HMAS AUSTRALIA II by AKRYPTO - FINISHED - 1:72 - PLASTIC - Tribute build.

[AJohnson]

Hi Andy,

 

Mind if I pull up a chair, I am contemplating a future 1/72 scratch build of my own, so would love follow your progress.  🍿

[AKRYPTO]

Dib dabs have been busy today putting up 3hole post and rail. Part of ship Have secured early for the day due to eye strain and loss of coordination.  

[BANYAN]

20 hours ago, AKRYPTO said:

Dib dabs have been busy today

Haven't heard that term in a while; a dib of that and dab of that (if it doesn't move, paint it) - or their other name (well used by stokers in the RAN at least) as 'mullets'   - sorry to highjack

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Andrew Egan]

Very nice, I do like the Counties, such a stately ship. You model looks very impressive.

Not all pointy ends are pointy, my 1/72 scale project is a landing craft, she has a blunt pointy end!

[AKRYPTO]

Nearly ready for her RC fitout and test float and first acceptance trials. D84. May need help from my boys getting her on the water.

[KeithAug]

Impressive bow shot. What is the chain for?

[Roger Pellett]

Very nice work!  I especially like the realistic hull plating.

[AJohnson]

13 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Impressive bow shot. What is the chain for?

They are Paravane chains, an anti mine measure. Give it a Google, there are a few sites out there discussing how it was supposed to work. 

[AKRYPTO]

On 8/11/2022 at 7:13 AM, AJohnson said:

They are Paravane chains, an anti mine measure. Give it a Google, there are a few sites out there discussing how it was supposed to work. 

What he said.  Exactly that anti sea mine countermeasures 

[AKRYPTO]

Thankyou for the kind comments, sorry for the delay in reply was having a bad day health wise today.   The Paravane info courtesy of Wikpedia best description I could find. 

They were used a lot also on lightly armoured Troop ships Britannic etc.

[AJohnson]

Still not sure I'd have liked being onboard when they gave the orders to use PVs! 🥺

 

Great looking build, what are you making the superstructure from plastic card of wood sheets?  The turrets look good 👍

[NavyShooter]

One of the running jokes we had in the Navy was that any ship can be a minesweeper.

 

Once.

 

 

 

Of note, my thanks for the earlier demo on how to make port holes higher up in the thread.  I'm ordering some of the Canopy glue now and will see if I can use it to make windows for my  HMCS Bonaventure aircraft carrier island. 

[AKRYPTO]

1 hour ago, AJohnson said:

Still not sure I'd have liked being onboard when they gave the orders to use PVs! 🥺

 

Great looking build, what are you making the superstructure from plastic card of wood sheets?  The turrets look good 👍

It's quite a mix. Plastic styrene  Resin vacuform moulded parts and balsa ply. The funnels were made from empty Guinness cans cut into sheets flat the form wrapped around big rolls.  The intensity of the Austerity measures enforced from the wife has caused me to get very creative in recycling hahaha 

[Roger Pellett]

Someone must have forgotten to deploy them for Britannic, she was sunk by a mine.

 

Roger

[Valeriy V]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:07 AM, AKRYPTO said:

Nearly ready for her RC fitout and test float and first acceptance trials. D84. May need help from my boys getting her on the water.

 

I enjoy following your interesting work.  

Let me make a small clarification on the design of the wiring and fastening of the chains for the security paravane.

For this, an additional platform with bollards was welded on the bow of the ship.

[Valeriy V]

On HMAS Shropshire, this device looked different.  

 

[AKRYPTO]

1 hour ago, Valeriy V said:

On HMAS Shropshire, this device looked different.  

 

V Thankyou those are fantastic pictures could have used them for reference, my deck plate is pretty close to that if you squint.  I will post up something once I make some substantial progress again. You wouldn't happen to have any good reference pictures of the Seagull/walrus in RAAF colour? I'm having trouble finding references to the roundela.

[BANYAN]

AKRYPTO, try the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, I think they have a Walrus.  An email may elicit a response or some answers?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[iMustBeCrazy]

5 hours ago, AKRYPTO said:

You wouldn't happen to have any good reference pictures of the Seagull/walrus in RAAF colour?

