1/350 HMS PUMA

[Chewbacca]

Right.  It's official.  I hate the decals with this kit,  Whilst I did manage to recover the situation with the pennant numbers (just) as the first "F3" that went on broke up as I slid it from the backing paper, the bridge window decals also all disintegrated as I tried to position them.  Again  it was a good job that the kit provides two sets of these; lets just say that I have none left!  You can see in the top photo below that even then I wasn't entirely successful as the top left corner of the outermost window fell apart as did the bottom right of the bridge for'ard extension aftermost window.  Incidentally, for anyone else contemplating this kit, the decal that forms the five windows in that part of the bridge comes in one part.  I strongly recommend cutting it into separate windows as there was no way that the decal was strong enough to withstand manoeuvring into place across a complex shape as I found to my cost with the first attempt.  The downside of separating them of course is alignment and you can see that the aftermost window is actually set too high, but having put it on despite having a liberally brushing of water underneath, it touched the model and there it was staying; by that stage I'd run out of spares so couldn't risk damaging it further by trying to push it fractionally down.  Interestingly, Peter recommends to not use softening solutions with these decals.  I can see why!

 

 

 

Moving aft, at least the red PUMA name decals for either side of the quarterdeck went on cleanly - fortunately since there were no spares of these - and I have also started to get the rest of the fittings added here.  The Squid Mortar is from Black Cat models and to my eye at least looks very representative of the real thing.  I've yet to give it a wash which should bring out some of the highlights.  Similarly I'm pleased with the 3D printed crane on the port quarter.  This area now just needs the PE railings and ensign staff adding.

 

 

 

I also have a set of Atlantic Models deck markings and warning placards decals

 

Whilst I principally got these for the warning markings on the side of the turrets, they do also provide the yellow deck markings showing the danger areas around the turrets.  Well, to be strictly true, turret, because there's only one of the largest size in yellow.  But my experience with the kit decals has tempered my confidence to try to place something like that on the deck, so I think I'm going to raid my daughter's set of acrylic paint pens and set up a compass based around the turret mounting point.

 

I must say one of the really nice touches with this kit is the fact that the polished wood and metal ship's name board that is put up in harbour is provided for all 4 ships in the class as 3D relief PE.  I painted them Vallejo raw umber and then when dry carefully scraped off the paint from the raised portion to reveal the name.  Strictly speaking it should be a polished chrome effect for the name but I think I might leave as is and claim "scale effect"!  I suppose I could dry brush with a chrome paint but I think I'll end up spoiling what looks quite effective.  Given that PUMA is being portrayed alongside, this is perfect although of course if at sea, these boards are always taken down and stowed safely in one of the upperdeck stores.  I've looked through the other Atlantic Models kits I have (BOXER, NEWCASTLE, ARROW) and I don't think any of the others have them which is a shame though from my perspective that's fine as they are all going to be portrayed at sea; I wonder if this was just a one off and if so why?

 

 

The primer gremlins struck on the other side though for just as I was about to apply the CA to attach the second nameplate, I noticed a crack in the paint.  Upon investigation with the tip of an X-Acto, all of the paint on the port side of the deckhouse simply fell off!

 

.

 

So that blows my theory that the Alclad primer didn't adhere to the hull because of grease from my hands during handling.  There has to be another reason why the primer that so many others on BM recommend as being the very best for resin simply didn't work in this case.  What worries me now is whether it will flake anywhere else later on after it is impossible to touch up?

 

Sadly the 3D print of the director platforms didn't work as planned.  I printed two; one didn't print at all and the other just printed the horizontal platform itself with none of the supports.  Not sure why but I'm going to approach it slightly differently for the next attempt and base it on a modified petrol stowage that printed perfectly and uses support structures of exactly the same size.

 

 

Making progress with the figures.  This is the latest test print and they have almost worked though the photo doesn't show it at all well.   You can just about make out in the left hand figure that I've managed to replicate the bell bottoms and cap for a No 1 or 2 uniform and I've got a realistic pose for someone walking in the right hand figure, but in all cases the arms are cut off at the elbow.  I'm in the process of redesigning them with slightly thicker forearms which I think is the problem here.

