HMCS Snowberry 1/144 by Revell (16 years later)

[Faraway]

Firstly, Happy New Year fellow BMers. 

About 16 years ago, I started to build HMCS Snowberry in 1/72 scale, to which I was adding as much Great Little Ships PE parts as possible. However, during the building I developed a sensitivity to CA glue fumes and had to stop the build. So the kit sat in a box in the garage, slowly being crewed by spiders, until a chance comment by @Starspell made the kit see the light of day and he bought it. Steve is doing an admirable job of building this large kit (see his WIP). 

Anyway, a few days ago I became aware of the same ship in 1/144 scale, difficult to get hold of as most of the suppliers I use were out of stock. Until I happened across https://www.models2u.co.uk/ who had one in stock. And as I'd always regretted not finishing the first build, I bought it with a view to doing the same, lots of PE etc. No worries about CA glue as I can use PVA, UV and Epoxy. And not so much trouble displaying the finished ship, as its much smaller.

I've ordered the Eduard PE sets for Superstructure and Railings from Hannants and the weapons set from L'Arsenal, http://www.larsenal.com/PBSCCatalog.asp it'll be interesting to see how long that takes to get to me, from France, now we are no longer in the EU.

So, after a 16 year delay I can finally continue with the build and this will be my WIP for the coming months, and as always I welcome criticism and guidance from those with more knowledge than me. Ship building is a new venture for me.

Jon.

 

[robgizlu]

Hi Jon - really looking forwards to this, it's a great base kit.  The L'arsenal items are really nice, Know what you mean about the delivery time now we are "outside" though L'arsenal are usually very good. 

Starling models do a very reasonale little etch set that is worth grabbing too.

Check out Micromaster.co.nz for other bits - pricey but worth every penny IMHO, though plan for a current 4-6 week delivery time from NZ.

I have pretty much all the references relating to Flower Class Corvettes so shout if you need anything

HMS Crocus was my first build on Britmodeller, there maybe bits there that help

Looking forwards 

Rob

[Starspell]

Good luck with this build Jon, I'm sure it will be good as you had made a great start on 'our' one. Many months ago when our paths chanced to cross I too looked in on the 1:144 version and found it available in only a couple of places (don't remember where!). 

I wish you success in your build and will be keeping an eye on how you are doing.

Steve

[Faraway]

54 minutes ago, Starspell said:

Good luck with this build Jon, I'm sure it will be good as you had made a great start on 'our' one. Many months ago when our paths chanced to cross I too looked in on the 1:144 version and found it available in only a couple of places (don't remember where!). 

I wish you success in your build and will be keeping an eye on how you are doing.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

It’ll take a while, because of waiting for the extra bits I’ve ordered. But it should be fun.

Jon

[Faraway]

@robgizlu I’ve already found your WIP and have it on my shortcuts, it is so useful, though I doubt my build will be to your standard. It was that WIP that prompted me to look for the 1/144 kit, took some finding, there don’t appear to be many about. You might regret offering to answer my questions, I’ll try not to be a pain.
Jon

PS. Do you know what colour the internal walls of the cabins were painted ?

J

Edited January 1, 2021 by Faraway

[robgizlu]

Jon there are some interior pics here

http://www.steelnavy.com/images/Sackville/Sackville 16 ASDIC room.jpg

 

If you search on " Cabin pictures Flower Class Corvettes" there are a couple more showing light ?white interior cabin walls and dark brown wood fittings.

I painted mine wood brown but in truth the compass room/cabins are largely obscured

HTH

Rob

[Faraway]

Not done much, as I'm sort of in limbo waiting for the Eduard PE from Hannants, weapons set from L'Arsenal (who I know don't go back to work until 4th Jan, and the unknown effect leaving the EU will have) and a Lifecolor Western Approaches paint set from Scale Model Shop. Also, the UK postal service is fairly poor at the moment. Just received a Christmas Card that took 17 days to get from Bristol, 10 miles down the road from me.

So, I might be looking into my stash and make a start on something else to keep me amused.

