The Ship Model Forum

Great new scratch build project, Heiko!!

Another One-of-a-Kind model!

My Postwar Navy models have been on the back burner in favor of my Barnegat Seaplane Tender builds and then on top of that, my energy and physical ambition, since my surgery, has been lacking even though my mental ambition wishes that my model projects were finished.

Agree with Carl, another superb scratchbuild of a lesser knowm subject, How do you choose some of these subjects Heiko???

I have a similar modeling block, brains says build, body does not want too, winter blues i guess.

Keep up the great work Heiko

Happy Modeling

John

Great job Heiko,

one question though, have they already installed that SAM VLS now? If so, which one did they install? They were planning Umkhonto, but I'm not sure if they actually did that...

I am sure that the trials and installation of the system and the Umkhonto missile is complete in the first 2 vessels, maybe 3 now.

Happy Modeling

John

orb wrote:Hi guys,

again, it's been quiet around here. Could it be that no one is building something modern at the moment?

With not a lot of time on my hands, I've slowly been able to piece my current project together. With some minor details missing, the ship will soon be heading for the paintshop.

It's the SAS Isandlwana, a Valour Class frigateo of the South African Navy. I haven't seen a model of this class of ships yet, probably because only four of them exist and not many people are interested in ships of a fairly small navy. Still, they are quite attractive ships in my opinion. Here are a few pictures.







What have you guys been working on lately?

Cool build Heiko. Can t wait to see more in progress pics.

orb wrote:What have you guys been working on lately?

I am working on a Saar V model in 1/700. I bought this semi-kit from a friend from Canada that makes hulls for several different kinds of modern vessels. Here are some in progress pics.





I still need to create the stealthy harpoon launchers, the masts and some other minor stuff.

Thanks guys.

Carl, glad to see you up and running again. I can relate to your situation a bit, only that an illness of my own got me into ship modeling in the first place. I was looking for a hobby which does not require physical strength. So let your body recover completely first before anything else...and I'm just saying that out of pure self-interest of course, since I (and definitely not just me) would really like to see you pop out more of those nice models of yours eventually

John, my brain says the same thing and my body would follow if I had the time. However, I should find a bit more time in the next few weeks. The main problem is that even though I have a bit of time on my hands, I cannot get myself to sit down and work for just an hour or two. I need to know that I have enough time to enter the 'modelling blackhole', a place where time stands still and everything around disappears. I'm sure you know what I mean. So usually I only have enough time on the weekend to sit down and get some real work done.

As to your question how I choose the subjects. There are many factors involved actually. One would definitely be the challenge to build something that not many others have built before, at least not in 1/700. That's of course usually because not too many people seem to be interested in modern ships (1990-). For the moment I like the challenge of scratchbuilding my ships, so all the kits I have in piled up are getting buried under a layer of dust. In this particular case, I have been on the SAS Isandlwana before, back in 2006 in Cape Town. Of course I wasn't into ship modelling yet and only took a few pictures which I deeply regret now as they would have helped quite a bit during this build.

Neptune,
yes, all Valour class of ships are equipped with the Umkhonto SAMs. I didn't know that there was a debate whether or not to choose them. Even back in 2006 the Isandlwana was already carrying the Umkhontos if I'm not mistaken. What I find a bit strange though is that they didn't care to hide or add some stealthy features to the Exocet launchers midships, which are in plain sight and must give off unnecessary radar signature? I could be wrong though.

Nektarios,
Sa'ar V! Fantastic. I'm particularly excited since I also plan to build an Sa'ar 5 next. Yours looks rather nice. You said you got it from a friend in Canada? Does he just make the hull or are other parts included? Also, I'd love to see some more pictures of the model. Photos of the real thing would also be very very useful, as I don't even know if I can build one on my own since I haven't found that many useful pictures yet. Any picture would be of great help.

I also think that time available has something to do with my modeling block, i am not a 15 minute here and 15 minute there modeler, i like a good few hours at the bench.

