Hornby's Best Ever Models

[Steamport Southport]

Didn't a GWR 28xx pull 2000 tons in trials? Full documented and with a dynamometer car.

 

http://www.2857.org.uk/2857_1-early_history.html

 

So could pull two of those backwards. 

 

 

Jason

[railroadbill]

And so it should!  It's a) steam and b) GWR after all.  

Edited May 6, 2019 by railroadbill

[robmcg]

On 04/05/2019 at 02:50, sncf231e said:

You mention a RivaRossi 231K; I do not think RivaRossi ever made a 231K; they made the 231E (in brown Nord and green and black SNCF version) and in 0 gauge the 231G. Jouef made a 231K (and a 232U, and more...):

RivaRossi 231E

 

Jouef 231K:

 

RivaRossi 231G in 0 gauge

 

Regards

Fred

 

Not sure how the 231e or other 231 classes fared for starting T.E. probably o.k and comparable with British equivalents,  so here is a nice autumnal scene with a Rivarossi 231e in Nord garb,  edited by my with a few details below the running board but otherwise its 1976 mouldings..

 

[toboldlygo]

Who needs a Big Boy or a French Fancy?

 

When you can have a Flower Class Corvette?

 

 

Yes the ship yard is up and running and has had a very busy Bank Holiday Monday!

[railroadbill]

 

Snap! here's one I made earlier...   undergoing sea trials.   In initial trials after launch mode, needs to return to dockyard for final fitting out. 

Since the model is about oo scale, my idea is to have displayed at the edge of the layout on a bit of dockyard and also be able to sail it on the local boating lake.  Because of the wide hull it's easy to get the running gear, batteries, radio etc installed. Actually sails quite well, just needs a 385 motor for realistic speed.

 

There is an excellent book, "Flower class corvettes" by John Lambert and Les Brown that covers a lot of detail on all the different variations of these ships.  There's also just one preserved, HMCS Sackville in Halifax, which has a web site with loads of detail pics.

 

This one (HMCS Snowberry) had mainly steel decks so I had to sand off the deck planking on the Revell ex-Matchbox deck first.

 

Bill

[Hroth]

I see it has a radar lantern, will it have Hedgehogs too?

 

Squeak.....

[toboldlygo]

On 07/05/2019 at 08:53, railroadbill said:

 

Snap! here's one I made earlier...   undergoing sea trials.   In initial trials after launch mode, needs to return to dockyard for final fitting out. 

Since the model is about oo scale, my idea is to have displayed at the edge of the layout on a bit of dockyard and also be able to sail it on the local boating lake.  Because of the wide hull it's easy to get the running gear, batteries, radio etc installed. Actually sails quite well, just needs a 385 motor for realistic speed.

 

There is an excellent book, "Flower class corvettes" by John Lambert and Les Brown that covers a lot of detail on all the different variations of these ships.  There's also just one preserved, HMCS Sackville in Halifax, which has a web site with loads of detail pics.

 

This one (HMCS Snowberry) had mainly steel decks so I had to sand off the deck planking on the Revell ex-Matchbox deck first.

 

Bill

 

Looking good

 

What colours did you use Bill? As I'm no fan of Revells 50% of this, 40% of that and 10% of this to produce a colour.

 

Book duly ordered from Amazon this morning

 

Already started sanding of the planking

[railroadbill]

5 hours ago, toboldlygo said:

 

Looking good

 

What colours did you use Bill? As I'm no fan of Revells 50% of this, 40% of that and 10% of this to produce a colour.

 

Book duly ordered from Amazon this morning

 

Already started sanding of the planking

As this ship was intended to moor up alongside a layout where Hornby engines run, here we go.....

 

This is a model of HMCS Snowberry, a Canadian "flower", which is in 3 tone Western Approaches camouflage. As far as I can remember, the paints I used were Revell acrylic, #45 light olive,  #55 light green (mixed with #57 grey, this gave the blue)  and #75, stone grey which was lightened.  That was all airbrushed.  It was finally coated with vallejo "airbrush color"  acrylic polyurethane matt varnish.  That's supposed to be very tough.

 

The hull was initially sprayed  with Halfords grey primer.  That's actually  close to the grey colour of the camo, so I could have just left that I guess.

