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HMS Gloucester (1910)


Ray S

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With huge thanks to @Adm Lord De Univers and @Seahawk, I came to the conclusion that the forward gun had been assembled incorrectly my me. The images David linked to, and Seahawk's plans that he sent me showed the gun barrel was mounted to the plinth too far forward, and the shield was too far forward even than that. This is what I had produced:

 

DSCN7910

 

And it was this image which got me thinking I had gone wrong! Thankfully the CA gel I used had not clamped the barrel onto the plinth too tightly, and the shield was only slid onto the barrel, so it soon came apart and I re-installed the barrel a bit further towards the breech:

 

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I let that set for half an hour then slid the shield back on and teased it backwards a bit more than previously:

 

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That is more in keeping with the picture links and the plan. I am a lot happier now. Oh yes, Combrig moulded that barrel with an open muzzle!

 

I also attached the bridge platform, then remembered I needed to paint the two cabin windows underneath it! Doh! I hope to get a very fine brush in there tomorrow, there is no way I am going to try and prise the platform off. The other thing I did was to add the balsa raft platform. This was included in the instructions as an etched part, but it is not on the etch sheet:

 

DSCN5583

 

When I originally started this model, I tried to make that platform from some CA-infused paper. It all worked well, but it fell apart when I tried to add it, so I decided to make a simpler one, this time with 0.5mm rod:

 

DSCN7917

 

Although I have now painted it, I may still take that off and replace it with 0.3mm rod instead. I have plans which show how to produce the balsa raft, and that will cover the missing cross piece. I have also found out that the mounting tower for the oval searchlight platform was mesh, not solid, but that will certainly have to go by the way, I have limits!

 

That is it for today, this is one happy bunny signing off,

 

Ray - and again thanks for the info David and Seahawk!

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It was time today to re-visit a job I had done a week or so ago (maybe longer) - the masts. I felt the original was too tall, and I did not get the overlaps of the three verticals quite right. I was also concerned as to how to fit the spotting top on the foremast. As to that issue, I played with the original mast and a scrap of plastic this morning, and I found that if I used a certain size drill (the 4th smallest in my box of bits), and used a scalpel to increase the fore/aft hole, I could slide the plastic up to where the lower and mid uprights overlap, which is where the spotting top would be. That meant I could solder a new mast completely without having to put any resin parts on one of the brass rods during the solder process, and possibly melt them.

 

I decided to try Longshanks' suggestion of taping the yards into place, then soldering them to the upright which would rest and be taped onto the yards. I drew a diagram as to what goes where:

 

DSCN7918

 

The extra little marks were indicating the extent of the uprights, and also where the overlap area would be. As you can tell, one yard is where there was an overlap, which could prove interesting when I join the two uprights together - would that join melt? Anyway, a while later after dealing with those and then setting up against another diagram for the complete mast, I had this:

 

DSCN7920

 

I used solder paint and flux, and it seemed to do quite a good job. Unfortunately, the upper upright was slightly out of true fore/aft, so I decided to redo it, but do two this time simultaneously.

 

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This time I reverted to my original way of setting the masts up. I taped them to a ceramic tile as tight as I could, and zapped them with the soldering iron. They came out fine this time, straight and true. Then I used blue tack to hold the yards in place and tape for the uprights:

 

DSCN7922

 

I set both up and got them soldered. One mast worked, the other did not, as two of the yards fell off when I got them away from the tack on one of the masts. So I kept the one I did first today and will use the best of these two, which means these:

 

DSCN7923

 

Then a quick dry fit into The Mighty G to see how she looks:

 

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I am happy! The masts do have quite a rake to them, they are at 80 degrees rather than vertical, that makes this ship look quite sleek. Hopefully I can get them sprayed with primer tomorrow. They will not be added yet, so I will start getting the funnels (all four) on soon and start getting some rigging to the funnels on too.

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking,

 

Ray

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Thanks Kev!

