Explicit Women Part 2 - the ship that kept me alive in 1982

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Some time ago (scarily, well over 6 years) I broke my wrist, so while I couldn't model I compiled some drawings of HMS Fearless as she was in 1982, when I served in her as a baby Sub Lieutenant during the Falklands War.

 

For those who are interested and/or don't remember this endeavour, you can find it here:

At the time I thought these drawings were going to be used to help me scratch build a Fearless, since the only modern kit available was the 1/700 L'Arsenal job [which I have & is OK, but still needs a lot of work to make it depict her as she was in 1982].  Definitely a build for my retirement, says I.

 

But then about 18 months ago Peter Hall of Atlantic Models contacted me & asked whether he could use my drawings & photos (in addition to a lot of other reference material), because he was working on ... a 1/350 Fearless / Intrepid!  I hasten to add that all the kudos should go to Peter; my drawings helped him to answer a couple of questions, but he has done all the hard work.

 

A couple of weeks ago the kit arrived.  I actually have 2 of them; one will be built for myself and will depict her as she was in San Carlos Water on around 24 May 1982, docked down with the stern gate open and the LCUs & LCVPs busy, Antelope's Lynx on deck in Fly 1 and a Sea King in the process of spreading  (with a tiny me as FDO).  Something like this:

 

 

That is for the future.  

 

This build, however, will depict her as she looked when we sailed back into Pompey in July 1982, looking battered but proud - out of shot on the left of this photo are 3 x LCU in a "missing man" formation, denoting the fact that F4 had been sunk on the same day as the Sir Galahad / Sir Tristram tragedy at Bluff Cove.  This is being built as a present for our Captain during the war, Jeremy Larken.  [Apologies for the quality of the photo, which is taken from a 1983 desk calendar my Dad bought at the time & which is framed on my wall - but I have never seen this excellent photo reproduced anywhere else].

 

Anyway.  The kit.  It's bloomin' lovely; a hulking great piece of resin (& I haven't even bought the full hull version, which must be even heavier), which was one of the reasons Peter gave for not producing this earlier; I discussed it with him 3 or 4 years ago at Telford, and he said he reckoned it was on the edge of what is possible.  But the casting is of the highest quality, and I reckon it shouldn't require too much additional work (famous last words, given my well-known propensity for detailing...).

 

Here is the whole thing: the ridged piece on the left is the underside (deck-head of the dock) of the flight deck part; you can see that we get 1 x Wessex 5 and 1 x Sea King 4; 2 x LCU (the big landing craft carried in the dock) & 4 x LCVP (smaller landing craft carried on davits).  I will use 1 of the LCUs from the other kit to give me 3 (which will be fine, because I only need 1 for the San Carlos scene).

 

Here are the LCUs: the thin casting at the sides is superb, but he also provides PE to replace that section (which I will be doing); the bow door is scored underneath so you can remove it and attach it in the closed position (which I will also be doing).

 

Here the LCVPs & the 2 helos:

 

Here the masts, upper superstructure parts and radars:

 

Here the flight deck underside & stern gate - some stunning casting:

 

Funnels, crane cabs (FS & ID had slightly different flight deck cranes, but they both had the same crane on the port quarterdeck), & "Wendy House" next to the funnels (the shelter for flight deck crew):

 

Extensive PE sheet of Peter's habitual high quality

 

Decals: 

 

The kit 40mm Bofors Mk 7s are white metal and perfectly OK, but I already had some beautiful Black Cat Models 3D printed jobs, which I will almost certainly use:

 

The only other after-market will be these Swordfish Models life raft canisters - the kit's are again white metal, and past experience suggests they aren't the easiest to clean up convincingly.

 

All of this means that my never-ending Ark Royal 5 build is going on the back burner - not for the first time.  I am comfortable enough with this; I have made substantial progress with Ark since I picked it up again in 2024, but there's still a long way to go.  Jeremy isn't getting any younger, so I cannot leave this present indefinitely!

