The Ship Model Forum

The Ship Modelers Source
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:38 am

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:51 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 4:22 am
Posts: 23
Started my second build not too long ago, going for HMS Kelly, the unluckiest ship. I guess I have a thing for ships with a special history now :)

I guess I don't have to go into how detailed the parts are, but the PE is confusing me a little. There are 7 PE stairs, but there are 8 to be installed. Meaning one will be plastic. There are also 8 cable reel parts included, but none are shown on the instructions. Either they're for a follow up kit in the same set of destroyer classes, or I'm supposed to do what I want with them. I guess it's the former, since there are more guns in the kit than Kelly had. Clarifications from Flyhawk would be nice I guess..

Asembly started of well enough. I managed to misalign the bow slightly, so that required a bit of sanding to fix. There were also some minor gaps between the hull and the deck parts that required filling and sanding. There are installation guides on the hull for notches in the deck, but that ended up with said gaps some places.
Attachment:
File comment: Masking to prevent filler material from going everywhere
Kelly 1.jpg
Kelly 1.jpg [ 386.17 KiB | Viewed 1304 times ]

Attachment:
File comment: Fixing the gap at the stern
Kelly 2.jpg
Kelly 2.jpg [ 370.33 KiB | Viewed 1304 times ]

Attachment:
File comment: You can see where the guides for the deck were
Kelly 3.jpg
Kelly 3.jpg [ 376.86 KiB | Viewed 1304 times ]


Leassons learned from my last build is to paint in steps. After putting in the first parts of the superstructures, I'll move on to painting the decks before adding all the tiny bits. I hope that will give me a more even surface than if I were to paint around all the tiny deck pieces.
Attachment:
File comment: Superstructures slightly in place, ready for painting the decks
kelly 4.jpg
kelly 4.jpg [ 389.11 KiB | Viewed 1304 times ]


I even got Christofer Langtrees book The Kellys, which I've seen recommended around the forums. That is an excellent source of information and history. So thanks for that :thumbs_up_1:

_________________
Previous: 1/700 HMS Campbeltown, Kelly, Dido
Building: A few airplanes
Future builds: Yes, there are lots


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 5:05 am 
Offline

Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 4:22 am
Posts: 23
I really haven't done a proper job of posting along with my build, but better late than never I guess.
This is my second model in modern history, and my build tempo suffers from this. 3 months for a small destroyer feels a bit much when I see what else is created here in that time, but I'm enjoying my time. And that's what counts :)
Anyway, on with the build (part 1)

Painting:
This time I decided to paint the deck before adding all the tiny bits. That turned out to be much better. A little foresight; masking where stuff would go, allowed me to outfit the deck easily afterwards.

Ships mast:
Since I was planning on rigging the ship, I went with building the main mast out of the brass rods in the kit. Using the plastic mast as a template, I think it turned out quite alright.
Getting it to stay in place once glued in turned out a bit difficult. Next time I'll glue a plastic strip below the deck, so that I can drill through the deck to get the mast to stay securely in place.
Attachment:
File comment: The main mast dry fitted
1 Mast.jpg
1 Mast.jpg [ 360.49 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]

Attachment:
File comment: Brass mast primed, side by side with the plastic one
2 Mast.jpg
2 Mast.jpg [ 381.75 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]


Outfitting:
Continuing with assembly-paint-assembly-paint, the bridge outfitting was a lot easier then i thought it would be. On second thought, I think the forward deck is supposed to be wooden, but black works too I guess.
The main range finder is placed at an angle, to match a picture from after her torpedoing in May 1940. I later decided not to have the guns as in that picture (all over the place), but rather aligned with the range finder.
Attachment:
3 Bridge outfitting.jpg
3 Bridge outfitting.jpg [ 394.83 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]


My first mistake:
I managed to read the instructions wrong. The search light platform is the wrong way around, meaning two things. The door won't be able to open with the torpedoes stowed (but who's going to notice that?), and the lip of the platform will be in the way of the search light. The solution was to cut off the lip, and add a small strip of styrene in the right place. Not great, not terrible.
Attachment:
File comment: My first, but thankfully only, mistake
4 Fixing my mistake.jpg
4 Fixing my mistake.jpg [ 380.55 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]


Stairs:
What can I say. Stairs are awful. Still haven't figured out how to do these properly.
Attachment:
5 Stairs.jpg
5 Stairs.jpg [ 392.76 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]


Looking like a ship:
This felt good :)
Attachment:
6 Looking like a ship.jpg
6 Looking like a ship.jpg [ 346.52 KiB | Viewed 1046 times ]

_________________
Previous: 1/700 HMS Campbeltown, Kelly, Dido
Building: A few airplanes
Future builds: Yes, there are lots


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 8:52 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:46 am
Posts: 2409
Location: Hoboken, NJ
Looking good. Fun little kits, aren't they?

