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HMCS Snowberry

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  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Newfoundland, Canada
HMCS Snowberry
Posted by rodc on Thursday, April 24, 2003 1:17 PM
Anybody build this kit? It is an old kit from Revell Germany at 1/72 scale and finished length over 33". I've tried to track a kit down but I haven't had much luck. Wondering if anybody knows where I could buy one preferably from a Canadian dealer since the US exchange on the loonie is a killer! Thanks.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 24, 2003 2:01 PM
you may try "Roll Models" I purchased one from them several month ago & their service was good . do a search under that name & you should be able to get a address & info . I know they get that kit from Revell of Germany
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 24, 2003 4:15 PM
I built this one many years ago, when it was marketed under the Matchbox label (same kit). I hope you will not be too disappointed in the lack of detail for what you will have to lay out ...
Other than that it went together ok. If you are modelling a specific ship other than Snowberry you may be in for a lot of scratchbuilding as by 1944/45 these ships all looked very different ... Snowberry for example was built to RN pattern and RCN corvettes had a different arrangement. In Canadian ships the casing was shorter and the stern squared off to make room for minesweeping gear (removed by 1943). The AA gun was also further aft than on British corvettes.

Some good references you can look for, try Chapters if you want to buy or else the local library:
"The Flower class Corvette Agassiz", by John McKay and John Harland. This is part of the Anatomy of the ship series and includes ship plans and photos. It is my primary reference for my current project; scratch building HMCS Chicoutimi in 1:48 scale.

Another good one is "Flower Class Corvettes of Canada" by Ken MacPherson and Marc Milner.

I saw one of the Snowberry kits for sale a while ago at Argus Hobbies in Winnipeg. You should be able to find their number in the book (I'm in Alberta).

Good luck, I'd like to hear how your project comes out.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Newfoundland, Canada
Posted by rodc on Friday, April 25, 2003 5:56 AM
Thanks for the info!
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 25, 2003 2:09 PM
If I am not mistaken these ships were built in the US and the original builder's drawings are avaliable from the Smithsonian Institution (for a charge). There are also some drawings you can get from the US Navy although I don't know if the Flower class is one.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 25, 2003 10:17 PM
Claymore68:
Sorry, but Flowers were not built Stateside, although 18 came to the U.S.N. after Pearl Harbour as part of a reverse lend-lease. The original design came from Smith's Dock in England, and it is one of the footnotes of history that most of the design team were killed when the prototype ran onto a mine during trials. My references agree that 145 ships were built in the UK, 121 in Canada, and 4 in France, plus 44 Castle class corvettes all in the UK. The French ones were on the stocks when that country fell in 1940 and the ships were taken over by the Kriegsmarine.

Builder's drawings may very well be available from the Smithsonian (I have not checked that particular source). They are also available from th eNational Maritime museum in Greenwich, UK.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 25, 2003 10:35 PM
I just ordered one of these from www.phoenix-model.com

I looked all over the place and they seem to be sold out just about evrywhere and on back order.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 25, 2003 10:57 PM
B. LeCren- Thanks for pointing out my error, probably saved rodc a lot of useless hunting.Black Eye [B)] Now I'm gonna go nuts trying to remember which Commonwealth ship was built stateside outside of lend-lease.Tongue [:P] think went into Naval overload trying to find ANYTHING on thye patrol frigate PF-100 (USS RACINE). Also thanks for pointing out another source of builder's drawings.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 25, 2003 11:27 PM
Claymore68:
A lot of corvettes were extensively modified in US East Coast yards later in the war. Canadian yards were too busy and too slow to take on the work of extending forecastles etc. Maybe that is what has you thinking?

Afraid I'm not up on patrol frigates.

