USS ENGLAND (DE-635) by ccoyle - FINISHED - HMV - 1/250 - CARD

[ccoyle]

Step 24

 

One of the Step 24 elements is the racks that are part of each K-gun station. The kit includes an option for building simplified racks that have printed depth charges, or one can choose to cut out the printed charges out and swap them for three-dimensional ones. The detail set includes laser-cut parts to replace some of the printed parts. I went with the most detailed option. It can be done, but it's a tedious process. Bending and gluing the rack parts together is kind of like trying to assemble a 1:1 scale spider, and of course each of the four depth charges needing to be built is a rolled cylinder with two end pieces. A finished rack includes 16 parts, and there will eventually be 8 racks (plus the stern racks, which will be even more complex). So far I have completed a grand total of - - one.

 

[clearway]

Worth the extra work going for the more detailed option......hmmm what was i saying the other day about sanity and ship modellers😁

 

Keith

[ccoyle]

Finally got around to finishing the rest of the K-gun racks. Whew, what a slog! And as long as one doesn't look too closely, you can't tell how kind of misshapen they are -- laser-cut card details don't fold very neatly. 😬

 

[popeye the sailor]

play'in catch up Chris.......amazed with what I'm seeing     drop dead gorgeous model !  well done! 

[ccoyle]

K-guns completed.

 

[BrianK]

Chris,

I am struck by how the little white circles with red numbers seem now to be very much in the minority compared to your earlier photos (like in that broadside photo in mid-February). It must feel good to see it look more and more complete. I am excited just watching it grow and take shape from here! 😃

Brian

[ccoyle]

17 hours ago, BrianK said:

the little white circles with red numbers seem now to be very much in the minority compared to your earlier photos

 

It's very satisfying to watch them disappear.

[Veszett Roka]

On 10/28/2022 at 6:43 PM, ccoyle said:

It's very satisfying to watch them disappear.

Totally agree with this sentence. Satisfying to watch from this side too (i mean this side of the display)

[ccoyle]

Stern racks completed. These were a real booger - I'll be happy to never build racks from card again 😬 I had two options: 1. Build them from the printed parts, which requires cutting out the spaces between frames, unless one wants to build simplified racks. 2. Use the laser-cut racks in the detail set. I tried both methods, and neither proved ideal. Both types of parts proved difficult to fold and did not hold a crease well. Ultimately I ended up using the laser-cut racks, but had to cut them into individual pieces (i.e. tops, sides, etc.) and then glue them together again -- very tedious. The "legs" on the racks consist of seven individual parts that must be added to each finished rack; the legs wrap around the racks and are nearly impossible to align correctly (some 'surgery' was necessary). So -- frustrating, but done. The cylinders are printed resin parts. PS: please don't notice that the port-side rack is placed slightly too far forward.

 

[mtaylor]

Ok, we won't notice the placement.  But I do have question.  What were the cylinders used for since the depth charges were rolled off?  (I think that's what they are or they could be mines?)

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

What were the cylinders used for since the depth charges were rolled off?

Smoke dischargers....

[mtaylor]

Thanks, EG.  

[ccoyle]

Step 24 is now completed. The jackstaff at the stern was the last addition. I had some problems with it. Problem #1 is that my cheap tweezers ka-pinged my first attempt into another dimension. Problem #2 was noticed when looking at some images online trying to figure out the placement of the stern navigation light -- turns out that I built the lower part of the staff structure wrong, resulting in a staff that is too short. But by that time, everything was rock-solidly secured with CA, so now it is what it is. Sometimes this model feels like "death by a thousand imperfections." I have now moved on to the mast, which with its numerous components is scary as all get-out. Not the least of the questions to be resolved will be the rigging, since there is no sort of step-by-step or color-coded sequence given for the spider's web of lines.

 

Here is a shot of England in her present state:

 

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

Not the least of the questions to be resolved will be the rigging, since there is no sort of step-by-step or color-coded sequence given for the spider's web of lines.

Would reference images be of any help?

 

the usual procedure and order is usually Standing, Running & radio aerials.... Standing usually is painted ships color, Running, (flag halyards) is hemp or jute and aerials are usually bare metal (aluminum or steel) in US navy practice....

Edited October 31, 2022 by Egilman

[ccoyle]

4 hours ago, Egilman said:

Would reference images be of any help?

 

I haven't got around to looking for any yet.

[Egilman]

I have some, and there should be some detail images on the USS Slater's website...

That drawing is just the Standing and Radios, the running rigging is absent the guys are the ones with the insulators...

 

Update:

 

This one has the running rigging...

Edited November 2, 2022 by Egilman

[ccoyle]

On 10/31/2022 at 11:21 PM, Egilman said:

I have some

 

Your images tipped me off to the fact that I glued the air search radar antenna on backwards. 😥

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

I glued the air search radar antenna on backwards.

If you don't mind me askin, how could you do that?

 

It rotated on the top of the mast....

 

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Egilman said:

It rotated on the top of the mast...

