[29/10/2014]
UPDATE 17:
Had a little break while I waited for payday lol, straight back into the build now, nearing completion!
I managed to get hold of 6 Unimodel Oerlikons (think I cleared Hannant's out haha)
You don't get a massive amount of plastic for £3.99 but they are nicely detailed.
I found it takes around 20 mins to build one up, the plastic parts are nicely moulded and look the part, while being a little basic (although this is mainly down to the scale). The PE parts are quite disappointing as the tabs you have to cut to get the parts off are VERY thick and take some effort to get through. The parts are also very mixed up in the sprue and various parts are inside others which, while this obviously saves material for UM and is the most cost effective way of doing things, it doesn't make it easy for the end user. However I'd have to recommend them as your only other option are the DJParkins ones, and at around 14 quid a pair they aren't cheap.
They do look rather lovely when built up though. Note I only managed 5 before giving up for the night, I couldn't even bring myself to do the last one haha
Next up, the crew! I ended up getting both sets from Hecker & Goros. I originally wanted to get a watch set from Gunthwaite miniatures, however only Hecker & Goros make the 4inch gun crew so I ended up just getting their watch set to avoid paying excessive P&P. I say 'just', they are superb too, although I slightly prefer the poses that the Gunthwaite ones are in. In the pic above you can see the H&G figures at the top, with about the only ones I could salvage from the kit below. You can really see the difference.
"Don't you dare blow kisses from my bridge Number 1!"
And to bring you all up to today, I finally managed to get the railings done! Unfortunately I've just realised I didn't get a photo of them painted up....
Anyway, I got her down to the lake last Sunday too. I've taken out a large lump of lead from the bows (nearly destroying the whole damn thing in the process) and now she sails just perfect! Until the motor linkage broke again haha. I have now actually ordered a proper universal joint set so that should cure it
I'm very close to calling this one done, all I'm waiting for is to get a nice fabric flag and maybe another crew set next payday which I should just get sorted in time for the deadline.
I might have also managed to persuade my girlfriend to buy me another kit for my birthday last week.
A rather big kit.
I mean really quite large.
Sort of long, hard and full of seame....
Yeah I got a fricken 1/72 Type VIIC U-Boat to go with it hahaha. It's a real beast. I finally have something to stalk the Flower Class with!
I will be doing a build thread and It is going to be R/C, but will only be a surface runner unfortunately. I thought about making it a dynamic diver, i.e. using the dive planes to force it under, but I'm not confident in my ability to make it watertight enough lol.
I have on order:
2x 2mm prop shafts (half the size of the Corvette ones!)
2x 20mm brass props (left and right handed, as per the prototype)
2x small 360 size motors
1x 3300mAh battery pack
1x itty bitty mini servo
There's plenty enough room in there to fit stuff in, it's just a bit narrow so may be a bit of a faff. I also need to devise some mechanism for the dual rudder too. Again, I'll also be getting a fabric flag and some crew.
Stay tuned!