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

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, king derelict said:

I was way out of my skill levels with this one

I have to disagree. The fact that we are sitting here and seeing the results of your efforts and skills proves otherwise. Congratulations on a job well done.

[gjdale]

I agree with Lou! Fantastic job Alan - you should be justifiably proud of your achievements with this model.

[Prowler901]

Absolutely outstanding, Alan!  She's a beauty!  I love all the weathering work you did.  Great work overcoming all the hurdles.   Congrats and BZ!

 

Todd

[yvesvidal]

Alan,

 

you managed to finish a superb model, despite all the vagaries of the early prints.

In retrospect, I am sorry I pulled you into this adventure.... 🙂  but you came out of it like a pro and your model is gorgeous and will be the pride of your collection. Yes, you are right, the kit is very generic and you and I had to modify a few things and add even more things.

 

In the end, for the money spent on that kit and the learning of 3D printing, it is a fantastic deal.

 

Will you be trying another 3D printed kit? I have the ALFA submarine on hold, since I am concentrating all my time on the HMS Bellona. However, I know I will go back to it, since all the parts have been printed and are ready to go.

 

I hope that your Build Log will entice other modelers to start this technique. There are more and more kits (submarines, ships, period ships) becoming available and it is very promising.

 

Yves

[Javlin]

Well Alan anytime we feel we pushed those boundaries in a positive way is an event/day worth living Sir.The build came out looking really good and me doing 3D "no way" hattip.

[king derelict]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:07 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Absolutley  Superb  Alan,    I would put her in a prime location  and so begs to go in a case  to keep  her  protected.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC and for the support during the build. I wasn't going to make a case for this one but I think seeing dust on it is going to upset me so I have changed my mind and give her some shelter and a good spot to be seen.

Alan

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Very well done, and I empathize completely with your agonizing reappraisal of the ups and downs.   You've learned a lot in a short period of time and that will carry you through the next project.  For those of us following along, we've learned a few things also.  It's all part of the journey and thanks for sharing yours.

Thank you very much indeed Mark. Its taught me a lot about long term projects and not getting bogged down when things aren't going well. Time to step back from looking down the tunnel and remember its supposed to be fun.

Alan

[king derelict]

22 hours ago, lmagna said:

I have to disagree. The fact that we are sitting here and seeing the results of your efforts and skills proves otherwise. Congratulations on a job well done.

Thanks a lot Lou and thanks for following along through the ups and downs

Alan

[king derelict]

21 hours ago, gjdale said:

I agree with Lou! Fantastic job Alan - you should be justifiably proud of your achievements with this model.

Thanks Grant

I confess I did spend a fair bit of time today looking at her and feeling a bit puffed up about the result

Alan

[king derelict]

19 hours ago, Prowler901 said:

Absolutely outstanding, Alan!  She's a beauty!  I love all the weathering work you did.  Great work overcoming all the hurdles.   Congrats and BZ!

 

Todd

Thank you Todd

The weathering was a lot of fun and I'm happy with how it came out. One of the old corvette crew members interviewed in the RN museum book reminisced that one kipper had them paint their ship all over in the last day of returning from an Atlantic convey. This resulted in them entering harbour to an unfair chorus of calls to "get some sea time in"

[king derelict]

12 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Alan,

 

you managed to finish a superb model, despite all the vagaries of the early prints.

In retrospect, I am sorry I pulled you into this adventure.... 🙂  but you came out of it like a pro and your model is gorgeous and will be the pride of your collection. Yes, you are right, the kit is very generic and you and I had to modify a few things and add even more things.

 

In the end, for the money spent on that kit and the learning of 3D printing, it is a fantastic deal.

 

Will you be trying another 3D printed kit? I have the ALFA submarine on hold, since I am concentrating all my time on the HMS Bellona. However, I know I will go back to it, since all the parts have been printed and are ready to go.

