These two are quite fun. No, you are not seeing double. I built two of these side by side, one for a client and one for me. Theirs is a pure display model. Mine sails. I was able to try out any new ideas on mine first to see if they worked before doing theirs.
As it happened I had most of a Flower class fittings kit in the spares box, bought years ago in an internet auction. Deans supplied a hull, motor, coupling, etc. I copied the parts from the kit on to plain plastic card. It all came together well.
The Deans Flower class joined their range many years back as a basic introductory kit. In years gone by, I have built three straight out of the box. The kit makes up into a very pleasant model that way. This one shows it details up nicely.
HMS Bluebell. “Deans with embellishments”. These included the bridge supports soldered up out of sections from the Albion Alloys range, truly circular funnel from a nice piece of thin walled brass tube, areas of planked deck strip-planked in 1mmx2mm Tangynika, various extra railings and small areas of non-slip chequer plate from Scale Link Fretcetera, proper stud-link anchor chain from the spares box, vents (including extras) from various manufacturers, delicate etched brass depth charge rails from Deans, depth charges and ready-use 4 inch shells from John Haynes, who alas no longer sells his fittings, boats by Quaycraft, 4 inch mount, flotta nets and splinter matting on the bridge 3D prints from Shapeways, tiny rigging blocks by Amati, bridge crew by Preiser. Paint by Sovereign Hobbies Colourcoats, pennant numbers made using inkjet decal paper, references the Sambrook drawing and a couple of useful pictures found online.
On the water she is a complete delight to run. If we get a misty autumn day I may see if that Western Approaches scheme really does fade into the haze as it was said to do.
On a 6v 3300 mah nicad pack, she is a little fast for a model of a 16 knot ship. I could come down to a 4.8v battery pack, but around 4v the receiver would start to get unhappy, possibly leading to loss of control towards the end of a session on the water as the battery depleted. So the answer is not to use full throttle. Deans' lovely low-drain motor gives an excellent long running time anyway and their double coupling means a very smooth mechanism Highly recommended..
