The Ship Model Forum

Awesome thanks Bruce! I'll have to give it a try.

I've started some of the railings. There are three different types, a 2 bar and 3 bar symmetrical molded fiberglass railings in sections on the upper decks and the 5 bar plastic coated black cable railings ok the f'cstle, waist and fantail. Basically similar to an FFG or an Arleigh Burke. I do have som PE stanchions on their way which I originally planned to use but they're only 3 and 2 bar. I'll see how this goes and if I don't like them I'll just use the PE stanchions. Won't be a waste as I can always use the stanchions for future projects.


5 bar cable railings


2 and 3 bar railings on the bridge structure. The splinter shield is where the .50 cal mini typhoon will be mounted. There's one either side of the bridge roof as well as one on each quarter above the hanger. I'm tempted to continue the splinter shields right around the front of the bridge roof as our FFG's have been fitted. I'll leave it for now but they're easy enough to make as they're just sheet attached to the railings themselves.






More of the 5 bar cable railing on the waist.

Every time I think this is looking like it has to be nearly finished you go and add more and more. She really is looking beautiful. Great idea hiding the switch in a storage locker

Haha thanks Dave yeah there's still quite a bit to go on her yet. All the smaller details to go really. The larger items like the hiab sea crane on the port waist next to the port RHIB, the four RAS fuel derricks and a small inflatable - use for clearance diver and SAS ops - and the mini typhoons are the major items yet to go. Though still need to do all the UHF and comms gear on the mast, Nav seats searchlights and compass for the bridge wings, life rings, signal locker covers and wiring up the speakers and spotlights and a few more warning signs are the items that will be added also in due course. Will be making up the VLS launcher in the next couple of weeks also and hopefully have that working very soon. Only one of the lakes we sail at over here in perth I think can fire these. We have a display - our largest for the year next week up north of perth in a country town of GinGin with some cool old cars exhibition and other model clubs. Would have loved to have the VLS working for then as we display next to a weir and sail throughout the day as well as static display and I'm sure it would gain some interest with the public but I won't have it ready in time and again not too sure if that would be allowed with our club insurance or the event anyway. Hopefully next year

Hi,

Great job on HMAS Brisbane AWD Hobart Class!
The level of detail is awesome!
Congratulations! Well done!

BTW, no Nulka's on this class?


Regards,
Ayala Botto

G'day Ayala, thanks very much. Yep she does have nulkas fitted. Four sets of the 4x launchers


Two 4x canister launchers either side of the bridge roof


And two 4x canister launchers either side of the aft mk99 platform

The RAN uses the 4x canister launchers compared to the USN which uses the 2x canister launchers. They are also different in that they are stored as I have mounted them against the superstructure and pulled out when in use. Normally they also have canvas covers over them when in port but I won't put them on otherwise you won't see the detail. The USN version is fixed on that angled cradle

Well at least you clearly marked them on the pictures

Great job up till now and only about 4 months of work! She already looks finished

Some video of Brisbane in action from today's sail, curtosey of Richard. The loud motor you can hear is the Smit Rotterdam tug, she's a bit noisy but at 30years and still operating! She's a lovely model. It's a shame you can't hear Brisbane actually as running on the two crest motors and having such a large cavernous hull, she produces an almost perfect humming which mimics the sound of a real ships generators. Quite a few of the guys have asked what sound card I'm using! Haha I am planning in getting two turbine sound cards attached to each motor but the price so far has out me off.

Anyway enjoy the vid.

http://youtu.be/E0emgT5UHiw

Looks great Perth!

Thanks Lyall, this weekend coming were having another exhibition up north of perth in GinGin, and a few of the other big ships will be out. It's a static and sailing display so should get some cool group shots.

Decided to have a go at making up the mini typhoon's. Going through my stash I found an old academy 1/72 accessories kit which so happened to have 4 .50cal machine guns! Perfect as the mini typhoons are built around .50 cal guns. The base and platform for the RAN variant is a simple square tube with mounting brackets and IR cameras. Happy with how they turned out.

Prior to paint




After paint and addition of hydraulic and electric cables



The ends of the hydraulic cables are loose at the moment as they mount into the deck through a vertical tube, I'll add those later and attach the cables.




Kevlar splinter shields will be placed over the railings once I've completed those.

