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HMS Gloucester (1910)


Ray S

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Hello all, it is good to be back in the Maritime section after quite a long while away.

 

Just before our British Covid lockdown began in 2020, Britmodeller had a Group Build running called 'In the Navy'. I decided to build a ship model, and was in a bit of a minority! I chose this one, Combrig's 1/700 scale HMS Gloucester (1910) as my initial subject, and things went quite well. If any of you would like a catch up, here is a link to that thread:

 

I am afraid I rather ground to a halt, as my imagination (or lack thereof) too hold. I found myself looking quite a few stages ahead and with that and then the turmoil of lockdown, I shelved the model for another day. The issue was with the forward mast. The instructions showed this:

 

DSCN5615

 

The mast, rather inconveniently, had a spotter platform slap bang in the middle of it, with very little leeway to secure the first and second uprights of that mast. I was going to go the whole hog and attempt to rig it, and was concerned that CA or Epoxy would not be strong enough to hold it under the rigging tension. I also had issues with how to solder the lot without melting the resin piece that needs to be in situ at the time of soldering at some point.

 

I eventually (yesterday) did that thing which us blokes are not very good at, and asked our Massif  for help! I had some excellent suggestions at this link:

 

 

That has finally given me the impetus to crack on with this model, which is one of three different HMS Gloucester ships I want to do. I must emphasize that the quality of moulding on this ship is second to none, it has some basic etch (and a piece which is missing but illustrated in the instructions!) and a basic instruction guide, with no colour guides at all.

 

Today I have just been getting the knack of working with resin again, so have added three small parts, but took advice from the GB and used doubled-over tape to hold the parts as I cut them off the pour-blocks:

 

DSCN7869

 

When I attached the parts, I used PVA (Deluxe Materials Glu'N'Glaze) to attached them to the ship.

 

DSCN7870

 

The work today was to add the two ventilator housings at the aft end of the black-coloured decking, and the bit between the two hemispherical uprights aft, along with the X-shaped piece of etch. I also cut out and sanded down (with a dust mask for protection) the aft section of the foredeck with the control tower base:

 

DSCN7871

 

That deck insert and the fore deckhouse with the black roof are just dry-fitted at the moment, but over the next few days I will crack on with the masts and get their locations drilled out prior to fitting those two resin parts.

 

Hopefully there will be more to this soon, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

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Nice start. I will follow along if I may, have a number of 1/700 Combrig kits in the stash, with a grand plan to build a number of the ships my Grandfather served on in WW1.
 

Just haven’t found the courage to start one yet. 
 

why the interest in ships called HMS Gloucester?

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11 minutes ago, Jb65rams said:

why the interest in ships called HMS Gloucester?

 

Good question! I was born near Reading, and I only know of one ship by that name (one of the American WWI four-stackers like Campbeltown). I travelled a lot in my yoof, but eventually my parents settled down close to Gloucester here in the UK.

 

I first took an interest in the Type 42 HMS Gloucester when she was decommissioned in 2015, and found a model of her by Dragon. Then the Combrig WWI one was issued, so I had to get that, and am now hoping that Flyhawk do the biz and issue the WWII version. My idea was to build all three at the same time, and set them 'en echelon' in a sea base as a 'what-if' setting.

 

Basically I suppose the answer is 'cos I live nearby!

 

Cheers for asking,

 

Ray

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I have a similar project running for GLASGOW having both commanded her briefly and been her XO back in the 90s.  I've completed the WW2 version and have the Atlantic Models 1/350 T42; I have yet to get the Combrig WW1 Town Class.

 

Interestingly when I was XO of GLASGOW, one of our officers had previously served in GLOUCESTER and was forever telling tales "when I was in GLOUCESTER...".  In the end we grew so fed up with it that I banned the use of her name in the wardroom; instead she could only be referred to as "the other G ship" with a fine for anyone who transgressed.  Probably wouldn't get away with that these days  -it'd be deemed bullying and harassment!

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Sounds like the RAF banter (?) when an old'n'bold* aviator refers to the old times in what was purported to be a better aircraft than the then-current sort - "WIWOL" (When I Was On Lightnings)!

 

Good luck with your project - although I'm not sure about ALL the previous Glasgows - the name goes back to a 6th Rate of 1707 (as you probably know!).

 

* Although they do say that there are no old'n'bold aviators - only one of the two adjectives can apply!

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16 hours ago, Ray S said:

Basically I suppose the answer is 'cos I live nearby!

Gidday Ray, that's one of the reasons I build HMAS Perth instead of Hobart or Sydney. And I've done both Perth I and II. I went to sea on HMAS Perth II briefly in 1981 as a reservist. I guess one day I'll try a model of Perth III.

