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1/350 HMS PUMA


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Great work/printing there, she's looking better all the time.

 

Still amazed by what can be done with a (working) 3D printer these day. Hats off to those who dabble in this black magic.

 

Geoff

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On 25/06/2021 at 21:05, Dave Swindell said:

I can't be definite, but I'd concur with you that the beam is a museum addition. As well as the points you raise, I'd add a couple more -  The beam supports the full length of the boat keel, preventing it sagging, not an issue for a newish boat in service, but could be for a decades old museum piece. Also, unless I'm mistaken the two davit arms are operated independently, with a boat on the falls this isn't an issue as there is built in flexibility if they're not moved exactly in unison, but it would be if the davit arms are joined as illustrated with a whacking great rigid steel I beam.

While I was looking for the details of the motor cutter stern (I couldn't remember from my time driving these around at BRNC whether the rudder was external like the whaler or an internal linkage), I cam across this photo of the davits as fitted to HMCS SACKVILLE:

http://jproc.ca/tribmod/27ft_whaler_02.jpg

which I think puts beyond any doubt that CAVALIER's  I beam is a later addition.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been stupidly busy of late both with work, preparing a presentation that I have to give next weekend at an annual reunion dinner and the fact that SWMBO seems to think I need to do gardening every now and again means that I haven't been at the bench for 3 weeks.  But I did finally manage a few hours yesterday so I figured the next step would be to press on with the boats.  I've also got a new phone and still trying to work out how to get the best result in macro so forgive me if the first couple of images are a little blurred.

 

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Hadn't realised until after I took this that the PUMA decal in the name box on top of the cabin roof isn't quite square.  But I'll get away with that because the cutter is on the port side so that decal is on the inside - it will be almost impossible to see with the mainmast being in the way.  On reflection I probably made those decals a fraction too small.

 

I'm sure that you will notice that the whole hull of the cutter s panted red whereas it was more customary for boats in the 60s and 70s to be white below the waterline (as per the whaler).  And originally it was painted two tone until i found this photo of PUMA purportedly taken in Monterey in 1970 which to my eye clearly shows the whole hull to be red.  It may be - though the quality of the photo doesn't show it clearly enough - that it is natural wood below the waterline.  I now have doubt in my mind whether the whaler should also be all red but if it should then it's too late.  

 

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I realised an error as I was fitting the davits in that I hadn't allowed for any fixing points and therefore I was going to be reliant on a face to face contact.  So I drilled the bottom of the main davit foot and inserted a 2 mm long brass pin which, with a commensurate hole drilled in the deck, made for a more secure fixing.  I also realised that having printed the davits with keel pads, I proceeded to slice them off when I was cleaning off the supports!  So I added these from tiny lengths of 30 thou Evergreen.

 

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Then onto the rigging.  My first attempt was to use Uschi van der Rosten line but it was so fine it was impossible to see.  So I cut that away and replaced the falls with off cuts of PE guardrail and the fore and aft guys and davit span with Albion Alloys 0.1 mm nickel rod.  At least I thought it was 0.1 mm - it came from the 0.1 mm packet - but with hindsight it looks definitely thicker than the 0.1 mm that's still in the tube so I think I may have inadvertently put a length of 0.2 back in there in error.  Hey ho, it's not getting changed now.  So what if the guys and span are the scale equivalent of 70 mm diameter!

 

The two cable reels on this side at the foot of the davit are spares from the kit PE but unfortunately there are only two spares so the ones on the port side are being scratchbuilt simply using some 40 thou Evergreen rod.  I originally attempted to make the gripes from lengths of white decal sheet but it was so thin that it was impossible to attach to one end and pull taught to the top of the opposite davit.  So I reverted to some thin strips of the thinnest white paper I could lay my hands on - I think it was about 70 gsm.

 

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Thanks for watching

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So now to the port side:

 

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You can see the keel pads added on this one before I fitted the boat.  The boat's locker on the deck and the scrambling net are simply made from lengths of 40 thou Evergreen strip and 20 thous rod respectively.  This photo also gives some idea of the capability of modern 3D printers noting that the rod is 20 thou (~0.5 mm); compare that to the turning out gear (the small support at the rear of the davit which at its finest point where it attaches to the davit itself is 0.2 mm) and the H beam reinforcement around the edge of the davit.  

