Revell's Campbeltown - WIP

surfsup wrote:

She has started out very nicely. I have built this kit twice before and enjoyed it. Will you  build her OOB or are you going to use photoetch? Please put some more Photos on so we can watch you build her.

Hmmm, never done any photoetch before. So I dunno!?!

Plus, this is the first model I wanna take a real serious jab at, rather than throwing together with a sp;at of paint. In fact, since that photo I did my VERY FIRST wash on the deck. I used humbrol 85 cut with thinner. It worked pretty well and now the deck has a grubby 'coal dust ground in' look about it.  I want the whole thing to be really dirty and rusty!

 What photo etch would i use???

There will be more pics, but not for a week or 2. As i said, the pressure of photos makes me rush so I gotta force myself to slow down.

 Thanks for the feedback, I'm really enjoying it.

There is only one PE set for the kit in that scale, and that is the one by Gold Medal Models

Also, since you express a desire to do a good job and I don't know how that jibes with your version of accuracy - the kit does not represent the HMS Campbeltown as expended at St Nazaire.   The Campbeltown was extensively modified to resemble a German Mowe-class torpedo boat.   The last two funnels were cut down and the forward two were reshaped.   The bridge structure was re-shaped and a mid-ship pair of gun tubs were added.   The forward gun was a British 12 pounder.   The guns on the midship deck house were replaced with 20 mm Oerlikons for the raid.

Your choice of a deck color isn't too far off AP507B.   The Campbeltown was painted in Montbatten Pink for the raid.  It is a dark rose/lavender gray.

The kit represents a generic between the wars refit of the WWI-era Wickes/Clemson flush deck destroyer.   The kit has also been marketed as the USS Ward.   It more closely represents that (out of the box).  These ships were of all steel construction.   The scribed "wooden" decks are inaccurate.  They should be filled and sanded to remove the planking.   Alternatively the deck could be replaced with a sheet of styrene.   Remove the fittings from the kit deck and relocate them onto the new deck

Holy crap!

Baby steps! baby steps!

I think for now, I'll build out of the box.

As for the deck scribing - thanks for the advice. I think I'll leave the lines in though, but stay away from 'wood' paint. I'll fool myself that its metal slats on the deck.

As for 100% historical accuracy, I think I'm gonna be a bit of a 'fantasy' builder. I wan't the think to look old and weathered, but if it ain't historicaly perfect I won't lose sleep over it.

Its just not that 'important' for me.  (Boy I'm gonna take heat for that!)

 Thanks for the thourough info though.

I don't think anybody's going to give you any "heat."  With rare exceptions, people in this Forum tend to be pretty civilized.

One option you might think about.  I don't remember the whole story of the Buchanan/Campbeltown (the Revell kit, incidentally, was originally issued as the U.S.S. Buchanan), but if I remember correctly she only operated quite briefly - if spectacularly - in that bizarre, two-funneled configuration.  [Later edit:  I looked up the kit in Dr. Graham's book about the history of Revell.  It originally appeared under the Buchanan name in 1960.  It was reissued as the U.S.S. Aaron Ward in 1962, then twice as H.M.S. Campbeltown, in 1972 and 1979.  I think it was reissued at least once after that in either the "Special Subjects" or "Revell Classics" series; Dr. Graham's coverage only goes through 1979.  So far as I'm aware, the only changes ever made to the contents of the box were confined to the instructions and the decal sheets.]  The modifications for the St. Nazaire raid surely were completed in a few days or weeks just before the raid itself.  I imagine she operated under the British flag for some time before that in whatever state she was in when the U.S. Navy handed her over.

That doesn't necessarily mean she had all four stacks and her original American armament under British colors; quite a few of the old "flush-deckers" got modified between the wars.  But if memory serves (a highly dubious proposition these days), most of them spent the interwar years mothballed in their original configurations, and some, at least, went into British service like that (probably with new color schemes).

Another option, of course, would be to build her as the U.S.S. Buchanan - as the original Revell designers intended - in World War I or interwar configuration.  That would entail, essentially, painting her overall grey (with a darker shade for the decks, I guess) and putting big hull numbers on the bow.

I do wonder why on earth the Revell people took the trouble to put that "wood planking" on the deck parts.  I'd have to do some digging to be sure, but I question whether any American warship designated a "destroyer" has ever had a wood deck.

Bottom line:  it's going to be a nice model.  Good luck.

The USS Buchanan remained in service during the interwar period.

As built, these ships had a lower bridge,  canvas fronted and no wind defleting venturi.  The sides of the mid-ship gun deck were not plated.   Here they are shown covered with a canvas spray shield

Naval History & Heritage Command via Hyperwar

Early in the 20s, they bridge face was plated and recived the venturi.   This shows the open-sided gun deck well.

