Holiday Haul

My holiday trip to Edinburgh came up trumps on the model front (see below):

• 1/700 USS Fletcher from Revell
• Micro Wings US Pacific Planes
• Valiant British 6 pdr AT gun 

The Valiant kit is nice to go alongside my Valiant British Infantry, plus the option (via their web-site instructions) to make the airborne variant. The 1/144 planes are an easy assemble item and likewise with a bit of care the USS Fletcher comes up as a nice basic kit (see below):

The cream of the crop however was a late addition, the new Airfix Airborne Jeep, including pack 75mm howitzer (see below):

Even better, it has a few extra parts (not in the instructions) which allow the "Airborne Reece Jeep" with a dual Lewis gun mount to be assembled! I cannot for the life of me figure out why this did not make it to the instruction pages! Perhaps it may be missing a little ad-hoc armoured cowling but it is an brilliant addition begging an Arnhem scenario! The US 50 cal and 30 cal HMG/MMG mountings are also nice items that won't stay in the spares box forever ;)

So good in fact I think I will need another ;)

KM Blucher (1/720) Assembled

Bit by bit she finally came together ... that's the way I seem to work with ships over a long and protracted time scale ... no point rushing it ;)

Plane and hanger added (see below):

Secondary AA guns (see below):

Little bits of superstructure at the back (see below):

Finally the radio masts (see below):

Painting may take some time as I seem to have a plastic mountain queuing up on the painting tray ;)

HMS Kipling's "missing part" comes through the post.

HMS Kipling's spare parts have arrived from Revell Germany (see below):

Which means the "assembly" phase of HMS Kipling is finally over (see below):

Nice little kit and plenty of scope to buy more kits in the HMS Kelly variant or another HMS Kipling style as the J-K class was a popular RN breed of destroyer. 

KM Blucher (Cont) "Moving Towards the Stern"

With the "bow" and "amidships" done it is time to move towards the "stern" of the ship, please note the obligatory cup of shipyard "tea" (see below):

All the gaps are now covered over (see below):

Just a case of building up the "pointy bits" at the back (see below):

Note: The KM Blucher had a brief combat life (1939-40), but her sister the KM Admiral Hipper lived through to 1945 (even venturing forth into the North Atlantic and fighting in the Battle of the Barents Sea) as did her infamous big sister KM Prinz Eugen (same armament but a bit longer and more sea worthy, Battle of the Denmark Strait and the Channel Dash).

KM Blucher (Continued) : Front bit done ...

The main mast and associated tricky bits have all gone onto the front (bow) end of the ship.The construction, moving as per the instructions, moves down the middle sides fitting in the various things that poke up here and there, stop me if I get too technical (see below): )

All-in-all it's coming together nicely!

Note: Please see the upgraded canteen facilities this week of "cup of tea and mini muffin" ;)

KM Blucher's "Upper Works" Started

The front upper works of the KM Blucher have started to take on some of its sinister shape (see below): 

The only concern here is to avoid the "leaning tower" look, by allowing the plastic once glued to dry solidly into place. The temptation is to 'rush' however the model is showing its age. Not fitting together with "clinical precision' meant that there were a few moments of glue and hold while sipping mouthfuls of tea. Eventually I got there. Almost two thirds of the way there I think (to an unpainted model).   

WWII Naval KM Blucher (Cont): "The Main Armament"

Construction continues apace in the German Naval yards (see below):

Assisted by the strong cup of tea (the absolute vital ingredient to a Sunday afternoon modelling stint while the kids watch TV at Granddads) the KM Blucher gets her main 8" armament in place (see below):

Just a question of catching up with the superstructure now!

1/720-1/600 WWII Naval Arms Race

The German WWII Naval response to the latest RN Destroyer acquisition (aka HMS Kipling) is the KM Blucher (sister ship to the KM Admiral Hipper). A ship with an interesting demise in Norwegian waters in 1940, as to be the only ship I know of (and that knowledge is not necessarily encyclopaedic) to be sunk by land based torpedoes (built ironically by Krupps of Germany)! Serves you right for invading a foreign country I guess (see below):

This one could be a very 'slow build' as it has been strategically placed at my fathers and gets some Sunday attention while the children are playing in the garden (or more likely watching Cartoon Network on the TV) and I quietly slip upstairs to the back room with a cup of tea ;)

What rules I hear you ask? Fletcher Pratt on a very large grass lawn methinks!

