desmojen Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 This one is for my Grandad.......... HMS Clover was built by Fleming and Ferguson in 1940 and launched in 1941. She served as a convoy escort throughout the war, mainly in the Western Approaches group but also in Gibraltar and South Africa. Between May and July 1944 she was attached to Operation Neptune to act as a convoy escort for the Normandy landings. She was actually one of the first RN vessels to arrive at the beachead on the morning of the invasion, and ferried back and forth continuously with the convoys dropping off supplies for the landings. After July she continued convoy escort duties on the East coast and in the North Sea and English channel until the end of the war, when she was decommissioned. She was I think a lucky ship (aptly named) and I believe I am right in saying that she holds the record for picking up the most downed airmen of any vessel on convoy defence. My Grandad told me many tales, of living under the forecastle, in a hammock under the bridge, his duties as a gunner on the 4inch main gun, the Pom Poms, the Bofors 40mm and of dropping depth charges. He spoke of Stukas and Junkers 88's, and U-Boats and of chipping ice from the decks in the early mornings. Captain Fanshawe attending my grandparents wedding, and I have no doubt that my Grandad had a special place in his heart for HMS Clover, right up to the day he died. The kit I have for this is the L'Arsenal 1/400 resin kit. I bought it in 2006 for the not inconsiderable sum of £35. The biggest problem I have is that I have never managed to find many photos of Clover, and those that I have show her in the earlier format with mast in front of the bridge. I am building her as she would have been later in the war, with the mast behind the bridge, and extra gun placements at the rear. The same goes for colours and camouflage. All I have to go on is a model he made from wood when he was living aboard. It was painted with actual ships paint, and had a wavy camo of two greys. I no longer have access to that model unfortunately, so I can only attempt to do something similar from memory. Caveats and history out of the way, lets get on and build it! Here is the kit... There's a one piece hull, and a lot of smaller pieces, a decal sheet and three frets of PE parts. The instructions are for the most part written. Not normally a problem, but since I don't speak French all that well it is a small problem this time I started out by filling and sanding the small irregularities along the bottom of the hull where it had been released from its mould, and then I built the bridge structure up. This is a chunk of resin, with a load of etch attached to it. With that done, I mixed up a batch of Mr resin Primer and gave everything a good coat of that. The idea of the resin primer is to give a good solid base for further painting, since most model paints don't adhere all that well to resin parts. It also works to highlight any small air bubbles or minor flaws in the parts, which it has done in places. I will sort out these flaws and then reprime with the resin primer before choosing some paint and getting some colour on. Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Looks to be a lovely little kit when I saw it, and it should make into a great model. Nice to have a bit of back story and meaning to the build as well, that is always nice to see that it really means something too All that PE would scare me Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebos Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Looks good to me. Good idea on the resin primer, I'll have to get some of that after my recent incident. Another one to watch closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxidad Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I know nothing about maritime warfare (or indeed anything else really ), but the kit looks very interesting and is brought to life by your personal connection. Keep up the great photos; it's very informative! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Great choice Jen and a bit of family history to boot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo33 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) Looks pretty cool Jen - you must have great eyesight and tiny fingers....(what it would be to be young again......) it must be tiny in 1/400 isn't it? One of the guys in our Club won a prize at MK with a 1/700 scale Flower Class - the ship modelling equivalent of building a circus on a pin head..... At the other end of the scale I've picked up the Revell 1/72 Flower Class, which is a bit more manageable for my old eyes and fingers!!! but I'll be leaving that one fora suitable (long) time in the future....... EDIT - BTW just noticed - it says on the box 'English instructions included'.....did you lose them? Edited February 26, 2009 by timbo33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Looks pretty cool Jen - you must have great eyesight and tiny fingers....(what it would be to be young again......) it must be tiny in 1/400 isn't it? One of the guys in our Club won a prize at MK with a 1/700 scale Flower Class - the ship modelling equivalent of building a circus on a pin head..... At the other end of the scale I've picked up the Revell 1/72 Flower Class, which is a bit more manageable for my old eyes and fingers!!! but I'll be leaving that one fora suitable (long) time in the future....... EDIT - BTW just noticed - it says on the box 'English instructions included'.....did you lose them? No, not lost, I do have them. The English version is much truncated and very few diagrams are included, hence my problem. The model is about 5 inches long, I included my Swann Morton No.3 handle in one of the pics for size comparisons. I have previously built the WEM 1/700 version, and yes, it is extremely small and gem like. I also have the Matchbox kit, which I built for my Grandad when I was a young teenager. I brought it home for restoration shortly before he died, he'd had it on display for near on twenty years and it was a bit dusty and worse for wear Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyL Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Great choice Jen, and I admire you working on something soo small! I struggle in 1/32 now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 If you're really stuffed re the instructions Jen PM me. I was a qualified government interpreter in another life. