HMAS Vampire by Banyan - Bogey Bits - 1:350 - 3D Print in FXD

[BANYAN]

Hi folks,

 

My next project will be the HMAS Vampire based on a 1:350 #D printed model from Bogeys Bits (via Shapeways).

 

I served a very enjoyable 2.5 years in this ship and it will be a joy building this model of her as it will rekindle many good memories.

 

 

This photo is from the official RAN website.

 

This log is being started now but no serious work will begin before mid-2016 while I research, acquire detail parts etc and get to grips with working with this material. 

 

This is my first non-wood build so I will be learning a lot as I go.  In the meantime I will have to devote some serious time to my long-suffering Endeavour (if I don’t, the Admiral will have some stern words ).

 

Introduction

Hull

Main deck

B Deck (forward lower superstructure)

X Deck (after lower superstructure)

Bridge and GDP (Gun Direction Platform)

Main Mast

Funnel

Radar Superstructure

Boats and Davits

Main Armament

Secondary Armament

 

 

Cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Introduction

 

The following overview of HMAS Vampire is adapted from the description provided in Wikipedia.  Further details can be found at: http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-vampire-ii and https://anmm.wordpress.com/tag/hmas-vampire/

 

The Royal Australian Navy initially ordered four Daring class destroyers, which were to be named after the ships of the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" of World War II.  The ships were modified during construction: most changes were made to improve habitability, including the installation of air-conditioning.  Vampire and her sister ships were the first all-welded ships to be constructed in Australia.

 

The Darings had a standard displacement of 2,800 tons, which increased to 3,600 tons at full load.  Vampire was 390 feet (120 m) long, with a beam of 43 feet (13 m), and a draught of 12 feet 9 inches (3.89 m) at mean, and 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m) at full or deep load.  Her propulsion system consisted of two Foster Wheeler boilers, feeding two English Electric geared turbines, which provided 54,000 horsepower (40,000 kW) to two propeller shafts.  Vampire could sail at over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and had a range of 3,700 nautical miles (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).  Her standard ship's company consisted of 20 officers and 300 sailors.

Vampire was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, New South Wales on 1 July 1952.  The destroyer was launched on 27 October 1956 by the wife of the Governor-General, Sir William Slim.  She was completed on 22 June 1959, and commissioned into the RAN in Sydney a day later.  In June 1970, Vampire was handed over to Williamstown Naval Dockyard for a $US10 million modernisation.  Vampire re-entered active service on 4 March 1972.

On 25 June 1986, Vampire left active service.  She was decommissioned on 13 August 1986, having spent 27 years in service, and travelled 808,026 nautical miles (1,496,464 km).  She was later presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum for preservation as a museum ship.

 

I will be depicting her as she was when I served in her in 1973 through to mid-1976 when she was COMAUSDESRON 2 (Commander Australian Destroyer Squadron 2).  Her livery will reflect the “pretty work” detail she had when were deployed to the SE Asia station and her visit to the US Bicentennial celebrations.  She will therefore be sporting nice white bollards, fairleads and other tiddly bits .

 

At that time, post-refit, her main armament comprised six 4.5-inch (110 mm) Mark V guns mounted in three Mark 6 twin turrets, two forward and one aft.  Her anti-aircraft outfit consisted of six 40 mm Bofors; two single mountings on the forward superstructure, and two twin mountings on the aft superstructure.  Four 0.5-inch (13 mm) Browning machine guns were carried for point defence.  For anti-submarine warfare, a Limbo anti-submarine mortar was carried on the aft deck, offset to port.

Vampire was fitted with a Type 170 attack sonar, a Type 174 search sonar, and a Type 185 submarine detection sonar.  The fire control directors were two WM22 units.  The long range air warning radar was an LW-02, and an 8GR-301A surface search and navigation radar was installed.

cheers

 

Pat

Edited November 15, 2018 by BANYAN

[BANYAN]

The following photos show the various aspects of the parts designed by Bogey and printed in 3D (Frosted Extreme Detail - FXD) by Shapeways. 

 

This is my first resin 3D printed kit so I do not have much to compare with.  That said it appears a sound kit; I certainly cannt complain about detail as Bogey has included everything we could find to represent her appearance in 1975/76.  This detail shows up very well even at this scale (1:350).

 

I will provide a more detailed report of all of the bits and pieces as I get to grips with what is / is not provided and where greater detail will be needed.

 

These are the kit bits and pieces provided:

 

There are still a few bits to come  (mainly deck fittings), some PE and the decals.

