Fearless

[Cklasse]

Another new work in progress despite numerous build. 
I have decided that I will start the new year 2024 with something different from what I have been building; a ship…..a tiny one……make difficult with tiny PE parts.

Wanted to build a Falklands ship but the conversion will only increase the difficulty level. So, I shall stay with the original version. This is my first serious ship building. The last few times were built during school days, built out of the box. 

I bought the Atlantic Models PE set and there are some new structures added on some levels. Will probably need to dig further for some pictures. 
 

 

 

 

[Gondor44]

Oh, first in, so front row with a choice of seats!

 

Gondor

[S-boat 55]

Second kit I ever built, far too many years ago as well, I shall watch with interest 

[Tim Reynaga]

I built this kit out of the box back at university many years ago. My modeling addiction had been in remission at the time and this model got me re-excited about building again... much to the bemusement my girlfriend (later wife) at the time...  

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to watching this one come together!

[Cklasse]

I studied the PE and kit part for the life raft racks tonight and hit a big wave. My first attempt of tiny ship PE parts and am lost at sea now.

Will probably build the superstructure and slowly piece the PE parts to the kit.

I realized building ship with PE parts is not easy now…..

Edited December 29, 2023 by Cklasse

[S-boat 55]

42 minutes ago, Cklasse said:

I studied the PE and kit part for the life raft racks tonight and hit a big wave. My first attempt of tiny ship PE parts and am lost at sea now.

Will probably build the superstructure and slowly piece the PE parts to the kit.

I realized building ship with PE parts is not easy now…..

You'll soon get the hang of it, bare with it, 

[Tim Reynaga]

57 minutes ago, Cklasse said:

I studied the PE and kit part for the life raft racks tonight and hit a big wave. My first attempt of tiny ship PE parts and am lost at sea now.

Will probably build the superstructure and slowly piece the PE parts to the kit. I realized building ship with PE parts is not easy now…..

Don't despair, you can usually build the plastic first and add as much or as little of the etch as suits you. It is your model and you can do what you want with it!

[Courageous]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:16 PM, Cklasse said:

I realized building ship with PE parts is not easy now…..

Should be an interesting build. It's as Tim says, the PE usually gets added at the end. I build in 1/700 and add PE where I can after painting, usually starting amidships and move outwards so that you don't damage your work.

 

Stuart

[bismarck builder]

its a great kit and you won't hear me say that very often about airfix following your build with yet more pop corn

[Cklasse]

The big waves are getting milder now that I had built the superstructure. I can now visualize the locations of the structure and it’s clearer when cross checking pictures of the ship. Maybe I can attempt to update the ship to Falklands configuration. 

After studying the drawings and pictures, it looks like the Fearless during the war has a very different superstructure. The rear portion near the flight deck has been extended a lot. 
 

One platform was removed and replaced with a thinner one and I see more things need to be thinned, such as the enclosure wall at the bridge. 
 

Edited January 2 by Cklasse

[Cklasse]

Stairs removed, the rear part of superstructure and bridge wing wall extending……

This ship building is going to take months, I shall cut, scratch build and change the configuration accordingly as I go along to get it to sea.

[Cklasse]

The Fearless has gained additional floor space. Added the expanded superstructure and bridge wing (you call those wings?), as well as thinned the walls. Some filling and sanding still needed and will work on the starboard side later and the modifications will be considered complete. 

The flight deck tie down holes are too high, so they are sanded down. There is a bare patch on the deck and those holes are totally removed. 

[Cklasse]

The lower deck walls are painted and the hull can finally come together.

The superstructure addition is completed, other than 2 PE boxes that will be added  after the upper deck is painted. I have tried as best to change the configuration from pictures and drawings that I can find in the internet.

[TallBlondJohn]

I think you have already found this superb post, but linking it here for future seekers. Can remove if its a bit thread-drifty.

 

 

[Cklasse]

Yep. I decided to work on a Falklands war ship after reading the post many times and gathering all the pictures I can trawl from the net. 
There will be some missed out or inaccuracy for my build but I will attempt to build as close as my skill permit.

[Cklasse]

Painted the superstructure deck. I would like to ask the ship experts here, does a deck of the ship looks like this or have I over weathered?

[Chewbacca]

On 01/01/2024 at 15:41, Cklasse said:

After studying the drawings and pictures, it looks like the Fearless during the war has a very different superstructure. The rear portion near the flight deck has been extended a lot. 

 

All warships change throughout their lives and FAERLESS/INTREPID were no exception.  The Airfix kit portrays FEARLESS as she was in 1963/64.  Both she and INTREPID had been through several refits by the time they headed south in '82.

 

27 minutes ago, Cklasse said:

Painted the superstructure deck. I would like to ask the ship experts here, does a deck of the ship looks like this or have I over weathered?

 

 

Normally I would argue that that is over-weathered.  For the most part sailors spend a significant part of their working days keeping their ships clean and free from rust/salt build up etc.  However, the Falklands was a bit of an exception to that and the Task Force took a mighty battering at a time when the ship's company had other priorities.  What I don't know for certain was whether FEARLESS had grey foc's'le and superstructure decks or green.  The flight deck would certainly have been grey, but late 70s/early 80s was a period of flux for RN weatherdecks with them being repainted grey depending upon where they were in the refit cycle.