 

More soon

 

Crisp 

[beefy66]

Well I will definitely be following and taking notes from your build this is one tremendous kit that Peter has produced.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Terry1954]

I've been waiting for this for some time Crisp, having really enjoyed part 1 (I love studying plans!)

 

This kit looks fantastic and should be a very fitting present for your Captain of the day.

 

I recall very vividly hearing and seeing news bulletins at the time when I worked in the city, and thinking of all you folk down there doing your bit.

I subsequently worked with, and became great friends with a member of 2 para, who joined our firm some time after the war. He was at at Goose Green, and I'm sure he told me he landed ashore in LCU's from either Fearless or Intrepid. Long time ago now, and memories play tricks! I'll ask him next time we meet.

 

Anyway, hats off to you all.

 

What a back story for a build!

 

Terry

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

I subsequently worked with, and became great friends with a member of 2 para, who joined our firm some time after the war. He was at at Goose Green, and I'm sure he told me he landed ashore in LCU's from either Fearless or Intrepid. Long time ago now, and memories play tricks! I'll ask him next time we meet.

We landed 40 Cdo on D Day from FS.  I’m pretty sure 2 PARA were in Canberra on 21 May, so would have gone ashore in a mixture of FS & ID landing craft.

[Pete in Lincs]

Nice to see you back, Crisp. And with a well deserved subject too.

I was on a Puma course at Westlands while you were down there. We followed the news avidly. Bless them all

Beautiful casting, as you say. It certainly looks like a challenge, Have you found a 1/350 Lynx yet? And, will it all be over by Christmas?

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Yes, I have a 1/350 Lynx; I bought a couple of spares from Peter some time ago (in the era when I was assembling details as I could on the assumption that the ship herself would be scratch built).

 

@Terry1954, thinking a bit more, I think 2 PARA were in Norland on D Day.  

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

References (plus the drawings, obvs!):

 

Bottom right & top left are widely available.  Top right was produced on board for the ship’s company as we sailed home; bottom left compiled by John Prime, the Navigator, in 2022 in order to raise money for the campaign to find the wreck of F4, which has never been found & which is the war grave of 6 of our shipmates.

 

There has been yer actual modelling, too; more later

 

Crisp

[81-er]

This looks like a great project in the making, Crisp, and a beautiful pile of resin to start with. Pulling up a pew... 

 

James

[robgizlu]

Exactly as James said above -

Great to a) see you back modelling and b) see this behemoth come to life

Rob

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

OK, I said there had been some modelling.  As is the nature of things with resin kits, a lot of progress appears to happen quickly - she already looks like Fearless - but there's a long way to go.

 

Though I have already said (& will continue to say) that Peter has done an astonishing job with this kit, even someone of his skill faces the limitations of the medium; for example, this steam pipe feeding into the port funnel from the forward boiler room has been moulded as follows:

 

I tried filing it in situ, but it was wobbling too much and I was worried about snapping the pipe altogether, so I removed it & fettled it separately:

 

Here is the outcome (amidst lots & lots of dust):

 

The fit OOB is astonishingly good, especially for such substantial pieces of resin (the superstructure alone is 7" long - the whole ship 17.5"), but of course it is not 100% perfect, so a tiny bit of filling & sanding has been today's game (hence the dust):

 

Even the flight deck fits ridiculously well (dry fitted at present, and will remain so for a bit; it won't be glued in place until the dock area is complete):

 

So I have actually glued quite a lot of the superstructure today; everything in this series of shots is glued apart from the Special Forces Portakabins up on 04 deck - it will be far easier to paint the deck before installing them:

 

The next game is going to be sorting out the fit of the superstructure to the main hull piece: it fits well fore & aft:

 

...but I think is going to need a shim on either side, because I don't think I trust my eye enough to sand a slight curve into the superstructure while keeping it level:

 

To finish today, here are a couple of shots of the whole ship, with superstructure, flight deck (including FD crane and Wendy House) and stern gate all dry fitted for now:

 

I am not working tomorrow, so hope to get a bit more done then (though I have a few real Life commitments as well).

