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HMS Alynbank, Starling Models, 1/700 +++COMPLETED+++


Ray S

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Rather like the time I spent lovingly scratch-building a cockpit for the blank hole that was in a Hasegawa MiG-17 only to discover afterwards the reference photos used were for a MiG-21 :doh:

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8 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday, the first time I did the Airfix Prinz Eugen I glued the entire shelterdeck back-to-front. I wondered why it didn't match the painted sections of deck under it. Fortunately I realized in time to get it off and re-attach it correctly. Doh! 🙂 .   .   .

 

When I was the ripe old age of 9, I did something similar with the Airfix HMS Hood - I have not improved with age!

 

Ray

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On 02/03/2023 at 20:58, Ray S said:

 

Ahem!

 

This evening I was doing a bit more to HMS Alynbank, and a thought occurred to me along the lines of 'you twit, they are not outboard motors, but rudders!', so being a brave chap, I took the outboards off, turned them upside down, then fitted them as rudders, which is what they should be. Doh!

 

I was so glad I read that post.

 

Having read the previous one about fitting outboards, I was about to point out that those boats, unless I am very much mistaken, are standard RN 27 ft whalers which weigh nearly 1.5 tons unladen.  They would need a bl**dy big outboard!  The motor whalers that I was trained on when I joined the Navy had a dirty great diesel engine under a cover sat just in front of the coxswain that weighed about 600 lbs and even then we could only do about 6 kts.

 

This is coming together really well.

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2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

I was so glad I read that post.

 

Having read the previous one about fitting outboards, I was about to point out that those boats, unless I am very much mistaken, are standard RN 27 ft whalers which weigh nearly 1.5 tons unladen.  They would need a bl**dy big outboard!  The motor whalers that I was trained on when I joined the Navy had a dirty great diesel engine under a cover sat just in front of the coxswain that weighed about 600 lbs and even then we could only do about 6 kts.

 

This is coming together really well.

 

Thanks for that @Chewbacca, I really do not understand my thought processes which came up with the outboard motors, it is not as if I have not build lots (and lots!) of WWII RN ships and should have known better. Still, I always mention my faux pas moments, as I think they are part of my build, even if wrong.

 

The odd thing was (no excuse mind) that the two rudders for those whalers were made of etch which needed folding to produce the thickness, whereas the rudder for the larger motor cruiser (Captain's Boat?) was a single layer part.

 

Anyway, I should be back at this tomorrow morning before I toddle off to work again.

 

Thanks again for the comment,

 

Ray

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14 hours ago, Ray S said:

Still, I always mention my faux pas moments, as I think they are part of my build, even if wrong.

Gidday, We all make mistakes and I think it's a good thing to mention them. This way others can avoid making them too, and so go on to make their own, different mistakes, increasing the forum's knowledge-base of errors - (I think there's logic in there somewhere. 🤔) - errors to be avoided by all in future.       Regards, Jeff.

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13 hours ago, Ray S said:

Still, I always mention my faux pas moments, as I think they are part of my build, even if wrong.

Excellent attitude! We can all learn from anyone's mistakes, not just our own 👍

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16 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

The motor whalers that I was trained on when I joined the Navy had a dirty great diesel engine under a cover sat just in front of the coxswain that weighed about 600 lbs and even then we could only do about 6 kts.

Lister or Petter? Either way I'll bet it was strategically positioned so that the cranking handle was just close enough to something to allow minimum clearance and guarantee skinned knuckles for all except the expert. Also bet the cover was designed to make it exceedingly difficult to reach the decompression levers from the cranking position so you couldn't quite start it single handed (maybe not such an issue in GFL as you lot were usually mob handed, but I well remember the frustration  of doing Sunday morning safety gear checks and attempting to start the lifeboat engines single handed, open boats, winter, down in the southern ocean 🤬☃️:angry:)

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5 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

Lister or Petter? Either way I'll bet it was strategically positioned so that the cranking handle was just close enough to something to allow minimum clearance and guarantee skinned knuckles for all except the expert. Also bet the cover was designed to make it exceedingly difficult to reach the decompression levers from the cranking position so you couldn't quite start it single handed (maybe not such an issue in GFL as you lot were usually mob handed, but I well remember the frustration  of doing Sunday morning safety gear checks and attempting to start the lifeboat engines single handed, open boats, winter, down in the southern ocean 🤬☃️:angry:)

I think they were Lister but don't quote me on that.  I also don't actually recall the starting procedure which leads me to think they may have been electric start.  To be honest, I had only a passing interest in the motor whaler as a stepping stone which had to be passed to the more interesting and powerful craft that we played with such as the Cheverton, Fairey Huntress (awesome bit of kit capable of 25+ kts) and Picket Boat.

