A modern Patrol Gunboat Littoral

[frank2056]

I finally had a chance to do some work on this model. First order of business was to make a 1/350 scale version of the Mk 75 - Otobreda 76mm gun.

I made a vacuform copy of the large radar dome from another Tarantul kit and found the wheel hub from an aircraft kit that matched the base diameter. Here are the components:







The vacuform dome is far too delicate to cut into for the barrel slot, so I filled the inside with gypsum based talcum powder and added a few drops of cyanocacrylate glue. This forms an easy to work with putty that takes several seconds to set. I mixed the two components with a thin piece of sprue, making sure that the inside of the dome was completely coated. I then attached the wheel hub base.

After this had set up, the turret was strong enough to sand and cut. I sanded the top down to flatten it and cut the gun slot:





Comparing the original with my copy, the turret is too steep (or the flat area on top isn't extensive enough) and the bottom of the turret has too much flare. I'll probably reduce the flare at the bottom, but I'll leave the rest as is - there seems to be some variability in dome design for this gun, so this can be a variant for this boat. I'll add the hatch and other structures later.

Frank

[frank2056]

I've made some progress on the PGL. First, the 76mm turret.  I bought some cast metal 76mm turrets, but they were less accurate than my own turret, so I decided to make my turret a bit more accurate.

I added a thin strip of half round rod to the back of the turret and used my favorite putty - CA mixed with talc - to smooth the rod into shape with the rest of the turret. After some sanding, here are the results:

Top view:


Front view:


Side view:


Compared to drawings of the original:


I still have to add the doodads at the rear of the turret, the barrel and figure some way of making the pedestal/base. I'll probably cast the turret in resin when I'm done - it'll come in handy for other builds.

I also decided to remake the ship's superstructure. I wasn't happy with the curved bridge of first version - too close to the shape of the Asheville's bridge and just too "60s".

I drew the floors and sides and printed them up. Next, I glued them to 0.015" (0.4mm) styrene sheet using  a glue stick. That dried almost instantly, and I cut the pieces out of the sheet:



To keep the deck spacing accurate and even, and to give the structure some strength, I cut some 1/8" tubes to length. Here are all the parts:



And assembled. The decks are flush top and bottom with the tubes:



If you look carefully, the floor of the bridge is twice as thick as the other decks. This is to provide a wider gluing surface for the walls.

I cut out the walls out of paper and did a test wrap and fold around the superstructure, just to make sure everything would fit:



Then I cut out another copy and pasted it onto some more 0.015" thick styrene sheet. This stuff is too thick to bend properly, so in some areas with 90 degree bends, I cut the sections out and glued them in separately:


The few gaps left over were filled in with CA + talc and sanded smooth as soon as it hardened.

Here's what it looks like now:


The figure is a 1/400 scale figure from Preiser. It's close enough to 1/350 scale to give an idea of the ship's size. I don't think I'm going to cut the stern for a ramp for the RHIB, so I'm going to have to add a crane.

Thanks for looking!


Frank

[Brian da Basher]

That's some very impressive work, Frank! I really like your gun turrets. It looks like you're well on your way to building the Queen of the Fleet!

Brian da Basher

[sotoolslinger]

Really impressive construction . I wish I could scratch like that

[pyro-manic]

Kick-donkey bit of work on that turret, and the superstructure is great as well. Most impressive.

[John Howling Mouse]

Wow, this is some display of pure dedication and patience.

[Bryan H.]

Wow!  Great improvization! 

Bryan

[BlackOps]

Very cool work! 

[frank2056]

Thanks for all the comments, guys! I really appreciate them.

I've glued the deck to the hull and made a mold of the turret, so I can make as many copies as I need.

The big question now is what to do about the RHIB - Admiral Fontaine has suggested keeping to the original "mission profile" where the RHIB would be on a ramp in a well in the stern. This would make it easy to drop into the water and it could be recovered while the ship is underway. A ramp would also mean no need for a crane to winch the RHIB up or down, and would not block the field of view/fire for the Phalanx CWIS, since the boat would be mostly hidden at or below deck level.

As far as the model, adding a ramp means extending the stern and adding a ramp/well. I have to mock it up on the computer (luckily, I scanned in the hull), then cut out a cardboard test before committing it to styrene.

Frank

[Captain Canada]

Beautiful ! Awesome job with all the scratchbuilding stuff. Especially liking the turret !

As for the ramp idea...how about some sort of cradle that slides back and then  tips back into the water ?

[ysi_maniac]

AMAZING

[frank2056]

As for the ramp idea...how about some sort of cradle that slides back and then  tips back into the water ?

I'll probably use something like that. in the real ships, there's a well/ramp at the stern and the RHIB just drives up the ramp. There must be something to slow it down at the top.

Here's a quick update on the turret. I made a mold of the original and cast a copy. It came out pretty good - just a few resin zits on it and a couple of easily fixed pinholes. The gun slit filled up with some resin, but it's easy to clean out and now I have a surface to attach the barrel to.
The weird base is an impression of the Legos I used to make the mold.



I'll probably use this casting as the turret. It looks a lot better than the cast metal ones I got.

Frank
Frank

[cthulhu77]

 

[noxioux]

I'm not too up on my naval subjects, but that's severely cool.

[LemonJello]

Coming along nicely. I'll be sure to follow this build as you go forward.