Chewbacca Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 After a week on complete inactivity while Mrs Chewbacca and I were away on holiday (14 deg and rain on a cruise to the Norwegian fjords while the rest of UK basked in 30 deg!), I spent a good proportion of the weekend after we got back playing catch up. Main effort has been on the boats which are now almost all complete although I did knock the screens off when i was fitting one of the SMBs so they need to be replaced and looking at the photos made me realise that i have yet to add the gripes so that will get done this week. Flight deck decals also added. These were taken from the Atlantic Models Leander Class frigate set and were a little tricky to get lined up, especially the circle which was adamant it wanted to stretch in every direction other than where I wanted it go. The astute amongst you will notice that the deck codes are spaced a little too far apart. That's because although i lined up the bum line with the flight deck supports, it is about 2 mmm to far aft which means that the circle is also too far aft leaving insufficient toom for the deck codes. But by the time I realised that it was too late so will have to live with it. Attention then also turned to the foremast which was completed and just waiting to be fitted. Easy you might think? Well it would be if it weren't for the bulwark that goes around the signal deck which is a complex shape of varying height and curved around the mast. But we got there in the end, not before I'd knocked off the I-band nav radar while fitting the halyards though. I think I need to move the starboard inner halyard though as the angle doesn't look right compared to the port side. Annoyingly, while we were away someone was fiddling with my workbench (we had people coming in to feed our cats) and had moved a few things around. In doing so they have managed to knock the Inmarsat aerial on the floor and I cannot find it so will have to 3D print a replacement. So nearly there. Main elements remaining are to: finish off the boats, signal projectors, flight deck and bridge roof guardrails whip aerials main roof aerials a couple of small derricks swimmer of the watch gear bridge roof DF antenna horizon bar flight deck floodlights glide path indicator figures and, if I get the time, finish drawing a Wasp helicopter in CAD, printing and adding that though I suspect that may be a step too far for this GB! Thanks for watching 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 Gidday, she's looking terrific, and I wouldn't have known about the deck codes. Regards, Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 (edited) Just seen the extension in the GB Chat. Wouldn't have got up so early every morning this week to try to get her finished if I'd known that! However, I did and she very nearly is. Just a few more whip aerials, and the final figures to go. And of course that funny gantry on the foc's'le near the large survey crane that I still haven't worked out what it looks like. Mind you, a 2 week extension would mean I could get the Wasp added as well... Oh, and in case anyone asks why is she flying the union flag at the gaff and not the White Ensign, apparently that was one of the "rules" surrounding being a hospital ship under the auspices of the ICRC as technically we were not a warship. Thanks for watching Edited July 23, 2022 by Chewbacca 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Chewbacca said: Oh, and in case anyone asks why is she flying the union flag at the gaff and not the White Ensign, apparently that was one of the "rules" surrounding being a hospital ship under the auspices of the ICRC as technically we were not a warship. Gidday Chewy, I didn't know that, thanks for the info. Your model is looking very good. Regards, Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfa1983 Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 The model looks absolutely fantastic Chewie. The big white ship with red crosses really paints a picture or tells a story especially because you have it mounted on the sea base. Pretty sure this is my favourite build despite all the nice Harriers and a few Pucaras in this GB. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 (edited) Thanks both for your very kind comments. Whip aerials and figures now added though I still have to add a touch of paint to the aerials themselves. I did realise however that since the ship is supposed to be at flying stations, I have missed off the Flag Hotel ("I am operating helicopters") at the stbd outer yardarm. I'll add that tomorrow. 