HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept.

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Jaime
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HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept.

Post by Jaime »

So, my grandfather passed away in March 2012, after a long battle with cancer. In the final months of his life, and knowing he was dying, he finally applied for his wartime medals. Like many others of his generation, he hadn’t done so at the war’s end as he just wanted to forget about his wartime experiences and get on with his life’s work of raising his children, then grandchildren and, finally, great-grandchildren. I helped him with the application and we set about recording various events so that these could be submitted to demonstrate to the Ministry of Defence Medals Office that he was in certain places at certain times during the war. One of these events was an attack on the destroyer HMS Winchelsea, on which he had hitched a lift on route to a posting in Malta. At this point I will let my grandfather’s words briefly describe the event:

“upon qualifying as a Radar Mechanician on 14th August 1943 whilst at HMS Mercury, Petersfield, Hampshire, I was posted to St Angelo Naval Base, Malta. I was sent to Londonderry in Northern Ireland, from where I sailed aboard HMS Winchelsea (a destroyer designated I46), which proceeded to join other naval vessels for protection of a convoy on route to my final destination in Malta. We subsequently came under regular attack from enemy aircraft in the Bay of Biscay and after several days of bombardment the Winchelsea suffered crippling damage from a direct attack on the vessel and detached itself from the convoy to make for the nearest UK port. About 300 miles west of Lands End we met an escort ship which covered us while The Winchelsea limped towards Plymouth. During the voyage I recall that my muster station was to attend to the cork nets, which we used to keep the bow afloat. The Winchelsea then didn't put to sea again till 2 and a half months later on 19th November, whereas previously she had been escorting a couple of convoys every month. No doubt this was because she was being repaired following the damage sustained during the voyage.”

This event is also briefly described in Arnold Hague’s convoy database under the details for Convoy KMS.26G, as follows:

“WINCHELSEA DAMAGED BY NEAR MISS 11.9 & DETACHED TO UK ESCORTED BY ABELIA.
ABELIA RELIEVED BY WALLFLOWER, AND REJOINED CONVOY”


As we talked, my grandfather elaborated with further details not relevant to the medal application: of how the convoy was attacked by JU88 dive bombers for days; how the ship passed men in the water calling for help because the convoy could not slow down to pick up survivors; how a JU88 flew just a few feet over the top of the mast as it strafed the ship in the teeth of defensive fire, how he was sent up to inspect the radar (presumably the ship’s radar mechanician had been killed or seriously injured) to find it had been “shot to bits” and how a near miss from a bomb had lifted the ship out of the water, leaving it “buckled amidships.” My grandfather always maintained that the crew believed that the JU88s had come from Franco’s Spain, because it was thought that the ship was out of range of German airfields in France.

Of course, my grandfather never made it to Malta and was posted to Coastal Forces on the South coast, eventually taking charge of radar maintenance of MTB, MGB & ML flotillas before and after D-Day and serving in the France & Germany theatre of war. He spoke of the daring and reckless reputation of Sir Peter Scott’s MTB flotilla and the bravado and character of the Canadians. He was at the disaster in Ostend which saw the destruction of the Canadian flotilla and it affected him very much.

Just a short time before he passed away I had finished the 1/72 Airfix Vosper MTB, which he held in his hands and inspected with a certain amount of wonder after the passing of all those years. Not knowing how much time he had left, I told him my next project would be to try and model his account of the attack on HMS Winchelsea, as I had already identified the Tamiya 1/700 HMAS Vampire kit as a conversion possibility. His response made it clear he didn’t think he would see it and, unfortunately, he passed away soon after. He also never saw his medals, which arrived two weeks later, although he did at least read the letter from the MOD informing him that his application had been successful.

After all this, I was determined that I would make the model to commemorate this event that seemed so real, so visceral to me at the time but whilst I knew of the conversion potential of the Tamiya kit, I had no idea how to go about doing it because I had never built a waterline 1/700 ship before, never done anything other than an out-of-the-box build before, never done a diorama and never done a seascape before.

Within a month, after a bit of internet research, I got in touch with Mike McCabe of Fine Waterline Models, as he had undertaken the same conversion and he helpfully provided me with a host of advice on where to obtain the etchings and other after-market bits and pieces needed to undertake the conversion. I have to say, I would never have been able to undertake what to me was a monumental project without his advice.

Not long after I had the Tamiya kit and some of the after-market guns etc. but the crucial etching from White Ensign models took months to arrive. This was the first of the many delays in the long gestation and build period of this kit and as the months went by waiting for the WEM etching I lost my modelling mojo altogether. Each time I’d think about starting the project, life would intervene including, sadly, the death of my dad in January 2016.

