1/350 HMCS Regina (Halifax Class Frigate) 2021

[robgizlu]

Great effect John, if you can't go over, go around!

Rob

[Chewbacca]

On 03/08/2022 at 20:19, JohnWS said:

While I was laying out the camo paint scheme, I found that the opening for the bow anchor was cast in the wrong location (too high), as shown below;

 

I've only just caught up with this build after a few months and your work is exquisite as always.  It is an inspiration to us all.

 

And I therefore hate to say this four months down the line, but whilst you are absolutely right in that the hawsepipe is too high in the kit, as far as I can tell, it is not fully open thwartships but has cutouts either side for the anchor flukes which the kit portrays but your modified versions appears not to do.  It may be that with the anchor in place you can't see it because I fear it may be too late to rectify.

[JohnWS]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

... the hawsepipe ... has cutouts either side for the anchor flukes which the kit portrays but your modified versions appears not to do.

Thanks for your interest in this build.

 

You are correct, as well.   Not to worry though, as I have a plan.   Like many things supplied with this kit, the anchor parts leave a lot to be desired as thy don't accurately emulate the actual frigate anchor.  I plan on scratch building a new anchor and fit it in the raised position in the hawsepipe.  I've  intentionally left the cut out open for an easier fit up with the new anchor.  It's not too late to modify the hawsepipe if needed.

 

John

[Scooby]

On 3/22/2022 at 8:37 PM, JohnWS said:

Hello again!  It’s been a while since my last update.

 

I have been model building, but just not on a model ship.  While I’ve been prepping Regina for her final coat of paint, I went into scratch building withdrawal.   Then it hit me, why not scratch build the Regina’s helicopter.  Originally, I wanted to purchase, or make. a 3D printed model of the CH-148.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a 1/350 scale model of the Cyclone.   My Plan B was to design & print the model myself.  But, my current 3D modelling skills aren’t quite up to the task.  As a result, I turned to Plan C by building the helicopter old school from scratch.

 

The Canadian frigates were designed to carry the versatile CH-124 Sea King helicopter.  The Sea Kings served with the Canadian Armed Forces for 55 years until 2018.  Initially, the shipboard Sea Kings were flown by RCN pilots & crew.  After the Canadian Forces were unified in the mid 1960’s, all shipboard aircraft were crewed & maintained by Royal Canadian Air Force personnel.  RCAF personnel continue to fly & maintain the Canadian shipboard aircraft today.

 

The Sea Kings were replaced on the RCN frigates with the Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone helicopter.  The CH-148 Cyclone’s operational capability was initially approved in June, 2018.   Part of the RCN frigates’ modernization refit included modifying the shipboard hangers to accept the larger CH-148 aircraft.

 

The following is a summary of my CH-148 helicopter build.  (I’m posting it here, instead of the aircraft forum, as I consider this an integral part of my HMCS Regina build.)

 

Not knowing much about the CH-148 helicopter, my first step was to accumulate as much information and photographs about the helicopter as possible.  This included finding a 3-view line dimensional drawing of the ‘copter, as well as dimensional specifications & a lot (a very big lot) of photographs.

 

 

 

I decided to use the Trumpeter 1/350 scale EH-101 helicopter model kit as the basis for this build.

 

 

The EH-101 helicopter is larger than the CH-148, so I could only use bits & pieces from the Trumpeter kit.   These included the forward portion of the fuselage (sanded & filed down to size), 4 of the kit's 5 main rotor blades, the tail rotor, and 3 dual wheel nose landing gear (the Trumpeter kit includes 3 aircraft, each including one dual wheel nose gear & two larger main gear single wheels.  All three of the CH-148 landing gear have dual wheels, so I used the three nose gear dual wheels from the EH-101 kit.)  I made the balance of the required CH-148 parts from plastic sheet & rod, plus copper & brass wire … and lots of putty & sanding.  Needless to say, the small size of the model resulted in a number of challenges making the parts & details.

 

Here’s a photo of the finished assembly prior to paint.

 

 

And a photo of the helicopter after priming, & more puttying & sanding.

 

 

,,, and a photo of the helicopter model test fit on Regina’s flight deck.

