Ahoy shipmates,

Just sharing some photos of a new project that I have started.
This is the Mirage HMS Zinnia kit that I will attempt to make
a decent conversion to the HMCS Snowberry (K166)

Preliminary work has been done on the bridge conversion and
detailing in the stern area. Some PE detail, portholes and doors
added but the rest, bits of styrene and stretched sprue.

Created the openingsat the stern to dispense depth charges.







Hope you like......comments welcome.

Now, back to the yards.....

Cheers,
Joe

Looks good. Keep us posted!

Ahoy mates,

A little more detail tonight.



Funnel cap drilled out since it is molded solid with cage in
place. Created cage with bits if styrene strip.

Added PE porthole and doors, port and starboard of super structure
as this detail is not present on kit part and is is present on plans
and photos of the Snowberry.

That is it for now...back to the yards,

Cheers,
Joe

Looking very nice Joe, especially in view of the scale. Just one question: the stern of your Snowberry is squared of whereas the old Matchbox Snowberry had a more rounded off stern. Which of the two is correct? I started off two builds of the Matchbox Snowberry but haven't finished either of them

Hi Julian,

Both of the Mirage kits are similar, squared stern.

I am using the Zinnia hull for this conversion so I will have
to attempt a rounding off the the hull as best possible.

It is a small ship, so I will have some fun with it.
It may not turn out perfect but it will look alot like
the Snowberry.

Cheers,
Joe

Ok, clear. I am waiting for the Mirage "Pennywort" to appear. I must have at least one of these little ships.

Ahoy mates,

One more update:





I have, to my satisfaction, taken the edge off the stern area,
with some sanding and polishing, to create a better rendition
of the rounded stern of the Snowberry...looks the part.

Tomorrow I will re scribe the plates.

Cheers.
Joe

Sheesh Joe, didn't mean to create a load of work for you on the Sunday morning Looks great, beautiful build,

I have a few projects to finish for some upcoming shows in
April and May, so the shipyards are buzzing!

Have a great day Julian

Cheers,
Joe

Hi Joe,

Looks really nice!
Don't worry too much about the round stern.
In my HMS Campion I flooded the inside of the stern a bit with liquid glue and pressed it in a better shape. You can also take a small wedge out at the seam, but both require to modify the deck too.
The most difficult for me was to reconstruct the hull plating.

Greetings from Shanghai

Hi Joe,

Great looking start. Will be following with interest.

Si

Thanks guys...

I made an attempt at further refining the stern and it worked.

Added a small piece of styrene and sanded to shape.

Now when I insert the deck, and press down, the stern area
looks even more round as this added piece pushes the area out.
I will glue it in later.
This is where I stop on the shape detail as I am now even happier, but I must move on, as there is so much to detail to build.

Next....the bridge area, radar and a brass mast for strength,
I don't think the kit mast will take the tension of the rigging.



Back to the shipyards,

Cheers,
Joe

Beautiful solution, joe!

Greetings from Shanghai

Looking good so far Joe. Keep the updates coming!

Very nice work, Joe. I was waitng to see how you'd do the stern and it looks like it's coming along nicely.

I got a bit of an obsession with Flower Corvettes after a cruise in the St Lawrence seaway a few years ago, I bought a book on the Corvettes at one of the ports of call and got so into it I ended buying a 1/72 Revell/Matchbox kit from ebay while still on board the ship.

Ahoy shipmates,

A small update.

I have managed to restore the stern hull plates that were
sanded down, when the stern was rounded off
The detail was scribed in and I am quite happy with the
results.



This weekend I shall give the bridge a good work-over.

More to come,
Cheers,
Joe

Beautiful work on the rescribing Joe, I always seem to mess that up

Coming on nicely Joe, really first class work.

Si

Ahoy shipmates,

A small update on the HMCS Snowberry.

Finished adding all the portholes.

Made a display base for her.


Adjusted the height of the arch and added window on the stucture behind the bridge.

Made a brass mast, as the extremely thin kit one would probably bend when adding the rigging.



Removed some deck detail as this is not present on the
Snowberry and must add new details just forward of the bridge.



Added some new vents at the bow and detailed the deck reel with some brass wire.



That all for now...

Cheers,
Joe

Beautiful things happening there Joe. Is the PE from the WEM set? Still waiting patiently for my Corvette to arrive from Poland

Hi Julian,

The PE portholes are from North Star Models.

I don't have the WEM set....when I saw the price.....$47.00 USD
for this tiny ship, I figured I would build most of the detail in styrene and brass stock.

I am saving the bucks for a larger project, the Type IX-C, as I
plan to build it with brass deck and a 10.5cm deck gun...this combo
will set me back about $150.00USD.

So it is really mostly scratch on the Snowberry with the exception of the portholes and PE rails and w/t doors...
stuff that I wouldn't attempt to scratch in this scale.

Cheers,
Joe

PE does tend to do nasty things to your wallet. Michael pointed out that there was a PE set for the Hornet. Worked out at 170 UK pounds.You can do a lot of nice things with that sort of cash.......................................

Looking good Joe,

I am presuming from your comments the mast is scratched as well?.

Great job,

Si

Hi Simon,

Yes, the mast is scratch using brass tubing bits. I figured
the very thin plastic kit parts would not hold the tension
of the rigging.
Don't want to take a chance.
Will get more done on the mast and post photos in the next few days.

Cheers,
Joe

How are you liking your build so far Joe?