 

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

[JohnWS]

Thanks for your tip about the window decals & the detailed descriptions of the other issues you're finding.  All things that are good to know as I work away on my resin model.

 

The spray automotive universal primer I'm using on my resin build seems to be adhering well, where I'm able to sand & wash the resin surface.  In spots I've had to sand the primer down to the resin to remove some foreign matter, the primer is sticking to the resin really well.  I'm a little concerned about how the primer will stick to the small detailed bits that are hard to sand, but so far so good.  I'm guessing that since the automotive primer is used on bare metal surfaces, it works well on the smooth resin surfaces as well.

 

John

[Chewbacca]

Thanks John.

 

Some more work this afternoon and some more minor shortfalls with the kit.

 

For some time I'd been looking at the bridge wings and thinking that it was odd that they were sealed at the aft end.  Surely it would make more sense for them to have an opening?  And so after a bit of digging and checking the references I confirmed that there should indeed be an opening on the inboard side at the aft end.  I couple of swift swipes with an X-Acto on either side of each opening soon sorted that out.

 

Stbd side done, port side yet to be done

 

Both sides done, paint retouched and raw umber umber painted around the top of the bridge wings to represent the polished wooden trim.

 

That second photo also shows the last of the mushroom vents fitted.  You can see it on the port side just for'ard of the 20 inch signal projector platform.  The instruction would have you fit it facing outboard  which indeed when built I think it did - but post the AKE refit as far as I can tell from the photos it faces towards the stbd quarter.  To be fair, it has to because otherwise with the 20 inch signal projector platform there, it would completely block upper deck access fore and aft

 

Attention then turned to the midships section and my first thought was to fit the emergency conning position which is a PE structure I'd mad quite early on.  But to fit that, I realised, the mainmast must be fitted first, and that's where the problems started to arise.  You can see here that there's no way the mainmast will fit with the moulded on small mushroom vent.  It was a tight fit prior to painting but now there was no chance.  Checking the reference again showed that post the AKE refit (and hence the plated mainmast), that vent was removed (or resighted but if so I can't see where too).  So that was snipped off to allow the mainmast to at least fit.

 

I then noticed that the ladder I had fitted which is prominent in some photos but not others went straight through where the exhaust comes up from below 1 deck to the post side of the mainmast.  That would also have to go.  And then the more I looked at the photos the less convinced I was that there was in fact a ladder there at all,  Perhaps a waveguide or exhaust trunking that was giving the impression of something larger.  I've removed the offending ladder and touched up the paint but haven't yet replaced it while I try to decide exactly what it is and where it mounts at the bottom.

 

 

So then it was the PE around the aft end of that superstructure block just aft of the 40 mm Bofors platform.

 

I'd already carefully measured this to fit a ladder up from 1 deck to align with the gap in the guardrail.  And if you look, you can see that the ladder was perfectly in position (if a bit askew, macro photography is somewhat unforgiving).

 

 

But note where the aft end of those guardrails sit in relation to the deck.  I measured from the 40 mm Bofors mount back and assumed that the PE was the right length going beyond that.

 

If I align the guardrails to the aft end of the superstructure, they're somewhat short for'ard:

 

And even more so on the stbd side:

 

So the solution seemed to be align the guardrails to the aft end of the superstructure and fill in the gaps with generic guardrail from the spares box.  That was going quite well with both port and stbd extensions added, the CA on the deck for the kit's guardrails, when ping, off it went from the tweezers in a beautiful ballistic trajectory!  Now you would think that it ought to be easy to find something that's basically 10 mm square and 3-4 mm high and painted light grey on a dark floor?  But no.  So the easiest thing to do was to take off the guard rails just added and remake the whole section afresh from the spares box with some brass rod embellishments

 

 

 

You can also see in those I fitted some guard rails around the aft director platform which are clearly shown in most photos but aren't supplied in the kit so these again came from the spares box.  I would expect them to be 2 bar aluminium rather than the 3 bar unequal spaced type but either way, they will be covered in a plastic "dodger", yet to be added but probably represented by paper though I might see if I can find some white plastic offcuts from a polythene bag or similar which might look better.

