It had to be done...Churchill Class Submarine- HMS Courageous

[Courageous]

Hi All,

After completing a couple of stalled aircraft builds, it's time to get back to the maritime builds, not the Fushimi Maru as expected but this most recent arrival of a Churchill Class Submarine in 1/350 by Mikro Mir...FANTASTIC!

The mandatory stuff...

The box art.

 

Hull sprue and base.

 

The other sprue with the upper casing, sail, planes and masts. Also a PE propeller and some decals.  

 

Instructions

 

As you can see, like most submarine kits, it has very few parts, so that means it'll be a quick build right...

The box art and decal option is for HMS Conqueror, sister to HMS Courageous but seeing that I served on Courageous, it'll be her that I shall be doing, not that there is any difference except the flying of the 'Jolly Roger'.

I have to thank @maarten.schonfeld for helping Mikro Mir and @Terry1954 for also helping to bring it to my attention.

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

Nice job Stuart.  Will you be appearing on the deck?

Rob

[Terry1954]

Nice choice Stuart, looking forward to seeing this one, and a big 👍 to Mikro Mir for continuing to provide the hobby with some great stuff! 🇺🇦

 

Terry

[Whofan]

While I agree with no politics on the forums, if I were to get a Mikro Mir kit with that statement on the box I'd keep the box.

 

I hope things return to normal as soon as possible so the people and businesses of Ukraine can live freely again.

 

I'm sure this is going to turn out a great build and one to follow!

Edited May 23, 2022 by Whofan

[Flintstone]

I have just received my example of this kit and have completed it already!

The top deck section needs some care in fitting, but the finished model looks to be a good representation of the real thing.

 

Thank you Mikro-Mir!

[beefy66]

Bet this one will be a quick build he says thinking how many have I got to do on that shelf.  

 

looking forward to this one Stuart when your ready then.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Pappy]

G'day Stuart,

 

I also want to build one of these and have one on order. Watching with great interest and I also was not aware of the message printed on the box and very much like the idea of retaining and displaying the box lid in some form

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[RichG]

I received my HMS Conqueror kit this morning. Very pleased with it - although not yet started it looks a straightforward build. I was deeply impressed with that box top message.   

 

Very well done Mikro Mir for continuing to give us Britmodellers great subjects like "Conks" and doing so under what I can only imagine are such difficult circumstances. 

 

 

Best wishes

 

Rich

[Martian]

2 hours ago, RichG said:

Very well done Mikro Mir for continuing to give us Britmodellers great subjects like "Conks" and doing so under what I can only imagine are such difficult circumstances. 

 

Seconded! 

 

Martian 👽

[Terry1954]

On 5/24/2022 at 8:31 PM, beefy66 said:

looking forward to this one Stuart when your ready then.  

 

 

Has he started yet Beefy? Come on Stuart!

 

😜

 

Terry

[Courageous]

On 5/23/2022 at 6:19 PM, robgizlu said:

Will you be appearing on the deck?

I will but at 1/350, you won't recognise me.

On 5/24/2022 at 8:20 PM, Flintstone said:

The top deck section needs some care in fitting,

Thanks for the 'heads-up'.

On 5/24/2022 at 8:31 PM, beefy66 said:

quick build he says

No reason for it not to be, the Fushimi Maru will get attention after this...hopefully.

 

@Terry1954 @Whofan @Pappy @RichG @Martian Cheers for turning up guys. This is a very welcome kit from Mikro Mir, especially under the current circumstances...HM Submarine Dreadnaught would be very nice too. 

The kit currently sits on the build mat and as soon as I'm back at base, it will start.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

16 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Come on Stuart!

And you must be sitting on your hands...

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Back from our break and got chores out of the way. As promised, I'm now starting this build but it looks like @Flankerman has also started a thread.

 

Not to sure what all these dots are about, they only ran along one side of each hull half and shouldn't be there. I'm doing my build as waterline, so the lower hull isn't going to be used except may be as a brush tray. I won't be worrying about those dots on the upper hull either as the typical waterline is much higher than is depicted in the instructions and the 'water' will be covering them.

