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[Beagle1831]

Hi Everyone


After a bit of a marathon with the airbrush I've painted the hull - photos attached which do most of the talking!

All a bit of a nightmare due to rushing and therefore making silly mistakes that take twice as long to correct


Including, but not limited to:
- Trying to airbrush in the UK's hottest week ever
- Messing up the dark gray, red and light gray so it looks like sandpaper (solution: turn down your air pressure and clean your airbrush)
- Overdoing gloss varnish so it ran everywhere (solution: if you think that is a light coat - think again, go even lighter)
- Various fingermarks, fibers and creatures getting in the paint
- Not laying the decals on gloss varnish properly so they "silvered" and had to be re done


The paints are "Colourcoats" enamels from Sovereign Hobbies - these are brilliant paints, and I would highly recommend them (plus supporting UK business is no bad thing). The mistakes above are all my own doing and not a reflection on their product!


The transfers are from Fox Transfers (mainly model railways but have some great marine stuff too).


Hope this is of interest


James

[Beagle1831]

Some overall shots of the finished hull.


PS. Another mistake - I used frogtape to cover the large areas, this left a nasty residue which needed cleaning off. Possibly due to the heat in the UK / or length of time I needed to leave it on the hull due to work commitments, but the tamiya tape I used for the edges caused no issues.


PPS. I am trying out posting more regular pictures on Instagram - my page is 'beagleshipmodels' if anyone is into that

[Capt Podge]

Well James, the end justifys the means and you've made a good job of it. Nice even line demarcation, not easy with any form of masking tape.


Ray.

[Backerther]

I think you did a very good job with the painting regardless of the hard work.!!
She looks very fine that tells us how you made the best efforts to get her beautiful.!!!! 


Kiyo

[raflaunches]

Lovely job James


Looks very professional- it certainly brings out the detail 

[warspite]

as an inexperienced modeler - the markings - when she is in the water is the top of the boot topping at the water line or the bottom of it and what does the markings denote, how much vessel is below the surface? as XV (15) seems to be below the boot topping and above at each end

[Beagle1831]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments


Re: the depth markings - yes it took me a while to figure it out! The marks are applied as per photos of the ship. They indicate the depth below the mark.


The stern has two sets: one at the end of the keel, which indicates the 'design' waterline - quoted as ten feet on the admiralty plans, and another set in line with the A frame which has different levels because the propellor blades swing below the keel level (hence the movement of mark XV). Photo attached which shows this.


Another quirk of Onslow is that the boot topping appears to be very wide above the design waterline, compared to other vessels - again this is based on photos of the ship.

[Liverbudgie2]

If you look at photographs you will see on destroyers and frigates during wartime the top of the boot topping generally runs halfway up the second strake at amidships. This of course may be slightly lower in piece time.  At full displacement the ship will float at the top of boot topping, or even slightly  higher if new equipment has been fitted since the boot topping had been applied.
LB

[ballastanksian]

Fab work so far Beagle! The radar director is beautiful. I cheated and bought a couple for a project :) Tamiya tape is excellent and have never had an issue with it.

[Beagle1831]

80 years ago today: the Battle of the Barents Sea

At 8am on 31st December 1942, German surface raiders intercepted convoy JW 51B en route to Russia. Four escorting O class destroyers, led by Captain Robert Sherbrooke on board HMS Onslow, steered to engage the cruiser Admiral Hipper as she closed in on the convoy. A feigned torpedo attack caused the Admiral Hipper to turn away, buying time for the merchant ships. Onslow was hit, with 17 men killed. Captain Sherbrooke was badly wounded but continued to direct his ships until command could be passed to HMS Obedient.

The Admiral Hipper then encountered the minesweeper Bramble, which was rapidly sunk with all hands. The destroyer Achates was also damaged and later sank. The British cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica then joined the action, damaging the Admiral Hipper and sinking the destroyer Friedrich Eckholdt. The action was broken off at around 12 noon.

All fourteen merchant ships reached the USSR. The failure of the raiding ships was a key factor in the decision to scrap the German surface fleet and focus on U-boats, Admiral Raeder resigned and was replaced by Admiral Dönitz.

Captain Sherbrooke would be awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions defending the convoy.

[littoralcombat]

My Grandad was a Royal Marine on HMS Sheffield during this action James.
Nigel

[raflaunches]

Hi James


Happy New year and many thanks for the historic reminder. The Barents Sea battle was certainly a massive turning point for the allies and a stark reminder that you don’t often need a big battleship to outwit a cruiser!
Look forward to your future progress with the Onslow.

[Beagle1831]

Nigel - great to hear the connection with your Grandad. We can only imagine the conditions, in the arctic winter - no daylight, freezing temperatures and little chance of survival if your ship went down. Hopefully I can do justice to those involved with the model!


