Flower-Class Corvette by Yves Vidal - FINISHED - 1/48 - Bensworx Virtual Kit - 3D printed

[el cid]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:00 PM, lmagna said:

 No wonder it was so hard to feed the crew while at sea on these ships! it looks like from the drawings that there is no means provided to transport the meals to the mess, (wherever that is) without having to go onto the open deck! I always knew that the Flowers were strange ducks in many ways, but this pretty much takes the cake.

The crew’s mess was all the way forward. On the early Flowers, before the focsle deck was extended back to the pilot house and enclosed below, the only access to this berthing/messing compartment was via the exposed foredeck. I seem to recall Nicholas Monserrat (sp?) touching on this “inconvenience” in “The Cruel Sea” or “Three Corvettes,” both highly recommended if you haven’t already read.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[yvesvidal]

4 hours ago, Mike P said:

Yves, not to be a pain but I’ve been looking at the printer and the Bensworx virtual kit. Does the kit come with all the 

files to copy everything? I’m a total novice so bear with me you down load the kit files to your computer and transfer them somehow to the printer is that how it works? I have a Mac computer. Thank you Mike

 

 Mike,

 

Nothing wrong about asking a question. Yes the virtual kit has all the parts that you see on my log. Every time I add something, it is mentioned. So far,only the stanchions and wood + styrene strips have been added to the parts produced by the 3D printer. I am a newbie in that technology and the only thing I know to do is to modify the size of parts before printing.

 

Yves

[Mike P]

Thank you Yves, I’m considering getting into it as the 3D printers are really not that expensive but like everything else 

there’s always the add ons I will look into it as it’s really the future thank you for you time. Mike 

[yvesvidal]

I wanted to publish these pictures which are showing some interesting perspectives. Both vessels are at the same scale 1/48th, and have been the epitome of nemesis: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It makes for an interesting comparison.

 

Yves

[CDW]

Very very interesting to see side-by-side in the same scale.

[mtaylor]

That does put things in perspective seeing them side by side.  Normally, we only see them as individual photos. 

[Old Collingwood]

I have to say  - I also love your audio equipment  I used to also have some nice gear  when I was into it  - Celestion/Q-Deck/Rotel/Denon.

 

Nice work by the way.

 

OC.

[yvesvidal]

The display stand has been finalized: 

 

 

The ship is secured by two #10 bolts and rests on soft piece of Balsa wood, stained with cherry wood color.

 

 

 

 

 

It may not be the prettiest display stand, but it it is sturdy and allows me to store the project vertically: 

 

 

It even holds by itself.....

 

 

I will keep using the Kit provided stand to work on the model. It is a lot lighter and more maneuverable: 

 

 

Yves

 

 

 

 

[bdgiantman2]

Hi Yves. This has been a fun project to follow and you have been doing a great job of printing and building this ship. I hope the corvette blows up that U-boat! lol.

 

Brian

[lmagna]

7 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

I will keep using the Kit provided stand to work on the model. It is a lot lighter and more maneuverable: 

The kit provided stand looks like you could screw into the two cross pieces just as you did with your drydock stand and then adjust the dowels to allow vertical storage. Or just put a hook on it and hang it from the wall like a picture.  Vertical or horizontal it is going to be a good looking as well as impressive looking model.

[RGL]

Damn that looks good. Depending on how far you wish to send yourself broke, Micromaster has just brought out their guns! 

[yvesvidal]

Yes, definitely a big improvement over the kit supplied gun. I cannot even imagine what it would cost in 1/48th scale.... 😞

However, the good thing is that it is way too modern for the Snowberry..... 🙂

 

Yves

Edited September 2, 2021 by yvesvidal

[lmagna]

6 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

the good thing is that it is way too modern for the Snowberry

I think it is the right gun, even the right turret for the Snowberry but she may have never been fitted with the flare launchers. Like you say though the cost would probably be more than you have spent for the whole model so far, (Except the printer) if they offered it in 1/48th.

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, lmagna said:

I think it is the right gun, even the right turret for the Snowberry but she may have never been fitted with the flare launchers. 

 Exactly. Snowberry had Donald Duck instead of Flare Launchers.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

MODULE #5

 

Alright, time for a few updates. I am leading multiple fights at once with this model and cannot really work one module at a time. So without waiting, let's go to the Module #5.

 

As a summary, here are the sub-assemblies that I have created on this model: 

 

Module #1: the bow or stem - Finished as you could see in previous posts.

