HMS MAJESTIC (ex-MELBOURNE) Falklands 1982- Completed

sandiego89 · May 26, 2014, 07:47:49 AM

HMS MAJESTIC, the ex HMAS MELBOURNE, quickly refitted and sailing with the UK task force, late 1982.

Scratch, 1/700

In April 1982 the UK government quietly asked Australia to keep the recently laid up Melbourne on stand-by in case a need for another carrier arose with the pending conflict over the Falklands. The move proved wise indeed when one of the UK carriers suffered a major casualty and the war drug on past the winter in the Southern hemisphere.....

The kit: There is none. I got tired of waiting for a 1/700 MAJESTIC/COLOSSUS, so this will be scratch. Styrene sheet and planks.

If it turns out OK I hope to make a resin mold- all sorts of WHIF potentials for this class!

Some complex curves on this one- wish me luck

Found a drawing of the MELBOURNE, and copied at 1/700.

Keel laying...

added some frames and the forward upper sections below the flight deck. Flight deck cut out. Is upside down in this shot.

multiple styrene runners to give the shape near the bow. Thin styrene sheets laid over.

some work on the aft section. Made inserts where the ship boats are stored.

Old Wombat · May 27, 2014, 06:44:27 AM

Man, they would have been desperate!

A couple of guys in my type course for Trackers were ex-QMG's (Quartermaster Gunners) whose last posting had been Melbourne.

They had been using a jason pistol on the flight deck, cleaning off old paint in order to repaint her, when the jason pistol^* literally punched through the steel deck. In their opinion the only thing holding the old girl together was the rust.

^*: Jason pistols are hydraulic tools used to strip paint from ships. They work by vibrating a set of 'needles' against the painted metal.

PS: This was in 1982!

rickshaw · May 27, 2014, 07:10:45 AM

Ah, yes, well always remember that Melbourne sank more ships than the rest of the RAN combined...

She was an unlucky ship, which didn't deserve her bad reputation as in each case, it was the commander of the escorting destroyer who was at fault and turned in front of her, which is why she hit them and cut both Voyager and Evans in half. In both cases, it was Melbourne's captain who was unjustly blamed and had their careers destroyed and the real situation was covered up.

Interestingly, my sister went out with the son of Captain Evans (Captain of the Melbourne during the Voyager disaster) back in the early 1970s.

When you have the resin version ready, I might be interested in getting one.

scooter · May 27, 2014, 07:22:17 AM

Quote from: Old Wombat on May 27, 2014, 06:44:27 AM
They had been using a jason pistol on the flight deck, cleaning off old paint in order to repaint her, when the jason pistol^* literally punched through the steel deck. In their opinion the only thing holding the old girl together was the rust.

Life imitating art. Sounds about as much as the Caine in The Caine Mutiny

Army of One · May 27, 2014, 08:16:19 AM

Wow........some great work going on there......love the work on the bow.....

buzzbomb · May 27, 2014, 06:00:37 PM

Nice build so far, the scratch work is terrific

What scale is she.. 1/700 ?

sandiego89 · May 28, 2014, 05:05:26 AM

Quote from: buzzbomb on May 27, 2014, 06:00:37 PM
Nice build so far, the scratch work is terrific

What scale is she.. 1/700 ?

Thank you, yes buzz, 1/700.

NARSES2 · May 28, 2014, 07:43:13 AM

This is one to watch, great work

sandiego89 · May 28, 2014, 03:03:36 PM

Thanks guys.

Did some work on the hull. Trying a new filler, bondo glaze. For minor automotive finishing.

Bow plates. Still needs sanding and filler.

Stern section. With this method of using small individual styrene pieces you can mold them into curved sections. Larger pieces do not do well with multiple curves. Also you can still see the individual "plates", which I kind of like as you can see them on the real ships, especially ships that are run hard. The bondo is rust colored. So far so good.

sandiego89 · May 31, 2014, 06:22:15 AM

More hull work.

Bow with putty.

Hull. Port side. Still needs a few sponsons.

Begin work on the island. Some complex shapes on the island still to do. Seems each MAJESTIC/COLOSSUS had a a unique island later in life. You can see the track line for the catapult and elevators pencilled in.

aston · June 01, 2014, 02:28:37 AM

Interesting, impressive, instructive, inspiring

sandiego89 · June 01, 2014, 10:25:24 AM

Island shaping up. All scratch styrene sheet.

Added side sponsons. You can see the internal frames and where the inserts are for the boat davit stations, etc. Island in primer.

Starting to look like a carrier. Curved section of funnel from aluminum rod, cut with pipe cutting tool. Photo taken before sponsons added.

U shaped styrene strips added for the walkways along the side of much of the flight deck.

Gondor · June 01, 2014, 11:31:40 AM

I'm impressed.

Gondor

sandiego89 · June 04, 2014, 04:13:18 PM

Thanks Gondor! Got some more work in. Hull and flight deck basically complete. Primer on. Much detail remains to be done, but this is the phase I want to prepare a mold of the entire ship so I can pop a few more Colossus/Majestic hulls for future WHIFS. How about a Boneventure in a cold war conflict?, a 25 de mayo with a different airwing?, Melbourne in Vietnam (not just a transport) etc?

If I did more details at this point, they would not survive the RTV mold making process. The itsy bitsy pieces would get pulled of when demating the mold.

Thanks for looking- Dave

Next to a 1/700 scale ESSEX for size. ESSEX island MIA.

Weaver · June 04, 2014, 05:23:50 PM

Great piece of scratchbuilding - well done!