HMCS St Thomas - 1/48 Castle Class - Bens Worx 3D Print

[NavyShooter]

Ahoy,

I have effectively completed this model of HMCS St Thomas. A Castle Class Corvette in RCN service.

Story time.

My local Model Ship Club (Maritime Ship Modelers Guild in Halifax NS) usually provides a model or two that's placed in the pond at the Halifax Public Gardens. We've had a Titanic model in that pond since the 90's. At our March Meeting, the condition of that Titanic model came up, and the plan was hatched to build a replacement. I offered to 3D print it, and the Guild accepted that offer. So, off I went to track down the 2 things you need to print out a 1/100 scale model of the Titanic...first being a 3D model, the second being a printer large enough!

The first of these items which I found was the printer...and I decided to do a test run with the printer to see how well it worked while I was waiting for the 3D model to be ready (I engaged with a designer for that.)

The test model would be the Bens Worx 1/48 scale Castle Class Corvette. I had originally thought to print one in 1/96 scale to accompany my HMCS Bonaventure, but the hull did not print well scaled down, so I abandoned that path, but had already bought the print files.

With a new purpose, testing the printer, I hammered out the hull for this ship in about a week. (Filament printer) Then I started the work of assembly, finishing, fitting, etc.

The intent was to finish this model, and provide it as a static, floating display model to go in the pond with the existing (poor condition) Titanic model this summer - with the new 3D Titanic to follow along next summer.

So, bear in mind that this model is designed to be emplaced in a pond for several months, that pond is shared by ducks, geese, and other creatures, and the model must be able to survive the harsh environment in the pond (duck poop.) It is also a stand-off model - no-one will be within 20 feet of it when on display. (More likely 40-50 feet....) There is (or will be) a thick layer of West System epoxy over almost the entire ship to provide resilience in heat/sun. The interior will be filled with foam blocks to provide floatation in case there is ever any leakage. The ballast installed so far has been epoxied into place inside the hull to hold it down.

The parts are printed basically directly from the Bens Worx plans and print files - the only exception is the 40mm Bofors, which I replaced with a different version, as there was a scaling issue with the included files. (They were too small.)

The model is now effectively complete - the only parts missing are the ship's name plate and a flag pole.

There will be a follow up to this once the model is launched into the pond at the Halifax Public Gardens, showing her on public display.

The good news is that I've learned a lot that will help with the Titanic build.

NS

[Timmy C]

That's fantastic, and I never knew there was a Titanic in the pond! Look on Google Maps, I can see it now: https://goo.gl/maps/H297eD4s558SaoZD7

[NavyShooter]

Here she is on the lake this evening doing a ballast check.

All that's left is a flag and the name plate!

[G. Shoda]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing your photos of her.