king derelict

Thank you very much OC. Two of the sets look promising. I want the sea boots, duffel coats and caps look rather than flared trousers and bibs. Alan

Thanks Mike I'll look into that. I'm not seeing much in the local online stores. ICM have some 1/48 USAAF crew figures that it might be possible to modify but they would need a lot of work. Alan

Not a lot of time to play today but I did get the last sets of tracks completed. I finessed the methodology and cut off the alignment pip on the jig for the sprocket wheel. Instead I glued the first link on the wheel and let it dry then put the wheel on the jig and rotated the wheel until the link was in place with the top length. That was quicker and less frustrating and seems to have produced a good result. The next tasks are adding the basics to the hull and making up the turrets with just the basic elements and then its off to the paint shop Thanks for looking in Alan

That sounds good OC. I'm not sure the kit instructions always give the best solution. Alan

A small package arrived today from Cornwall Sheaves, hooks, stanchions and an ensign so I can try to improve the boat falls and finish off the last details, EXCEPT = I now have @Old Collingwood thought about adding a crew rattling around in my head. I'm looking for suitable figures in 1/48 to turn into Atlantic convoy sailors.(ie wearing anything as long as its warm Alan

As an apprentice I earned 19 pounds a week in 1972 but rent and meals at the hostel were 3.50 pounds a week, petrol was 35 pence and a pint of beer was 10 pence so ............... Alan

Well with all the lessons learnt yesterday continuing with the tracks turned to be - a continuing pain and probably used up the rest of Augusts spicy language allowance. It was fiddly to line up the sprocket teeth and the link and length interface but it eventually got there and the first set are complete. The spacing looks good and I can't actually tell where the transition is from length to individual link so I am happy. A dry fit on the hull proved that the jig sprocket to front wheel distance matches the hull (major relief) and it looks like the short bottom section should be a good fit. I decided that clipping the teeth off the tracks to slide over the idler wheels was not going to be very tidy even though they won't be seen so I ripped off the trucks that had been installed on the first hull. Luckily I had not used much glue and they came off easily. My plan is to put the track in place using the front wheel and sprocket wheel then add the trucks and finally the lower length of track. A test fit suggests that it should work. The instructions have you put the trucks on first (as I did initially) and then add the tracks. There is no suggestion of how you get the teeth over the idlers. So, the trucks will need to be painted separately after all. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend all Alan

I finished building two sets of undercarriage yesterday and installed one set. This is where the parallel build diverges. I want to move forward with one tank getting the tracks sorted out and use any lssons to do a better job on the second build. The first job today was to trim off some of the features behind the drivers hatch which belong to an earlier mark. The modified hull is on the right. The Micro Mark chisels worked nicely The sprocket wheels were made up. The sprues are in between the teeth which required some careful trimming but I managed to get all eight done without cutting any teeth off. The two halves have a feature to register the teeth on both halves. The kit provides a jig to build up the tracks. Its double sided to work for both sets of tracks bt I am betting I forget to turn it over the second set. The jig has some nice features; little pips to hold the sprocket wheet in the correct place to line up with the tracks and also pips to register the tracks. So far so good. The problem was holding the top length of track, the sprocket wheel and the rear wheel in place while trying to add the links. Tape worked for the upper length but I finally thought of beeswax to hold the wheels in place. Things then got a little more interesting. The links were reluctant to join together. After some messing around I found that the moulding in the recessed parts of the track link seemed to be blocking the assembly so I filed it back and the links fitted together. Then I found the links and length wouldn't sit around the sprocket wheel teeth. This seemed to be because the teeth were too thick so I filed back the inside of the wheel I read that this is a scaled down version of Takoms 1/35 kit so maybe the reduction in size resulted in the problem. With the parts reworked the links have been fitted around the sprocket wheel and seem to have fitted into place quite well I'm realising that the teeth on the underside of the tracks are not going to have enough room to slip over the idler return wheels. I can trim them off in the relevant areas = the skirts will hide the top section of track. I will think of some alternatives for the second build. Small but interesting with some definite challenges. Thanks for the interest and comments alan

