With two big ships underway, need something small & simpler under way as well.

Pulled the WEM HMS Musketeer out of the loft.





all looks pretty good... except the main gun barrels.



Nothing a bit of turned brass can't sort out.

Not sure which ship yet, (doing some research on colour schemes) but will have to be early in it's career as the kit only includes one bank of torpedo tubes and no lattice masts on the etch.

Si

Typical the barrels are on WEM's website as "Pre Order"

Whilst I am thinking about other add ons, is anybody aware of an aftermarket 4" MkV in 1/350th, I can make the kit supplied parts work, but feeling a bit lazy.

Si

Simon, Hannants have Master 4" Mk XVI HA brass barrels in stock Here

Hope that may help, they also do 2pdr and 0.5" Vickers barrels.

You are prolific, Si!

will be watching

Hi Litorio,

Thanks for the heads up, I have some spares of these, what I need is 4.7" MK XII for the main armament & a 4" MKV for the single mount. I can tart up the WEM mount, which is the right shape, but no detail is provided for it, but if there is a complete aftermarket job out there I may be interested.


Thanks Russell,

Odd but the more I have on the go, the more I get done.

Si

Master also do the 4.7" gun barrels, WEM used to done a complete gun with turret but don't know if they still do it.

Thanks Luciano,

The turrets are on pre order at the moment as well, have some on order for the Trumpy Tribal.

Si

Finally decided on the ship, HMS Marne as commissioned, with the quad 0.5" Vickers on the bridge wings, colour scheme AP507A dark grey hull, AP507c upperworks, the pennant no. G35 on white & Red over white funnel bands.

Prop shafts and frames on, there is very little guidance in the instructions except the shafts should 15mm long.



The rudder is provided in etched brass, and has no pivot of any sort provided, so a bit of plastic rod does the job.



The upper and lower hull halves joined, a touch filler needed, but not much, generally a better fit than most og the upper / lower half plastic kits I have test fitted.


The hull given a shot of Halfords red primer.



Next the boot topping and then the hull above the waterline, but I shall let this cure for a while before masking.

Si

Nice subject and an interesting build Simon, you don't make life easy for yourself though do you?

Thanks Julian,

Where is the fun in making it easy for myself.

I also like the Big WW2 fleet destroyers of any navy!

Si

I was wondering this morning if it's a coincidence that your build has the same configuration as the USN Fletchers: twin screws and single rudder. If I remember correctly the Gearings had twin screws and twin rudders to improve maneuverability.

Not so much coincidence, but the way of the world late 30's Destroyer design, if you look not only at RN & USN, but Japanese, French, Italian etc (You can correct if I am wrong on Dutch destroyers) were twin screw, single rudder.

The Royal Navy did not go twin rudder until post war, I think that had a lot to do with our overstretched shipbuilding industry and keeping things simple. (From O - Z class war emergency destroyers going back to 4 single 4.7", in some case 4" rather than the 3 twins of the J-N classes and the 4 of the Tribals.

The US on the other hand had the capacity to build more complex ships like the Gearings (Beautiful destroyers & I must get my paws on a Dragon kit and build one) and the Sumners.

Si

On with painting the hull,

The lower hull masked, the silver foil not only saves masking tape, but protects fragile detail like an etched rudder.



Sprayed chaos black for the boot topping.



The boot topping masked and the hull sprayed TS4 German grey, which is a good match for AP507A. (looks a bit pale in the sun.



The hull sides masked, the deck sprayed and the masking removed.



The semtex deck and the superstructure are in for the hairy stick treatment.

Si

Small update.

The semtex areas have been brush painted in.



The flash has made the colour a bit greener than it is in natural light.

Major resin superstructure units cleaned up and test fitted.



These have been sprayed, no pics of the, yet, except the 4" gun tub, with it's etched footplate being test fitted prior to that being sprayed.





Si

Cracking job there Simon you seem to be going at some pace with your builds at the minute can hardly keep up with your posts

Keith

Thanks Keith,

Hope you have enjoyed the Break, back from Holiday so back at the workbench over the weekend (I hope)

Si

Looking very smart with hull in a tight and clean coat of paint.
Excellent Simon,

Nice progress Simon, I've been checking out the range from WEM and may add one of these to my slipway but need to launch some of those already on the slips.

Shaping up nicely

Kev

Very nice project and for sure nice progress! They have a couple of interesting destroyers at WEM, but I don't dare trying my hands on a full resin kit yet. Well, stash is pretty full anyway and the shipyard has work for the coming years, but great to see one of those ships being build.

Jan

Thanks Julian,

I think that is down to my "easy masking prosses", work from the bottom up.

Hi Luciano,

They are nice kits, but I know what you mean about backed up slipways.

Thanks Jan,

There is very little to worry about with the WEM destroyers, they are quite straight forward, pretty much complete, go together well & helpful instructions, basically the ideal first resin in tbis scale.

Hannants had some master 4.7" barrels so they have been acquired .



Planning to get some work done tomorrow.

Si

Now I have the barrels on with the build.

The moulded on superstructure units given a coat of AP507C



The indifferent white metal gun barrels removed from their mantles.



The mantles mounted into the turrets.



drilled and the barrels fitted, vast improvement.



The funnel top and bands masked and being painted.



Where I an at now the funnel, the pompom platform and B turret are just dry fitted,



Si

Great build Simon!!

Do you sleep with three builds going on?

Lol

Mike

Thanks Mike,

Not much at weekends! , but having three builds on the brew means when I am the workbench I am never waiting for anything to dry before I can do something else, just crack on with another build.

Si

Nice work Simon, the turrets look great with the brass barrels and the stack looks very sharp with the color bands around it.