HMS Formidable, Flyhawk, 1941 1/700

[Archelaos]

Ok, so I decided to buy some new ship. Initially, I planned to get Cleopatra (to make her or Carlisle) and maybe also Trumpeters Zulu or Eskimo. So I went shopping. And what I got? Well... 🤪

I went through topic here: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=23454 and I am under the impression that Flyhawk model is generally good (I have correct deck). Are there any major issues I need to look into?

I plan to paint her for march-may 1941. Is camo in instructions ok? It calls for 507C and black with grey underwater hull? 

 

 

At the start, I was considering making her in damaged state after 26th May'41 attack, but I squashed this thought as 1) I want to preserve graceful lines of the ship and 2) it is massive undertaking as is, I do not need more challenge.

 

The start is simple. I glued lower deck into hull and added decks of all galleries on the sides. Anyone has tips how to paint all the openings in the hull and then mask it for painting main hull sides?

I obviously also made one little plane - Fulmar. 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Archelaos

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

31 minutes ago, Archelaos said:

 

I plan to paint her for march-may 1941. Is camo in instructions ok? It calls for 507C and black with grey underwater hull? 

 

@dickrd, @iang and myself drew that one, but the camouflage we drew for Flyhawk was 507C and 507A, not black. I hope they didn't mess it up? We also provided information for the aircraft camouflage, but every time I get another carrier and its aircraft from them to do something with it's back to bright green and purple again instead of the Temperate Sea Scheme colours I keep giving them. It should have looked like this - although we do have some confusing/contradictory indications about how dark the Moravia brand anti-fouling grey was so this illustration might be showing it too light.

 

[Archelaos]

8 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

@dickrd, @iang and myself drew that one, but the camouflage we drew for Flyhawk was 507C and 507A, not black. I hope they didn't mess it up?

Yes, you are right. it's 507A and 507C. I just failed to read properly this stamp-size instructions from Flyhawk. For a model of this price tag, they could have provided bigger instruction sheet. 

 

What color should gallery decks have? 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Archelaos

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

As for painting the hull openings, how about doing it the other way round? Paint the exterior camouflage first, then mask that and cut out the openings from the masking tape then paint the openings.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 minute ago, Archelaos said:

Yes, you are right. it's 507A and 507C. I just failed to read properly this stamp-size instructions from Flyhawk. For a model of this price tag, they could have provided bigger instruction sheet. 

 

If it helps, the graphic I just posted is higher resolution than the forum software displays so if you click on it you can enlarge and save that to your computer and print out bigger.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

13 minutes ago, Archelaos said:

What color should gallery decks have? 

 

Dark grey non slip paint I should think 

[Ngantek]

Flyhawk carrier! What a treat. Interested to see how this one builds.

 

The exposed interior on the lower decks does pose an interesting problem. Like Jamie, the option to paint it after the exterior does seem like a good idea. Perhaps if you can get the flight deck to the point where it can fit and bond nicely with everything painted, then you could leave that until final assembly. The other option, of masking the holes from the inside I agree doesn't particularly recommend itself given the poor access you have to get the masks out again, particularly at the bow and stern.

 

Good luck with it!

Andy

[Archelaos]

18 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

As for painting the hull openings, how about doing it the other way round? Paint the exterior camouflage first, then mask that and cut out the openings from the masking tape then paint the openings.

 

Interesting idea. It may work with the small openings on sides so I will just have to pre paint bow and stern decks.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Out of interest, did Flyhawk make decals for the flight deck markings? Richard, Ian and I spent quite a bit of time on those  I see this one also pre-dated my draught marking decals as I've sneakily been adding the markings onto the RN ships Flyhawk has asked me to draw camouflage paint guides for since, although that may have been an error in the long run as they queried a specific detail on the next RN release you'll see in due course so I think I've just given them the artwork to include them themselves. So much for my genius masterplan to flog more decals 😂

[Archelaos]

4 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Out of interest, did Flyhawk make decals for the flight deck markings? Richard, Ian and I spent quite a bit of time on those  I see this one also pre-dated my draught marking decals as I've sneakily been adding the markings onto the RN ships Flyhawk has asked me to draw camouflage paint guides for since, although that may have been an error in the long run as they queried a specific detail on the next RN release you'll see in due course so I think I've just given them the artwork to include them themselves. So much for my genius masterplan to flog more decals 😂

Yes, there are decals for flight deck. Draught markings are not there. Another missing item are codes for planes, they made only circles and fin flashes. 

 

You know what decals are missing? A set of letters and numbers of proper size to make pennant numbers on DDs. One or two numbers can always be scavenged from other kits but for example finding 6 "0" for Jervis? Starts to be a problem. 

[Alan P]

Looks like a great kit. Will be an interesting build!

[Graham Boak]

There is a Modeldecal sheet that includes white numbers for FAA aircraft: I used some recently on a Tamiya Vampire.  Xtradecal have re-released at least some of these sheets it may be worth checking their options.

[Ngantek]

1 minute ago, Archelaos said:

You know what decals are missing? A set of letters and numbers of proper size to make pennant numbers on DDs. One or two numbers can always be scavenged from other kits but for example finding 6 "0" for Jervis? Starts to be a problem. 

