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PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:58 am 
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Really loving this, keep up the good work =)


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 3:01 pm 
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Thank you silvershadow,

Finished another five non-watertight doors, that should be enough for my build, ironically I finally tracked down where the other two doors are located, there were two leading to the RCN galley and another two inside the alcove recesses. Which leaves me with one extra in case of problems or someone finds anther spot for them.

Next up is the watertight doors. I have made mine from a base of 0.010 thickness styrene cut 11 mm by 24 mm on top of this is a piece of 0.020 thickness styrene 9 mm by 22 mm so that there is a nice 1 mm gap all the way around.

Rather unimpressive styrene pieces:
Image

Edges are trimmed at a 45 degree angle and then filed to make a rounded corner. Handles were made with left over stanchion pieces and they were placed 4.5 mm from the top and bottom. Hinges were made with some 0.010 by 0.020 strips of styrene. Handles were made the same way I made them for the Engine Room Skylight, bending staples for the wire portion. I used the same staples for the dogs on the watertight handles, because they have the curve already there. Trimming them down to size and attaching them with 5 minute epoxy (I tried superglue first, but my applicator really sucked as it was one of those push end variety tubes).

Finished Product:
Image

I need three for the end of the Engine Room Casing and two for the Focsle.

Here they are getting added to the Engine Room Casing.
Starboard side:
Image
Port Side:
Image

Speaking of the conversion work of watertight and non-watertight doors, here is the bulkhead under the focsle facing the well deck. Eight non-watertight and two watertight doors (there actually is a ninth non-watertight door that accesses the companionway, but since it faces inwards and won’t be visible once the deck is fitted I am leaving it off.

Image
The large number of non-watertight doors on the port side led to the heads (toilets)...which had a direct standpipe to the sea and meant that using them in any sort of sea was very, very, very tricky. A good wave on the bow and you got salt water shooting up...well I will leave it at that.

Next up, was the bulwark railing, the kit has a very nice top to the bulwarks back aft, but since I cut my hull to create the short focsle I am left with a rather narrow and rough bulwark. So I sanded down the inside to remove the now visible part numbers, then I attached a strip of 0.010 by 0.125 styrene to each side, then a bracket of styrene was added underneath. This effectively made me a common rail.

Image

Another issue I had was my cut was a little two deep at the rising of the bulwarks to meet the focsle. I followed the template from the drawings Bob Pearson sent me, but I noticed after I had cut that CHILLIWACK and her sisters from the West Coast had a more gradual rise…*nuts*…so some two part epoxy putty was necessary to rebuild the missing section.

Image
In this picture you can see the doorways under the focsle deck with the template from Bob Pearson still attached before I added the non-watertight and watertight doors.

The whole hull with primer coat:
Image

A little sanding needed midships that the primer highlighted.

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:10 am 
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Some more progress.

I started working on the engine room casing aft, as you see above the watertight doors are now on and I fixed up my skylight with two mushroom vents and an edging of 0.015 by 0.060 strips of styrene down the sides.

Image

Then I started on the two ammunition lockers located at the after end of the engine casing deck on RCN corvettes. I added some plastic parts from other kits to try and recreate the butterfly clips, not sure I like them, but it is better than what I started with.

Image
Anyone with ideas on how to make better 1/72 scale butterfly clips please let me know.

So with the four shorter ventilators and a cleaning gear locker I placed them on the casing to see how it fits together.

Image

Then I started on the boat deck with this mock-up. You can see the sanding marks where I removed some of the raised detail on the funnel deck base (I also had to build the front bulkhead as the kit was a later RN corvette with the galley moved forward and raised directly in front of the funnel deck).
Image
The non-watertight doors hanging in the air are to the galley which in RCN corvettes was directly behind the bridge, superior to RN corvettes in that you did not have to walk the length of the deck to get your food, you still had to walk down the steps and across the well deck to your mess…which meant your food was just cold and slightly wet when it got to the mess instead of cold and very wet in the RN corvettes, where the galley was right aft.

I also made sliding doors for the wheelhouse; this was with some angle bracket styrene.
Image
Still need to clean up the window frames for the addition of 'glass'.

