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Bob Fraser

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  1. Bob Fraser
    One method would be to put the window material on the outside and use a raised external framework to cover the edges. Another might be to put an internal framework to hold the window and then add a secondary frame to hold it in place, or instead of an internal framework carefully thin out the wall around the edge of the window and use a frame to the inside edge of that to hold it in place. As for the next layer of railings, the method you used for the stairwell ones looks good. It's all looking good and coming together. The next model, I feel, should always try and stretch what you can do. That one's a nice looking ship too. She's credited with firing the first naval shot in the war - a Confederate (distant cousin) relative of mine is credited with firing the first cannon shot of the war ! 😀
  2. Bob Fraser
    That's nice work on the stairs and the surrounds. Did you paint the railings? Just noticed the pins too, nice touch. Cheers, Bob
  3. Bob Fraser
    Nicely done Dale, good to see one of these finished, so many fall by the wayside because of the way De-Agostini sold these as an "easy" build. Well done! Bob
  4. Bob Fraser
    Hi OC thanks, that was the bit I (mis)read, but even at 120 miles off on the 25th that was still 13 days after Eskimos torpedoing. HMS Eskimo 13th April 1940 after being torpedoed on the 12th. From the Imperial War Museum and other photo collections Eskimo is in operations with Victorious at home in 1942, Pedestal in 1942, North Africa 1942, and with escort carriers Khedive, Speaker and Slinger in 1945. I just cannot find a close escort as described except to these other carriers. I think Revell just threw in the destroyer as an extra, the art on mikegr's box has to be of Legion or Laforey at that particular moment in time, both L-class destroyers with only 1 funnel, so wrong again by Revell. Seems like Revell need to do some checks before committing to names on their boxes 😀 This was just a bit of fun on my part to see if they should be displayed as on the box, or as seperate items. They're being done to be shown as a memoriam set because the 15 year partner of the wifes best friend (who gave them as the present) has just died of complete organ failure due to Covid only 2 weeks after contracting it (no vaccines), she was fine (all vaccines). Cheers for now, Bob
  5. Bob Fraser
    Nicely done! Looking at photos of pilot houses they're all different. The only thing I found in common was larger windows to the front, some just one pane, some with thin vertical mullions and some with thin square mullions, just as long as the viewing was good. The sides were all thicker in most cases. I suppose it depended on how much they wanted to spend on glass - smaller = cheaper 🙂 I just left mine as the large panes - it was easier, although I did line the interior with sapele planking.
  6. Bob Fraser
    Waiting for paint to dry, I did a little digging around t'internet. Revell.de say that this model represents Eskimo at Narvik, correctly as F75 . The Tribal model therefore shows Eskimo as F75 up to 13 April 1940 when her bows were blown off by a torpedo from a German destroyer. After her refit she became G75, and the major differences are the number of portholes at the bows - these were reduced, and a change of guns on the X platform. Ark Royal arrived at Narvik on 29th April 1940, 2 weeks after Eskimo had been torpedoed, having left the Med on the 16th April and Scapa on the 27th. So the modern box art, while looking good, is a work of fiction - if Eskimo did serve with Ark it could have been with Force H or the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, but with her new bows. I'm sure there are people out there with vastly more knowledge than myself on this subject, this is only a quick skim of details, so if you can correct this, please do so. Cheers, Bob
  7. Bob Fraser
    Hi Chris. I've looked at the Scalemates boxart timeline and prior to 1973 the destroyer is unnamed on the box, then an Ashanti rebox in '73 to '79 when it's again unnamed until Eskimo in a 2017 re-box. Looking on Wiki both ships are never mentioned together, unless Eskimo, as part of the 10th destroyer flotilla served with her in the Med between Jan '41 and Jul '41 when the 10th was disbanded. Even on the Ark Royal wiki it doesn't mention any destroyer except for Laforey (G99) and a photo of Legion (G74) alongside when listing. Looked these bits up as an interesting aside earlier this morning It's going to be a fun build anyway! Cheers, Bob
  8. Bob Fraser
    Right - I decided to start with the smaller model, the Tribal class destroyer. This is on 2 small sprues Picked out the sides and after a flash cleanup the wing stanchions and rafts have obvious big excess mouldings. I thinned hese down somewhat And then drilled out the stanchion holes - I know, they're round I did try with a triangle diamond file, but the're too fragile to do much more. If you look hard enough you can see the mouldings aren't accurate either! Sides glued to the bas - gaps very evident. I tried the Revell Plasto filler - I might as well have used the glue to fill them. Maybe it was me, but they didn't come out too well. I had better finishes using the cement and plastic filings to gill gaps on some model cars I did all that time ago. Ah well, hopefully sanding and painting will make them look acceptable, we'll see. I'll be trying another first, the Tamiya masking tape to create the black waterline. Bob
  9. Bob Fraser
    OK, so, a little diversion from wood building. I haven't done much plastic in 40 years, so basically back to the beginning. I was given this little duo kit as a Christmas present last year. It'll be an OOB build with no extra PE, but if i can do an enhancement here and there I'll give it a go. It'll be as accurate as Revell make it. Box art. And full colour instructions - at least front and back 🙂 Comes with 4 sprues of grey parts, and a sheet of decals. Although the box art shows swordfish and various railings these aren't included! Bob
  10. Bob Fraser
    Been a while - apologies. Had to make the front curved rails, as only one was present. Used this as a template to draw round and cut out. Original, roughed out with slot, brass railings in slot ready for top piece and trial fit before final shaping. Added one of the curved front rails Cheers for now, Bob
  11. Bob Fraser
    Those benches look way better than the pics in the instruction booklet, and the figures really bring them to life!
