Hey guys,

As you all know by know I recently gave a review of Flyhawk's HMS Naiad 1940 kit here on MSW...

The review - http://modelshipwrights.kitmaker.net/review/11340

I figure after reviewing along with seeing some other builds including Biggles fine rendition, I would head down the road to slapping this around the bench. I also figure by the time I get things to the end, I could probably work up some sort of build review type feature thing! So let's kick this off, shall we?

The Kit



As I mentioned, more or less, this lit is packed and packed well! For presentation of a kit form a manufacturer...Flyhawk get's a strong 100% with this one.



I won't go through the entire kit...well, wasn't that what my review was for? LOL! But to show a little more of how well I think they did with presentation and packing...



All of the superstructure parts and some miscellaneous items alone with the masts and yardarms were packed individually in their own clear plastic boxes for protection.



All of the superstructure parts do not require any cleanup...at least from what I can see. The masks and whatnot are attached to sprue trees and will need to be removed and cleaned.



The kits gives you the option of building a full hull or the waterline version. At the outset, I am thinking a little of both somewhat. I like the idea of working a diorama with this one. I could just use the waterline option, but the 1/700 scaling allows room to work the lower end of the hull into the diorama easily.

I began to sling the plastic around already. So far everything seems to be going just fine. I hope to have another update real soon!

Thanks for stopping in!!

Todd,

I am along for this ride. Have the Whiskey in hand and ready to watch you create some magic.

The detail looks phenominal and the packaging is nothing to sneeze at. Very nice.

Would like to see Fly Hawk dive into a 1/350 scale if they are going to keep up this level of quality.

Dave

Hi Todd, i will follow this and can t wait to see your coming progress.
The box and what its containing looks very nice and it seems, there is a lot of fun in :-)

Thanks guys! I appreciate you swinging by!

Dave...you and me both! 1/350 not the whiskey...but not a bad idea! LOL!! Even if they popped out one new 1/350 every year or even two, that would be awesome...if the standards they employ in 700 rolls over into 350!

Thanks for tagging along Bernd! Hope I don't screw things up too bad! Should be a fun ride!!

Started cleaning some parts and dry fitting. Hope to have something to show a little later tonight!

Dig the heels in and go! LOL!! Well I managed to glue the lower hull to the upper. While the joint was fairly tight, there is an ever so small recess where the two meet. Filling and sanding was easy and took a short time to bang out so I am not even close to being upset. Still better than three-piece hull stuff if you ask me...





The deck is more or less a two-piece affair...a little dry fit seemed fun to have at!



You'll notice a small amount of filler on the forward deck. There is a small section that overlaps the lower deck and where it gets attached amidships there was a joint in the middle of the faux wood decking. This is mostly obscured when the model is together, I just chose to fill the joint and re-scribe the lines in case I am wrong...lol!!



The guns will be one of my next focuses. Should keep me busy while I plot my next move.





I toyed with the idea of replacing the barrels on this one, but I think these will work, and I kind of want to see how this thing looks OOB.

I know I might be jumping the jun here, but this brings me to my next dilemma...paint! I like to normally know what I am doing...or at least figure a plausible course with the painting before I am done building. With HMS Naiad, I know I might be jumping the gun here, but this brings me to my next dilemma...paint! I like to normally know what I am doing...or at least figure a plausible course with the painting before I am done building. With HMS Naiad,it looks like I have a couple options to choose from...I am going to have to mull that over some.


Thanks for stopping in!!!

Hi Todd. The camo pattern Flyhawk provides is more-or-less correct, but apparently (according to some sources) the colors are wrong, and should be shades or gray. Other than that, it's another beautiful model from Flyhawk! BTW, some of those bridge fittings are pretty fiddley; and that windlass wheel went pinging off into space - or another dimension! I might also mention to measure carefully the PE supports for the searchlight platforms, maybe cut them over-size from the fret and trim to fit. I didn't measure carefully and they came out 1/2 mm short

Looks to be a fantastic kit I'll be watching this build. I'm still waiting for then to make it to the uk. The added vat and royal mail handling charge often make it more expensive.

