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

[ccoyle]

It's coming together nicely. I built the Modelik 1/100 scale card kit of HMCS Agassiz many years ago, but it didn't have the attractive Western Approaches camouflage that your model wears.

[king derelict]

11 hours ago, ccoyle said:

It's coming together nicely. I built the Modelik 1/100 scale card kit of HMCS Agassiz many years ago, but it didn't have the attractive Western Approaches camouflage that your model wears.

Thank you Chris. After the rugged start it is nice to start seeing something like a ship materialising

Alan

[king derelict]

Not a lot to show today. I primered the new rafts, the bridge signalling lights and the winches and hose reels.So everything looks like it did earlier except its now grey.

A short aside into the printing world. I checked the nozzle gap and it is within the usual limits so I decided that the extruder skipping and kicking back might be due to over extrusion. I dialled the step count down by 4 and tried a few test prints. I was very happy to get a successful Benchy test piece. 

As you can see from the debris in the background the print was failing consistently at the same place; the last part of the overhang on the bridge windows. I think the over extrusion was causing the filament to build up too much and the overhangs were warping slightly upwards causing the nozzle to knock it off the build plate.

My hypothesis for the need to change the step count is that it is caused by the new nozzle. I am assuming the old nozzle had worn and was laying down a larger diameter of filament. PLA is supposed to be quite abrasive and the nozzle is brass. Changing to the new nozzle would then backpressure the nozzle causing the extruder to skip and extruded an unnecessary amount of filament. I may, of course, be talking through my hat.

 

I painted the smoke floats in matt black and dry bruhed some silver to add a little detail followed by a black wash to dull it down a bit.

The smoke floats were shamelessly taken from the files provided by @Kevin-the-lubber in the log for the Snowberry by @yvesvidal. They are a lovely little print and I hope I have done no wrong in using the files.

I may have printed them a little too large but I'm struggling to find out how tall they really were.

Many Thanks for looking in and I hope everyone has a great weekend

Alan

 

[Nirvana]

Alan, use hardened steel nozzle they are better and long lasting.

[king derelict]

16 hours ago, Nirvana said:

Alan, use hardened steel nozzle they are better and long lasting.

Thank you Per. I looked at steel nozzles a while back and they all seemed to get rotten reviews citing dimensional problems. I checked again and things seem much better now so I ordered a set. Thanks for the help

Alan

[Kevin-the-lubber]

On 7/23/2022 at 1:10 AM, king derelict said:

I hope I have done no wrong in using the files.

You’re very welcome, they don’t look too bad either. I wondered afterwards if it might have been better to just have small pilot holes in the drum, and drill them out later.

[king derelict]

5 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

You’re very welcome, they don’t look too bad either. I wondered afterwards if it might have been better to just have small pilot holes in the drum, and drill them out later.

Thank you Kevin

They are really nice little prints and the holes come out very well. I much prefer them to opening out pilot holes. I printed them at 20mm high and the row of holes is quite intricate but still came out nicely.

Many Thanks

Alan

[king derelict]

I'm slowly working away at the details> added handrails to the ladders and Aldis lamps to the bridge wings.

I'm starting to dabble with weathering. I am not using my usual black washes; The lines left by the filament on some parts take up the wash and it looks ugly. I bought this Life Color set of washes a while ago and didn't like them for the usual 1/700 stuff. It goes on as a dark grey but dries very light. The remover can be used to tone down the effect or blend it back.

I think it might work to break up some of the areas that look like big white slabs. I have read that the Atlantic storms took areas of the paint off the hull so it may get used there too.

I painted the smaller smoke floats and added them to the depth charge rails

I decided that my shaky free hand painting was going to spoil the reprinted rafts so I am masking them for air brushing. Its a bit tedious especially as the tape does not adhere well to the printed surface. It will need a coat of clear to seal it before using the air brush.

So - this is where I am now. Coming together. 

I'm trying to work up the courage to start slapping the rust on the hull and parts of the superstructure tomorrow

Thanks for looking in

Alan

[Nirvana]

Alan, your ship is coming along really nice.
Wish I had come far with mine.

[Old Collingwood]

She is looking amazing  mate  - really nice work.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

On 8/1/2022 at 8:32 PM, Nirvana said:

Alan, your ship is coming along really nice.
Wish I had come far with mine.