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:53 pm 
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And a little more progress, still doing small bits at one time, mainly because I have to clear my construction area after every session.

Here are the 4 large ventilators getting new reinforcing bands (removed the raised plastic kit portion, which was out of scale with a dremel). Top bands are 0.015 by 0.125 with a 0.010 by 0.080 on top. The base band was a 0.015 by 0.060 strip.
Image
Next I will use the brown plastic rods that the kit supplied for railings to make the controlling gear (for turning the ventilators into and out of the wind...or sea in the case of Corvettes crossing the Atlantic)...not sure if I want to go all the way and make a notched top band.

I also glued in the scuttles with epoxy (I did this to prevent plastic cement distorting the clear plastic) and placed electricians tape behind them to help keep them fixed. Then I added the forward deck of the focsle and added some 0.010 thickness styrene rolled and pushed through the deck to make hawsepipes. Right now they looked like my Corvette has tissue up it's 'nose'.

Image

So next up was the funnel, the kit version is a really plain tube with a rounded band about four fifths up the stack…the instructions suggest you drill four holes through it and tie the supporting stays through the holes and there are a few plastic pieces to add to represent steam pipes, whistle, etc. But that is it, while the pictures of the funnels show some fairly prominent riveting, so I had to do better.

Original Funnel:
Image

Following some more [url="http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/Flower/MODELS/07-Funnel/funnel.htm"]Bob Pearson advice[/url], I sanded off the rounded band, then using a sheet of thin (0.010 thickness) styrene I used my $1 thread punch to make rivet marks…it actually took two tries as you cannot let your punch wander…so a metal ruler is a must. My riveted band was even more problematic as it was so thin and narrow, it took five tries and a whole lot of wasted styrene.

After gluing the patterned covering over the funnel I added a (0.010 x 0.080 thickness) strip of styrene with a rivet pattern to make the band. This was glued at the same level as the original (now removed) band and then I drilled eight small holes in vertical pairs at virtual right angles to each other in the band. Brass rod of a very thin diameter was cut and bent into shape and glued with superglue into the hole for the rings to attach the supporting stays.

Image

Raising the funnel cap. I glued one of my failed rivet marked bands inside the funnel to raise the cap slightly off the stack. I also drilled a hole in the centre of the supporting braces on the top…same as I have seen in photographs.

Inside band for the funnel cap:
Image

Finished Funnel:
Image

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:17 am 
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The 4-Inch gun mounted on the forward bandstand. The BL (breach loading) 4 inch Mk IX naval gun mounted on the Flower Class Corvettes was a World War I weapon left over in storage, and thus available in the first days of rapid rearmament.

The RCN corvettes had square or round gun shields (predominantly fitted with round gun shields according to photographic evidence)…it seems that those outfitted by the RN had mostly square gun shields…as did the ten corvettes built for the British by the Canadians. Fortunately the kit comes with both versions…unfortunately the gun is built to the same standard as the rest of the kit fittings, a sort of approximation. CHILLIWACK had a round shield through her entire career.

Original Parts:
Image

So I started off by taking the shield and sanding down the ends of the two pieces that would be exposed to a viewer (lots of folks have suggested cutting entirely new gun shields but I have decided to try and salvage as much as I can), these are the port and starboard sides of the shield.
Image

Then I cut holes for the targeting sites in the front of the shield.
Image

Shield assembled:
Image

Then I took the barrel and breech assembly and cut off the extremely large cap/muzzle, the toy like angle adjustment.
Image

Since the kit mount bears no resemblance to the original I am taking one of the Oerlikon mounts (as the bridge mounted weapons of this period were either paired Lewis Guns or .50 cal machine guns). I cut a hole in the back and built some elevating gear to fit in the gap. I also glued a short strip of 0.020 thickness styrene a couple of mm high to widen the base.
Image

Side note: I notice most folks who come aboard for tours of warships want to look at ship’s weapons and usually the deck gun is number one on the request list.

