some more nice Photo's of a Dean Marine Kit, built by Peter Revill
This is a brief synopsis of the building of the Deans Marine kit of HMS Zulu. However before starting on the model a brief overview of the actual ship herself.
She was a Royal Navy frigate of the Tribal Class and was laid down on the 13th December 1960 at Alex Stephens and Son’s yard at Govan on the Clyde. She was launched on 3rd July 1962 and was first commissioned into service on the 17th April 1964.
Her length is 360 ft with a beam of 42.3 ft and draught of 17.5 ft giving a standard displacement of 2,300 tons and a full load displacement of 2,700 tons. Her propulsion configuration was COSAG (COmbined Steam And Gas Turbine) using a 12000 SHP steam turbine giving a speed of 20 knots which was boosted to 28 knots by the use of a 7,500 SHP G-6 gas turbine.
Anti Aircraft/Surface armament consisted of two 4.5 inch Mk 5 single mountings – one forward and one aft - and two Seacat quadruple mountings – one port and one starboard. Anti submarine armament consisted of the AS Mk 10 Mortar (Limbo) fitted just forward of the flight deck and this was backed up by the Anti Submarine Wasp helicopter. There were two 20 mm Oerlikon mountings carried just forward of the bridge – one port and one starboard – which were used for anti piracy and anti gun running work.
Following the 1981 defence review the ship was listed for disposal but was reactivated at Chatham on the 9th August 1982 after being refitted and commissioned in just 50 days !!! to replace ships lost or damaged in the Falklands conflict. She remained in continuous service until March 31st 1984 after which she was sold to the Indonesian Navy and recommissioned as the Martha Kristina Tiyahahu on 2nd May 1985. I have no information on what happened to her after that.
The Model
The hull is of fibre glass with the decks being made of plywood (for strength) covered with plasticard. The superstructure is entirely of plasticard with the exception of the mainmast and the radar aerial which is of etched brass. The fittings are a mixture of cast white metal and cast resin. All the plasticard parts were supplied on computer printed sheets which I found to be pretty accurate.
I encountered few problems in the making of this model. There was the inevitable one or two small fittings which seemed to be lost but a quick call to Ron Dean ensured they were in the next post. One thing I did not like was that the guardrails around the upper structure were of the white metal stanchion/brass wire type whereas those around the main deck were of etched brass and I did not think that it would look right with a mixture. However this problem was quickly resolved by Ron Dean who offered to exchange the brass ones for enough white metal stanchions to complete the task.. I think the drawings/building instructions could have been much better but in fairness to Deans this was one of their earlier kits which was badly in need of updating.
The model is powered by a Deans Kestrel motor using Fleet Control Systems radio and speed controller. An Action destroyer siren working through an Action Switch Unit is also fitted. It goes and looks well on the water and despite its narrow beam handles well in choppy conditions.