 

I look forward to making a start as the research has been quite enlightening - trying to remember what all the equipment and their locations and arrangements.

I must also thanks Jim Lad (John) for the many trips to Vampire photographing all the details for me.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited November 15, 2018 by BANYAN

[rpeteru]

Will be watching this one as I was on Duchess in 1967.

[ccoyle]

Am I correct in assuming the kit came packaged in a tube?  That'd be a first for me.

[BANYAN]

Hi Chris, yep in a tube in bubble wrap   [Edit:  I am no longer building the resin version Chris refers to and I discuss below]

 

Not sure about the real quality of this kit yet.  While there is a lot of hint of detail, not much is fine detail but at this scale that is to be expected I think?

 

Also there are quite a few air bubble holes (larger than pinholes - probably 1 to 2mm wide, but also pinholes.) and the bubbling/descaling evident on the port bow at the waterline (see first photo).  This is all repairable but perhaps should have been caught in QA? Perhaps I may have been expecting too much?

 

I just had a quick look at your Torpedo Boat V108 - a very nice build and excellent finish.  Is that a resin also. 

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited October 16, 2015 by BANYAN

[BANYAN]

Hi rpeteru;

 

I went to Duchess after leaving Vampire and paid her off - many a fine run in the Sth Pacific   Thanks for looking in mate.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

Nice to see that the 'Bat' is at least on the bench, Pat.

 

Re your Endeavour - I suppose if the missus had stern words you'd bow to the pressure!

 

John

[BANYAN]

Hi John (Jim Lad),

 

thanks for looking in and the 'comments'  - me bow - NEVER (well only until dinner time)

 

cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hi John (Neptune) thanks for looking in also.  I have done a dry fit of the bits and pieces without having sanded the flash etc off and all seems to align pretty well but there will be a gap where the two hull halves join.

 

As to the pin/holes, a tip I have picked up is to fill them with 5 min brush on resin gel (the stuff fingernail artists use) as it adheres better than putties and works well.  I have picked up a bottle and intend to try it this weekend.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Omega1234]

Hi Banyan

 

Definitely looking forward to this one and will keep a close eye on research and construction.

 

All the best

Patrick

[mtaylor]

Pat,

 

This looks to be fun.. and the research and memories will a big part of it.   I'm pulling up a chair also.

[BANYAN]

While assessing the Resin kit version  I had decided to change the turrets provided in the kit.  A close inspection shows that some of turrets were subtly different.  Only B turret had the aerial mounting platform, and other turrets have different numbers of access panels.  Bogey (from bogeys bits) was able to create a set that represents the turrets exactly as fitted in Vampire, and with a little more detail than the resin kit version provides.  I am still trying to find brass barrels for the 4.5" guns, but will resort the printed ones.  If you have a close look at the printed turrets, bogey provides two mounting options, one with, one without the barrels in situ.  the design also allows the barrels to be set at any angle you like.  There is also more detail provided in the barbette mounting/slip ring under the turret. 

 

This was fortuitous, as these parts are now part of the 3D printed kit.

 

These bits are designed by Bogey and printed via shapeways in Frosted Extreme (FXD) Detail which really is great for showing detail, even at this small scale.  See:

http://www.shapeways.com/product/RVMV7YE2B/hmas-vampire-d11-4-5-inch-mk6-set-1-350-scale?li=shop-results&optionId=57742057&rc=SearchResults 

 

The following is a copy of picture from Bogey's page on Shapeways which shows what it can look like when painted.  Also shown is a copy of the Limbo Mk10 mortar that will be fitted.  Also note that this is a standard turret and that Vampire had 3 panels in hers.

 

 

These printed items are good value for money and will allow me to show much more detail.

 

Anyone know of a brass barrel manufacturer (at 1:350) for these 4.5" guns (Master does not have them)?

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited October 16, 2015 by BANYAN

[Keith_W]

Hey Pat, great to see a new worklog. You served on these boats in 1973? You don't look that old! I think I have more white hair than you! 

 

If you need brass barrels of that size, why not turn them? You have a Sherline lathe, don't you? 

[dgbot]

Nice build with several memories. However how did they come up with the name?

David B

[BANYAN]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for looking in Patrick (great name!), Mark and Dave.  Dave Vampire 1 was one of the ships in our old 'V' class and formed part of the 'scrap-iron' flotilla during WWII in the Med. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrap_Iron_Flotilla - Vampire II, along with Voyager and Vendetta, were named in their honour and followed the RN tradition of renaming ships with the same name if they had 'honourable' names and histories.  The scrap iron flotilla proved a very big thorn in the side of German attempts to supply their troops and trying to isolate ours - got quite a name for themselves.  The number of names that can be used that start with V are limited so perhaps that is one of the reasons for "Vampire"?

