HMS Conn, Captains Class Frigate, 1945

[Seahawk]

I have always regarded myself as a dangerously obsessive detail fanatic.  Threads like yours make me realise that there are other people who care about their modelling far more than I do and that I am a mere dilettante splashing around amateurishly in the shallows of knowledge and, even worse, skill.  I congratulate you on the quality of your research, your excellent eye for detail and the modelling skill you are showing in realising those details on your model.  Hats off, sir!

[theskits62]

Very impressive work !!

[Faraway]

54 minutes ago, Seahawk said:

I have always regarded myself as a dangerously obsessive detail fanatic.  Threads like yours make me realise that there are other people who care about their modelling far more than I do and that I am a mere dilettante splashing around amateurishly in the shallows of knowledge and, even worse, skill.  I congratulate you on the quality of your research, your excellent eye for detail and the modelling skill you are showing in realising those details on your model.  Hats off, sir!

Have to agree, some people’s attention to detail and modelling skill is awesome.

Jon

[GrzeM]

Stunning!

[socjo1]

Simply fantastic, watching with great interesting. Lot of learning and inspirations for me. Thank you for sharing.

Regards,

Michał

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 10/24/2021 at 12:49 PM, Stephen Allen said:

…there is a kicking strip along the base of the deckhouse and gun shields, and most of the ladders have dark strips painted under them, all the better to be found in dark of night I presume. 

I suspect the dark stripe behind the vertical ladders performa the same function as the kicking strip.  In my era such ladders were often fitted with a ‘dodger’ - a strip of grey canvas or latterly PVC fixed between the ladder and the bulkhead, to catch all the black marks and scuffs from the toes of steaming boots as matelots legged it up the ladder; much easier to replace and/or clean the dodger than to repaint the bulkhead.  In wartime they wouldn’t have had as much time, but XOs would still have been proud of the ship’s appearance, so might have simply accepted the inevitable marks by painting the bulkhead black.

 

Fabulous model; great stuff.

[Stephen Allen]

I think you are right on the purpose of the dark strip behind the ladder - I can't, for example, find an equivalent light strip behind ladders on dark toned paintwork. Quite a few Captains in the 'C' scheme show the same dark strips.

 

I've continued with the mast details, and have added the locations for the various mast lights along the yardarm and at the truck. I won't add the lights until after painting.  I've also made up little blocks for the signal halyards. Photos show these to be very small indeed, and none of the commercially available block/pulley combinations are small enough or strong enough. Brass ones go down to about 2.3mm diameter for the pulley wheel, while 3D ones, which can be really small, break very easily.  I used small steel washers from Top Studio (scale car detailing parts) to laminate the pulley wheels, and made the straps from bits of 1/144 railing meant for the Revell Fletcher. I never throw any etched fret away there are a thousand ways to re-use it when scratch-building.

[Stephen Allen]

I slid the mast into place to form fit the wave guide for the SL radar This runs down the starboard side of the mast just inboard from the ladder. Again little bits of photo-etch, this time sections of ladder, form the brackets holding the guide to the mast. The wave guide is a bit of styrene strip bent around and under the platforms. 

[Stephen Allen]

The mast ready for painting, with all of the separate aerials attached. HF/DF and Type 244 IFF then lower down the characteristic aerials for TBS, the short range VHF voice radio and the 'ski pole' of BK, which is the USN IFF system, retained aboard the Captains. TBS is a collection of brass tubes, and the circular transponder section of BK is a watch movement from a job lot of remainders.  I have also attached a representation of the electrical cabling that runs up the rear face of the mast, based on photos of other Buckleys. The early Buckleys had fairly unobtrusive runs of cabling without the massive brackets that you see on some later DEs but I wanted the mast to look busy and depict at least some connection between the sensors, lights, and their power source.

 

The ladder will have to wait as my longest section turned out to be 23mm too short.  I have a longer one on order. after this I think I will go back to attaching remaining fittings to hull and superstructure - it's probably time to do the stanchions.