Glad to have you onboard Egilman. Your help and reference information is always greatly appreciated. Thanks for the tips on assembling the tracks = its going to be interesting. I'm saving up the daily allowance of bad language ready for it. Alan

I think it was one of the better British tanks; always liked them Alan

Thanks Mark I'm looking forward to trying the Berlin urban paint scheme Alan

Thanks Ken. I hope you enjoy this. So far the big sprues aren't a problem they are placed where it is easy to clean them up Alan

Looking forward to the Scharnhorst very much. It will be a great model Alan

A great model Craig. The exhausts came out so very well along with a complex paint scheme Alan

Oh yes please a Mosquito build log. That is a great aircraft. When I was a young apprentice at hawker Siddeley (formerly de Havilland) they still had a flying Mossie and the test pilots used to take it up regularly. It was wonderful to be out on the airfield dawdling over some errand and watch it take off and fly low passes over the airfield. Its an unforgettable sound. The Beaufort came out beautifully. You did a great job on the cockpit masking and the paint scheme is excellent. great job. Nice to see a Beaufighter too. I always thought that was a great aircraft. Alan

Very nice Alan

I have a feeling this may be an exercise in public humiliation but hopefully everyone will be kind. The Flower corvette is waiting for parts to come in so I wanted to start something else while I'm waiting Having recently invested in a set of circle templates and a masking mat I thoutht I should put them to use at an early date. So the diversion of choice is the 1/72 Takom Chieftain kit in 1/72 scale As the box says there are two complete models in the box to make both the Mk10 and Mk11 variants. I want to try to build one with the Berlin Brigade urban paint scheme as shown on the box art. That should get my moneys worth out of the masking mat and possibly cause gales of mirth amongst the audience. The box is well stuffed with plastic and three sheets of PE and a decent looking set of instructions and various paint schemes. Its really nice to be back on the work bench with good lighting rather than entertaining the cats with the corvette on teh kitchen table. I decided to build the two models in parallel at least to the end of the common parts. So two hulls now made Fit is nice and so is detail. Sprues are a bit chunky. Lots of road wheels made up in halves. Interestingly there is a pip and dimple to register the mating halves. I'm not sure why; it seems to align the bolt pattern on front and back which I guess is important to the detail oriented 😉 A nice touch The first trucks have been assembled. I think I will assemble the road wheels and general undercarriage before painting but I need to work out how the tracks are going to go on. I expect to only build the bare hull before starting the paint work> I need to minimise the difficulties of masking the hull. This may be well beyond my abilities but it might be interesting and hopefully fun Thanks for looking in Alan

The engine is lovely Alan

The PE looks really nice and neat. Great work. I think this will be outstanding. Alan

Thank you very much. She looks like a great ship to visit. Alan

Out of curiosity I weighed Campanula and it is about 0.5 kg / 1.1 lbs lighter than the model made by @yvesvidal I'm wondering what I forgot to build.😃 I think it will be another week before the finishing bits come from Cornwall so I'm going to start something new. Plane, tank or ship' I'm not sure but it will nice to be back working on my bench instead of the kitchen table, Alan

Thanks for the kind words OC. Figures? But then I would showcase my terrible figure painting abilities. 😉 Although you have me thinking. I could paint the figures white as "ghost" sailors. I have seen that done effectively on a few builds. Or try and paint them and ghost them if they are horrible. Alan

She looks great. The crane is really neatly done. Alan

Excellent work on the camouflage Craig. Alan

I've been playing around with the rigging and finally settled on using 0.5mm elastic thread for the main mast rigging and 0.25mm thread for halyards and aerials. The information I have for Campanulas rigging is sketchy; the photos are not detailed enough and I have only a side view in drawings. My 1/350 Pennywort kit has a good rigging diagram - but in true Flower tradition - its completely different. So the finished rigging is a little basic and maybe rather generic too. Now I'm waiting for the package to arrive from Cornwall Model Boats with the bits needed to finish her. Its been a long journey from three spools of filament and a certain amount of shockingly bad language. Thanks for looking in Alan