 

I hope that your Build Log will entice other modelers to start this technique. There are more and more kits (submarines, ships, period ships) becoming available and it is very promising.

 

Yves

Thank you very much for the kind words Yves. I have no regrets about starting the corvette now that I can look at the result and feel very happy about it. It will definitely have a special place in my collection.

I'm very glad your log led me into this. I don't think I would have built the Revell kit somehow. The conjunction of big model, Flower corvette and 3D printing was perfect.

It i s a fantastic model and a ridiculous price. $50 of filament some paint and glue get you most of the way there. Its crazy to realise I spent more on the stanchions than on the entire rest of the model. The experience of learning the intricacies of 3D printing was a great benefit although frustrating at times. Its a different matter to try to achieve a quality print for a purpose compared with printing some random item off the web.

I'll definitely be looking at another printed model. I rather like the look of the Astute class submarine from the Dry Dock outfit and I need to look what else is out there. I did print the corvette hull parts again scaled down to 1/72 scale just to see how it worked out and to demonstrate that I could now knock out the prints in a low stress few days instead of weeks of frustration.. t 1/72 scale she just fits on the work bench so another Flower might be in the offing. I see this as a whole new world of modelling especially combined with teh detail from a resin printer.

Thanks very much for the help throughout the build and I look forward to seeing the ALFA sub develop

Alan

 

[king derelict]

11 hours ago, Javlin said:

Well Alan anytime we feel we pushed those boundaries in a positive way is an event/day worth living Sir.The build came out looking really good and me doing 3D "no way" hattip.

Thank you very much Jav; and like achieving any push goal it feels good to have made it. I'm looking at a few "simple" builds as a break; maybe an airplane. I haven't tried one for over fifty years.

Alan

[Canute]

Well done. Fascinating development of your 3D printings. The ship is beautiful. And like OC said, get it cased.

[king derelict]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:49 AM, Canute said:

Well done. Fascinating development of your 3D printings. The ship is beautiful. And like OC said, get it cased.

Thanks Ken

Its feeling it was worth the learning experience with the 3D printer. It was fun weathering something like that and Its a ship type I'm fond of.

My uncle was in the Andrew primarily on convoy escorts during the second world war. I would have liked to have shown him how this turned out.

I priced out the acrylic sheet for the display case; its going to be about $300 all up. As usual the case costs more than the model but I think its going to have to be done.

Alan

 

[king derelict]

A visit from a friend convinced me a display case was necessary. "What's this?" "Don't touch" What's this now"" "DON'T TOUCH" Got a bit strained for a while.

So after a tour of the state due to the storm chaos the precut acrylic panels arrived last night. The case will be 53 x 24 x 12 inches. The perceptive may already see a problem.

The baseboard got a couple of coats of matt black.

I clamped up and bonded the side pieces. It was a real fight getting the pieces into place initially. They are big enough to be very unwieldy. A few scratche need to be polished out but it looks fine and is quite solid.

Next, the top piece and finishing the base.

 

The upcoming problem? I'm not sure I'm going to be able to lift the finished case into place. 🙂

 

Thanks for looking in

 

Alan

 

 

[Egilman]

Nice case brother, I would suggest small lifts once you find a place to put it... we both know it's not that heavy, but it's bulky and massive so care needs to be used to get it into a position where it can live for a long time....

 

I've also had some of those "Don't TOUCH" with some of my creations, my USS Constitutions namely, I've built it seven times primarily cause of people who just have to touch... My eighth is under the bed waiting for me to get back to it...

 

So yeah, case that beautiful sucker up before you have to throw someone out of the house cause they can't control themselves!

 

Beautiful work, well within your capabilities my friend, the evidence is in the pictures, you got this...

 

Thanks Alan, for allowing us to follow your excursion into expanding your modeling world... It was a long sometimes dreary trail, but we hiked it with you and are very happy we did...

[yvesvidal]

Alan,

 

Could you be more specific with the following: 

 

- What company did you use for the case? Was it Acrylic Job ?