[Stephen Allen]

Making the stanchions was unquestionably the most boring and repetitive job of the whole build, and only undertaken after all other options had been exhausted. USN lifeline stanchions of the period were quite different in appearance from their RN counterparts, the wire ropes running through eyelets to the inside of the stanchion, not through them as is typical of the RN style. This is because the stanchions were designed as part of a safety system, where the middle wire line supports a mesh safety net which is also secured to the deck, either through eyelet holes in the waterway bar, or to a thin rod welded just above the deck if there is no waterway.  Happily Conn didn't retain these nets (some Captains did) as they are near impossible to model realistically unless you have trained spiders available to weave them. The etched versions I have seen, or wedding 'tulle' material/flyscreen etc just don't cut it in my view, they either look too rigid or just look like what they started out as.

 

Anyway, in 1/72 scale you can currently get very good etched three and two ball RN style stanchions. You could also obtain superb turned brass RN ones from RBmodel in Poland, though they now seem to be permanently out of stock🙁 (I have some of their 1/96 scale RN stanchions for a forthcoming build and they are truly jewel-like in their fineness). Caldercraft currently make turned RN style, although they appear somewhat heavier than the RB versions. But there are no sources for the USN style in this scale, either etched or otherwise and believe me I looked. And then looked some more.  I did try to interest a manufacturer in creating an etched set in 1/72, as I am sure I am not the only modeller who would take some, but I never heard back.  So in the end I knuckled down and made my own out of micro brass tube, which at least has the benefit of making them fully 3D rather than two-dimensional. The following photo shows my home made USN stanchion next to a typical etched three ball stanchion

I used a drilled piece of square brass tube as a fixture to ensure that the holes for the eyelets were all in the same place, and used a little V-groove mitre box to cut the two tube sections, the thinner from 0.8mm tube, and the thicker base from 1mm from memory. I set the length to cut all of the long and then short sections at the same time for consistency. The 0.8mm was simply the smallest tube size that I could consistently drill without crushing or otherwise distorting the end product, but it compares quite well in size with the etched stanchion. I tried 0.7 but kept breaking them. Each finished three wire stanchion has seven pieces; two for the tube, a section of rod to insert into the deck, three eyelets and a small top button made from a sanded down miniature bolt.

 

I tested a number of prototypes by pulling and tugging to make sure that the eyelets would stay put - the stanchion bends long before the eyelet lets go. With the use of a fixture to speed the drilling and limit stops for the cutting - the only really critical measurement apart from eyelet location is the height of the inner tube - production didn't take as long as I thought it would and I finished with my sanity more or less intact😱.  I ended up with spares as I forgot that there are sections of the main deck where the lifelines attach to the depth charge stowage. Then I built the two eyelet stanchions for the superstructure deck😅. If you go crazy and do this use brass tube not aluminium - I tried and it is just too soft to survive the drilling without crushing or breaking.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 11/10/2021 at 6:20 AM, Stephen Allen said:

 

 

Ooh, I like that a lot (indeed, the whole model is really shaping up beautifully).  I might nick that pay homage to your idea at a later date.

[Stephen Allen]

Jumping around a bit as I finish off the fittings and sub-assemblies in no particular order. In common with the other Captains Conn was fitted with an RN type 27 foot whaler under quadrantal davits in the port waist. I am modelling both this, and the standard USN 26 foot motor whaleboat carried to starboard, in their inboard or stowed positions. This is to avoid the possibility of ugly damage at the pond if I bump the dock or another vessel - boats slung outboard are very damage prone. It does mean that both boats have to be removable to get clearance for the superstructure to be lifted off to fit and charge batteries, so I have built each boat and its set of davits as a joined up unit. The whaleboat was no problem as it forms a rigid girder when glued to the chocks on each davit - there is a joining piece at deck level as well to add to the strength. The motor whaler took more thought as it simply hangs from its falls, even when the davits are turned inward - no griping spar as the USN relied on two sets of 'Y' griping bands to keep the boat from swinging. I decided to use thin (0.45mm) brass rod and created four hooked lines to form the inner falls from the top to the bottom blocks. Once glued these keep the boat and its davits in the correct places, and the davits can simply be slid in and out of their bases. I am hoping the rod won't be too noticeable once the outer falls are in place.

 

 

I can't claim any credit for the boats - the motor whaler is sourced from Shapeways with a little bit of additional detail. The beautiful 27 foot whaler (below) is from Micromaster in NZ. This really is a stunning piece of printing, and my only real task is to avoid stuffing it up with a bad paint job.   The Quadrantal davits are from Scale Warships, suitably modified. As an etched fret they look impossibly flimsy but once assembled they are surprisingly strong. I built the motor whaleboat davits myself as the bought alternative - 3D printed - would either be finely detailed and not very strong, or strong and made of that horrible sintered nylon that is near impossible to finish.