  12. Bob Fraser
    Hi Ian. I have this one to one side, waiting to be started. Nice catch on this, but in Dales defence - Dale has followed the De-Ag instructions, as per the booklet provided, to the letter, and the mistake is De-Ags. De-Ags mistake is hard to spot unless pointed out or you've had experience in fitting sails (which I certainly don't!). Spotting this took a while and a hard look. Page 437 has this picture, showing the jib sails the right way, and page 452 in the instructions, where it describes how to fit them, this one with the rings on the wrong edge. If you look at the sail stitching this is the only way to tell their mistake. Hope this helps, Bob
  13. Bob Fraser
    😀 certainly is - knocked a few uprights off or found the uprights on the stair barriers almost inacessible. BTW don't loose any beads, I think there are just enough and no more. With the smaller posts it'll make them sturdier to drill them and the deck to pin them in place with cut off nails. Nicely done on the stern upright, that at least gives enough room for crew to access the wheel area between the room and the fencing. Looking clean and fresh. 👍 Bob
  14. Bob Fraser
    Hi Bob. Yep, I found the positioning out too, having done the same as yourself with the spacing. I guess it comes down to a half mm here and there, positioning slots being a half mm too wide so the cabin moves a bit. Looks good though. The other thing I found was that each upright was very slightly different and had to be measured with calipers before cutting, and cut slightly over to allow for the slant to be sanded. (I planked the underside of the roof so that's probably why 😀 , also being manufactured more than 16 years ago I guess tolereances weren't so exact and I noticed a slight warp in the deck pieces 😞 ) As everyone here will say, each model is built slightly different, and each builder will make the model their own - you're the captain so have fun building it and most of all don't worry! BTW I like the nails in the stable rail slots - gives them the appearance of strength, something I didn't think of, I've only just noticed them.
  15. Bob Fraser
    Those pesky spiral stairs! 🙂 They've come out well. Mine broke, stair angles wrong, poles not vertical - it just wouldn't go right, so I chucked in the towel and did a straight staircase thats given me a few problems to iron out later on in the build. The deck supports - I had the same misgivings, are they vertical or slanted? Looking at the plans and various photos in the booklet, and as you've pointed out, the distance on deck to the houses, slanted came out the option to go with. One of the full size end on plans shows a slant, at least to my old eyes 🙂 It's all looking good from here!
  16. Bob Fraser
    Much better than mine!
  17. Bob Fraser
    So sorry to hear about Lucy - we know all too well the feeling of such a loss. The paddles are looking good, good catch with the boards.
  18. Bob Fraser
    🙂 🙂. Ah yes, the Mersey Ferry used to be my preferred method of going to work for many years. Many a time the decks were awash with the waves on a stormy day, and getting off one when it was high winds was an adventure - you had to wait for the deck and landing stage gangway to be level and then run for it before a 3 foot gap appeared again! A few times I did jump the gap between stage a ferry just as it was pulling away from the Liverpool stage (much younger and fitter then!). Thinking about it I've never lived further than a 10 - 15 minute drive, and at one point a 2 minute walk, from the river. One of my schoolmates actually became a captain on them. this link will take you to a webcam site of cameras overlooking the river River Mersey To keep back on topic this steamer, USS Willow was moored in the docks a 10 minute walk from where I lived at the time. she's now sunk at her moorings in spain.
  19. Bob Fraser
    You know what, you've just pointed out yet another mistake of mine! Doh... don't I feel a right dummy now. I think that list just gets longer each time I look - never mind, I'll just call it yet another adjustment 🙂 I must have forgotten those holes were there and put the next deck on with the plates on that one - don't know how I missed it! Now the chimneys are higher than they should be. Oops. I totally get the misalignment issue now. Well caught. Please accept my apologies. Thanks for the compliment about my build though 😀. The wife, who it's being built for, loves it and OKs all the changes made.