Happy Modeling

John

orb wrote:Nektarios,
Sa'ar V! Fantastic. I'm particularly excited since I also plan to build an Sa'ar 5 next. Yours looks rather nice. You said you got it from a friend in Canada? Does he just make the hull or are other parts included? Also, I'd love to see some more pictures of the model. Photos of the real thing would also be very very useful, as I don't even know if I can build one on my own since I haven't found that many useful pictures yet. Any picture would be of great help.

Heiko he sold me just the hull of this kit for other kits he provides some extras such as weapons and sensors. Here are some photos of three of the hulls he is selling.


De Zeven Provincien


Alvaro De Bazan


FREMM (Italian version)

I ll post pics of the Saar V class ASAP.

That is a good selection of ships, could get a nice Nato task force together there.

Happy Modeling

John

I agree with what John said. Excellent selection of ships. I look forward to seeing you build them. Those are not commercially available hulls, are they? I take it he only produces them in small numbers? I might have to rethink my plan to scratchbuild the De Zeven Provincien for instance. From the pictures, the ships look nicely detailed and quite accurate.

Thanks, looking forward to more Sa'ar pictures.

Nice selection of ships, but I do think the details aren't really good. The forward section of all hulls looks a little overscale, namely the bullwarks as well as the capstans etc. But after sanding all that off and applying some brass wire and styrene strips, I'm sure you can make an excellent job of these hulls.

Again, very nice selection of modern subjects, they aren't really available from any of the big manufacturers.

I concur. Specially the F 100 looks somewhat on the soft side. Maybe I see it because I�ve been involved in scratchbuilding her twice, but I�d erase most details and start over fron the basic forms, that don�t look bad at all.

Oh, I wish I had time to build all those ships!.

Meanwhile I,m involved in something a bit older, but postwar as well.

SPS D 25 Jorge Juan, ex USS McGowan, a Fletcher class destroyer that served into the eighties en the Armada.

orb wrote:I agree with what John said. Excellent selection of ships. I look forward to seeing you build them. Those are not commercially available hulls, are they? I take it he only produces them in small numbers? I might have to rethink my plan to scratchbuild the De Zeven Provincien for instance. From the pictures, the ships look nicely detailed and quite accurate.

Thanks, looking forward to more Sa'ar pictures.

I will send you (and to anyone interested) by PM his email address so that you may contact him.

Here are the photos i promised:

Neptune wrote:Nice selection of ships, but I do think the details aren't really good. The forward section of all hulls looks a little overscale, namely the bullwarks as well as the capstans etc. But after sanding all that off and applying some brass wire and styrene strips, I'm sure you can make an excellent job of these hulls.

Again, very nice selection of modern subjects, they aren't really available from any of the big manufacturers.

It is true that the detail is not as good as on most companies' kits but the only other way to have a kit of these classes is scratchbuilding.

Thanks Nektarios, some great pictures there. I had already found some of them but the others are going to be a great help. I love the angle of that picture with the helicopter!

I think I've pretty much made up my mind that I'll try building the ship from scratch again. I'll start working on the hull as soon as the Isandlwana got her first layer of paint probably at the weekend.

Sparrow wrote:Meanwhile I,m involved in something a bit older, but postwar as well.
SPS D 25 Jorge Juan, ex USS McGowan, a Fletcher class destroyer that served into the eighties en the Armada.

I m looking forward to seeing more in progress pics of your Fletcher class destroyer Luis.Keep up the good work.

Me too! I plan on building her right after she was re-built with the twin 3"/50s. Nice job so far man

I wanted to post what I've been working on during this cold snowy winter. Whatcha think?

TTH USS New York


TTH USS New York


New York with a TTH LCS1 USS Freedom


USS Towers and USS Paterson


USS Laboon and USS Hancock


B-Resina Hms Vanguard


Scratch built Shiretoko Sunflower

Great to see some more pictures in the thread!

Luis, that's a nice little ship. Keep us updated please.

Bob, that's quite a collection. 8 ships in one winter? Wow. Looking good. I really like the San Antonio LPD!

As for my own project, here's the final result. She's all done now. Fresh out of the paint and outfitting shop.











Unfortunately, it's not very accurate in terms of decals, especially the pennant numbers are in the wrong font. Also there are some warning circles and details missing on the landing deck. Finding the matching decals is probably always the final hurdle to overcome when scratchbuilding a ship that isn't on the market.