 

 

Next up, I need to add windows & low vis markings, plus paint some of the details.   This will include making decals for the low vis markings.  They’re very small, so it’ll be interesting to see if my printer can handle them. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to follow along.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

Nice work on the Cyclone, and the Regina to of course.

 

The frigates we’re actually designed and built to carry the EH-101. The hangars were initially sized to the Sea King. But the ship was designed to break apart and extend the hangar size for the EH-101. I never understood that design, you’d thing they’d have built the bigger hangar first.

 

I served with a few guys who were involved with the EH-101 purchase (before Chretien cancelled it). I recall the day David Collenette (Minister of National Defence), stated no Sea King would fly past Jan 1, 1999.

[JohnWS]

Hello again, it's been a while. 

 

Being busy with house & family tasks, I've still been able to complete a few items on Regina over the past couple of months.

 

Here's a marked up photo showing what I've been up to, to bring you up to date on the build.

 

 

I'm relatively new working with PE parts, especially with parts that have complex bends. One example is the two walkways & stairs that are located amidships behind the bridge superstructure.   The PE supplied with the kit is very thin & required a lot of fiddly handling, plus there are no mounting locations provided on the kit resin parts.  So, I attempted the add these parts first to gain experience & get them out of the way.  The following photo shows the end result.  I don't think they're too bad for a rookie 

 

 

Next. I purchased some generic PE handrails to add to the scratch built maintenance platforms on the aft control tower.  Again a new experience for me.   Here's a photo showing the completed PE assembled on the control tower.

 

 

Once the PE projects were done, I turned my attention to the ship's single anchor, located at the bow.  I wasn't familiar with the anchor design used on the Canadian frigates, so it was back to the research books.  The PE anchor supplied with the kit didn't include the detail I wanted.  As it turns out, the anchors on the frigates are fabricated steel Pool KM 2835 kg open head monobow anchors (how's that for a mouthful?).  Examples of the Pool anchors are included in the next photo.

 

 

One manufacturer of the this Pool anchor stated that their Pool anchor (which may be the one used on the Canadian frigates) was designed and developed in co-operation with the Royal Dutch Navy and the Technical University of Delft.  The POOL® KM anchor has been successfully used for several types of naval vessels worldwide.  Armed with photos of the Pool anchor, I decided to scratch build the anchor (available 3D printed anchors again do not include the detail I wanted).  Using Evergreen plastic sheets & some stretched sprue I finally was able to make something that looks like the frigate's anchor ... after 6 attempts  of tiny parts disappearing, & big fingers getting in the way.  The next photo shows the end result.

 

 

And finally, a photo of the completed scratch built & painted anchor dry fitted in place on the model's bow.

 

 

Next up, after the Christmas break, I'll start adding all the detail parts I've collected & built over the last two years.

 

 

BUT FIRST!

Here's wishing everyone at Britmdeller a Happy & Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays &, to my Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah. I hope everyone has a Happy & Prosperous NEW YEAR!

 

Thanks again for following along.

 

Stay Safe!

 

I'll leave you with one more photo from HMCS Regina's deck.

 

 

John

Edited December 20, 2022 by JohnWS

[longshanks]

Hi John

Your continued persistence throughout has resulted in a Gold Standard 

 

Congratulations on your achievements to date

 

Stay safe and warm

 

Kev

[Dmitriy1967]

The anchor turned out to be first-class! The effort is worth such a result. Regina is a beauty!

[robgizlu]

5 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

The anchor turned out to be first-class! The effort is worth such a result. Regina is a beauty!

 

Dmitriy said it for me.

It's the small details that makes it dance 

 

And a very happy Xmas to you and yours John

Rob

[Bertie McBoatface]

And a happy Christmas to you too.

 

Excellent thread!

[Chewbacca]

On 27/11/2022 at 22:07, JohnWS said:

 

I've  intentionally left the cut out open for an easier fit up with the new anchor.  It's not too late to modify the hawsepipe if needed.

 

John

 

 

On 20/12/2022 at 01:50, JohnWS said:

Armed with photos of the Pool anchor, I decided to scratch build the anchor (available 3D printed anchors again do not include the detail I wanted).  Using Evergreen plastic sheets & some stretched sprue I finally was able to make something that looks like the frigate's anchor ... after 6 attempts  of tiny parts disappearing, & big fingers getting in the way.  