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One of the great things that I like about Group Builds is the wealth of information that crops up in the various threads, this one included. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all what have chipped in and so freely given us the extra information. Please feel free to continue to do so, I love reading it all.

 

Another great thing I find about GB's is what they do to my own modelling skills, and what I think is feasible and what is not. For example, on the main (aft) mast, the instructions told me to get some 0.5mm rod and cut it 0.5mm long. What? Could I even see the thing, let alone pick it up with my best tweezers? However, shortly afterwards:

 

DSCN9568

 

The little part was safely attached to the mast, just in front of the vertical ladder up to the lookout post. I presume it is a riding (or running?) light. I will paint it silver later, if I am correct in my assumption - but you probably know me by now!

 

The next thing to test my skill set and digital dexterity (and clever finger-work) - the instructions:

 

DSCN9570

 

the quad pom-poms. All well and good, only six parts of etch, some with folds, some with bends and some with both. The only trouble is the size of the pom-pom:

 

DSCN9571

 

Hmm. On the other hand, I have done the gun stations for the 0.5 inch quad Vickers guns, and they are also rather small and tested my eyesight:

 

DSCN9577

 

They had four etched parts each, and eight ammo lockers. The ammo lockers were supplied as resin parts, but there were only six that I could find, so I replaced them with some fine square rod cut to 1.5mm(ish). I think I should have just used the six parts I could find and kept quiet about that, but as you are my friends I could not do that. There is what appears to be a net structure on the flat outboard face of the r/h one shown (and one for the l/h one too), but I will add them once they are attached to the ship.

 

I fitted the main mast today, and had an idea for the braces. This time, I stuck the fore/aft braces to the mast with PVA, then used some liquid poly to attach the other end to the plastic mast support struts. That gave me time to adjust their level to prevent the issues I had with the fore mast. I fitted them over-long, that helped with positioning, and when the liquid poly had grabbed, I trimmed them with side cutters, then added the athwartships brace.

 

DSCN9575

 

After I ensured they were level, I locked them with CA, then painted the lot 507C.

 

The first of the pom-pom stations is on too:

 

DSCN9580

 

I am quite happy with the way this is going now. I still have a few tricky bits to deal with, but each one that gets done increases my confidence in the next, but I am always wary.

 

I am off to do a little more soon, thanks for looking and for the likes and comments, all are very much appreciated,

 

Ray

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54 minutes ago, Ray S said:

the instructions told me to get some 0.5mm rod and cut it 0.5mm long.

So often the instructions are a bit lacking, my impression is they are not proofread.

Jon

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8 hours ago, Ray S said:

The little part was safely attached to the mast, just in front of the vertical ladder up to the lookout post. I presume it is a riding (or running?) light.

       Gidday Ray, you could be correct in it's purpose. I knew them as "mast-head steaming lights" and it looks about the correct place for it. Ships under 150 feet (or 50m now we're metric) would have one on the fore mast only. Ships over that length would have them on both masts, the light on the main (aft) mast mounted higher so both can be seen from right ahead, visually one above the other.

       The size of them, 0.5mm diameter and 0.5mm long is the size I (try to) make the magazine drums for my 20mm Oerlikons so I know how fiddly they are, but the instruction of "get some 0.5mm rod and cut it 0.5mm long" makes sense to me, in this case anyway.

       You continue to do a great job of the fine detail of this. 👍       Regards, Jeff.

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On 3/6/2023 at 7:35 PM, Faraway said:

So often the instructions are a bit lacking, my impression is they are not proofread.

Jon

 

Hello Jon, the instructions are fine and well illustrated in this instance (I think). It was the size of the bit to be produced that frazzled me!

 

@Col. and @ArnoldAmbrose, thanks for your comments. I am glad it would have been a light - I must check the guide and see if I missed one on the foremast...

