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Airfix 1/600 HMS Ark Royal + PE + crew - Finished


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Bit of a milestone. I've got the deck on, after removing the embossed bits that will get replaced with PE later:

IMG-6835.jpg

The big paper curtain is to stop the light shining through the portholes.

 

IMG-6838.jpg

Not an early container ship but hopeully enough weight to hold the joint closed until morning.

 

I note the ship is laden right down to the top of the boot topping. Maybe I should raise the top edge of the topping by a millimetre or so.

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On 25/07/2023 at 21:48, Old Man said:

We're all pulling for you beating the deadline

Thanks! I am quietly hopeful, although my week off work plan is crumbling around my ears...

23 hours ago, marvinneko said:

Never noticed any of this before.

Me neither, the physics articles came up when I was looking for some pictures of big ship wakes before painting the base.

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I shall be applying the relevant formulas to make sure your Kelvin Wake patterns are correct. What forward speed are you depicting?

 

Following your link hasn't done much for my pedantry...

 

😉

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3 hours ago, TonyW said:

What forward speed

The angle is largely independent of forward speed, which is why duckling and container ship wakes look the same.

58 minutes ago, 81-er said:

variety of your weights

Makes me realise I need to tidy the office/study/workbench. I stopped smoking over thirty years ago and haven't used the lighter since except as a weight; my daughter stopped using the ipod ten years ago and it was given to me for disposal; I have only ever used the battery booster (trade show freebie) as a weight; and I seem to accumulate  two pairs (for the price of one and a half) of varifocals with minutely varying prescriptions every two or three years. That's before moving on to the huge bag of those little paint pots you get with starter sets, the bag of spare earbud tips, the spare iphone 6, the spare headphones for when my wife can't find hers but needs to go walking right now...

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Paper engineering day:

IMG-6843.jpg

 

The rear searchlight platforms have a splinter shield around them that incorporates angled bracing as part of the web. Plan A was to cut a complex shape, but plan B was to add a simple strip around the platform then add the bracing as a separate part:

IMG-6844.jpg

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Please tell me a little bit of cotton wool will be deployed on the bow ramp to represent the wind indicator…

 

Having built one or two Airfix warships in my very young days, I always hankered after Ark Royal. Oddly, I think it was the tiny aeroplanes that attracted me. I never got to built one, so I’m definitely watching the magic here.

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15 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

As soon as I see it on a photo


Bearing in mind what I know of aircraft carriers can be written on the back of half a postage stamp, I may be mistaken in my steam wind sock. I may do a little rummaging.

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Flicking through Fleet Air Arm Camouflage and Markings 1937-1941 I see plumes on HMS Courageous and HMS Eagle. That led me to think it was something in earlier ships - and then turned the page to see a couple of Skuas about to be launched by the catapult right at the front of Ark Royal's flight deck, complete with a tiny wisp of steam from the trailing edge centre of the sloped centre part of the deck.

 

I'd say it’s your call. At 1/600 it would probably be almost invisible!

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I have been going through my list. I'm very happy with my paper walls for the searchlight and machine gun platforms:

IMG-6850.jpg
 

Underneath you can see the scary big list, now with some items crossed off. "Steam tuft" is on there :)

 

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A good day's progress:

IMG-6855.jpg

 

I'm really happy with the searchlight and gun platforms, so happy in fact that it didn't bother me at all when I noticed that the PE provides bracing for both of them! Feeling a lot better about meeting the original deadline now.

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That's all coming together well, Adrain. I'll definitely agree that your paper walls work really well there :)

 

James

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3 hours ago, 81-er said:

paper walls

The PE set supplies the bracing for under the platform but not the walls - strange (to me at least).

 

The Ark Royal used the High Angle Control System (HACS) to control its 4.5" guns. It had four Director Towers (HADTs) to provide input. These had a crew of three. The kit parts are simply far too small. I had some 5mm plastic tube (which I reckon is a smidge (< 1mm) too large but hey) and cut off some segments, angled them and drilled a hole for the stereoscopic range finders:

IMG-6856.jpg
 

I can cut down the kit items to turn them into a floor for the new ones. The supports are probably a bit small but i can roll with that.

