HMS Mary Rose -- White Ensign 1/350

[JohnRatzenberger]

Background

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named Mary Rose. The first is thought to have been named after Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England, and the rose, the symbol of the Tudor dynasty. Later Mary Roses are named after the first. The seventh Mary Rose, subject of this build, was an Admiralty M-class destroyer launched in 1915 and after joining the Grand Fleet in 1916, took part in the Battle of Jutland, although without particular distinction.

In October 1917 Mary Rose, along with HMS Strongbow, were assigned to escort a convoy to Scandinavia. At dawn of October 17, 1917, the convoy was spotted and attacked by two Imperial German light cruisers/ minelayers, SMS Brummer and SMS Bremse. In keeping with the highest traditions of the Royal Navy and the destroyer force in particular, both escorting destroyers charged their greatly superior opponents in an attempt to allow the convoy to escape. Strongbow was hit and disabled by the first salvo from the cruisers and sank three hours later. Mary Rose continued to press in against the two cruisers in an attempt to torpedo them. Before she could reach torpedo-firing range, she was sunk by the German cruisers. With no further opposition, the cruisers massacred the convoy, sinking nine of the twelve merchant ships.

Vital Statistics:
Built by Swan Hunter as part of the M Class Emergency War Program, First Order, Admiralty Design; launched 8 October 1915. Sisterships had slight variations among themselves in dimensions, displacement, machinery, and horsepower based upon the yards building them.
Length- 273 ft 4 in; Beam- 26 ft 8 in; Draught- 9 ft 6 in; Displacement: 1,025 tons.
Complement: 80.
Machinery: 3 shaft Brown-Curtis geared turbines; three Yarrow boilers; 25,940 shp; 34 knots
Armament: three 4"/45 cal QF guns, Mk. IV; four 21" torpedo tubes 2x2; two 2 pdr QF guns


The Kit



This is an older kit, but it is a goodie !!! White Ensign is just top-notch IMHO; they have been a source of aftermarket, paints, books, and kits for me for years. Their service is at the top of the industry, again IMHO.



I mention it is an older kit for two reasons. First, it has a lengthy and extensive instruction booklet. While WEM has, in their newer releases, succumbed to the shorter, modeler check their references, style, their instructions are still great -- but these are just outstanding. The second reason I mention the Mary Rose is an older kit is that I believe I have a newer release and about 2/3 of the resin detail has been replaced with white-metal. It's OK, just looking at the fineness of the white-metal tells me the resin must have been too delicate to survive packing.


I'll talk about parts as I go through the assembly, but let me simply say the resin is about the finest I have seen -- along with WEM, maybe Resicast does as well -- yet again, IMHO and I don't know everything either. But it is just beautiful. You are probably looking for pour blocks -- there are none, they've already been removed, by WEM !! Only the white metal needs clean-up, and it not very much.




I've raved about the instructions above, here's some sample pages. There are diagrams for each of the photo-etch parts, a step-by-step description of the build, and an overall picture pointing out where things go.












WW1 subjects don't have near the structure or the detail that WW2 ship subjects do, so it is relatively simple kit. That plus the WEM quality, should make this an "easy" build and I cannot wait to get started. I really have no other references so I'm not going to be looking to "accurize" this -- it'll be OOB unless something jumps out at me.

[Karaya]

Outstanding. Looking forward to this build.

[JohnRatzenberger]

And we're off .... I had a few things come up that meant I didn't hit it right away but have had to piece-meal through the past two days.

As usual with a resin kit, my first step was to wash it -- mild dish detergent in warm water, scrubbed by a soft toothbrush, then rinsed in room temp water, again scrubbed with a soft toothbrush. I have a couple foil baking pans I use for the purpose so no parts can escape. I should have taken a picture. At the same time I wash the parts, I inventory them and look for damages. I am also careful to count the parts into the soapy water and back out again so I don't leave something hiding in the suds ….

As usual, my next step it to make a balsa workstand. It is covered in wax paper so I can put glued or painted sub-assemblies on to dry without sticking. The stand holds the ship and protects the props, rudders, and the painted under-hull while working on it.



I drilled holes in the waterline half of the hull -- the wood dowels fit into the holes. Later the formal display stand will anchor there.



And here's the upper hull just sitting on it all.



I have a slight problem. The upper & lower hull halves do not quite mate up. If I hold the bow & stern in perfect alignment, midships is slightly offset. If I hold the bow & midships in alignment, the stern is slightly offset. You'll note the model has pins in the lower hull to mate with holes in the upper hull. I slightly opened those holes but while that took a minor mismatch out fore-aft, it didn't fix the other.

This is NOT a fatal flaw, just a minor glitch that I didn't expect from WEM -- I'm not convinced I have done all I can do and will study it some more tomorrow.

Also, I usually drill out portholes (see Iron Duke) but not on resin kits with solid holes hulls, but I did run a pin drill into each one just to be sure they were clean and round.

[JamesPerrin]

I'm impressed with the dedicated jig. It's too easy to rush into a new kit without realising you need such a thing.

