HMS Exeter, Battle of the River Plate, Trumpeter 1/350

[Marco1965]

Some advances on the main telemeter, I basically added the PE parts from Eduards.

 

The observation platform in front of the telemeter need still some detail, it seems like it had two supports for observational equipment inside.

 

I gave a wash with water colors to the deck, black/brown.

 

And cleaned with a damp wipe when dry.

 

I think I will stay with this effect (evening pictures, light is not good)

Marco

[robgizlu]

I like the effect you have with the decks and nie work on the Gun director

Rob

[Marco1965]

There is another modification that the kit requires, regarding the rear upper deck (below que catapult deck).  Trumpeter represents this deck as a flat surface, dark gray antiskid surface according to paint instructions. 

 

But in pictures of that same area show that there is planking, lighter color, rather than flat, dark gray surface.  Quite noticeable on this picture, where a segment of the upper deck is very clear, above the boats on the picture.  Notice the contrast to other dark gray areas, the planking pattern and the very similar appearance to the lower planked deck.

 

So... I decided to scribe the deck to simulate the planking, same as I had done with the deck around B turret, only now with a little more practice.  I would have loved to have achieved that regular spacing when I first tried scribing the deck of turret B...  😞

 

Scribing complete but not clean yet.  

 

I sanded imperfections and applied a quick wash with lacquer thinner to get rid of plastic particles, and this is the final result, ready to paint! 

Marco

[S-boat 55]

That's come up a treat, silly as it sounds to ask but what do you use as a scribe? Size/width of blade etc? 

[Marco1965]

Ups you got me with that question, bought the set from Micro-Mark years ago, they look like dentists tools.  I would need to check the one I used for the number.

 

marco 

[Marco1965]

Well there is no number on the scribed.  The kit of 6 scribers is “S/E Wax Carver”.  Stainless Steel, made in India.  Doesn’t say anymore, and to be true, I only use 1 out of the 6 scribers.

 

marco 

[robgizlu]

Expert job on the scribing

Rob

[Chewbacca]

Scribing's excellent.  May I ask how you get them so evenly spaced?  I can guarantee if I tried that they'd end up all over the place.  Wwell in fact they did, the last time I tried it; ended up making a new deck from plasticard and scrapping the original!

[Marco1965]

3 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Scribing's excellent.  May I ask how you get them so evenly spaced?  I can guarantee if I tried that they'd end up all over the place.  Wwell in fact they did, the last time I tried it; ended up making a new deck from plasticard and scrapping the original!

Thank you, Chewbacca, I would say that practice has helped a lot, and correcting some miscalculations that I did in the beginning when I scribed the deck around Turret B.  Back then I did not take into account that the scribing between planks in the kit, which are quite wide.  So I ended up with planks that were marginally narrow.  I corrected that with this second scribing process.

   The other thing was that in this case I had the benefit of being able to use the deck around the second armament as a guide (I should have done that with the front deck!), I marked the spacing with pencil, using the planking around the secondary armament as guide, you only have to use a longer ruler for that.  Checking and double checking.

   Patience, take your time, do not want to finish now! 

 

Marco 

[Marco1965]

I painted the deck and applied a wash of a mix of black/brown water colors.  Finally sealed with Tamiya Flat Clear.  Ready for the Dark Gray anti-skid areas now!

 

 

 

In summary, these are the two decks that require scribing because they were planked: the deck around turret B, and the rear deck below catapult deck.  The gray, non-painted areas correspond to dark gray anti-skid areas.

Marco

[Marco1965]

Had some fun opening door accesses, and gluing doors.  Got rid of the catapult structures molded to the catapult deck, they will be replaced with PE parts.

 

Finished painting the antiskid areas, Dark Gray.  I don´t find any reason for the upper deck behind the bridge to be antiskid, but I could not find any proof proving otherwise, son kept it as provided in the kit.  The scribed deck below the catapult deck looks nice with the color contrast.

 

Finished the torpedo tubes, painted them Light Gray (36495) and applied some paneling accent before sealing with flat finish.  Inserted them in place, they rotate freely.  Now I can proceed masking the deck to continue painting the superstructure and hull

 

 

 

Marco

[Nick B]

Marco I have a question for you. When you look at the wikimedia commons Overhead image of Exeter, it seems to me that the deck under the two rear most deck boats has a similar darker coloured tone with distinct lines, which looks very similar to the Corticene on the Bridge. What do you think ? 

[Marco1965]

12 hours ago, Nick B said:

Marco I have a question for you. When you look at the wikimedia commons Overhead image of Exeter, it seems to me that the deck under the two rear most deck boats has a similar darker coloured tone with distinct lines, which looks very similar to the Corticene on the Bridge. What do you think ? 

Hi Nick,

       in the direct overhead image (I think you are referring to this one, zoom below) the deck is not visible because it is covered with canvas sunshades.  In the narrow areas where the canvas does not cover the deck it is difficult to say, but maybe the second picture below gives a better idea of the deck.

 

You can find this one in wikimedia, too, and this is the one that shows planking more clearly.  We discussed these pictures in another section of this site.  The color of the upper deck is the same as the lower deck, and the same as the wood parts of the boats.  Pattern on the deck is compatible with planking, can´t see any metal stripes used to keep corticene in place.  This is the picture that made me decide on scribing that deck instead of letting it flat (Dark Gray).  I could be wrong, of course, but this was my best guess.