 

Today I dealt with another of those 'gulp' tasks - bending the etch for the searchlight platform. The platform itself was twin layered and needed folding over, and the railing around the top was in a single, attached piece. However, it had etched lines on it, and the etch just needed a slight bend at each line to bring it around the platform in segments. I used CA to secure it as I went along, using accelerator to speed the process up. Then came the support legs, another single piece, but that too was easily done, and a resin part dropped into the leg space under the platform. It looked impressive when done (albeit out of focus as the camera could not cope):

 

DSCN9581

 

I still need to add a couple of davits/hoists at the back end of of the platform (which will be forward when the platform is fitted) and a vertical ladder to the gap, along with the searchlights. I had fitted the quad 0.5inch Vickers guns to their mounts yesterday, along with the nets below their stations:

 

DSCN9583

 

I have had a really good look at the instructions for the quad pom-poms, and I think I will be able to manage the folding and bending of the etch parts, I will try that tomorrow. I have got two of the pom-poms ready attached to some masking tape on a peg which should help with handling them, and the guns themselves have been painted ready. The final thing I have done today is glue the boat deck to the hull with PVA, and now HMS Alynbank is certainly looking much more formidable:

 

DSCN9585

 

DSCN9587

 

I am going to try and get the main mast rigging done tomorrow too, so it may be a busy day, full of concentration.

 

Thanks for looking, and again for all the comments, advice and encouragement,

 

Ray

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Yesterday evening I fitted the searchlight platform, it went into it's space very well indeed. I used PVA for that, as I may need to remove it to repaint the railings. The searchlights had some silver popped into the lenses, then were fitted with CA to the platform.

 

This morning, I had a rapid-fire 40 minutes and got the main mast rigging done, with only one thread that did not 'bite' the CA. I altered my method this time - I popped both ends of the thread into accelerator before fitting it to the CA spots. That meant that I did not have some awkward handling issues trying to get the thread into the accelerator when it was already half attached to a fragile ship. It was a real help on the short wires.

 

DSCN9600

 

The thread is not so obvious in real life compared to in the photograph.

 

I have not shown much in the way of close-up images in this build, but I did some experimenting with the camera this afternoon, and found it could produce some, so: first, some Carley floats in situ, with added oars (forgive the bendy railing - it is where I damaged the deck when I tried to straighten it). An inclined ladder has now been fitted in the space aft of the boat deck:

 

DSCN9599

 

Next, the quad 0.5-inch Vickers gun station:

 

DSCN9598

 

And finally, the searchlight platform:

 

DSCN9597

 

Oh yes, and even finally-er, the pom-poms with five of the six etched parts added - the aft shields were particularly tricky as they needed bending and folding, and I could not get a good grip, and being rolled did not help the bend. But I got there, sort of:

 

DSCN9596

 

It is just the gun sights to add to them now, along with a bit of paint retouching.

 

Hopefully I will have a good evening with this later. Thanks for looking,

 

Ray

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Gidday @Ray S, those close-up photos show the detail very well, and I lurve those pompoms. 👍

 

       Does your camera have a 'zoom in' function? I sometimes find that I have focus issues due to the length of the ship. Some parts are in focus and some are not. What I find helps (with my camera anyway) is to physically move away, set the zoom about halfway and then move back and forth a little to get the subject filling the screen. This means that more of the subject is about equal or similar distance from the camera and more of it is in focus.

       With that last shot of the pompoms mounted on the peg like that I find that my camera sometimes auto-focusses on the mat behind, being the larger area. You could place the pompoms directly onto the mat, or if you don't want to remove them an alternative is to surround the pegs with something of similar thickness, to 'raise the background' to the same level as the pompoms themselves. I often do that with blocks of wood. HTH and sorry if I'm telling you what you already know.

       Regards, Jeff.

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17 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday @Ray S, those close-up photos show the detail very well, and I lurve those pompoms. 👍

 

       Does your camera have a 'zoom in' function? I sometimes find that I have focus issues due to the length of the ship. Some parts are in focus and some are not. What I find helps (with my camera anyway) is to physically move away, set the zoom about halfway and then move back and forth a little to get the subject filling the screen. This means that more of the subject is about equal or similar distance from the camera and more of it is in focus.

       With that last shot of the pompoms mounted on the peg like that I find that my camera sometimes auto-focusses on the mat behind, being the larger area. You could place the pompoms directly onto the mat, or if you don't want to remove them an alternative is to surround the pegs with something of similar thickness, to 'raise the background' to the same level as the pompoms themselves. I often do that with blocks of wood. HTH and sorry if I'm telling you what you already know.

       Regards, Jeff.

