WIP HMS Renown (1942) White Ensign Models

[Guido]

Consider yourself pushed, Bill!
Cheers,
Guido

[Christian Bruer]

Hi Bill,

I don't think it is worth to post a progress even when you are not confident with it. It would be fine to see and to discusse your latest progress! May you raised the bar much to high? don't forget it is sclae 1/700

Keep on giong Bill

[Bill Livingston]

Hi All... Christians post has pushed me into replying at least

I have been getting on very slowly with the masts and the point Christian made is very much part of the reason progress has been slow. I have been trying to get the masts as accurate as I could and keep coming across areas where I just HAVE to compromise because, as Christian says, its 700 scale and its a little bit insane trying to get everything right. However, after seeing the work Jim, Angeleyes, Christian himself, Guido, and countless others on here produce, its very easy to keep trying to raise the bar oneself and to get bogged down in perfectionism. My masts are looking OK but they are very slow... I have been cutting trapdoors in the starfish platforms and on the interim mast platforms so the ladders 'work' and crew can actually climb up and down the masts and through the various platforms as they would in real life, and frankly, thats been the cause of some slowness as the underside of each platform has to be build carefully to allow this to happen... and of course you have to have the tiny little trapdoors themselves otherwise anyone walking around on the platform would have a very long fall if they werent looking where they were putting their feet! Plus, I lost a couple of bits of tiny pieces of brass during a clean up and had to re-make them.

I finished the railing around the foremast starfish tonight, punched a hole in the floor to allow crew to climb through the starfish platform via the ladders, fitted a trapdoor in the floor (rounded the edges of a small PE hatch cover to use to replicate it....) and will be assembling the topmast tomorrow. I wanted to give it a primer coat and then photograph and post all the steps in one post... but I have been under-estimating the time required.. (and, having had to remake my masts for Tiger several times because I had misinterpreted photo's and drawings, I am determined not to make the same mistakes again!).

Apologies for my slowness, but in my defence, I have been busy and although I aim high, I havent really been building much for the past few years and am still quite slow at some parts of assembly due to lack of practice and a slightly skewed view of what I expect from myself and what I am capable of doing reasonably quickly

Still, although this phase is going much slower than I expected, I am REALLY enjoying building this thing and cant wait until I can get back to some painting, weathering and major assembly and see some real progress as nothing seems to have changed for a few weeks despite a lot of work!

[Bill Livingston]

Hi All, time for an update methinks!!!
Been very slow with the masts as normal life has got in the way a bit over the past few weeks although I have been doing an hour or so most days... Anyway. On to what I have done...

The first stage of making the tripod masts was making sure I had the right size tubing. The rods supplied in the kit are a little too thin and ~I wanted to get the masts as true to scale as I could. I ended up getting some 1.5mm and 1mm tubing which wasnt easy as all the shops in the area supply US Imperial measurements. There are equivalents but these would have been truer to scale so persevered. The next stage was to get the tripod completely square and make sure the joins were solid. I also needed to make the flange that holds the three legs together underneath the starfish... I tried all sorts of things and in the end used thin paper infused with CA and cut to the correct shape. At 700 scale it is amazing how thick paper is... but it more or less did the job and am reasonably happy. I let the whole thing set on the superstructure so I could make sure it cured as square as possible... iot makes a fairly effective jig!



The next stage was to make the starfish. In future I will fit the starfish platform to the mast and THEN add the underside braces. Bit of a mistake but I was lucky and the mast upright slotted in neatly once finished after a bit of fiddling.



There was a bit of a break while I took my old company to court (I won! ) and then I continued building the mast... This is after a few days of adding things, taking them off and trying again until I was happy...



This morning I went back to it and finished it off. Pretty pleased with the way it has turned out. In the end I decided not to have the access ladders open because it was so hard placing them accurately as they were so small... I used filed down hatches to get the hinge detail, but had to file quite a bit off to get them to the right size and shape. Not for the fainthearted, they were small than the end of my needle tweezers!



I had several goes at getting the angled part of the starfish platform railings right. I must have built them four or five times... this morning I managed to make a final one and when I added it to it the final piece dropped in and lined up perfectly... A bit of luck as I had got the size and angle right just by guessing (I had made a few beforehand in those failed attempts so I knew what they should be...).

