1/350 HMS BRAVE, WEM, 1991 Op Granby - FINISHED

[Chewbacca]

Having removed the masking tape, the boot topping is definitely too low so will have to re-mask and make it a little higher, otherwise when I embed the hull into the seascape, it will all be lost.

 

 

The policy in RN ships pre-T45 was for the hangar roof to be 1/3 open (just about head height) during flying stations (I think it is fully closed in the T45 for some reason though having never served in one, I do not know why).  The hangar roof with the kit is full height so I measured off 5.2mm (equivalent of about 6 ft) and put the X-Acto to work.

 

 

 

There was a pair of hefty bracing supports just inside but fortunately it stopped fractionally above the cut line.

 

Prepped up the next round of 3D printing for painting:

 

DLF3 cannisters and launching frames:

 

Also in this photo is the Inmarsat commercial satcom dome (plus a spare in case the carpet monster has a munch) and the redrawn EOSS.  My originals were on full height stands as we had in T42s, but I realised at the weekend that of course the T22 EOSS were mounted on shorter frames on the bridge roof.

 

And the T182 sonar decoys, again with a spare.  Unfortunately only one of these (the furthest away) survived having had the supports cut away.  On the others, the tail cone went walkabout but I strongly suspect that these will be extremely hard to see so I think I will get away with my emergency repair.

 

Thanks for watching

[Ray S]

This is coming along very well @Chewbacca. I know the kit has been throwing up a few problems, but you are doing a grand job. And as for all your 3D design and printing, well, I am amazed at what can be done.

 

All the best for the rest of your build,

 

Ray

[Chewbacca]

Looking at the hull/superstructure again, I've realised that I've missed one fundamental correction.

 

Contrast the bridge wing in the photo in the previous post with the bridge wing in the photo from the first post on page 1 (I'll repeat here so that yo can see them on the same page):

 

 

What's missing?  The Nav Lights.  And in the T22s they were set back into the bridge wings.  So I have two choices.  I can either cut into the bridge wing (which I don't really want to do at this stage) or represent them with decals.  But I cannot help but think that realistically I am going to have to cut away as I don't think decals will work at this scale.  if she were 1/600, I would be less concerned.  Wish me luck, I'm going in!

Edited February 22, 2023 by Chewbacca
Typos corrected

[ArnoldAmbrose]

6 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Wish me luck, I'm going in!

Gidday, good luck, (See you on the other side? 🙂 Or something like that.)       Regards, Jeff.

[Chewbacca]

Well that went better than expected:

 

 

 

Marked out, chain drilled and cut out with #10 X-Acto.  Squared up and then boxed in using 20 thou sheet styrene and a lamp cut from 40 thou styrene rod.  The port side might need a little tidy up with some filler - I'll not know until I apply some paint.

 

You can also see that I have started on the decks using Colourcoats EDSG.  Now, I know the purists will say I should mask and spray, but I know that I am utterly rubbish at masking and that no matter how hard I try, I will still end up with bleed through everywhere which will need to be touched up, so I have always brush painted the decks.  The Colourcoats paint seems thicker than enamel that I have used previously (mainly Humbrol or Revell), so I have thinned it with the Naptha thinners in a small pot.  Yes, it's giving a patchy finish for now and yes, I will have to give it at least 3 coats, but it seems to be going on okay.

 

Onwards and upwards

[Alan P]

Excellent modification for the lights. I also recommend brush painting the decks once major assembly is complete, it's worth it to avoid the tedious masking job...

[Chewbacca]

Decks painted.  the starboard waist needs a little touch up but not too bad at this stage

 

 

Now for the predominantly aircraft modellers amongst us, you might find it strange that this early in a build I am thinking about decals.  But from experience, I have found that some of them are easier to put on while the model can be easily handled before all of the detailed parts are added.  So I finished designing the home printed decals at the weekend and have started to get some of them fitted.  I missed a trick when I took this photo - I should have included the ruler - because this doesn't give a feel for the size of these decals.  The bridge windows, for example, are ~2.5 mm x 1.5 mm.  I'm not sure how the Lynx nose art which this photo barely shows (the three decals on the bottom row under the right hand union flag) are only 0.9 mm high but are taken from a photo of the real aircraft.

