At last the Belfast in 1/350! i never seem to be able to resist splurging with putty & sand paper to hide the joins between parts

I'm watching mate, just haven't said anything 'coz it's scaring me !

I had to stop myself from drilling out the portholes and ordering a wooden deck..

Once you have used PE sets about 40 times it isn't too scary..

Thanks Damian
Warren

Now, see I would've given in to that as well How's that Bentley going?

Too right Damian-this is one scarey build style!

I use lions roar replacement aa guns as I think the pe version is to flat and added glue or what ever to the barrels don't look right

Bentley is on hold until this one is finished mate. I had a bit of a problem with the Humbrol Acrylic not working properly so I have mixed up my own version of BRG using Tamiya acrylics.

Will be back too it soon don't worry.

Cheers
Warren

I agree Peter but this is a build review of the Belfast and the PE set so it has no other extras.

Cheers
Warren

OK, another update.

Step 14 is now complete.

The boat racks came together as follows. First up the main supporting framework was glued in position..



Then the framework supports were added.



There were 7 in total. And here is the frame up the right way..



Those sets of three boat holders (I have forgotten the term) were all different, yet they all had the same number. I am not sure how you are supposed to get them all in the right positions if you don't know which holder goes where, so I guessed. How about individual numbering next time Mr WEM. And numbers on the frets would be nice as well..

WEM also supply the rear boat frame as it was before it was boarded in after the 1942 refit. It is in the front of the photo..



But as I am building the 1943 version I get to use the plastic version. I bent up the main part of the frame to give you all an idea of how it looks.

This next picture shows that workshop and the structure behind it in place.



Sorry the air vents are a bit blurry but they go right over the top of the plastic vents supplied by Trumpeter and add some depth.

Next up is an overall view of the centre deck and where I am up to..



Tomorrow it is the PE -improved 8 barrel pom poms and some of the ship's boats as seen in Step 15 below.



Step 16 is mostly complete already, so after 15 is finished I will skip straight to 17. I have to remember to go back later and assemble the various items, like the main mast, I skipped earlier as they would just get broken if they were put in place before all the various superstructure parts were already glued to the deck.

Cheers for now and have a very Happy New Year,
Warren

Welcome Mate,

Looking great, the boat racks look impressive, especially around the funnel,

keep up the good work.

Si

Well the second day of 2014 is almost over and I have got a little further today after a number of setbacks, all of which where not caused by me, but by a set of PE instructions, and some PE that just doesn't fit as supplied.

First up, this is the bow of one of the cutters, and it is supposed to have etchong on it to simulate wood planking. Problem is the etch has not worked properly and there are only partial planking as you can see from the following photo..



Then the real fun began! The etched pieces provided by WEM to simulate interiors on the motor-launches plain don't fit even closely. This is surprising as most WEM stuff I have used over the years has been great.

Here is what the pieces look like all bent up and ready to be installed..



See the sides, they are about three times too high to allow the pieces to fit in the hulls. The only way I got around the problem was to cut most of the sides off with some PE scissors and re-bend them. The sides end up being less than 1mm high. The they almost fit very well. You also have to scrape out the insides of the hulls or they still won't fit. The hulls end up very thin. SO here is a Trumpeter plasyic launch..



Too this I also added the rudder and prop supplied by WEM..



But I didn't put the railings on the tops of the cabins as in my 'umble opinion guv there is jut not enough surface to get a big enough area to get glue on the attach the railings without flooding the area with glue.

So, again, I eventually got one of the interiors in place after about 3 hours of puzzlement. That is the one second from the top..



The top one is one without the interior parts, the third one down is just showing the prop/rudder again and the bottom on os one of the cutters which, unfortunately, the thwarts etc do not fit properly either.. Pity really. Also, if you are reading this Mr WEM, your numbering in places in your instructions is rubbish.. The boat is not A17 and the pieces for one of the boats is not 122..