 

Below the waterline was sprayed with Halfords matt black acrylic.   Ex-builders yard Flowers probably had red undersides but ones docked during the war had a black anti-fouling applied.

 

1. Any camo seems to have been painted when the ship went into service and there were many different schemes.  A Flower just launched could just have the hull grey  (Halfords primer would do the trick!)

 

2. The Revell kit has markings for HMCS Snowberry and USS Saucy. If you did the US one, the 2 part camo is straight #75 stone grey, and white.

 

3. There are also parts to built HMS Bluebell, which was the original Matchbox kit, There aren't any transfers for this though (not much of a problem)  - the original instructions are on the web so parts can be identified.

 

When you get the John Lambert book, there are many colour drawings of the schemes that different ships carried, including Snowberry, saucy and Bluebell.  It also lists many extra parts available for the kit.  The Flower class was changed a lot with the hull, superstructure, armament refitting and so on - the book gives a lot of info on that and is very interesting in its own right.

 

Bill

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by railroadbill

[railroadbill]

 

A bit more info on paint, I used this Halfords paint for the steel decks (took a long time to decide on that!)

 

 

The planking on the bridge and fore deck are from very thin laths sold for dolls house flooring.

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by railroadbill

[railroadbill]

On 07/05/2019 at 12:57, Hroth said:

I see it has a radar lantern, will it have Hedgehogs too?

 

Squeak.....

Yes, one fitted ahead of the bridge to starboard, 24 spigot mortar bombs, with bomb locker to port.  Squeak indeed....

 

*Apparently, the idea was to be able to fire ahead of the ship at a target submarine while there was still asdic contact.  Otherwise asdic contact was lost while the ship passed over the target before depth charges could be fired or dropped astern.

 

[toboldlygo]

The book is a gold mine @railroadbill 

 

Back to loco's for me, I've got Snowberry to the point, I planned to (more on my thread).

 

[Hroth]

22 hours ago, railroadbill said:

Yes, one fitted ahead of the bridge to starboard, 24 spigot mortar bombs, with bomb locker to port.  Squeak indeed....

 

*Apparently, the idea was to be able to fire ahead of the ship at a target submarine while there was still asdic contact.  Otherwise asdic contact was lost while the ship passed over the target before depth charges could be fired or dropped astern.

 

 

Ok, another question....

 

That "hut" at the front of the bridge.  A chart room, ASDIC hut, RADAR hut, all three or none? 

 

And then there's those AA guns on the wings of the bridge - reasonably large calibre, by the look on the book cover.  I'm surprised there's any room for the officers and crew that were supposed to be there, apart from being cooked by the radar and deafened by the AA guns!

[robmcg]

Another French Pacific,  the 'other side' of the 'Golden Arrow'.

 

I'm told that some people do actual modelling, but it's only a rumour....

 

the boiler most the front and the tender body are 1970s Jouef...  which is almost Hornby.

It's a 231k class engine, 60mph average Calais-Paris, I think the 'Golden Arrow' was 400-500 tons?  A Merchant Navy job?

 

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by robmcg

[railroadbill]

10 hours ago, robmcg said:

Another French Pacific,  the 'other side' of the 'Golden Arrow'.

 

I'm told that some people do actual modelling, but it's only a rumour....

 

the boiler most the front and the tender body are 1970s Jouef...  which is almost Hornby.

It's a 231k class engine, 60mph average Calais-Paris, I think the 'Golden Arrow' was 400-500 tons?  A Merchant Navy job?

 

 

Just gotta say, really good pic, Rob!

[railroadbill]

11 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Ok, another question....

 

That "hut" at the front of the bridge.  A chart room, ASDIC hut, RADAR hut, all three or none? 

 

And then there's those AA guns on the wings of the bridge - reasonably large calibre, by the look on the book cover.  I'm surprised there's any room for the officers and crew that were supposed to be there, apart from being cooked by the radar and deafened by the AA guns!

From what I've read....

It's the Asdic "office",  there's a door into it from the open bridge.  The radar operator's office was in the pillar under the type 271 radar lantern.  The entrance door was unfortunately forward facing and let in water in rough weather over the top, so the office was fitted with duck boards and drain holes....