[fenman]

Nice one John. I love the workstand idea, I may shamelessly steal that one

I will be watching this with interest as I have only attempted one resin kit, again a WEM one. It was a 1:700 modern destroyer and finally went in the bin a few weeks ago, it was just plain awful, put me off buying another as they are so expensive. Not sure if the kit was at fault or my expectations.

[MerlinJones]

This looks like one of those quality kits that's worth every penny. A lot of work ahead, however.

Looking forward to a slow and steady progress.

Regards,
Bruce

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have had a lot of interruptions and while something has been done, I have no pix -- maybe Sunday.

The upper hull is glued to the lower hull. I got it as close as I could.
I'm hoping weather is good enough Sunday that I can take it outside and sand it into shape.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I've been (slowly) fixing the hull mis-match problem. As it requires some heavy resin sanding, I have had to wait until the weather cleared to take it outside and work on.

Here is where I am today. Starboard side is done, port side is about 2/3 done.





I haven't done anything else, I am somewhat single-threaded at the start of a build and I have to get through my little kabuki dance on the initial steps before I branch out. Besides I have lots on the workbench now and am not lacking for things to do …

[JamesPerrin]

Coming along John. Warpage is something that puts a lot of people of resin kits, especially when it is in the same plane as the mating surface because it can't be overcome by simple clamping. I've have a few kits that always go back in the stash after I look at the ill fitting parts.

[JohnRatzenberger]

With the hull cleaned up, I put on the struts and rudder. These are white metal, but clean-up easily. I drilled through the struts and into the glands so my shafts would help keep things aligned. Before I paint, I'll pull the shafts and paint them separately, as well as fit the props to them, so they all go together nicely later.



Next step is painting the hull AND starting to mask off the deck -- the corticene and steel parts are a rather complicated pattern. I do have an issue in that my tin of Anti-fouling Red is running low; it may be a near run thing to get both Iron Duke and Mary Rose done.

We're on a small trip over a long weekend so there won't be any updates until May 1st, or so.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Very sorry for sporadic posts, but we have a lot going on and are now off on a care-giving trip until Tuesday. Then I have several other days consumed when we get back.

In my own quirky way of hull painting, the red hull and black boot stripe are done. I'll paint the upper hull when I get back and then I hope to start moving faster than I have been.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, life sure got in the way of this one (and Iron Duke). I have had little bench time and progress has been slow.



Nonetheless, here we are. The hull is painted, although I now see a slight seam just below deck level on the port quarter that I'll need to fix and touch up.

In all the handling, I managed to break a few bitts & bollards and have replaced them with wire. The struts are on, the props and propshafts are painted and ready. I carefully drilled out the hawse holes so I can insert the anchor with stock and properly attach same -- a bit risky but I got the alignment right.

I have started to paint some of the deck pieces. As with the hull, I am using WEM RN03, AP507C Admiralty Light Grey, but it is so thin that I first have to give a 1-2 coats of Humbrol 147 as a base, then at least two of the WEM -- all these coats, with drying time, just adds to the build time. BTW, Humbrol 147 is a good match to Admiralty Light Grey, perhaps just a tad bluer.

I really hope to have the hull done by Friday and have a start on the rather complex corticene and steel deck pattern. After that, it'll go much better, he says wishfully.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Yes, the balsa is a temp stand; I build them for every ship model. As to the permanent stand, I don't know, but there are two holes in the underside for the mounting. It was a bit less than straightforward when I encountered a slight warpage/mis-match between the upper & lower hull sections. Other than that, it is a bit odd for a ship in that there are very few resin/white-metal parts because of WW1 destroyer design; once I get the deck painted and the few big pieces mounted, it'll be mostly photo-etch.


Today, I decided to try and get ahead of the model, rather than continue to pursue my usual straight-narrow approach to the hull. While still working it (tape came off today), I also painted all the PE Admiralty Light Grey; attached 8 W/T doors (7 of which will be almost, if not completely, invisible), and started detail work on the bridge structure. There are two opening to be cut in the wings for ladders and that was easy -- WEM cast just a thin piece at those two places. There is a block on the bridge meant to be a chart table; a P/E piece is provided as an alternative, but I don't see the block coming out without making a mess -- I don't know why they did it this way. I think I'll treat it as a chart table/cabinet and move along. I also put a base coat of Adm Lt Grey on the deck structures -- I'll have to do less once I get the deck itself painted; which should start tomorrow.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thanks, but I have what I need -- WEM kits are pretty thorough, and I've done some other research.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Now we start painting the deck. Again the WEM Corticene is too thin so I've put on a base coat of Humbrol 186 Brown, which wouldn't look too bad itself, except a bit dark.



Next get the WEM to cover then on to Dark Grey steel decks. I have also started to clean up the white metal parts, which are tiny and I'm really afraid I'll lose a couple. The intakes are disappointingly solid and I have started to try to drill them out a little but it is not easy as they are so small. Another minor problem with the white metal parts is that there is no "sprue shot" of them -- you have to work through two assembly drawings to figure them out -- it isn't insurmountable.