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

A tremendous amount of detail going on around the deck and superstructure Ralph. Looking at my Atlantic models Leopard (still nicely packaged in it's box), I can really appreciate how small this all is, and the effort you are putting into it. And who knows, I might even get to see it for real this year!

 

Terry

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Terry.  With a fair wind and if the relaxations carry on as planned, we ought to be able to gather I would have thought for the July meeting.  And even at the speed that I model, PUMA should be complete by then!

[robgizlu]

Nice work Chewbacca - Well worth the effort and I commiserate about the bridge wing openings - as I found out on Griffin - there's quite a bit of guestimation as to where ladders would have gone 

Rob

[beefy66]

The Black Cat and your own 3D printing are really making this stand out with the extra details good reference to keep a hold off Cheers  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Rob and Beefy

 

Now a question for my learned BM colleagues on here.  Given that Sovereign has stopped stocking the YX Models resin anchor cable (for very understandable/justifiable reasons so no criticism implied at all), does anyone supply this anymore, ideally in UK.  As far as I can tell, even the Japanese website say that they are closed.  

 

Thanks

Edited March 3, 2021 by Chewbacca

[robgizlu]

Hi Chewbacca

Searched everywhere - I bought some last from Italy - it's gone, at least currently which is a crying shame.

An exercise for 3D printing?

Re-reading your blog reminded me about the decals - had the same problem with those on the Destroyer/Escort sheet which again is a real shame.

Rob

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Rob, I'm glad it's not just me.  I did wonder about trying to print but even with the printer that I have there's no way that I could get something that small.  I seem to recall that the older frigates such as the Type 41s, 61s and Leanders had cable that was about 40 mm diameter with each link being about 100 mm in length, which means that scaled down, I'm looking at fractionally over 0.1 mm diameter and each link being jut over 0.5 mm in length.  The very best that my printer has shown capable of is 0.2 mm.  I've got some Master Tools anchor cable that I bought for BULOLO and whilst it's not studded, it's better than the PE.  I've got some spare 1/600 PE that I can use for the blake and bottle screw slips.

 

The placard decals seemed to work better with no issues putting the warning signs on the ides of the turret though even with the highest magnification on the optivisor I couldn't read the words so I hope that I have a, got the right one and b, put them on the right way up!  I wasn't brave enough to attempt the deck warning circles so having looked at my daughter's art box and realised that she had no acrylic paint pens fine enough, I have invested in a set of 0.7 mm pens myself which in the initial test performed well putting a solid yellow line down on some plasticard that I had pre-painted with the same Hu 88 deck green.  Opacity was good and it stayed in one piece under a coat of Klear.  What I need to do now is to find my old Rotring drawing set which has a holder which I think is big enough to take the pen so that I can connect it to a compass.  If not, I'll just tape it in place.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Chewbacca

[Chewbacca]

Quick post weekend update.

 

Despite best efforts with the 3D printer, it simply refused to print the platforms for the side of the Mk6 director.  I redrew them using the petrol stowage as a basis (which previously printed perfectly) and ensuring that no support was smaller than the ones in that but absolutely nothing. came out.  So I reverted to the earlier trial efforts made from scrap PE and brass rod.  They're not bad I suppose - at least they fill the space - but I'm still not overly happy with them.  Interestingly I was looking yesterday at a photo of HMS SALSIBURY which shows the two platforms actually to be one attached around the rear so there might be a Mk 3 (or is that Mk 4) version of this yet to come.

 

 

 

The SALISBURY photo showing how the platform seems to wrap around the rear of the director.

 

The 3D woes continued because I took the resin reservoir off to clean it and found liquid resin all underneath it sitting directly on the glass plate, which could mean only one thing that I had sprung a leak.  I eventually tracked it down to a pinprick hole in the FEP film which meant that I had to replace the film over the weekend.  This was straightforward but time consuming - 34 Allen bolts holding it all together!  At least the service was good.  I ordered a pack of 5 replacement films from a well known international internet retailer at 2130 on Thursday night and at 1045 Friday morning they'd been delivered.