 

The Flowers were based on a commercial whaler hull and the first ones had a merchant style teak bridge and wheelhouse.  then it was thought that an open destroyer type bridge would make it easier to look out for air attack, then the open bridge was made wider to fit lewis and then 20mm olerlikon guns. There were a lot of differences in bridge design as more were built. As they weren't intended as convoy escorts crossing the Atlantic, more and more armament and equipment like radar was added as time went on, all requiring a bigger crew, squashed in a small ship.

 

[Fat Controller]

36 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

From what I've read....

It's the Asdic "office",  there's a door into it from the open bridge.  The radar operator's office was in the pillar under the type 271 radar lantern.  The entrance door was unfortunately forward facing and let in water in rough weather over the top, so the office was fitted with duck boards and drain holes....

 

The Flowers were based on a commercial whaler hull and the first ones had a merchant style teak bridge and wheelhouse.  then it was thought that an open destroyer type bridge would make it easier to look out for air attack, then the open bridge was made wider to fit lewis and then 20mm olerlikon guns. There were a lot of differences in bridge design as more were built. As they weren't intended as convoy escorts crossing the Atlantic, more and more armament and equipment like radar was added as time went on, all requiring a bigger crew, squashed in a small ship.

 

Did these corvettes escort convoys all the way, or just from the UK ports to the assembly areas in the Western Approaches? 

[railroadbill]

Designed as a coastal defence vessel, they ended up going right across the Atlantic . Initially they went half way and exchanged convoys with Canadian navy ships but then it was considered that going all the way each time was safer for the convoys.

 

 

This is a very interesting book if you can get hold of it, many stories from corvette crew members.

 

 

From the back cover of the book.  They faced extremely grim conditions.

[Fat Controller]

My mother's Uncle Gwyn sailed on convoys. He used to say the worst things were watching a tanker being hit, and knowing you couldn't stop to pick up survivors.

Quite a few corvettes, and LCTs, were mothballed at North Dock, Llanelli, post WW2. They lasted until after the Suez Crisis, before being cut up.

[railroadbill]

14 hours ago, toboldlygo said:

The book is a gold mine @railroadbill 

 

Back to loco's for me, I've got Snowberry to the point, I planned to (more on my thread).

 

 

Wow, that's coming on quickly!  A lot faster than mine did but I fitted ply bulkheads etc. Ace stuff.

[railroadbill]

34 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

My mother's Uncle Gwyn sailed on convoys. He used to say the worst things were watching a tanker being hit, and knowing you couldn't stop to pick up survivors.

Quite a few corvettes, and LCTs, were mothballed at North Dock, Llanelli, post WW2. They lasted until after the Suez Crisis, before being cut up.

I think it would have been an uncomfortable trip on a corvette even in peacetime.  Wartime crews certainly went through some very bad experiences.

[toboldlygo]

10 hours ago, railroadbill said:

 

Wow, that's coming on quickly!  A lot faster than mine did but I fitted ply bulkheads etc. Ace stuff.

 

Once I get my head round a build - I don't usually mess about.

 

Mine is a commission, so will be going in a display case - so not powered and chasing ducks

 

When I come back to her in a few weeks I'll be finishing off removing the wooden decking, more sanding & filling & hopefully getting the hull painted.

 

I did clean up the hull this morning of any glue residue from all the tape I used...

 

 

Other than that I've been busy with other things today..

 

Giving one of my vintage aircraft kits a dust down, before re-hanging:

 

AMT/ERTL 1/72nd Scale Boeing B-52H Stratofortress (circa late 1990's)

 

 

And finally, a Star was born..

 

[robmcg]

meanwhile, back at Jouef....  tender-drive and all, some brooding post-war SNCF power redolent of Bugatti and the Gresley A4..

 

[Hilux5972]

Finally some trains again

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, robmcg said:

meanwhile, back at Jouef....  tender-drive and all, some brooding post-war SNCF power redolent of Bugatti and the Gresley A4..

 

 

The "Preying Praying Mantis" class.....

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Hroth
a simple mistake, easily made...

[robmcg]

16 hours ago, Hilux5972 said:

Finally some trains again

 

Hornby do in fact produce  lot more than trains with Airfix at least...

 

I'd put more American prototype Hornby International brand pics up but many in the UK think Hornby is British trains, I guess.

 

For myself, it all started to go wrong when Hornby Dublo went 2-rail.  

Edited May 11, 2019 by robmcg