 

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

-it'd be deemed bullying and harassment!

Only if word got out. 😲

 

Regards, Jeff.

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Hello all! There has been a little progress on 'the other G-Ship' also known as HMS Gloucester!

 

It has been experiment time today, as regards the masts. I had a few practice runs, trying to tin the brass rod and then soldering them together. I needed more practice. Then I tried using solder paint and flux, and that was much better. I decided to use the system which worked!

 

DSCN7873

 

This is the start of the practice run - I taped the brass rod into position on an old ceramic tile, painted some solder paint into the joint, then brushed some flux (phosphoric acid) onto the paint, and touched the hot soldering iron to it and saw what happened...

 

DSCN7874

 

The first thing was there was a little crackle and a splatter of stuff puffed from the joint. I left the soldering iron tip on the joint for a couple of moments and the area went a silver colour. I left that for a short while to cool down, and the two parts did not fall apart when I pulled the tape away. Then it was time to do the real thing!

 

DSCN7875

 

I had to use three verticals, so I soldered those 'on their side' so to speak, left it to cool, then used blue tack to position the yardarms and then soldered those on. One yardarm (the middle one) was slap bang over a previously soldered joint, but the joint held okay. The problem was, would everything align okay?

 

DSCN7876

 

Yes! It was not too bad for a first proper go. I have washed the joints to get rid of the flux. I am not sure if I will use this mast or try and make another. The Combrig instructions suggested 0.6mm rod for the mast uprights, but the nearest I had was 0.5mm and they seem possibly a little thin - I will think on it.

 

I made the lower upright over-long so it will slide into a hole which I will drill into the hull, the location is marked in the hull moulding.

 

That is it for now, this was a big step in this project, and gives me a renewed kuta!

 

All the best, Ray

Edited by Ray S
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Looking good Ray, makes me want to invest in a soldering iron (and thick pair of gloves, thermal suit, welding goggles...prob a cape too, to tie off that look).

 

I'd guess going under rather than over the thickness is generally a good thing, but looks fine to me when compared to previous photos - would need to see it dry fitted really.

 

David

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20 hours ago, Adm Lord De Univers said:

I'd guess going under rather than over the thickness is generally a good thing, but looks fine to me when compared to previous photos - would need to see it dry fitted really.

 

David

 

I drilled out the location holes for the 0.5mm masts this morning, and dry-fitted that aft one I had made. It still needs height adjustment though:

 

DSCN7877

 

DSCN7879

 

I think that David is right, and having the mast a bit thinner is probably a Good Thing. I may still re-do the mast anyway and see if I can get an improvement, there is still quite a while before I get around to fitting them properly.

 

This afternoon I had a bit longer to work on the ship. It was time to start building the forward main gun, three small resin parts and two even tinier etch parts. The gun shield was the most substantial but it had a film over the gun barrel opening. How do I clear it?

 

DSCN7880

 

The answer was not an oblong-shaped drill, but when I pushed a round drill into the opening, it pushed the film out of the way, easy as you like! A pair of sharp-tipped tweezers did the final shaping of the opening. Phew! I found the shield was a good slide-fit to the gun barrel (prior to adding the pedestal and etch footplates), but when they were added it became a rather delicate item. Goodness knows what the 10 other, smaller casemate guns will be like.

 

I added the control centre deck after adding an etch support brace, and then some other resin parts (ventilator, cable reel, circular control center and one incredibly miniscule vent?). The front of Gloucester is now beginning to look quite busy, and tomorrow it will be time to repaint all the bits I have put on these last few days. I had given the lot a pre-coat when they were still on the pour blocks, so should not need much extra.

 

DSCN7882

 

The gun is just dry-fitted, but it slid into the location hole really well, and might not even need glue. It should give a firm support though when I do add the shield.

 

DSCN7883

 

The forward mast location point is just behind the under-deck brace, that is why I drilled it this early.

 

Well, this has gone pretty well today, I hope it continues in this fine vein.

 

Thanks for looking and for the comments,

 

Ray

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Great new sills Ray

A suggestion...

Draw the mast / yards on paper to scale. You now have 90 angles to eye to. Put the yards down first held in place with tape. Now tape the mast over. The steps formed can be overcome with paper/tape/plastic packers.

 

HTH

 

Kev

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@longshanks, thanks for that idea! I had been toying with building the masts that way  while I was trying to get back to sleep during the early hours of the last couple of nights. I don't think I got the upright overlaps right (no mention of lengths in the guides and the illustrations are not to scale) as they look too tall to me when dry-fitted.