 

More soon

 

Crisp

[Courageous]

Firstly, welcome back Crisp and what a subject to kick off for 2025. Looks like you're off to a flying start and your pics show very good fitting except the superstructure sides to deck that I'm sure you'll sort out toot-sweet.

 

Stuart

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

In the end I didn't get as much time at the bench today as I had hoped, & I am in London for the next couple of days, so you lovely people will have to be patient.

 

I have transferred Fearless to my trusty ship jig:

 

Then I started work on the LCUs.  This is how they are supplied:

 

As already indicated, Peter provides PE for the side rails, so I have cut away the resin casting there, plus scored the underside of the bow door - if you do it carefully, as per Peter's instructions, the door remains attached and can be glued in the closed position.  I achieved this in 2 of the 3 LCUs; I slightly overdid the scoring for the third & the door came away so was glued without a hinge.  No biggie.  You thus end up with this (pictured before gluing the bow door, obvs):

 

The LCUs have a very distinctive pattern of drain holes in the outer face / underside of the bow door, as seen in this photo:

 

The door in 1/350 is about 1 cm tall by 1.5 cm wide, so it's hardly surprising that the holes are not in the original casting - I have therefore marked this out in pencil in preparation for some drilling action when I am next at the bench later this week:

 

The upper section of the door as seen in that real life photo is PE, which I will add once the drilling is complete.

 

More later in the week

 

Crisp

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

I'll try to keep up with this, I've long had a soft spot for these ships, Fearless especially, since building the Airfix kit probably 55 years or so ago.

Steve.

[Chris Hewitt]

Will be watching,thanks for the tip on the port funnel and already fixed,plus the LCU's. I'm leaning more to have after her last refit with the phalanx fitted.See how that works out.I tried two displays cases ,one from trumpeter(also called Mastertools )Fearless fits ,but can't have the ramp down.the other she sits in now can, I bought for another project opps ! I have found this site (link below) and bought two so far for HMS  Cumberland and HMS Edinburgh both 1/350 .They make made to measure and I have bought so far and only £40, come flat packed,even comes with its own screw driver and with free postage.Highly recommended.

https://boxxco.co.uk/

 

Edited January 7 by Chris Hewitt
add words

[robgizlu]

Great tip Chris - thanks 

Rob

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Chris, what refs do you have for the post-Phalanx configuration?  I have the Jecobin drawings of FS in that state (togethet with the drawings of ID as built, between them they fed my 1982 drawings).  For obvious reasons I have never been all that interested in how she was in later life, but there were almost certainly other changes besides the Phalanx & 20mm GAMBOs.  If you need info, just ask.

[Chris Hewitt]

Many thanks for the offer,I have managed to collect about 20 photos so far of FS with the Phalanx and spotted the funnels had a small deck added,probably will notice ,the more I look. Main thing there not many good close photos.Probably will be in touch in the very near future.

Thanks again.

Edited January 7 by Chris Hewitt

[Chris Hewitt]

Hi All 

           Just received from Starling models,in 1/350 the seacats,Bedford MJ(We called then 4 Tonners), long and short wheeled based Land Rovers and MBT Chieftain tanks, they are the Mk V, I can tell by the NBC unit on the rear of the turret(I should know I drove enough of then).I very impressed with the Seacats ,they come with 4 in set.I have put the ones that come with the kit to compare.On close inspection the vehicles look good as well.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8 by Chris Hewitt

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Nice.  Don’t suppose anyone does a 1/350 Centurion BARV?

 

First minus point for Peter; the LCU PE doesn’t fit.  It’s easily fixed, but the bent nonsense on the port side is where I found that it didn’t fit… as part of fitting it!

 

By coincidence, someone sent me some photos of F8, one of our LCVPs that survives in Portsmouth dockyard, undergoing maintenance.  As you can see, much of the structure of the LCVPs was wood 

 

Clear references for the internal colour of the landing craft, though.  Other refs suggest similar for the LCUs

 

More soon

 

Crisp

[81-er]

Are the blocks foam packing from under the deck to aid floatation in the event of a leak?