The NMM is an excellent source, but a bit pricey. You do get excellent product though, right back to Nelson's navy.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 26, 2003 10:40 AM
Iron Shipwright makes the long fo'cs'l version but I don't have any experiance with this maker so I don't know if its any good. Also check with BaD Models. (BaD is not a typo)

As to the PFs the were a couple hundred made and they ended up all over the globe(Thiland, Vietnam, China, USSR to name a few).
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 8, 2003 8:07 AM
HI, MY NAME IS FRANCO. I AM BUSY WITH REVEL 1/72 FLOWER CLASS CORVETT.
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-805S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-807S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-808S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-809S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-810S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-811S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-812S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-829S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-830S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-831S.JPG
D:\K-5\1-35 SPG BY FRANCO\MVC-833S.JPG
FRANCO
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: PDX, OR
Posted by Umi_Ryuzuki on Thursday, May 8, 2003 11:22 AM
Franco,

You can not host or link images from your hard drive.

But we would still love to see your Corvette.

You can create a free account here

http://www.picturetrail.com/

And then upload your images, then come back and provide us with the name of your account, or a link to the photo album.

The free accounts are eventually shut down, but It is a nice place to temporarily share images.

You are also welcome to create a photo album here.

http://communities.msn.com/ModelersAndHobbyForum

OR, create a new topic, and post one image per post in this forum, but you need to make sure the pictures largest dimension are all less the 400 pixels in size before you post them, or they may get deleted.

http://www.microrccenter.com/forum/index.php?s=d42baef71c3f26fe57a9abdb22bf2c52&act=SF&f=26
Nyow / =^o^= Other Models and Miniatures http://mysite.verizon.net/res1tf1s/
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: PDX, OR
Posted by Umi_Ryuzuki on Sunday, May 11, 2003 3:22 PM
Franco,

Thanks for the message, and the Picture link.
Nice build up. Keep up the great work, and the progress pics.

http://groups.msn.com/modelsfanatic/shoebox.msnw
Nyow / =^o^= Other Models and Miniatures http://mysite.verizon.net/res1tf1s/
  • Member since
    May 2003
Posted by unionschool on Thursday, May 22, 2003 7:51 PM
Hi
I have built 2 corvette kits. The first I modified into HMCS Sackville which is still afloat in Halifax. The second was a OOB kit as the HMCS Snowberry.
I stumbled on this web site http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/flower/index/htm which has much info on the little Flower class ships.
My third kit will be mor modified but is still in the box yet.
-Tom
  • Member since
    May 2003
Posted by unionschool on Thursday, May 22, 2003 7:56 PM
sorry
Corvette link is http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/flower/index.htm (dot not slash htm)
-Tom
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 2:20 AM
Revel has re-realeased the kit. I have made 2.
The main gun is VERY simple but there is an Australian corvette at Williamstown Victoria.
They have a club that is restoring it.
It has provided me with great tech data.
Regards
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 2:22 AM
PS,
They built them at Williamstown and it still is a navey construction yard.
Maybe you can get informaTION OFF THEM :)
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 4, 2003 10:39 PM
Hold it!! The Australian Corvettes were NOT the same as the Flowers!! The Australian Minesweeping Corvettes (AMC) were an Australian design which were built in many dockyards all around Australia. They had two screws, a single 4" gun and several 20mm AA guns. They were typicaly "Maids of all Work". Surveying beaches for landings, convoy escorts, Sub hunters, rescue ships and even minesweeping. They did not venture into the Atlantic Battle because they were considered to be under gunned in the AA role. Some were un officially equiped with 40mm Bofors but thats another story. Several companies in Australia make hulls and semi kits for the Bathurst Class AMCs in both 1:72 and 1:96 scales. Taskforce 72 have the information and a website. As for Flowers several English companies have plans for both long and short forecastle versons. Note also that the funnel could be raked or vertical. Books will show the variations.
TTFN Dai.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 12, 2004 2:55 PM
I posted a request for info on the HMCS Morden, as I am building the Snowberry kit as such. I will not repeat the question(s) here, from the other post, but I wanted to say that I have a family connection to the Corvettes, as my father's brother, was one of the designers of the refitted engines from #55 onwards Uncle Pat was responsible for part of the steam return lines, etc, as these were fitted to the Canadian built Corvettes that were done in Quebec/Ontario shipyards. Uncle Pat also worked on the Tribal Class ships that Canada started, and was on one that had the 6-8 hour fight off of Halifax. As he was a civilian engineer, he and his crew did not get the awards that came with the sinking of the U-Boat, that the rest of the crew got. My father, tried for 20+ years to get him some kind of recocition for this fact, as his crew kept the ship working while the skeleton crew fought the German sub. My dad was in the Army at the time this was happening, and he was a D-Day vet, so I have lots of stories, plus the 5 medals my dad got in France, in 1944. Unfortunately Uncle Pat died in 1971, and his children were not interested in keeping the history alive, so the stories of working on the Corvettes are lost to history! Oh Well?!! Rob Savage
  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Virginia, USA
Posted by samreichart on Monday, January 12, 2004 4:12 PM
I have both the Matchbox and the Revell kit. Built one for R/C and have the other for static.

