HMS Cornwall - T22B3 Skytrex 1:1250 part 1
I've always liked the look of the Type 22 Batch 3, with their sharply raked bow, elongated lines and relatively heavy armament, they somehow looked complete and purposeful in a way that the preceding classes did not.
It was significant that the RN chose to retain them in preference to Type 23s when Geoff Hoon decided to reduce the escort fleet from 31 to 25 ships in 2004 and disappointing that they too went following the rushed and short-term savings driven 2010 Strategic Defence Review. If ever the word 'Strategic' was misused, it was then!
I bought a Skytrex / Triton model T22B3 a while ago off Ebay. The assembly had been rather hurried and the paint thickly applied so my plan was just to clean it up and repaint but, as with my HMS Manchester, when I actually came to compare the Skytrex model with scale plans and photos, there was a lot more that needed to be done to make a satisfactory model.
My references are Friedman's "British Destroyers and Frigates: The Second World War and After" and various pictures from the web. I found Seaforces-online particularly useful for this and some pictures of an unpainted Orange Hobby model with lots of bare photo-etch. Somehow it is easier to make out details on a model than in photos of the real thing. I think seeing the necessary compromises somebody else has accepted to make a model is also a big help in deciding what to include and what to leave out.
The Skytrex parts that didn't need much modification were: the 4.5" gun, Sea Wolf launchers, masts and funnel. Everything else - oh dear.
The Skytrex hull was much too short, mostly in the mid-section, and narrow but the biggest error was that the sides - noticeably vertical in the original - were flared and uneven. As with my model of HMS Manchester, I wanted to have the openings at the stern properly open but with the bigger overhangs on the Type 22, I thought plasticard would be too fragile so built a new flight deck, including the characteristic widened section, from brass - thus giving the correct overall length. I cut a waterline outline from 0.020" plasticard to give the near-vertical sides around the middle then filled in with Miliput. The next job was to plate the sides with more plasticard to give a smooth finish, correct the beam and get an even transition on both sides from the flared bow section to the more vertical middle. Finally, I made a new stern piece from more brass which allowed me to have the corner pillars realistically thin but still quite strong.
Overall Length 148.1 m so at 1:1250 that should be 118.5 mm but the Skytrex model is 114 mm
Beam 14.8 m so at 1:1250 that should be 11.8 mm and the Skytrex model is a bit narrower at 11.2 mm.
Adding the extra length at the stern meant the hanger was too far forward so I filed down the excess parts and rebuilt with more plasticard. For strength, I made the narrow decking down the starboard side of the hanger from more brass and cut a slot in the metal of the hanger to give a stronger joint.
The forecastle deck also needed a lot of changes. The gun was slightly too far back, the bulwarks far too thick and not extending far enough back and the anchor arrangements were nothing like those of the real ship.
I corrected the bulwarks by adding a blob of solder on both sides to extend them aft then a lot of filing and carving. I cut off or filled the anchor chain handling details (the chain itself wasn't represented at all) and made everything from scratch with brass rod for the bollards and cotton thread.
The forward part of the main deck, around the Sea Wolf launcher needed a bit of work too - extending it forward slightly and making the raised platform for the launcher itself.
The final bit of hull detailing was to make new anchors. I'd filed the originals away whilst shaping the bows and they hadn't had much detail in the first place. I've tried various ways of making modern anchors and this was about the easiest and, I think, most satisfactory. I hammered flat the end of some brass rod to a bit over 2 mm wide then squared the end off with a file, filed it to the correct width for the shoulder then thinned the end 1.5 mm that would represent the flukes. The next step was to cut a slot between the flukes and shape them with a knife-edge needle file. Finally I cut the anchor off, taking care not to go too close, and filed the shoulder to the correct thickness. It sounds laborious but the whole process was fairly quick. For the bow anchor, I didn't bother with the slot between the flukes - it just fits into a slot cut in the bows with a razor saw.
The forward superstructure was very unsatisfactory - too short, the bridge too narrow and lacking in detail so I made a new one from plasticard. The black bits visible in the picture above are the remains of pen marks I made to help get the window frames fairly evenly spaced. The Sea Archer electro-optical trackers were made by filing some 0.75mm brass rod, held in a pin-vice - I really should get a miniature lathe! They came out looking a more like chess pawns or Ludo counters but, given the size, I think the final effect will be OK when painted.
As mentioned before, the masts weren't bad - I just had to make the cross-spars, the extension to the mainmast (from 0.35mm brass rod with some short rings cut from brass tube to suggest the UHF antennas) and a replacement 967/968 radar (from soldering a T shape of brass rod to rectangular-section brass) with the platform cut from scrap plastic sprue.
