Flower-Class Corvette by king derelict - FINISHED - Bensworx Virtual Kit - 1/48 - a log for the less gifted

[king derelict]

7 hours ago, Nirvana said:

Looks like my cat "Tigger",  looking at a new toy - thinking "what the heck is that"😁

Nice raft though.

Thanks Per. The raft skates beautifully across the tile floor when batted, a requirement for a good toy. It also makes a satisfying bang when it hits the skirting boards.

Alan

[king derelict]

1 hour ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

That’s a lot more than quite reasonable Alan, I’d be extremely pleased with that. Same for the life raft.

Thank you very much Kevin. The enthusiasm had been flagging a bit but the recent batch of good prints and seeing some painted parts has restored the desire to see this through to a decent finish. Thank you ( and all the others) for the encouragement. It helps a lot

Alan

[king derelict]

I'm back. Work has been continuing but nothing that seemed to be worth a post. A lot of the sub assemblies have been painted their WA white or blue coats. The various photos and pictures of the superstructure scheme show different renditions of the white / blue scheme so I have gone with a version that is consistent with other details I want to add.  It seems the Flowers were a highly changeable set of ships. I've also been reprinting several parts that didn't look good enough when painted. Some truly horrible prints from the under-extruding days like the cabin which can almost be pulled apart in places because the filament is so loosely bonded. The white piece is its nicer replacement.

I printed the deck again too to remove the nasty scoring in places

Some pieces will be left with their imperfections - I think they add a bit of character to the ship. I doubt it was maintained to Royal Yacht standards during convoy work.

I built the second steam winch and completed the 4 inch gun. Its a bit sparce with details but I think it will work The viewing angle inside the shield will be limited once the blast shield goes into place. Hatches, bollards and hose reels now in place. The big moment was then adding the deck to the hull. A definite boost to morale which is a bit fragile on this build.

All the other bits are just placed check they are still going to fit. 

I started puttying the edge of teh deck to the hull. Once cured and sanded it will look acceptable. A deck paint refresh will be necessary once that is complete

The cleats and ventilators will follow. It seems the ventilations changed configuration on Campanula during her life. To stay consistent with the paint scheme I am back with a mixture of the horn and mushroom type ventilators instead of the H ones. It must have been extremely wet in the crew spaces below.

With the Ender 3 sat relatively idle and with a spool with quite a lot of elderly filament loaded I started an exploratory line of thinking. I scaled the 3D models down to 67% which I think is 1/72 scale and tried printing the hull again. That is an advantage of the virtual kit; teh ability to print several copies and at a choice of sizes. 

The hull is printing nicely. The walls are still thick enough to be very strong and the coamings that join the sections still fit snugly although the prints have to be cleaned up very well to ensure the fit.

So far six hull sections (of nine) have been printed and it seems that there wasn't as much filament as I thought. I finished section six last night with less than three feet remaining (I was sure I was going to run out). I have to feel that I have made some progress with the printer settings. All six pieces printed nicely which is quite a step forward if you read the account od the gnashing and wailing that accompanied the printing of the main build hull sections early on in this log.

I'm not sure how far I will go with this. I think I'll load a new spool and finish the hull but I'm also curious to see how the decks and superstructure turn out. I think there is more after market stuff for 1/72 so it may be possible get the details that way. Or maybe a resin printer.

Thank you all for looking in and providing helpful comments and support. I'm beginning to think I'm not a natural scratch builder.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by king derelict
Moved photo to proper loaction

[king derelict]

A wood working day today. I laid the planked sections of the side decks. I'm not sure why only a short section was planked but the plans show several Flowers with that configuration

The wheelhouse side galleries have been planked

Now the bridge and bridge wings are in progress

It all needs sanding down and then weathering before sealing.

 

Keeping the Flower motif going these two Flowers from Mirage (Poland) arrived today. I haven't found and 1/700 Flowers so these were the next best thing. They have some very interesting small ships so the credit card may escape from the wallet again.

 

 

I got the Flower PE from White Ensign which looks really good (and very delicate in places). Spirea has a basic PE fret including railings but Zinnea has nothing and will probably get the full PE treatment. They are full hull kits instead of my usual waterline but I have an ambition (fantasy) to try to diorama this

Thanks for looking in.

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by king derelict
Corrected photos

[king derelict]

The build is still in progress but I'm reprinting parts, touching up paint, not very interesting or photogenic.

The chartroom has been glazed (I knew those old overhead projector transparencies would come in useful sometime). The wooden decks of teh bridge, chartroom and side decks have been finished, weathered and sealed. I used a variety of methods and they have come up looking pretty well used.

The fore deck has been filled and the paint has been touched up.