 

Cheers, Ray

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3 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Interesting build and I like the way you "plant" the hull in it's base early on.

Rob

 

Cheers Rob! This ship has so many delicate parts to it, I thought it was prudent to attach it to the base early, as it gives me something to hold. On another Forum, one modeller puts attachment bolts in the underside and uses an industrial-looking clamp to hold his ships, so I just modified the idea! Adding extra depth under the waterline helps too.

 

I only had this morning for more work on this. Stage 1 of the instructions suggest adding the boat decks(?) by the aft funnel early, and then later on show that you add a couple of small guns under those decks.

 

DSCN5508

 

I decided to modify that, and fit the guns now. They were made up of a tiny pedestal, and a very thin gun. I am not able to hold my hands all that steady nowadays, so would struggle to deal with those. I had a plan...

 

That was to cut off the barrel from the pour stub, attach a photo-etch grip to the back end of that, fit the pedestal to the deck and then attach the barrel/grip to the pedestal. All fine in principal. So I cut the barrel off with a razor blade, only to find it had snapped and shortened the aft end! Unperturbed, I added the etch part, fitted the pedestal to the deck with CA gel, picked up the barrel with tweezers, and had to hunt for the etch! Where had it gone? Goodness alone knows. Personally I think it was a Good Thing, as it looked over-scale, so I am not bothering with the other etch grips. Did I mention they were small?

 

DSCN7884

 

Those coal scuttles are only about 1mm wide, and that small gun is the one with the shortened stock. The one for the other side cut off nicely and looks a lot better. I also fitted the two ladders (I know there is a nautical term for it!) up from the main deck to the fo'c'stle:

 

DSCN7885

 

The front deckhouse is also in place, and in keeping with most of the resin I have glued on, was done with Glu'N'Glaze as not very much of this is load-bearing, and the PVA gives some wiggle time.

 

DSCN7889

 

I then took the opportunity to re-touch the paintwork of the parts that have been fitted since my restart.

 

DSCN7887

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking, and also for the suggestions! I think I will be re-doing the masts tomorrow when I have a bit more time using Kev's idea.

 

Ray

 

PS, This is proving to be a good practice run for another 1/700 Combrig ship I have, namely HMS Victoria (1890) which has even more, smaller, parts and complex etch

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Due (or owing to) a late night last night (child-minding), I decided to give the masts a rest today, and tackled something easier instead. It was time to add the boat cradles which should have been added prior to those small guns. The cradles were a single piece of etch for either side, but required legs folding down. That sounds simple, but they also involved a bracket that needed to be bent, and they were very close to a sticky-out bit that must not be bent! It took a little thinking about, but eventually I used the pointy end of a scalpel blade to do the job, and it all bent where it should, and not where it shouldn't.

 

DSCN7891

 

DSCN7892

 

The 'sticky-out' bits look like they are where davits fit later on. You can also probably see why I added the small gun under the cradle before fitting the cradle. The boat chocks were also part of the etch fret, but when I cut the first one off, I saw it gently floating up into the ether, never to be seen again, despite scrabbling around in the carpet with my super-duper high-powered torch and magnifiers. In all the etch I have done on ships, that was the first bit that has behaved like that. I used some chocks from another WWI etch fret (which was destined for a 1/700 HMS Dreadnought-type ship).

 

There was a reason to add the ship to the base as I mentioned yesterday. Sticky-out bits (yes, even more!). Here is an example of four more bits that are just butt-fitted to the hull sides, they took a lot of aligning due to my shakes but holding the base, and using the base as a brace for the tweezer/part-holding hand, they eventually went on without being lost. Phew.

 

DSCN7893

 

DSCN7894

 

The aft searchlight platform and it's entry ladder are on, and I have also added four capstans - three forward, one aft, which were a delight as they were so large (but remember relativity):

 

DSCN7895

 

I will let that lot fully cure overnight now, and hopefully get that lot painted tomorrow.

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

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@ArnoldAmbrose, cheers Jeff!

 

I only had a few minutes to work on this yesterday, but got a couple of winches and the forward main gun fitted and had no problem sliding the gun shield over the barrel.

 

Today, I had a bit longer, and decided to concentrate on the bridge. It is a quite complex structure, and open as was the wont in those early days. Combrig supplied plenty of resin and photo etch for this area, and it is not very big. I started on the easy stuff first:

 

DSCN7900

 

There are two doorways and the cabin front as etch. Thankfully, the area had a roof (nautical names are available) so that gave me the angles to bend the main area of etch to. The roof was a little tricky to fit, it had a tendency to angle either down towards the bows, or back towards the props! I eventually sorted it out, then added a pair of etch ladders up to the top deck, and an etch 'plinth' for some instrumentation which will be added if when I get the bridge mounted onto it's cats cradle of girders.

