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Gremlin56
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 03:27 AM UTC
Some progress made on a rainy Saturday afternoon here in Holland:



Screws fitted.



No mistaking which MTB this is going to be



Work in progress on the anchor stowage.



Rhapsody in blue ...........

warreni
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 03:47 AM UTC
Looking excellent Julian.

Had a small problem with the depth charge racks step as the putty I used to fill the chasms left after removing the detail shunk a fair bit even after the second application. So this time I used some Mr Surfacer Dissolved Putty and I will see how that goes. It is the first time I have used the stuff and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Keep up the great work mate
Warren
Gremlin56
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 03:51 AM UTC
Thanks Warren, the Mr. Disolved Putty is great for small cracks but I think it will turn out to be to thin for bigger gaps etc.
Might be better to fill up as much as possible with scrap plastic before puttying, (but I am probably too late with this helpful tip ).
warreni
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 04:41 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Thanks Warren, the Mr. Disolved Putty is great for small cracks but I think it will turn out to be to thin for bigger gaps etc.
Might be better to fill up as much as possible with scrap plastic before puttying, (but I am probably too late with this helpful tip ).


These have all been experiments Julian. If the putty doesn't work proper-like I wikk go back to Tamiya Putty or similar.

Cheers
Warren
warreni
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 08:58 AM UTC
Julian, you will be pleased to know that the Dissolved putty did the job and the aft deck is now ready to have all those depth charge racks and empty brackets installed.

Cheers
Warren
Longshanks8
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 10:21 AM UTC
Like the props Julian
So nice to see props that are not brass!!

Cheers Kev
Gremlin56
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 05:14 PM UTC
Thanks Kev, a first attempt at more realistic propulsion.
Cheers,
Julian
warreni
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 09:14 PM UTC
Time for another update.
First up, the almost finished depth charge racks. Only thing missing is the cables holding them in position..


I got sick of waiting for a reply from Griffon and made my own rings. I remembered way back in primary school we made necklaces and bracelets by first of all making our own links from copper wire. This is just the same just using smaller gauge wire, and diameter links of course..


That one needs closing up and some CA glue to fill the gap which I have already done.
As well as the ends of the depth charges the same rings are needed to hold the release cables in place.
I have found another item we have been short changed in Julian. The little screw up latches on one of the ammo boxes needs four of them but there are only two left after an earlier step. So we are two short there as well..
And some jewellery for the aft deck of the MBT..


And finally getting ready to spray the beasts deck..

Maskol is still the best!
Anyway enough for now. Hope you all had a enjoyable weekend,
Cheers
Warren
Gremlin56
Joined: October 30, 2005
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Posted: Saturday, September 14, 2013 - 10:35 PM UTC
The racks are excellent and the home made rings are better than the Griffon examples Maskol remains a great product, slosh it on and it looks dreadful but it pulls off when dry leaving narry a trace.
The sun is shining now Warren but we had enough rain yesterday to last a couple of weeks


Sounds like Griffon has the same customer service training as Fujimi ...............................
Gremlin56
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Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 - 03:06 AM UTC
The anti-slip rubber strips on the bow have been sprayed with Vallejo dark rubber and sealed with Vallejo matt varnish. I will mask them sometime this week in preparation for the deck colour. The anchor supports have been fitted, I quite like the detail here, looks much crisper than the poly-parts
I am also working on the steering gear compartment hatch, can't for the life of me figure out what the little plastic upside down flowerpots are on the starboard portion of the hatch, (ventilators?).






Quite a busy week at work coming up so I don't know how much time I will be able to put into 234
Time for a very excellent Burgundy I have been keeping in my collection for a rainy weekend, (doesn't get much rainier than this weekend so it seems like a good moment).
RedDuster
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Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 - 06:53 AM UTC
Great looking Boats Warren & Julian,

Following with much interest.

Si
warreni
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Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 - 07:45 AM UTC
Julian, C3 is the part there is not enough of for the boat. I also found that the detail of the plastic for the ammo storage box is actually a bit better than the PE parts so I didn't replace them. You are probably right about those little vent thingys. Did the MTBs have a little galley? They may be for an oven..

Thanks for that Simon. Your Dreadnought is looking marvellous as well.
TAFFY3
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Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 - 09:31 PM UTC
Great work guys, that Griffon set really ups the ante on detail. Love the depth charge racks,especially those itty-bitty pulleys and the release mechanisms. One other thing, there are some small rings on the two sprues that are doubles (can't remember the part nos.). They were for the support ropes for the IFF antenna when mounted on the foredeck. Since I relocated the antenna to the spray shield I didn't use them for their original purpose. They did come in handy to replace the PE tie points for the main mast stay lines. One atop the wheelhouse and two outboard of the torpedo tubes. Thought I'd pass it along for what it's worth. Al
warreni
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Posted: Monday, September 16, 2013 - 05:04 AM UTC
Thanks Al.

They are not very accurate in their instructions as to where to mount the IFF on the spray shield, and I don't really think the antenna would have been in use when this early armament scheme was being used, or was it? I thought IFF would have been developed long after they started using a later armament scheme.

Cheers
Warren
TAFFY3
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Posted: Monday, September 16, 2013 - 05:44 AM UTC
The photo of MTB 77 in the little booklet Italeri gives you shows the antenna mounted on the foredeck, as it is in the kit. We know MTB 77 eventually mounted a captured 20mm Breda, so that photo was taken before that. I don't know when exactly the IFF came into use but it seems to have been fairly early on the 72' series of boats. I found this photo of MTB 84 mounting a Breda and the IFF is mounted in front of the mast, most likely on the spray shield.