The model has had its number added and is now HMS Campanula (K18). I printed the numbers on thin copy paper, resized them and cut them out. The K and the 1 were easy but the 8 was a test of my free hand cutting. Glued and sealed with diluted white glue.

The bandstand and four inch gun are now permanently attached. I still need to add handrails, ventilators and cleats to the foredeck along with the side shields.

The bridge structure is just placed as a fit check

I finished printing the scaled down hull and finished assembling it. The coamings were a tight fit but with a bit of fairing to lead them into place they worked well. The joy of printing each section successfully first time was a quiet triumph after the earlier struggles. I'm not sure how much further I will go with the 1/72 scale version. It was more an experiment in scaling.

Hopefully the bridge srtucture is not far from being ready to add to the hull.

Thanks for looking in

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

[Prowler901]

Nice work!  When I print mine up, I'll be attempting to model the USS Saucy (PG-65).  So, thanks for sharing your experiences with the kit.

 

Todd

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, Prowler901 said:

Nice work!  When I print mine up, I'll be attempting to model the USS Saucy (PG-65).  So, thanks for sharing your experiences with the kit.

 

Todd

Thank you Todd. It seems to have been an unnecessarily long road to get this far but learning to get good results from the Ender was a tiresome business and I very nearly abandoned the whole enterprise. Thats partly why I reprinted the smaller scale version; it was partly to reassure me that printing was (generally) a fairly routine and controllable activity.

Some aspects are still a bit frustrating but I have learnt a lot. I'm somewhat tempted to get the files for the Astute sub as the next print project.

Alan

[king derelict]

Moving along in a few areas

I printed the parts for the 20mm Oerlikon and assembled one. It isn't too bad and painted up might work out. Its a curious thing; the left shoulder rest prints fine but the right one doesn't. Its a repeatable problem. I'll fiddle with the file and see if I can improve it. Both files have been modified to increase the print height which helped make the left rest useable but the right one is still a problem. At worst a spare left rest can be modified to become a right one.

The railings at the back of the charthouse were added and painted. Its the first time I have used the Mr Metal Primer and the paint really went on nicely after it.

I started masking up the funnel to add the band.

There is a bit of variation in the photos and paintings of the band but I am going with what looks like a "W" code flag on the sides and an "X" flag fore and aft

Thanks for looking in and the likes

Alan

 

[king derelict]

I'm still working on the corvette but it seems like I am going round in circles a bit. I painted the red block on the funnel and unmasked it to find that the red had crept under the masking. Its my own fault I knew that the rough surface of the model means that you don't get a good seal by just burnishing the tape. It really needs sealing with something like a matte coat. I scraped it off and resprayed the white and masked up again. This time i used too much clear coat I think and that pulled away with the masking tape and needed a further touch up. I think its acceptable now so I'll leave it to harden overnight and then mask it up for the blue elements.

I found that the x supports for the bridge didn't fit properly because I had added some support strips to the hull and they interfered with the support braces and left them too high under the bridge. I tried trimming them but didn't like the result so I ended up reprinting them to be 4 mm less in height and painted them up and they fitted nicely. So the wheelhouse has been permanently installed with the x supports and the bridge added and glued down. The Oerlikons are only placed for the look. They need more paint but I think will look the part.

The blast screen and several lockers were added. Theer is some artistic license with the lockers positioning given that I haven't found any clear images of the area.

For some reason I can't turn these last two images vertical - sorry

 

Still quite a way to go. I think I may try to finish the forecastle and have a break to make something small

I printed and built up the depth charge racks and primed them along with a number of depth charges

Thanks for looking in and for the likes. Its fibnally beginning to look like I may be making (slow) progress

Alan

[Prowler901]

Nice work.  Keep charging!

 

Todd

[Old Collingwood]

Really nice work mate.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

22 hours ago, Prowler901 said:

Nice work.  Keep charging!

 

Todd

Thank you Todd,

I am looking forward to seeing your model build. 

Alan

[king derelict]

4 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Really nice work mate.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. There seems to be a lot of repeat work on this one but I suppose its a learning process

Alan

[king derelict]

Working on details today.

I painted some of the ladders. I realised that I had neglected to add the railing around the companway to the lower deck from the bridge. It would have been a lot easier to install before fixing the bridge in place. A bit of fiddling with the dividers and I managed to place the stanchions and bend the handrails 

They are now ready to be painted and then fixed in place.

 

I added braces to the underside of the radar walkway and then masked the lantern windows which have been painted gloss black. A dilute coat of clear coat will be added before painting to seal the masks

Thanks for looking in

Alan

[NavyShooter]

Ahoy!

I've read through most of your build thread here and am impressed at your perseverance in the face of the difficulty you had with extrusion.