I carved the BAE Systems / Halmatic Pacific 22 RIB from plasticard. Starting with a strip of 0.20" sheet, cut and sanded to the correct width, I shaped the bows then cut a drilled two small holes and linked them up to make a channel that would become the inside of the boat. I rounded this off to make the circular cross-section of the inflatable part before cutting it off, sticking the hull on (a wedge-shaped sliver of plasticard), shaping that and the stern then adding two more small pieces for the transom and a rectangle representing the seats and engine. For reference, a Pacific 22 is 6.75 m long with a beam of 2.44 m so 5.4 x 2.0 mm in 1:1250.
Still on the to-do list are: the 911 Sea Wolf Trackers, Goal Keeper CIWS, new Harpoon launchers (the originals were miscast and lacking in detail), the section of superstructure aft of the foremast, a Lynx, 40mm guns, STWS tubes, Corvus chaff rocket launchers and various other small details.
Correction: 20mm guns and Sea Gnat decoy launchers.
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| PERSIAN GULF (May 29, 2007) - British frigate HMS Cornwall (F 99) transits through the Persian Gulf with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) nearby. Photograph taken by United States Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ron Reeves https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Cornwall_F99.jpg |
I bought a Skytrex / Triton model T22B3 a while ago off Ebay. The assembly had been rather hurried and the paint thickly applied so my plan was just to clean it up and repaint but, as with my HMS Manchester, when I actually came to compare the Skytrex model with scale plans and photos, there was a lot more that needed to be done to make a satisfactory model.
My references are Friedman's "British Destroyers and Frigates: The Second World War and After" and various pictures from the web. I found Seaforces-online particularly useful for this and some pictures of an unpainted Orange Hobby model with lots of bare photo-etch. Somehow it is easier to make out details on a model than in photos of the real thing. I think seeing the necessary compromises somebody else has accepted to make a model is also a big help in deciding what to include and what to leave out.
The Skytrex parts that didn't need much modification were: the 4.5" gun, Sea Wolf launchers, masts and funnel. Everything else - oh dear.
Overall Length 148.1 m so at 1:1250 that should be 118.5 mm but the Skytrex model is 114 mm
Beam 14.8 m so at 1:1250 that should be 11.8 mm and the Skytrex model is a bit narrower at 11.2 mm.
Adding the extra length at the stern meant the hanger was too far forward so I filed down the excess parts and rebuilt with more plasticard. For strength, I made the narrow decking down the starboard side of the hanger from more brass and cut a slot in the metal of the hanger to give a stronger joint.
The forecastle deck also needed a lot of changes. The gun was slightly too far back, the bulwarks far too thick and not extending far enough back and the anchor arrangements were nothing like those of the real ship.
I corrected the bulwarks by adding a blob of solder on both sides to extend them aft then a lot of filing and carving. I cut off or filled the anchor chain handling details (the chain itself wasn't represented at all) and made everything from scratch with brass rod for the bollards and cotton thread.
The forward part of the main deck, around the Sea Wolf launcher needed a bit of work too - extending it forward slightly and making the raised platform for the launcher itself.
The final bit of hull detailing was to make new anchors. I'd filed the originals away whilst shaping the bows and they hadn't had much detail in the first place. I've tried various ways of making modern anchors and this was about the easiest and, I think, most satisfactory. I hammered flat the end of some brass rod to a bit over 2 mm wide then squared the end off with a file, filed it to the correct width for the shoulder then thinned the end 1.5 mm that would represent the flukes. The next step was to cut a slot between the flukes and shape them with a knife-edge needle file. Finally I cut the anchor off, taking care not to go too close, and filed the shoulder to the correct thickness. It sounds laborious but the whole process was fairly quick. For the bow anchor, I didn't bother with the slot between the flukes - it just fits into a slot cut in the bows with a razor saw.
The forward superstructure was very unsatisfactory - too short, the bridge too narrow and lacking in detail so I made a new one from plasticard. The black bits visible in the picture above are the remains of pen marks I made to help get the window frames fairly evenly spaced. The Sea Archer electro-optical trackers were made by filing some 0.75mm brass rod, held in a pin-vice - I really should get a miniature lathe! They came out looking a more like chess pawns or Ludo counters but, given the size, I think the final effect will be OK when painted.
I carved the BAE Systems / Halmatic Pacific 22 RIB from plasticard. Starting with a strip of 0.20" sheet, cut and sanded to the correct width, I shaped the bows then cut a drilled two small holes and linked them up to make a channel that would become the inside of the boat. I rounded this off to make the circular cross-section of the inflatable part before cutting it off, sticking the hull on (a wedge-shaped sliver of plasticard), shaping that and the stern then adding two more small pieces for the transom and a rectangle representing the seats and engine. For reference, a Pacific 22 is 6.75 m long with a beam of 2.44 m so 5.4 x 2.0 mm in 1:1250.
Still on the to-do list are: the 911 Sea Wolf Trackers, Goal Keeper CIWS, new Harpoon launchers (the originals were miscast and lacking in detail), the section of superstructure aft of the foremast, a Lynx, 40mm guns, STWS tubes, Corvus chaff rocket launchers and various other small details.
Correction: 20mm guns and Sea Gnat decoy launchers.
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