 

DSCN7901

 

DSCN7902

 

And I realised I still need to paint the wood deck on that small forward section. You can see what I need to build up  from this section of photo etch:

 

DSCN7903

 

I need to bend the two sections at the top of the fret, and that long section on the right hand side. I also need to clear some poorly etched area around some of the parts too. This lot is then supposed to go under the bridge platform I have just been dealing with, then the whole lot onto the deck. It is a bit more complicated than a Type 45! But I really enjoy these challenges.

 

The one challenge I am really flummoxed on is how to mount the ship's boats onto the davits. The images I have downloaded show they were suspended, rather than sitting on the decks (except for the two in the cradles). I need to figure out a way of adding the falls to either the boats or the davits in such a way that I can then glue them to the davits or boats and not destroy the thing with my shakes. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking and for the 'likes' and comments.

 

Ray

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On 10/5/2021 at 5:32 PM, S-boat 55 said:

Krivens that's wee/petit/small! How you do it and keep it looking crisp I really don't know, 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, and, to be honest, I don't know either! It is just on the limit for what I can do and see, which does not bode well for the Combrig HMS Victoria!

 

On 10/6/2021 at 9:41 AM, steve5 said:

coming along nicely ray . bit too small in scale for me though . 😃

 

Thanks, and it may be getting there for me too!

 

Today, while listening to a Hawkwind CD, I tried to calm my nerves and deal with the Forth Road Bridge girders under the control area. As mentioned in my last post, it was a bit of a cat's cradle, and the instructions were not too clear as to what went/bent where, so I had to come up with a plan. They suggested that all the bracing was added to the underside of the bridge platform, before adding the lot to the hull. I decided differently to that. First I had to fold the main support array:

 

DSCN7907

 

Not very easy, as the fold were on an angled piece of etch, and I found it awkward to keep the assembly (can you have a one-piece assembly?) straight? There were folds in the middle and forward, but the angles forward were not shown, but the rods needed to sit behind the circular structure slightly forward of the platform. Anyway, the thing seemed to align okay and sat square when I popped it onto the ship and also in the modelling mat grid, so I put a couple of PVA dots down at the back of the underside of the platform, and delicately attached this support before adding some CA.

 

DSCN7908

 

To complicate the support structure, there were also two outboard support arrays, again with an angled piece that needed folding. This time the problem was making sure it was suitable far out under the platform, but where it met the hull sides. A difficult thing for me to get right, but part two of my plan was to add these to the hull instead of the underside of the platform, so

 

DSCN7909

 

DSCN7910

 

I noticed the starboard support was canted aft slightly, so I was able to pull it back off and refit it after trimming the fret nub which had not been dealt with properly in the first place, silly me. These have been painted now, and it remains to be seen, hopefully tomorrow, whether the bridge platform will fit properly or not. And I must remember to paint the windows a glossy black before I add the platform. I am also beginning to wonder if the forward gun is set up correctly, it looks like the breech is too far aft of the shield in the image.

 

Thanks for looking, and the comments

 

Ray

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I could not wait for tomorrow! When I started to cook our evening meal, I decided to use the cooking time to see how the platform sat on the girders, so a quick dry-fit showed:

 

DSCN7912

 

DSCN7913 (2)

 

DSCN7914

 

Not too bad I am pleased to see! The platform has now been removed so I can get on with the paintwork tomorrow.

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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4 hours ago, Ray S said:

I am also beginning to wonder if the forward gun is set up correctly, it looks like the breech is too far aft of the shield in the image

I hadn't noticed this until you pointed it out and it does now seem odd, but a bit of sleuthing found that the breech does appear to be quite far back - probably not the best protection for the guncrew (although the 3in shield was better than the 2in over the magazines and better than the original plans to have unshielded 4inchers...crikey!). Wiki gives the Gloucester as having 2x BL 6-inch Mk XI naval guns (link), with the below links to the surviving examples:

 

Fleet air arm australian museum, this page has a slideshow with the 6in in one of them, not the best view

East point military museum, Darwin

Malgaskop, South Africa

On HMAS Sydney, scroll down page to see one of them being loaded, there appears to be many pictures of these under the other town class pages on wiki too, accessed via here.

 

Hope that helps, but from what I can see it appears fine, if a tad too far back in one photo above. PE is looking tops too.

 

David

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7 hours ago, Ray S said:

I am also beginning to wonder if the forward gun is set up correctly, it looks like the breech is too far aft of the shield in the image.

Ray, 

 

Check your e-mails (not PMs!).

 

Nick

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