 

Edited: "Detector" -> "Director" thanks Jeff.

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34 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

The Ark Royal used the High Angle Control System (HACS) to control its 4.5" guns. It had four Detector Towers (HADTs) to provide input. These had a crew of three. The kit parts are simply far too small. I had some 5mm plastic tube (which I reckon is a smidge (< 1mm) too large but hey) and cut off some segments, angled them and drilled a hole for the stereoscopic range finders:

Gidday Adrian, I think they're called director towers. 5mm (I've used Evergreen 4.8mm tube) is pretty close I think. Off the top of my head I've made them for HMS Jamaica and Hood that I can think of. Maybe others that have slipped my mind. From what I can see, yours look good already. Regards, Jeff.

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

The PE set supplies the bracing for under the platform but not the walls - strange (to me at least).

It's not just you, Adrian, that sound bizarre to me as well!

 

James

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HADT installed and painted:

IMG-6857.jpg
 

The deck is Revell 74 Gunship grey, which is clearly darker to the naked eye than the 79 Blaugrau used on just about everything else. However, my phone camera thinks otherwise. I will be overpainting the sides with something lighter to represent 507C, so that should restore the balance.

 

I may have to add some green to the next deck coat to pander to all the years that we've been told the flight deck is made out of Astroturf. Even the current Vintage Classics boxing still calls out Humbrol 117 US Light Green. I will break up the colour a bit anyhow.

 

In the pictures taken while it was sinking, I can see no evidence of any white markings on deck, so I've gone with that too.

 

I'm just glad I chose a nice colourful scheme...

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Adrian My hats off to you. I don't know how you're able to see those itty bitty P/E bits. Let alone be able to add them without having them ping into the carpet. Dang fine job so far.!:clap:

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12 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

HADT installed and painted:

Gidday Adrian, that HADT looks very good. And I've found that the eye and the camera lens sometimes look at colours differently. Regards, Jeff.

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I've gotten to a point where I think I could Blitzbuild this to get it over the line today and call it done. However, given that we have now got an extension, I'm going to take my time and finish things more slowly and thoroughly, which will give me a better result overall. 
 

Regards,

Adrian

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

I'm going to take my time and finish things more slowly and thoroughly, which will give me a better result overall. 

Good decision I think. Why rush it (with inherent risks) if there's no need to? Regards, Jeff.

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19 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Why rush it

To avoid the shame of hosting the GB and not finishing in the original timescale! 
 

Still, I'm feeling a lot happier now going through my completion list an item at a time. I  have to get a flight deck paint effect that I'm happy with before I can start on the above deck items.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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14 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

itty bitty P/E bits

My modelling session yesterday evening was brought to a close when I knocked the container with all the bits in off the bench, then had a failed attempt to catch it so everything went everywhere. After twenty minutes with a torch under the bench I decided it was nature's way of telling me to get some sleep...

 

I found everything apart from one mast piece that I will be replacing with PE anyway, and had to repair a PE part that I ran over with my chair - tough stuff.


Of course, I always put the lid back on after adding or removing a part. Except that one time.

 

Regards,

Adrian
 

 

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21 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

My modelling session yesterday evening was brought to a close when I knocked the container with all the bits in off the bench, then had a failed attempt to catch it so everything went everywhere. After twenty minutes with a torch under the bench I decided it was nature's way of telling me to get some sleep...

 

I found everything apart from one mast piece that I will be replacing with PE anyway, and had to repair a PE part that I ran over with my chair - tough stuff.


Of course, I always put the lid back on after adding or removing a part. Except that one time.

 

Regards,

Adrian
 

 

Dang!!! Yeah tired modelling is never a good thing. Glad you found most /all the stuff you need. Mirroring what James said, the paper walls look great and you’re deffo in the path to completion. 🙌

 

Ocean wake looks stunning too by the way. 🦆🤩

 

 Johnny

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  • AdrianMF changed the title to Airfix 1/600 HMS Ark Royal + PE + crew - Finished

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