1/72 HMNZS Waikato

[mick]

good luck with your build ,great work

[Alun Gallie]

For those interested - discussed the mystery cylindrical object with a couple of ex EW shipmates - it is in fact same on both Waikato and Canterbury and is Phoenix ESM receiver - AN/WLR 16

Edited June 23, 2021 by Alun Gallie

[Alun Gallie]

Not sure what's happening with these things - they seem to be multiplying !!

Picked up a club members HMS Apollo project so he can focus on submersible things.  Has most fittings for gun leander so I guess that's now HMNZS Canterbury covered too. 
 

I did a bit of preparation on the APS hull. I loved the fibreglass focsle but on further research discovered some of the cast details did not apply for the NZ Leanders. They didn't have the raised plates for the cables or to the centreline hawse as seen in photo below. The may have earlier but not by late 80s. In some photos the cable deck is painted black but does not appear to have raised cable plates.

 I decided it might be easiest to start the detail from scratch and so have sanded the detail flat. I have couple of little repairs to be made with filler where I removed fittings. I have some diamond tread plate plastic card coming for the slope, then will fit breakwaters and start repopulating focsle.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Alun Gallie

[Exkiwiforces]

Are doing old Faithful F421 on her final Operational Deployment during INTERFET 99-00? When she found 2 TNI Subs, 1st Sub when the NZBatt1 did their over the beach landing in Suai. Which was the 1st time the NZDF had conducted a over the beach landing since 3NZ Div (my NZ Great Uncle was on 3 NZDiv) in the Solly’s in WW2 and it showed as the NZBatt1 landing went tits up. Had the TNI decided to mark a bit of a stand, it could got a tad ugly for the Kiwis.

 

The 2nd Sub find was just off Dili between Dili harbour & the big island I’ve forgot the name off atm, which really put the cat amongst the pigeons not only with us defending the main Airport. But the also INTERFET’s very vulnerable Sea Lanes of Communications between Dili & Darwin, to a point the old plans for the proposed RNZAF A4 deployment to Bacau Airport, for a possible P3 Orion deployment from NZ & Oz if the TNI Subs kept up its  shenanigans. But old F421 was rather like old SGT Miller’s suitcase as the F421, had a few tricks without using lethal deadly force which they could’ve used under the INTERFET ROE.

[Alun Gallie]

Canterbury won't be that late. She was my first posting in 1987 so I will probably model her around that time, so when she was still fitted with 965 and Whaler. 

Circa this photo

[Chewbacca]

16 hours ago, Exkiwiforces said:

Are doing old Faithful F421 on her final Operational Deployment during INTERFET 99-00? When she found 2 TNI Subs, 1st Sub when the NZBatt1 did their over the beach landing in Suai. Which was the 1st time the NZDF had conducted a over the beach landing since 3NZ Div (my NZ Great Uncle was on 3 NZDiv) in the Solly’s in WW2 and it showed as the NZBatt1 landing went tits up. Had the TNI decided to mark a bit of a stand, it could got a tad ugly for the Kiwis.

 

The 2nd Sub find was just off Dili between Dili harbour & the big island I’ve forgot the name off atm, which really put the cat amongst the pigeons not only with us defending the main Airport. But the also INTERFET’s very vulnerable Sea Lanes of Communications between Dili & Darwin, to a point the old plans for the proposed RNZAF A4 deployment to Bacau Airport, for a possible P3 Orion deployment from NZ & Oz if the TNI Subs kept up its  shenanigans. But old F421 was rather like old SGT Miller’s suitcase as the F421, had a few tricks without using lethal deadly force which they could’ve used under the INTERFET ROE.

My old steamer, HMS GLASGOW, got involved in that operation.  We'd been deployed to the Far East from March 99 and it was without doubt the best deployment I ever did in the RN with visits to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Fiji to name but a few.  Defence diplomacy at its best.  I then handed over to my relief in Penang at the start of a short maintenance period with a "it's getting a bit more unsettled in East Timor, you might want to dust off the contingency plans we made before we left UK" and left the ship.  They sailed 3 weeks later and promptly spent the next two months in defence watches off the Indonesian coast in full action working dress with all port visits cancelled.  I must confess to having had a wry chuckle.  I seem to recall they were involved in the submarine action off Dili.

 

[Alun Gallie]

I have been off work for a couple of days with some sciatica. Those that have experienced will know you can't do anything but you equally can't not do anything so today decided to get the a/c going in shed to get up to suitable temp for gel coating and see if I could make some progress.

Firstly I got some 2mm styrene and cut to fit outside of hull where gap was. I clamped this and glued the corner using plastic glue.