 

And now with the cutter added:

 

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Ran out of time to do the rigging so that's a job for next time.  Then I think it's time to mate PUMA to her base and then it's into the fun (not) of rigging the masts, yards and the dress ship overall.

 

Just realised.  I opened up the port side guardrails to take the berthing lines but forgot to take out a section of guardrail for the brow to come inboard.  Must remember to do that before the rigging starts to get in the way.

 

Thanks for watching

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Thanks everyone.  No work last weekend - out the whole time at an annual reunion - but hope to get some time at the bench tomorrow to finish rigging the cutter and then start getting her "alongside"..

 

Annoyingly, having printed off 3 complete sets of signal flags for the dress ship I fear I printed them on clear decal sheet which will make the ones with a white background interesting!

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Cutter duly rigged.  Not sure why but this was considerably more fiddly that the whaler - I suppose it was because the deck houses got in the way.

 

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And mounted to the base.  You'll recall if you read this WIP from the beginning that I forgot when set up the plaster of Paris sea that I did it the way I always do it which was to leave sufficient hull below the waterline to embed in the sea.  But of course this was already separated at the waterline and so by pushing her down into the sea, it made her look seriously overladen and thus I had to try to build up the internals of the base to lift her up by 2-3mm, and that in turn has left a large gap all the way around the ship.  Once the white glue is dry, I shall start to fill that with Liquitex.  But that's a job for next week - off to the "smoke" tomorrow for a week at DSEi on the company stand.  Looking forward to that...not!

 

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And finally, don't think I've put a picture up of the completed 3D dockyard crane so here it is.  Though looking at it I realise I have mounted it the wrong way around because the cabin door is on the opposite side so there's no way to get in from the access ladder...

 

51458459308_d20ce1fb62_b.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Little more progress.  Started to fill in the gap between the hull and sea with Liqitex.  not wholly successful because it is too clear so it is difficult to see it when it sets but it is better than the really stark gaps.

 

This is the second coat of Liquitex going on while it is still white:

 

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And then started to add the berthing hawsers and wires:

 

First test was the back spring.  Not wholly convinced that this is correct because I would expect it to come from the quarterdeck but looking at photographs of the real ships, the only two fairleads on the quarterdeck are on the transom  which wouldn't give the correct lead.  And yes, for the purists amongst you, I know I haven't "dipped" the spring eyes (where the eye of the second wire is brought up through the first so that either can be taken off first).  I did try but it was way too fiddly.  I did achieve it with the headrope and sternrope and worked out a way that I could do it but by then the springs were superglued in place.

 

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The springs are traditionally steel wire rope so these are made from 0.1mm Albion Alloys nickel rod.  I painted the back spring with Vallejo steel to tone it down but wasn't wholly convinced it made that much difference so the fore spring is simply plain nickel rod and I think looks better.

 

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The headrope and sternrope are made from some of my wife's finest white sewing cotton to represent the nylon multiplait hawsers.  But then that got me thinking.  In 1970 were the berthing hawsers man made fibre or natural manila?  The 1964 copy of BR 67 Manual of Seamanship did say that "within a few years most natural fibre ropes would be replaced with man made fibre" so for the purposes of this model, PUMA's berthing hawsers had been replaced though to be honest in this scale the difference in colour between nylon and manila is probably negligible.  Of course these days the berthing hawsers are mostly black.

 

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The last photo also shows the brow roughly positioned.  Before that gets attached I need to make and fit the safety net that hangs underneath and then add the dockside guardrails.

 

Thanks for watching

Edited by Chewbacca
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  • 2 weeks later...

Brow netting fabricated and fitted and the dockside guardrails added.  The actual guardrails are traditionally individual galvanised steel stanchions that simply drop into holes in the dockside joined by a double layer of chain so that each one can be taken out to allow for ropes, wires and brows to be positioned.  They are often quite loose and depending upon the wear in the hole usually are not vertical.  So I tried to replicate that by drilling holes in the dockside and adding individual stanchions made from 0.2 mm brass wire.  I certainly achieved the random angle look that I wanted but them the difficulty came in adding the chain.