 

[Stephen Allen]

I've also started painting the boats. All the finishing colours I am using are enamels. Where I need a match to the RN paint then I use Sovereign Colourcoats, which spray beautifully and tolerates my cack-handedness with an airbrush. The white for the camouflage is a mixture of one quarter Revell matt white, one quarter silk white, one quarter matt varnish, one quarter gloss varnish, then thin as usual for spraying. You end up with a nice smooth surface. I have been pleasantly surprised with how good the Revell paints are, and they are cheap as chips.  I put the white mix over a base of Tamiya grey primer which is modulated with some slightly darker grey along edges and plate lines and other random shadowy places for a worn and weary look.  Its easier (for me anyway) than over-thinning the paint - I just end up with splatters and runs when I try that - and lets me build up the desired appearance slowly so that I can compare different parts of the ship to make sure that it all looks within bounds. 

[robgizlu]

Those boats and Davits look  absolutely terrific, as does the whole build.

Hugely impressive 

Rob

[Stephen Allen]

Quick update. Rigging the whaler is progressing.  Had to add staghorn bollards below the davits and some additional rigging points for the lines. I'm glad that I ordered the whaler from Micro-Master without molded-in life lines as the scale rope ones I've added actually look quite good.  I have soaked them in some diluted acrylic glue so that they will hold their shape.  More lines and griping bands to come.  By comparison the motor whaleboat looks very dull indeed at present, and needs some work.

 

[Stephen Allen]

Here is the finished 27 foot whaler. I will trim the remaining lines once it is in place aboard Conn. They will hook into small eyelets installed on the deck and superstructure.

 

[Stephen Allen]

Now its a case of putting some detail into the Motor Whaler. At the moment it is very dull and sparse compared to its opposite number.  Having looked at the IWM photo of the one carried aboard HMS Aylmer, I can at least add some contrast by painting the seats and bottom boards in deck grey, and perhaps picking out the cleats the same way. Aylmer's motor whaler also had a rope fender attached around the hull so I will have a go at that as well. Hopefully rigging out the davits and life lines and the USN style griping bands will dress things up.  Conn might have carried the RN style 25 foot motor boat, as some other of the Captains did, but I have no evidence for that. At this stage I will press on with the existing boat as I am keen to keep the build moving along.

[JohnWS]

Wow, terrific detail work on those boats Stephen!   Each would look good on the model display shelf, all by themselves. 

 

John

[Faraway]

Bloomin 'eck @Stephen Allen that whaler is a complete model all to itself, this build of yours if very fast approaching getting my vote for 'build of the year'

STUNNING.

Jon

[Stephen Allen]

The motor whaleboat is detailed up, and rigged on the davits ready for fitting to the ship when I will make the final adjustments to the length of the lines so the griping bands are pulled taught. Based on the photo of Aylmer's whaleboat I added the fender rope and a canvas covered 'pudding' fender to the bow - this would follow the pattern used on the RN's own motor boats so it seems logical. Paddles and a boathook, together with the coiled down guide ropes have helped to take away the rather bland and empty look of the inside of the boat. The boat 'hangs' in its davits when turned in, with chains to take the weight off the ropes and two sets of griping bands to steady it. These are just doubled over Tamiya tape with the securing rope running between the layers. Once painted Tamiya tape is surprisingly resilient and I have used it for a lot of stuff on my working boats, including wrapping carley floats to give them a better texture.  A griping spar connecting the davits might have been a possibility, but I can't find any pictures of one in place when the boat is turned inboard.

 

The RN and the USN differed at this point in history on the philosophy of using boats at sea. The USN had effectively given up on oared boats and relied on the motor whaleboat, but the RN persisted in preferring a boat under oars as being more a more reliable and safer method for sea rescue and transfers between ships. On one Russian convoy when the 21 st Escort Group needed to transfer the Group's medical officer from one ship to another to deal with a case of appendicitis, it was the oared whaler that was used, not the motor boat. Sailors didn't break down or refuse to start or run like some engines of the period.