Well... its done! I need to prime it with some acrylic primer so the final paint will stick properly and I can see any flaws. I am pretty happy this is about as accurate a mast as I can make in 700 scale. The ladders and the associated hatches look really good, as do the additional platforms and so on. I wil leave the 281 radar antenna off until the final assembly as it is so delicate and I want to paint the starfish platform and do a few washes to bring out all the additional detail before I fix the radar lantern in place. The whole mast is less than 2" top to bottom, so the pictures are MUCH bigger than the real thing... In fact, photo's have been invaluable during building the mast as I cant see errors 1:1, although it made the build slow and laborious going over and doing things again and again but I am glad I did. There are one of two flaws still to be seen... the railing join in the top platform where the curved bit meets the flat part is a bit 'iffy' on one side, but other than that it is ok...

EDIT: Just primed the brass with good old Halfords acrylic primer... couple of photo's for you...




Diluted white glue acts a s a really great filler too... wish I had used that a few years ago!

Any comments welcome... Hopefully now I have a little more time, so I will post regularly again...

Bill

[MartinJQuinn]

That looks fantastic Bill! Glad to see you have made some progress and are able to post it. Very nice!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Yup!

You are making good progress there-- the truth is that we are all being disciplined by powerful digital cameras and displaying small things very large in 19 in monitor screens...

but I reckon it DOES sharpen up our modelship building!!




JIM B

[Bill Livingston]

Thank you Martin and Jim for your comments... It feels good to be back modelling after a couple of weeks gap...

Slow, but at least continual progress...

Having finished most of the foremast and then airbrushed it the basic 507C in preparation for the camoufage that extends up the main tripod mast, I decided to finish the mast off with the 271 radar lantern.

At first glance the kit part looked OK for size and shape as the lantern itself sits on a small round platform on the starfish platform. However, having looked up a photo of a 271 lantern and looked at photo's of Renown very carefully, I knew it would be quite an eyecatching detail when looking at the model and wanted to do something a little better. I thought about it for a while and then phoned Jim Baumann for some inspiration and ask him where he got the railing from to represent the framing on his HMS Renown. Askold PE fret he thought... the five bar railings. It had been a while since Jim had build his Renown, but was sure it was from there. As it happens, I happen to have an Askold PE fret lying around, so got it out and had a look. There were no five bar railings, but there are some nice bits of odd PE that could be useful so I decided to try using a short length of four bar railings to simulate the framing around the lantern. I would then paint the background silver and the framing black and hoped that would do... Then I looked at the photo of the lantern again and thought I would scratchbuild the whole thing. If it looked good I would use it, if not, I would revert to the original kit part and some paint... so I had a failsafe!


The kit part... with a bit of railing wrapped round it to simulate the framing. It is much too short though. The railings on the starfish platform almost reach the lantern itself, which is completely wrong. And you can imagine that once you add railings to the rather thick platform that is cast on, the whole thing would look completely incorrect. Really wouldnt do!


A 271 radar lantern (this is from HMCS Sackville I think..). Not quite the same, but pretty close to what I wanted, so I used this as a reference and then tried to make my scratchbuilt one as close to that as possible, but using the railing pattern I saw on the plans and could just about make out in the few photo's I had that showed the 271 on Renown...

I started by making the platform from some thin plasticard and some round styrene rod. The railings were four bar from the Renown fret. I glued the railings flush with the edge of the platform rather than on top to keep the thinness of the platform (one of the many things I have picked up from reading Jims WIP threads!).


Platform assembled and airbrushed 507C. I drilled a small hole in the bottom and poked a bit of fusewire in and glued it with white glue so I could hold it while airbrushing it.

I had several attempts at making the 271 lantern... all, but the last, complete failures. I tried using some clear tubing by heating and stretching some clear plastic tubing used to hold brass rod. It stretched fairly well, it was possible to stretch tube as easily as sprue and still hold form. I was really pleased with it at first, but it was far too brittle and cracked as soon as I tried to cut it to size... even when using some thick rod inside to brace it. That was one failure. Then I tried using some clear soft tubing, which was easy enough to get the right size, but when I glued the lower half on the CA fumes fogged the inside so it didnt look right either. I also realised that I would probably fog the whole thing when I did a final matt spray over the whole model and, as I wanted the lantern to look clear and glazed, I decided in the end to make it completely open. Returning to the Askold fret I saw three platforms with some closely spaced three bar railings attached to them. The pattern looked close enough, so I cut them apart and rolled them up to represent the framing around the lantern. Through the glazing you can see a fairly thick round assembly which is the radar itself and which prevents a model of the lantern looking completely see though. I decided I would represent that with some rod, although the diameter used was probably too small. I then cut a short slice of plastic rod for the lower half of the lantern and punched out three discs, one for each end of the rod to form a 'sandwich' to represent the construction of the actual thing, and the third disc as the 'lid' to go over the 'open' part of the lantern.


