K63 HMS Picotee 1941 1/48 scale early short forecastle Flower Class Corvette

Well while HMS Picotee has been in dry dock getting her anti-fouling touched up and a final clear coat of protective lacquer on her hull I have kept myself busy making a bandstand for her secondary armament. In the case of Picotee that was a Vickers 50 calibre quad machine gun. A delightfully intimidating weapon, but on a Corvette in the middle of the Atlantic, as useful a chocolate teapot! Hardly surprising built using hundreds of individual parts and almost impossible to maintain.

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This is my favourite photograph of a quad; no doubting those two would push the button.

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The quad needed a different design of bandstand due to it's ability to fire along an extremally large vertical arc,( 90 degree above the horizon to 25 degrees below. Consequently the protective armour plated sides are very low, non-existent on some ships.

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Again with only the one photograph of Picotee to go by I have been using a lot of guess work, particularly concerning the deck surface. The overall dimensions I took from scaling said photo and it has turned out well. I cannot completely finish the job and have to wait until the bandstand is installed to fit the side supports and ladder. I also made a couple of ready use ammunition boxes. Where the quad is concerned these boxes all have a slanted top to them. I have painted them in a slightly different shade of grey but I am undecided whether to keep this colour or revert to the darker grey, it might grow on me. As I don't as yet have a 1/48 scale Vickers Quad the little 12 pounder is standing in for 'demonstration purposes only' as they say. To my knowledge no flower had a twelve pounder fitted over the boiler room casings. The little SAP shells that you see are from a batch I am making for the four inch main gun.

Here are some pics,

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Cheers JJ..
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Hold your horses
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This is what I really love about this site; no sooner had I mentioned that I had as yet not got a Vickers Quad than Marco, of the magnificent 3D printed Round Table Armed Trawler Sir Gareth fame, worked his magic and produced for me a most excellent Quad.. For this I am most appreciative.

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Cheers JJ.. and thanks Marco.​

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Jack Jäger said:
Hold your horses
​
This is what I really love about this site; no sooner had I mentioned that I had as yet not got a Vickers Quad than Marco, of the magnificent 3D printed Round Table Armed Trawler Sir Gareth fame, worked his magic and produced for me a most excellent Quad.. For this I am most appreciative.


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That is a very realistic paint job, Jack. And a very realistic print job from Marco.
Regards, Peter
 
Jack Jäger said:
Hold your horses
​
This is what I really love about this site; no sooner had I mentioned that I had as yet not got a Vickers Quad than Marco, of the magnificent 3D printed Round Table Armed Trawler Sir Gareth fame, worked his magic and produced for me a most excellent Quad.. For this I am most appreciative.


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Click to expand...
Good morning Jack. Wow those are so good- Kudos Marco. Cheers Grant
 
Hi Folks.
Well after the excitement of the Vickers Quad its back to the mundane. I have finished sheathing the forecastle deck over the crews compartment and believe it turned out quite nice, not too sure what colour I will finish it as it is, at the moment, far too light. When you look at photos of this woodwork on ships in service the planking is as dark as the steel deck. Next up was to finish the anchor hawse holes this consists of a (quite) large anchor rubber set on top of a teak plinth. I made the rubber out of styrene and painted it iron black for now, the plinth is from 1mm ply coloured with rosewood stain. I have shown pictures of the anchor chain in position having passed over the steam winch I made a while back. Seeing the pic's I have reworked the winch a bit as I thought it looked too dark, also I added a safety cover over the central gear. Should keep the crew happy. I fitted a bit of deck trim and will leave the forecastle now for a while.
I also made a start on the Engine room superstructure. I cut out the sides to match the curve of the deck and made some openings into the E/R deck, yet to be glued and clamped over night, when all looks right I will 'plate; the sides with 0.25mm styrene. Its nice to see this superstructure for although it isn't much it feels like good progress.

Some pics..


Gun Heliotrope.jpgIMG_20241213_154907.jpgIMG_20241215_114415.jpgIMG_20241215_114526.jpgIMG_20241215_184100.jpgIMG_20241215_184112.jpgIMG_20241216_132027.jpg

Cheers JJ..​
 
Jack Jäger said:
Hi Folks.
Well after the excitement of the Vickers Quad its back to the mundane. I have finished sheathing the forecastle deck over the crews compartment and believe it turned out quite nice, not too sure what colour I will finish it as it is, at the moment, far too light. When you look at photos of this woodwork on ships in service the planking is as dark as the steel deck. Next up was to finish the anchor hawse holes this consists of a (quite) large anchor rubber set on top of a teak plinth. I made the rubber out of styrene and painted it iron black for now, the plinth is from 1mm ply coloured with rosewood stain. I have shown pictures of the anchor chain in position having passed over the steam winch I made a while back. Seeing the pic's I have reworked the winch a bit as I thought it looked too dark, also I added a safety cover over the central gear. Should keep the crew happy. I fitted a bit of deck trim and will leave the forecastle now for a while.
I also made a start on the Engine room superstructure. I cut out the sides to match the curve of the deck and made some openings into the E/R deck, yet to be glued and clamped over night, when all looks right I will 'plate; the sides with 0.25mm styrene. Its nice to see this superstructure for although it isn't much it feels like good progress.

Click to expand...
Classic Jack. Lovely work. Cheers Grant
 
Jack Jäger said:
The Shape of Things to Come

Not really a build post, just a quick line to thank everyone who has given support to my build of HMS Picotee and to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

My best to all. JJ..

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Right back at you Jack. May this be a wonderful season for you and yours. Cheers Grant
 
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