Added some details to the gun itself, using the drawings from my books and some photos to make the details on the barrel.
Image

Some angle brackets on the inside of the shield and some large nuts made by cutting up some styrene tubing and I have a basic weapon and shield.
Image
Still need work on the inside.
Side view:
Image

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:20 am 
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Awesome, keep it up, really loving your progress.!!


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 3:30 pm 
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Thanks silvershadow. Seems it is just you and me.

Another update...

4 Inch continued:

So I have added some rivets to the gun shield and I am not really happy with them, a little too large and distinct.
Image
Image
What do you think? (Since these were taken I have tried sanding down the rivets some more)

I think the that I will just sand them off and forget trying to do the rivets, as looking at photographs they are not that distinct.

Aft Bandstand update:

I also noticed in several pictures and the scale drawings I am borrowing that the aft bandstand has a square shield added for access on the middle of the port side vice the cut in the shield and ladder on the starboard side forward that SNOWBERRY and the RN built flowers possessed.

So some 0.020 styrene sheet was cut out and three sides of the square were glued together, then I used 0.020 square styrene to make the lip; over lapping the ends to help the join and then reversing the overlap for the second set to create a lock. I also left some overlap on the open end which I would marry up to the round shield once I had cut the access point.
Image

Then a cut in the side and I married up the ends of my square shield to the lip I had built to the round one.
Image

That should be it, until I add the anti-aircraft weapon…I am still leaning towards doing the late 42 and early 43 version of CHILLIWACK, and at that point she had a 2-pounder Pom-pom, the mid 42 version might have had a pair of twin Lewis guns in the Aft bandstand. A point of contention among the sources, although the 2-pounder Pom-pom is likely as CHILLIWACK was one of the earlier Corvette's built in Canada.
Image

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:00 pm 
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I like the rivets, think maybe a bit smaller maybe. As long as it looks good for you is the number one rule. Photos can be sometimes deceiving where in real life it looks perfect. If the scale fits, you can even drill small holes, and put in the heads of (i think they call it pins, my English not so good, (the pins they use for keeping clothing pieces together)) Anyways, keep it up, youre making good progress =)


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:07 pm 
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Also have a look here, i have build this in 3d long ago, maybe you can use some references of it. They made it much shorter, there mush be about 250 images. Follow the download links under the post, and you will end up with a file you can download with the original post with all the images in. Eye candy 3
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtop ... 81&t=20385


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:08 pm 
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silvershadow wrote:
I like the rivets, think maybe a bit smaller maybe. As long as it looks good for you is the number one rule. Photos can be sometimes deceiving where in real life it looks perfect. If the scale fits, you can even drill small holes, and put in the heads of (i think they call it pins, my English not so good, (the pins they use for keeping clothing pieces together)) Anyways, keep it up, youre making good progress =)


Thanks silvershadow, I only sanded them down to make them smaller. That is quite the 3D model you have built of an RN corvette. The SNOWBERRY was one of 10 corvettes built in Canada for the British using the British design and while loaned back to the RCN for crewing they were upgraded by the British throughout the war and thus were far more advanced than the Canadian Corvettes. Some historians have argued they should have been classified as different classes during the war to highlight the capabilities and help decision makers assign the right platform for the mission. That never happened and they were treated the same, and when the RCN Corvettes under performed it was immediately assumed they were less efficient and more poorly trained than their RN counterparts. So your CD model will end up looking fairly different from a regular RCN corvette that was equipped with whatever was in the yard. In fact when the British did upgrade some of the regular RNC corvettes in Londonderry, on their return to Halifax equipment was sometimes taken off to put into storage for use on larger warships being built (like the Tribals that did not enter service until 1944).

So next up on my project list was the mine sweeping winch, I figured since it was a really ambitious component I would try to get it done sooner rather than later. With the constant clean-up required after each build period I am slowly seeing some progress, but I really want to get to the painting stage sooner rather than later.

I again used Bob Pearson’s great [url="http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/Flower/MODELS/06-MS_Winch/MS_Winch.htm"]site for a guide[/url].

After reading through his guide I deviated almost immediately, I started with 0.040 thickness polystyrene to build the steel plate base and a second sheet for the wooden mat it sits on. This gave me a nice lip all the way around as the real set would have looked.