 

James

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 1/9/2025 at 10:18 AM, 81-er said:

Are the blocks foam packing from under the deck to aid floatation in the event of a leak?

 

James

No idea, but sounds plausible.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I’ve been continuing to work on the LCUs.  A couple of days ago I got as far as fitting the stern bracket for the kedge anchor, plus said anchor:

 

…but something didn’t feel right; the bracket & anchor feel too low.

 

So I went back to first principles & checked the few photos I have of our LCUs, of which much the best is this one of the ill-fated F4 (may they rest in peace), judging by the volcanic background taken at Ascension on the way down (note before the home made camouflage was painted):

 

That showed me a couple of things.  

A. I was right about the kedge anchor bracket height… but probably my fault, since Peter seems to have added a 2nd rubbing strake which does show on my drawings (& was present on later marks of LCU) but wasn’t there in 1982.

 

B. There are some details that can easily be added but which aren’t really feasible when casting in this tiny size - notably the prominent drainage hole at the bow & the similar slot at the aft end of the well deck.

 

C. The rubbing strokes as cast can be improved.

 

D. The exhaust hole is prominent enough to be worth drilling.

 

All of which leads to this production line (I’ve decided to do all 4 while I’m measuring, drilling & adding, with 1 of them to go back into the box for the later build):

 

 

The middle one is the most finished, despite the PE on the top one.

 

Thus view shows changes to their sterns, also work in progress:

With a bit of luck these should be finished this weekend, ready (gasp) for some paint; then it’s onto the dock.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

[Terry1954]

15 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

ready (gasp) for some paint;

 

Calm down Giorgio @giemme!

 

Nice work on the LCU's!

 

Terry

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Been doing some work on the Sea King HC4.  It comes cast with a Centriseps filter box thingy, so for my era you have to file it off - but Peter provides a neat PE barn door:

I also partially filled the somewhat overdone “panel lines” (doors, windows), which is why they show up white - plus added styrene strut supports, because they’re easier to deal with than the supplied brass versions.  
 

Not unreasonably (most people won’t notice the difference), at a guess Peter has simply taken his excellent HAS5/6, removed the radar & modified the sponsons - because as supplied there are still ESM aerials (though they’d kind of work for HC4s later than 1982).  Forgot to photograph the Sea King as supplied, but you can see some of them here:

 

Contrast that with this:

 

You might also spot a new level of insanity on my part - namely an attempt at a 1/350 “Commando step” under the door.  I’m pretty pleased with how it looks installed; here it is while being built:

 

I have also scribed in place the missing windows on the port side, to help me when it comes to painting:

 

As for the LCUs, work continues, but since I am doing all 4 (3 for this build & 1 for Build 2 in future) it’s a bit repetitive so I am sparing you every step of the way.

 

This is probably the most complete of the 4 at present:

 

In the foreground are L’Arsenal’s excellent tiny bitts/bollards (aimed at 1/700 ships, so good for 1/350 landing craft) - you might be able to make out one each fore & aft on the LCU - slightly paler yellow resin.

 

I have also:

- drilled the prominent drain hole fwd by the bow door, both sides, all 4 LCUs;

- chain drilled & filed to shape the drainage “slot” at the aft end of the tank deck, both sides, all 4;

- extended the rubbing strakes aft.

 

Still to do for some or all:

- finish the bitts/bollards;

- add the radars (PE);

- drill the drain holes in the bow door for 3 of them (you’ve seen the prototype);

- add hawser reels aft, using 1/700 destroyer versions;

- add 2 x life raft canister aft; &

- add small square hatches below the bridge / wheelhouse windows. 
 

So still plenty to do, but I’m in London for the next couple of days, so more at the weekend.

 

Crisp

[The Spadgent]

That’s a heluva BIG and small model you have there.  The detailing is exquisite and you’re doing a stunning job so far. Nice to have you back modelling again dear boy. 
 

I’ll tag along for the ride, it’s going to be fun!!!! 
 

Johnny.