Graham, that etch work is stunning! I am enjoying watching your little Vosper come together.

Thanks Tim

She's quite a test to be honest, but it feels as if things are starting to come together now. Things might go faster if I had a steadier hand for painting, and didn't have to constantly go back to touch up what I just touched up!

Measure twice, cut once!

Grr. I was feeling rather pleased with myself. Finally got the paint on the hull looking more or less how I wanted it to, and I had also overcome a struggle I'd been having with making a circular styrene guardrail for the twin Oerlikon. Try as I might, I couldn't get the styrene rod into a smooth curve - it always wanted to straighten itself out again. So, I popped a length of the rod into a small tin can, and then covered it with boiling water. Left it to cool and hey presto! Nicely curved and I was able to fit it onto the stanchions. Looked good



Then I tried the gun mounting in place on the foredeck, and immediately saw the mistake I'd made... The stanchions are mounted on top of the radial plates that hold up the gun mounting!



So, back to square one! Fortunately I have some spare parts to work with. And having made the assembly once, at least I know all the pitfalls now.



The bridge isn't yet fixed in place. I have a sneaky feeling that will be another challenge...

Graham,

Not being familiar with this type of boat were do the stanchions mount, on the deck?

Mark

Not directly to the deck, no. The gun platform sits on wedge-shaped supports, arranged like the spokes of a wheel if you look from above. And then the stanchions mount onto the outboard ends of the supports. You can see it in the reference photo that I posted earlier.

Anyway, as I mentioned, having built this once it's proving a lot quicker to build it a second time!!!

And now the bridge is on! With liberal use of glue, tape, paint, and of course - Mr Surfacer!





I've also finished the (second) build of the gun platform, and finished assembling and priming the twin 20mm. And made a start on the 18" torpedo tubes. Pics of that to follow...

I forgot to mention that as soon as I'd glued the bridge in place, and taped it down solidly whilst it set, I realised that I'd forgotten to glaze the chartroom windows...

Fortunately I was able to fill them in with Kristal Klear; I think it was close to the limits of the gap it could fill though.

Almost finished building the first 18" torpedo tube. Three more to go!

Graham,

Very nice job with assembly and paint work. Looking sweet.

Mark

Good job on the torpedo tube; I have a torpedo launcher yet to do on my own project - hope it looks half as good as yours!

Thanks Mark.

Tim, I've seen the work you're doing on your 1/200 destroyer; I expect the torpedo launcher will look as awesome as everything else!

Btw, I stole your idea of using reading glasses (although I stopped short of the "Elton John" version!) They make a massive difference, way better to use than the "helping hands" that I have; I never could really get along with those. Thanks for the idea

So, one of the torpedo tubes is now assembled. Really nice little kits from David Parkins. Here it is, and just dry-fitted on the deck.





I also finished painting the 20mm platform, and installed it. I don't think I'll add the twin Oerlikon until a lot later in the build, lest my sausage fingers break it!

I've added the ready use ammo lockers around the gun platform, and also the small deck between it and the charthouse. Although the David Parkins ammo lockers were absolutely beautiful, they're much too big for the MTB unfortunately. So I added some detail to the Airfix parts.



And also more or less finished building the second torpedo tube today. Once again, a lovely little kit from Great Little Ships!

Nice!

And now with the second 18" tube test-fitted. She's starting to get some teeth!



Two more tubes to build... I also have to build 8 torpedo chocks from PE, they sit on deck behind the tubes and were used to hold reloads. As you can imagine, they are very small pieces of PE, and so I thought they would be a serious pain to build. But I had a pleasant surprise when assembling the first one, they're actually relatively straightforward. I found it really helped to use diluted PVA glue for the initial assembly, and then run some CA glue into the joints afterwards to strengthen everything.

So - only seven more of those to build as well!

Looking good!

A new job has sucked up an awful lot of my hobby time recently. But I have now managed to finish building the four 18" torpedo tubes, and got them primed today. Which has exposed some more work for Mr Surfacer to do!

I also painted the guard rail around the Oerlikon. Originally I had it white, but looking again at my reference photos I thought it was more likely to be a medium grey, like the bridge. Looks better now I think, less obtrusive anyway.

I'm now trying to source some equivalent of Future, as I want to add the hull numbers before I add anything too fragile to the upper deck. Tricky stuff to get hold of here in Austria though. I don't really want to have to varnish the hull if I can avoid it, I remember using Future before and it was so easy to apply!

Graham, what used to be called "Future" here in the United States is now marketed as "Pledge Revive-It", but it is the exact same product. I believe in Germany, and perhaps Austria, it is called "Erdal Rex Glänzer" or "Aldi Stodil".

I agree - it is great stuff!

Thanks very much Tim, I'll check out the local supermarket.

Its looking very good! I cant wait to see it finished!

Graham,

She really looks like she means business with those Torpedoes added to the deck. The model is looking awesome.

I use Future also, I like how easy it is to spray and lays down.

Mark

I've not had much time for the MTB this week, but have managed to finish and install the PE torpedo chocks. I think the next step will be rudders and props, hull numbers, and then I think I'll be ready to start adding the weapons to the hull.

Color me impressed.

Graham, she's starting to coming together nicely!

This forum, as well as all the old MSW, is going to be shut down and archived this weekend. I'd love to watch you progress on this build, so I recommend entering new posts into the new ModelShipwrights forum at

https://forums.kitmaker.net/c/ships/7