 

While looking at the photographs of the Mk 6 director, I noticed another oversight.  There is a platform on the aft end of the bridge roof with what looks to be a pelorus and some internal comms equipment - pretty much like an old style open bridge.  But there was no way to get into it.  There is a really clear photograph of HMS LYNX in Cold War Fleet (Taylor) that shows very clearly that there is an opening on either side at the after end with a short ladder up but I had somehow missed it.  So two openings were cut, two lengths of ladder added and a storage locker added on the aft bulwark.  I still need to add the comms eqpt to the for'ard bulwark.  You can see what the kit looked like before modification above, the photo below shows it afterwards.

 

 

In an earlier update I reported adding guardrails to the aft director platform but commenting that most photos show the guardrails to be fitted with canvas dodgers.  I did a trial with some thin polythene cut from a white plastic bag but it wasn't especially successful so this is cut from 80 gsm paper.  and yes, with hindsight it would have been much easier to fit the guardrail to this first and then attach them both together.  I will do that for the aft superstructure which also seems to be near permanently fitted with a dodger.

 

 

Moving for'ard, I started to detail the fo'c'sle using again the high resolution imagery of LYNX from the Taylor publication as a primary reference backed up by the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship.  Incidentally, although I have a hard copy of the 1964 edition, I discovered that you can download a PDF of the 1995 edition as well.  It's here for anyone interested: https://www.amphion.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/br-67-admiralty-manual-of-seamanship-1995-05-01.pdf

 

The deck strengthening plate is cut from 10 thou plasticard while the guide feeds on the aft end of the hawsepipe, the navel pipes and the cable holder band brake are all 3D printed.  I'm going to use the Master Tools anchor cable since I don't seem to be able to get any YX anywhere and will use some spare 1/600 PE anchor cable for the blake and bottle screw slips,  The navels are so close to the cable holders that there is no room for riding slips so I presume the navels must have been fitted with compressors.  I may try to add them from brass or nickel rod once the cable is in place.

 

 

In the last two photos you can also see the initial results of the turret training warning circles drawn on using the acrylic paint pens.  Unfortunately it didn't quite work out according to plan as the Rotring compass holder I have was just a fraction too small to take the pen so I ended up having to tape the pen to the compass leg which made for a slightly jerky circle rather than smooth.  It looks worse in macro-photographs than with the naked eye mind!

 

Thanks for watching.

 

 

[Chewbacca]

I forgot to add one additional error I noticed when I was doing the bridge roof area.  As far as I can tell, though the photos of PUMA herself are lacking in this area, the aft end of the bridge superstructure is set too far back by quite some distance.  Looking at the picture of LYNX which I think has the same bridge, though there were 2 different types fitted to the Cats and Cathedrals, the aft end of that open upper bridge area should be set further for'ard to align with the middle of the aftermost visual direction sight, about 3 mm or so or 1 m in real life.  However, there's absolutely nothing I can do about that now without an unacceptable risk of serious damage to the surrounding area so I intend to live with it.  99% of people who see it won't know. 

 

At this point I perhaps should make one comment.  If you read through this WIP, it would appear that I have been quite critical of this kit.  Let's be honest, I am being super picky.  The things that I have identified/corrected are in the grand scheme of things really minor and you can make a super kit of a Cat class frigate from this kit straight from the box with no modification whatsoever.  Peter has done a fantastic job with it but I'm one of those people who is rarely satisfied with even the very best kit - there's always something you can do to make them just a fraction more accurate.

 

I also learnt something on Tuesday night.  Atlantic Models 1/350 anchor cable is exactly the same size as WEM 1/600 anchor cable.  So despite my cunning plan to use the Master Tools chain to represent the cable (which is about the same size as the PE but 3D) and the 1/600 cable to represent the slips, the 1/600 PE was way too large.

