HMS Ajax 1943

[andrewa]

Hi all,

I thought I'd share my latest work with everyone - this time I'll try and do a better job or documenting the progress!

Some of you may remeber that I got as far as building a hull a few months ago - I'd used my usual method of cutting the main decks. hull profile and waterline along with a set of sections and following assembly filling the compartments with casting resin topped with Milliput when set. Everything was fine for a while, but it seems the resin wasn't completely mixed in a couple of places, never set and kept leaking out. Six month on the shelf never solved the problem and follwing much patching and re-sanding I was left with a distinctly under sized hull.

So a couple of weeks ago I started over again. Again I used my normal approach to building the hull, but instead of resin I sealed off the compartments with scrap plasticard to get a much lighter and more robust structure:



My local modelshop sells black plasticard which I find very helpful when sanding back white milliput to the sections.



To help capture the classic british cruiser bow knuckle I built the bow structure in two separate sections to give me a definte break line. I also traeted the two sections separately when it came to filling with milliput - the lower bow was sanded back and cleaned up before I worked on the uppr section.


The next shot shows the Milliput sanded back with the black ribs showing though. My original hull is now consigned to life as a support.



I've just discovered Mr Surfacer spray on filler as a great surface finisher - very good for hiding imperfections and filling small voids. I've also added the main decks using Evergreen VGroove for the planked areas.



Final shot for now and bringing everything up to date - I started cutting the decks for the main superstructure blocks tonight (whilst watch Battle of the River Plate on Film4). Next steps are to finish clearing the last few hull imperfections, then portholes, hawsepipes and degaussing strips then the hull is all but finished.

My main references are Sambrook Plans HMS Ajax and R&Rs British Cruisers with the Morskie (with reservations) for some of the structures

Andrew

[JWintjes]

Hi Andrew,

looking very nice!

What scale is it, if I may ask?

Jorit

[Dino Carancini]

Nice to see more RN warships on the slipway! I'm curious too about the scale, keep us updated!

Dino!

[middle_watch]

A fine ship with a great history, Winston said "You have warmed the cockles of the British hearts" of her and her consorts after the River Plate. Watching with interest!

[andrewa]

Sorry, should have said 1/350.

Andrew

[Dino not logged]

Are you going to use a custom PE set?

If not I think that WEM Sheffield PE set should be usefull.

[andrewa]

Yep, I've got spare sheffield and hood sets from WEM which should give me most of what I need. I'm also making use of the WEM accessory sets plus some extras from Resin Shipyard for the 4" and torpedo tubes.

A

[Jefgte]

Andrewa

1/350 Ajax... good choice


Interresting building to come.






Jef

[andrewa]

I've made some progress so I thought it was time for another update:

I've added the side armour and portholes:


The primer makes it difficult to make out the lines and details of the hull, but the next two shots should show the bow knuckle and armour plate, I've built the hull about 3mm deeper than the waterline to allow for a sea scape - which will also conceal the slight rounding at the base of the bow:


A and Y barbettes are in place, I struggled to find suitable diameter rod but digging around I found a couple of 1/35 scale resin oil drums that did the job.


The next three shots show the main superstructure sections dropped into place.


Everything is plasticard with the outlines gathered from the Morski plans and updated to 1943 config. For now I'm building all the main shapes and checking for fit before I start detailing anything.


I scrapped my original funnel - thats next to be built followed by the 6" turrets.



Andrew

[Dino Carancini]

Very sharp and clean hull!

Have you ever thought to cast it in resin? I would buy a copy

Another question if I may, you mentioned that evergreen sells pre-printed sheets reproducing the wood deck, could you give me more info about it?

Thanks

Dino

[Neptune]

Which type of Milliput did you use? Your finish seems to be a lot smoother than anything I've accomplished with milliput...

Looks like a great hull and build so far, I'll be following this!!!!

good luck with the detailing part.

[andrewa]

Neptune,

The Milliput is the superfine white, wet sanded and then primed with Mr. Surfacer - the superfine is very good, but white filler on white plasticard makes cleaning up more difficult.

Dino,

The evergreen strip is sold as V Groove in a number of different widths and thicknesses:

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/She ... e%20Siding

It's not up there with individually planked decks - nice job BTW - but it's a lot quicker.

Andrew

[Dino not logged]

Dino,

The evergreen strip is sold as V Groove in a number of different widths and thicknesses:

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/She ... e%20Siding

It's not up there with individually planked decks - nice job BTW - but it's a lot quicker.

Andrew

Thank you, I'm going to menace of dead my local hobby shop if he will not provide me that thing

[J. Soca]

Looking good !!

[andrewa]

Despite hearing about the upcoming Commander Series Ajax, I think I've got far enough to keep going with my scratchbuild, so here's the latest developments:

The hull with A and Y barbettes and the 4" AA positions fitted

A couple of shots of the 4" positions, these are evergreen v groove for the decks with plasticard shields.


The forward superstructure is ready apart from for railings and ladders, again, its all plasticard and etched brass apart from a few fittings from the spares box


The bridge deck and radar office, I still need to add a few details to the bridge area. The radar office is clad in lead foil to represent the splinter padding of the original.


Funnel:

Not a very crisp photo, but here's the catapult platform being built.

And the rear superstructure having had a first sanding, been primed and filled

Finally a couple of shots with everything dry fitted:


Andrew

[Dino Carancini]

She is a beauty!

Very clean build

[Jefgte]

What a nice work!!!


Jef

[Avery Boyer]

Very Nice!

[andrewa]

Hi all,

I've taken a few more photos so here's an update:

Turrets

I started with a master made from plasticard and miliput, then cleaned up and primed with Mr Surfacer:


This shows the complete turret process, from the left are my first and second masters - the first is the correct size, but due to shrinkage, left me with undersize copies, I then scaled up a bit and started over. The first rubber mould was taken, and a copy cast, however, this was still over size, so I created a second generation mould off the first casting, the resulting turrets were now at the correct size.


The four final turrets:


Next up is the torpedo workshop/boatdeck/catapult base whish un surprisingly is a horribly complex shape with a lot of gantries and supports.
The bulk of it is plasticard with a few etched cross braces. I still need to finish a few details here.



The boat crane is from WEMs Sheffield etched brass with a modifed supprt frame, again the final details need adding


Amidships with everything in place for some test fitting:


The aft deckhouse at an earlier stage, the main structures are in place and the basic mast structures are in place:


Finally for now here is the overall ship at the moment, I've still got a way to go, but it's starting to look like the original - the lens has distorted everything a bit, in real life the two masts do both point in the same direction.


Andrew

[Dino Carancini]

Superb !