Module #2: the Gun and Edgehog - Not much done so far.

Module #3a: The Wheel house. Soon to be unveiled...

Module #3b: The deck - Nothing so far.

Module #4a: The Galley - Almost completed - Mast being developed....

Module #4b: The Funnel house - Completed.

Module #4c: The Dinghies.... a lot to do.

Module #5: We are talking about it below....

Module #6: the stern and the depth charge launchers - Nothing much.

 

The kit was developed around the HMS Agassiz and that particular section of the model does not match the Snowberry. The kit engine room is way too short and the rear platform located between the charge rails and the rear of the engine room is too wide. It looks like a dance floor and does not fit Snowberry.

 

 

When you look at pictures of the Snowberry and actually most reworked Corvette, the engine room is much longer and comes close to the rear of the charge launchers. Modifying these parts is not easy because of the curvature of the cabin and of the decks.

 

 

 

If I was a wizard in Sketchup, I could have taken the existing engine room parts and extended them, before printing. But I am not that wizard. So, we are going to have to do it, in the traditional modeler way: cutting, gluing, sanding....and repeat.

 

Also, Snowberry has a set of inflatable Dinghies/Rafts sitting next to the funnel and two stairs linking the main deck with the rear deck. These aspects are completely missing on the Virtual kit. Some modifications are in order: 

 

 

Here you can see a piece of deck that I printed, using a deck joiner part and changing its size. I sized it exactly at 33 mm wide, 140 mm long and 1.6 mm thick. It fits perfectly between the main deck and the engine room roof, and will provide the base for two ladders/stairs going down to the rear deck. The rest of the space will be used for a couple of rafts.

 

 

Now, we can see that the rear of the engine room is getting more realistic. The additional section is made by printing again the forward engine room walls and cutting the first panel off. These left and right panels are then glued to a second print of the rear wall. That is the beauty of printing your own parts: you can do it as many times as you want.

 

From an aerial perspective, we now have the following: 

 

 

Below is the details of the engine room roofs: 

 

 

The rails provide a way to fit the roof in place and hold it tight, until its permanent gluing. Painted: 

 

 

Another major milestone, once everything has been fitted and tested many times, is the gluing of the engine room to the hull. Here again, I would recommend keeping all the hull join parts intact, as they are very useful to hold everything in place: 

 

 

Notice how well the kit is designed with the perfect indentation of the engine room walls into the very thick deck of Module #4: 

 

 

Then the 1.6 mm thickness of the engine room deck, fits perfectly flush with the main deck. More pictures of this major milestone: 

 

 

 

 

The U shape profile is used to prevent the sagging of the engine room walls, when you install the wooden decks.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy.

 

Yves

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by yvesvidal

[clearway]

that looks better- i was wondering why the original set up didn't look right (i am building Snowberry using the Matchbox 1/72 kit with the Great little Ships upgrade set) though that build resembles the speed of continental drift!

 

Keith

[yvesvidal]

MODULE #3a - The Wheel House

 

As promised, here are a few pictures of the Wheel house, located on Module #3a. I have decided to not depict the inside of it, first because I am not sure how it was done and secondly for the simple reason that it will be almost impossible to look into it.

 

The Virtual kit provides all the parts that you see here. The only additions are: 

 

- 3 stanchions (Caldercraft 20 mm)

- Thin plexiglass to simulate the glass

- 1/32th x 1/8th inch basswood strips

- 0.6 mm brass wire for the railing.

- four tiny piece of right angle styrene strips to hold the walls.

 

 

 

 

 

In situ....

 

 

 

 

Module #3a cannot be glued to the hull yet, as Module #2 must be "inserted" first. It will be kept aside for now.

 

Yves

Edited September 3, 2021 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

A small improvement at the juncture of Module #4 and Module #5. I noticed that the newly added deck is sagging and not joining perfectly.

I decided to build four small pieces to provide extra support for the deck: 

 

 

These are based on the ENGINE>ENGINE_ROOF_JOINER part provided in the kit and resized to 30 mm x 19 mm x 1.6 mm (thickness is unchanged.). The smaller parts are 19 mm x 10 mm x 1.6 mm. The small parts are glued to the end of the large parts, and the large parts are glued underneath the Module #4 deck.

 

 

It now offers a very solid base for the extension deck, discussed previously.