Go to Loyalhanna Dockyard (www.loyalhannadockyard.com)
and check out all the upgrades that are available for this model.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur :)
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 12, 2004 7:55 PM
I have a book called "The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces1910-1981" (A complete pictorial hystory of Canadian warships) By Ken Macpherson & John Burgess.
Pg 81 has a pic of her off Port Arthur on builer's trials, 1941. With a bit of a write up. The pic shows her without a cover over the bow gun. It list the Captains from 6/9/41to 29/6/45 when it was paid off. It had a Fo'c's'le extention done in Londonderry 29/1/44.
There is also a Operational status chart giving the monthly status of the ship and where it was assigned.
If you haven't seen this book or can't get a copy let me know and I'll transcribe what a can for you. Just drop me an email.
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: New Zealand
Posted by nicholma on Monday, January 12, 2004 9:18 PM
Go direct to www.djparkins.clara.net/gls/glsmast.htm who manufacture the detail sets for that Revell kit. All the parts for the Snowberry are available here along with everything to make the kit a great model (in fact very little of the kit remains if you buy all the detail kits). There is also a link to photos of a fabulous diaroma of a corvette in action using all the detailed parts and more.
Kia ora, Mark "Time flies like the wind, fruit flies like bananas"
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 12:01 AM
Rob:
I posted some answers for you in your other thread, I hope they help. That sounds like a very interesting story, I am sorry to hear your uncle has passed on. My father-in-law served on HMCS Chicoutimi in 1943, that ship was built by Vickers in Montreal. I am presently scratching out a 1:48 model for him.

There is a sailor's memorial book on HMCS Sackville, perhaps you might want to consider remembering your uncle there. They have a web site if you are interested.
Regards,
Bruce
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 7:26 AM
I will be, eventually, building mine as the HMCS Oakville. She assisted in the sinking of U-94. If I ever get the Revell 1/72 U-Boot will see how big a diorama that will be. Would look great.

James Smile [:)]
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Central MI
Posted by therriman on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:36 AM
I just started one. I haven't decided which version yet. I plan on mounting with Revell 1/72 U-Boot that's on pre-order. Just got e-mail, they say they should ship in March 10th.
Tim H. "If your alone and you meet a Zero, run like hell. Your outnumbered" Capt Joe Foss, Guadalcanal 1942 Real Trucks have 18 wheels. Anything less is just a Toy! I am in shape. Hey, Round is a shape! Reality is a concept not yet proven.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 2:55 PM
Thanks for the information and yes if you could e-mail me the information I would be grateful for it. My e-mail address is robsavage19@hotmail.com Please see the thread to B. LeCren for further info etc. What I need is the photo's, as this book is not in my library (I just checked) here in London Ontario. Thanks for your help!

Rob Savage!
  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Chipley FL
Posted by urich on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 3:55 PM
My wife just got me one off ebay for my birthday for $60.00 + shipping and it was in very good condition. Dos any one have information on painting the U.S.S Saucy colors?
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