 

Brian, here is an example of what I mean by the pin-holing (you need to  open it the larger size); appreciate your interest in this little project.

 

 

I don't know if this is normal (this degree of holes) for resin or not as it is my first one

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited February 8, 2015 by BANYAN

[BANYAN]

Hi again folks,

 

I have applied some of the resin and waiting for it to fully set to see if this is better than a putty option, which from reports I have read sometimes falls out of resin.  I will post a full report once it has set.

 

In the meantime I have made a small start on getting rid of excess flash/moulding etc.  While looking around the net for ideas etc I came across the following from Hobby Elements (no connections etc)  - it works great on resin.  I have it set up in my Dremel shaft for that extra bit of flexibility.  It is a 3mm shaft so unfortunately does not fit in the dental tool (2.34mm)

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

[Bogey]

Hi gang and Pat. My first post here. I am the infamous Bogey. I have been working with Pat to try to upgrade the Ozmods kit, and convert it back to the pre refit version. The good news is the Limbo launcher is now available with the barrels the right way round as well. I am starting to get on top of the other small rectifies for the kit, so here is a pic of the situation so far.

 

 

Hope to have the upgrade kit completed soon, and Ive just managed to bag a 600 scale Airfix Daring off ebay, so I will see what I can do with that one afterwards.

 

Looking forwards to seeing this one built.

 

Cheers, Bogey.

 

ps, Did some of my training on Diamond D35 back in the day, so this was in the works before Pat contacted me.

 

pps, Have you seen my bits. http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bogeysbits

Edited February 7, 2015 by Bogey

[BANYAN]

Thanks Bogey, these bits are real 'nice' with plenty of detail for the scale and will correct some small errors, and poor definition in the kit.  In this post I will try and add some of the thought processes going into the preparation for the building of this kit. 

 

As stated earlier, my intention is to try to depict her as she was back in 1973-76 so the biggest alteration will be to remove the classroom modifications and reinstate the Limbo Mk10 mortar, Type 182 towed torpedo decoy and add the correct boats.  Unfortunately the ones in the kit look nothing like the real boats.  The enhancements are to add the appropriate detail for such things as davits, cranes, RAS equipment, and better define the anchor capstan area on the forecastle

 

John (Jim Lad) has been very helpful in ducking over to the 'bat' to get detail photos and dimensions of parts for us.  Thanks again John, very much appreciate that.

 

With the addition of some new decals for the gun barrel safety rings,  danger and RADHAZ signs etc, and some PE for rope reels, guard rails etc.; hopefully I will be able to create a more accurate model.  The hull is pretty good with just a small gap at the bow area to fill (dry fit assessment only).  I am currently struggling with how to do the many upper deck fire hose racks with hydrants.  These are going to be very finicky PE folding exercises (micro-origami) I think

 

I will provided some discussion about decisions taken, the detail Bogey has been able to add for me and show you the kit part versus the enhanced detail parts from Bogey via Shapeways 3D printing.  The frosted resin prints provide some nice detail, even at this scale.  For example, the after castle block now has the properly defined vent intakes which even with well made PE would have been very hard to replicate.  These are done in such a way that they have the same effect of 'added' detail so that minimal pre-shading etc will be required for definition when I start painting.

 

I am currently getting the paints organised and Defence Models and Graphics (Australia)have been very helpful in providing some advice.  I will provide more complete discussion on this when it is time to spray the first paint.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited May 17, 2018 by BANYAN

[Bogey]

Hi everyone. Sorry for keeping Pat waiting. Still makeing good progress though, with the "revised list of spares".

 

 

 

Probable gone over the top with some details, and they will be too small to see in the final print, but, saying that, they will print at a larger scale without too much rework.

 

Hope to have the upgrade kit ready soon.

 

Cheers, Bogey.

[schooner]

Hey Pat,

 

 I just came across your log. Great looking ship, can't beat an all gun destroyer. Glad to see another steel-hull build underway. I'm really looking forward to watching you detail her. I've been having fun doing that on my Basilone build but at 1/192 it's quite a bit easier than 1/350. On the other hand there are a ton of after market PE and decal options available to you at 1/350, much more than at 1/192.

 

I've built a few small resin kits. Pin holes and voids are just part of the fun, yours doesn't look too bad compared to other manufacturer's. Before you get to the stage of painting stuff I hope you are aware that resin parts have to be cleaned first or the paint will not stick. Some kits just need warm water and soap, others need commercial silicone remover. You may want to experiment on some scrap pieces before you go big on painting.