Marco

[Nick B]

Marco

 

Thanks for replying. Sorry I tried to add an annotated copy of the image, but I'm not sure how. The points I'm referring to are between the canvas covers and the rear most deck boat which is on a davit. On the second picture, the boat is stored on the deck which hides the nature of the deck itself. In the overhead shot the desk is visible and doesn't appear (to me) to be either wood or painted steel. On the port side, the deck colour is clearly darker and doesn't catch the sun as much as the wooden decking to either side. So far as I can tell its not under the canvas cover, unlike the upper deck.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

Edited March 5, 2021 by Nick B
spelling

[mick]

great work

[Marco1965]

23 minutes ago, Nick B said:

Marco

 

Thanks for replying. Sorry I tried to add an annotated copy of the image, but I'm not sure how. The points I'm referring to are between the canvas covers and the rear most deck boat which is on a davit. On the second picture, the boat is stored on the deck which hides the nature of the deck itself. In the overhead shot the desk is visible and doesn't appear (to me) to be either wood or painted steel. On the port side, the deck colour is clearly darker and doesn't catch the sun as much as the wooden decking to either side. So far as I can tell its not under the canvas cover, unlike the upper deck.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

I think this is the area you are referring to?   I don´t know but I think that that structure might be part of the boat platform, which is not really part of the deck but a metal structure protruding to the sides of the upper deck.  My imagination only but they look like spaced wood or metal beams, part of the platform structure.   I haven´t got any detailed picture of that part, but will try to find something.  

 

Thanks for the heads-up, interesting!

 

Marco

[Nick B]

Marco

 

Yes thats the area. Its the same on both sides. Looking at the photo and the kit, there is a small extension of the upper deck that does stick out there, under the boat on either side (to my eye, the shape of the Trumpeter kit's deck seems to be wrong here, based on looking at both photos. The reason I thought about a corticence covering is that it looks very similar to the bridge deck in terms of tone and with the "lines" where the sheets of corticence are joined together.

 

Either way, if its wooden decking the planking isnt orientated along the length of the ship. The colour also seems different. This would need to be reflected on your super detailed model ?

Edited March 5, 2021 by Nick B
spelling

[Nick B]

3 hours ago, Nick B said:

Marco

 

Yes thats the area. Its the same on both sides. Looking at the photo and the kit, there is a small extension of the upper deck that does stick out there, under the boat on either side (to my eye, the shape of the Trumpeter kit's deck seems to be wrong here, based on looking at both photos. The reason I thought about a corticence covering is that it looks very similar to the bridge deck in terms of tone and with the "lines" where the sheets of corticence are joined together.

 

Either way, if its wooden decking the planing isnt orientated along the length of the ship. The colour also seems different. This would need to be reflected on your super detailed model ?

Looking more closely, the wooden deck is clear in the zoomed in area, than I had initially thought, but the clear well space lighter coloured lines do suggests something unusual is present as well.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Nick B
spelling

[Marco1965]

2 hours ago, Nick B said:

Looking more closely, the olden deck is clear in the zoomed in area, than I had initially thought, but the clear well space fighter lines do suggests something unusual is present as well.

I was checking the Trumpeter´s HMS Exeter Kit, and the Eduard PE parts.  Eduard provides photoetched for that boat platform, but it does not represent that structure seen in the pictures.  So maybe a little bit of scratch building will be necessary to represent it.  As in my case the boat will be actually on the platform, maybe I don´t really need to do much more, we´ll see.

 

Marco

Edited March 5, 2021 by Marco1965

[Nick B]

I suppose we could be seeing a metal support frame for the Canvas to be tied down to.

[Modelholic]

I think it's a grating platform to aid entrance/egress to the boats with a small walkway from the main deck.

This image from wiki magnifies well for a side view:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Exeter_(68)#/media/File:HMS_Exeter_(68)_off_Coco_Solo_c1939.jpg

When swung out on their davits the sea boats are a fair way from the deck and these boats are for quick launching when under way for man overboard etc. (always deployed out in case of emergency. Note the long painter extending forward to steady the boat alongside).

Tom

[Nick B]

Tom. These deck boats do seem to rest on a metal frame. There is an image here, from a model build shows it well (http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/ca/hms/Exeter-350-dh/index.htm ). You would certainly see the deck below through it. I'd certainly go with that idea, except the light coloured contrast lines (there are 8 or 9) seem to imply that the large frame has quite a number of thinner "cables" or rope (?) joining the frame together. That might make sense to help the deck boat crew get on board.

[Modelholic]

I'm imagining a rigid structure built of wooden slats (think very hefty park bench)

I'm a Londoner myself originally. Walthamstow born and bred.

Tom

[Marco1965]

I´ll sort of add some longitudinal "beams", resembling that structure, small enough not to make the difference between wood, or metal or rope or cable, just to give the impression of that grill.

 

Marco

[Nick B]

1 hour ago, Marco1965 said:

I´ll sort of add some longitudinal "beams", resembling that structure, small enough not to make the difference between wood, or metal or rope or cable, just to give the impression of that grill.

 

Marco

Unless someone knows better....and post sit here