 

My first attempt was Uschi van de Rosten line but it was so fine that it didn't show up at all.  Then I tried 0.2 mm fishing line, but that simply wouldn't attach with the CA I was using but given that it is nylon monofilament I was not wholly surprised.  And so in the end I used stretched sprue.

 

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Before painting

 

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And after painting

 

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But for some strange reason, I could not get the sprue and wire to attach neatly with CA.  I was using Zap extra thin which is my preferred CA but nothing I could do was getting these components to stay together.  I think it was simply that there was so little contact area and so little adhesive that by the time I had put the applicator down and picked up the stretched sprue, the CA had cooked off.  So I swapped to a CA gel and accelerator which worked but as you can see, even using a tiny pin and putting on what I thought was a miniscule amount of adhesive, I've still ended up with some nasty blobs.  the ones on the top row I can probably cure but I've got no chance with the lower row.  And more importantly, at times the two rows are far too close together. 
 

And so I am going to try to swap that out - if I can without totally destroying the dockside - and go for Atlantic Models PE railings.  I accept that they are unrealistic because they are too even but I think they will end up looking better than these.  They also won't have the characteristic sag of each line of chain but I failed to achieve that with the vast majority of the stretched sprue so nothing lost there!

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That's a shame Chewie as it was a good idea and effort (it must have taken ages), and isn't too far off looking the part - I mean, I'd be very content with what you've done.

 

If you can tidy the top row, would strategic placement of figures or crates etc, hide any errors on the lower rung (with closeness of rows being a product of someone leaning down on the top row)? Failing that could you lean into the blob and blob all the joints? 

 

Seems better than removing them all, but if you do choose to start again, I know Atlantic do stanchions to thread as well as pre-sagged rails, but there are other brands that do similar products and sagged railing, that may be closer to the specific look you're after (instead of needing to manipulate pe).

 

David

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Thanks both for your comments.  I must confess I didn't know that you could get either threaded or sagged guardrails in this scale so I'm afraid I cut the old ones off and have replaced them with standard 2-bar metal guardrails.  They're not authentic but I think they do look a little better than my original attempt.

 

I also realised that when I fitted the brow safety net that I'd forgotten the shot mat that is placed over the deck edge to prevent chafing but fortunately the net was only lightly attached and I was able to release it lightly from the deck edge, put the shot mat underneath (made from a 5 mm square of kitchen roll painted burnt umber) which you can just see either side of the brow and then reattached the netting before fitting the brow itself.  Also painted up the ceremonial perry buoy and added that to the cruciform which now sits at the dockside end of the brow.  Both the cruciform and perry buoy were 3D printed.

 

Next job I think will be to finish painting the figures and start getting those positioned.

 

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Thanks for watching

 

 

Edited by Chewbacca
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I’m looking forward to seeing a 1/350 QM’s hutch thingy by the brow.  With a fully functioning WR In-Out sliding board, too, obvs.

 

She’s looking lovely.  [I still cannot bring myself to call a ship “it” - especially such a 60s lady as a Cat Class.]

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Exellent , the printed parts make such a difference, and the radar is very eyecatching indeed, top quality,  you are right about how brutal the macro can be , but your work holds its own very well 

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Superb work,love what you have done, 🤩 I have just started my Puma ,thinking BOB ,wrong 🤣 after seeing yours build ,emailed Peter Hall for extra bits already.Notice the walkway,Aerial bases and the set of Corvus chaff launchers so far.I have the Micromasters main turrets,(highly recommend) ,ships boats and signal lights already.   

fHu2DoJ.jpg

Edited by Chris Hewitt
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 04/10/2021 at 13:50, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’m looking forward to seeing a 1/350 QM’s hutch thingy by the brow.  With a fully functioning WR In-Out sliding board, too, obvs.

 

She’s looking lovely.  [I still cannot bring myself to call a ship “it” - especially such a 60s lady as a Cat Class.]

