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Not
close to an aircraft but here goes! This is the storied 1/72nd
scale Revell Flower Class (Platinum Edition) converted to a Canadian corvette
HMCS Sorel - chosen simply because I found a great photograph of her showing
the effect the sea had on these important ships. I employed a significant
number (like.most) of the upgrade sets produced by Great
Little Ships - which
are for all intents and purposes mini models in themselves! I ended up
scratchbuilding a fair number of items (mast, searchlight platform, depth charge
storage racks, Engine Room skylights, 27' whaler davits, food storage lockers,
wash deck lockers, lifebelt storage racks, collision mat rack, additional
hatches, additional carley float storage, various other vents, lockers and boxes
etc.) The Gunthwaite
crew figures add some life to
the model. The
"Canadianization" of the ship included:
A
full list of the detail parts and manufacturers used is below: VectorCut:
Lifecolor
Camouflage Set - Royal Navy Western Approach (Late War) x 2 ((22ml x 6).
Includes UA 637 Hull Red, UA 638 W.A Blue, UA 639 W.A Green, UA 640 White, UA
641 Semtex Green, UA 642 Corticene.) Lifecolor
Royal Navy White x 4 (UA 640) - you need lots of white! Great
Little Ships:
Caldercraft
Scale
Warships
Shapeways
Gunthwaite
Syren Shipbuilding Company
Durango Press
CanMilAir
Decals BECC
Flags EZ-line
Rigging The
amazing thing is that at the end of the day I only ended up using the hull,
wheelhouse, and funnel deck from the kit - which is kinda crazy looking at the
box and seeing essentially full sprues! Overall
this project took about 18 months of work - mostly due to my own
procrastination capability - but it is a staggeringly intense thing to build.
You've got to be prepared to think in modules, handle many elements many times
(ie clean, prime, paint, fit, refit.), recognize that progress is glacially
slow until it all comes together. Overall I won't be rushing to build another ship of this scale but I do like the way it looks - and it captures a period of history where great sacrifice and skill won the day. Graham Symmonds
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Photos and text © by Graham Symmonds