Anyway, I've sprayed the hull and decks with primer and done a bit of assembly.

Jon.

[beefy66]

Good start so far Jon

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Niall]

The kit parts for the wheelhouse are mirror images of what they should be. it should be possible to fix this my cutting off the locating peg and filling in the holes in the deck and fitting the parts upside down.

Here is a photo of my 1/72nd build -

 

Also I've just noticed the doors on the sides should be 1 sliding door on each side, not 2 hinged doors on each side.

[Faraway]

@Niall there is no internal detail in my wheelhouse, even if there were, I doubt it would be seen. The windows are only about 3x5 mm and once the rest of the superstructure is in place, even seeing the doors on the outside will be difficult. Thanks for the info, but I’ll stay with how it is.

Jon

Edited January 3, 2021 by Faraway

[Faraway]

As I said before, it's a bit slow, due to waiting for PE and paint to arrive, so I'm sort of fiddling. Probably should get on with one of other 'I've started but not finished, kits'.

Wooden deck areas painted.

Jon

[Faraway]

At last, the paint has arrived. I don't think I'll be using all the colours, but certainly the green for the non slip walkways and the red for the hull.

I've masked the hull ready to spray the red and the deck ready for 'not quite sure yet' colour. So that's this afternoon sorted.

Now, I'm not having much luck getting supplies for this build. I've ordered two sets of Eduards PE from Hannants, who, as always dispatched them quite quickly. But the good old Royal Mail sent them to the wrong sorting office and they haven't been seen since, so much for 24 hr delivery. They are now 3 days overdue.

 

I've also ordered this set from L'Arsenal.

But so far, all the web site is telling me is the order is being processed.

Anyway, that's it for now, off to fire up the compressor and start experimenting with the paint, I've never used this brand before, so will try a 50/50 mix as always a see how it goes.

As always, your input is welcome.

Jon

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Most Flowers had black anti-fouling paint, at least going by known photos of those seen out of water. Hopefully that's useful to you before painting it.

[Faraway]

55 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Most Flowers had black anti-fouling paint, at least going by known photos of those seen out of water. Hopefully that's useful to you before painting it.

Jamie.

Ah...........I’ve done it as per destructions, red. I am probably a disappointment to you, I’m not one for 100% historical accuracy, so my paint finishes on most of my kits are probably lacking in this department. Sorry.

But I do like to use as much fine detail as I can, hence ordering the aftermarket sets of PE. If they ever get to me after getting caught up with the, what is now, a very amateurish postal service.

But I thank you for viewing my attempt at this build and offering your advice, which is always welcome.

Jon.

[Faraway]

Bit more painting and masking today, hull painted red(below the waterline), @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies sorry Jamie, but I'd already painted it by the time I read your post. I've mixed Tamiya white XF2 with Royal Light Grey XF80, to get the hull (above the waterline) and superstructure colour, just hope I've mixed enough for the whole build, even knowing the amount of each colour, bet I can't get the same shade again. 🤞. And I've painted the walkways with Lifecolor Royal Navy Semtex Green, still learning with this paint. I used the Lifecolor Royal Navy Hull Red and thinned it too much (50/50). For the green I thinned it about 75% paint 25% thinners and reduced the airbrush pressure to about 17 psi, much better result. The dark grey of the deck is Vallejo Model Air 71.055 Black Grey, came out quite well, I thought. That paint does spray really well.

Still waiting for the Eduards PE from Hannants to be delivered, service from the Royal Mail is not at all good at the moment, it's now been sitting in the wrong distribution centre for 4 days, after they emailed me to say it was being redirected 'immediately'.  I tried their 'help' line, but the wait was 50+ minutes, so it seems the getting in touch with RM is just about impossible, so I'll just have to be patient (not something I'm well known for). And I've yet to see any movement on the L'Arsenal order. Hey Ho (has anyone had a dealings with L'Arsenal ?) I guess being out of the EU won't be helping, you'd think if there was a problem, they'd be in touch.

If this keeps up, I'll be having to pause this build and start something else. 😡 

Next task will be to mask off the hull and spray the camouflage colours.

