The Ship Model Forum

Hello everyone.

My turn.

I have been on this forum for a few years now, ghosting around in the background, asking the odd question, and I have learnt so much. I have followed the builds of both those who can build to a museum standard and wondered at them with a twinge of jealousy, and I have watched the more casual builders, and seen the joy they get, and how well a model looks overall, even if the constituent parts are not all 100% perfect in every way. This relisation has given me the confidence to have a go myself, and to share it with you all.

Before I go any further, please forgive my spelling, I know it is very bad.

I have had a few failed attempts to build my own boat, the first was too small to get everything in, the second had boomerang issues, and the third hull I built is still awaiting its fate, a stupid error with measurments made it come out nearly 6 inches shorter that it should be, and my own inexperience at building the superstructure made me build it straight, without taking into account the slope of the deck.

I know I will make more mistakes, but we learn from what we do. (Hopefully.)

So, all things above in mind, I have decided to build a 1/32 Black swan class sloop, HMS Amythest after the 1950 re-fit. This will give a hull of 2850mm, a beam of 366mm and a weight of about 37kg. This scale is chosen as it gives me close to 3m in length, which is about as big as I can get on my car.

I am still in the research phase, I am digesting the book Black Swan Class Sloops by Les Brown, and have already worked our for myself that a lot of the plans claiming to be "Scale plans of........" are not. Some embarassingly wide of the mark.

I am slowly collecting together pictures from the web of various Black Swans, just learning my way around them. Still much information to find, but one bit at a time, eh?

I will post more as more is there to post

Hi David,

Yes please, any info very much appreciated. I have noticed that even the hull profiles are wrong on some plans, there is one set which show an incorrect keel shape around the rudder area and an incorrect rudder, also numerous errors on deck. I know I am not able to be mm perfect but I would like to have a stab at getting as close as I can.

Just as a point of interest, what sort of percentage in increase/decrease will moisture cause to a paper plan?

Again, thank-you for your offer of help, that sounds awesome!

Ok, thank-you, if it takes a while I'm trying to find how to do it! 3mm shrinkage or so is more than I would have expected, thank-you for the warning, I would definately have missed that.

How did your Black Swan go? Do you have any pictures?

Understood. Which plastic model was that, was it the 1/700 by AJM models or is there another one? Something to work off for reference might be helpful if it's of a large enough scale.

I had to read that twice to understand it, but I get it now. makes sense, at least that way you eliminate length to width distortion.

Thank-you for the plans, they are excellent, I will be examining them for a good while to come, the Linden lines are great, its one of the things I was missing.

Thanks again, very much appreciated.

Interesting ship. I remember reading a book about the "incident" several decades ago. Never did see the movie.

Yes, the Yangtze incident, (I had to check the spelling for that!), I have not seen it yet but there are a lot of pictures of the Amythest when she came home, one shows a shell stuck right in her stern, right on the waterline. They used HMS Magpie to shoot most of the film aparently.

I am waiting for it to come on telly, I'm sure it was on a few months ago but I missed it.

Very similar to the union gunboats plying the Mississippi River having to pass and battle the "forts". A tough spot for blue water sailors, being without sea room.

I hope that the ship isn't too big, these projects always expand way beyond the original estimates of involvement!

I hope that the ship isn't too big, these projects always expand way beyond the original estimates of involvement![/quote]

I know what you mean, my last attempt was supposed to be 2m long, I was surprised just how much it consumed in materials but I love the look of the larger boats on the water, they sit so well. I'm not in a hurry so I should be OK. I don't know anything at all about the Mississippi battles, I will be doing some reading later, thank-you for the lead.