_________________
We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:17 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:46 am
Posts: 1439
Location: Montreal, Canada
Sounds like you had a lot of unusual fit problems! :scratch:
:wave_1:


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:27 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 4:22 am
Posts: 23
drasticplastic wrote:
Sounds like you had a lot of unusual fit problems! :scratch:
:wave_1:

Not really. The aft and forward bits might just be my positioning of the parts.
The mast problem was, I think, simply because the brass rods were bigger in diameter than the pins on the plastic mast.

Everything else has fitted beutifully

_________________
Previous: 1/700 HMS Campbeltown, Kelly, Dido
Building: A few airplanes
Future builds: Yes, there are lots


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 1:14 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:56 am
Posts: 8561
Location: New York City
The mast looks great.


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 10:24 am 
Offline

Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 4:22 am
Posts: 23
Part two of better late than never :)

After the main mast comes the guns. These tiny little things are modded with brass barrels, and were a pain to assemble. Getting the shielding to sit properly with the guns glued in didn't work for me, so the solution was to thread the guns in afterwards.
Attachment:
7 GUNS!.jpg
7 GUNS!.jpg [ 371.88 KiB | Viewed 924 times ]

Attachment:
8 GUNS.jpg
8 GUNS.jpg [ 375.64 KiB | Viewed 924 times ]


My previous ship was rigged using stretched sprue. I didn't quite like that method, as I found it too difficult to get them thin enough without snapping. Luckily both that and this kit came with thin black rigging line. The rigging for the mast seems to be different for different ships of the class, so I put the two forward ones where I felt they would fit. The small stern mast is also made out of brass instead of PE. I doubt I would have managed to rig the ship without that bending and warping.
Flag lanyards were fun. Gluing two strands together before gluing them to the flag deck, it turned in to a proper spaghetti mess.
Insulators were then added with globs of superglue, the flag lanyards painted a light brown ropey colour.
Attachment:
9 Starting Rigging.jpg
9 Starting Rigging.jpg [ 386.09 KiB | Viewed 924 times ]

Attachment:
10 Spaghetti.jpg
10 Spaghetti.jpg [ 366 KiB | Viewed 924 times ]


Finally the time had come for the finishing touches. Small pieces of rope here and there, the forward mast is laid down on the deck, and weathering is added lightly. I weathered it lightly, mainly because HMS Kelly spent about as much time, if not more, in drydock than she did at sea. Plus I'll make a seascape of her being torpedoed off Norway (11 days after her recommisioning after earlier repairs). The only major weathering is on the funnel, meant to be salt crusting from sea spray evaporating on the hot funnel, something that can be seen on several historical pictures.
Attachment:
11 Almost done.jpg
11 Almost done.jpg [ 394.56 KiB | Viewed 924 times ]


Yesterday I put the white ensign in place, thus calling the build finished. I'll add more pictures once the seascape is finished :)

_________________
Previous: 1/700 HMS Campbeltown, Kelly, Dido
Building: A few airplanes
Future builds: Yes, there are lots


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:58 am 
Offline

Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 4:22 am
Posts: 23
I finally finished this build. Well, I finished the build a while ago, but the sea scene took a while.
I painted a cheap picture frame, and poured layer upon layer of acrylic pouring medium. Some of the layers have a few drops of blue paint in them to give a bit of depth, and I think it worked well enough, especially when it comes to the torpedo.
The scene shows HMS Kelly doing what she loved best, being damaged. She spent (probably) more time of her existence in drydock than at sea after all.

While making sea effects I clumsily managed to knock over the bottle of water effects, which landed on the main mast. The IFF antenna at the top disappeared, and the top of the mast got bent backwards and the tripod dissassembled itself. I think I managed to solve it well enough to display at home, but there's a reason the last pictures don't show her from her side.
Attachment:
Finished 5.jpg
Finished 5.jpg [ 361.57 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 1.jpg
Finished 1.jpg [ 340.56 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 2.jpg
Finished 2.jpg [ 397.1 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 3.jpg
Finished 3.jpg [ 398.95 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 4.jpg
Finished 4.jpg [ 345.16 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]


The following pictures are purposely taken so as to be a bit dark, to better represent the reality. The torpedoing happened on the 8th of may 1940 at 22:44, so it would be quite dark.
Attachment:
Finished 6.jpg
Finished 6.jpg [ 390.89 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 7.jpg
Finished 7.jpg [ 366.29 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

Attachment:
Finished 8.jpg
Finished 8.jpg [ 388.94 KiB | Viewed 791 times ]

_________________
Previous: 1/700 HMS Campbeltown, Kelly, Dido
Building: A few airplanes
Future builds: Yes, there are lots


Report this post
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: SovereignHobbies and 49 guests


You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group