  20. Bob Fraser
    Bob, the chimneys don't go to through to the second deck, I don't think the dowel is long enough to allow that! Those holes have a square of ply fixed to the roof beneath to close it off. Unless your model has been updated, mine has to be at least 12 years old. This is what I mean. No need to correct the holes. As far as mindless goes, wait till you get to cutting the railing posts for the top decks! 🤯
  21. Bob Fraser
    Slow going, just some more railings added, so no more pics. I've found that 6 out of 8 of the oddly curved precut stern rails are missing 😱 🤬 so I'm going to have to make them myself. They're marked up ready to cut and shape - wish me luck! Cheers, Bob
  22. Bob Fraser
    I look at it this way, any fixes or alterations done make this your own unique build, (my excuse for my own mistakes and fixes!) rather than the AL version. No two real ships appear to be the same anyway! Checking mine again, there's a catalogue of mistakes on this deck, which were all realised after the planking had been done. Having had to rip up a deck of planking previously, I went the easy route for fixes. I've probably used the deck notch to locate the cabins, with the door facing the bow, (it needs to be because of the flagpole placement - photo 55), and done away with the roof tabs to fit the roof longer forward. This gives a slightly shorter back deck, no biggie there as it's access to the flagpole. The forward part needed to have a little scrap planking added, as I hadn't planked far enough under the cabins. Because of the door mistake the pilot house and access stairs, booklet photos 54, 55 and 56, needed to go slightly further back than shown so the stairs didn't cover the centre cabin door. If you look closely at the pics in my build you can see these when compared to the booklet. From what I've read these cabins were usually crew quarters, and even with the mistakes and adjustments everything still seems to fit. I take it from your pic above the door is facing the stern? If so, it looks from your pic as if you've possibly done the same as me - the long 3 panel wrap around window end should be at the cabin end with the biggest gap between the doors. The chimneys - not sure what you mean about the slant. From your pic the holes appear to be correctly aligned with the air vent grilles below. They sit in the holes, with a square of wood, photo 22 part 66 in the booklet, as yet missing in your pic, fitted beneath to stop them going all the way in. They have a protective sleeve, photo 60 part 175, at deck level to help set them vertical and cover the hole. More skew is sorted by the metal fixing between the two, so they should be held vertical in both planes when all parts are fixed in place. Hope this helps a little. Airbrushing looks good, as does the brushwork. Embarrasingly I've had one for a couple of years, but it's still in the box. Be careful when fitting the wood paddles, as the notches for them are quite fragile and can snap. The planks aren't exactly the same thickness over their entire length, and the notches reduce in size due to paint layers and casting differences, not much but just enough to snap if forced as I found out 😞 Cheers for now, Bob
  23. Bob Fraser
    I think most, if not all, of us who have done this model have found the notches out of place, and aligned the deck manually. For the structure beneath the pilot house, check pictures 43 and 44 in the photo booklet for the positioning of the two deck pieces. The longer length of the roof goes forward, and the ventilation deck has the longer end to the back. The door end of the cabins goes forward. Embarrasingly, looking at my build again I can see I've got the door / no door ends at the wrong ends of the cabins, the door end should be at the end where the two cabin doors are closest. I got this and deck 2 the wrong way round at one point before I started the log, or just didn't note it, I forget now. Fortunately it doesn't affect the build as long as the doors face forward. Look ahead to photo 61. The stern steam pipes are misaligned in both planes, even when the decks are aligned. I found I had to trim the thickness on the inside once they went through deck 2 to get them to fit. The holes also need widening slightly. Look ahead to photo 66. The hog chain bracing beams are also misaligned between deck 2 and 3. They should be in a straight line and vertical, not slanted outwards. Before doing any planking on 2 and 3 look at the angles for the fore and aft ones, parts 203 and 204 in photo 66, and angle cut the holes to fit, so that the planking works, and part 202. The holes also need widening slightly. Oh, and you need to drill out the hog chain holes at angles too, easier done at this stage than when all is glued and the railings installed. The written instructions for photos 59 onwards just say follow the photos, and the fitting of these parts is well after planking has been done, so a good planking job could well be upset. (Hindsight is great - I've had to redo planking because of these things.) Hope this helps. Take care, and hopefully the fire won't affect you and yours. Bob
  24. Bob Fraser
    So some progress, but sloooow! Added the two fore stairwell surround railings And started on the railings Here's where it gets slow. Each and every one of the uprights is a different height 😞 Measure, cut and micro sand to a tight fit. Note to future self - maybe cut out the aligned holes on all decks and use one full height piece, measuring on the upper deck to get the post height right as I'm sure they'll still be all different 😱 The lower and upper handrails are slitted to take the P.E. railings and hold them steady. The wood not being the best and not exact along it's full length it does damage the edge slightly. Drillhead dropped to the correct height so no deed for lowering, the brass calipers as a fence aligned at the right depth and straight, the wood can just be slid through. Just realised this was done a year ago! Time flies. And of course Cooper the cat had to help. Given his name maybe I should get him making some barrels 🙂 Cheers for now. Bob
  25. Bob Fraser
    Chimney rigging done, and added lateral tensioners. Hog chains done. Added a lateral chain at the aftmost diagonal, and a crossbeam on the sternposts. The rope was painted matt black to remove the turns, to look like iron rods, an idea stolen from @Cathead - Thanks! These were set into grooves to take them over the diagonals as on many steamers photos show they were bent to shape. Many of them had a criss-cross of rods overhead open decks giving much more lateral and fore-aft strengthening, but I've decided not to show that as it tended to be on the smaller more open ones. Next steps, the fencing and then tackle the foredeck. Cheers for now, Bob

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