Calling all Oliver Hazard Perry-class FFG fans

[Willie]

Hi all again,

Next step was to paint the lower hull with waterline. For this I usually make a mixture of 80% Humbrol satin red 174 and a 20% US dark green matt 116. This is then the hull :

Next was to plan all the handrails that this ship has everywhere. Not only they are not placed at regular distances, but they are inboard and outboard, abating towards midships or the sea, depending on the function of the elements that are around them. The most complicated thing was the hangar deck because of the high number of handrails that are present and the huge number of elements that are present too, what makes necessary to adapt the number of rails so that the result is not a mass of things that would not be realistic.

These are the main elements :

Then I marked the positions, which an initial mistake that made me redo the whole job, otherwise where is the fun :

And then the raft racks that are placed aft of the Sat aerials :

After some tests I deduced that I would never be able to make a single piece with eight curves in it, so had to divide the element in segments, glue them in place and finish the process with another layer of glue and softening the angles and plastic excess by sanding.

Each structure has a total of 19 pieces. As I dared not use rod of less than 0.4 mm. they are slightly out of scale, but recognizable and acceptable in a general view of the deck :

Best regards from this side,
Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

And hi all for the n-th time again,

The last part I have finished is the upper deck inner handrails, a previous step to the rest of them.

Firstable I had to paint the deck with the numerals and landing markings, and drill al the holes again to erase all excess of paint. Placing the handrails was tedious and hateful, as usual, but what else could be expected :

It can be observed that the threads that are placed on the boards to lead water towards the scuppers are also perfect to finish off the paintjob in a perfect way painting with a brush placed sidewise.

To check the general effect, this is the same deck with again all the main elements :

It can be observed that the numerals actually disappear under the aerials and the rest of the ventilators, but as it is what happens in the real units, this is something we will have to accept. The general view is quite realistic, I would say, and it is what matters.

And that�s all for today. Best regards from this side of the oceans,

Willie.[/size]

[Perth_shipyard]

inspirational stuff Willie! great work.

I'm working on a 1/96 adelaide class ffg HMAS Newcastle myself

[Perth_shipyard]

thought i'd share some pics of the adelaide class for those who might find them interesting.

[Perth_shipyard]

Some more

[Perth_shipyard]

Hopefully you will find these as useful as I did.

[Perth_shipyard]

Some more detail shots and finally a couple of my build so far. I might start up a build log of my newcastle also.

[Haijun watcher]

Hi all,

I am interested in possibly converting one of Fujimi's Oliver Hazard Perry class 1/700 kits to an Australian Perry class frigate, possibly HMAS Sydney.

I did a search on Ebay and here for any PE sets that may go with this Fujimi kit to avail.

In this case, would any of you be willing to suggest a 1/700 PE set that goes with this kit?

Or should I just content myself with using Gold Medal Models' PE set for USN/JMSDF warships, which is offered at my local hobby shop?

--------------------------------

Also, another question: would the USN's Haze Grey be an appropriate colour for RAN warships? Or do the Aussies use a colour more similar to the RN's Royal Light Grey?

[Perth_shipyard]

Hi haijun,

The USN PE sets should cover the majority of items needed for Sydney. Our FFG's had some different domes and comms gear and the 4 rocket Nulka launchers not the separate 2 rockets as the USN use - depending what period you're building your Sydney in. Another thing to keep in mind also the boat deck on our FFG's are longer and different as we used a single pivot Derrick for the RHIB after 1990. If you decide to build HMAS Darwin or HMAS Newcastle, they have a boat deck on the stbd side also. As for paint colour, the RAN currently is and has been Australian standard colour N42 Storm grey since the 1960's a very different colour to US Haze grey or the light RN grey, having a green tint to it. Take a look at my build log of HMAS Brisbane which is painted in australian N42 storm grey. It's the proper colour and not thinned so will give you an idea. Navy is going to change from storm grey to a colour similar to USN Haze grey but the actual colour is yet to be decided and no Australian ships have been repainted. Sydney FFG 03 will be decommissioned soon so you'll be safe painting your model in storm grey. Hope that helps.

[Haijun watcher]

Perth,

Thanks a great deal for your feedback.