 

Thanks for that Jeff. I do have a zoom function on the camera, and it does seem to work quite well, but the camera will often do what you said, focus on something else! I switched off the multi-point focus system and had it centre only, but it still messes around. Sometimes it will work well, others not. I will try your suggestions, otherwise I will get my SLR out and deal with things manually. I will need to get the tripod out too now, as my shakes are worse with the bigger camera. I will also be able to set a smaller aperture, and so increase the depth of field. I will think about that, and see how things go when Alynbank is done and ready for the final photographs.

13 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

That is looking absolutely brilliant and I have to keep reminding myself that this is 1/700 not 1/350.

 

Thanks @Chewbacca for that comment. This I think is one of the most complex kits I have ever attempted, not withstanding an Aeroclub Felixstowe vacform. It has been fun though, I certainly enjoy a challenge, and Group Builds really help me in that respect.

 

13 hours ago, Col. said:

Wow.

I can't think of any other comment to make than that. Stunning work Ray.

 

Thanks @Col. for that, it means a lot.

 

This morning, before toddling off to work, I started reducing the list of things I need to get finished with HMS Alynbank. I had a list of 12 or 13 things that needed doing, so I started with No 1, the main deck and hull. I added the kite mast in the stowed position (a simple 0.5mm plastic rod), a couple of what look like depth charge loading davits, a three-legged thing just forward of those which was fun folding, and the stern jackstaff, at a suitable rakish angle. Moving forward, it was time to add the raised anchor on the starboard side. Thank goodness for duplicates on the pour blocks, as one had vanished, who knows where.

 

DSCN9606

 

Apologies for the blurry photograph.

 

This evening, it was time to deal with the cranes. The instructions suggest building them off-ship:

 

DSCN9602

 

I felt this would be fraught with problems. I had visions of getting the booms on with the wrong angles so the pulleys would not fit, and the hooks on skew-wiff. So, being someone who often tends to over-think things, I came up with an idea. Build it in situ! The hardest part of that was to actually get the vertical posts to stick. I used CA gel, no good. Fresh medium CA, no good. Then some more CA, and bingo, they stuck. Phew. I cut the booms from some 0.5mm plastic rod, fitted the hooks with a tiny dab of PVA followed by some medium CA,  gave it a quick coat of Humbrol 64 and then attached the booms via PVA to the vertical post and the half-moon shaped supports that Jeff had correctly identified as the boom cradles, oh, so long ago. I measured up the etch wired cables, needed to trim the attachment tabs just a little, then added them to the posts and the booms with a dab of PVA which grabbed quickly but allowed adjustment, then locked them with CA.

 

DSCN9603

 

You may notice that the pom-poms are fitted now, I got them done yesterday evening, and that was another tricky bit done. I felt really chuffed when the cranes were done, they had been bothering me for quite some time. HMS Alynbank is progressing nicely, and I hope you don't mind another pair of images of the whole ship. Every time I see her with the extra bits added, she looks more menacing and purposeful than ever, and I really like her lines.

 

DSCN9604

 

DSCN9605

 

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

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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52 minutes ago, Ray S said:

 the camera will often do what you said, focus on something else! I switched off the multi-point focus system and had it centre only, but it still messes around. Sometimes it will work well, others not. 

 

The main issue is light, I think. I looked at the data for the last photo above in Flickr, and you're at f/4.9, 1/5 sec, ISO 400. That's dark, especially for a compact camera. The little Coolpix uses a contrast-based focusing system, and the focus issues are due to it not being able to find any contrast in the subject, so it's defaulting to the background, where there is contrast. More light will aid that, and lift your shutter speed/lower the ISO. In fact, if you add enough light, the aperture will close up and give more depth of field, although that's not critical with the small sensor, as it's got a lot inherently anyway. More light will also get you pictures with less grain in them. 

 

There's a number of ways to get more light, my favourite is a couple of LED panels on small tripods, but you can use a couple of quality daylight LED globes (I like Phillips, stay away from shop brands) in desk lamps instead, just make sure that the inside of the light shade is neutral white, to avoid tinting the output. (Use that to work under, too, good light makes a huge difference to how well you see). Shining the lights through a panel of tracing paper or similar to soften the shadows will work wonders too. Don't use fluorescent tubes or those squiggly energy saving abominations - very bad light, and no good for your eyes. No need to spend a motza, my daylight LEDs and desk lamp cost me about AU$25 each, so 25 quid should sort you out with a pair.

