Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Roberts

[TRM]

Hey fellas!

Tossing one into the ring here! I should be
cracking into some parts soon on this one...still finishing something
else up at the moment. Might start things off tomorrow at some point. I
just finished a full review on this kit (posting on Model Shipwrights
in a day or so), will post a link if anyone ends up interested. Looks
to be like a fun build ahead!

The Kit






Recently I just completed a review of Trumpeter's 1/350 Scale that will
soon be posted right here on Model Shipwrights. I wanted to get the ball
rolling on building and start the blog. I will post the link to the
review here as soon as it goes live. There is over 500 pieces to this
kit including the healthy compliment of photo etch parts. Well, I guess
the best place to start is always the hull.





Pretty
straightforward; two-piece hull and the weather deck. Everything went
together okay with the exception of the hull sections. I noted in my
soon to be published review the two pieces to the hull fit well together
however there would be a small gap that will need tending to...nothing
to out of the ordinary when it comes to molded hull sections. The main
deck section fit like a dream though.



I managed to clean up some of the superstructure parts and drill out the port holes as I did with the hull as seen above.



A little mocking up is always needed....



Another
point I brought up in my review is in regards to the 15 inch barrels
supplied with this kit. The ends of the barrels seemed to have an
unnecessary collar around the muzzle end. I found a suitable
replacement barrel set for this kit online from B & D Barrels last
week and ordered a set. Even though I could have turned down the barrel
ends , it was certainly a no brainier as the brass barrel replacement
are correct, a super quick delivery and only set me back $6 US....no
shipping since I am tethered here in the US. No worries to our friends
outside the US, shipping runs a typical $2US for international.



Here are the barrels altogether; B&D Barrels, and Option 1 & 2 with the kit.



I gave the barrels go this morning and things turned out just fine I think!





Always a good point to mock things up and see where I stand...



There is plenty of work ahead of me on this one still! Back to the bench I go!!

[TRM]

A small update for tonight. I am not rushing my way through this one,
trying to have some fun and not drive myself too crazy yet. The kit
parts a great and the added PE in the kit makes things that much better!
Some lockers needed a face lift to start things off.



A
little CA and things moved right along! I was going to only replace
the Big Guns and have a go at building this more or less OOB...but after
trolling the net last week and with too much time on my hands, I cave
and ordered a couple extras.



The
20mm single are not actually present from what I can tell.I seemed to
have overlooked the placement in my review and where there would be 20mm
AA there are what appears to be 40mm singles...in all honesty, this
could be correct after a refit maybe but judging from most of the old
grainy pics they look like single AA's to me...so I picked up the Master
20mm Oerliken set.

Aside from a small handful of single 20mm AA's on board, the Robert was outfitted with the MKV duel 200mm/70.



This
is one tiny piece to mess with. Of course not knowing the
configuration when I set the gun in haste, and before doing a little
research on this gun, the guns are placed a bit forward more than they
should be...no matter as I am changing things a little and this is for
reference anyway. I had to make a couple of modifications to the
existing part to make things come together.



After
a little trim, I cut the shoulder stops off a couple of the PE parts
from Master's set, took the sighting and mounted it on the front of the
shield and added a little seat.





The
shield is basically a block of plastic on the kit part and I was going
to fashion a new one from brass shim stock but came to my senses and
pushed on. Maybe the next time I will go that route...LOL!! I am
noticing now, one of the back ends of the guns is rotated a bit. Like I
said, these are tiny and even with the extra specs, hard to see! Once
straightened out, these should pass!

Next up was some surgery on
the 4" guns. Again, I picked up a set from Master with more than I
will need for the job but was cheap and ready to go.



Basically I did this so I would not have to drill out the barrels! I think these will work well too!



I
also gave in and decided to pick up one last thing, a set of 40mm Pom
Pom's from Flyhawk. There will be 4 in the set and I only need the one
full and then some surgery to make two half jobbies.