Then we come to the 8 barrel pom poms. Do not follow the WEM instructions for these because if you do you will not be able to get the frame pieces over the ammo boxes. Put the frame pieces in place first then attach the details to the ammo boxes. I learnt this the hard way and had to remove all the ammo box detail to put the frames in place.

Here are a front and rear view of the pom poms..





Looks like I need to do the ammo box details again. Sometimes the macro lens can be helpful.

But that is enough for today. I don't like being negative but it is better to tell all you good readers the truth and let Mr WEM fix up the problems than gloss stuff over and have you cursing me when you come to the same spots when building your Belfasts.

Cheers
Warre

Hi Warren!

I'm really enjoying your build log! I am an armor guy, getting ready to embark on my first Ship Build (Trumpeter 1/350 USS Yorktown with the Pontos super set) What glue are you using for all the P/E? I have always used CA on my tanks, but have discovered Gator's Grip from these boards and am considering switching to that. Would appreciate your insight!

Thanks for taking the time to Blog, I've done a few and appreciate the extra effort to benefit the rest of us!

Regards from Raleigh, NC

Terry

Looks like you had fun with that Warren.

I find it a bit disappointing that WEM have made such fundamental errors. I would have been tempted to remove all of the sides on the motor launch bottom boards.

The top sections of the etch for the pom pom ammo boxes, are they any better than the moulded detail? I can see the use of the details for the front, rear and ends, but the top does not to be in unpainted from seem to resemble ammuntition.

Thanks for all the unvarnished details in your review mate.

Very useful indeed.

Si

Hi Terry.

Glad to have you aboard for the ride.

I use Gator Grip as well but not on everything. If something needs fast sticking, in other words I don't want to wait while the glue takes for a few minutes, I will use CA, mainly Gel but thin CA can be very handy for other spots where you want to flow the glue into place after assembling the items. The end plates on the pom poms I did like that.

Glad to hear you are starting on ships. I have the same combination in the stash and will get to it this year hopefully. Maybe we could do our own little group build blog?

Cheers and happy modelling
Warren

Hi Simon.

Sorry I didn't take a piccie of the naked Trumpeter plastic. I have the Hood remains out in the shed and it should have a pom pom in there as I used WEM resin ones for that build. There is moulded on detail and it is pretty good woth the Trumpeter one, but I thought seeing I had the etch I would use it to show what it is like.

Will go and have a look before it gets too hot later in the morning.

Cheers
Warren

Can't find the Hood ones Si. Maybe they will turn up later..

Cheers
Warren

Time for another installment of the great Belfast Build..

Well I got the rest of the boats finished today..

One of the two small dinghys..



Then we have a couple of cutters, one left stock and the other with the WEM thwarts installed.



When you install the PE thwarts you need to remove most of the moulded in Trumpeter ones which destroys the planking on the floor of the cutter. I am not so sure the Trumpeter ones look that bad so if I was building it I would leave the Trumpeter thwarts in place and use the WEM rudders etc.

Then it is time for the two funnels. WEM provide two sets of grills, one for their corrected funnels and one for the kit funnels. Now I have not had a look to see how bad the kit funnels are but I am using them in this build.



I have a funny feeling they should not taper to a sharp angle like that. And with the WEM grate installed.



There are no clues on how they should be installed so I just winged it. If you had any references you may be able to get a better idea but it would have been nice if some idea was givem on the bending.

Next up we have one of the aft decks that WEM provide new larger gun mount pieces for. Pre-surgery..



After removal of the under-size platforms..



And here is the bent and assembled platform..



And underneath they provide a PE framework.



The railings will receive their final tweak after the item is glued in position. It is no good doing final alignments etc until everything is glued down firmly.

That's it for now.

Cheers
Warren

An early update for today. Still working on the aft deck.

First an over all view of a partially completed deck showing PE door and ladder..



Then we have the forward part of the deck where lal the details are..



I used WEM PE radar aerials.

This is the rear radar tower with WEM PE brackets fitted..



Then I used the Trumpeter radar aerial on top of the tower..