 

 

Bridge windows.  These decals have been printed using the paper that I bought recently having not been able to get hold of my regular and it's nowhere near as robust.  Even with a couple of coats of Klear, one slight scratch and the ink comes off.  So these will need a touch up.

 

 

Towed array control room and flight deck windows added

 

Starting to fit out the quarterdeck.  Unfortunately this has proven not straightforward

 

Because if you look at this photo (and I apologise it's slightly blurry - trying hold the model with one hand and photograph with the other) you can see that the 2031Z towed array drum is too large and will prevent the flight deck PE from being added.  I have fortunately managed to get it off without damaging the PE frame and I will have to shave off about 1 mm from the bottom.

 

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chewbacca]

In the end , I had to shave a fair bit off the 2031Z reel, not just the outer resin frame but flattening off the bottom of the array itself.  Still, it will be very difficult to see.  I fear I may have to take the top off the PE frame as well because although holding a straight edge across it it seems to clear, I am not 100% certain it will do so when I add the aft part of the flight deck which is PE.  That said of course, the quarterdeck side there is fractionally too low - I noted this when i cut them out, so it may well be that there is sufficient because the deck sits slightly proud of the ship's side at that point and will need a smear of filler.

 

I tried to continue with the decalling this morning before work.  I think I commented earlier that the kit decals, which date back to 1997, were somewhat yellow and so they have been sat in a sunny windowsill for about 2 weeks.  The yellowing has reduced but not gone completely, but I thought I would see what they looked like and so started trying to put on the port pennant number.  After 20 minutes and multiple dunkings in tepid water, the F was as attached to the backing sheet as the day it was printed so I have written those off.  Fortunately Peter at Atlantic Models had already told me he had some spare decals from the current issue of BRAVE so I have placed an order with him for some of those and a new Cheverton to replace the rather solid one in the kit.  I could draw one in CAD and 3D print I suppose, but for £4.50 for 2, it's frankly not worth it!

 

Thanks for watching

Edited February 28, 2023 by Chewbacca
spoolng urrers

[Col.]

Thanks for sharing your continued progress. Hopefully your decal issues will be resolved when the Atlantic Models set arrives as everything else looks great.

[Chewbacca]

On 02/03/2023 at 12:20, Col. said:

Hopefully your decal issues will be resolved when the Atlantic Models set arrives as everything else looks great.

Thanks.  I have to say the service from Atlantic Models has been first class.  I emailed Peter on Tuesday at 20:05 asking to order the decals and the Cheverton pack.  He replied at 22:10 with an invoice which I paid straight away.  Second email from him at lunchtime on Wednesday to say they had been dispatched.  So now in the hands of Royal Mail - might see them in 3 weeks!

 

In the meantime started looking at the rest of the quarterdeck and have got it to the point that it is almost ready for the flight deck to be added; just missing one ladder which is ready to be attached with CA.  So I thought I would test fit the PE flight deck.

 

 

Oh dear.  The aft end is supposed to be flush with the transom.  So out with an X-Acto #10 and a steel rule and get that the right length

 

 

But even having done that, the harpoon grid is is the wrong place.  It looked wrong anyway and according to the Jecobin plans, it should be 17 mm from the aft end; as this photo shows, it is only 12 mm

 

 

I have started therefore to make a complete replacement from 20 thou styrene sheet.  More to follow

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Chewbacca

[Chewbacca]

Nothing done over the weekend as we were away at a Naval Association reunion event but now back and pressing on.

 

The replacement flight deck extension has been cut from 20 thou styrene sheet and the position for the harpoon grid measured, marked out and cut with a slightly larger disc cut out and secured underneath using liquid poly.

