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Trumpeter HMS Belfast & WEM PE Set
warreni
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Posted: Monday, January 06, 2014 - 07:48 AM UTC

Quoted Text

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


Hi Simon.

I hope you are right. I am going to drop them an email and see what they say..

Cheers
Warren
warreni
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Posted: Monday, January 06, 2014 - 09:50 PM UTC
Greetings to Everyone.

Well today was taken up with cranes and wind deflectors. First up the cranes, two of them and after bending the jibs last night I continued with their construction today. One hint, you can't follow the WEM instructions too closely as the crane rigging won't go through pieces of the jib without having to cut part of it. You need to cut the lower cable run to get the cable rigging to fit the crane. ANother problem is that if you try and cut the slots in the drum as suggested the middle of the drum will fall out immediately after the second cut.
The way to do it is make the first cut, glue the rigging in place then make the second cut and glue the second rigging part in place.

Unfortunately I found two more badly etched part being one of the rigging parts. The first one has a break in one of the wire runs in the rigging..



And the second one, look at how thin the bottom wire run is..



Almost disappeared in one spot.

The second item I worked on was the two wind deflectors that go on the bridge deck. Trumpeter do provide plastic and etch to simulate and I have already installed it, but I decided to build the WEM ones to see how they went. These turned out to be some of the most difficult etch assembly I have ever done. But I persevered and finished one of them but am not going to build the second one as they won't be used in this build. I won't go into it in any depth except to say that if you REALLY want them on your build drop me a line and I will go through them.. (shudder)...

I did some other bits and pieces like gluing some radar aerials in place but today was all about the cranes and deflectors. Will post some more crane piccies tomorrow.

Cheers for now
Warren
warreni
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Posted: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 - 08:07 PM UTC
I just closed the wrong tab and lost all my blog..

So it is going to be an abbreviated one now..

Here is the crane I forgot to take a picture of yesterday..



Then I got to and built the Walrus..







Then I built it's catapult cradle..



Then I found some more bad etching..





See how thin that railing is on the ladder compared to the others?

Now for some overall shots of the port side as I have been working from the centre out in the final fit-out phase..











The railings on the shelter deck are not shown anywhere in the instructions. So for all your information railings in group 5 go on the shelter deck..

I sent an email to WEM about the etch problems and their solution, which is the best I can think of, is to send a new set for perusal. We will see what happens.

The WEM set is still very good even with its few problems, well in my set anyway.

Cheers all
Warren
RussellE
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Posted: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 - 10:23 PM UTC
Hi Warren! Looking Good!!! In my experience WEM has always been good so I'm sure they'll rectify the issues...

One question though: with the railings on the shelter deck, how does Y turret rotate?
warreni
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Posted: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 - 10:57 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren! Looking Good!!! In my experience WEM has always been good so I'm sure they'll rectify the issues...

One question though: with the railings on the shelter deck, how does Y turret rotate?


You tell me and we will both know. Actually there are no turrets anywhere near the railings I was alluding to, just a couple of cranes.
RussellE
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Posted: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 - 11:18 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Hi Warren! Looking Good!!! In my experience WEM has always been good so I'm sure they'll rectify the issues...

One question though: with the railings on the shelter deck, how does Y turret rotate?


You tell me and we will both know. Actually there are no turrets anywhere near the railings I was alluding to, just a couple of cranes.


You're right, technically not the shelter deck mate, and please don't get me wrong, I'm in no way criticising, but will B turret also have some trouble with railings?

What I mean is, did they take the railings down before going to battle stations or are the turrets able to swing inside them?
RedDuster
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Posted: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 - 04:19 AM UTC
Hi Warren,

Looking good especially with all the issues with the etch.

Looking at the pics in AOTS and a couple of other places, it appears the railings do go all the way up to the turrets. However on these railings are not solid railing, but have wires running horizontally. I would assume when the ship goes to action stations the wires are unrigged and the stations either unshipped or just hinged down.

Si
warreni
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Posted: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 - 07:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,

Looking good especially with all the issues with the etch.

Looking at the pics in AOTS and a couple of other places, it appears the railings do go all the way up to the turrets. However on these railings are not solid railing, but have wires running horizontally. I would assume when the ship goes to action stations the wires are unrigged and the stations either unshipped or just hinged down.

Si


You may even find that they just automatically fell down whenever the turret rotated against them. That way the turret would not have to wait for some noob to lower the railings before they could fire.

Thanks for looking guys.
Warren
Shanghaied
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Posted: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 - 05:55 PM UTC
Hi Warren,

I always admire your clean PE work!. Would never be able to do it without any glue "accidents"! or bent railings.

Greetings from Shanghai
warreni
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Posted: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 - 08:29 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,

I always admire your clean PE work!. Would never be able to do it without any glue "accidents"! or bent railings.

Greetings from Shanghai


Thanks for that Tom. Glad to have you on board for the journey.

While I am here I may as well post today's update. Sorry but this one is full of negatives at first. First the latest batch of over etched items are all railings..







The next picture shows the crane I made to show in the stowed position. Problem is the rigging supplied by WEM is too long and the jib comes out being lower than the base of the crane..



So just use the other, shorter set and all will be fine.

Sorry but that is it for now. Just gradually working my way around the model adding railings etc. Hopefully finished in the next few days.

Cheers
Warren

Gremlin56
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 07:48 AM UTC
In spite of the moaning and groaning about the PE you are doing a magnificent build here Warren, a genuine eye catcher.