Then out of 0.040 styrene I cut out four struts using the drawings from AOTS converted to 1/72 scale (this proved to be really, really time consuming and next time I try this I will just cut the struts separately and glue them together rather than trying to make each one a single piece, especially with the cuts in the middle.

Then I added three strips of the kit provided piping for railings to act as the guide wires, Bob used brass wire, I used the kit plastic to try and maximize the amount of kit materials used in the model, since the guide wires were thicker than the mine sweeping wire I am content with my plastic ones, they also glue down with plastic cement rather than epoxy.

Image
Image

Next was the spools, here I used 0.040 thickness for the gears and 0.020 thickness for the spool sides and plastic tubing for the centers. The axle was made from some round sprue sanded down. I added 0.010 by 0.020 strips for struts on the large gears and 0.010 by 0.060 strips to make a nice smooth outer edge.

Image
Image

Next was adding the small gears that run of the winch engine and the embossing of geared teeth on the wheels themselves. This proved to be very, very messy…I think it is the Krazy glue coupled with the size of the parts…more ended on my hands than on the wheels.

Two ½ inch wooden furniture plugs provided the warping drums; the two I have attached are only temporary as I add some 0.020 by 0.020 strips to make a rim and braces for the ends. I used my Mini-Dremel to sand out the sides to make the proper curve.

Image
Image

Next up I have to build the pistons and engine to power the gears, this sits on the empty portion of the base. Then some guides for the guide wires and some breaks…I have been trying to think of how I could get/make some of the round handles when I though that I might be able to find some small rings at a bead shop, then I can add some polystyrene spokes with epoxy…look for an update next week for how that works.

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:31 am 
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The centre and spokes for the wheels can be made with plastic card. To make the rim take a suitable diameter rod(I use the shank of a drill bit) tape a length of plastic rod to this and rap it around, forming a "spring" with the coils touching. Tape the end of the rod to the former and carefully pour boiling water over the coil of rod. Run cold water over it to set the plastic. Remove from the former and cut into entire circles. Twist flat and glue the joint and add to the spokes and hub.

I used this technique on the minesweeping hoists on my flower build.
Image


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:01 pm 
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Thank you Niall,

This was how I built mine:

For a base I pulled out the two bases for the Oerlikons, I added some thicker styrene rod from the mixed bag and cut out discs of smaller tubes to fill the top. Then I drilled two holes, one on each side for the turning hand cranks.

Image

The arms of the davits I built from 0.020 thickness styrene cut from the plans in John McKay & John Harland's Anatomy of the Ship - The Flower Class Corvette AGASSIZ, the davits are basically two identical halves (arms) surrounding the blocks. I purchased a mixed bag of round styrene tubes from Evergreen and it has been extremely useful and I cut out discs to represent the wheels for the davits (large ones for the end and smaller ones down the middle. Then a bit of plastic rod at the bottom to allow the davits to swing freely until I decide on which angle to glue them.

Image The eye bolts at the ends of the arms were made from small discs cut from the styrene rod and cut in half to create the ring.

Then I built the winching gear box out of two small squares of sprue, first was the smaller angled piece, since the sprue parts are usually angled to a narrow side I just matched a segment to my paired arms. I then made a diagonal cut to match the angle of the arms. Then I cut a small cube of larger sprue and squared the edges and drilled a small hole all the way through (this was for the hand cranks), before attaching to my angled piece.

Image Hand cranks are made from piano wire.

On the minesweeping gear front: Well I went to a bead store and purchased several small metal rings. Then I cut some styrene piping (smallest diameter I could find in a mixed assortment from Evergreen) to fit inside the ring and filed a notch in the middle. Then I repeated the process and glued the notched sides together making a cross. Then some 5-minute epoxy to get the plastic to adhere to the metal.

Then I built my breaks for the minesweeping winch. 0.015 by 0.060 styrene stripes were cut and then glued together at an angle, these were married together with some of the brown plastic piping provided in the kit for railings.

