HMS Calcutta - C Class Cruiser, Trumpeter 1/350

[socjo1]

Rob, as always - really delight for my beauty eyes... 👀

😉

Will you fix buckles for flaglines to yandarms too? 

 

[JohnWS]

She looks awesome Rob.  

 

It's a shame about the figures.  Unfortunately, ordering on line can be a crap shoot at times.

 

John

[robgizlu]

On 5/5/2021 at 8:06 PM, beefy66 said:

Pity about the figures Rob but the ship is looking great love the muted weathering.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

 

14 hours ago, JohnWS said:

She looks awesome Rob.  

 

It's a shame about the figures.  Unfortunately, ordering on line can be a crap shoot at times.

 

John

 

In truth Fellas - I had an email back straight off from Alexey at North Star promising to rectify and send on the requested set.  

John - truth to tell - I've not had a single misdelivery or adverse event ordering from all over the world, to date (Touch wood)

 

16 hours ago, socjo1 said:

Rob, as always - really delight for my beauty eyes... 👀

😉

Will you fix buckles for flaglines to yandarms too? 

 

 

Hi Michal and thanks.

No - I wont be fixing buckles to the yardarms.  I think that would be more difficult than attaching the lycra direct

 

Rob

[smyfe]

Hi Rob, she is looking amazing, wish I had half your skill. The paint work is fantastic and the weathering sets it off perfectly. I may have to give oils a go myself. As for the yards, I don't know if you have seen these by Shipyard .

 Keep up the great work, looking forward to the next update.

Mick

[robgizlu]

On 5/6/2021 at 10:00 PM, smyfe said:

Hi Rob, she is looking amazing, wish I had half your skill. The paint work is fantastic and the weathering sets it off perfectly. I may have to give oils a go myself. As for the yards, I don't know if you have seen these by Shipyard .

 Keep up the great work, looking forward to the next update.

Mick

 

Hi Mick - I hadn't seen these, they look great, if there are some in 1/350, I'll grab some.

 

Small progress this week - rigging

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking - RFI soon

 

Rob

 

[steve5]

all I can say is wow rob ,what a beautiful clean build .

[longshanks]

15 hours ago, robgizlu said:

rigging

Nice lacework done with your usual finesse 

 

Kev

[robgizlu]

Thanks Fellas

 

Mindful of Michal and George's recent kayak pics and with Lockdown easing - managed to get a paddle session in today at @Martian's manor.

 

 

 

My mate Rob in my venerable 35 yr old "Icefloe"

 

 

 

Great to be back in salt water

Back to modelling soon

Rob

[beefy66]

As always a stunning build looking forward to the completed summary.  👍

 

Nice to see you getting out at least you did not break the kayak like your rowing machine.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Martian]

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Thanks Fellas

 

Mindful of Michal and George's recent kayak pics and with Lockdown easing - managed to get a paddle session in today at @Martian's manor.

 

 

 

My mate Rob in my venerable 35 yr old "Icefloe"

 

 

 

Great to be back in salt water

Back to modelling soon

Rob

I trust you were not breaking the 10 knot speed limit and had a waterski permit for those canoes?

 

Martian aka Captain Ahab 👽

[robgizlu]

Hi Team

It's figure painting time.  In the Eastern Med in mid 1941 would ratings and indeed Officers too worn Blue or white Caps? 

Despite a  websearch - not come up with any definitive answer to this.  Obviously the North Star figures are not in Far East Tropical kit - so it's cap colour that's the issue

@Chewbacca, @Ex-FAAWAFU, or any other ex naval men - any thought ??

 

Thanks++++

Rob

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

In the Eastern Med in mid 1941 would ratings and indeed Officers too worn Blue or white Caps?

Rob. Not sure if this photo helps.

It shows HMS Hermione entering Malta, wrong end of the Med, I know and they are wearing blue and white caps. I was always under the impression that it was a blue top to the cap at night and white during the day. But this photo sort of confounds this. Also, I understood that the caps were blue and the white was a removable cover.

Jon

Edited May 25, 2021 by Faraway

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

They'd definitely all have worn white caps in the Med (or whenever in tropical rig = shorts) at the start of the war, but my impression is that as more Hostilities Only guys joined the fleet, the standard blue cap become pretty widespread even with with clothing (as in that pic above).  Officers' (and Senior Rates) caps were (and still are) a frame over the top of the head, onto which you fit a cover (blue or white).  I think the JR equivalent was similar (because otherwise caps would have got seriously, visibly filthy, which they didn't - but whether it was a white cover over a stand blue cap, I don't know.

 

Definitely not white by day and blue by night: not even the RN could be that cruel!

[beefy66]

Rob going from the photo Jon has posted I would say go for a mix maybe just a little more with the blue most photos I have come across showing crew ratings they wore blue and the officers white and blue but most of the reference I have are for North Atlantic so not that helpful sorry

 

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Faraway]

4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Definitely not white by day and blue by night: not even the RN could be that cruel!

Sorry to contradict, but I found this......

https://www.navy-net.co.uk/community/threads/black-royal-navy-officer-cap.169402/

Scroll down a couple of entries.

There is reference to ‘darken caps’ in the film The Cruel Sea, yeah I know it’s a film, but they do get things right, sometimes.

Jon

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Faraway

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Well he may be right - though there is at least one definite factual error in his post (the nonsense about “only plastic covers on parade”; I never wore a plastic cover post-BRNC, whether on parade or not).  But he might be right about ‘darken caps’/

[robgizlu]

Jon, Crisp & Beefy - Thanks.  appreciate the input - I summarize that white for Med but blue also possible.

