Where Have All the Flowers Gone *** Finished ***

[iggie]

It's very difficult to decide any Flower Class what the deck colours are; some retained original wooden decks, some never had widen decks in the first place......
I'd go with whatever you feel happy with as once they left the dockyards then it was largely up to their commanding officers.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thanks, Splash. All Flowers underwent at least one conversion/upgrade, usually from short f'csle to long, which in Sackville's case didn't take place until spring of '44. Then she made only one convoy before being laid up with a leaky boiler in September and relegated to training.

Most photos of Sackville, and there aren't many, are of her early days. I have found one photo after conversion, but I believe also that it is Sept or later, while on training duty (from the number of folks hanging about the main gun).



This photo is enough to confirm changes I need to make to Bluebell to "represent" Sackville:
-- remove the sidepiece on both sides next to the main gun.
-- extend the upper deck back just a bit to behind the funnel.
-- add a 2nd Carley float launch on each side.
-- move the 2pdr bandstand aft, and the 2 Lewis guns forward
That Sackville was a few feet longer is left to the viewer's imagination.

Yes, what they have done looks very good and I'll compare that with a few photos on the camo. If it weren't for the effort they have put into the ship, and the documentation, Sackville would be hard to pin down. Any other details won't be visible in 1/700. I had previously "swiped" that PDF, I have a folder full of Flower info, and a number of books on Flowers, particularly in the RCN. I went out on ABE and ordered a few old bio's and fiction also, another present to myself ....

[splash]

In the photo is that a crows nest above the radar?

[iggie]

In the photo is that a crows nest above the radar?

Yep!
I bet the lookout was nice and warm with all the energy radiating just below his backside

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have been through numerous pix online and have:
-- established the basic camo pattern
-- determined there was a boat on starboard only
-- the bridge is wood deck and teak color
-- the foredeck is steel and is painted MS2

I tend to believe the boat is period-correct, see the photo just above from Sep 44, and the number of Carley floats doubled.
I do not know about the foredeck, it could have been replaced any time - I think I will keep the wood deck of the model, but paint it MS2.

I am putting the red anti-foul on now and have the other paints out ....

[splash]

That sounds like a good plan.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Although I continue to struggle with the ocean base -- it's more a matter of 24-36 hour drying time before I can evaluate for what to do next - I have gotten under weigh on the corvette itself, starting with the basic hull, deck and structure paint ...

[iggie]

Looking good John
I thought mine challenged normal eyesight at 1/350 let alone yours!

[Stuart]

I agree with Iggie, that's a really nice - if small - bit of work John

[JohnRatzenberger]

And yesterday I started adding deck details, like all these tiny funnels ....



And here we are, none lost. The plans show some even tinier ones aft then say "they were too small to cast but I could make my own" - right ....



My current goal is to get just enough on that I can do the blue camo, or at least the majority of it. Then I'll add more detail and touch-up as (is always) needed ....

And meanwhile, the ocean is still drying ...

[splash]

That's coming along nice.

[iggie]

And meanwhile, the ocean is still drying ...

That's global warming for yer!

Looking good though Andrew!

[Molly-new]

Looking good, will you be tackling the PE or leaving it off?

[JohnRatzenberger]

The rest of the kit is almost all PE, not much choice. Fortunately I have a spare set ... somewhere ....

[DavidWomby]

This is looking great, John, and I admire your dexterity getting those air intakes in place!!

David