2 hours ago, arfa1983 said: The big white ship with red crosses really paints a picture or tells a story especially because you have it mounted on the sea base. Trust me, she was not that big. HECLA was only 260 ft long and less than 3,000 tons. Which might seem quite big, but that's 100 ft less than a Leander class frigate and in some of the Force 12s we faced between the Falklands and Montevideo she rolled like a pig and was seriously uncomfortable. On more than one occasion we just had to head into the sea at about 2 kts and ride it out. It was bad enough for the matelots, I hate to think was it like for the patients! I always mount my ship models on a sea base on the basis that unless the ship is in dry dock (or you're a submariner), you never get to see a ship's underside. Best rgds Edited July 23, 2022 by Chewbacca 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted July 31, 2022 Author Share Posted July 31, 2022 (edited) So with the extension offered, I thought I would have a go at drawing a 1/350 scale Westland Wasp in CAD. I'll know if it's worked in about 3 hours time when the print run finishes! The £D render of what it should look like is below. Yes, I know I've got to sort the nose out. I couldn't get it to loft correctly between the two shapes but that'll be a tiny swipe of filler. I've drawn the flotation gear clamshells as separate items though realised after I had sent it to print that I forgot to add the flot bottles. That said, in this scale they're about 0.3 mm diameter! I've also added the gantry near the survey crane, given it a final coat of Future to blend all of the superglue dots in (I can justify a slightly glossy finish as it rained constantly in the South Atlantic! and am now finishing off the trim for the base. With a fair wind the next photo will be in RFI. Edited July 31, 2022 by Chewbacca 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 That really does look great Chewy. Looking forward to seeing the Wasp on the pad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 Thanks Charlie. Pleased to report that the Wasp appears to have printed okay so it now just needs some UV to cure and I can start cleaning off the supports and have a proper look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 It really is wonderful how this has turned out. As others have said, a Wasp will take it to another level 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 So here's the Wasp with a coat of primer. Actually the second wasp but fortunately I printed some spares as I got too close to the first one with the primer and the paint went on so thick that it obliterated all of the detail 😒 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 3 hours ago, Chewbacca said: So here's the Wasp That is... quite amazing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted August 6, 2022 Author Share Posted August 6, 2022 I'm going to declare this finished. Had a real faff with the decals for the Wasp. Apart from the fact that some were less than 1 mm square, I don't have an ALPS printer so cannot print white, therefore the only way to print the ROYAL NAVY logo and the XT420 (which it is possible to just about read with an Optivisor on!) was to print it on white and print the background. Should be simple, i have done that previously when I built Wilbur in 1/48. But since then I've changed my colour printer and the background blue printed a completely different colour - much lighter. But we got there in the end. The red cross for the nose went pinging off in a beautiful ballistic trajectory across the room but fortunately I had a spare red cross from the boats that was just about the right size. And I must have been mad to attempt to put the UHF aerials on - but got there in the end! I'll do some better photos tomorrow with a decent camera rather than the phone for the gallery and maritime RFI. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 Looks fantastic Chewey, a model to be proud of. Love the Wasp! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted August 7, 2022 Share Posted August 7, 2022 Gidday @Chewbacca, congratulations on your completion. She looks terrific, superb detail. Very well done. When you see the figures on the flight deck it helps to show how small this ship must have seemed in the middle of an angry South Atlantic. Regards, Jeff. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted August 7, 2022 Author Share Posted August 7, 2022 (edited) You'll recall that I commented a while ago that the flight deck code was too far apart because I put the "bum line" too far back which meant there wasn't enough space between the circle and the back end of the flight deck. When I fitted the wasp, I realised that actually the bum line is in the right position. The problem I think is that the deck circle - which was taken from the Atlantic Models generic 1/350 Leander class decal set, is actually too large. What made me come to that conclusion was the fact that the Wasp undercarriage is too small for the circle; if it were the right size, all 4 wheels should sit on the circle which they clearly don't. The Wasp is created from a CAD drawing which incorporated a scale drawing of a Wasp so I'm pretty certain that is right, therefore my conclusion is that the circle is too large. There was a choice of 2 and my assumption was that the large one was for the Lynx and the smaller one for the Wasp, but looking at it now, the smaller one is more appropriate for a Lynx. Completed photos in the gallery - I'll add some more to maritime RFI later on. Edited August 7, 2022 by Chewbacca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted August 8, 2022 Share Posted August 8, 2022 That's seriously impressive work!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted August 9, 2022 Share Posted August 9, 2022 I beleive that my late father served on Hecla toward the end of his service so it's nice to see such a splendid model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted July 27, 2023 Share Posted July 27, 2023 On 06/08/2022 at 17:35, Chewbacca said: What an exquisite Wasp! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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