Modernised Leander class Frigate - Airfix 1/600

[deathjester]

Been itching to do another one of these, since I had one as a kid.

Decided to do a total refit, new combined radar / comms antennae, VLS, expanded hangar & flight deck, CIWS, commando boats etc.

[Army of One]

I'll be watching this one......

[PR19_Kit]

Go on then, fit it out with a Mk 8 Mod 0 4.5 gun turret too. 

[deathjester]

No need Kit - she's got a 203mm instead  

Here's the progress so far;

[tc2324]

 

[lenny100]

remenber that the leander class has a problem with top weight, they even had to take of the top of the funnels when they refited a few with the sea wolf system to cut top weight.

[Weaver]

Hangar end looks nice.

An 8" gun turret would be way bigger than that: why not keep the part (Lego?) that you're using but bluk it out a bit more by putting pieces of plasticard around it to give it a more angular look? (Go look up the USS Hull to see what an 8" on a 4000 ton hull (pardon the pun) looks like).

Re the sensor mast, I'm presuming it's mostly fibreglass to save weight, otherwise you'd have severe problems as Lenny suggests. One thing you could do to explain the shape is to claim that it rotates to face into the wind to minimise the "sail effect" on the ship. The Seawolf Leanders needed to carry their Type 967/968 search radar aerial very high in order to get earliest detection of a sea skimmer, so they were fitted with a massive steel mast. That, combined with the weight of two GWS.25 target trackers was what caused the problem and is why their upper works look "stripped": they were! Even the Exocet boxes were carried lower than on the Exocet Leanders in order to reduce topweight.

[deathjester]

Cheers for that guys, some real good ideas there.  I took out a lot of weight by combining all masts/antennae into one structure, so hopefully ok !

[deathjester]

Righto chaps, an update for you - finished her as HMS Andromeda, but instead of receiving the real world Exocet upgrade, What If? she instead received the MK71 Naval Gunfire Support Weapon that the US Navy were testing up until 1979, as well as the VLS Seawolf system,and an extended helicopter deck / dual hangar setup.

Of course, with the MK71, that gives you the capacity to use precision guided munitions from the main gun...!!  

Many thanks to Weaver for putting me onto the MK71 idea!!  

[deathjester]

HMS Andromeda by jasonrandle755, on Flickr

][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/107264616@N06/10600396754/]
HMS Andromeda / 3 by jasonrandle755, on Flickr[/url]

][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/107264616@N06/10600366826/]
HMS Andromeda / 2 by jasonrandle755, on Flickr[/url]

[Captain Canada]

Beauty ! She looks awesome !  Love the gun and the chopper.

[deathjester]

Thanks!  Had to move to Flickr, as I can't access anything on Photobucket!

[deathjester]

May well be a tall (ship) tale to follow...

[TallEng]

Ooh I remember the Airfix Leander, I built one when I was a kid (sadly probably the only Ship I built)
That looks interesting
Pardon my ignorance, But what is that thing that looks like a Giants finger sticking out the middle?

Regards
Keith

[NARSES2]

Pardon my ignorance, But what is that thing that looks like a Giants finger sticking out the middle?

Regards
Keith

My thoughts as well