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Author Topic: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.  (Read 24470 times)

unbuiltnautilus

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One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« on: November 01, 2016, 08:53:22 am »

It was a glorious day yesterday. There was a spring tide and a light easterly wind. The ideal conditions for another visit to my new sailing venue at Locksway Road in Eastney. Just me this time, so a bit more risky in case of problems. Worst case, the tide would go out and I could recover the model.
It did not come to that.
So, once more before its refit, HM(C)S Snowberry/flake..
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2016, 09:02:05 am »

With the higher tide, plus less weed than previously, I decided to get adventurous!
The big picture shows a view north east across Langstone Harbour. With Havant and Hayling Island in the distance.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2016, 09:07:25 am »

Following a quick pit stop to sort out the onboard failsafe, which I had managed to get a splash of salt water in, knocking it out, it was off to venue two.
Hilsea Lines at Hilsea Lido. It is little known that Portsmouth has a moat, not sure if that is to keep everyone else out, or us in! Makes a good sailing venue though. This is the western most part of the Lines.
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derekwarner

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2016, 10:53:20 am »

Irrespective o f the venue.......that is a superb looking vessel on the water UBN  :-)).....from afar could be mistaken for the full scale vessel..... Derek
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Derek Warner

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Illawarra Live Steamers Co-op
Australia
www.ils.org.au

littoralcombat

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2016, 11:30:26 am »

Great weathering effect!
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Plastic - RIP

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2016, 01:39:59 pm »

Look brilliant on the water. Great rust effects.  :-))
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2016, 08:15:21 pm »

Cheers guys, much appreciated :-)) , I shall, of course be painting over it later!
Let me explain...I purchased the model from a fellow member during the summer. I have been trying to get my hands on one of the Display Teams corvettes for about two years. Every time one comes up, I miss it. luckily ( for me! ) one of our members had a flyaway with his brand new racing quad, lost forever on it's second flight. SWMBI ordered him to thin out to pay for the loss, and in stepped me!
The model was his first build, and is better than my first build was back in nineteen hundred and frozen to death. However, eight years of hard running and it was starting to show the strain. Paint was flaking off everywhere! As I wanted to run the model first, rebuild later, I decided to disguise the flaking with much    ' Atlantic' rust. This needed to look like bare steel work with rust on, and took a bit of effort to get it right.
However, it is only temporary. when converted to HMS Snowflake, the camouflage will have to change. Depending on the amount of 20mm pop guns I fit will dictate the camo scheme. Late 1943, Western Approaches B55 and White with wiggles, or mid 1944 onward, Standard Scheme C, B55 and white (ish). In the form of a long almost horizontal dividing line, fore and aft, main deck downwards dark, upwards light.
I consider every paint job practice for the next paint job. Therefore nothing is lost, it is just improved upon next time....hopefully %)
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2016, 08:58:04 pm »

Chapter Two: Oh my god, what have you done!!


Today it was time to start on the bow. HMS Snowflake was one of the last four standard Flower Class Corvettes to complete. As such, she incorporated a number of the design features soon to be amalgamated in what was to be known as the Modified Flower Class. One of these changes was an increase in the flare of the bow and sheer of the fore deck. I have been looking forward to this part like a visit to the dentists!


Today, I started with my reference books, mostly Anatomy Of The Ship, Agassiz, which very usefully shows a comparison between standard and modified hull forms. Also very helpfully at 1/192 and 1/96 scale. Making scaling up easy, times 4 and times 2, or so I thought. It turns out my hull is slightly over size on the beam, by an amount I am not going to talk about :embarrassed: , so some hasty re-jigging was needed.
I started with a paper template, just for size. This was followed with cutting out a new profile from glassfibre sheet. Then the existing fittings were carefully removed with a big chisel and a hammer! The bow anchors turned out to be pinned on with brass nails through their top horns. One pin is still visible as it was more than a bit of a pig to remove. Once the deck was clear, I could offer up the fibreglass part. This was then cyanoed into place.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2016, 09:09:06 pm »

I then used the existing deck outline to produce cardboard templates, remember, with the hull being too beamy by 'an amount', I couldn't use my existing plan to produce a new deck pattern. This is how I bodged it!
The cardboard templates, once cut out, were offered up to the bow, and moved forward to match the new keel position. They were too skinny at the mid point. The Modified Flowers increased the flare forward to better handle Atlantic swells. I needed a cheat.
Luckily, and in the absence of a set of French Curves, the answer was to be found on the off cut of cardboard, by inverting it and offering it up to the existing deck profile, a very pleasing curve could be completed on a modified, new profile. By following from contact point 1 through the new points 2 and 3, a better profile revealed itself..bodged to perfection ok2
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2016, 09:14:15 pm »

More fibreglass sheet, this time for the deck, cut out and offered up. I preparation for the next part, much roughening up was required. Brutal but important.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2016, 09:21:30 pm »

Now for my favourite product in the world, that isn't P40! Plastic Padding Glass Fibre Paste, or as we refer to it in the Portsmouth area, Green S**t!
This is a very effective structural adhesive, with shorter glassfibre strands than P40, a little easier to clean up after applying IMHO ( Humble, that's me!!).
An application on the deck of the model, plus a corresponding skim on the underside of the fibreglass, ensures maximum sticking. An old trick drummed into me by an ex-Halmatic man.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2016, 09:25:17 pm »

Okay, this next bit, not drummed into me by anyone, it just came to me, in fact, don't look, look away, this didn't happen :o
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #12 on: November 20, 2016, 09:30:09 pm »

Now I had something for the rest of the Green S**t to bond to. It all makes sense, to me at least...