Image

What is not in that picture are the small discs cut from the brown piping to fit at the bend in the break support and one at the short end (the break pipe attaches at the top of the long arm and connects to the pressure bands on the drum). I may add a pair to the bottom of the break support to the bottom of the drum…but we will have to see if I have room when the thread is added.

Meanwhile I built three styrene staffs, with another little pit of brown piping to serve as the pivot upon with the break support sits. In this photo you can also see the steam motor which ran the gears to provide power to the engaged drums (I made it from some tank treads cut down, brown piping, two kit stanchions, some round sprue from the kit and lots of left over styrene – failed parts/shavings).

Image

Next stage with breaks added, the turning handles, etc.

Image

More to follow as next I have to tackle that worry of mine, the minesweeping floats…

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:31 pm 
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Nice!! Keep up the good work!! =)


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:22 pm 
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Thank you silvershadow,

Little bit of work on the 4-Inch, mainly the elevation wheel and some more detail on the base.

Image

Mock-up so far:

Image

Now that the winch is nearing completion I tackled the item that has had been worrying me from the start and that is the minesweeping floats (dolphins). In the end I decided to make them from scratch as buying an aircraft kit to cut off some tanks was not in the cards and my searches for spare fuel tanks also came up empty.

I purchased a bag of wooden furniture plugs (each plug is about two inches long) of the right diameter for the widest portion of the dolphin. An old Ikea plug cut in half would provide the tail. I drilled a hole in each for some piano wire to give the join strength and then secured them together with some 5 minute epoxy.

Image

Next came the Mini-Dremel and I sanded down the wooden plugs to a general dolphin shape.

Image

Then some two part epoxy putty to fill in the gaps (thread marks in the plugs).

Image

I sprayed them with some grey automotive primer, and while I was letting that dry I started some work on the racks they would sit on.

First I built a simple frame out of angle bracket styrene and then some 0.015 by 0.125 styrene for the ends:

Image
Image

Then I sanded the now dry floats one more time to smooth out the raised areas left by epoxy putty. I followed this with some 0.020 styrene to make the tail and stabilizers (securing them with superglue - a little 0.020 by 0.020 stipes added some strength to the vertical fin glued to the end of the float), and then some 0.010 by 0.060 stripes to build the brackets. A quick trim of the flat styrene at each end and I have two minesweeping floats.

Image

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:07 pm 
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Next part of the stern fittings was the depth charge rails. Now my original plan was to just scratch-build my own, but after looking at my timelines and taking a closer look at the drawings from John McKay & John Harland's Anatomy of the Ship - The Flower Class Corvette AGASSIZ, I have decided to just use the kit parts with some adjustments. First thing was to cut off the last segment of each set of rails and from the removed segment I cut off the curved loading rail. Now one set of rails would have been for regular depth charges and one set would have been for ‘heavy’ charges which carried an extra weight.

On the depth charges themselves I think that I will be cutting off the extra extensions on each depth charge in the kit (they are too wide when the scale is checked), leaving one side on to represent the ‘heavy’ charges.

Image

So I may still have to narrow my rails by cutting out some of the cross braces. I have already started to sand down the parts to make them narrower and more to scale.

Here is the sweep gear as it stands right now (minus the winch as there was not room in the photo…gives you an idea of how crowded it is going to be back there).

Image

I am intending on mounting it on some lamp finials.
Here is what they look like:
Image

Here is what they look like when the ship is mounted on them.
Image

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 4:12 pm 
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So next up is the bridge (you could see a little of this work in the last photo of the previous post), while I seem to be jumping from section to section…the truth is I am. I want to make sure I don’t get too bogged down in a particular area. Also helps when I start to get frustrated with a particular part.

Bridge for CHILLIWACK in her 1942 configuration was the original mercantile bridge that had been modified with extensions on the wings and an armoured shield covered by splinter mats. So I adjusted the bridge from the drawings provided by Bob Pearson as his were for a British owned RCN Corvette (like ARROWHEAD, TRILLIUM, etc). Next I added a 17 mm high shield made from 0.040 styrene around the front and extended sides (the aft portions just had canvas dodgers over railings). The shield then had it’s wind shield made from very, very small triangles of styrene glued at regular intervals along the top and a 0.010 by 0.080 strip to make the actual wind deflector…making sure to leave a very tiny empty strip below to allow water to drain. The purpose of this wind deflector two twofold, to help break up any sea that reached that far as well as push the wind away or more accurately deflect it…any one who has stood on an open bridge in a storm knows how strong the wind is once it reaches the bridge.

