Another 1/700 'Atlantic Conveyor'

[PR19_Kit]

Not really a Whiff I know, but a) There's not kit of this ship that even comes close to the real thing and b) as it's lying a LONG way down in the South Atlantic, sad to say, it's a Whiff by today's standards as it no longer exists............. I think..............

As I mentioned elsewhere, in Dave 'sandiego89's thread, I have a yen for building an 'AC' in 1/700, if only to match the superb models they had on display on the South Atlantic SIG's stand at Telford. Plus of course I'm making a monster 1/144 scale version of the same ship, but that's a different story. Amazingly there really isn't a maritime modelling section in the IPMS (UK) Forum, at least not a very large one, there's much more knowledge about maritime stuff here I find. Plus more imagination too......  

Anyway, I bought the Revell 1/700 'Columbo Express' container ship kit at Telford with the intention of converting it to the 'AC', but I must have had my diminishing glasses on as the 'CE' is GINORMOUS by comparison. In 1/700 the 'CE' is 480 mm long and the 'AC' is a mere 280 mm. I can almost build two 'ACs' from one Revell kit. But it does have a MILLION containers, not that I need that many really.

I've spent the last few days shrinking down the plans of my big 'AC' to 1/700, an exercise in intensive PC artwork I can assure you. I've also just ordered a stash of stuff from Hannants as this'll be the first 1/700 model I've ever built! Yeah, yeah, I know, quiet in the back there, stop laughing so loud please!  

The plan is to hack the 'CEs' hull down to waterline level, and cut a BIG chunk out of the centre, not to mention narrowing quite a bit. The bow is pretty much the right shape, but the stern will need a lot of re-building as it tapers far to much vertically. Obviously the container 'walls' will be provided by the stock from the 'CE' but much of the superstructure will have to be scratchbuilt as far as I can see. The Air Group will surely be a problem, as I'll have to make LOTS of copies of SHARs from a master, which itself will need to be converted from a GR9 I guess. I can't find any carrier models with SHARs on board so far, but I may have a couple of Revell 1/720 USMC transports up in my loft.

So the only bit of the model that exists so far are the plans.  

[Joe C-P]

You can get your SHARs from White Ensign Models.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for that JoeP, all suggestions welcome. 

[nev]

You should ask on Modelshipwrights Kit - lots of exceedingly knowledgable people on there in my experience.

[Thorvic]

Kit the Dragon or Revell boxing of the Invincible, Ark Royal or Illustrious all have at Least 4 Sea Harriers in the kit along with Sea Kings (i think the Ark and Lusty may have had an additional pair of SHARs on the upgrade part sprues)
Tuskuda actuall did a Royal Navy Aircraft set in 1/700 with decent SHARs but thats long OOP but worth it if spotted on eBay/kit sales.

Given the size look at possible waterlining one of those kittech/zhengdefu motorised USN/USSR destroyer kits, dirt cheap but hull is about 30cm long and nearer 4cm rather than the 3cm they should be due to fitting for a motor & batteries.

Or have a go at scratch building, plastic card should do the trick to create the basic block for the hull, mark up and cut down the bow shape and stern taper then lots of filing, scraping, carving & PSR to shape the hull. (Method iuse)

Alternately you can purchase the NNT 1/700 resin Atlantic Conveyor kit that came out at the end of last year but at quite a price !!!

Cheers

Geoff

[PR19_Kit]

Geoff,

Yes, I have the Dragon Invincible and it does have the SHARs as you say, but I need 8 SHARs and 6 GR3s, although most of them will be under tarpaulins, so I'll need lots of duplicates. The 6 Wessexes can be carved from 60 thou. styrene and the 4 Chinooks from a double layer of that too. I'd heard about he Tsukuda set, but as you say it's non-existant as far as I can see.

I've already started to carve up the CE and it's not too bad, just needs some careful alignment while sawing. Plus some careful gluing back of the bits I shouldn't have sawn off in the first place! 

As for buying one, hell no! Someone already suggested that to me, but I've never even see a picture of the NNT model. I like to make the darn things, and I reckon a 1/700 and a 1/144 pair will make a good set. 

Nev,

Never even heard of Modelshipwrights before, but thanks for the tip, I'll have a look see.

[PR19_Kit]

After a LOT of searching I found some details of the NNT AC.

At £79 or £85 they could at least have got the colours right! Their model looks as if it came straight off the ways, whereas in reality the ship was laid up at Liverpool, and was very well worn. The modifications done by the yard and the RN  did nothing to improve her looks and at least some of the superstructure was repainted grey by the time she reached the Falklands. It only has a few aircraft, nowhere near as many as it should have, and no GR3s at all.

I hope mine comes out a lot better, but their two piccies will help a lot with the superstructure shapes.

[Thorvic]

Hi Kit

White Ensign do SHARS, Wessex, Chinook etc

http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatalog/British_Aircraft.html SHAR. Wessex etc
http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatalog/American_Aircraft.html  For Chinook

Also look at:-
http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatalog/Ships__and_aircraft_up_to_1_192_scale_.html

Looki under WEM own brand and other products, as you can get Photo etch for doors, hatchs, mast details etc, Battlefleet models also do a nice range of winches, bollards etc

G

[nev]

Never even heard of Modelshipwrights before, but thanks for the tip, I'll have a look see.

DOH!  Modelshipwrights is the naval section of Armorama, but what I really meant was modelwarships.com

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Norbert Thiel uploaded some images to modellversium.de of the resin 1/700th scale NNT Atlantic Conveyor.





***Edit to clarify the type of model which was not built by the contributor.  (Thanks to Kit for the clarification)***

[PR19_Kit]

Well spotted Jeffry, thanks.

Lots of nice close-ups there, but I'm afraid he didn't build it, NNT make the model just like that, as it comes out of the box. That's the same model I mentioned a while back in this thread.

Having said that, of course he has one, and I don't so far........

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Well spotted Jeffry, thanks.

Lots of nice close-ups there, but I'm afraid he didn't build it, NNT make the model just like that, as it comes out of the box. That's the same model I mentioned a while back in this thread.

Having said that, of course he has one, and I don't so far........

Thanks for the clarification.  Had no idea it was a built for sale model.  I thought the guy had built it or at the very least painted it.  I did not bother to fiddle with the translation, just saw that NNT was mentioned in the preamble but did not recognize that for what it means since I am normally not focused on anything as small as what you are building I guess that is an honest mistake. 

Will edit the orginal post to identify the model

[Thorvic]

Erm Norbet is NNT AFAIK 

[PR19_Kit]

Ahah, a bit of self-promotion then? 

In that case he probably DID 'build' it, but I hope I make a better job of mine, I'm not impressed with his research on  colours, aircraft sizes, positions etc.

[Thorvic]

Kit

Heres a in depth review of the NNT kit which has detailed views of the parts which should prove handy for your scratch build 

http://www.steelnavy.com/NNTAtlanticConveyor.htm

Cheers

Geoff