 

I started printing with an Anycubic Mega S a few years ago, and something I found with PLA was that the brass teeth would chew off little bits of plastic and eventually the teeth would clog and I'd get reduced extrusion.  

 

I printed 2x Liberty Ships - one for myself on my Anycubic, and the other for a friend with my new Prusa MK3S that I bought - I will observe that the finish on the Prusa is much better.  

I will suggest that for some detail bits (like the Oerlikons) that you might want to change your step level to .05mm or .1mm.  I've had some really good success with detailed prints with .05mm steps. 

 

I'll note that I wasn't thrilled with the detail of the Liberty Ships included guns with the free 3D model I found on Thingiverse - so I created my own 3D models for the guns - 3", 5" and the 20mm Oerlikons.  I uploaded those files to Thingiverse if you want to try them.

 

I have also recently downloaded the print file from Bensworx for his Castle Class Corvette - I've done a test print in 1/96 scale of the hull and some of the detail parts which didn't turn out so great due to it being very thin - I'm pondering re-printing at 1/72 scale, but have some stuff I'm printing right now for my HMCS Bonaventure model (new Trackers and a new island!)

 

Your added details to the model are really nice - I like the wood work!

NS
 

[king derelict]

Many Thanks NS

I'll try reducing the layer height for the 20mms. I found your files on Thingiverse and will give them a try too.

Your prints look very good. I am slowly getting better but initially I thought that it would be much easier to set up and print with teh Ender. If you have read my log (which seems to mirror other peoples experience among my friends) its not necessarily that easy. Its also apparent that the Ender as delivered is a starting point and needs upgrades to get the best out of it.

Reprinting the Flower at 1/72 the hull sections and connectors were still thick enough but I don't think I would have liked to go much smaller.

 

 

Its been a huge learning experience and I think I've mostly enjoyed it once I got to produce reasonable prints. In some ways I wish I had spent more time learning before diving in. I should have probably gone right back to printing the hull sections all over again but by the time I realised I could do better I had invested too much time and effort.

Maybe I can try the Castle corvette but I rather like the Dry Dock subs as a static model too

Thanks again for the helpful input

Alan

[king derelict]

An "L" of a day today. Printing lockers and painting and fitting ladders. The bridge looks a bit bare and they must have had lockers for ammunition, sherry, biscuits and all the other naval necessities. The bridge photos I have show it a bit busier so I'll add a few more lockers on the rear of the bridge and on the wings.

Ladders were added to the bandstand and bridge.

The radar lantern was painted and the masking removed. No bleed past the masks thankfully. Its just placed for the photo. I need to add the walkway railings next.

I placed all the sections onto the hull to see if it still fits - and as a bit of a morale boost. Its coming together. I sent off to Cornwall Boats for another 50 stanchions. I couldn't find them in the US - Age of Sail were out of stock. Might have to do something else while I'm waiting. I'm not sure why I initially ordered so few. Probably shock over the price of ten packs of them. This model is a real black hole for supplies. Paint and glue just disappears.

Thanks for looking in

Alan

 

 

 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

It was the cost of buying all the little bits like eyebolts, blocks, stanchions etc that tipped my decision to also buy a resin printer. That and an acceptance that even with a 0.2 nozzle (0.1 was just too painful) and 0.1 layer height, I was never going to get the finish I needed. If you’re at all tempted, bear in mind that there are loads of very good first or second generation resin printers on eBay now, as people upgrade to the newest models.

[king derelict]

Thanks Kevin

It's a bit of an awakening to realise I have spent more on the sanctions than I have for all the PLA filament to print the entire ship

Alan

 

[yvesvidal]

Very true!!! In my case, it was $100 of stanchions versus $60 of filament.

 

Yves

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I’m not sure I ever calculated it out, but for the Victory I could see it was going to cost several hundred pounds in aftermarket stuff and even then I was going to have to scratch build quite a lot, so in theory it made sound financial sense. In reality I have of course thrown around a hundred pounds worth of resin in the bin while learning but, just like FDM, the mistakes and fails are generally less and less frequent.

[king derelict]

My progress is slow as I still spend a lot of time reading up on Campnulas details (or copying details from other Flowers where there are no images of Campanula).

I painted the mounts and barrels on the Oerlikons and dry brushed  a little bare metal to add some visual interest.

 

The radar lantern has been completed and installed.

I loaded up one of the depth charge rails. It took nine depth charges just like the real thing.

With multiple maskings the funnel band and top section have been completed. Possibly not quite accurate but a bit of weathering and fading plus the addition of the ladder and steam pipes will improve it.

Lots of work still ahead but its getting a bit less "industrial" now.

Thanks for looking in

Alan

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by king derelict
Photos rearranged

[Prowler901]

Looking great!