Mike McCabe at Starling models does a set of these, but as you say, one Jervis or Penn can really throw a spanner in the works! I agree though that I'd happily buy an A3 sheet of the things, since I always seem to be missing a particular digit. 

 

 

[Thom216]

Very impressed with the Flyhawk offerings (at least with the plastic molding). Might be one to put on my wish list.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

8 minutes ago, Archelaos said:

Yes, there are decals for flight deck. Draught markings are not there. Another missing item are codes for planes, they made only circles and fin flashes. 

 

You know what decals are missing? A set of letters and numbers of proper size to make pennant numbers on DDs. One or two numbers can always be scavenged from other kits but for example finding 6 "0" for Jervis? Starts to be a problem. 

 

Thanks. I think Ian provided the code letters for the aircraft, or at least some of them.

 

As for pendant numbers, one of the challenges is that there was no standard "font" or type face as such and in numerous colours. A reasonable compromise could be made of course, but it can be a case of looking at your reference photograph and thinking "damn it" when the letter and number shapes are just different. I have had good success cutting vinyl masks for pendants though.

[Thom216]

1 hour ago, Archelaos said:

Ok, so I decided to buy some new ship. Initially, I planned to get Cleopatra (to make her or Carlisle) and maybe also Trumpeters Zulu or Eskimo. So I went shopping. And what I got? Well... 🤪

I went through topic here: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=23454 and I am under the impression that Flyhawk model is generally good (I have correct deck). Are there any major issues I need to look into?

I plan to paint her for march-may 1941. Is camo in instructions ok? It calls for 507C and black with grey underwater hull? 

 

 

At the start, I was considering making her in damaged state after 26th May'41 attack, but I squashed this thought as 1) I want to preserve graceful lines of the ship and 2) it is massive undertaking as is, I do not need more challenge.

 

The start is simple. I glued lower deck into hull and added decks of all galleries on the sides. Anyone has tips how to paint all the openings in the hull and then mask it for painting main hull sides?

I obviously also made one little plane - Fulmar. 

 

What you could try is, after painting the interior, put detacked masking tape on the inside of the openings. Glue the hull together and paint the exterior, and then pull the masking out through the holes.

[Faraway]

A 1/700 Carrier.

This I will be following, there is no way I’d attempt one.

Jon

[Graham Boak]

The scale is no great problem, but the Flyhawk one has too many tiny parts for me, and the Aosima armoured carriers are still a bit crude.  Perhaps it would be possible to use the replacement parts I bought for the old Aosima kit on the new one. but I really want an Indomitable and can probably rule out ever getting one (because it was a one-off).

[S-boat 55]

I shall follow this one,

 

Re the openings, what I did was pre paint all bays first, then fit that section I to the hull, then I just ran masking tape around the edge of the opening, sticking it to the floor, bulkheads and ceiling so it projects out of the hull, then filled the opening gently with a bit of crumpled plastic film or kitchen roll, then painted the hull and removed the masks when done, not sure of that makes sense but I've found it works for me where I'm doing a camo scheme, 

[robgizlu]

I'm in - looks to be a very nice kit.

Rob

[Archelaos]

I am slowly putting model together. Pieces are tiny, so I will post photos tomorrow when I will paint some details. 

 

But today is the day of rant. 

When buying 70eur kit I EXPECTED SOMETHING ELSE. Yes, plastic is great, Even the smallest details are sharp and well defined. There was a tiny bit of flash and some sinkholes (on rudder) but as they are pushing boundaries and it is easy to repair, I see no problem. 

But instructions are ABYSMAL. Not only they are unnecessarily tiny, forcing me to use optivisor to analyze them, but they are cluttered. What's more, kit contain two completely disjointed instructions - one for plastic and other for metal. One asking you to glue something, and other to replace with metal. It may work for a small kit, like a destroyer, but the sheer amount of metal parts for carrier result in a mess that has to be literally decoded part after part. I understand the logic, as they sell both parts separate but the cost of making single, unified instructions for deluxe edition could not be that much. Especially compared to the cost of molds for plastic parts of the quality they use. 

What's more, there are errors - at least some PE parts are misnumbered. 

Plus, there are some strange choices like instructions asking to remove set of doors on the stern only to replace them with PE... For some producers it would have been good option, maybe even necessary but it is Flyhawk and their plastic is just as good as PE for parts like those. 

 

Overall, fantastic kit, but not easy to make... And instructions are one of the largest reason why. 

 

And to end on more positive note, a little pic. Fulmar:

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @Archelaos, the Fulmar looks nice. Regards, Jeff.

[beefy66]

Not my usual scale 1/700 but looks a very decent kit and great result with those Fulmars.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I agree the instructions in Flyhawk kits leave much to be desired. Nice job on that tiny little Fulmar though. If you can keep up that standard this will be a great model ship

[Archelaos]

Model is barely started and yet, it is starting to get painted. Ships are strange  I had to putty joint between upper and underwater hull parts. The fit was good but still a bit of work was needed. Also, underwater bow was slightly warped so I needed to bend it and again putty a bit. Now step 2 - painting hull. Next, I will need to glue in all interior, railings in side walls and a lot of details.

I am using the same paint for 507C that I used for Hotspur and experimenting with my paint mix for 507A. Is it ok? @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies what do you think?

Edited August 1, 2023 by Archelaos