Accordingly there'll be a mix

Rob

[Modelholic]

Wasn't there Khaki for the Africa/Middle East area as well?

Tom

[robgizlu]

On 5/26/2021 at 8:55 AM, Modelholic said:

Wasn't there Khaki for the Africa/Middle East area as well?

Tom

 

Hi Tom - I believe there was, though all academic at this scale given that we only have "North European" uniforms at present, courtesy of North Star.  I'm certain that RN figures in different uniforms would sell - here's hoping that more will aririve soon.

 

And talking of figures - thanks to tips from this site I bought the "RB productions" Nano saws - (thanks Michal and Michael M).  wow - Managed to "saw2/free up 25 odd figures from the North Satr sprue with only one "amputation"

 

 

Hugely superior to a scalpel and definitley the right way to go!!!

 

And thus to painting using 50 ; 50 using Model Air Insignia blue and Black with a dash of Tamiya "Flat" added on the end of a cocktail stick to "dull down".

 

 

Rob

[GrahamB]

Hi Rob, very nice work, both detailing and splinter paint camouflage.  Just caught up with this thread as the HMS Calcutta kit arrived on my front doorstep a couple of days ago. It is great how these threads flush out more information on the ship.

I am surprised how large it is compared to the other 1/350 stuff I've been building so this will be a pleasant change in some ways.

Cheers, Graham B

 

Building: Combrig 1/350 HMS Banshee (pre-WW1 27-knotter TBD); Trumpeter 1/350 USS England as HMS Duckworth (Captain Class DE/frigate), AJM 1/350 HMS Queen of Thanet (WW2 paddle minesweeper).

Edited June 9, 2021 by GrahamB

[Chewbacca]

Back to the caps debate, there is an interesting piece here which talks about the changeover from having winter (black) and summer (white) caps to white all year round.  But it does confirm that the caps were black with white covers not the other way around.

 

However, there was an Admiralty Fleet Order issued, I think in October 1939 (it may have been AFO 3025 which certainly dealt with hostilities uniform changes but I can't find anything definitive), that white cap covers would not be worn with blue uniform (i.e. Home Fleet) for the duration of hostilities.  I would expect white caps with white uniforms if the ratings had them but remember that clothing does get worn/damaged/lost and when you're away for months/years at a time, it may not be possible to get to slops to get replacements

 

after much searching, I have managed to find a copy of Brayley, Royal Navy Uniforms 1930-1945 for a sensible price and it should be with me this time next week.  I believe it has the definitive answer on the AFO number, so I will update if it has any more information.  

 

Like Crisp, I've never seen anything about night and day wear

 

Hope this helps

[Gisbod]

Beautiful ship Rob! Looks spot on and a very nice subject too…

 

Guy

[Gisbod]

Ps Rob,

 

Do you seal the deck in in any way after your weathering, or just leave it as is?

 

Thanks,

 

Guy

[mick]

great work

[robgizlu]

On 6/9/2021 at 9:52 PM, GrahamB said:

Hi Rob, very nice work, both detailing and splinter paint camouflage.  Just caught up with this thread as the HMS Calcutta kit arrived on my front doorstep a couple of days ago. It is great how these threads flush out more information on the ship.

I am surprised how large it is compared to the other 1/350 stuff I've been building so this will be a pleasant change in some ways.

Cheers, Graham B

 

Building: Combrig 1/350 HMS Banshee (pre-WW1 27-knotter TBD); Trumpeter 1/350 USS England as HMS Duckworth (Captain Class DE/frigate), AJM 1/350 HMS Queen of Thanet (WW2 paddle minesweeper).

 

Thanks Graham - I really like it as a kit - I think you'll enjoy it!!

I'm looking forwards to Colombo which should arrive later this year

 

On 6/11/2021 at 2:25 PM, Chewbacca said:

Back to the caps debate, there is an interesting piece here which talks about the changeover from having winter (black) and summer (white) caps to white all year round.  But it does confirm that the caps were black with white covers not the other way around.

 

However, there was an Admiralty Fleet Order issued, I think in October 1939 (it may have been AFO 3025 which certainly dealt with hostilities uniform changes but I can't find anything definitive), that white cap covers would not be worn with blue uniform (i.e. Home Fleet) for the duration of hostilities.  I would expect white caps with white uniforms if the ratings had them but remember that clothing does get worn/damaged/lost and when you're away for months/years at a time, it may not be possible to get to slops to get replacements

 

after much searching, I have managed to find a copy of Brayley, Royal Navy Uniforms 1930-1945 for a sensible price and it should be with me this time next week.  I believe it has the definitive answer on the AFO number, so I will update if it has any more information.  

 

Like Crisp, I've never seen anything about night and day wear

 

Hope this helps

 

Hi Chewbacca - i suspect you picked up the Abebooks copy - that I had my eye on 

I'd be interested to know whether you think it's worth the more common price of £19-20 ?

On 6/12/2021 at 6:46 PM, Gisbod said:

Ps Rob,

 

Do you seal the deck in in any way after your weathering, or just leave it as is?

 

Thanks,

 

Guy

 

Welcome back Guy - good to have you aboard again

No I don't seal it - though I do give it a diluted neutral grey enamel wash.  Having spent the W/E around cruising sail boats with decks - I'm reminded that teak really is a greyish colour after use and U/V exposure

 

On 6/12/2021 at 7:10 PM, mick said:

great work

 

Thnaks Mick - I appreciate

 

Figures are painted and I really do need to get some pics set up (involving clearing my kitchen table, ironing a sheet and setting up my lights - I cant use my normal desk set up due to it's size)

 

Rob