I guess I have my research cut out for me.

Will RAN Storm grey be more similar to Tamiya's Intermediate Blue AS19 spray paint then? That blue is more greyish green to me than blue.

Thanks again.

[Perth_shipyard]

Not a problem more than happy to help out. Computer screens especially LCD aren't reliable for confirming colours but here is N42 storm grey compared to the tamiya intermediate blue.



There's no blue at all so tamiya intermediate blue is nothing like it. Most if not all tamiya greys are very very blue.



The only tamiya paint that's greenish grey is the IJN grey AS-18 but this is also far too light as storm grey is rather dark.



From your flag, I assume you're in canada? If so do you guys use the American standard colours or your own version like Australia? From what I've found you can't buy RAN storm grey as a model paint. White ensign might have storm grey paint pots as they have the correct USN and RN colours. As my models are quite large I get mine mixed to the paint code - easy here as it's an australian standard colour but best option if WEM don't have storm grey is to either mix your own with humbrol paints or see if you can get a colour match at a paint shop, probably the most inexpensive way as for a 1/700 model a sample pot from your local hardware store should be able to make something up. If Canada uses the US federal standard colours there's no direct match for it at all but if you use British standard I have a colour code which is very close, not exact but close.

Any questions relating to RAN FFG's ill do my best to help as I served on both Adelaide FFG 01 and Newcastle FFG 06 and have mates who served on Melbourne and Darwin. Unfortunately not Sydney but I also have plenty of images which I'm sure Sydney is amongst

Anton

[Haijun watcher]

From your flag, I assume you're in canada?

Yes I'm in Canada. If I can recall correctly from pictures I've seen of our Halifax class frigates, the RCN uses a grey that's a lot lighter/whiter than the USN's haze grey. I've leave it to our other members more familiar with the greys used by the RCN/ex-MARCOM to answer your other questions; I just assumed it was closer to the RN's grey schemes.

[Perth_shipyard]

Hi haijun, yes the RCN grey is close to the RN grey. I believe since the 1950's after the two tone went out for surface combatant ships. The colour is 501-105 or FS26329.

[Perth_shipyard]

Found this site

http://www.e-paint.co.uk/Colour_alterna ... orm%20grey

There's only one that's really similar but you may be able to help if you want to get paint mixed. Again there's no exact Federal standard equivalent but you should be able to get close.

[Mike Taylor]

Hey guys what's this on the foredeck of FFG 50?

[Timmy C]

The Mk38 Mod 2 25mm remotely-operated chaingun that's being fitted to most surviving USN Perries.

[Haijun watcher]

Perth/Anton,

Is the storm grey at this Ebay listing below closer to actual RAN grey?

Ebay ad: Decoart Storm Cloud Grey 94

[Perth_shipyard]

Hi haijun, no mate it's nothing like it. Don't get distracted by the name storm grey, as this usually doesn't reflect the colour. Even Nissan has a storm grey paint but again it's nothing like N42 storm grey. The website I posted above gives you other paint alternatives in both Federal standard, british standard and RAL colours. They're matched up against N42 storm grey so you can see the difference. I don't know what paints you have available in Canada but that should help you out.

[Haijun watcher]

Perth or anyone,

Does anyone know if the RAN has already decided on the new grey that Perth mentioned below?

Almost given on trying to find storm grey here in Canada...which is why I'm considering just using a haze grey for my 1/700 Fujimi Perry class kit. (original kit options: 1/700 USS De Wert/SPS Santa Maria of the Spanish Navy)

If worse comes to worse, I might either build it in a USN or Taiwanese/ROCN guise.

Navy is going to change from storm grey to a colour similar to USN Haze grey but the actual colour is yet to be decided and no Australian ships have been repainted. Sydney FFG 03 will be decommissioned soon so you'll be safe painting your model in storm grey. Hope that helps.

[Perth_shipyard]

The haze grey will look the same as the USN variant. We just don't have an Australian standard equivalent we can buy off the shelf yet. I don't think it would be too difficult to mix a match for storm grey but if you go for haze just make sure it's one of the current FFG's still in commission and not a decommissioned ship. So Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne and Newcastle are safe and will remain at least until 2016 once the hobarts start to arrive.