

 

Smashing idea

 

👍

[phildagreek]

Thanks! Appreciate you looking in.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Needs a Firefly rocketing the Bejaysus out of it!  Lovely idea, well executed.

[Tim R-T-C]

Excellent scratch building. Look forward to seeing this completed.

[phildagreek]

Cheers! Hit a minor real life stumbling block but returning to it shortly!