 

I then recalled that there was something in David Griffiths' "Ship Models from Kits" in which he described how to make realistic 3D anchor cable from plaiting 4 strands of wire into a sennit.  I have lots of very thin (~0.05 mm or less) old ethernet cable so tried to find the book but of course it wasn't where I expected it to be and despite last year having converted our old dining room into a library, I'd be blowed if I could find it.  Fortunately, @Ex-FAAWAFU kindly provided an explanation of how to do it in his DIDO WIP so I followed the instructions provided (thanks Crisp 👍).  Only to discover that ethernet wire is so thin that when you come to pull it tight to start to form the links, it breaks.  In the end the only option was to put three strands of the wire into an X-Acto handle, tighten the chuck and spin.  I ended up with a very fine wire rope which at the scale required sort of represents the chain needed for the slips.  Let's face it, in real life, FF/DD anchor slips are hefty bits of kits but even so the chain element and the screw part of the bottle screw are only about 100 mm in diameter - that's 0.3 mm in scale.  It's not perfect but even under quite high magnification it's difficult to see.  Just got to add some tiny twists of wire over the top of the cable itself to represent the slips themselves and I'm going to call the foc's'le near enough complete bar the guard rails and jack staff.

 

3 core ethernet wire twisted together

 

Almost finished fo'c'sle

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

[Chewbacca]

Attention now turned to the aft end and in particular the aft gundeck.  I kept looking at the kit in contrast to the available reference photos but couldn't at first work out what was different, especially since the only really clear photo of that area from overhead is of HMS LYNX but it is obvious from what I can see in this photo of PUMA http://rfanostalgia.org/gallery3/var/albums/RFA AVIATION/vertrep/Resorce Wessex 5 VERTREP to HMS Puma - XMAS Goodies Jan 71.jpg that PUMA and LYNX had a different aft gun deck layout.

 

What was clear from both was that the locker on the post side that is moulded into the hull is not there, so that had to go.

 

 

 

As far as I can tell, PUMA has a cradle with four 25-man life raft containers on her port side and six on the starboard.  The instructions provide 3 white metal ones for each side, but I had previously 3D-printed about 20 of these and so it was simply a case of scratch building the cradles from some 10-thou plasticard.  Trying to paint the black rubber seal around the middle of each life raft was fun though made slightly easier with the acrylic paint pens I had bought for the yellow warning circles. It was also quite fun trying to get them to stay attached while I glued the cradles to the deck.

 

As you can see, on the port side I fitted the first section of guardrail to give me something to line up to whereas on the stbd side there was already a moulded marker which seemed to align perfectly to where the six cannister cradle should be.  I'll adjust the guardrails to fit though a test run seemed to show they were within 0.5 mm of the right position. 

 

I also took the opportunity to fit the cable reels.  The instructions I think are correct for the ships as built but not as they were later in life and again there are differences between the ships.  The instructions suggest that there are two medium cable reels (parts 52)  underneath the barrels of Y turret whereas in reality, none of the ships in later life had anything that close to the turret.  As far as I can tell, there is one large reel on the port side outboard and two slightly smaller ones inboard from that.  So I have used 1 part 58 and two parts 52 in a line on the break down to the quarterdeck.  The instructions also show a long thin reel (part 11) on the starboard side which as far as I can tell doesn't exist so that's been left off.  Moving down to the quarterdeck itself, the instructions show two small cable reels  (parts 16) , one directly astern of the capstan and the other on the port side for'ard.  I think the one on the port side is right though I have turned it through 90 degrees in accordance with the references I have for that area (unfortunately LYNX only) whereas there is nothing aft of the capstan and in reality I wouldn't expect there to be either because it would foul the direct line between the capstan and the transom fairleads.  On the fo'c'sle I think the positioning of the reels is correct although as far as I can tell, the starboard side smaller reel (part 29) should be turned through 90 degrees.  On reflection, having followed the instructions when building the cable reels which suggest "The centre spindle will need to be cut from a length of plastic rod or sprue to the desired diameter", of course in reality the reels usually had cable on them and a plastic cover fitted apart from when coming alongside or slipping, so the centre spindles should at least match the outer diameter of the reel ends and the whole reel including the ends painted white to represent the cover.  I'm not changing it now so if anyone asks, half of the wires/ropes are in use and the rest are in the process of being replaced by the dockyard as part of planned maintenance!

