FINALLY, I am able to post something for my GB. Just a reminder, I am building a Trumpter 1/350 HMS "Roberts", Monitor class ship. Here is a short history:
CREATION:
HMS Roberts was a Royal Navy Roberts class monitor of WW2. Built in April 1940, launched April 1941, and completed on 27 October 1941. She reused the twin 15-inch gun turret of the First World War monitor Marshal Soult.
SERVICE HISTORY:
The HMS Roberts provided bombardment support during Operation Torch in North Africa, where she was damaged by two 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs. She was repaired in time to support Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily) and the Allied landings near Salerno during Operation Avalanche. During the D-Day Landings, she was positioned off Sword Beach. She also took part in the Walcheren (Island) Operations. In July 1945 HMS Roberts departed the United Kingdom for the Indian Ocean to support Operation Mailfist, the planned liberation of Singapore. She was near Port Said at the time the Japanese surrendered, but was not recalled until 11 September by which time she had reached Kenya. After the war she was retired, sold for scrap, but later re-used. She was broken up in July 1965. One of Roberts' main guns is mounted outside the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, south London.
THE KIT: (in part from the IPMS Review, and my injections)
Upon opening the box, one is impressed with the 540 plus parts that are very nicely packaged. These parts include a two-piece hull (left and right), a one-piece deck, three PE sheets of parts, a length of brass anchor chain, and a small decal sheet with two White Ensigns. The instruction booklet is 16 pages long, and there is a full color painting guide.
Great care is needed in just removing the injection parts from the sprue, as many of the attachment points are much, much thicker than the part. There was no flash to speak of, but there were mold seam lines to deal with on many parts, which can be tedious given the size of some of them. Speaking of the instructions, they are the typical Trumpeter fare with pictures of parts flying above the general vicinity with a vague arrow indicating the general location of where they go.
THE BUILD:
Since my pervious post already shown the contents, I am beginning my build here.The first assembly , like most ships, was the hull. It does not deviate from most other Trumpter kits so the hull is in two halves. Prior to joining them you have to attach the front and rear guide pins as well as three bulkheads (which also have guide slots). If you have not built one of these before you would immediately notice how tight the bulkhead pieces fit between the halves. Likewise you would also note the not so tight fit of both halves, leaving a seam to fill in the hull.
One very annoying issue was how the hull strakes (?) were molded. They are very delicate but had 6 very large 1/8-1/4 sprue connections holding them in place over compound corners. While I was carefull, I still created some blemishes that needed filler to clean them up. I have read in other reviews where they were ruined or not applied at all because of the difficulty in removing them from the sprue.
I decided to jump the instruction sequence to work on main assemblies (so I can paint them together during the hull camouflage). The next assembly was of the main gun turret. The kit provides two plastic barrel options; one without the simulated canvas covers that allowed them to move and the other which had the simulated canvas which kept the guns in a static position. At the recommendation of a friend, I purchased the after-market metal turned replacements. They were designed to fit into either barrel choice by cutting the plastic barrel off, drilling a hole and mounting the metal barrels using mounting pins. I'm glad I purchased them as the plastic barrels holes were not centered in the barrels (and the barrels looked "fat" in comparison). I chose the canvas bag/static barrel option.
Here is the completed assembly resting in the gun turret.
When looking at the various pieces and size of the P.E., I am questioining my ability to add it all to the ship, but will do my best. Some of the parts were infinitesimal, measuring 2x3 mm, and some PE parts not much thicker than a human hair.
The next update should show the painted hull and start of the main deck... till then.
Ben