And that's it for now. Lots of work for little visible progress.. Typical ship kit.

Cheers
Warren

PS.. Australia a kicking England's butt again in the cricket..

Looking good Warren, I have to get my backside down to the real thing, and get some good pics (especially of the funnels). It is only 14 miles from where I live.

The etched enlarged searchlight platforms really work.

Well done to your guys in the cricket Johnson & hadden's bowling has been awesome, (to be fair we were awful) the bragging rights are now yours.... until the next time.

Si

Mwah hahahaaa! The worm has turned Si! Till we lose our form anyway

I've some pics up in the walk around of Belfast when I visited a few years back if that's of help to you both.

here

The worm hasn't just turned, it has grown into a Arakene Sandworm and has devoured the English Cricket team whole! BWAHAHAHAHA.. I watched the last session live and they were pathetic...

But enough of the celebrations. Back to the job at hand.

This is how I left her last night..



Clamps off this morning and all the various decks had settled into place after I trimmed the forward part of the middle deck by a few mm as the new catapult in appreciably bigger than the plastic one and the centre deck no longer fits over the flange Trumpeter provides to locate the deck accurately..

But when I went to install the aft deck I found there was a bit of an interference problem with part of the boat racks.

Then when you go to attach the aft deck the walkway for the boat racks interferes with the aft deck. It is an easy fix as you just trim about 1 mm off the end of the walkway and all is well.



WEM provide a new radar lantern platform. The Trumpeter PE one is good, but the WEM one is appreciably better.

First is the tower itself,



Then the first platform for the radar hut..



Which goes on top of the tower..



Then you attach the plastic hut and then the platform the lantern goes on..



And wouldn't you know it I forgot top take one of the whole assembly!! D'OH!!

But anyway here is one of the gun directors..



And then a picture of the foremast in progress..



Then I found a problem Mr WEM. I was about to bend up a couple more radar antennas but found a slight problem with them.. See if you can spot it..

So did anyone actually see the problem with the etch? Yes, two of the radar antenna frames had been over-etched and parts of the frame had been eaten away totally in the etching process. WEM has a problem with their negative methinks.

OK, today was spent mostly on the two masts. I had to do a bit of re-work on the forward mast as the first platform was at the wrong angle, so after applying a little debonder to the CA glue I carefully removed the parts and re-glued them in what is hopefully the right position this time.

On thing I worked out with the aft mast was that if you glue the original plastic platform in place you can cut it down until it is almost totally invisible under the new platform and it gives you a much greater area to glue the new starfish platform onto, something that is a problem with many of the smaller etch pieces.



If you were painting parts you could paint the plastic part matt black and you would not even see it if you cut it down enough. I left a bit extra as I was not sure how successful the idea was going to be. From the top you can only just see a tiny bit of the grey plastic.



Here is a picture of the almost finished aft mast..



Just needs yardarm and a few more antennas attached. Then we have the foremast..



Just a little tweaking needed. Then for a change of pace I started on the cranes. These are one piece and took a bit of time to work out how to fold them. As usual the second one was much easier than the first.





Remember how I forgot to post a picture of the radar tower with the lantern on top, there was a reason, I hadn't glued the external supports, but I did today..



I must apologize to Mr WEM as I bent the lantern the wrong way and now you can't see all the detail on the base of it unless you peer through the framework.

There was lots of other bits and bobs done today but there would have been too many photos if I took pictures of them all.

Tomorrow will be completing those two cranes, hopefully the two masts and maybe I will get to the Walrus which has lots of brass PE for it.

Best laid planes of mice and men..

Cheers
Warren

We did see the problem with the PE, Warren. I gotta say that's very unusual for WEM to do something like that. Hope they rectify it soon...

Great stuff Warren, More & more issues with the etch showing up. Most unusual.

I do get the feeling this set was rushed out, with perhaps not quite enough thought and planning to have it on the shelf for Telford.

Si

I have never found these things with WEM before. Hopefully a one off..

Cheers
Warren