 

Further for'ard I've fitted the 3 inch Corvus chaff launchers though still need to add the flare launcher that sits on top of each.  And I've added the detail to the emergency conning position just for'ard of the mainmast, including a pelorus and some communications/navigation boxes plus a canvas dodger that unlike the one for the aft director which photos show went inside the guardrails, this one sits outboard of the guardrails.  That's made from some thin paper secured in place with thin PVA glue which alos softened the paper to make it more malleable around the fairly shape.  Finally, I thought it was an appropriate time to dry fit all of the other completed components to see what she looks like.

 

 

 

Remaining tasks are boats/davits, guardrails, ladders, whip aerials, jack and ensign staffs, rigging, scratch building the brow, printing and fitting a complete set of signal flags for dressed overall and the figures.  But I think I will tackle the base next as it is getting close to the point that the less I need to handle the ship herself the safer it will be!  Thanks for watching

 

[Martian]

This is looking great Ralph, it will be a hard act to follow. Incidentally,  what act is to follow?

 

Curious of Mars 👽

[Chewbacca]

Now that's a very good question.  I've not done a Lynx for a good many years and have never done one in a larger scale.  I've got both the Airfix 1/48 and Revel 1/32 in the stash, one of which is to become XZ733/328 BRAVE Flight in 1991 and the other either XZ724/376 or XZ239/377 BOXER Flight in 1988 (provided I can get hold of the Mk 8 to Mk 3 conversion kit for the Airfix version).

Alternatively I could finish the Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury that's been sitting languishing for a couple of years, or ALACRITY  or LONDONDERRY in 1/600, both of which have been on the shelf of shame for even longer.

I'm also inspired by all of the good work I see on here with the various Flower class to break out my Matchbox 1/72 that I started back in 1978 or so, or potentially the Trumpeter 1/350 KENT in China Station colours to make use of the wooden deck that @robgizlu very kindly donated when he realised it wasn't right for the era of Kent he was building.

I've got some other WW2 FAA 1/48 options including a couple of Walruses, a Barracuda and an Avenger.  Having fairly recently read David Hobbs' excellent book on the British Pacific Fleet which goes into detail about the FAA raid on Palembang in 1945 and Mike Rousel's biography Pacific Avengers which is written from the cockpit of the same, the latter is very tempting especially since I was incensed in the past couple of weeks watching the Netfix series entitled WW2 in Colour in which the Royal Navy barely gets a mention across all six years of the war and no mention whatsoever of their involvement in the Far East where the entire battle is credited to the US Navy.  I could sort of forgive them if it was a US made series but it wasn't; it was made by a London based production company for Channel 5!

I've also got 4 other Atlantic models 1/350 all representing ships in which I have served.  Or go completely left field and tackle the Hasegawa 1/48 F4-K in 892 Sqn livery from ARK ROYAL's final deployment in 1978, or potentially a Whiff F14A representing its replacement in 892 Sqn in the mid 80s if they hadn't scrapped ARK.

But then scratch building HECLA's flight deck/quarterdeck for the Wasp diorama coupled with scratchbuilding BULOLO in 1/350 has got me wondering if I could scratch build HECLA in 1/350?  I think I might park that for now though because Mrs Chewbacca has seen the size of my stash and would like me to start reducing it!

I think, therefore, that it'll probably come down to a choice between Lynx, Avenger or KENT.

Decisions, decisions.

[AntPhillips]

13 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

.....Or go completely left field and tackle the Hasegawa 1/48 F4-K in 892 Sqn livery from ARK ROYAL's final deployment in 1978, or potentially a Whiff F14A representing its replacement in 892 Sqn in the mid 80s if they hadn't scrapped ARK.