 

While I was waiting for that to set, I have finished up the quarterdeck fittings including the access ladder which I had to refold as I had folded the sides incorrectly.  Even with an RP Toolz PE tool, trying to fold the edges which were less than 1 mm wide was challenging but got there at about the 3rd attempt.  The position for the ladder was also challenging as I could find no photos of the flight deck with the circular hatch open.  I recalled that it was right down aft and just to one side of the tail boom when the cab was on the spot but the only photo I could find with any hatch showing was this very sad one post the Harpoon hit during Sinkex 98.

 

And that clearly shows a hatch to be on the starboard side alongside the harpoon grid which is almost exactly directly above the 182 sonar winch.  I cannot for the life of me remember what that hatch is there for but it certainly wasn't for the access ladder.

 

The Jecobin plans do show a ladder where I seemed to recall that it was down aft do that's what I've gone with.  It's going to be hard enough to see anyway as with the ship at flying stations, that hatch itself was always closed so the position is only visible if you squint in through the quarterdeck accesses.

 

 

Getting the angle was tricky but I used a slow cure CA and once it was holding sufficiently well so as not to fall over, I placed the flight deck over the top to ensure that it did not foul.

 

And then it was onto fitting the flight deck itself which is held on with fast acting CA.  

 

 

I've started to rub down the join but post this photo being taken I have added a light coat of deck grey and it is apparent that some filler is also going to be needed.

 

Thanks for watching

Edited April 2, 2023 by Chewbacca

[Col.]

More tidy work

 

That photo from Sinkex 98 is rather informative as to not only how extensive the damage from a single missile strike can be but also that the ship is still afloat. Testimony to the effectiveness of both designs perhaps.

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Col.

 

I used to teach Royal Navy Warfare Officers and towards the end of their training we would push them to the limit with multi-threat (air, surface. sub-surface), multi-axis warfare.  When they first experienced it, they would always zoom in on the air threat because a Mach 2 missile does head across the radar screen quite quickly and tends to focus the mind whereas Anti-Submarine Warfare, also known as Awfully Slow Warfare, seemed to happen at a snails pace by contrast.  But as I used to point out to them at the debrief, "Best way to sink a ship is to let water in the bottom not air in the top".  BRAVE actually withstood 2 Harpoon hits, this one port quarter and another on the starboard beam before she was finally sunk with a torpedo from HMS SCEPTRE.

 

Have had a day's leave so in and around the usual errand running that was required and a nice lunch out sitting on the beach (at about 4 deg C!), managed to make some more progress.

 

Firstly added the flight deck side skirts (not sure what to call them really, the bits that extend below the flight deck extension) and the supporting brackets:

 

 

 

Still some tidying up to do on there when the Vallejo filler has dried.  So in the meantime I turned attention to the fo'c'sle.  Painted the details on the capstans with a 000 brush and then added the anchor cables.  Now ordinarily I would expect the cables that can be seen on the fo'c'sle to be be painted white (at least they were when I was a fo'c'sle officer 🙂) but all of the photos of BRAVE's foc's'le seem to suggest that they were dark with a strong hint of rust.  This is perhaps the best photo and this was taken in April 1986 when she was brand new:

 

 

I actually have a much higher resolution version in my collection but cannot for the life of me recall where I got it from (I certainly don't own the copyright) and this is the only online version I can share which perhaps doesn't do it full justice.  But you can see that the cables are definitely not white.  I painted mine with Vallejo steel then dry brushed with a mix of light rust and a small drop of burnt umber which I didn't fully mix in to give a tonal variation.

 

 

The navel pies are ones that I 3D printed a few weeks ago as are the RAS roller fairleads which you can see just abaft the breakwater.  Interestingly, the Jecobin plans are wrong in this area because as the photo of BRAVE above shows, the starboard navel is in front of the port navel yet the plans have them the other way around and too close to the cable holders.  Unfortunately the cable holders themselves are at the wrong angle and are canted afar too far inwards.  If I'd spotted it before I would have cut them away and replaced them with 3D printed but it is too late now, I risk doing too much damage so will live with it and look out for the correct angle when I do the Atlantic Models BOXER at some point in the future.

