NavyShooter

My initial concept had been to have a removable deck panel in the middle of the flight deck to allow me access to the interior - then I realized that I need to get to the rudder under the rear of the quarterdeck, so I've got the entire flight deck as a removable panel, printed in 6 sections and glued together. I had some trouble with the flight deck panels sticking to the bed of my printer - someone suggested bumping the print bed temp up from 60C to 70C...and that solved my problem. Flight deck got printed, and the air det (Martlets and Barracudas) are in progress.

I have learned from my Bonnie model that I need to be more patient with paint - it needs to dry more before I do anything with it, be that sanding or recoating. A buddy of mine saw my putty job and suggested to me a new technique. Instead of using straight putty on the hull, you can mix the putty 50/50 with Acetone and brush it on - goes on smoothly, and saves a bunch of time. Dries VERY fast, and apparently this is a technique all the Cosplay folks do for their 3D printed Armour and stuff. So. That's what I'm going to do going forward! Here's how the hull looks puttied up and primed:

My HMCS Bonaventure model is huge - over 7 feet long, and she's a beast to move around to show, or put in the pond (when that happens) so this model is much more convenient in size - she's 41 inches long. Very manageable for a back-seat model to get to the pond. I noted that I have released the complete file set for this model on Thingiverse and Cults - here's the link to Thingiverse: HMS Puncher - WW2 Escort Carrier 1/144 Scale RC Ship by Navyshooter - Thingiverse And Cults3D: Free STL file HMS Puncher - WW2 Escort Carrier 1/144 Scale RC Ship 🚢 ・3D print model to download・Cults I'm aware that at least 3 other builders have theirs in progress - I guess there was some demand for an Escort Carrier 3D model! Here's some pictures of the modules as printed:

Goodday! A while back, I had a look at the RC Model Boat Magazine, and came across a set of plans for an Escort Carrier. Didn't build it, didn't save the plans...then I got back into building a couple of years back (Covid times I guess) and here we are. I wanted to try and build a model of HMS Puncher - a Brit escort carrier that was operated 'by' the RCN in WW2. I decided to try and dig up those plans from RC Model Boat magazine - research turned up that it was the "USS Bodega Bay" plans by Glynn Guest - I liked the idea of an 'easy' build...something to do in the background of 3 other ongoing builds... So, I found a set of the plans, paid the money, and they showed up in a nice yellow envelope. Yay! Then...I looked at the plans. And realized how basic they really are. I was honestly hoping for more....it truly is a pond scale stand-off model. I was tempted to go with it anyhow, then...then I had a thought. As you may recall, I was puttering away with modifying the Johnbuttery Liberty Ship file available on Thingiverse to turn it into a Vismod Park class ship - I've finished that up...it's been printed and is in the paint process now. The model is available free for download on Thingiverse and Cults3D if you want to do it. But, the thing with the Johnbuttery files is that he did a REALLY good job on the hull. The sweep of the deck is very well done too, so there's a lot of complex curves that he correctly tied into the design. That makes it tough for a hack job like me as a 3D 'designer' to adjust. I'd be better off starting from scratch. However. There is another set of Liberty Ship files on Thingiverse, a design by a guy named "Jabberwock" and I decided to have a look at those. His hull design is somewhat simpler - in fact, he's got a completely flat upper deck. That...appeals to me....it means I can easily lop off the upper deck bits and build up from there. So...that's what I did. I'm now bunch of hours into the hacking and slashing and designing, in a mix of Tinkercad and Design-Spark Mechanical, and I'm reasonably pleased with what I'm seeing so far. Here's some early pictures of the process. I'm well along in the build now, but catching up this build log. I ended up printing a 'draft' model of her in 1/350 to see how things looked and work out some bugs.

Good morning! Avoiding the city - I cannot blame you in the least. I don't like going downtown much either. Hope you make it out at some point though!

Welcome aboard! In case you're interested, here in NS there is a group called the Maritime Ship Modellers Guild. We meet the 3rd Saturday of each month at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic at 10 Am. We're always looking for new folks to join our group of builders! The next meeting is Saturday. We also have a F Book page of the same name. We have builders that make 3D printed stuff (me) others who build kits, some who build from scratch, and have some members with absolutely amazing skills. (I have no idea how they do the rigging on the sailing ships...never ceases to amaze me with the detail they can make!) You're welcome to come on out to the meeting, meet the gang, and afterwards, we have free admission to the museum to look around if you want to poke about! NS

Welcome aboard!

Getting there...I dug out some of the air det for visual effect.

A friend of mine ended up at the Aviation Museum in Ottawa and snapped a few photos of the outstanding model that Dan Linton built and donated. Turns out that another friend of mine was one of Mr. Linton's students (he was a high school teacher!)

Things are moving along....

Time to add some yellow lines.... Alas, you can see that the paint bled under the tape...so some touchups required. Green touch-up completed.

That's Awesome!!! I have a buddy who's kid is a Tech in the RCAF and works on CF-18s...but is likely to be transitioning training to the F-35's...I see a Christmas Present option for him to buy his kid! NS

Alignment bars along the sides inside the elevator well.

And here we have a layer of gray applied over top of the green - 8-10 days dry time between coats with a different brand of paint used. No visible bubbling. I'll let it dry for a week and a bit and then re-coat.

New brand of paint plus a week of drying time between coats is a good solution. Not going to rush this again. This is the 2nd layer of green applied, with a light 400 grit sanding before the 2nd layer. I am pleased.

Gotcha. There was a hobby boat show at the old Museum of Science and Tech once upon a time that I was thinking about, but I guess not. All good, and hopefully she turns out well after the refit! NS

That's some cool history there - in 1977 I was 4 years old. I wonder if I ever saw that ship in person when I lived in Ottawa...I recall being involved with the RC Boat group that met at the Canoe Club in the 89-91 time-frame as a kid.

I've got her shifted to the garage next to the dehumidifier for a few weeks to dry out. Once she's dry, I'll worry about repairs. For now, she's clean(ish) and drying(ish) and I'll see if any more cracks show up that need repair. NS

I think I found the source of the leak...and the hull cleaned up fairly well methinks.

BZ! This is a beautiful build! Your work with the photo-etch is fascinating to me. That stuff honestly scares me! The crew is only 5mm tall...wow....well done! NS

So, something I noted is that the last time I was futzing about with the flight deck paint a couple of years ago, I had a problem with paint bubbling...and I had to strip it (I used a belt sander on the plywood that time.) I recall that I used the same type of paint both times. So. This time around, I'm going to try a different brand. We'll see how it goes.

Rattle can. Here's the rest of the deck stripped and primed.

So, the model has been recovered from the pond, and there was a bit of water inside. I cannot see an obvious ingress point, so I'm going to end up having to do a bunch of touchup and resealing before the spring. There is a lot of duck poop....it's a pond model!

OK, so it turns out that apparently regular oven cleaner is a good (fairly) non-toxic way to strip paint. Here's how the first two panels look stripped, and re-primed.

Same exact brand of paint. I didn't let it dry long enough between coats. 😞 In other news, I packed everything into the Naval Museum of Halifax today for our monthly Ship Modellers Guild meeting.