 

I've been searching for good photos and details of USN versions. But, I've not found much so far.  Best I've found is some pictures and a 3d model of USS Saucy.  But, I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

Todd

[king derelict]

2 hours ago, Prowler901 said:

Looking great!

 

I've been searching for good photos and details of USN versions. But, I've not found much so far.  Best I've found is some pictures and a 3d model of USS Saucy.  But, I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

Todd

Thank you Todd,

Building the major deck sections was beginning to feel like a bit of a slog especially as I found it difficult to get the decks level on some of the thinner deck sections. For better or worse most of that is done and the last sections dry fit well so working on the details feels more like the modelling I am used to and it's enjoyable. It going to be difficult to know when to stop. There is so much potential to add details but there are fundamental discrepancies between the real ship and the model. 

The lack of information about specific Flowers is a challenge. I have five decent photos and paintings of Campanula but some areas of the ship are not visible and the paint scheme, secondary armament and life raft layout varies between them. I've tried to stay consistent to one image and filled in the gaps from other ships.

There is a single side image of Saucy in the Lambert book Flower Class Corvettes showing the paint scheme and the searchlight platforms on the rear gun tub and mast but that's all I've seem

I look forward to seeing you building another Flower

Alan

[dancooper]

Hello King, I just (re)discovered this tread and only now realize that you are using the same printer that I have.  I haven't read up all the pages, so I don't know if you are still having problems with the prints not sticking to the glass ?  It really comes down to levelling the bed.  The only two other modifications I made to my printer are the adding of a filament guide (downloaded from thingiverse), this really helped against under extrusion since the filament is now not longer pulled down under an extreme angle,  and replacing the stock extruder by an all metal upgrade.

 

At the moment I'm building Revell's 1/144 Snowberry myself while the printer is printing parts for the frame for an RC semi.

I do hope to use the printer to build an RC ship though, maybe a flowerclass but I would love a pre dreadnaught, I know there is one around, but I have not been able to find the "kit".

Edited June 5, 2022 by dancooper

[king derelict]

Hi Dan

Rigorous levelling and fixing the decision problem seems to have solved the bed adhesion problems. No stick glue or hair spray used. I added stiffer levelling springs,the metal extruder head and new Bowden tube. I still get an occasional print that doesn't stick or prints badly. Curiously test prints come out fine making me wonder if some of the problem is with the stl files I'm using.

Generally I still like the Ender 3 V2 although I'm curious about the new version with auto levelling, metal extruder and other goodies.

Alan

[Nirvana]

Alan, the auto-leveling of creality is not good. I belong to a forum and most of the members are not happy with it. Go with a new Swiss metal extruder and new tubing.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I fitted the auto-levelling thingy to my ender 3 V2 when I upgraded everything a few months ago. I set it up as per instructions and haven't touched it since. To be honest I have no idea if it's that which makes the difference or just the better springs, but I haven't re-levelled at all since then. In fact everything is exactly as I set it maybe 3 months or more ago and the only fail I've had was with some ancient filament that I over-cooked in an oven last year, such that it ever so slightly fused on the reel. Other than that I haven't had a single fail since then. I use 3DLAC rather than glue, which I found horribly messy and, because 3DLAC is not very expensive and lasts forever, I'll carry on using it. If I had to guess at what cured my ills I'd say it was most likely the filament dryer, but for all I know it's the combination of the auto-levelling and springs, or all three. At the end of the day, my printer now works exactly as I thought it would when I bought it, it's very plug'n'play and it was worth the £100 or so I spent on all the upgrades.

 

This shows how I've connected the dryer box to the printer with a short bit of capricorn bowden tube and a modified filament guide to take the connector. The hole in the dryer takes the connector without any modification. And below that, a serving machine I made a couple of weeks ago that is 90% printed - I had virtually no clean up to do post-printing, just the odd wisp.

 

[king derelict]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:32 PM, Nirvana said:

Alan, the auto-leveling of creality is not good. I belong to a forum and most of the members are not happy with it. Go with a new Swiss metal extruder and new tubing.

Per

Thank you. That's very useful to know

Alan

[king derelict]

On 6/7/2022 at 9:04 AM, Kevin-the-lubber said:

use 3DLAC rather than glue, which I found horribly messy and, because 3DLAC is not very expensive and lasts forever, I'll carry on using it. If I had to guess at what cured my ills I'd say it was most likely the filament dryer, but for all I know it's the combination of the auto-levelling and springs, or all three.

Thank you Kevin for the really helpful input. I think I need to try bed adhesives and cut down my dependence on brims. I hate cleaning them off the print. 3DLAC is about $40 so I might try Magigoo. I'm changing my set up around to get the space to put the dryer in line with the printer. Your serving machine looks really clean and smooth. Something to aim at.

Thanks again

Alan