 

I've also added the SCOT deck.  This is a strange way of doing it as the deck is a half thickness piece of resin with the SCOT cabin and some whip aerial bases moulded on.  I would have thought that it would have been easier to mould the intakes deckhouse underneath to the right height and supply the cabin and whip bases separately rather than having to get a thin deck to perfectly align to the moulding below.  Which as the filler in the second photo evidences, I failed to do!  The later Atlantic Models BRAVE has it all moulded as a one-piece deckhouse which makes much more sense.

 

 

 

I'm thinking it may not have been such a good idea to add the home printed headdress decals to the side sponsons so soon as I fear they will get damaged as a sand back the filler.  But if they do I have some spares and in any case, as I look at them now, I cant help but think that they are perhaps a tadge too small so I may well reprint them about 15% larger.

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Chewbacca

[Terry1954]

Coming along very nicely Ralph. Lots of great work since I saw it for real!

 

Terry

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Terry.

 

Continuing with work on the fo'c'sle, I have now hit the next challenge that this kit wants to throw at me.

 

You may recall that back on page 1 I said I wasn't overly happy with the Exocet missiles as I thought they looked a bit clunky and I thought I may have to redraw them in CAD and 3D print them.  In the end I though, I decided I would live with them for expediency but I thought I would do a dry fit before I painted them:

 

 

Oh dear.  What's the saying, "gonna need a bigger boat".  In this case it is "gonna need a bigger mounting".  Or smaller missile cannisters.  Now I know how big an Exocet missile is, but what I cannot find out from any of my reference books or the internet is what is the exact size for an Exocet cannister and therefore what I cannot determine is whether the missile cannisters are too large or the mounting is too narrow.  But looking at this photo of the mountings dry fitted:

 

 

contrasted to the real ship:

 

 

I would definitely say that the mountings are about the right size so therefore logically the missile cannisters are too large.  Back to the CAD and draw some new ones.  These also at least have the door opening mechanisms at either end which the kit ones lacked:

 

 

Slightly frustrating but then isn't this what modelling is all about, overcoming the shortfalls in the kits to create something that is almost like the real thing?

 

Thanks for watching

 

[Terry1954]

I definitely agree the mountings look about right and it's the canisters that are too big.

 

Never mind the hassle (easy for me to say), your version will look much better!

 

Terry

[Alan P]

Great progress and details here. The Mk2 Exocet canisters look a lot nicer all round.

[Chewbacca]

Exocets printed and a pair of them dry fitted to the stbd mounting.  Much better size.  I shall even have space to fit the armour plated bulkhead that fits between them

 

 

I've been continuing with the decals (and have now completed the flight deck markings which led me into the hangar where because the Batch 2 T22s were designed to carry 2 Lynx which were a bit of a tight squeeze to say the least, had markings on the deck for the main and nosewheels to follow.  I do have some photos of these but they are sketchy but I thought the easiest way would be to fit the Lynx in there and see where they should go.

 

 

Hmm.  Whilst I know there wasn't a lot of space between the tail pylon fold and the door when it was closed, that shows that the kit hangar isn't even long enough to allow the tail to fold at all.  I don't think it will make that much difference because when the hangar door is fitted it will be only 1/3 open so to see to the forward end will be almost impossible, but I am glad I didn't invest in a second Lynx to put in the hangar.

 

You'll remember that I noted above that the headdress decals that I printed to go onto the angled side panels of the air intakes looked small and that I was going to reprint. 

 

 

Well no need, because the Atlantic Models decals arrived last week (along with a replacement Cheverton which is way better than the one in the kit).  Peter kindly includes all of the Batch 2B badges at the right size in his decals set so I have replaced my home printed one with his better quality, correctly sized version.