 

I served in INTREPID in '81 and modified the Airfix kit to represent her as she was when I was onboard about 10 years ago.  I shall follow this with interest.

 

I presume you've seen this thread that provides detailed plans for FEARLESS drawn by someone who served onboard during the conflict: 

 

[Cklasse]

The superstructure is more or less completed modified, paint and weathered. Now to add the few other stuffs and the challenging PE railings. 

 

Found a wooden sake box that has the right size cover for the sea diorama. Another first challenge to make a sea diorama. 

 

[Cklasse]

Managed to fit the ship into the foam after numerous cutting. I plan to stick a piece of wavy plastic on the foam to simulate a calm sea with little waves. However, I need expert’s view on the orientation of ship anchored at sea. Am I right to orientate the waves running perpendicular to the ship?

 

My next challenge would be having the sea water in the flooded area. The sea water tend to look emerald green at the shallow flooded deck and gate.

 

[bootneck]

Hi Cklasse,

 

Warships tend to anchor from the bow and without any stern anchorage, unless needing to stay within a narrow or busy channel.  As such, the ship would swing into the flow of the tide, with the water running front to back;  similar to a weather vane being turned in the wind. With the stern ramp down, the rear of the ship acts as sheltered waters for landing craft entering and leaving.  Also, the anchor chain doesn't normally run vertically but at angle, even with a low wind

 

 

 

cheers,

Mike

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, Cklasse said:

My next challenge would be having the sea water in the flooded area.

This could be a an awkward one. Everywhere except the ramp area should imitate deep water while the ramp area should be shallow. When I have done shallow water, I have painted the base (the ramp) the right colours, then used a clear acrylic pouring medium over to bring it up to the water level. The rest needs to be painted a suitable colour then have layer of acrylic gel over everything to simulate ripples/ wavelets. The trick is not to have a stark contrast between the deep and shallow water.

 

My base here shows an aged wooden ramp leading down the the water, below the waterline the area was weathered with green pastels to reflect slight weed growth.

 

And here the 'water' is in place...shallow water.

When you get round to it, I suggest doing a practice run and see what it looks like before doing anything with water.

 

Stuart

[Dave Swindell]

17 hours ago, bootneck said:

Warships tend to anchor from the bow and without any stern anchorage, unless needing to stay within a narrow or busy channel.  As such, the ship would swing into the flow of the tide, with the water running front to back;  similar to a weather vane being turned in the wind.

Strong tide, light wind and a ship at anchor will point into the tide, especially if in a river or estuary. The waves in this case will follow the wind. If the wind is with the tide then the water could be quite smooth with ripples from the bow, against the tide you tend to get a short steep wave pattern from astern, across the tide a combination, with larger waves on the side of the ship the wind is coming from and smaller on the other side in the wind shadow. With a strong tide running you may also get a small wake forming behind the ship ( a ship at anchor in a 6 knot tidal stream would look similar to a ship steaming ahead at 6 knots through the water, but without the propeller effects astern).

 

Strong wind, little or no tide or current eg out in a bay at sea, a ship will swing into wind, so waves coming from the bow.

 

Strong tide and wind from different directions a ship will tend towards pointing into the tide, but off at an angle depending on where the wind is coming from.

 

In the first two cases the anchor chain will lead forwards at an angle down to the water, in the latter case the anchor chain will lead off at an angle to the bow, either away from the hawse pipe or against the ships side and around the stem before leading away at an angle on the other side depending on whether the wind is on the same side as the anchor in use or the opposite side.

 

No wind, no tide and the anchor chain will generally lead straight down from the hawse pipe into the water.

[Chewbacca]

Totally agree with what Dave said above.

 

By way of example, this shows ALACRITY in South Georgia.  Here, the predominant force is the wind which is blowing probably about 20 - 25 kts from about 10 degrees off the port bow.  You can see the cable "growing" at short stay almost straight ahead but the fact that the weight of the ship is being taken by the side of the hawse pipe on the cable suggests there are some tidal forces pushing on the ship from starboard, hence the resultant force of tide and wind not being straight ahead.

 

 

By contrast, this photo of RFA SIR PERCIVALE at anchor at Ascension Island in 1982 shows the wind from straight ahead, perhaps slightly higher windspeed by looking at the jack, but with no tidal force so the cable is at medium stay straight ahead.

 

 

Unfortunately, in both cases, the ships are sheltered by the coast so there is little in the way of corresponding waves.  You can just about make out a slight ripple on the sea running at 90 deg to the wind direction in the image of PERCIVALE

 

Hope that helps

[Cklasse]

Thank you guys for the information. I do noticed all the ships in the sea are pointing at the same direction when I am at the beach every weekend. I can now proceed with the setup that I had planned. 
 

 

[Cklasse]

On 27/01/2024 at 02:20, Courageous said:

 

 

 

I would like to build a diorama like yours one day, with a Sunderland. Possibly one that was stationed in Singapore long ago. The only problem is getting pictures for reference.