 

1 hour ago, BANYAN said:

try the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, I think they have a Walrus.

Point Cook has a restored Walrus, I think it's in Rescue Yellow, but they will have other info.

 

This should give you an idea as to colour:

 

 

Other images at the State Library of Victoria:

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE1249952&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE672315&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE20305811&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE815403&mode=browse

 

 

 

[AKRYPTO]

2 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

 

Point Cook has a restored Walrus, I think it's in Rescue Yellow, but they will have other info.

 

This should give you an idea as to colour:

 

 

Other images at the State Library of Victoria:

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE1249952&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE672315&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE20305811&mode=browse

 

https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE815403&mode=browse

 

 

 

Wow that perfect ! exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you will post pictures of Mavrick Top Gun 1942 style when done.  Victor  Mike Tango 

[Valeriy V]

Perhaps this information will be useful to you.

 

Setting up a paravane on HMS London.

[Valeriy V]

Drawing of the paravane itself.

[Valeriy V]

Scheme of installing a paravane on a ship.

[iMustBeCrazy]

17 hours ago, AKRYPTO said:

1942 style

Aircraft aboard in 1942 (from http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a2.htm  )

 

L2327 Jan-Feb

A2-19 Mar

A2-8 Mar-Jun

W2783 Jun

W2761 Jul-Oct

X9510 Nov

X9516 Nov-Jan43

 

More images of Australia II ( click on 'available online' and image opens in new tab )  http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-explore/search?query=any,contains,australia ii&tab=default_tab&search_scope=Pictures&vid=MAIN&offset=0

 

Aircraft colour varies between the pale grey of the ship and a darker 'light grey'.

[AKRYPTO]

Thank you 🙏 this last day has been a treasure trove of reference and information. It about knowing where to look I guess.  I have used ADF serials in the past great source of information and history of incidents. I thoroughly appreciate the time spent research on my behalf.  This is a fantastic forum.  Cheers to all who are following this build.

[iMustBeCrazy]

16 minutes ago, AKRYPTO said:

Thank you 🙏 this last day has been a treasure trove of reference and information. It about knowing where to look I guess.  I have used ADF serials in the past great source of information and history of incidents. I thoroughly appreciate the time spent research on my behalf.  This is a fantastic forum.  Cheers to all who are following this build.

A common Australian saying attitude is, No problem. But on the selfish side, if I didn't get something out of it I wouldn't do it.

 

As an aside, there used to be a Walrus at the local airport when I was very little ( along with a DC3 and three P51Ds ) I probably wasn't any taller than the Walrus wheels and certainly shorter than the DC3 wheels. I have a very vague recollection of a darker light grey but I can't say I actually remember the Walrus. I think the Walrus had been owned by an aerial survey company, it would have been pretty good at that. This was long after the war.

[Valeriy V]

The catapult on these ships can be a lot of fun for lovers of small details.  

HMAS CANBERRA

 

[Bedford]

Just found this build and I'm interested.

 

If I may throw a curve ball re the walrus (I built a model of it as a kid) roundel. I learned recently that due to an American pilot attacking an Australian aircraft because he saw a solid red circle and assumed it to be Japanese the red inner circle was deleted.

 

I'm not sure when this took place but you might like to look into it. Eventually the red circle was replaced by the now very well known red kangaroo but I've heard from a naval air commander that this happened straight away while others have said the roo wasn't introduced till after the war. 

[Jim Lad]

Another interesting fact about the Walrus; I can't remember the book, but I remember a naval pilot explaining that the Walrus was an excellent aircraft for use in emergencies as its small cargo space could just fit in six cases of beer!

 

John

[Louie da fly]

HMAS Perth had a Supermarine Seagull (very similar to a Walrus)  which was known as the Pusser's Duck (I don't know if that name was used on other ships). It was damaged by bombs in Surabaya and so was unfortunately not available for spotting during the battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait.

 

Regarding the colour scheme, perhaps the aircraft museum at Point Cook in Victoria might be able to help. The Walrus they have is yellow, but they might have information on other colour schemes.

 

Steven

Edited August 17, 2022 by Louie da fly