 

 

I had a bit of a shock last night when reading some of the other build logs in the SSD folder, @Mjwomack reminded us all that there is only 6 weeks left in this GB.  Gulp.  Even though progress is being made, I'm not sure I will get BRAVE finished in that time.  But onwards and upwards.

 

 

[Mjwomack]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

I had a bit of a shock last night when reading some of the other build logs in the SSD folder, @Mjwomack reminded us all that there is only 6 weeks left in this GB.  Gulp.  Even though progress is being made, I'm not sure I will get BRAVE finished in that time.  But onwards and upwards.

 

Is it time to turn our pleading Salty Sea Dog Eyes on Lord Admiral @Enzo the Magnificent and ask for an extension- because it's well known that generally ships aren't very fast🥺

[Chewbacca]

A little more progress interspersed around my other hobby - restoring classic sports cars.  My son has been home this weekend and with the aid of one of his friends from uni who is now a design engineer at Noble we have started work on redesigning the wiring loom for a 1982 TVR Tasmin.  That makes getting BRAVE finished by the end of next month look like a walk in park!

 

Hangar deck markings are now all complete and I have added the harpoon grid.  Although the starboard nose wheel guide line looks to be not straight, it is and it is just the perspective coupled with the fact that the hangar deck in the vicinity is slightly blown upwards.  I did look at trying to sand it all back but figured that that part of the hangar is going to be difficult to see and anyway, the deck was never completely flat, there were undulations all over the place.  Also finished the detailed painting on some of the fitting to go inside the hangar - the ground power cable reel, the AVCAT pump and a Yellow Veil ECM pod and 0.5 in Heavy Machine Gun pod in their trolleys.  Just need to wait for the paint to dry on those and they can be added and then the hangar door/roof added and faired in. 

 

 

One additional piece that will need to be added is a central bar that was suspended either side (inside and out) of the top of the door'   It was there to brace the door during launch and recovery from the downdraft from the rotor disk; not quite so much of an issue with the Lynx but for the Batch 2Bs that were Sea King capable with of course the much greater weight and associated downdraft it was a major issue and without it the door could very easily be blown in.  You can see it very clearly in this photo of BRAVE together with the outer top track in which it ran (photo supposedly taken in 1986 off Gibraltar with one of her bridge watchkeepers water-skiing behind 😮)

 

Although I had painted the RAS winches, I was looking at the photos of BRAVE in the Gulf and all of them have the covers on these winches.  So covers have been duly made from thin foil, carefully "scrunched" around the winches and painted.  I need to have a look to see if the midships winch was similarly covered - I suspect it was.

 

 

One cover fitted showing the original bare winch on the port side

 

 

And with both covers on.

 

Similar technique for the Gemini inflatable.  I have yet to paint this cover.  I can't for the life of me remember if it was grey PVC or green canvas.  I need to try to find some better photos.

 

 

I've also primed and sprayed the remaining bits of 3D printing including the new Exocets (don't need a photo of those) but do have a bit of an issue with the hull decals.  The ship's side pennant numbers have slightly silvered.  You can't see it from straight on but at an oblique angle it is quite noticeable - much worse than this photo shows.  I have pricked them both vigorously with a new X-Acto blade and smothered them in Micro-Sol in the hope that that might do the trick.

 

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Chewbacca
corrected image URL

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Chewy, although it's no doubt authentic it's a shame to cover those items when they look so good. Will you have some water 'collected' by the Gemini cover? Regards, Jeff.

[mark.au]

Such attention to detail coupled with superb execution is rare indeed.

[Col.]

Smart work

 

22 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

 

It seems that proved a popular spectator sport  

[Chewbacca]

Thanks everyone

 

16 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Will you have some water 'collected' by the Gemini cover? Regards, Jeff.

 

I don't recall it ever raining during the 6 weeks we spent off Kuwait.  Just extreme haze caused by the smoke coming off all of the burning oil fields after Saddam Hussein's retreating forces adopted a scorched earth policy.  We had one trip when we returned to BRAVE after about 6 hours of operating with the US Navy from USS TRIPOLI and WISCONSIN we landed back on around 1200 noon local time; the sky was as black as we might expect it at midnight.  My maintainers were scraping the ash from the leading edge of the blades.  I do have some photos somewhere but they are not scanned in.  I will have to see if I can find them and upload a couple of examples to show what it was like.