Hey Biggs, Thanks for the heads up on the PE...making not! I also took a look at the tiny pieces for the bridges and took advantage of Flyhawk's great layout of the parts. I was able to remove one side of the connection points leaving the base attachments in place. Going to make painting a bi easier I think.

There does seem to be split in the color of this ship...even as far as in two books by the same author. Unless there is a written account from the admiralty somewhere stating the colors mandated, I am inclined to go with the Western scheme versus the Eastern...but that would be just an opinion.

Thanks Stephen, glad to have you along for the ride! That added tax does put a damper on the long distant ordering. I have my fingers crossed for you!

Just for fun...and the fact I apparently have too much time on my hands...

I feel anyone has three basic options...Even though this is a 1940 configuration of the ship, one could paint the Naiad in the dark blue-grey or dark grey solid coloring (depending on your feelings...LOL), or the disruptive camouflage measure. This is where #2 & #3 for the options comes into play...seems to be a split in the thinking of what the actual color of the scheme was...go figure...modelers not agreeing on color!! LOL!!

In both cases of the color fight, the pattern is to be one of the First Admiralty Disruptive Types. There was no standardized patterns to this measure. Early on there was a potluck of designs used. One typical thought is in line with the suggestion from the instructions in the kit where a 3 color scheme was used...



You would think it would be easy from there; however, there is a growing number of folks thinking the 3 color scheme was in grey-tones only. Now I would like to have two of Alan Raven's books in front of me, but after reading up a bit I found there is a back and forth belief on which colors the scheme actually was. Rather than spend the money at the moment on the two books (later...when I get more Royal stuff in the stash)....I will have a go at this myself...for two reasons; one, I don't have any allegiance to any of the color scheme...I will sleep well at night no matter the color! Second is something I notice in the pictures of the ship.





Now the basic design depicted in the instructions are similar in nature to what is seen in the pictures here...there is one issue I have. After having a long look at the picture...this is not a 3-tone paint job...there are 4 colors on this ship.



Whether it is brown, green and light grey of the Western approach or all blue-grey tones of the Eastern, there is distinctly 4 colors in the picture. If for argument sake, I go with the Western versus the Eastern, the darkest colors would be brown in the picture...seen on the face of the bridge and the side of the hull directly under the forward mast. The darker grey color going from the hull up onto the bridge, top of the forward funnel and in the middle of the aft funnel would be the green coloring. The medium grey straddles the brown swoosh of color below the forward mast...with a 3-tone coloring, that would be it...but there is a bright colored area not explained just forward the tug boat and up on the funnels. I am thinking light grey.



Even if the lighter color appear it could be either medium or light grey on the bow, I was just playing around to see what things looked like. In the world of greys...which appear to be bluer than anything else...form what I am reading...I might come up with this....



So while I continue to build this, I do need to make some sort of decision soon as I need to paint some things before things all come together! Looks like I need a little more coffee and I can mull over what I will do! (most likely the Western)

Thanks for stopping in....again!!

Decisions...decisions...decisions! That's why I just followed Flyhawk's guide.

LOL...smart man Biggs!! Heading that directions pretty much....like I said...too much coffee and too much time at that moment!!

Hi Todd,

Personally I reckon the ether the 3 greys or 2 greys and black is right, most likely the latter, but it is your build, go with whatever the think, certainly the green / brown / white is more colourful.

Coming on great so far.

Cheers

Si

Thanks Si! I am still on the fence even though I am leaning toward the colorful work up. LOL...she does look nice in here "dress blues" as well!! I'll flip the coin shortly and make my decision!!

Well not the biggest of updates, but there is progress! My oldest daughter graduated yesterday form High School, so things have been a bit crazy the past couple weeks to say the least. I did manage to get some things moving forward though!