 

Whilst I've seen a few of these WHIF's of Royal Navy Tomcats, I've always thought that the Tomcat would have been too large for the Arks limited deck size, and the RN would have been more likely to follow what the USN did with the Midway Class and replace the Phantom with Hornets. Of course if the 2 CVA-01 class had proceeded then the procurement of Tomcats would have made good sense 😉 👍

[Courageous]

She is looking well busy with nice detail. Good job.

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

Looking rather Fab 

Rob

[Chewbacca]

Thanks everyone for your kind words

 

On 21/03/2021 at 22:27, AntPhillips said:

 

Whilst I've seen a few of these WHIF's of Royal Navy Tomcats, I've always thought that the Tomcat would have been too large for the Arks limited deck size, and the RN would have been more likely to follow what the USN did with the Midway Class and replace the Phantom with Hornets. Of course if the 2 CVA-01 class had proceeded then the procurement of Tomcats would have made good sense 😉 👍

I'm sure that you're right.  The Tomcat was a hefty beast.  

 

[beefy66]

Looking great so far amazing how much stuff you miss out on when you take a small break around hear.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Puma is looking gorgeous; really lovely job.  It’s possible - no promises! - that I have a spare HMA8 to HAS3 conversion kit fir the Airfix Lynx.  I’ll let you know when I next do an SRE (stash rationalisation exercise).

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Beefy and Crisp for our kind words and thanks also Crisp for the potential offer of a Mk3 conversion kit.  There's no rush to look as I've got plenty of other things to be getting on with and in fairness I may be able to get one anyway from an AM supplier.  I seem to recall it was Alley Cat who did them - is that right?

 

But back to PUMA.  Main effort this week has been preparing the files to print the signal flags for the dressing lines.  There are some aftermarket sets available but the ones I've seen generally only have the international code signal flags and not the naval specific ones including NATO numerals and specific manoeuvering flags such as TURN and CORPEN which are definitely needed for dress ship.  I suppose that I could have just copied the images from something like Wikipedia, but in the end I decided to draw them out so that I knew that if needed I could rescale them later on for a different build.

 

The real challenge though has been trying to work out what the order of flags actually is.  Dragging it out from my dim and distant past memory when doing my Mid’s time with the communicators, I recall there is a mandated order of flags.  I have managed to find out what the US Navy order is from one of their comms manuals which someone has kindly posted on the internet, but I can’t find the equivalent for the RN.  I have asked an ex-CCY chum of mine and also posted the question on the Rum Ration forum but thus far no responses.  From photos I have worked out that from the jackstaff it appears to run: 

E, Q, Desig, G, 3, Z, NEGAT, W, 9, NATO 7, 0, R, 8, P, 4, I, 5, T, 7, NATO 6, CORPEN, NATO 8, 

but after that I’m struggling as almost all of the photos of RN ships dressed overall are taken from the front and that order stops just short of the foremast on a frigate.  I wonder if anyone else knows or perhaps has some better photos that show RN ships dressed overall from the beam (preferable in light winds!)

 

I have managed a little real modelling as well.  Firstly I finished off the quarterdeck with the ladder up the quarterdeck break, the guardrails and the petrol stowage and I have started on the guardrails around the rest of the aft gun deck.  The whaler and motor cutter have been primed and sprayed with 2 coats of white and I have started work putting some colours into the base.  Initially sprayed near black for the tarmac on the jetty and then a white edging to highlight the edge in order to stop drunken matelots from falling into the oggin'. 9there is a chain railing as well which I chall attempt to make from modified PE. Once the white's dry that'll be masked and then the vertical stone face of the jetty wall sprayed before moving onto the water itself which I seem to recall in Chatham was a very murky brown as there was a lot of silt brought in down the Thames estuary (photos to follow).

 

 

Thanks for watching

[dolphin38]

Hi Chewbacca, this from BR67 Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, the Seaman Specs are now in charge of Flags and Tactical Communications

 

To make up Dressing Lines.

 

Foredown. Start at the Jackstaff end and make adjustments as necessary to end with a Rectangular flag and the Sub-Division flag next to the Foremast.