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brews Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 (edited) What did the Clover do on D-Day? Was it on convoy escort, that sort of thing? If so, it would have been pretty scary. For translation, you could always use www.babelfish.altavista.com Edit: At Jen's suggestion, I re-read the first post. Answer provided therein Edited February 27, 2009 by Brews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Jiff Kenobi Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Hi Jen. Looks like a nice little kit. If you need any plans or drawings to assist with the lack of English, PM me - I have the "Anatomy of the Ship" book on HMCS Agassiz, which has proper 3-views of everything, and lots of deck plans etc, which may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 I have spent an awful lot of time waiting in this GB. I've been waiting for my uncle to send me some photos of the model I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, I finally got them the other week so I am basing my model on them (rightly or wrongly) This is the model in question, made by my grandad while he was living aboard the ship. It was carved from a bit of wood, and everything on it came from the ship, including the paint, which he got from the forecastle paint locker apparently. So, in the absence of any better reference, my model is going to follow the spirit of this one pretty closely Once I had the pics I chose some colours randomly that looked similar, those being RLM76 Light Blue and Extra Dark Sea Grey (ship-sperts should probably stop reading about now ) I put some black on the bottom and then sprayed the RLM76 where I wanted it. The EDSG is all hand painted which is not the most enjoyable experience with Gunze acrylic, but I keep telling myself that ships are lumpy, not smooth and no-one will mind! The wooden planked bit at the front was sprayed with RLM79 Sand Yellow and then dry brushed with something lighter to give a slightly planky impression, and I have since fitted the PE breakwaters and 4 inch gun base. The bridge, gun turret and pom pom mount are just resting in place at the moment. Enjoying this so far, and hoping to squeak in past the deadline Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Looking very nice so far... Seems much bigger in the pictures though!! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Jiff Kenobi Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Ooh, nice work Jen. She's going to be a corker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Reeder Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Hi Jen, I`ve just found this photo of HMS Clover,but it was taken in 1941,she may have altered a bit by 1944.Nice build by the way,cheers Phil. http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/dbtw-wpd/...mp;FG=0&QS= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Nice one Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 I'm still going! Beavering away to meet the deadline, I'm quite determined to finish on time. Today is all about British Superbikes on TV, so I have Clover on the coffee table, since all I'm doing is adding etch so not much is needed toolwise. The coffee table was made by my grandad too, so that's quite cool I'm just working my way through the PE and small resin bits now. I sprayed the PE sheets so as to ease painting them since they only need tiny bits of touch up after fitting now. I have my Anatomy of HMS Agassiz book by my side to help me with guns and things as I have no clue what they are supposed to look like, and as I said before, the instructions are written and very basic. Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 That looks too fiddly for me Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 I've got to admit, it is pretty fiddly Mish! Some progress through the day, but with failing light I'm calling this it for today. Forward of the funnel is essentially done now, there are an odd few bits still to go on, but not much. I have the day off tomorrow and I think if I use the time to crack on I can get this nearly done, so that's what I plan to do. Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Amazing Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Jiff Kenobi Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 That's looking really nice, Jen. The "Anatomy" book is a real godsend, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 Thanks Obi, the Anatomy book is excellent, yes. Trouble is, once you start digging, it is surprising just how much isn't in there! I've been on this one on and off all day today and have got a reasonable amount done. The left side is virtually all in there now, just the depth charge rack (taking shape on the lolly stick in the pic) and a few small bits. I think I might make some splinter padding up for the bridge too. So, nearly there then. Once I get all the bits on and touched up, I can flat coat it and think about some weathering Jen. (now quietly confident of finishing in time) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 She's looking good Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyL Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Blimey...looking really good. Kudos to you for sorting the PE out...I'd go cross eyed, swear at it (lots) stick it to my fingers and end up binning it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Jiff Kenobi Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Blimey...looking really good. Kudos to you for sorting the PE out...I'd go cross eyed, swear at it (lots) stick it to my fingers and end up binning it!! Me too! Looking at your tiny ship, Jen, makes me glad the one in my stash is 1/72. I still haven't convinced my better half it would make a great ornament for the living room, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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