 

There's not a lot that can be done with settings on the Coolpix, it's pretty well a fully automated camera with no manual control (there's some, but it's awkward), but adding light will make a huge difference to the way the camera behaves. It may be worth playing with the scene modes, just to see what the camera picks - that sort of information can be useful, as they're brainy little gadgets these days and have been set up to allow anyone to get good photos. 

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I’m loving all the fantastic little details in this build.  Some (a lot) of it looks very fiddly but worth it snd you’re making an excellent job of it.

 

AW

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7 hours ago, Ray S said:

This evening, it was time to deal with the cranes. The instructions suggest building them off-ship:

Gidday Ray, yeah the problem with that of course (which I think you identified) is that when trying to fit them to a model when already assembled is some other item of equipment is in the way.

And I agree, she's certainly looking purposeful.

 

And @Rob G, thanks for the info for the Coolpix, some of those tips of yours will be very useful to me also.

 

Regards, Jeff.

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@Rob G, thanks for your suggestions. Following up on that, I dug out my SLR camera, recharged the battery and used it for these next photographs. Hopefully you will see the improvement.

 

On 3/10/2023 at 11:40 PM, Andwil said:

I’m loving all the fantastic little details in this build.  Some (a lot) of it looks very fiddly but worth it snd you’re making an excellent job of it.

 

AW

 

Andwil, it is the most complex build I have ever attempted, the tiny detail is never-ending but so well worth while. Thanks for the comment.

 

On 3/11/2023 at 4:41 AM, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Ray, yeah the problem with that of course (which I think you identified) is that when trying to fit them to a model when already assembled is some other item of equipment is in the way.

And I agree, she's certainly looking purposeful.

 

And @Rob G, thanks for the info for the Coolpix, some of those tips of yours will be very useful to me also.

 

Regards, Jeff.

 

Jeff, that can always be a problem, but I am glad I thought about it a bit and chose the way I did go.

 

Anyway, thanks all for looking at this build, complete with it's 'whoops' moments without which my builds never do seem complete. I have made boo-boos in quite a number of my threads, but hopefully it prevents other folks doing the same.

 

Yesterday I fitted the davits for the boat deck, they went easier that I expected. They had a wafer of resin all along one half of the davits which I thought could be tricky to remove, bearing in mind that resin is fragile, and the davits were thin. A fresh razor blade was all that was needed, and a delicate scrape along the davit got rid of the remainder of the flash. The hooks were fitted with the PVA dot and CA dab method. The radar/aerial assemblies were made 'interesting' by my discovery that the etch process had split the parts so where I had to fold a bit there was nothing attached. However, the PVA came into use again and the split parts were reunited. It was then delicate work fitting them to the mast tops. The aft railings were bent to shape and fitted, and the paintwork retouched.

 

And so, after quite a long time of very intense concentration, HMS Alynbank was complete:

 

DSC_0001 (2)

 

DSC_0009

 

DSC_0003

 

I will pop some different photographs into the Gallery in a moment.

 

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all who dropped in to look, like and comment during this project. All of the advice has been greatly appreciated, and hopefully it will stick in my memory.

 

All the best everyone,

 

Ray

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  • Ray S changed the title to HMS Alynbank, Starling Models, 1/700 +++COMPLETED+++
55 minutes ago, Ray S said:

And so, after quite a long time of very intense concentration, HMS Alynbank was complete:

Gidday Ray, congrats on your completion, she looks great! 👍 She's a rather interesting vessel, not one I've seen or heard of before.

Regarding making boo-boos, well we all make them, it's part of the learning curve.

And again, she's very well done. Regards, Jeff.

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@ArnoldAmbrose, thanks for the comment, it is very much appreciated.

 

These final pictures show the issues (well, sort of) that I had with the davits and the radar/aerials. First, the davits:

 

DSCN9607

 

It looked scary with that webbing underneath the davits, but I found the resin was slightly flexible, unlike some other resin kits I have done, and a quick trim with the razor blade and a scrape along the seam line was all that was needed. I did not even have to use the spare.

 

The aerials were mis-etched, and each of the four supplied (two spares) had a problem:

 

DSCN9608

 

I used the two on the right, where the upper left-hand side extended section was not attached to the main aerial. It was a relatively easy job to add it after the multi-folds had been done, but would have been better if I did not shake so. They are really delicate, and I do not fault Starling Models for this, it could easily happen, and was solvable.

 

All the best, I am now off to try and find my DUKW thread and re-start that!

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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