[Chewbacca]

Found a photo of BRAVE taken from above and looking the boat deck which confirmed the Gemini cover was grey.  So that's now painted and covered in a very light wash to help show off the folds in the cover.  Photo to follow once I've done the rest of the boat deck area.

 

The Exocets were primed and sprayed light weatherworks grey and added to the mountings.  Took BRAVE along to our local model club last night and all agreed that the 3D printed versions were considerably better than the kit supplied variants.  Not shown in this photo but the fo'c'sle guardrails are also now fitted.  I tried to use the pre-cut ones from the spare set of PE I have from BOXER but the angle of the fo'c'sle bulwark is slightly different.  Now given that both ships' fo'c'sles were identical, one of the kit versions is clearly wrong but I know not which though i strngly suspect that BOXER being a later casting is right.  I ended up using the more generic guardrail that came with the BRAVE kit and carefully trimming the forward end to fit.

 

 

Finished up the detail inside the hangar by adding the 3D printed 0.5 inch Heavy Machine Gun Pod and Yellow Veil jammer, both in their trolleys and adding some tie down lashings from strips of white decal.  You can also see the ground power cable reels outboard of those to port and the Avcat pump on the stbd side.

 

 

Now they say that with every cloud comes a silver lining.  I had to take the day off work today because I had to go into hospital this morning for some minor surgery (nothing serious) and having been called at 0830 this morning by the unit to ask me if I could go in early because there had been a cancellation ahead of me, I ended up back at home, a little sore but all stitched up by just after 1000.   I thought I would take it easy for a pair of hours and then, at 1200 by which time I was feeling a lot better, texted my boss to say that I was feeling fine and would work from home this afternoon.  An immediate reply to say do nothing of the sort; you've had surgery, rest and recuperate!  So that gave me a good few hours at the bench.

 

Main effort therefore has been on buttoning up the hangar roof.  Started off though by adding the white vertical line decals that all of the Batch 2B T22s had for Sea King operations which marked the pilot and co-pilot centrelines. note to self though - need to extend the flight deck centreline decal by a millimetre or so.  It is worth saying that this photo does not do justice to the flight deck which is no where near as rough as this makes it out to be.  I think it is caused by the light reflection from my modelling lamp which was off to the side.

 

 

Then it was time to dry fit the hangar roof and door to the model.  I think it would not be to far from the truth to say it fitted where it touched and there would need to be a fair bit of filling, sanding and touching up..  This photo was taken after I had shaved about 0.75mm off the hangar roof on either side and added the first coat of Vallejo filler to the joins.  Since then after the filler set, I have sanded it back and given it a first coat of dark sea grey followed by a second coat of filler on the port side where it is still way out.  Photos of that to follow but leaving it to fully set overnight and then will sand again. 

 

 

I've started painting the 6.5 m Pacific with a mixture of dark greys for the deck and inflatable bulwarks.  Need to add some more detail to the centre console - helpfully the PE Set for BOXER has a helmsman's wheel and the aft nav light rig but need to scratch build the throttle and the propeller/gearbox assembly.  I've also been adding detail to the SCOT platforms with additional waveguides from the SCOT office to the radomes.  Again photos to follow on that.

 

And finally, one of the three inclined ladders on the upper deck.  This leads up from the flight deck to the stbd waist.  Folding those treads was a nightmare as the gap between each was too small to get even my smallest tweezers in so ended up having to try to do with the tip of a scalpel.  Unfortunately, because this PE set was designed for a later casting of the T22, the ladder isn't quite long enough to give the correct angle.  It's not too obvious with this one but I suspect it will be for the two from the stbd waist up to 02 deck.

 

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Chewbacca
Missing photo added