The parts of the 271 lantern prior to airbrushing

I airbrushed all of the parts matt black to start with, then turned them all over and airbrushed them 507C and, once dry, assembled them all to make the lantern itself.


Its not quite as 'smooth' as I would like under this amount of magnification... but in 1:1 it is more than acceptable. Much better than the original part and although it took me two days and loads of failed attempts I am very happy with it... and much more importantly... it was really fun, and made my brain work trying to do it... Which is what this is all about in the end, anyway.

Anyway, here it is mounted on the platform I had made earlier... The mast is just jammed in the mounting hole and not in its final position, so yes, I notice the tripod legs dont quite reach their mounting holes!... I still need to airbrush the camouflage on the tripod legs and that is only possible with the mast off the ship.



I'll glaze it later with 'Klear', which will also make the black framework shiny, which will be a nice contrast with the matt of the rest of the assembly... I can see that under this amount of magnification it is ludicrously too tall, the bottom of the open part of the lantern should be about the same height as the top of the railings (although the kit part is much too short!), so I will take it off (luckily it is only glued in place with a dot of white glue at this point... I normally dont CA anything unless I am completely happy) and I'l remove a bit from the underside of the platform support as well... probably about a millimetre or so from each, which will lower it enough... (I could do with sanding the 'lid' now I see it under this amount of magnification. A hole punch doesnt leave as clean an edge as you think!) but its a much nicer looking representation than the basic kit part... even if it was a lot of work in 700 scale! Bloody enjoyable though.

I am definitely going to reduce the height of the whole assembly... probably do that tomorrow while I am waiting from the camouflage to dry on the tripod legs... Anyway, thats enough for tonight.

(PS. many thanks to Jim B for continuing to encourage me to try things... and for advice and help when I call in a minor panic! )

[Blackbrazen]

Bill,
That...looks...GREAT!
I've never seen one looking that convincing before and you're right, it really is the key to an eye-catching build stuck right up there on the mast.
I've put my Nelson on hold for a while as I'm too stressed out from work to focus on rigging and so on, but you've really inspired me to do some modelling, so I'm going to make an early start on my Pit Road Renown and see how it turns out...you've set the bar very high, but I'll have a go...
Wonderful stuff. Well done!

[Bill Livingston]

Thank you Blackbrazen... I had wondered where you had gone. I was following your wonderful build and took my inspiration from that... so it was really good to see your reply. Honestly, once you get back into it, it is hard to tear yourself away again. I had got stalled due to 'real' life and needed a bit of a push myself... So if this gets you to pull out your Renown or start your rigging on Nelson that thats brilliant

Trimmed the 271 radar lantern to something a little more like the right height. I took a quick photo of it alongside the original WEM part. Once measured, the WEM lantern is actually pretty close to the right size... I shouldn't have questioned them in my earlier post!!

Anyway, here is the original WEM part and my scratchbuilt lantern.



More later. I will airbrush the camouflage on the foremast and start on the mainmast... thankfully a much simpler affair...

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good stuff--I can see you found the right bits I meant--sorry--'twas not 5 bar--I mislead you somewhat...


JIM B

[Bill Livingston]

Yep... those were the bits I used too...

Looks good now it is fixed to the mast and is the correct height. Definitely worthwhile struggling with this. Thanks again Jim...

[Bill Livingston]

Hi,

Fixed the lantern onto the mast and sprayed the MS3 onto the tripod legs. I remounted the mast so I could mark off where the B5 camouflage demarcation lines are following the flow of the rest of the disruptive camouflage on the superstructure. While I was at it and all parts were dryfitted in place I thought I would do a couple of photo's of the whole ship as well as a detail of the finished and corrected 271 lantern...









Bill

[Christian Bruer]

Hi Bill,

wow, very well done Next to the last fine news, any more progress at the moment?

