HMS Bluebell

[Ian M]

Nothing spectacular to report at the moment. I have spent all week trimming and cleaning the cast metal depth charges. 38 for the racks and the stern, 4 for the launchers, and 18 ready to use.

I have read that some were black and others green. So I spilt the difference and am painting them dark green. Bronze green actually and they look the part.

I must confess that I have chosen not to use the "extra detail set" for the depth charges as they are way to much work for the small boost they give. I might use the timer handles and maybe the lifting rings.

The Launchers are a little mini kit. six bits of etch and a white metal casting for barrel.

I will take a few snapshots tomorrow if the sun ever comes out.

Ian M

[Ian M]

Well the sun never came out. In fact there is a small Hurricane outside and I'm nit talking about the aircraft!!! Been blowing a good'n since yesterday evening.

Any way, enough of the weather reports. Here are a few photos of what,s been going on. There is also one of the photo-etch for the depth charge rails for the stern of the ship.

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[ATTACH]24782.vB[/ATTACH] Looking down onto the fo'c'sle

[ATTACH]24785.vB[/ATTACH] A closer look at the anchor winch.

[ATTACH]24783.vB[/ATTACH] Depth charge launchers.[ATTACH]24789.vB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24784.vB[/ATTACH] Ready to use charges

[ATTACH]24787.vB[/ATTACH] A couple of step back shoots.

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[ATTACH]24786.vB[/ATTACH] The parts for the depth charge rails and racks...

Not a lot to show for a weeks work!!!

Ian M

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[Guest]

Ian, One word only needed - STUNNING. Cheers Derek

[Ian M]

Well time for a photo or four. I have just finished the first of two Depth charge racks! Dude this was one of the more confusing constructions. Ended up having to read the written instructions as the drawing was rather confusing on its own.

After loads of coffee and several two hour stints I ended up with this:

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Bugger! I just noticed that I forgot to mount the smoke float holder! Seeing things on the "big screen" really helps with noticing things...

Hope to get the second one done for the weekend.

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[Guest]

Ian those racks look great ,would rather mask up a bunch of canopies than try that one! The builds looking great lots of cool details to draw in the eyes .

[Ian M]

Just a quick update;

Got the second DC rack done, now just need to fill them up with DC's. There are a couple of deck mounted racks to do but they are only for parts and a yard or to of wire to tie the charges down with.

At the moment, I am battling with the ships railings. There are loads of them. Two types; Pipe rails that have three three railings and rope rails that only have two. For the rails, I am using a combination of piano wire for the strait ones and brass for the ones with bends in. Trying to bend everything in pairs was proving a bit of a pain in piano wire, hence the switch to brass.

The actual process goes a bit like this;

Clean, trim and drill (some of the posts the hole was either clogged or to small) some 150 odd posts. Clean the positioning holes for paint, glue, filler and other muck. Cut the wires to length. Thread on the required number of posts.

Then the fun part. Position the posts in the locating holes along the length of the run. Having gotten the posts where they need to be, glue the rails to the posts. when dry take the whole lot off, prime and paint. Put back on and glue in place- simple.....:laughing:

I just need the port side of the fo'c'sle to position and glue up and then I can paint the railing forward of the funnel house.

Photos later.

[Guest]

Bluebell.

Hi there,

Also building Bluebell, only started just over 12 months ago so not as far on as you

and maybe getting a bit too enthusiastic. It took me 2 months or more getting the plating somewhere to scale, then I decided to add shell openings scale bilge keels (ie. bulb plate), followed up by an ASDIC dome.

You are certainly right about about building up tiny brass parts, Carrs solder paint is a godsend for this. Talking of this I found the various blocks & tackle a bit two dimensional, so a quick visit to Cornwall Model Boat for some 4.5mm blocks & scale rope & problem solved.

Now a couple of helpfull links www.cyber-heritage.co.uk where you can find drawings of hedgehog motor bombs & thier markings & www.dafont .com where you can download fonts quite cheaply for the above.

Cheers sharowjohn.

[Ian M]

Sounds like you are having fun as well. Thanks for the Links I will have a look at them later.

How about starting a thread of your build. It does not matter if you have already began the build. Don't be shy.

Ian M

[Guest]

Depth charge colours.

Hi Ian,

I was talkiing to an old salt friend of mine at the weekend 1950s RN, even older than me & I did 22 years in the MN. Anyway he tells me that baack then depth charges were as you say a greenish colour as he putit or what he describes as ships side grey.I did go for the additions set "OH BOY" what a job. Anyway hope this helps & one of these days I will take some snaps, back to the depth charges.

Cheers sharowjohn.

[Guest]

Finally got the camera out.

Hi,

As you can see from the 10mm squares of the cutting mat BITS don't come much smaller,

Cheers sharowjohn.

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[Guest]

Great work going on here, nice and clean aalso, well done, really fantastic.

Cheers

Andy

[Ian M]

They are rather small aren't they Sharowjohn.

Just to keep things in order and avoid confusion you might like to open a thread for your build too. I can see that things might get a bit mixed up with both of us posting their builds in the same thread.

Ian M