Having finished one build, time to start another.

I picked HMS Hesperus, because Young Duster is in the upper sixth at Pangbourne College and is in Hesperus Division. Researching the ship, I found out about the sinking of U93, many apocryphal tales about the attempt to ram, that ended up as a glancing blow, a couple that mention the Captain and First Lt ending up flung into Hesperus's motor boat. (The interrogation report says they were fished out of the water.)

Anyway the kits.



Here is the plan.

.

Hope to get cracking over the Christmas break.

Cheers

Si

Very nice...looking forward to you digging into this one! Layout looks great! Enjoy the Christmas break!

Hi Simon,

Many stories out there of ship vs uboat rammings...great idea!

Looking forward to this one.
Cheers,
Joe

Si

No rest for the weary..looking forward to seeing you put this story together.

Dave

Thanks guys,

Never attempted anything quite like this before, but when I read about the incident with U93 felt I had to have a bash.

Glad to have you along for the ride.

Happy Christmas to all

Cheers

Si

Ahoy Simon

Superb idea indeed.

Will watch with real interest.

A very Merry Christmas indeed from Downunder to both you & your good family.

Cheers


Sean

Thanks Sean,

The execution is going to be "interesting" though, not sure yet how I am going to do the water for this one.

Wakes of the two vessels interfering with each other and the Heseperus's bow wave may well be breaking over the U boat's casing.

Merry Christmas to you and yours too mate.

Cheers

Si

Small progress on the U Boat.

The lower hull halves and the upper pressure hull parts.



Assembled.



The casing glued in place, and the lower cut off at an angle, with the conning tower angled towards the Hesperus.

Just need to sort out a slight Banana in Hesperus's hull and I can get her under way.

Will be concentrating on this and the Z23 for the time being, hit a bit of an enthusiasm wall on the Bismarck and Repulse.

More soon.

Cheers

Si

Small progress maybe but it looks like a good start

cheers
Michael

Thanks Michael,

Hope to push on a bit further over the weekend.

Cheers

Si

Si,

Nice beginning to what is going to be a great story. Looking forward to seeing our you add the "banana" to your Hesperus.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

More subtract than add the banana

Hesperus's upper hull does have a slight curve in it, so it will get a hot bath, and the curve eased out.

Cheers

Si

Firstly, the picture missing from the last update.



The banana issue.


The fix, Bend back to shape in hot water, place in the fridge for a couple of hours weighted flat.

Not 100% perfect, but close.



The conning tower, basic plastic parts together.



The straightened hull and the boat with the coning tower fitted.



The hull sprayed white, next the WA scheme.



More soon.

Cheers

Si

Hi Si!

Somehow I totally missed this until now! It's unfair to start new project so late in the year - did you talk to the union at all??

Looks like a real nice little dio you are building there, very nice start and I'm in for sure!
I build the very same VII C boat earlier this, ahm, last year - a happy new year to you by the way, Mate!! - and I had some trouble with the seam that appeared from this upper/lower hull separation in a very unfortunate place. If it at least would be at the hight of the waterline...

I still want to build one of those WEM 1/350 resin destroyers, some nice boats offered nowhere else. But I am simply to slow with my other stuff...

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Jan,

Happy new year to you too Mate,

No issues with the union, just gave them slightly longer Christmas break

Did have an issue with the fit of the upper hull on the U boat, fortunately managed to jiggle it so the worst of it was on the "low" side after cutting down the hull.

The WEM destroyers are nice, accurate and a solid base for creating a real piece of work.

Made a bit more progress today, but not off the camera yet.

Cheers

Si

Hi Simon,

Looks like it's coming along nicely!

Cheers,
Joe

Thanks Joe,

Will try to get Sunday's update posted shortly.

Cheers

Si

Sunday's progress,

WA blue panel masked and sprayed.



Kit supplied etch going on the U93



The kit bridge as supplied.



will need a little help... from



Kit main armament built up, passable, as each mount will have a crew around it.



Assembly on the u boat finished... except for one small change, but more on that later.





etched details on B gun deck.



Base coat of hellgrau on the U93



WA green on the hull.



On re studying the drawings & photos of the Hesperus and the story of the incident, I had the U boat on the wrong side, should be this way round, and actually the u93 looks right leaning away from Hesperus.



The small correction is the 20mm is now pointing wrong way.

The 88mm is deliberately for & aft, as the boat was attempting to dive, despite damage from the previous depth charging.

More soon

Si

Bit more progress today.

Painting the deck, I use the good old hairy stick, to get that rough, patched look of a real ship's deck

Assuming by '42 the semtex would have been overpainted grey, I have used a lighter colour, just for a bit of contrast.



The steel deck painted.



on U93 the 20mm has been turned round, the aerials ad the lower hull painted.



More soon.

Si

Hi Simon,

That is really shaping up nicely...I am really impressed at the
speed at which you build.

Looking forwards to more,
Cheers,
Joe

Thanks for looking in Joe,

She is coming on, but I do have a deadline on this build.

Still need to source a water product for this. Going to the London Model Engineer Exhibition on Friday, so should have some options there.

More soon,

Si

Coming along really nice, Si!!

Cheers,
Jan

Thanks Jan,

Making progress, the Sea on this one is going to be "Tricky" to say the least.

Cheers

Si

Looking good, Si.

Can't wait to watch this one progress!

Thanks Tim,

Glad to have you looking in.

Cheers

Si