RN J-K Class Destroyer: HMS Kipling (Revell 1/700 Kit - HMS Kelly Variant)

This is a nice little kit. Many a fiddly part to it but it is nevertheless a welcome addition to the 1/600 to 1/720 "little big ship" range bulging out my loft (see below):

I opted for the 1940's HMS Kipling (Home Fleet) version in preference to the HMS Kelly (Mediterranean) version as it was more slightly suited to the "Phoney War to Dunkirk" era. She is a lovely ship in profile (see below): 

The only problem to the assembly came in the form of a missing "gun shield" that could not be found in the packet anywhere and I presume must have been a casualty in factory handling (see rear gun turret below, bottom left of photograph):

Still the German based "spares department" has promised to deliver the missing part in two-six weeks. Is it coming by U-Boat?

Still it is a lovely model and I plan to get "at least" another to make the HMS Kelly variant (and I could easily go on to fit out a flotilla if pushed).

Shhhh: Holiday Toys (The Haul)

Ahem, apart from the books I managed the following holiday haul. The trick seems top be to keep following the kids into the toy shops, the bigger the better, you never know what you may find. If you dig deep enough you are bound to find a treasure or two (see below): 

Revell: HMS Kipling/Kelly
(Note: I am pleased with this one as I thought I would never see one in a toy shop)

Revell: Anakin's Jedi StarFighter 
(Note: A bargain at half price, although for some strange reason my children seem to think that this is theirs. I must dispossess them of this thought by using my own Jedi mind-trick ... "Who wants an ice-cream?")

Revell WWII US Paratroopers
(Note: Now I have Airfix/Italeri and Revell US Paratroopers, it is therefore time I constructed a battalion of the 101st and 82nd US Airborne for D0Dat and Market Garden Operations)

Airfix StrikeMaster
(Note: This can be used for the called in SAS air support in the battle of Mirbat, pity it does not have the Oman Air Force markings)

All-in-all quite a cracking haul! So good in fact I think next year I know I will be escorted into and out of all toy shops by a "responsible adult"

;)

Revell kits to watch out for in 2013

Two "naval" spots from Revell:

Spot one:
1/700 RN WWII "HMS Kelly"

For WWII destroyer actions a re-release of an old Matchbox kit methinks, HMS Kelly (a WWII RN J-K Class Destroyer), waterline to boot (see below):

I just hope Revell release the other Matchbox waterline ships of yore too:

• USS San Diego
• USS Indianapolis
• USS Fletcher
• HMS Exeter (very tasty, I do have a 1/500 scale kit of this "but" in 1/700 is far better)
• HMS Duke of York
• HMS Ariadne
• KM Graf Spee
• KM Narvik Class "Z" Destroyer
• KM Bismarck.

Spot two: 
1/1200 WWII "IJNS Shinano"

I have already got this one but it is nice to see it releases from the back catalog (see below):

Model on and good hunting!

Note: Still trying to spot that J-K class destroyer in the model shops!

Just Putting Plasic Things Together (WWII IJN 1/700 Submarines): Part V

These Tamiya 1/700 kits are lovely, though expensive and I have to be "in a naval zone" to have a go at them. The IJN submarines here are double the scale (reduced) of the Revell U-Boats (see previous posts) but in reality were twice the tonnage, so length wise they are not too far off. Unlike U-Boats the Japanese Submarine Cruisers were designed to be the "eyes of the battle fleet". 

Japanese Cruiser Submarine: I-16 with Kaiten midget submarine (see below). It took part in the Pearl Harbour operation (see below):

Japanese Cruiser Submarines I-58, he deck bubble at the front housed a float plane, again ideal for the "eyes of the fleet" role envisaged for it (see below). This is the submarine that sank the USS Indianapolis in 1945 but after it had delivered the second atomic bomb.

I chose the simple underwater assembly, there were more hoists, railings and spars to add (as well as a float pane) for the surface cruising mode.