Topic: HMS Illustrious.

[paul swainson]

Well Happy New Year to one and all.  All the best for 2017.

Well had a few goes at making the 8ft x 5ft carley raft and finally finished with the two that I have made.  Looked at making the raft from plastic tubing.  Even with heat could not get the size correct.  To match the scale of 1/96.  That made the raft 1 inch long. So took a bit of 6 mm ply.  Marked the outline of the raft on to it.  Marking the holes to be drilled for the rope work later. Cut out the shape and then filed down to the thickness I wanted and then with sand paper and my drimel rounded the edges until I had the shape that I wanted.  Using a 0.45mm drill bit, I drilled out the marked holes for the wire to make the rope work stand out in my mould.  The wire came from some very fine wiring, 0.25mm strands.  Using tweezers I laced this wire first one way wrapping around the inside of the raft left to right.  Then laced the wire right to left using the same holes to create the crossing effect on the inside of the raft.  I then using some spot solder, solder the ends of the two laced wires to the holes in the raft.  The hardest part was to lace the top circle rope and then the cross ropes that do the complete diameter of the raft. 

Think they came out OK.  Now to make the wood floor with match sticks cut down to match the size and bond into the base of the raft.  Will do that next week.  Once done will make a mould and run off some singles and some doubles for the deck island. 

[paul swainson]

The turret on the right has been pained Medium grey 507B. The other turret is the base primer that I use.  Do not think there is much in it.

[Horatio123]

Hi Paul
       Great work on the turrets . Pleased to see you have the paint colour sorted out , I found primer and medium grey to be very close too !!!
        I will be starting the build of the twin 4.5s for my Curacao shortly but have bought the John Haynes gun kits as a base to start on . Used them on my Wild Goose and they build up very nicely and with a little extra detail look great .

[paul swainson]

So have a few days visiting vehicle body shops and paint suppliers,  I think I may have found the the match required, but would like a few others to give me their conclusion.  There are three turrets, one in the correct colour one with the match I have found and one with just varnish over the primer.  Can any one tell me which is the original and which is the match found.

[colin]

i have no idea what so ever... as i am not all that clued up on Military colours..
but... I would go with the No 2   

[paul swainson]

Nice one Colin.  The true colour is number 3 the match found is number two.  So with these two colours I am happy to paint without someone coming along to say its not the correct colour for the period.

[minerva]

Hi Paul,
 Have you checked out Warship Perspectives by Alan Raven ?
This book gives the camflage colours for arships including carriers 1943 to 1944.

[paul swainson]

Have seen that book on line, but as the period I am building Lusty which is 1939 to 1941 she was not painted in camouflage colours just the normal standard colour scheme, 507B.  So have the necessary match to paint this large monster of a ship.  So very happy now to get on with some more work and water test the hull. 

[paul swainson]

Got down to some painting and finally finished off the underside of the hull ready to have the prop shaft filled with grease before I reinstate the prop shaft and rudder.   Any one got an Idea to how to fill the shaft with the minimum of fuss.

Also completed the making of the 8 ft Carly rafts in batches of two and have bonded them to their positions in the support frame which will be bonded to the side of the island. Just to prime and paint once the bonding has cured and then install the silk strapping to simulate the striping which holds them in place ready for deployment

[colin]

Sorry for the late reply Paul. .. what with the trade fair in Dortmund and all...
I uses a small 5 ml syringe, fill it with what ever... I prefer Vaseline  (bio degradation) the end of the syringe fits inside the tube without the needle ..
Press the plunger ... job done..

[paul swainson]

Thanks Colin,  I have found some grease on line so will get this to do the job.

[paul swainson]

This is the first side were all the aft deck cut outs along with the two sea boat decks have been installed and the rear section of the flight deck is in place.  Now working on the other side and these cut out sections are not identical to the other side.

Also completed the island Carly float deck.   All painted and the strapping in place to add detail to this section of the build.   It will be bonded to the island when the island has been painted and fitted out and positioned on the flight deck.

[Troy Tempest]

Those Carley Floats look superb, excellent work Paul

[paul swainson]

Thanks Roy, they do look good after painting.

That's the Port side done and all sections on the aft end of the land deck have been cut out and ready for detail work when primed

[paul swainson]

I have made a go at making the 7 ton crane ready for the lifting arm to be installed along with some items hand made to represent the machinery which runs the crane.