You can see trough the deck, the extent of the bonding. This stuff cures fast, and allows me to proceed quickly on to the next stage. If you want it to cure at a slower rate, just use less hardener, and avoid hot summer days.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #13 on: November 20, 2016, 09:33:56 pm »

When this stuff reaches its 'green' stage, which is the point at which you can no longer spread it, I start to remove any excess with a sharp chisel. It peels easily at this point, however you can also easily over do it, peeling too much away. Always helpful to have a critic in attendance, to tell you how you are doing it all wrong O0
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #14 on: November 20, 2016, 09:38:46 pm »

Time for my favourite filler, which isn't P38! Mostly as this is what I have left over from the SS Ohio filler work of five years ago ( soon to be finished, promise..). I made up a profile tool ( balsa wood with a curve ) and a mixing tool ( oak scrap, I think ), and got to work.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #15 on: November 20, 2016, 09:45:05 pm »

With the new bow almost complete, it was time to look at the mess I have, once again, created...don't care, got my new bow. :}


Next job to complete will be reclaiming my plating detail. I did plating effects on SS Ohio, these will be similar, just more extensive. Tune in next week and all that jazz :-))
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #16 on: December 04, 2016, 07:48:07 pm »

First the upper bow area. The fibreglass deck went on last time. I now had to fair it in with 1.5mm plasticard. Now it was time to start referring to the plans again. This time to establish how far back the breakwaters had to be. These would provide a disguise that would hide the deck step, from the original timber decks aft, to the new deck forward. I have a copy of John Lamberts excellent plan for the Modified Flower Class Corvettes, the measurements from which need to be scaled up 1.4 times to match the model ( 140% on a copier ).
The infill of deck was bonded on with Cyano glue, after pre-activating the deck area with a spray activator. Getting it right first time as there is no room for error doing it this way! Slap some filler on and roughly cut it back with coarse sandpaper, then leave it to harden off proper like!
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #17 on: December 04, 2016, 07:56:02 pm »

Reclaiming the plating time... I have over filled all the existing plating on the bow area of the model, while in pursuit of my 'Atlantic bow' modification, fitted to later Flower Class vessels. To get them back I used car filler and masking tape. The idea being to lay five or six layers of masking tape, one on top of the other, where the plate edges previously were. I then fill up to this raised edge with car filler, nice and neat (!), then rub the worst excess off, then remove the tape and finish off till happy.
This is how it went...


Tape on first. Initially I laid the tape on the hull, layer by layer. With the overhang and fairly poor light, I struggled a bit to marry up layer upon layer of tape accurately. Therefore, second time round, I laid the tape up on a flat surface, lifted it and then applied it to the model. Problem being that it was now so thick that it did not want to curve up toward the bow, without creasing in a number of places. Lesson learned. I didn't do that again!
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #18 on: December 04, 2016, 07:59:17 pm »

With the filler in an advanced state of 'green-ness', I first went over it, lightly, with some coarse grade old belt sander paper. Cutting down any large lumps before they became a problem. Next, off with the first of the lengths of tape.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #19 on: December 04, 2016, 08:05:59 pm »

The basic effect is now starting to show. The problem this time is the number of very obvious, vertical, plate joints on the rest of the model. I have not tackled this before, and had to make something up quick..
I put three layers of tape where needed, to simulate the plate joints. Also. I had to put single layers of tape horizontally, where I did not want to encroach on the next vertical plate upwards..wherever I could.
It started to look interesting..in  fact I had to mark with pencil, which bits of tape needed filling up to, so to avoid something of a b***s up occurring, while joyfully slapping filler everywhere %)
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #20 on: December 04, 2016, 08:09:21 pm »

Success :-)) , happy noises could be heard as I muttered "I've got a new bow..wow!" Childish I know, but I have!
Anyway, sanding and fettling followed to get it looking a bit more, uniform.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #21 on: December 04, 2016, 08:12:51 pm »

I have lost a number of portholes under the filler, and was bullied into making them good again. So, using a round metal grinding bitt on my hobby drill, I proceeded to make holes in the filler, stopping at white gelcoat..
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #22 on: December 04, 2016, 08:19:04 pm »

So that brings this sessions work to an end. My next challenge is Hawse Pipes for the anchors, and drilling them at the correct angle, plus Rigols above the portholes ( umbrellas for naval round windows! ).
More nautical education here soon :}
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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #23 on: December 04, 2016, 08:39:00 pm »

Great job there m'dear!!

Although "only to be expected" with your skills, it is however a very well thought-out modification.

Well done and keep up the great work. ok2

Rigoles were also affectionately known as "scuttle eyebrows" by the way .............. or so my great grandfather (a seafaring type) told me.

Sandy.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: One Corvette,. A sequel to Two Corvettes.
« Reply #24 on: December 04, 2016, 08:46:03 pm »

Great job there m'dear!!

Although "only to be expected" with your skills, it is however a very well thought-out modification.

Well done and keep up the great work. ok2

Rigoles were also affectionately known as "scuttle eyebrows" by the way .............. or so my great grandfather (a seafaring type) told me.

Sandy.




Yup, the umbrella thing, not much based on fact that!!


Many thanks Sir :-))
I am always keen on a challenge, although having cut models in half after completion (twice!), added new bows (once), glued a depth charged corvettes two halves back together (once!) and built a tanker in three bits (once, ongoing!!), I may be running out of challenges..and filler :}
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