Image

Image

So I was feeling very proud of myself when I looked at the pictures a little more closely…specifically how high the pilot house sits in relation to the shield.

Image

Therefore I needed to raise the shield to make it look more accurate…several paired strips of 0.020 by 0.020 styrene were needed to do this and I ended up with this:
Image

Just ignore the chips and nicks on the front shield, I had a little trouble with my first attempt at adding splinter mats. I made some from modelling clay and some from epoxy putty and was happy with neither, the kit mats are really, really too plain and uniform.
Image

In this picture you can even see some of the bridge sagging which was a major problem for RCN Corvettes.

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:09 am 
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This is impressive work you are doing. I've seen a number of these at the US Nationals over the years. There were two in Omaha that were really well done. Nice to see the actual effort it takes to bring the kit up to standard! By the speed of your updates you have to be pouring a lot of hours into this! Keep it up. I will be following!


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 3:21 pm 
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Excellent work :thumbs_up_1:


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:09 pm 
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Thank you Joe Simon and Dave Rowe,


Now that I have been working on the model for a while I decided to review my original plan and see what I have accomplished and what is still to be completed and what is to be modified…

Hull
Complete - Removal of a portion of the upper deck to forward of the bridge
Complete - Extra-large keel ground off
Complete - Stem needs to be removed and rebuilt
Complete - Bilge rails are way too large and thick, replacing with plasticard
Complete - Extra Portholes Covered
Complete – Extra Scuppers Covered
Dropped (Since the West Coast Corvettes seemed to have the eyebrows I will leave them on) Port Hole Eyebrows…torn as the West Coast ships seemed to have these
Complete - Stern needs to be flattened out and pulled to make sure there is room for Minesweeping gear and the Canadian stern
Additional Work - Also had to cut out new scuppers.

Deck and Fittings
Complete - All decks needs to have the fake reversed wood panelling taken off
Complete - Well deck needs to be scratch-built
Complete - Some water tight doors and other materials for the foc'sle
Additional decking added at the stern of the engine casing
Windlass, this is going to have to be built from scratch or a substitute found
Anchors need work and the hawse pipe is a joke
Complete - Hull Splinter Shields; on the forward ones I think I will have to move the placement as some of the West Coast Corvettes had them added slightly inboard
Lockers all need hinges and detailing
Wooden decks added forward and aft and in the well deck area
Mast…kit version is too short for short foc'sle and the SW1C/SW2C is missing
Life Boat Davits need lots of work
Boat Deck needs to be scratch-built and wood planking added, it will need lots of work as the kit is dearth in details here
Oval Life Rafts, need some work, not that bad
Partially Complete - Life Boats, fortunately 1942 the smaller square stern life boats were in use and not the Whaler…but major internal work will be required. Things like oars, rudder, ribs, thwarts, etc.
Hatches need detailing
Dropping (going to use the kit ones) - Rectangle Life Rafts still debating if I want to make a pair
Rope & Cable Reels need detailing or replacement
Complete - Small Ventilators need detailing
Need to scratch-build blake and bottle screw slip

Bridge
Complete - A new bridge will need to be built for the Short Focsle version
Search Lights need some pretty major work
Bridge Deck needs wood planking
Bridge Ladder Moved
Radar Lantern House…depending on early or late 1942 will determine if I need this, it needs a door, holes in the grate, etc.
Bridge Supports, again a pre or post 271 Radar set addition (CHILLIWACK had parts of the set added on repeated visits to Londonderry with the set being completed in December 1942)
Windshield…I will think of something
Complete - Bridge Splinter Shields/Splinter Mats…kit ones are a little sparse and the whole Bridge needs to be rebuilt for a type B design
Pipe Rails added instead of the fake flat plastic in the kit which look fragile and not really accurate
Rail Dodgers see above, going to built the pipe rails and then add some tissue paper
Complete - Wind dodger needs to be scratch built
Flag Box needs a complete replacement
Assorted Lockers need hinges and butterfly clips
Signal Light Platforms replacement or major conversion work
Complete - Deck House Ladders need replacement
D/F Coil, replacement with a round version
Bridge Voice Pipes need some detailing