Shanghaied
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 06:06 PM UTC
If it would not be for showing the PE I would simple suggest to rig the crane with line or even fine wire. Not very complicate.
I use long black hair, very strong and good to glue and readily available here

Greetings from Shanghai.

N.B your macro is too good. Never seeing my PE so clear
warreni
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 06:36 PM UTC

Quoted Text

If it would not be for showing the PE I would simple suggest to rig the crane with line or even fine wire. Not very complicate.
I use long black hair, very strong and good to glue and readily available here

Greetings from Shanghai.

N.B your macro is too good. Never seeing my PE so clear


I agree Tom, but this is pure;y an OOB build so no extras anywhere. Purely to highlight the kit and the PE set.

And it is finished...













































So, in a quick wrap up, I am sending all the faults I found to WEM and they will review them when they receive them. If the set had had no faults I would have given it 95% at least, but some things just don't fit or where not etched properly.

As to the kit itself, it is really excellent, one of Trumpeter's best 1/350 ships yet in my opinion. I have built a few of them and have quite a number in the stash to compare it to, as well as Aoshima, Hasegawa, Fujimi and Tamiya ones as well.

That is it for now. I need a bit of a break so I will do a few targets and aircraft for some campaigns.... although that 1/72 Corvette and extras is sitting there...

Cheers
Warren
RussellE
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 09:10 PM UTC
Awesome work, Warren, as always!

This one's a very different build style for sure, but it was great to see a 'naked' build!

Russ
warreni
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 09:39 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Awesome work, Warren, as always!

This one's a very different build style for sure, but it was great to see a 'naked' build!

Russ


Just to screw with your mind, I was naked while building it as well..
RussellE
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Posted: Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 09:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Awesome work, Warren, as always!

This one's a very different build style for sure, but it was great to see a 'naked' build!

Russ


Just to screw with your mind, I was naked while building it as well..


Arrghh!!!

PS. Love the macro setting on your camera... One I'll get a macro lens for the SLR... One day....
warreni
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2014 - 07:05 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Awesome work, Warren, as always!

This one's a very different build style for sure, but it was great to see a 'naked' build!

Russ


Just to screw with your mind, I was naked while building it as well..


Arrghh!!!

PS. Love the macro setting on your camera... One I'll get a macro lens for the SLR... One day....


I just use a Panasonic Lumix drunks camera using the macro setting. I have a DSLR as well but no macro lens for it.

Cheers
Warren
RedDuster
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2014 - 08:13 AM UTC
Hi Warren,

Great review of both the kit and the etch, very useful indeed.

will be interested to see the response from WEM.

Cheers mate.

Si
warreni
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2014 - 02:55 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,

Great review of both the kit and the etch, very useful indeed.

will be interested to see the response from WEM.

Cheers mate.

Si


Hello Simon.

I thought I had already posted that WEM were sending me another etch set when they come back into stock. No questions asked. I also sent them a list of the problems and photos of the deficient etching. I think they really care about their customers unlike some places who promise $2 postage then come back after 3 months and say "no it is $122 sorry as it is too big". So they had my money for three months and I didn't end up getting what I wanted, Dragon's 1/72 Saturn V.
RedDuster
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2014 - 10:17 PM UTC
Hi Warren,

Ah, missed that comment, far too interested in looking at the pictures. Good to hear that WEM's customer service is still tops.

By the by mate, naked modelmaking, not a good idea (apart from the bad images in the head) major HSE issues,

All the best

Si
warreni
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Posted: Saturday, January 11, 2014 - 08:25 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,

Ah, missed that comment, far too interested in looking at the pictures. Good to hear that WEM's customer service is still tops.

By the by mate, naked modelmaking, not a good idea (apart from the bad images in the head) major HSE issues,

All the best

Si


I can image that CA glue in the wrong places could be bad..

I was only kidding by the way..
Cosimodo
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Posted: Saturday, January 11, 2014 - 09:26 PM UTC
Hi Warren,
I have just caught up with this. Great effort and a great way to display the both the model and the etch.
I am surprised that WEM don't do this themselves to show their wares. I know some do, like Eduard, and it would certainly help with the etch newbies like me.

cheers
Michael
warreni
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Posted: Saturday, January 11, 2014 - 10:12 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,
I have just caught up with this. Great effort and a great way to display the both the model and the etch.
I am surprised that WEM don't do this themselves to show their wares. I know some do, like Eduard, and it would certainly help with the etch newbies like me.

cheers
Michael


Anytime you need a hand Michael just drop me a line and I will do my best to help.

Cheers
Warren
dlgn25
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Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 - 03:27 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Warren,
I have just caught up with this. Great effort and a great way to display the both the model and the etch.
I am surprised that WEM don't do this themselves to show their wares. I know some do, like Eduard, and it would certainly help with the etch newbies like me.

cheers
Michael


Hi Michael,

We'd love to be able to do just that, but we're just spread too thin. Eduard is a very big outfit, with lots of staff. WEM consists of about 4 or 5 full-time and 2 or 3 part-time folks (I'm one of the full-time and I'm in the States, not the UK), and we have all we can do to keep up with things as it is. Hope you understand.
Longshanks8
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Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 - 09:45 PM UTC
Hi Warren,

Just caught up with your build, superb and informative!!

You set the standard of brass work

Cheers Kev

PS Don't forget the corvette
 _GOTOTOP