Nick - thanks, the original aim was to finish her in time for the 80th anniversary! Hopefully she will be seaworthy by Mayhem 2023.


The battle is described in the book '73 North', which is on my to read list for the year.


Happy New Year to everyone!

[Rob47]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments

I cant come to terms with those depth markings, have never seen then come to deck level, normally stop just on or over the boot topping, any chance to prove me wrong with the picture, just looks so odd.


Bob

Re: the depth markings - yes it took me a while to figure it out! The marks are applied as per photos of the ship. They indicate the depth below the mark.


The stern has two sets: one at the end of the keel, which indicates the 'design' waterline - quoted as ten feet on the admiralty plans, and another set in line with the A frame which has different levels because the propellor blades swing below the keel level (hence the movement of mark XV). Photo attached which shows this.


Another quirk of Onslow is that the boot topping appears to be very wide above the design waterline, compared to other vessels - again this is based on photos of the ship.

[Beagle1831]

Hi Bob


No problem - always good to check these things out



First photo - Onslow fitting out at John Brown's yard in 1941  - the roman numeral depth markings are visible bottom right, with XXIII (23) just below the deck edge / prop guard. 23 feet is the correct draft at the prop if the deck was awash- as the outer edge of the blade rotated below the keel (about 20 feet from deck edge).


Second photo after her refit in 1943, showing that the marks were still there


I guess that in early war experience they found that destroyers could return home with considerable damage so it was still useful to have the depth marked to the deck edge (eg HMS Kelly in 1940 - photo here [size=78%]HMS Kelly (F01) - Wikipedia[/size][size=78%]). [/size]


James

[Beagle1831]

OK so didn't get the model finished by the end of the year - but some progress has been made!


I have been slowly working on the pom pom (quad 2pdr AA gun) - scratch built based on drawings in John Lambert's books.


The barrels are turned aluminium, with the muzzle offset from the cooling jacket (which was tricky to work out!). Upper and lower guns were staggered so the exposed barrel length was different but overall gun length the same. In the real thing the guns were also right and left handed for ammunition feed. The ammunition belts are represented with brass wire and paper. The main structure is made from styrene sheet, with details from styrene strip, brass wire, photo etch and litho plate. The central gun housing is removable for painting.

[Beagle1831]

Some photos of the finished gun, and in place on the 'bandstand'.


Another detail I noticed is that on Onslow they kept the cabin roof for the 16 foot boat stored on one of the carley floats, so I will try to replicate this in the finished model.

[Martin (Admin)]

How is this level of detail even possible for humans?!   

[Capt Podge]

How is this level of detail even possible for humans?!   



Skill. Determination. Dedication.  ?


Ray.

[derekwarner]

The detail of the belt of bullets.... 14 long ........[to be engaged in the magazine feed].........then another, then another


The following link is well worth spending the time to watch & understand about QF Pom-Pom Gun Mounts  ......Derek


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utrkd4SDRdw

[Geoff]

Very nice indeed, well done and a credit o you.


Geoff

[Beagle1831]

Thanks everyone for the comments 


If you want to see crazy detail - look here at HMS Hood in 1:350!
Armament – On The Slipway


This is one of my "go to" sites for RN references


Derek - those 'armored carrier' videos are great, thanks for the link. "Drachinifel" on youtube also has a great discussion of the various AA weapons used in WW2.


James

[Beagle1831]

An update from the shipyard


The combined rangefinder / director is finished. I've added the type 285 radar to the top. This was built using some photoetch yagi antennas ('fishbones') from a John Haynes kit. The exact configuration of the array was a bit different on Onslow to the one in John's photo etch kit, I'm guessing the Onslow had an earlier war variant. So the frame, reflectors and supports were scratch built from brass sheet and wire. The array is simplified from the real thing, there is more detail visible in photos but for reasons of sanity I have omitted some of it. The extra splinter shields are sculpted from milliput.


A bit of artistic licence has been taken here, as the support frame for the radar on Onslow was usually wrapped in a canvas cover to shield the crew. I've left this off as it obscures all the detail work, and would also make painting the interior a nightmare!


Another quirk of Onslow is that in almost all photos the rangefinder is pointing directly backwards, which I'm guessing was done to protect the radar and optical equipment from heavy weather in northern waters where she usually operated. This would look very strange on the model so I will definitely be putting it on forwards (as if she is about to engage a heavy cruiser...)

[Akira]

  Excellent. Do you accept soldering commissions?

[raflaunches]

Stunning as always James. That looks fantastic. I’m trying to find the correct range finder design for my HMS Coventry that I started years ago, and then restarted, and restarted again after two incidents several years ago involving wind and two double doors!
I may well copy the basis of your build to my Coventry if I can’t find the exact model.