Mirage Hobby 1/350 HMS Spiraea - Flower Class Corvette

[spanner570]

Great start, Dave.

When I did my Revell 1/144 Corvette trashing a U. Boat, I built a rough sea too, so I'm very interested in how you go about the construction of your 'agitated' sea.

All looking good.....

[Dave Ward]

Great start, Dave.

When I did my Revell 1/144 Corvette trashing a U. Boat, I built a rough sea too, so I'm very interested in how you go about the construction of your 'agitated' sea.

All looking good.....

Ron,
it's not going to be too agitated, more like an Atlantic swell! Unless you're in a storm, the waves don't have a breaking crest - the ship's bows rise, there's a drop in the engine revs - a pause at the wave crest, where everything levels, out the engine revs increase as the propeller nears the surface, the bows drop. the engine revs gradually drop to normal, before starting all over again. This assumes the ship is headed into the waves. The wavelength of the swells & height dictate how comfortable it is. This is deep sea, as soon as you cross the continental shelf, the wavelength shortens & waves start to break. If you're heading at an angle to the waves, you get 'corkscrew' motion, very unpleasant. A following sea produces the worst effects, you get extremely bad vibrations in the stern ( You had to inspect the steering gear every watch & it just abut shook your fillings out, nasty ). I'm just going to do a simple heading into the swell!
Dave

[spanner570]

You're telling me! Lol.....
Nothing on your scale, but in my sailing days, I wandered around the U.K. coast getting s**t scared (At times) and criss crossing my home waters, The Irish Sea, in sometimes very nasty conditions, to reach my 'home port'.....And lived to tell the tale!

However you will be modelling her, I'm sure it will be up to the excellent standards of your previous seas.....

Ron

[Dave Ward]

Did I mention the instructions are poor? - well, they are! The colour profiles are nice & even quote the Admiralty Letters for the colours, MS 4, MS 4a & Pb 10 - you have to research elsewhere to find out what colours they actually are! As to the deck, and other details - that's it, you're on your own! I've looked at the instructions for the Revell 1/72 HMS Snowberry & they reckon the decks are dark grey, which sounds about right! I'll be using the Revell instructions as reference for the detail colours ( never thought I'd say that! ). Just priming & hull painting today, nothing exciting................
Dave

[Dave Ward]

You're telling me! Lol.....
Nothing on your scale, but in my sailing days, I wandered around the U.K. coast getting s**t scared (At times) and criss crossing my home waters, The Irish Sea, in sometimes very nasty conditions, to reach my 'home port'.....And lived to tell the tale!

However you will be modelling her, I'm sure it will be up to the excellent standards of your previous seas.....

Ron

Ron,
In my late teens, I did a bit of dinghy racing ( Wayfarers ), mainly in the Solent - throughout the year! I finally saw the light, after capsizing 3 times in a race in March, and having to stand fully clothed under a shower, until I could get my hands to work. After that - a nice cabin & a good reliable diesel was my aim!
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Painting the hull, before attaching to the base is the correct way to go the camo lines are straight & need masking to get right....................

You can just about see the difference between the two lighter colours, on the bow, but there's not a lot of difference between Admitalty MS 4 & MS 4a! I'm going to give this a gloss varnish coat & add the hull decals, it's just easier to handle. I'm going to add as many deck fittings, like bollards, as possible & paint the deck dark grey, before adding any deckhouses, funnel, armament etc. The camo continues upwards onto the superstructure, following the straight lines from the hull - looks like fun.............
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Bit of a setback.......................went to put the decals on the hull.................. I put one in my decal tray ( water only ) & turned to pick up the decal solutions................ when I turned back the decal had gone! A few stray black bits floating on the surface! I couldn't believe it - I put the second decal in & watched it carefully - in about 30 seconds, it disintegrated! These were the two main pennant numbers either side of the bow. I put a spot of varnish on the stern number & when that had dried I tried to apply it - it hung together long enough to get it on the stern.
An exhaustive search of my spare decals has produced 2 x '08' about the right size, but the 'K' is a bit more elusive. I'll have to look in the stash, to see if I can steal something suitable............................I may be some time..........
Dave

[Dave Ward]

And so it begins - the sea. I scratched the base surface with a scriber to give a bit of key, for the clay to hang onto. I wet the surface lightly & started to press the DAS in, trying to avoid leaving holes. This is only a first application, to get the bulk of clay laid down.

I used a wet paintbrush handle to get the clay into difficult to reach places. Obviously the edges will need a lot more attention, and the wave needs smoothing out, but I'll be able to do that with a 'slurry' coat.
Now all I have to do, is put this into a cool place, and let dry slowly, to minimise cracking ( a day or two ).
It's just hit 20C here, and it was noticeable that the clay was beginning to dry as I was working it.............
Dave

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Dave.

ATB.

Andrew

[Dave Ward]

2nd pass at the sea - the obvious ridges & dimples filled in & smoothed over with a wet coarse brush

After another day or so drying, I'll use a knife/rasp to remove any bad lumps, then seal the whole base with a coat of diluted PVA, otherwise any acrylic paint just sinks in & won't cover! I reckon most of the 'sea' surface effects will be done with paint - a deep grey/green base suitable for an Atlantic scene.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

After sealing the surface, laid down a coat of Vallejo Olive Grey.........

I haven't carried the colour right to the hull, I'll give that special attention later - I'll some greys & greens to the basecoat - not to any particular pattern, but to my fancy!
Dave

[boatman]

HI Dave whats happening on this build ?
chris

[Dave Ward]

Chris,
stalled on this at the moment, but I will return to it. If I lose the interest in making a model, I find it better to put it aside for a while, rather than make a hurried botch of it! - which is why I have a load of shelf queens!
Dave

[boatman]

OK Dave im lookin forward to when you do return to it as this looks to be a nice dio ps dint know if you had the same trouble has i have got lol
chris

[Dave Ward]

OK Dave im lookin forward to when you do return to it as this looks to be a nice dio ps dint know if you had the same trouble has i have got lol
chris

Luckily I have a big varied stash, so I can usually find something to catch my eye, and I don't have any qualms about leaving a model unfinished - I've stopped feeling any pressure if any blog is uncompleted!
Dave