I then removed and applied 5 coats of mold release wax, buffed between each coat to the styrene. I did this away from the hull so I didn't get mold release on the existing hull edges or surrounds as thought that might effect the resin and glass. Once coated and buffed I out 'mold' back in place and fixed with small amount silicon and larger amounts of tape.

Once I got workshop up to decent temp I mixed up some gel coat and applied first coat.



The more I read and watched Youtube videos the more confused I got about when to apply second coat. I waited until about 30min, still tacky to touch but skimmed over and applied a second coat.



So far so good - will let it dry over night and look at glass and resin tomorrow.

[Alun Gallie]

Got the heater on and workshop warm nice early and got 3 layers of resin and fibreglass matting laid down. 

Then left it to cook off for a few hours. Removed the tape and gently flexed the styrene . Must have used enough wax as popped off like a dream. 

I little bit translucent as used neutral gel coat so no pigment. 

Happy with the outcome. Leave to fully cook off and then will trim and sand tomorrow and then look at replacing the deck support timbers. Suspect will need to do a little filler work to round the edge off into deck but should be pretty straight forward. 
 

[Alun Gallie]

My leg is slowly on the mend so chipped away in half hour blocks again today and made some good progress. 
 

I cleaned off all the old support wood and decking back to the line where Waikato's extended hanger ended. It is about 1.5 m longer than standard hanger with seacat deck above also being extended. The new decking piece will be the flight deck and quarterdeck - initially will make as one piece but will probably split once I get the 'tiller flat' (rudder servo and arms) sorted. The quarterdeck will lift out to access rudder and servo, the flight deck to access shaft oil inlets and motors and the superstructure to battery and electronics etc. 

Then cleaned off the old glue and made good keyed surface for new glue to bond with. 

I then fitted new deck supports from timber matching what had been used, marking the 4mm for the ply decks. 

Also fitted cross beams to maintain shape and profile at stern and where flight deck/quarterdeck sections will join so they have support and I can maybe countersink magnets of something to hold in place. 

I left everything clamped in the winter sun for a few hours until all set and hardened and then cut the new (at this stage combined) flight deck/quarterdeck. Took some sanding, re sanding and then a bot more sanding but got a nice neat fit. 

Leg is telling me enough for today. Tomorrow will remove new deck piece, put in some temporary edges of styrene strip and fill to close the small gaps where chipped and at stern. Once thats set and sanded should be able to refit deck with hardly visible join lines (can't putty and have deck removable so this seems to be a workable approach) Paint and feature such as flight deck nets and beading will then further hide. Plan is to use fitting such as the Wasp and zodiac as 'handles' to lift decks out. 

Then before pushing on with prep for hull paint might chuck it in pool and make sure it floats !

I appreciate this build diary probably doesn't offer much to most of you that have build many fine vessels but I find it provides motivation to me so hope you will bear with me.

 

[Alpha Juliet]

Considering you are now in command of three warships - what rank do you now hold?  (and should we all be calling you "Sir", from now on?)

 

Well done Alun, this is going to be an exciting build!!

 

 

[Alun Gallie]

Wow just had a major windfall. I had been in touch with NZ Navy Museum regarding Waikato and just received 11 pages of scans of plans and scale drawings highlighting changes during refits. Confident I have the info needed for this build now.

They also sent some drawing of HMNZS Tui (my forth ship once I get the three Leanders done but good to file away.)

[Alun Gallie]

So after installing the flight/deck quarterdeck plate I got out some bluetac and test fitted some fittings like fairleads, bollards, capstan, 182 davit, deck vents to get a feel . At this point I realised I had a bit of an issue. One fairly unique feature of a Leander is the rounddown between deck and side (the rolled edge) 

If you look at this image again you can see the fairleads, bollards and stanchions all are fitted on the Waikato grey roundown rather than the dark grey deck. 

Can be seen here as well.

This meant these fittings would span the join in the deck making it difficult or impossible to remove. 

I explored a few options

a) fix fittings to deck plate so they just rested over rounddown (weak and easy to knock off and get out of alignment.)

b) fix the deck in place and then cut smaller access panels but wasn't too sure how best to disguise.

In the end I went with c) use bog to extend rounddowns by 4mm on each side and stern of deck, cutting the deck piece down to fit. After mapping out placements all fittings would either be solely on rounddown (fairleads, stanchions, flight deck net, bollards) or on the deck (stern capstan, centre line bollards, 182s zodiac etc) 

I marked in 4mm on deck support beams and build a temporary bulkhead of styrene and filled with bog. Once dried the styrene peeled off leaving a nice clean edge. 