 

If you have not checked them out, L'Arsenal has a lot of 1/350 resin and PE details that might come in handy, that said the upgrade kit for your model looks really sweet so you may not need to go anywhere else.

 

Good luck and have fun

Tim 

Edited March 3, 2015 by schooner

[BANYAN]

Thanks for looking in Schooner; I am hoping to have a little fun with tis build once we get the issues sorted.

 

Bogey, thanks for posting the updates mate - appreciated .  At this point, rather than have the log jump ahead of itself I might add the updates to the 3D print as they are used?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hi all,

 

As you can see from Bogey's update to the parts he is producing for me (replacement parts to the OzMod resin model), there is a considerable amount of change.  This has been brought about by three main reasons:

 

1.  I wanted to reconfigure her to the fit as she was in 1973/76.

2.  The superstructure blocks produced by OzMod had a number of errors and had omitted a fair bit of the detail.

3.  I wished to produce as detailed a model as I could at that scale (noting this is my first resin build.

 

I will point out some of the omissions and changes that required the new versions as I get to those parts. Basically, only the hull, PE (radar etc) and the decals from the kit will be utilised.

 

My next task is to clean these parts and prep them for gluing together.  I am contemplating drilling a couple of small dowel holes after aligning and masking taping the above and below waterline model parts together to make alignment with the glue in place a little easier.  if I can align these holes with where the pedestals will fit - even better   However, I think that may prove elusive as there is a big cut out in the upper resin hull block where I think I need to place the after pedestal.

 

I have read online that wheel cleaner is good for ensuring the removal of the mould release.  I have invested in some non-acidic cleaner designed for cleaning white-wall tyres so I will test it on one of the superstructure blocks this weekend to ensure I do not have any unfortunate reaction/outcomes.

 

I must say though that the detail Bogey is providing is outstanding and should allow a nicely detailed model.  I must also thank Jim Lad again - John without your data and trips over to her for photographs and measurements we could not have achieved this level of detail.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[cog]

A so you are building/printing the new version RGL, Popeye, and me are building ... Glad I haven't missed a lot, the printer isn't as fast I my slow displacement Interesting build though. Never thought about replacing parts of a resin build to either improve or build another model.

[BANYAN]

Still in the waiting list despite several attempts to make a start Carl.  Unfortunately the research side of my 'HMCSS Victoria' build is taking far too much of my time   That said, i think I will break her out and have a go very soon - your new group build has 'wetted' the appetitite

 

cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hull

 

Hi all, after a prolonged delay in starting this build due to many 'life' and other build pressures, i have finally found an opportunity to make a start on this build.

 

I have started assembling the main hull structure which came in 4 pieces.  These  hull parts fitted together very well once I removed one very minor joint fitting issue (needed to be trimmed/cut away), resulting in very tight joints that will require very little filling and sanding.  Bogey is aware of the joint issue now and and will address the master 3D model accordingly.

I have yet to fit the rudders and the propeller guards to the hull, but I have drilled out the two holes in the base to accept pedestal style display stands.  There are also the propellers and the anchors to fit, but these will be done after painting the hull.

 

I found the only CA that would work with this type of material was Loctite Pro, having tried at least 6 other brands.  This was not due to residue or the like as i gave the parts a thorough was in wheel cleaning solution using a soft toothbrush to give them a gentle brush, then a clean a Ultrasonic bath for 4 minutes before rinsing and then air drying in the sun (which also helped to set the parts as they need UV to harden them).  Initially I was put off with the parts appearing to get a white frosted coating but apparently this is normal and does not interfere with paint adhesion.

Extreme care is needed when handling the parts as this material is very brittle but it sure does show fine detail very well.  Not so evident n the attached photos but they will pop when the undercoat is applied.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited November 15, 2018 by BANYAN

[Old Collingwood]

Great to see you back on this - I had a quick nosey on the earler stages,   I wasnt  following the build then but will deffo now.

 

OC.

[cog]

A continuation ... I have been looking forward to this. Thanks for the tip on the loctite. I work with Bob Smith Industries CA with this 3D printed material Insta-Cure+ to be exact

[RGL]

Heeeee’s Back!!!

[BANYAN]

Thanks guys, appreciate the support.  Now to see if I can get my 'fat' fingers working and not break any parts

 

Thanks for the Heads' up on the CA Carl, I'll see if I can find some.

 

cheers

 

Pat