Should
be a nice improvement. I do still think OOB this would dress out
nicely, I just happen to be stuck on the couch waiting for the doctor to
okay me to start a little rehab from my back surgery...so the fingers
start clicking and the parts just magically show up!

Onto some
of the "other stuff". I have been making the rounds on some of the
superstructure parts getting them ready. Railings and ladder work soon
some of the deck fitting will pop up!





I am running out of blue-tape box top space for the parts so it it time to get some things together I think.



Well,
that's it for the moment. I sanded the filling I added to a small gap
in the hull and will be adding the wells, breakwater and the propeller
shaft mounts soon and prepare to get the hull painting out of the way I
think! Still out some on painting other things but all part of the
game!!


Almost forgot...some radar stuff...LOL!!

[TRM]

Well this is not the biggest update in the world but then again, the
parts aren't the biggest I suppose! Not much has changed from the last
time except the pile of tiny pieces that are cleaned up is growing then
the pages in the instruction booklet is dwindling as I check parts of
the prep list. Not wanting to bore you too much at the moment, I will
get right to this.

I cleaned and test fit the rudders as well as
drilled out the prop shaft brackets to receive some some brass tubing.
This was not required really as the kit parts were not too bad at all,
just something I like to do I guess!



The time had to come at some point where I was playing with more PE than plastic...the funnel.



The starfish platform for the bridge. An interesting piece to say the least.



There are 11 PE parts to the platform.



I
was able to bang out one of the masts so far. The only thing here that
was close to being an issue, was handling the long sections of ladder
without crushing or bending.





I
did get the chance to play around with the POM POM's. The kit I
purchased from Flyhawk has four full, 8 barrel setups in the kit. I
actually only need one full and oddly enough, two 4 barrel setups which
is essentially half of the 8...yeah, of course that makes sense.
Anyway, I slapped only one together to see how it looked. Not bad I
think. Huge improvement from the kit parts and saved me the trouble of
drilling out the barrels. I will attempt the two half POM POM's next
and if everything works out well, I will make the last one for the final
version of the 8 barrel setup.

[dupes]

You know that's a boat, right?

[TRM]

LOL!!! Yes I do Sir!! Actually love ships!!! Hopefully there will be more soon!!

[ogrejohn]

Lots of nice PE work going on there T! Everything looking ship shape!

[TRM]

Thank you John!! I am really looking forward to getting back into the building schedule now!!! Maybe even this afternoon!!

[TRM]

Thanks Marcus. This set has pretty much everything you will need though with the included PE sheets. I vaguely remember the only addition might have been some sections for the POM POM's which the $12 Flyhawk set took care of nicely! Thanks for swinging by!!

[deafpanzer]

Oh man, H-U-G-E I really meant it... H-U-G-E improvement on the POM POM. Me curious how long did it take you to do one? Bet it will be quicker the more you build...

[TRM]

Thanks Andy!! The POM POM's are really nice looking huh? You might like to know that it took just under 1/2 hour to assemble. The pieces bend quickly and the instructions were decent...the results speak for themselves I think!

[deafpanzer]

Only half hour?!?!? I think I will do the same to my USS Indianapolis if they are available...

[TRM]

Flyhawk has the POM POM's list on the package as 'British' but I believe these were made in the US at the time any way and pretty much look the same, you can get away with it. I don't know the complete armament on the Indy but you may also want to look Veterans Models, I think has what you are looking for with Bofors and such. The Master set of 20mm Oerlikons was cheap money really for 20 in the set...but you would have to check with the layout on the ship if you went that route...I think my Missouri has over 40....LOL! Check B&D Barrels website as well. He has numerous set for the big guns and you can cross check pricing with the various other makers.

btw, which kit is your Indy Andy?