I then cut down and sanded the deck piece to fit 

There were a couple of iterations to fill a couple of gaps but got to a place I was happy with. Left to dry overnight and then sanded down flush with deck and rounded off edge to match existing rounddown curve. 

Final shot showing repaired corner, deck and repaired bilge keels

Next up, some blade putty and sanding , coat of resin on woodwork, make and fit prop guards and flow coat inside of hull. Then some things should have arrived in post and will be able to move onto motor and rudder set up then prime and paint hull.

[npb748r]

Hi Alun,

 

really enjoying the build, I've contemplated several times building a 1/72 scale destroyer (as a static model) but keep putting it off, I tell myself it's due to cost and size but a big part of it is confidence in my abilities. In the meantime watching your build is as enjoyable for me ! One quick question - what is bog ???

 

thanks

neil

[Alun Gallie]

Bog is automotive body filler - a two part filler that sets really hard and can be sanded, shaped etc. at this scale I use same way I would Tamiya putty on smaller scale model.

[Alun Gallie]

A little update, although it took me a surprisingly long time to get it to a state I was happy with. 

I cut shaped and fitted the two prop guards on stern quarter. Initially I tried styrene but didn't have any thick enough and laminating did not work on this occasion as when I went to drill for pinning they split again so I cut down a piece of wood to 3.5 mm and shaped from there. 

I pinned them through the hull, fixed with epoxy and put the pins into a small wood block epoxied on inside. Tomorrow I will bog the blocks to really seal. (block can be seen in photo) 

Next jobs, resin coat on all wood, flow coat to inside of hull (as soon as I can grab some) and then blade putty touch ups and a coat of spray primer. Hope to also be able top grab the hull colours in rattle cans in next week or two.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Alun Gallie

[Alun Gallie]

A little more progress - got hands on some flow coat so applied to inside hull and got a coat of resin on all the wood as per Bruce's earlier suggestion. 

A little bit of blade putty work and then some spray putty/ primer next.

[Alun Gallie]

Got a bit more done today, finished blade putty and sanding work on hull and got a coat of spray putty on. 


It's great stuff but boy does it show imperfections so this was of course followed by a couple of rounds of texta marks, resands and touch ups. 

Ran out of spray putty left from previous project (full size Dr Who Dalek) so will need to grab another can to just finish off but pretty close. Hope to get rattle cans of Waikato Grey (hull) (BS381C   626) and Dark Admiralty Grey (decks) (BS381C 632) in next week or so as well as hull red oxide (BS381C 446) and boot topping black. 

Also waiting for some bits for the electronics / mechanical set up (rudder tiller arms, universal joints etc)

Edited July 17, 2021 by Alun Gallie

[Alun Gallie]

Today did another round of the blade putty / spray putty carousel. 

Apply blade putty

Sand off most of blade putty 

and then finally another coat of spray putty 

Pretty close to calling it done. Unfortunately went to get a can of "Waikato Grey" mixed today only to have shop that had said they could do on phone decide 'thats not a car colour we can't do that'

Oh well I have another shop that can definitely do but bit further away. Might see if I can order over phone and then get picked up.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Alun, that's a nice looking hull you've done. Regards, Jeff.

[npb748r]

On 17/07/2021 at 03:25, Alun Gallie said:

left from previous project (full size Dr Who Dalek)

that's one giant leap from a Dalek to a Destroyer - I sort of understood you weren't short for space when working on three 1/72 ships however you must have a fantastically large man cave to fit that in as well !!

[Alun Gallie]

This morning I di a test fitting of the Seacat system - I don't know I think the scales off ?

 ( Was actually marking boot topping and anti fouling lines )

[Dave Swindell]

5 hours ago, Alun Gallie said:

This morning I di a test fitting of the Seacat system - I don't know I think the scales off ?

Looks furry close to me?

[Alun Gallie]

We have gone into a snap 7 day lockdown but luckily was able to grab these so may get some progress over next few days 

And I got some black (boot topping) and red oxide (anti fouling) so I will at least have something to go on with.

[Alun Gallie]

 

Got the first coat of Waikato Grey (Camouflage Grey - but RNZN referred to it as Waikato Grey) on the hull this morning. 

A couple of coats (and the usual touch ups) later and got it inside where warmer to harden a bit before marking/taping for the red oxide anti-fouling

[Alun Gallie]

Got the top line taped up.

and now it has a red bottom 

leave to dry now and tomorrow morning will tape up bottom line and do the black boot topping.