Finally, I actually started putting the kit together in February 2017, some 5 years after I’d conceived the idea and bought most of the necessary components and 3 years after finishing my last model. The problem was, I’d built this thing up so much in my mind that I was terrified of not being able to do my grandfather justice and completing it became an obstacle to doing any other modelling, because I couldn’t face working on it, let alone completing it. Finally, in December this year, I vowed I would complete it before what would have been my grandfather’s 95th birthday on 17th February, which is tomorrow, and I have put a concerted effort into learning the necessary new techniques and getting it done. Now, at long last, it’s complete and I’ll post some photos of the build, taken over the last 2 or three years, below.

Finally, thanks for reading and well done if you got this far!
2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

Build Photo Log:

February 2017:
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At this point I realised a lot of scratch-building would be required in addition to the etched set and the thing went back on the shelf for another whole year.

February 2018:
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I was using this as a reference for the decks:
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2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

December 2018:

Worn out by the fiddley-ness of all the aftermarket details, the model went back on the shelf for almost another year but I decided to take the bull by the horns over Christmas 2018!

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2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

I changed my mind a few times on the camouflage, using the black & white image of HMS Winchelsea & the colour image of HMCS Restigouche as my references, along with online photos of other completed Western Approaches model ships including the aforementioned HMS Winchelsea by Mike McCabe.

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2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

Throughout January 2019, I set about attacking the base and seascape in earnest. The eruption of water caused by the 500kg bomb was built up in acrylic paste around a spare rocket launcher pod nose cone from a 1/72 Hawker Hunter and stippled with a brush to get the desired effect.

I also rigged the ship at this point - just a minimal amount to add a bit of realism as I was worried about ruining the model if i attempted too much. I think I got it about right & I'm pleased with the end result.

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Decals were kindly donated by JRATZ.

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The JU88 came ftom the Pit Road 1/700 Luftwaffe (1) set.

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2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

Although I didn't use exactly the same method, I found these videos from Vallejo extremely useful for my first ever seascape:

https://youtu.be/yZUtdpH4XOc[/youtube]
https://youtu.be/yZUtdpH4XOc

https://youtu.be/Yeq0G-TYQMU[/youtube]
https://youtu.be/Yeq0G-TYQMU
2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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Jaime
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Jaime »

So to February 2019. I finished the base and the presentation case, which is made from plastic angles and clear plastic sheet, last night and placed the plaque that I got from a local trophy shop on the base. Finally, this monkey is off my back.

It's been a real barrier to getting any other modelling done over the last few years and although there are a few things that are maybe not 100% accurate e.g.the camo colours - happy with the pattern but the colours are a bit washed out, the position of the lantern (?) on the mast (I forgot to cut it & move it higher up before fitting the mast so just left it as-is when I realised), the minimal rigging, the wide bow waves and a couple of other little things, the most important thing was to capture the spirit of that moment in time as my grandfather recounted it.

This meant expressing the idea of the ship steaming through the water at high speed, the violence of the near miss and the JU88 swooping low over the mast.

Overall I'm very pleased with the end result and I don't feel I've bodged it, which was my biggest fear. Finishing this kit has become an obsession in recent weeks, which is why I'm up at 04:15am writing this! Anyway, that's it, it's done! Onwards and upwards!
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2021
Complete: Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose, 1/72: Airfix Swordfish Mk1 Floatplane, Airfix R.A.F. R.E.8, Airfix Hannover CL.111a, Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Curtiss P40B Warhawk
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DavidWomby
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by DavidWomby »

You certainly have not bodged it! That's a terrific build and diorama and a wonderful tribute to your grandfather and his shipmates.

David
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PaulBradley
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by PaulBradley »

Well done! A fitting tribute to your grandfather and I'm sure he'd be fascinated by the results.
Paul

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jssel
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by jssel »

Outstanding. Terrific memorial.
Besting 60 years of mediocre building of average kits in the stand off scale
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gnomemeansgnome
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

That is very cool work. Looks good.
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Clashcityrocker
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Great work. I imagine it's pretty hard doing a tribute piece due to scale limitations etc.
Display it with your Grandad's medals?

Nigel
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Old_Tonto
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by Old_Tonto »

Outstanding work and a fine tribute to your gramps.
I'm sure he would love it.
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splash
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by splash »

Fantastic unbelievable what you have done in 1/700 scale, you must be so proud to have built that to that scale.

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TeeELL
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Re: HMS Winchelsea Seascape Diorama - A promise finally kept

Post by TeeELL »

A magnificent interpretation of an immotive experience. It is so sad your Grandfather did not get to see the end result. My fathe passed last year at the grand age of 100 and I think there were many stories of his wartime carreer that went with him.
Tony

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