 

Today I decided I would start getting the funnels on. My plan is to put a couple on and then rig them, and then do the other two. One forum has a number of images of a builder's model in a museum, so I have downloaded a lot of those pictures to use as a guide. They involve HMS Gloucester and HMS Glasgow, and here is the link (scroll down a few posts):

 

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=148393

 

The funnels for this Combrig HMS Gloucester are nicely hollowed out at the top and give the impression of depth. The funnels are raked (just like the masts), and taking that into consideration, I was very careful to make sure I aligned the first one correctly fore and aft.

 

The CA gel had had plenty of time to set on the first one, so I made the steam pipe for the back side of the funnel and attached it. It was at this point I noticed that I had abjectly failed in my alignment, as the funnel cap had a jaunty angle of 45 degrees from fore/aft, and the funnel had to come off. In doing so, I also managed to remove the bridge platform when the CA on the funnel finally gave it it's grip and my hand recoiled into the platform. I managed to say 'Oops' or something similar, then fitted the funnel properly this time, and took advantage of this happy circumstance to paint the four (not two as I mentioned previously!) cabin windows in the small deckhouse under the platform (out of every bad thing something good comes):

 

DSCN7927

 

I had a bit of repairing on the etch platform supports to do, but nothing catastrophic, thank goodness. Anyway, this time I learnt, and for the other three funnels I checked really carefully and marked on the funnel caps the fore/aft position. How careful I was, I will find out over the next few days! The second funnel went on well, and I got into a better groove when adding the fore and aft steam pipes on this one. The two funnels have had their first coat of Colourcoats GW02 WWI Grey, but will get another tomorrow. The second funnel also needs three extra etch pieces adding which I thought would be better done when it was attached to the ship. They all also need funnel gratings popped over the opening, but they will go on when I have painted the cap and interior black.

 

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DSCN7929

 

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

 

Cheers, Ray

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15 hours ago, Ray S said:

I managed to say 'Oops' or something similar,

Gidday, at least you didn't succumb to foul mouth expletives such as "Gosh", "Golly" or dare I say it - "Oh dear"! 😲

Good recovery there. Regards, Jeff.

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My intention today was to start getting the funnels rigged, then I remembered I still needed to give them a second coat of paint, and some more etch needed adding too, so I put that on hold. Instead, I added the two remaining 4" guns abeam:

 

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The resin barrels did not break this time, so that was a result. I also found hidden in the instructions two ledges just aft of the breakwater which were on the etch sheet, so they were added:

 

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There will be a couple of booms near to those platforms which I will need to scratch build. The second funnel had a platform half way up, that was etch so it too was added. I think this has been through the wars a little, as the ladder is slightly bent:

 

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I hesitated at the next step, which is a set of four machine guns which will go on a couple of the deckhouses. You can probably see my problem in this picture:

 

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Somehow I am required to fit the pedestals and then fit the barrel on top of that pointy thing sticking up from each pedestal! I am sure I will work it out.

 

Anyway, that is it, thanks for looking,

 

Ray

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Cheers beefy!

 

I thought today would be a good time to try to fit those machine guns, so I hopped to it with a will, and a couple of crossed fingers! I was able to trim the parts off the pour block without losing or breaking any of the parts, which was a good start. I used some fishing line as my CA gel applicator and popped a tiny drop of the stuff into place, and very carefully (after using a brace to hold my hand steady), I was able to place each pedestal into the correct place. Initially I tried using my fine-pointed tweezers but I could not get the pedestals in place properly, so I had a ponder, and used an old trick I use for small photoetch - namely a sharp, damp wooden cocktail stick. I was able to touch the damp end to the spike on the pedestal, and it stuck to the stick long enough for me to place the parts in place. Step one done, nothing lost! Yippee! Then it was time to try and get the barrel onto the tiny pin on top of the pedestal. I tried using the fine-pointed tweezers again and this time had much more success, and all four barrels went into place on the spikes well. What was I concerned about?

 

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I also fitted the first funnel cap. It needed a number of 'spider legs' bending so it sat on them, and I used an old broken scalpel blade as my bending tool this time, and a good blade to bend them vertical. I used PVA to initially tack it into place, before locking it with thin CA.

 

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This is coming along nicely at the moment, albeit slowly. That is it for today, thanks for looking as ever.

 

Ray

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