[deafpanzer]

Its Academy... Missouri has 40?!?!? I will never finish it that way. LOL

[TRM]

The MO is a Big Girl for sure!! I was only curious about the kit as I head read a review of Trumpy's version that just cam out. I don't think it was much of an improvement but does come with some etch as this one did...no railing though which is just odd. GMM has a decent set that covers everything but is pricey for the one sheet...but there is a lot of stuff contained in it. www.goldmm.com/ships/gms350-52.htm I am looking at the same cost for something I just picked up recentlyfor and aircraft carrier conversion...personal indulgence!

[TRM]

LOL...thanks Andy, you got me looking a PE that has nothing to do with me!! I might suggest looking into Eduards sets, there are two of them:

USS CA-35 Indianapolis railings 1/350 - 53105 - you can try to convert if you like but it should be about $23US
www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Photo-etched-parts/Photo-etched-set/Ships/1-350/USS-CA-35-Indianapolis-railings-1-350.html

USS CA-35 Indianapolis 1/350 - 53101 - About $31US
www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Photo-etched-parts/Photo-etched-set/Ships/1-350/USS-CA-35-Indianapolis-1-350.html


Personally if you were going to shell out the $50 on a set I would think the Eduard would be a better choice as some of the GMM is thin...not all but some.

(Crap...now I am looking at the Eduard set for my Arizona...see what you started Andy!! )

[deafpanzer]

AWESOME! Yep, that's what I plan to buy when I am ready to build my little ship... not too soon I am not ready! LOL

Thanks for the link... man, I am in big trouble. Bought three more kits today... I am not kidding! Garage sale...

[Teabone]

Todd

You are moving along so fast Im running as fast as I can to catch up.  It is fantastic and your small refits with the guns are great even your mathematics on the pom poms was impressive.  Is this another of those ships that fit in the palm of your hand like Gary was doing over there, he had some real nice rail work going on. 

In any event all is beautiful and very well done those tall ladders being something only someone with surgeon genes could do.

Bones     

[TRM]

Welcome Andy! LOL!! I can help spend you money better than anyone!!


Thanks Bones!! Not quite that small but she does only come right around 12 inches long. So I guess close to the MO in 1/700!! As for the surgeon genes, not too sure about that...at least the johnny the jeans were a bit tight!!

[`Boots`]

Man thats some awesome work brother`T`......those guns look bloody fantastic especially that Pom Pom, fab job with all the other etch as well, look forward to more of this mucker Thumbs Up!

[Deleted]

Very nice build T    I like this one a lot ! 

[TRM]

Boots and Steve...thanks fellas!! I am appreciating the encouragement! I am hoping to break away from this PC and get some modeling done!!

[imatanker]

Don't know how I missed this one Bub. Bookmarked now though.  

[Teabone]

I was looking at some small parts on my Humber for a photo when I thought that you really have all the smallest parts in this build so I think you should get the award for working with the tiny stuff.  Actually I suppose most floaty thing builds have a huge amount of little parts to deal with which is a good reason to avoid them.

Bones

[TRM]

Thanks Jeff!! Glad to have you along for the ride....err, float!!

LOL, Bones, that Humber is neck and neck with with the floaty for teenie-weenies!! That is the one downside to ship building is all the little stuff, unless you go massive scale like 1/200...and even then the manufacturers go "it bigger, we can add more smaller things you can't see in 1/350!!

Here is one for some day down the road Bones....



Just over 900 pieces of shiny things for the ship....and its 1/700!! Woo Hoo!! Gonna strap my daughter's microscope to my forehead for this one!!

[wbill76]

You're nuts T...a 1/700 Warspite with all that PE? you'll go blind before you finish it.

[TRM]

LOL...I am blind thinking about it!!!

[Leon]

Awesome etch work Todd.The Pom Poms look sweet.

[TRM]

Thanks Leon!! Just finished the last of the plastic clean up!! Couple more items and I get to plot how to paint this sucker!!

[Teabone]

If I was doing a lot of floaty things I would have to go this way with some surgical loupes.

Bones

[TRM]

I was thinking of looking for a portable, personal electron microscope!