Engine Room Casing
Complete - Needs to be shortened and corrected for Canadian version with overhang and struts
Complete - Move the 2 Pdr Bandstand aft
Complete - Engine Room Skylight…needs to be completely rebuilt as the kit version is wrong on so many levels.
Complete - Watertight Doors…the kit versions are really poor
Complete - Galley to be removed and moved aft of bridge
Complete - Funnel has had a styrene shell built with rivet detail
Dropped (Going to use the kit part) - Funnel Ladder, kit version is pretty simple
Steam Pipes on Funnel
Complete - Large ventilators really need some work as the kit versions are simple and too thick
Placement of gear and other changes are necessary

Weapons
4-inch Main Gun & Shield replacement or a complete scratch-build
Complete - Bandstand for the above will need treads and a replacement for the ammunition holders as well as some mesh and other detailing
2 Pdr (working on deciding if I am going to do early 1942 or late 1942…as early actually seemed to have a 20 mm Oerlikon in the rear bandstand while late had the 2 Pdr - if someone knows when I would love to know). Either way a replacement of complete scratch-build looks necessary
Complete - The 2 Pdr Bandstand tub needs to be replaced and a tread added
Bridge Weapons - either 303 Lewis Guns or 50 Cal twined Machine Guns look like the fittings for 1942. As per the 2 Pdr a completely new build will be necessary as the kit parts are really quite poor (again, no confirmation seems available)
Complete - Depth Charge Throwers…these are not bad…OK they are bad, about the level of the other weapons, I think some framing for the base and a little detail work will make them acceptable. Depth Charges are a little weak, but with some cutting off of extra parts and some paint detail they can work. The stalks are really too small and will have to be replaced, as well as stalk carrier detail.
Dropped (Going to use the kit parts with a lot of sanding) - Depth Charge Racks, too thick and too large, so some platicard replacements look necessary
Smoke Candle Racks…I think there is some sort of thick box that the kit provides
Floater Nets & Racks
Smoke Candles need some holes drilled

Minesweeping Gear
As this was not removed until the foc'sle extension I need to scratch-build the lot
Complete - Winch
Complete - Davits (x2)
Complete - Large Minesweeping Floats (x2) [/COLOR]Otter/Kite Floats (x4)
Gallows (x2)
Dan Buoys and racks

So the build is progressing...slowly.

Here is the bridge with splinter matts added. (I tried making some with clay, some with epoxy putty and finally just used the kit ones with a lot of filing)

Image

Started working on the Boat Deck (or Funnel Deck depending on who you ask); adding ladders and some railings, (looks like I am going to have to make some stair railings out of piano wire) also added the small platform to access the two galley doors.
Image

The mast was going to be tricky, not only was I moving the mast forward on the model, but I was also lowering it a deck...actually two decks with the moving forward of the focsle. (RCN Corvettes built for British accounts had the mast on top of a raised galley amidships…which is what is supplied with the kit and thus too short…really too short) So now the mast sat at the front of the well deck, with a clamp at the focsle deck level.

I started by removing the plastic angled pin at the base and measuring how much additional mast I needed. Then I selected the styrene tubing that was a close to the diameter of the base of the mast as possible. The one I selected was hollow and needed another tube inserted to make a solid cylinder. I did leave a little extra of the filling styrene tube and this will act as a guide to help seat the mast properly later on.

Then I drilled a 2 cm deep hole down the center. A similar 2 cm deep hole was drilled into the base of the existing mast and a 4 cm piece of piano wire was inserted to make the join strong (this took a very long time as drilling a 2 cm hole is not easy with a pin-vice).