Thanks Crisp, and sorry for being slow to respond.  I wasn't sure whether they had those QM's cabouches in the early 70s - to be honest I don't think I even remember them in my earliest ships in the early 80s either.  I had printed a QM table but could I find it so have recently reprinted a copy ready for primer.  As for the in/out board...

 

Work pressures have meant very little time at the bench in recent weeks but where I have been able to find some time, most of it has been printing and cleaning up more of the figures (I think I'm up to about 180 now) and some of the ancillaries to make the jetty look busy including the ship's minivan.  I definitely remember ALACRITY being loaned one of those from the motor pool when we were alongside in Guz in 1983/84 so felt it not unreasonable that they'd have done the same in 1970.  Spoke to one of the old boys in the local Royal Naval Association and he remembered ships being loaned cars when alongside in base port in the 1960s so that was good enough for me.  I've also got a Mk 2 Land Rover and "pusser's coach" which will be painted dark blue to be parked on the jetty and a large army tent to be pitched close to the brow for the visitors to leave push chairs and have their bags searched etc.  Think I'm very close to getting them all into the spray shop.

 

On 04/10/2021 at 20:27, Hewy said:

Exellent , the printed parts make such a difference, and the radar is very eyecatching indeed, top quality,  you are right about how brutal the macro can be , but your work holds its own very well 

Thank you

 

On 05/10/2021 at 11:23, Chris Hewitt said:

Superb work,love what you have done, 🤩 I have just started my Puma ,thinking BOB ,wrong 🤣 after seeing yours build ,emailed Peter Hall for extra bits already.Notice the walkway,Aerial bases and the set of Corvus chaff launchers so far.I have the Micromasters main turrets,(highly recommend) ,ships boats and signal lights already.   

 

 

Thanks for your kind words and good to see that you too are starting to making good progress already Chris.  I love that Micromaster turret.  It's not too late for me to go down that route though as you can see here from one of the photos I posted a while back when I was doing a dry fit, I have largely got my turrets ready for installation.

 

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Best rgds

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Chewbacca
Typos corrected
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8 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

She looks Fabulous B)

Rob

 

Have to agree Ralph, absolutely the biz!

 

I will get to see it soon, I know it!

 

Terry

 

PS.  I also didn't make tonight's club meet for reasons out of my control! 🙁

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I think I'm starting to wish I hadn't decided to set PUMA in a Navy Days setting.  223 (not that I'm counting) 1/350 3D printed civilian figures later plus another 20 ship's company, and I haven't even started to top coat them yet.  There should be more but around 20-25 have either been eaten by the carpet monster or failed the surgeon's scalpel removing the supports.  A few ended up headless but they were easy enough to fix - it was the missing legs and torsos that proved a little more challenging.  How that other BM'er (sorry, I can't remember who) carved his figures from plastic runner I do not know!

 

Anyway, they're all primed now and ready for top coat together with a Land Rover and ship's Mini van plus a Pusser's coach that will be parked on the jetty.  I also did a small rendition of a 20 x 10 ft Pusser's issue canvas tent to be erected close to the brow for the visitors to have their bags checked and to leave pushchairs etc.

 

This is most of them.  There are about 20 on another length of card that I did earlier as a test piece

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Need to repair the coach roof.  I had to join the front of one to the rear of the other and still needs a wee bit more filler

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And especially for @Ex-FAAWAFU, one (well actually two but the right hand one is much better so is the one that I will use) QM's table.  You can just see the officers' in/out board on the front although the photo's from the wrong angle!

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9 hours ago, Courageous said:

I don't envy your task of painting them dudes.

 

Stuart

Like I said, beginning to wish I'd not decided upon this setting!  I'm sure an at sea scene with just half a dozen matelots working part of ship in No 8s would have been much easier.  But then I never choose the easy route

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12 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

it was the missing legs and torsos that proved a little more challenging.

Gidday Chewy, how does one go missing a torso? Limbs I can understand. 😁 And No 8s is an expression I haven't heard for a long time. Good luck with the crew and visitors. Regards, Jeff.

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