 Naval History & Heritage Command via Hyperwar

This is perhaps the ultimate peacetime apperance of the 4-pipers in US Service.   The venturi is more distinct and the gun deck sides have been plated.   This is what the kit portrays

Naval History & Heritage Command via Hyperwar

A photo of the Buchanan as handed over to the RN

Bath Iron Works

The best reference on the changes of the Buchanan/Campbeltown from WWI to her final appearance as expended is in Al Ross's book Anatomy of the Ship - HMS Campbeltown

I am continually amazed/overwhelmed with the excellent information folks continue to offer. Rest assured I will be referring back to this thread as I build!

Thanks so much.

 (in the photos - thats a great looking ship eh!)

Thanks for the memories. I built this kit years and years and years ago. It was one of my first ship builds (2nd I think) it was unpainted and a bit of a glue bomb. Shame I don't have it any more, it would be great to tear it apart and rebuild her the way she should have been built in the first place.

Maybe I might be able to buy another of this kit someday. What scale is it?

Mansteins revenge wrote:

A dio of her stuck in the dry-dock wall the morning after the raid would be cool...

See the article in Airfix Magazine Annual 6 on the subject

http://www.davecov.com/index.htm?http%3A//www.davecov.com/reference/airfixmagazinearticles/warships/annualsguides/annual6_campbeltownstnazaire.htm

Leonidas wrote:

... ....Maybe I might be able to buy another of this kit someday. What scale is it?

1:240

http://www.revell.de/en/products/model_kits/model_kits/search_result/?id=203&KOKANR=01&KOSCHL=&KGSCHL=&L=1&page=1&sort=0&nc=&searchactive=&q=00005&SWO=&ARMAS4=&PHPSESSID=d88e4367bfa74f7ef5f9dd4ecc719261&KZSLPG=&offset=1&cmd=show&ARARTN=00005&sp=1

Whenever the subject of the old American "flushed-deck four-pipers" comes up I can't resist retelling an anecdote I once read in the Naval Institute Proceedings.  If you've already heard this one, feel free to stop reading now.

It seems that, some time in the 1920s, the executive officer of one such ship was attempting to establish her speed through the water.  (I guess he didn't have access to any sort of patent log - or maybe that just would have wrecked the story.)  He was trying to be as accurate as he could, so he figured he'd throw a wood board in the water at the extreme bow, click his stopwatch on, then run to the stern in time to click the stopwatch again just as the board passed astern.  Since he knew the length of the ship, simple arithmetic would establish her speed.

The problem was that every time the exec tried to run from the bow to the stern, some sailor would get in the way and the exec would arrive at the stern too late.  So he got one of the quartermasters to "break trail" for him.

The exec threw the board in the water, clicked the stopwatch, and headed for the stern, with the quartermaster running ahead of him yelling "Make way for the exec! Watch out for the exec!"  All went well until they got opposite the galley deckhouse.  One of the cooks was in the midst of cooking dinner and, when he heard the quartermaster yell "look out for the exec," assumed the exec must be having some sort of fit.  So the cook jumped out of the galley, bashed the exec over the head with a frying pan, and knocked him unconscious.

jtilley wrote:

.... ....bashed the exec over the head with a frying pan, and knocked him unconscious.

I've thought about that with my boss many times. :)

The seam needs lots of work.

How am I gonna determine the waterline where the hull becomes red on the bottom?  I don't see a guideline on the hull!

Anyway, proceeding slowly but enjoyably!

Spotty wrote:

How am I gonna determine the waterline where the hull becomes red on the bottom?  I don't see a guideline on the hull!

Try this:

 Al Ross

To add to John Tilley's history of this kit . . . it was also released in the 1980's as the USS Ward (yellow box top with the picture of the completed model.)

Excellent pictures, EdGrune!

 Bill Morrison

alross2 wrote:

Try this:    Al Ross

Interesting!. Never thought of a camo pattern yet. I may consider! hmmmmm.

I was planning to REALLY weather and "rust" up the hull. Would that look good over a camo pattern like that?

What I meant though, was how to mask it. How do I determine the "straight line". I guess that ridge just above the red in your picture helps.

hmmmmmm.

Basic hull painting done.

After some messy crappy brushing "experiments" I purchased an airbrush and voila.

Much work to do, but its a ship now! 

Interesting!. Never thought of a camo pattern yet. I may consider! hmmmmm.

I want to start "rusting" up the hull.

I could use washes, airbrush, or artists chalks.

Thoughts?

First time rusting/weathering using airbrush!

 Whaddaya think?

I believe that the rusting is much too heavy.

Bill Morrison

Maybe, however I may still go heavier yet. My error  i think is that (especially in the back) my transitions between rust and no rust are too strong.

 I want my ship to be as rusty as this even:

The problem is that the ship in the picture is a derelict civilian ship.  Naval ships are usually very well maintained, rarely showing anything but minor surface rust. That surface rust is taken care of quickly after returning to port.  It is a myth that naval ships show extensive rusting after long periods at sea.  But, it is your model; go for the effect you want.

Bill Morrison

Good points.

I guess I am going for a "fantasy" look. As if the ship got lost at sea for a while and came back almost ghost like. I realize this isn't historically accurate, but its an esthetic I love.

HMS Campbeltown from Iron Shipwright.