 

Well you certainly cracked the anchor!  Superb work as ever John.

[Rob 1]

I just read through this whole build thread from beginning to end - wow, great work, I enjoyed every bit of all that research and detailing added to this interesting ship project.

[beefy66]

All to a very high standard as usual there John.  

 

Stay Safe and Best Wishes

beefy

[bissyboat]

Nice camouflage and very attractive colours. ⚓👍

[JohnWS]

Moving ahead ... slowly, it's time to add the mooring & towing deck fittings to the model.  It's hard to believe that I scratch built the deck fittings almost two years ago.

 

 

But first, I needed to dry fit the kit PE deck railings to help determine the locations for the fittings.   I found the bow PE railings supplied in the kit were too short.  Luckily, I have a second set of the PE sheets for the model.  I was able to add pieces cut from the second PE set to the 1st set railings to obtain the proper length.  While  correcting the railings, I decided to paint them - white stanchions & dark grey cable railings.  Painting these tiny PE parts became a lengthy project in itself.   First, I sprayed a coat of primer, & then a coat of dark grey. Finally, I needed to find a way to paint the white stanchions.  Masking & spraying were out of the question, so brush painting was going to be the way to go.  However, I couldn't find a brush small enough.  I ended up using a straight pin, dabbing the end of the pin in the paint and carefully using the pin to transfer to paint to the PE parts.  Patience & a steady hand were helpful. 

 

Here's  a photo of the painted parts.

 

 

The next step, before cutting & forming the PE parts to size, will be to dry fit the railings in place & mark the relative location for each deck fitting.

 

 

I'm sure the PE parts will need a lot of touch up after forming them as paint tends to chip easily on the brass PE. 

 

Next up, I'll be gluing the deck fittings in place.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

 

[Dmitriy1967]

Excellent work! These small details are amazing.

The exact match of the ship and the model in the photo.

[longshanks]

15 hours ago, JohnWS said:

using a straight pin, dabbing the end of the pin in the paint and carefully using the pin to transfer to paint to the PE parts

 OMG! You did what 

 

Takes the saying about 'Watching paint dry' to a _{sub atomic level}

 

Well done nutter 😉

 

Stay safe and warm

 

Kev

[JohnWS]

1 hour ago, longshanks said:

 OMG! You did what 

 

Takes the saying about 'Watching paint dry' to a _{sub atomic level}

 

Well done nutter 😉

Thanks Kev.

 

After this 'little' exercise, I think I'm getting quite good with a straight pin.  Maybe after Regina's finished I could get a job as a seamstress.  

 

John

[Dancona]

"How the bl**dy hell did he do that".................I rest my case milud !!

[Courageous]

I can only echo what others have said, mind boggling.

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Awesome detailed work here John. That comparison of real vs model above, says it all!

 

Terry

[Silenoz]

Marvelous work... 

[bissyboat]

Nice work on all the gubbins and good job painting the stanchions. ⚓👍

[robgizlu]

I walk with Giants..................

[JohnWS]

Hi, again!

 

A colourful update.

 

Since my last update, I've added an additional 29 scratch built black bollards, fairleads, mooring chocks, & cleats to Regina's deck.  These were not included in the model kit.

 

Also, I've added the following water slide decals; - hull numbers (black), - modified flight deck guide lines (white, yellow & black), - main gun & Phalanx gun hazard markings (red), - flight deck letter markings (white), - maple leaf funnel emblems (red) and - modified foc'sle transfer/replenishment markings (yellow).  The flight deck lines  & the foc'sle markings decals needed be modified due to changes added during Regina's modernization refit, and to fit properly on the model, respectively.  In addition, I made (red) circular hazard markings for the three new scratch built Multi Ammunition Soft-kill Systems (MASS).  These were added as part of the ship's modernization refit.  I punched these decals from spare model aircraft decal sheets.

 

Here's a few photos showing Regina as she sits now;

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, I'm finally going to start attaching the scratch built details starting on the bow & working my way back to the stern.

 

Thanks for the 'likes', comments, and patience for following along.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

[Dmitriy1967]

It's nice to look at such a neat job.