A bit on a roll with the small arms, which are now all finished. Made up four f89A1 minimi light machine guns, two mounted on each quarter of the fantail and one each on the J3 RHIBS - had two spare and an excuse as I like guns also made up two standard .50 Cal's on tripod mounts mounted on the waist.



Painted up and ready to go


Minimi mounted on fantail


Minimi mounted on RHIB and standard .50 cal on waist. A Kevlar shield will also be placed here

I was planning on doing some more railings but got distracted with wanted more working features... So using one of those cheap Airfix plane motors - they're meant to be used for airfix 1/24 scale plane models. - I've fixed it to the main rotor of my Romeo. Obviously the tail rotor is fixed, I was going to have it free spinning but would catch the main rotor so not perfect but a cool little feature I think. The shaft goes right through the fuselage and the deck as the motor is fixed below the flight deck. The Romeo is pinned into the deck with brass pins in the wheels. This works great as If I want to change helo's or repair, the helo comes straight out. The coupling is a high density resin which screws into the shaft of the rotor but just slips over the motor shaft. Powered by one AA battery and that's it. I just need to set up a switch so I can turn it on and off through the transmitter like the lights.

Just another video, this time showing the working main rotors of the Romeo.

http://s872.photobucket.com/user/atamin ... e.mp4.html

Very nice perth, What is next? A working helo that is flow off the deck when sailing lol. That would be a sight to see.

Great work!

Haha thanks Lyall, I've already got a 1/72 RC blackhawk which I can takeoff and land on the helo deck without hitting anything! It's IR only though so won't work outside and even if it would you could only use it in absolutely no wind, but the technology isn't far. There's already 1/48 scale helo's with full RC! I am planning on seeing if one of the smaller full operating helo's can be bashed with a seahawk or mrh-90 taipan body. From what I've seen it's still a tad large.

Some more little updates today. Almost all of the railings on the hanger roof and surrounds are made up. Needs painting then glueing in.





While moving things around I found that elusive clear acetate sheet I lost! So the RHIB windshields are now on



Have also added the aft mini typhoon splinter shields.
With these and the ones on the bridge roof I still need to add the bolts on the front of the shields.

Finished off the main parts of the fantail railings. I think that's all the railing now complete, just a few additional details to them and I can move on to the next job.

Truly AMAZING work Perth! Wow! It's breathtaking the amount of detail you put in her.

I have a very good friend of mine from my Mercedes Forum that lives in Perth named Kim Holmes. And I visited Perth in 1981 when I was in the Navy and had the best Liberty I ever had in the Navy.

Keep it up!

G'day mclare, thank you I'm very proud if this built, I have to keep reminding myself that it's a working model at times!

Perth is a great little city - were still basically a bug country town which is why I love it, though it's expanding like never before. Were the mining state in Australia, not the only state but the main provider of resources in mining comes from WA - it's because of this the expansion has been happening. You'd still recognise the place but a lot has changed especially Freo (Fremantle). Every time I speak to ex or current USN service people, they always mention the fun times they had in perth, it's good to see this hasn't changed over the years

Yesterday, Sunday the 18th we had one of our largest displays of the year at the british car show in GinGin about an hour or so north of perth. We (Fleet Base Perth of task force 72) display with another model boat club AMMS here in perth. It's a side attraction for the day but a great location and a full festival with markets and stalls for families not only the amazing cars.

A few pics and video fromthe day

Our first attempt at formation sailing by Rob, Pete and myself using HMAS Darwin, HMAS Brisbane and USS Roosevelt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWDiwc_ ... r_embedded

Onboard video from Rob's USS Roosevelt (this camera is attached by wifi to goggles which Rob can wear and get live view! It's very cool)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--QnOlD ... r_embedded


OOW man around obstacles


Andy's HMS Manchester - beautiful model on which he served while in the RN


Nice lotus


Rob's Peter the great making her first appearance at a display - she will be one awesome model! Definitely drew the crowds when on the water



Setting up in the morning


My Brissy

Fantastic!

Those ducks must be regulars - they seem hardly phased! Good thing they didn't have any chicks nearby.

Was momentarily startled when the shipboard camera rotated - very neat!

Haha yeah those ducks weren't bothered at all by the boats.

The camera is a really cool idea, I want to set one up in my bridge especially once my VLS is up and running now that would be a cool video I think