[JIM BAUMANN]

sooo... the warm weather slowing your progress...?

what's new in this fine build?
looking forwadr to seeing more progress--nary even completion!!

Cheers

JIM B

[Bill Livingston]

Hi Jim, Thanks for the 'nudge'

Yes, I have been slower during the hot weather, but I have also been getting on with it and got quite a lot further. Just been very lazy when it comes to posting updates. I'll try and motivate myself and post an up to date WIP tomorrow when I have more time...

[MartinJQuinn]

Would love to see more progress pictures as well!

[Bill Livingston]

Hi... I suppose it is about time I posted some pictures of where I am now... Apologies.

The end of my court case and then over the past few weeks a fairly traumatic breakup with my girlfriend have taken priority. One of those situations where neither of us wants to part, I am sure you have all been there before... Unfortunately, even when I have time for modelling my heart isnt really in it. I have been doing bits and pieces here and there, but it has only been in the last few days that I have knuckled down and hopefully will be able to continue the build.

Anyway, here we go.

This is where I am now with the actual model... The foremast is complete and painted and the main mast has been completed and primed. Waiting for some out of stock paints from WEM, so have to wait to finish that...

I then decided I needed to actually start gluing things in place and the first thing I needed to do was the hangar and the deck and walkway immediately behind it. This is completely missing on the WEM kit, but looking at photo's and the PM plans, plus other builds, I knew there was at least a walkway from the HA guns to the walkway/boat deck at the sides of the hangar.

I printed a 700 scale copy of the plan of that deck from the PM book and glued it to a thin piece of plastic card.



I then glued a small square section of rod to the rear of the resin hangar making sure it lined up with the underside of the moulded on walkway at the sides.



I then cut out the deck itself from the plasticard with the template still glued in place...



I then test fitted it to make sure it looked right and everything lined up...



... and again...



I then assembled two sets of inclined ladders for access and fitted them...



Its's not perfect, but it is close enough and although the ladders in particular will hardly be seen when the rest of the area is assembled... I will know it is there... and if anyone shines a torch up there they will have something to see! Actually, a lot of added detail will not really be seen, but it adds to the 'busyness' of the whole model and its fun to do anyway. It is now fully painted and glued in place on top of the hull... so I suppose I can claim actual assembly has started!

I also asked a local joiner to make me up some bases. I spent a few days looking for someone who could do it properly and eventually found someone in the next village. A week later I had three brand new oak bases precisely to my specification. I am really pleased. They look great and the larger Trumpeter acrylic lids fit onto them perfectly, so if I dont get round to do glass uppers they will still look really good.



I masked off the edges and the first 7mm of the upper surface inside the lid recess and primed the whole top surface and then roughly painted an undercoat of blue and black. It looks much lighter in the photo than in real life, but this is just the undercoat and little, if any of it will be seen once I start putting on the actual seascape.



I bought some heavy structure gel to try... It seems I can make much heavier waves and it has a really good peak retention, so it may be worth a try instead of the acrylic gel I normally use. If it all goes terribly wrong I have plenty of normal acrylic gel so can sort it out... But I have a good feeling about this stuff. I want to have Renown travelling at a fair pace. She was capable of just over 30 knots, so it would be nice to see her 'flying'!



I have also managed to give the hull and decks a coat of Future and then a wash. The decks look really good now... darker and much more uneven in tone with a slight greyish tint. The WEM deck is exceptional, but I was worried about the ends of the planking being too prominent. When you see the thing in real life it looks fine... but for some reason they DO look more prominent in the photos... and much less grey.

Anyway, here are some closing shots. Next is to do the basic seascape and then assembly can begin... All that is glued in place at the moment is the hangar deck...







Bill

[MartinJQuinn]

Bill,

Sorry to hear about your real-life issues - hope things are looking up for you soon.

Thanks for the update - she is really coming together!! Another great looking build. When she is done, what do you think you'll tackle next?

[Guido]

Hi, Bill!
Sorry to hear about your private issues. Don't let them get you down!

Your build looks great and I think the deck is super!

Cheers,
Guido

[Blackbrazen]

Sad to read your post Bill...hope things go better soon. She's looking tremendous and I'm really paying close attention to your every move at the moment. Very interesting point about that walkway! Can't wait to see her at speed!