 

Ah, I see now. Part of the difficulty in determining the orientation stemmed from the fact that most WW2-era photos online, even large ones, are quite grainy, and the fine details of the "mattress spring" type air search radar don't show up well in the photos. On top of that, most of the photos I did find seemed to have caught the radar pointing aft instead of forward, hence the confusion.

 

What I do think I'm going to need is some kind of reference material that shows a much more detailed view of the rigging details (still searching for that). The diagrams in the kit are practically useless, because in the provided views the lines cross each other numerous times, as well as crossing other ship details such as railings, so it is nearly impossible to tell which lines lines attach where and where they route to. Gonna be a fun job. 😧

[Egilman]

7 hours ago, ccoyle said:

What I do think I'm going to need is some kind of reference material that shows a much more detailed view of the rigging details (still searching for that). The diagrams in the kit are practically useless, because in the provided views the lines cross each other numerous times, as well as crossing other ship details such as railings, so it is nearly impossible to tell which lines lines attach where and where they route to. Gonna be a fun job.

What I'm going to do brother is take the lower drawing and using images from the navy, create three drawings, 1 each showing the Standing, Running and Antenna rigging.... In essence removing all the complicated crossovers and highlighting them in color....

 

If you think that would help...

[Edwardkenway]

I don't know how I've missed this Chris, but , are you sure it's a card model!?😉😇

Fantastic work!

[ccoyle]

4 hours ago, Egilman said:

If you think that would help...

 

Quite likely it would!

[ccoyle]

I also just found out that there is a volume on England in the Conway Maritime Press AOTS series.

[Egilman]

Yes, written by Al Ross.. #17 in the AOTS series.... I'll take a look at it and see if there is some useful info, there should be... {chuckle}

 

Update:

 

Here is what they got as far as drawings....

These should help explain some of it, at least make it clearer.... (I will still separate the different lines using the other drawings I posted.... (it's easier to erase lines than create them)

Give me a bit...

Edited November 3, 2022 by Egilman

[ccoyle]

Step 25: Mast

 

I have been making slow progress on the mast -- a few bits here, a few bits there. The instructions recommend assembling the mast on the model. Building off the model is listed as an option. I have chosen an in-between method. Many of the athwartships elements can be added and allowed to dry with the mast lying flat. Eventually, though, some fore-and-aft elements are going to have to be added, and at that point the mast will have to be held vertical, as seen in the photo. When I get to the point where I think I can no longer handle the mast without knocking stuff off, I'll add it to the model and then add the final bits. The main mast is a length of steel rod clad in paper; the bits so far added bring the parts total to 37. Still plenty more to do!

 

 

Oh, and Egilman's drawings confirm something I at first thought was kind of odd: the navigation lights on the mast are perpendicular to the waterline, not parallel to the mast rake.

[ccoyle]

Finished mast (60 pieces).

 

[Egilman]

Ok Brother... I promised some drawings....

 

The stays are fairly simple...

The Aft stays anchor to the first superstructure deck level one just forward of the stack port & starboard...

The Forward stays anchor to either side of the bridge level just aft the corner poet & starboard...

The side stays also anchor to the O1 level coaming edge in line with the mast port & starboard...

 

Halyards...

 

Halyards are self explanatory, some ships had three P&S other had four P&S....

The Flag halyard ran from the inner corner of the flag left flag bag to the jib centered on the mast... The jib was supported by a block and tackle tied off to a cleat on the mast....

And of course they were only tight when there were no flags attached.....

 

Now the antennas....

 

There are a lot of them, difficult to follow hard to see in pics... I'm still working on the chart for them but I will post the pics I have to give you a sense of them...

 

For example...

The attached pics are similar, from the US Navy Archives , High res Tiff files (about 30 meg in size each) 

 

When I get the chart of the antennas finished I'll post it my friend....

19-N-60938.tiff 19-N-60939.tiff 19-N-60940.tiff 19-N-60941.tiff 19-N-60942.tiff 80-G-336947.tiff

[ccoyle]

Thanks, Egilman. I will be giving much thought to how to do this task. Some of the obvious hardware, e.g. sheaves and turnbuckles, is nearly impossible to replicate at this scale, and the attachment points are not always plainly marked (not helped by the dark camouflage colors, especially the deck). I will be moving ahead slowly -- might even need to take an airplane break before tackling this!

[Landlubber Mike]

That mast came out amazing - wow!  

[ccoyle]

Before attempting to tackle the daunting task of rigging, I decided I will take a little detour and try making some of the guns first. The 20 mm mounts are 3D printed, so no issues there. The 3"/50 resin set included only barrels -- depending on how the construction of the mounts goes, I may opt to replace those with complete 3D printed guns available from another producer (they're not cheap). As far as I can find, though, no one makes a 3D printed 1.1" quad mount, so that one I will have to make mainly out of card in any case. Here's the parts sheet and printed barrel set. Yeah, this is gonna be fun. 🤔