I would imagine that any boat mounting a gun on the foredeck would move that antenna out of the line of fire. Al
TheModeller
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Posted: Monday, September 16, 2013 - 06:38 AM UTC
Hi Al, nice to see 84 re-appearing.

As far as I can tell the IFF was present on the earlier series of Vosper boats, the narrow-beam 70-footers, the old Warship Profile mentions the Type 252 as a standard fit.

As I'm slowly building 84 I've researched her a bit, the IFF was moved to the coaming ahead of the mast in her case, other boats re-located it to the front of the mast on a bracket, that looks like what Griffon have supplied.
warreni
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 04:38 AM UTC
Hi Everyone.

I seem to be doing lots of work but not showing much progress,although I have not got many steps to go in the PE set..
First up a few pictures of the powered turret on the rear deck of the Vosper..


This is almost finished. Guns go in last as they are a different colour to everything else.
This is the brass shield you can see buried in the above assembly..

Double bend was 'interesting' and it would have been easier if I had heated it a bit more in the annealing process.
That's it for now.
Cheers all
Warren
beefy66
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 07:28 AM UTC
Hi Warren great detail work, can you tell me how you anneal your PE what do you use to heat the parts do you use some kind of heat gun blow torch or lighter I have not used PE much and have never tried this before
Cheers Keith
warreni
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 07:44 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren great detail work, can you tell me how you anneal your PE what do you use to heat the parts do you use some kind of heat gun blow torch or lighter I have not used PE much and have never tried this before
Cheers Keith


Hi Keith.

Thanks for dropping by!

You know those lighters they use for lighting gas BBQs or gas stoves. They have a long neck and you click a trigger to produce a flame? I use one of those, BUT for items like this I think one of those small blow torches would be better as it is difficult to get enough heat into them with the lighter I use. A candle doesn't produce enough either and leaves black soot all over the PE bits. But for normal PE parts the lighter thingy I use is fine. Just heat the item carefully until it changes colour then put it aside to air-cool. Do not dunk it in water or oil as you will just defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Best Regards
Warren
beefy66
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 07:40 PM UTC
Thanks for the Info Warren will be making a trip to the local hardwear store at the weekend to see if I can get one of those Lighters

Cheers Keith
warreni
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 07:41 PM UTC
Greetings one and all and welcome to the latest installment of Days Of Our Vosper Lives.. I'm noy McDonald Carey..
First up a couple of views of the almost finished gun turret..
Guns up..

Guns down..

As the boat has no crew on board it must be at rest so there should be no ammo for the guns. Lets the details of the ammo rollers be seen. I would love to get some detailed painting info if anyone has any.
Next it is to the aft deck where the reload torpedo racks have now been made..

Four each side. And in more detail..

Those white pads are made out of styrene by me. Griffon supply the pads in brass but they are thick and difficult to anneal to allow you to bend them easily, so I chopped up some styrene sheet and curved the styrene before I glued it to the brass trestle torpedo supports.
They will be glued to the deck tomorrow.
Not far to go now me hearties! Arrr..(Talk like a pirate day today)

Q. Why are pirates pirates?
A. Because they Arrrr...

On that lame note, another update is bound to happen tomorrow and until then be kind to each other,
Cheers
Warren
TAFFY3
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Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 10:19 PM UTC
Avast! 'Tis plain you be no lubber, Arrrr. Seriously, the turret looks terrific, a great improvement over what the kit supplies. (Grog of course) Al
warreni
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Posted: Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 09:59 AM UTC
Very quick update..
First up some more jewellery for the aft deck. I think they were used to store torpedo reloads for the tubes..

Then the final hatch in the puzzle..

Griffon would have you remove those lumps on the hatch from the styene hatch(which I must admit was very good for styrene) but I made my own lumps out of plastic rod.
That's it for now.
Cheers
Warren
Gremlin56
Joined: October 30, 2005
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Posted: Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 05:59 PM UTC
Fantastic progress Warren, the dustbin turret really benefits from the extra detailing.I have finished the torpedo loading supports and am starting on the depthcharge/Mine racks. Griffon makes some strange calls for the thickness of the PE IMHO. Some parts that could use a little more strength are made of rather thin PE and the for example the pads on the torpedo loading supports are extremely thick, ( you used poly here).
For annealing have you considered buying a creme brulee torch?
It is in effect a mini blowtorch, (can even toast your wombat sandwhiches with it )
warreni
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Posted: Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 07:03 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Fantastic progress Warren, the dustbin turret really benefits from the extra detailing.I have finished the torpedo loading supports and am starting on the depthcharge/Mine racks. Griffon makes some strange calls for the thickness of the PE IMHO. Some parts that could use a little more strength are made of rather thin PE and the for example the pads on the torpedo loading supports are extremely thick, ( you used poly here).
For annealing have you considered buying a creme brulee torch?
It is in effect a mini blowtorch, (can even toast your wombat sandwhiches with it )


I have looked into them Julian but not enough cash at the second. Speaking of wombats, did you know they eat, roots,shoots and leaves?

And I have another hint for you, with the torpedo tubes, don't bother wasting your time cutting out and preparing 156 of the suckers. When you bend them they look crap as the bit of brass holding the head to the washer is still there. It would have increased the effort immensely to seperate the too-thin heads from the washers and glue them together again. So I found a shop on Ebay that sells resin bolt heads on washers by the hundred for about $10 and they look about 500 times better than the PE ones. Save your valuable time and order a couple of bags. I cut them all off then folded about 20 of them before I gave up. So the torpedo tubes are going to be the final things to install. Everything else should be done before the resin bits get here, but the brass ones would have ruined the look. If you want the address just ask.

Cheers
Warren

 _GOTOTOP