Thank you very much Per

Its felt like a bit of an epic at times

Alan

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

She is looking amazing  mate  - really nice work.

 

OC.

Very kind OC

Its stretching my abilities - and sometimes my patience.

Alan

[king derelict]

The Eduard Lewis guns arrived and are very nice although my PE skills have been atrophying and it took longer than it should to put them together.

They now have a primer coat and hoping not to break them before installing them

 

The question of the Lewis gun configuration is a bit vexed. It seems that single and twin Lewis gns were mounted, either with or without shields. The picture below is the one I am using as my guide for my interpretation.

The image shows the Lewis gun firing and looks like a single with a shield

Later photos show twin Lewis with shields

I suspect the twin gun installation was the most frequent but I am going to use the singles that I have. I'm not sure about the shield yet; I'll see how some styrene sheet looks.

The reprinted boats were air brushed for the man ropes and bottom boards. Still not perfect' the texture of the print is too rough in places. Its better than my hand painting so we will move forward and weather the bottom boards

The boats need oars and tiller adding and then rigged with the davits. The hull weathering is next and I need to work out what rigging I am going to add.

Thank you for looking in and responding. Its been a long journey from unpacking the Ender printer and switching it on for the first time.

Alan

 

 

[lmagna]

46 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I suspect the twin gun installation was the most frequent but I am going to use the singles that I have.

Great looking build. It has been following your learning curve and progress. It would have been nice to see it as an RC ship but that's just me. You are doing fantastically.

 

I suspect that in real life what guns were put on in the small calibers was just as you have done, what was available on that day and what the Capitan was able to steal.😁

[king derelict]

On 8/3/2022 at 8:41 PM, lmagna said:

Great looking build. It has been following your learning curve and progress. It would have been nice to see it as an RC ship but that's just me. You are doing fantastically.

 

I suspect that in real life what guns were put on in the small calibers was just as you have done, what was available on that day and what the Capitan was able to steal.😁

Thank you for the kind words Lou. Much appreciated. You are right I should have made it an RC model but I have never tried anything RC and the printer seemed like enough of a challenge. The beauty of the virtual kit is that I still have the files, the printer and the license to make as many kits as I want.  So its probable there will be a sister Flower some day in the next year or so on the lake behind my house depth charging the alligators.

Especially as the printing shouldn't be the exercise in patience that it was first time round.

You are right about the small arms configurations. Oerlikons were in short supply and some corvettes never got beyond Lewis guns; I think captains grabbed anything they could get their hands on. Those little ships must have felt very vulnerable under air attack.

Alan

 

[king derelict]

The anchor chain arrived this weekend and i think it looks the part. The proportions are good and it does have stud links

I gave it a base paint of flat brown and then dry brushed a dark blue over it. A rust wash finishes the chain

I used some thin styrene rod to create the antenna loops (I assume these are the DF loops - I'm not knowledgeable in this area) and also made up some speaking tubes for the bridge. I'm trying to make it look a little less empty. I still need to fiddle with teh pelorus

The big moment arrived this afternoon. Weathering. I started with some thin lines of dark rust at the panel lines and then added light rust and washed that out. I'm going to be working this up a little at a time. Its a bit beyond the tiny dabs that finish a 1/700 destroyer build and I'm keen not to mess it up too much. I'm working with the few colour images I can find.

Thank you all for looking in and for the likes

 

Alan

 

 

 

[Veszett Roka]

Thats a very professional weathering Alan, the hawse pipe looks so real.

[lmagna]

I think that if I was sharing my model sailing space with Alligators then I would want much more than a few pea sized depth charges! Unless they were nuclear! I think I saw somewhere on YouTube where some guy was playing Catch-me-if-you-can like in a bull fight with his Go-fast electric boat while filming it with a drone. The Gator came close several times and it looked like the boat was going to be a goner. Your Corvette may have a longer lifespan if you keep in on the shelf!

[king derelict]

17 hours ago, Veszett Roka said:

Thats a very professional weathering Alan, the hawse pipe looks so real.

Thank you very much. I'm enjoying the weathering but a bit scared of overdoing it

Alan

[king derelict]

17 hours ago, lmagna said:

I think that if I was sharing my model sailing space with Alligators then I would want much more than a few pea sized depth charges! Unless they were nuclear! I think I saw somewhere on YouTube where some guy was playing Catch-me-if-you-can like in a bull fight with his Go-fast electric boat while filming it with a drone. The Gator came close several times and it looked like the boat was going to be a goner. Your Corvette may have a longer lifespan if you keep in on the shelf!