 

A little bit a fit issue between the upper hull and casing part. 

 

Some care is needed to get the casing to fit correctly because of those pair of parallel lines that ran forward to aft, can't remember what they were used for, something to do with safety lines(?). 

 

Casing fitted and the vertical lines filled with gloop.

 

Stuart

 

[Flankerman]

Re the 'dots' along the hull Stuart..... you must have got a 'duff' mould - those dots are not present on my kit....

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Courageous]

16 hours ago, Flankerman said:

must have got a 'duff' mould

It does happen, just have to deal with it.

 

Foreplane actuator housings are on and need a bit of fairing in. Not sure why they made these as separate parts, well I do...parts count, so few in a submarine kit.

 

A few filler and sanding cycles later.

 

Sail, conning, whatever people call it, also done. Nice to see the access door hasn't been forgotten.

 

 

Something I have noticed is that the square looking vent on the hull is missing from the plastic, the box art depicts it, period photos show it, so that needs to be added.

Also of note is the colour of the draught marks which should be red but the decals are white. Again the box art shows this, as do photos and they're are also etched in my head as I had to record the draught when on sentry duty as a youngster. Not sure what can be done about this if anything.

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Coming together nicely Stuart. Those draught marks were a big enough challenge in white on my Song class, ended up getting some specialist ones online - only do white as far as I can see though. Perhaps fine red lines from a very fine red marker pen?

 

Terry

[Flankerman]

Good spot on those vents Stuart ....  Now that I know about them - I'm undecided whether to just depict them by adding a square of black decal at the end of the build -

or trying to gouge out a square in the plastic so that the vent is properly recessed.

 

Do we know what is inside the vent ? - Louvres? square mesh or what?

 

Keep up the good work

 

Ken

[Courageous]

On 6/1/2022 at 12:06 PM, Terry1954 said:

Perhaps fine red lines from a very fine red marker pen

I was thinking along those lines Terry. Hopefully any drift onto the clear decal won't be noticeable on a black hull.

On 6/1/2022 at 7:42 PM, Flankerman said:

Do we know what is inside the vent ?

I can't remember what's inside but IIRC, the outer we're vertical louvres, so a decal or a few scored lines in a box might do the job...more investigation needed.

 

Have temporarily put the boat aside to do the base...

Insulation board surrounded by balsa strip. Even though I have only used the upper hull, I've had to make an 8mm recess so as to get the water line correct.

 

Stuart

[Courageous]

Decided to tackle the side vents...

3mm x 3mm area was very carefully excavated.

 

A sacrificial bit of PE railing was chopped into 3mm lengths and added to the hull, more convincing than nothing but macro still has no friends.

 

With vents done, sail on and foreplanes added, she is starting to look very much like I remember her.

 

Stuart

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Stuart, good job with the vents. I think small additions such as this go a long way in enhancing a model. Regards, Jeff.

[S-boat 55]

Coming together very nicely indeed, 

[Flankerman]

Great work on the vents - although you are forcing me to re-think my square of black decal fix - thanks a bunch

 

I also noticed that on her return to Faslane, Conqueror has her name plate attached to the sides of the sail - decal not supplied by Mikro-Mir, sadly.

 

Ken

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

good job with the vents. I think small additions such as this go a long way in enhancing a model.

Cheers Jeff. Submarines generally have little detail, so little details need to be added, not to sure how it'll show up on an all black boat?

1 hour ago, S-boat 55 said:

Coming together very nicely indeed, 

All ten kit parts plus my little PE bits...

33 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

thanks a bunch

Your welcome .

34 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

Conqueror has her name plate attached to the sides of the sail

Another reason why I now do my maritime 'at sea'.

 

Stuart

[Flankerman]

One more question Stuart....

 

Did Courageous (and others in the Churchhill class) have an anti-slip surface along the top of the hull??

 

.... and if so - how far did it extend ?

 

Regards

 

Ken

[Pappy]

Great stuff.

 

I will definitely steal  - err be 'inspired' by your build improvements along the way!

 

Still waiting for my boat, delivery won't be for several weeks yet 😢

 

Pappy