by Kiwikev » Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:39 pm
Haven't seen any updates on here for a while, but I bought an Airfix 1:600 HMS Victorious over xmas and thought it should be possible to make a 1:600 Melbourne. Two 20mm plugs were cut out of it near either end, and the centre hull sections each narrowed 5mm and rejoined. Took a bit of surgery, but in fact the result is surprisingly good.
Found the same plans as the OP author, looking at lots of photos. Initially I thought the stern and bow could just about be used as is, but on closer inspection, there are a lot more differences than I imagined. At the stern, Victorious is quite rounded with considerable over-hang, whereas Melbournes stern is almost a transom with hull plating going up to the flight deck. On Melbourne the flight deck rounds in appreciably whereas its almost rectangular on Victorious.
Have a soft spot for this ship and its aircraft, as I probably kicked the tires on a few A4's that were ex RAN after NZ bought them.
I think this kit conversion could work quite well, I don't know if my approach has been optimum, I just started hacking and rejoining, and learning as i went.
Haven't seen any updates on here for a while, but I bought an Airfix 1:600 HMS Victorious over xmas and thought it should be possible to make a 1:600 Melbourne. Two 20mm plugs were cut out of it near either end, and the centre hull sections each narrowed 5mm and rejoined. Took a bit of surgery, but in fact the result is surprisingly good.
Found the same plans as the OP author, looking at lots of photos. Initially I thought the stern and bow could just about be used as is, but on closer inspection, there are a lot more differences than I imagined. At the stern, Victorious is quite rounded with considerable over-hang, whereas Melbournes stern is almost a transom with hull plating going up to the flight deck. On Melbourne the flight deck rounds in appreciably whereas its almost rectangular on Victorious.
Have a soft spot for this ship and its aircraft, as I probably kicked the tires on a few A4's that were ex RAN after NZ bought them.
I think this kit conversion could work quite well, I don't know if my approach has been optimum, I just started hacking and rejoining, and learning as i went.