I think it might look a bit like a duck from below and if you are an alligator, you can generally afford to bite it and see what you got

Alan

[king derelict]

Weathering continues on the hull. I added the light rust washes to the dark rust at the panel joints and below the scuppers (may have overdone that). The coloured images I have don't show any significant rust around the portholes which slightly surprised me but I have left it off. This may be a bit too heavy in places but I wanted to get an Atlantic convoy look. Those little ships really took a pounding out there.

I added rust to the bridge supports and started on the bandstand and 2 pounder gun tub supports. I;m not sure whether to add a light touch to the ventilator stacks otherwise I plan to leave the superstructure relatively clean.

I have rigging thread arriving tomorrow and I'm trying to work out a rigging plan. As in everything else it looks like every Flower was different.

Thanks for looking in

Alan

 

 

 

[king derelict]

I looked at the hull this morning and decided that I had got a bit out of hand with the rust in a few places. I used washes of the base colours and some dry brushing and now I think I am happy with it.

The anchors got the heavy weathering treatment and were added. The chains need to be tidied up at the windlass once the glue has fully set.

I am still not sure about weathering the superstructure but I didn't like the clean appearance so I added some light rust at the ventilator bolt rings and at the joints in the galley funnel.

I fixed the ships boats and the davits in place and have started rigging the falls.

 

I think I have a better wy of setting the ropes so I will try again tomorrow

 

Thanks for looking in

 

Alan

[CDW]

Looks great, Alan. Wow, what a huge project you took on and it is paying off.

[king derelict]

On 8/10/2022 at 9:40 PM, CDW said:

Looks great, Alan. Wow, what a huge project you took on and it is paying off.

Thank you very much Craig. Its appreciated. Yep; I jumped into this with both feet without realising some of the challenges. Its been a big learning experience at very many levels and I'm grateful for all the help i have received on the forum

Alan

[king derelict]

For some reason the prop and rudder has been sitting on the side being ignored so i painted and added them. I gave the prop a coat of matt black and then a thin coat of gold to try to make it fit in with the "slightly used" concept.

I finished rigging the falls for the boats and added the cable drums 

Lashings and oars need to go on next. For some reason the oars have been in the same pile as the rudder and prop - being ignored.

 

The aft deck looks a little bare.

I'm thinking about adding some extra depth charges. Also I may add a couple of hatches. Some Flowers had them and some didn't. I can't find any information on Campanula one way or another.

Maybe the hatches and a few depth charges between the rails would fill it up nicely.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend

Alan

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

She is looking so nice Alan,  hope you have a good place to display her.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

21 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

She is looking so nice Alan,  hope you have a good place to display her.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. A place to display her is the next problem. At just over four feet she needs quite a bit of space. There may have to be a major reshuffle of the shelves and cupboards

Alan

[king derelict]

A bit of work on the details today. I printed the life belts but I think they come out too thin so I scaled the thickness up by 2.5x. Its a nice feature of this way of building that you can change dimensions and resize parts. And keep printing them as needed.

I also made up some mounts for the Lewis guns. The depth charge is about the right diameter for the base so I reduced it in height to 1mm and printed a few. With some styrene rod they will work fine.

The pelorus is in progress in the background

More depth charges have been printed and primed

I look at the area where the door to the radar room is and it seems to need a set of railings at that open corner otherwise moving about in that area in a big sea would be highly hazardous.

I have run out of the 20mm stanchions and I'm reluctant to buy more just to use one so I will experiment with some homemade options.

The stretch cord I ordered off Amazon turns out to not be stretch cord at all so I have reordered and hopefully will do better next time. So rigging will be later in the week.

The flag is the next challenge.

Thanks for looking in

Alan

 

 

 

[mikegr]

nice combo work of scratch work and 3d printing

 

the large scale of the model allows the great usage of monofilament printer

 

 

[king derelict]

16 hours ago, mikegr said:

nice combo work of scratch work and 3d printing

 

the large scale of the model allows the great usage of monofilament printer

 

 

Thanks Mike

The FDM printer works at this scale. In some ways the surface texture adds to the model I think. It breaks up the walls of smooth surfaces. I think that would be a drawback at smaller scales though. The resin printer starts to look an interesting option.

Alan