When the two parts were joined I used plastic glue rather than epoxy, banking on the grip of the melted plastic to hold in the wire.

Then I took a piece of the next largest styrene tubing and cut a piece larger than my addition and started sanding down the end. I also sanded some of the original mast where the join was to narrow it to the same diameter. Then I applied the larger tube like a sleeve to create the continuous and gradual increase in mast diameter.

Here you can see the join as well as the mast bracket made from the next size up of styrene tubing and some 0.2 thickness styrene…you can also see roughly how it will sit on the deck.
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So with the mast and the additions to the Boat Deck I have this for a mock-up:
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What this has highlighted is that my angling of the bridge to adjust for the rise in the deck is a little too great…my bridge is sagging forward. :( So I will have to do some repair work before I secure it to the deck. Mast also has not bee glued in so that is why it is raked so far back.

And a view looking down, sorry no tripod to hold the camera steady:
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You can see how crowded the Sweep Deck is going to be:
Image

Next up is the expanding foam to fill the hull and then I will glue the deck down and some quick fittings for the bulwarks and I will start to paint it.

Cheers,

CB


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 11:45 am 
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Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:12 pm
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Location: Vancouver, BC
I did have a fascinating discussion with a veteran who served two years in HMCS SHEDIAC, he provided me with some corrections on the build. Since in 1941 and 1942 he was an acting PO and was a Leading Torpedo-man he pointed out the depth charge racks on the early RCN corvettes were straight (just angled against the slope of the deck) unlike the kit versions which have a dip near the end, so some more work will be needed on those.

Here are some progress photos from the last few weeks, work that was carried out in spare moments.

First I filled the hull with expanding foam "Great Stuff" brand filler...use carefully as it really expands. The large Popsicle sticks were used to create the tumble home of the deck as the foam filled underneath. The foam provides strength to the model and makes is a little more substantial.

Image

Here is the mock-up of the stern at the sweep deck (I did this so the veteran could point out what he remembered and the depth charge racks need to be straightened). The green is paint covering up my epoxy putty which filled in where I had pushed out the bulwarks and stern hull to make the square RCN corvette end vice the round cruiser version of the RN.

Image
The vet also pointed out there was room to walk between the closing ends of the depth charge racks as his position was to pull the pins at the stern to roll the charges off. He also said that he did not remember ever using 'heavy' charges. Based on his memory I will be placing two .50 Cal machine guns in the aft bandstand and one on each bridge wings.

Next part of the kit that needed work was the bases for the davits, the kit just makes plastic pyramids, when the real ones had sections cut out to save on weight, steel and allow drainage.

Image

With holes drilled and a primer coat of paint.

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Some more work, started the wooden planking for the boat decks, bridge and pilot house roof.

Image

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I ended up using scored styrene due to my Popsicle stick method being to time consuming. So besides cutting the planks at the joins I am also scoring them with course grit sandpaper to simulate the grain.

I also need to add planking to the focsle and near the sweepdeck. RCN corvettes had these added after the initial construction and initially went to sea with no deck planking, just painted steel...which was really, really slippery. Based on what I found out speaking with veterans is that most ships had the planking added around the time the main mast was removed.

Here are four photographs from two Battle of Atlantic veterans who graciously let me scan them to post.

First from Bruce Menzies who was a sonar rating in HMCS WASKESIU, he answered my questions on the colour of the bottom of the hulls. RCN hulls were Black vice the Admiralty Anti-Fouling Red. Bruce sent these pictures taken in London in October 1944 of WASKESIU having her hull painted. He described the paint as almost a black tar.
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You can see Bruce here, and he was recently featured in the History Channel's presentation of Convoy (Episode 4).

The second pair are from Ted Paxton, who prior to his commissioning and service in the Pacific was an Acting Petty Officer in HMCS SHEDIAC 1941-42.
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You can actually see sailors taking a dip off the stern, one man is about to jump from the forward Carley Floats. One of the few pictures I have ever seen with the bridge wing .50 Cals visible.
Image
The famous SHEDIAC Cat reaching into the bowl to grab a German U-Boat Fish.

Cheers,

CB


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