- What kind of glue was used to glue the panels? (You did a great job, by the way, on that difficult task).

- What was the price of the case?

 

Perhaps you can install some small handles on each side of the case, to help you lift it and place it in position. 

I am very interested since we have the same ship..... 🙂

 

Yves

[king derelict]

9 hours ago, Egilman said:

Beautiful work, well within your capabilities my friend, the evidence is in the pictures, you got this...

 

Thanks Alan, for allowing us to follow your excursion into expanding your modeling world... It was a long sometimes dreary trail, but we hiked it with you and are very happy we did...

Thank you very much Egilman. I don't think I would have finished this without the feedback and support from the forum members. Some great help and kind comment there.

As i look at the finished model I am very glad i finished the marathon. To my eyes it came out how I was hoping it would. Hopefully a testimony to the men who served in those desperately uncomfortable small ships.

Alan

[king derelict]

8 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Alan,

 

Could you be more specific with the following: 

 

- What company did you use for the case? Was it Acrylic Job ?

- What kind of glue was used to glue the panels? (You did a great job, by the way, on that difficult task).

- What was the price of the case?

 

Perhaps you can install some small handles on each side of the case, to help you lift it and place it in position. 

I am very interested since we have the same ship..... 🙂

 

Yves

Hi Yves

I have zero carpentry skills so I can't make one of those lovely cabinets that some of our members do. I also don't want to deal with glass because of breakage and the extra weight. I could buy acrylic sheets from the hardware store and although I have cut them t size using the score and crack technique some problems arise. The scoring works for small pieces but the bigger the piece the more chance that the crack will depart from the scored line it seems. The other issue with doing this is gluing up the case. You really need well finished square edges to butt up against each other and that is not always the case with cracking the sheets.

So I use TAP Plastics who sell a variety of plastic sheets and shapes and custom cut an order.

Cut to Size, Polycarbonate & Acrylic Plastics : TAP Plastics

They have been very good to deal with, reliable and fast (some orders are cut and shipped teh day I order). They also have resins and solvents and all sorts of interesting things that your next project needs

Their products are all over the house.

I generally use their extruded acrylic sheet (its cheaper) and I find the 3/16 inch thickness works well for me. Its thick enough to glue well and it doesn't flex at my usual sizes (although this one was a bit wobbly until the lid was put in place.

The glue is their acrylic solvent which welds the panels together. I was a bit concerned about it being strong enough for these large panels but it has worked fine. It has the consistency of water so care is needed to avoid getting it on the panels where it isn't wanted. It works by capillary action pulling the solvent into the joint. The machine cut edges make this work well but care is needed when setting the case up to glue. Whatever method you use it must not have any elements touching the joints otherwise the solvent will wick back out of the joint and onto the case. So tape is not a good method.

I use the corner clamps (cheap on Amazon) and the frame clamps

I use a brush to apply the solvent to the joint but in this case i used a syringe with a fine needle. It needs careful handling because the solvent is watery enough to fall out of the needle without pressure on the syringe

I use a base sheet which matches the outer dimensions of the case and a smaller piece which matches the inner dimensions (with a bit of slack for tolerances). The sides of the case can them be lowered onto the base and the inner piece locates the sides. In this case the base will be MDF board but still with an acrylic base on top

TAP sell right angled rods so I also got one of those

It was used to make locating pieces for the top piece which will be separate in this case (to try to reduce weight a bit when its lifted into place.

 

 

The case is 50 x 24 x 12 inches and it cost $338 delivered. The 50 inch sides are over UPS standard length so an $18 surcharge was incurred. Shipping totaled about $80. It seems like a lot of money but its a huge case and I don't think I could have got a ready made case for anything close to that

 

I hope this makes sense and you find it useful

 

Alan

 

 

[CDW]

Beautiful case Alan. I expected it to cost much more and am impressed with it. 