Jon.

The red paint bleed has disappeared under the grey coat now.

[beefy66]

Hi Jon

Have you checked L'Arsenal's web site not sure but some suppliers have time off from trading after Christmas they may be on vacation resting up after helping Santa over the festive period  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Faraway]

2 minutes ago, beefy66 said:

Hi Jon

Have you checked L'Arsenal's web site not sure but some suppliers have time off from trading after Christmas they may be on vacation resting up after helping Santa over the festive period  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

I have, this is their home page.

L'Arsenal, the French naval model kit specialist

Dear customers,

L'Arsenal is closed until 4 January 2021. The whole team is on holiday and will return for a new year that we hope will be more "normal".

During this period, shipping will be free (without tracking or insurance) and you will find on the home page of the site or on our Facebook page some special offers. We wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and above all good health.

Mélaine

[Faraway]

@beefy66probably just the French being French, as we have left the EU. 🤔

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

What camouflage scheme are you trying to achieve?

[Faraway]

8 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

What camouflage scheme are you trying to achieve?

The same one as is in the painting guide. See the first picture in this thread. However, I’m open to suggestions.

Jon

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

What camouflage scheme are you trying to achieve?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I see. Please do say if you'd prefer to just get on with your model, and I note from your previous post about the anti-fouling point that you're not particularly bothered about how the ship looked in real life. I certainly don't want to be pointing something out each post after you've already done something - other forum users such as @robgizlu offer lots of opportunity for input from the likes of us rivet counters before the next step rather than after where it's often unwelcome.

 

Now, Western Approaches schemes. Revell's paint call-outs are pretty suspect on all their Flower class kits in both scales, but the one colour they got right was the white. The original concept of the Western Approaches camouflage was based on white. There are examples of ships wearing light grey instead, but I don't believe HMCS Snowberry was one of those. I would personally have stuck with white for the main background colour rather than mix a light grey:

 

 

 

[Faraway]

@Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies please, keep the advice coming. It’s never unwelcome, after all I can always ignore you. 😂. Although I said I’m not one for 100% accuracy, I do like to get it close, hence I tend to use PE etc, when I can as it is often more ‘to scale’ than the plastic parts. I have the Lifecolor paint set, if you scroll up you’ll see. It was the red in the set I used for the hull. Would you advise I use the White for the the upper half of the hull and superstructure ? Easy enough to respray over the light grey, I have done so far, it’ll make a good primer. What about the rest of the colours, would you advise using any of them ?

What pattern of camouflage would you advise ?

Edited January 8, 2021 by Faraway

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Yes I think the white would be a better basis upon which you can weather. The Lifecolor set is based on the Snyder & Short chips which have their good and bad points but the Western Approaches Light Blue and Light Green are basically ok. I would suggest using these is easier to justify from a historical point of view than the khaki-yellow and electric blue Revell would have you use. The black and white photograph above shows a typical Western Approaches appearance of white plus two pale tones. The darker looking one is typically how the light green looks on film, whilst the light blue is the default Western Approaches contrasting colour that was used on most of the shapes above the hull shear line. On most of the design plates in CAFO679/42 they're either white and blue only, or white and blue with green bits added to the hull. The darker bits tended to be the green ones.

 

It's worth noting that there are some original colour photos in existence which prove that some Canadian paints were seriously off-spec, but given the typically pale appearance on the surviving photos of Snowberry, I personally feel that the "correct" WA colours are more likely and easier to defend than the Canadian off-specs e.g. as seen on HMCS Restigouche.

[Faraway]

@Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies ok. I shall respray the light grey with the white (it is not a bright white, more a creamy white) and use the blue and green for the camo pattern. I might even respray the red, black ! I am slowing down in the build whilst I wait for the PE (mislaid by the Royal Mail) and the weapons from L’Arsenal (not yet dispatched) You mention weathering. Now that is a subject I really struggle with and have NEVER done it on a ship, so that’ll take a lot of thought. So I really would appreciate guidance on that, because quite frankly, I wouldn’t know where to start.

Jon