 

Yves

[Landlubber Mike]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:39 PM, Egilman said:

Cool! I'm glad he did change his mind, He makes a good product I would definitely second the motion to get masks from Kenny.... They ARE worth it....

Interesting - I reached out to him earlier this year for masks for my Gambier Bay and he said he was out of that business.  May have to try him again.

 

[yvesvidal]

Major milestone again, with the permanent gluing of the side decks and rear deck. At this point, no coming back without rebuilding a significant part of the model.

 

First, the wooden covered side decks. These are stained with natural stain (Micro-mark) followed by a dilution (lavis) of Payne Grey acrylic. They are submitted to the elements of high sea, not as much as the bow of course: 

 

 

These two panels are then glued. Again, I am very grateful I spent all the time preparing the fitting of these parts and of all the deck sections. It really pays off: 

 

 

Strong of that success, we are moving further: the rear deck !!

 

 

Each of these parts are left to dry multiple hours, for a perfect and strong bond. Then the platform for the depth charges rails: 

 

 

I will have to pull the airbrush and harmonize all these parts, with a fine mist of Dark Grey XF-24.

 

Now that we have a rear deck, the engine room extension can be glued: 

 

 

And so we do it.....

 

 

 

The extension could have benefited from two panels of extension, but the curvature of the cabin prevented me from doing it, without redesigning the parts. Besides, with two panels more, it was getting very close to the rails. Overall, I am rather happy and it looks better than the original kit: 

 

 

 

 

 

The roof of the engine room is not yet glued. It will be the next step.

 

Yves

 

 

 

 

 

[CDW]

She looks like one could climb aboard and go to sea...just like the real thing. Stunning model, Yves.

[yvesvidal]

With the roof of the engine room glued, all was left was a nice overspray to "harmonize" the decks: 

 

 

You can see that the junction between Module #4 and the engine room (Module #5) is smooth and flush: 

 

 

 

Now, I just have to work all the details on each of the module. The hull and decks are for the most part completed.

 

Yves

Edited September 6, 2021 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

I thought a little update was overdue. There we go: working on Module #2, the 4 inches gun and blast shield deck.

 

 

Very smooth transition from the wooden deck to the metallic deck. Nobody will stumble....

 

 

Here, I have added seven stanchions and some 0.9 mm brass wire to create the guide that prevents the gun from firing too low. The parts are soldered and then glued.

 

 

Painted and assembled. 

 

 

 

Installation of the Blast shield. The kit provides a straight and too wide shield. From archives pictures of the Snowberry, I have reshaped that shield and added a corner and side walls, by printing a 30 mm long blast shield (from the kit). It looks a lot more realistic and prototypical: 

 

 

 

Hope you all like it so far. Next is the Hedgehog, which is ultra simplified in the kit to the point of being  a disgrace. None of the rockets are represented..... :-( I don't know what I will do....

 

Yves

Edited September 11, 2021 by yvesvidal

[CDW]

Looks Fabulous, Yves! Very impressive indeed. The stanchions and railings are super nice. Everything is super nice really. Kudos!

[Old Collingwood]

This is Looking So Superb  - but frankly you set  yourself a Very high target  for quality  after your Amazing  Sub build.

 

OC.

[captain_hook]

Absolutely amazing and nicely executed. The gun platform looks very realistic. 

[yvesvidal]

I realized I had not posted in a little while. The 2nd module is pretty much finished. The railing will be completed, once I glue Module #3.

 

 

Lots of cabinets to store ammunition and rockets, for the Hedgehog and 4 inches gun.

 

 

A little crane to embark the ammunition. The gun with its Donald Duck insignia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next will be module #3A, the wheel house.

 

There is of course, plenty of room for extra detailing. I really do not have the time and skills to extend this kit with PE and other details. I am still trying to see what can be done with the Virtual kit plus some extra parts here and there. Access to a Resin Printer would have been much better for the gun, but that can be retrofitted later on, as the gun is removable and parts can be printed again, with higher resolution. 

 

Yves

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by yvesvidal

[CDW]

Yves

Are the ammunition cabinets 3D printed? Everything looks great.

[bdgiantman2]

Great detail work on Snowberry and she looks very realistic.  Sometimes feels this model is bigger than the 1:48 with the zoomed in photos and details. Keep up this model.

[Ian_Grant]

Fantastic looking model!  It's a shame you aren't doing RC for it; it would be spectacular on the water.