[king derelict]

32 minutes ago, CDW said:

Beautiful case Alan. I expected it to cost much more and am impressed with it. 

Thank you very much Craig. I'm sure it could be made a bit dressier but I think they look fine and they keep fingers and dust off which is the main point. Its an interesting equation. The PE costs more than the kit and the display case in whatever form costs yet more. Its probably still cheqap for the amountof enjoyment and mental stretching that it takes to complete a good model

Alan

[Old Collingwood]

I am glad you was able to  sort a case out  - like in my situation  a  case  is  So important  at protecting   ones fine work  from damage  from prying hands  and  dust.

 

OC.

 

[king derelict]

15 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

I am glad you was able to  sort a case out  - like in my situation  a  case  is  So important  at protecting   ones fine work  from damage  from prying hands  and  dust.

 

OC.

 

Thank you OC. I think the case will pay for itself in keeping the Campanula in good condition for some time to come

Alan

[yvesvidal]

Thank you Alan, for all the details and explanations. You are doing a very fine job and I cannot wait to see the Corvette under her new case.

 

Yves

[NavyShooter]

For awareness, the BensWorx Castle Class Corvette 3D files includes a number of crew members.  

 

I've stepped back from my Castle class build - I bought the prints, printed the parts, but at 1/96, it wasn't thick enough to work for me in the RC role - I had hoped it would be a bit more resilient like the Liberty Ship I built.  I'm concerned with how thin the hull is that it will shatter or crack if I hit anything in the lake.

 

I love your display case.  Well done on the entire process and thank-you for documenting it so well!

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice display cases!  Thanks for passing along the info.

[king derelict]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:16 AM, NavyShooter said:

For awareness, the BensWorx Castle Class Corvette 3D files includes a number of crew members.  

 

I've stepped back from my Castle class build - I bought the prints, printed the parts, but at 1/96, it wasn't thick enough to work for me in the RC role - I had hoped it would be a bit more resilient like the Liberty Ship I built.  I'm concerned with how thin the hull is that it will shatter or crack if I hit anything in the lake.

 

I love your display case.  Well done on the entire process and thank-you for documenting it so well!

Thank you very much. It definitely stretched my ability at times

Interesting to know that there are some printable crew figures out there. 

Thats a shame about the Castle class kit although I printed the Flower hull at 1/72 partly out of curiosity and also to prove to myself that I had a better grip on the 3D printing and it didn't have to be the marathon I went through with the first iteration. The hull still seemed pretty robust at that size but i suspect going a lot smaller would make it a bit fragile.

Alan

[king derelict]

On 10/6/2022 at 11:07 AM, Landlubber Mike said:

Nice display cases!  Thanks for passing along the info.

Thank you Mike, very kind.

The cases are bit basic but at least i can protect the models. I really need a display cabinet but I don't seem to have anywhere to put one so the cases allow me to spread the models around a bit.

Alan

[king derelict]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:15 AM, yvesvidal said:

Thank you Alan, for all the details and explanations. You are doing a very fine job and I cannot wait to see the Corvette under her new case.

 

Yves

Thank you very much Yves,

You were the pathfinder for this build so some credit goes to you. 

I was right - I can't reliably lift the case and base solo so I am waiting to recruit someone trustworthy to help with the final move.

Alan

[king derelict]

I finished the display base with a 1/8 inch sheet of acrylic mounted on the matt black MDF board with brass screws. The sheet locates the side walls and gives a finished look to the base,

The keel rests on acrylic cubes. Once the ship is levelled the cubes are glued to the sheet.

Then the scary part - lifting the case over the model and lowering it onto the base. Thankfully I was able to get this done without disaster.

Any doubts about making a case have disappeared. It is great to see the corvette protected from ust and inquisitive fingers and i actually think it enhances the model.

The lighting around the room makes it hard to get good photos but I'll try again

Thanks for looking in

Alan

Thank you