 

[Stephen Allen]

I am still waiting for the long ladder section for the mast, so I have made a start on Conn's Oerlikons. Most of the Captains were re-equipped at some point with the RN MkVIIA Oerlikon mount, replacing the American Mk 4's the ships were commissioned with. This seems to have been both a manpower decision - the Mk 4, with a elevating trunnion, needed a 3 man crew while the MkVIIA with a fixed pedestal only needed 2 - and a response to maintenance problems with the US mount caused by corrosion. As most of the RN Captains eventually carried between 10 and 12 Oerlikons, this could mean a substantial saving in crew, which would ease crowding and reduce the manpower requirements overall for the class. By early 1944 the RN was somewhat embarrassed by the profusion of new ships it had to find crews for, and there was fierce competition for the available manpower between the RN, RAF, industry and the Army.

 

The MkVIIA became the standard mount for equipping new vessels in the course of 1944, and there were presumably sufficient on hand to make the re-equipping of most of the Captains possible. My MkVIIAs come from MicroMaster in NZ, and are to their usual excellent standard of printing.  I am almost embarrassed to say that I am beginning their assembly by chopping off the barrel and recoil spring section and replacing them with the brass barrels available from Master Model. Why am I committing this act of vandalism? Well, the barrel sections are very fragile and I am concerned about their longevity and stability on an operating model that will have to cope with both climate and pointing fingers.  Better to replace them now than complete the model and then have to replace/repair them on an ad hoc basis. Cutting such lovely pieces of 3D printing in half is not fun, and if I had thought this out properly in the beginning I could probably have had Micromaster make me up guns ready for the mounting of the brass barrel sections. Oh well, you live and learn. One happy note is the fact that the depression ramps I made up for the guns, based on nothing more than a photo of those aboard HMS Rupert, have turned out to be the right diameter, width and height advised in the relevant AFO, which I only found online just now.

[socjo1]

Master Model+ MicroMaster = two jewels in one work of art!

[Stephen Allen]

Work on Conn ground to a halt for early December while I waited for more 20mm gun barrels and longer ladder sections to arrive in the post. Happily this coincided with a break in the monotonously wet weather (Thank you La Nina!) we have been experiencing here, so I took myself with some friends and my new bike off to the Snowy Mountains for a couple of days of recreational zooming about. We went down the Alpine Way stopping overnight at Tumbarumba, then back to Canberra along the Snowy Mountains Highway the next, longest trip I have managed away on the bike in nearly two years thanks to Covid restrictions. Roads in surprisingly good condition given all the wet and the Highway Patrol noticeable only by their stopping a Mercedes driver dumb enough to pass a friend of mine on the return trip - justice in action so to speak😅.

 

My return coincided with the arrival of the parts. I finished off the Oerlikons first, attaching the Model Master barrels to the MicroMaster receiver sections. When I snipped the MkVIIA pedestals and mounts clear of the printed supports the gun shields dis-obligingly warped and bowed from the true. No amount of manipulation would get them to stay straight.  In the end I glued sections of 0.33 nickel silver rod along the rear base of each shield and this did the trick. Once painted the rod is barely noticeable. After painting I added waist straps for the gunners converted from a 1/35 etched set of German AFV pioneer tools.  The printed guns and the brass barrels look pretty good, and I am hoping they are just robust enough to stand up to operational use. Time will tell.

[Stephen Allen]

And the mast is finished, weathered and varnished. When I attach it to the superstructure the rigging will be added.

 

It is a really long ladder. I wouldn't like to be the chap who had to fix the HF/DF Aerial at sea.

 

[Stephen Allen]

I also took the opportunity to complete the 3 inch gun mounts. The 2 inch rockets are now sitting in the rocket rails and the assemblies are weathered and clear varnished. I sprayed a gloss acrylic barrier, then used oils for the rust and some dark grey to bring up the rivets and edges. The No.1 mount gets more rust and weathering as it sits right where green seas come aboard. No.2 mount gets slightly less as it sits a deck higher, and No.3 mount gets slightly less again. I am using the AK Gauzy stuff as the barrier gloss coat, followed by the oil weathering, followed by my custom mix of Revell matt and gloss enamel varnish.  I did the oils in the recommended way by putting dabs on cardboard so that the carrier leaches away, left them to dry on the parts for a couple of days, then over-coated with the clear varnish. The enamel varnish has settled nicely over the oils and the acrylic barrier so all is well.