I have made mention that I have been working on HMS Daring a Type 45 DDG Part of that build { my choice} involves the construction and fitting out of the Hanger . This has proved to be more than just a change but an interesting challenge and because of the shape of the hull the development of the hanger required a little bit of lateral thinking . Building the hanger required a slightly different thought process to that of building the ship but after seeing several non ship builds on this board I thought , well it is part of the ship albeit inside the model. The one question you may ask why build the inside of what is essentially a working model. Yes it is a working model but the hanger is one of the few areas of the ship that is exposed to scrutiny from the outside. I first saw what can be done with a hanger on a 1:48th scale FFG of the Perry class by a German model warship group at Dortmund Intermodelbau it both bowled me over and frightened me in equal measure .
It's often been said to me that building a large scale model of 1:72 is easier than at 1:144 . In one sense yes but the larger the model the more detail is exposed so lets see what happens with this project and in particular the hanger. { BUT there will be limits }
Most are well familiar with the unusual shape of Daring but perhaps not so familiar about building the model particularly when there are restricting issues due to the fact that this model started out as a Fleetscale semi Kit .
HMS Daring This is a 7500ton DDG in a hull of 152.4m in length by 21.2m in beam
Basically this is the exterior of the hanger opening . The sloping sides seen in this photo are moulded into the hull which as we shall see required plenty of lateral thinking. .
Along with the hanger space there are two RIB galleries and like the hanger can be closed off using a series of horizontal folding doors.
The hanger space as you would expect is a positive nightmare for the model maker . Like many such hangers and I have been in many such places has some form of walk way/ access around the inside bulkheads but there is a plethora of air conditioning trunks , piping , fire suppressant equipment , electrical cables by the mile , switch boxes , watertight doors hose reels , pumps and the list goes on. Am I mad to choose to undertake such a project? There is one saving grace I have a number of good detailed pictures , not as much as I would like but enough .
Judge for your self
As a reminder this is the build thus far as most of my attention has been within the hanger ..
Dave Wooley
to be continued .............