I assembled the 5.25's...





Various other small surface details have been cleaned up and assembled; ready for paint.



A quick dry-fitting starts to reveal a little ship...







Finishing up some cleanup of the larger of these tiny pieces.



I also began masking some items in preparation to slinging the primer.



Time to get back to the bench and see how things turn out! As always, thanks for tuning in!!

Hi Todd, i missed a lot, sorry for that. Your build looks really good. This is a very nice molded kit, will look good in gray or in green brown.
For the gun barrels, i don t see any reason to replace them in this scale.

Thanks Bernd! You didn't miss that much yet! Thanks for the encouragement on the guns...they are pretty tiny and don't look half bad if you ask me! If nothing else, we'll see how this one looks OOB!

Coming great Todd,

The level of detail is superb, looks like lots of tiny etch too.

Following with Interest.

Cheers,

Si

Hi Todd. I see you had a slight mishap with that PE structure on the bridge...so did I. I folded mine the wrong way and the side sections were all wrong. I ended up cutting them off then repositioning them separately the right way. And don't lose that windlass wheel!

Thanks for the kind words Si! Still a fun one to work on! Hope to have some more done soon on this!

Thanks for the heads up on the windlass Biggs...will be sure to keep track of it. As for the PE, since that is the way the instruction called for it to be bent...I need to default to the instruction being wrong then...LOL! Not sure what you are actually looking at. There appears to be two small lockers on the sides of the scuttle canopy!

Not saying you made a mistake, but there is a slight irregularity on the front surface of the scuttle canopy. I made a mistake in folding, probably the wrong surface up, and the side lockers ended up facing the wrong way.

LOL..no problem Biggs! I appreciate it. As you know there was no relief etch to make that bend I think I jumped the gun thinking it would roll nice...wrong! I would suggest to anyone going to attempt bending this piece, maybe anneal the metal first and then use a PE bender to hold the piece instead of trying to wrap it around the rounded ends of the tweezers...LOL!! It was a pretty small piece of etch to work with my friend! Now lets see if it makes it through some painting!

Hee...hee...I tried annealing some small and thin PE and it disappeared! "Up in smoke"! Its a good thing I had extras of that particular piece! BTW; how's your Arizona coming? I'm still slogging away at mine, but it's become a burden compared to newer Dragon kits, and the fine Flyhawk ones.

LOL..I have been know to combusted a few pieces of PE in my life time too!! As for the Arizona...stalled at the moment. To much going on and then I was "smart" enough to go after this one...LOL!! All good, it will get done!

Todd,

She is coming along nicely. Very nice detail for that scale.

On a side note, how do you like that liquid mask and what do you use to apply it?

thanks

Dave

Thanks Dave!! I like the Vallejo masking a lot! Makes light work of some strange areas to mask off. Typically I apply it with a toothpick or similar...sometimes slice and angle on the end. Coming off it can be a little work if you apply too thin. Why I add a second coating after the first dries. If you apply too soon, the old and new applications bond and will remove what you put down. Often a quick rub of the finger on the masking when done painting will remove it.

Well, I stole some time and went to work on a couple things. First off, I primed the hull.



After a quick, extremely light primer coat on the decks, I added some color using Camo Black Brown...this is my form of shading this time around.



I added some highlighting in an attempt to bring out some color on the decking.



I started getting some primer down on the itty-bitty pieces as well. These sprues are nice in that for the parts that had connection points on the outside, I snipped and cleaned leaving the part still secured to the inner circle.



To make things even better and to add another pat on the back to Flyhawk, the mini sprue are designed to stack! Anything to help my failing attempts at a clean workspace are greatly appreciated!





And you can see the spue labels...LOL!! I know, "small things..."



I added some primer to the main guns as well.



Okay...looks like I need to get back to some chores here. With any luck I will get back to the bench tonight and see what I can bang out! Thanks from dropping by!

A nice looking kit, Todd!

Following with interest