Sequence of flags with the heads nearest the Foremast is:

 

Echo, Quebec, Designation, Golf, Pennant 3, Zulu, Negative, Whiskey, Pennant 9, 7, Pennant

6, Romeo, Pennant 8, Papa, Pennant 4, India, Pennant 1, Tango, Pennant 7, 6, Corpen, 8, Pennant 2, Xray, Pennant Zero, Foxtrot, Church, Division, Form, Oscar, Pennant 5, Romeo, Pennant 9, Xray, Pennant 8, Delta, Pennant 3, 8, Preparative, Hotel, 5 Romeo, Pennant 9, Xray, Pennant 8, Delta, Pennant 3, 8, Preparative, Hotel,

 

Fore to Main. Start at the Foremast end and make adjustments as necessary to end with a triangular flag next to the Mainmast. Sequence of flags with  heads nearest the Foremast is:

 

Station, Yankee, 3rd, Uniform, 1st, Delta, 4th, 3, Emergency, 1, 3rd, Lima, Emergency, 7, 2nd.

 

Additional flags, if required by ships with a longer Fore to Main, should be added in the  following sequence:

 

Squadron, 1st, Charlie, 3rd, Port, Station, 8, Emergency, 5, 3rd, Kilo, Station, India, 4th, Victor, 1st, Oscar, 3rd, 3, Emergency.

 

Maindown. Start at the Ensign Staff end and make adjustments as necessary to end with a rectangular flag and the Speed flag next to the Mainmast.

Sequence of flags with the heads nearest the Mainmast is:

 

Three, Lima, Pennant 2, Four, Pennant 7, Xray, Church, Zero, Interrogative, Bravo, Pennant 5, Victor, Pennant 4, Kilo, Pennant Zero, November, Answer, Juliet, Form, Romeo, Turn, Mike, Corpen, Papa, Pennant 7, 3, Pennant 3, 2, Designation, 5, Pennant 8, 9, Starboard, Papa, Negative, 1, Pennant 6, Tango, Interrogative, Echo, Pennant 2, India, Pennant 7, Zero, Pennant 1, Lima, Starboard, Romeo, Pennant 3, Golf, Pennant 5, Victor.

 

Hope this helps.

[Chewbacca]

Thanks - that helps a lot.  I looked in my copies of BR67 but they're older and didn't have this level of detail.

[Chewbacca]

We've all heard the acronym, KISS.  No, not the American rock band, but Keep It Simple Stupid.  So why oh why do I keep insisting on overcomplicating things?

 

It all stemmed from the work leading up the posts above about the order of flags for dressing ship.  One of the images that I was using to try to work it out before @dolphin38kindly posted the list from BR67 was this one of LYNX which although accepting that it is badged as an artwork, I think is in fact a hand touched photograph:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HMS-LYNX-LIMITED-EDITION-ART-25-/272553586248

 

And it got me thinking.  The base that I have produced already has the railway lines embedded in the jetty for the dockyard crane.  Why not build one of those as well?   Remember that I've got form in this area - look at the 1/48 Wasp build WIP and you'll recall that the flight deck base started off as a simple piece of foamex board to represent the deck and ended up in a full scratchbuilt flight deck, and quarterdeck. of an H class survey ship   This time last year it would have been turn to the sheet styrene, Evergreen and Albion Alloys nickel rod and set to, but no, this time I thought I'd have a go with the 3D printer.

 

And so here are a couple of renders of the key components put together into one image

 

 

 

I've already completed a first print and the crane body and hook have come out fine.  The jib was probably usable with some repairs though some elements didn't print especially well but the base failed to print at all.  So I've adjusted the settings and the machine is sitting next to me as I type hopefully printing a usable jib and base (and a few other bits and pieces such as the Perry buoys and the cruciform for the ceremonial Perry buoy by the brow.  I must confess that I am slightly worried because the printer is making some very strange noises that I have not heard before so it is fingers crossed that it's nothing serious.  I'll know in a pair of hours when it's finished printing.

 

Thanks for watching