Wet Coast whiffery by gnomemeansgnome >> Finished <<

[gnomemeansgnome]

Not sure what to call my whiffery entry (still working on an appropriate name). At present, some chunks of styrofoam and a wooden base, a few bits and bobs left over from my ship builds from 2015, pieces of a scrapped Airfix HMS Iron Duke and a classroom diorama making kit for water and sea-based subjects. Will post images as I putter along.

[gnomemeansgnome]

Okay, the back story...shuffles papers, clears throat......

Concerned that its naval bases were vulnerable to attack from the sea especially after the Von Spee squadron scare, the Royal Canadian Navy with the assistance and connivance of the Royal Navy set about gathering the necessary resources to create a series of island strongpoints. One of these, an island fort which was very much influenced by Fort Drum in Manila Bay was constructed on small rocky outcroppings some distance from the naval facilities at Esquimalt BC in the years after the Great War. With the RN obliged to retire and scrap some of its pre-war dreadnoughts, a ready supply of the excellent 13.5 inch naval rifles in twin gun turret mountings were duly obtained and transported all the way from Britain, while work began on what became known as HMCS Brothers Island, an impregnable stone frigate. The result was a formidable obstacle to any enemy battle fleet that should try to rush Esquimalt, with guns capable of ranges of up to eleven miles. Over the years, as the old guns became obsolete or unserviceable, they were replaced in due course by a battery of three turrets of triple 8" guns of American manufacture, aided by radar, and numerous anti-aircraft weapons. The fort was deactivated shortly after the end of World War Two, and allowed to gently deteriorate until the 1970's. While one of its 13.5" turrets was preserved, the rest of the hardware was eventually sold off for scrap. HMCS Brothers Island is now a World Heritage protected site and a major wildlife sanctuary, off limits to visitors as it is still DND property.

[Kevan Bailey]

I cannot wait to see this. Are you building it as then or now?

[gnomemeansgnome]

I am going to try to pull off what it looked like after completion, then modernisation, and then maybe as a rusted and guano adorned ruin. And not necessarily in that order

[iggie]

Sounds excellent! Looking forward to this!

[gnomemeansgnome]

Same here. I have wanted to build this for a while.

[fredk]

A very unusual subject for Whiffing.

[celt]

This sounds complicated,cant wait to see it progressing.

[TimJ]

This will be different, I'm looking forward to it.

[gnomemeansgnome]

Well, hopefully it won't be too complicated, though I have never built a scale model island before. I am checking out a few online tutorials to try to get a handle on it, and may have to modify or edit some of my cover story as well. Still lining up the materials I am going to need, and Easy-Offed a layer of old paint today from the biggest surviving piece of Iron Duke detritus that will hopefully serve as repurposed decking for the fort.

[SJPONeill]

Interesting idea...there is a card model of Fort Drum here at papermodelers.com http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/vbdo ... oadid=1543; I think you'll need to register to download it though if it was of interest...

[gnomemeansgnome]

Ooh! I like that, but not sure where I would put a 400 scale version of it in my tiny abode. Still trying to determine the turret layout and shape of the fortification. Perhaps this is a little complicated! I have also found out that if HMCS Brothers Island had received American 8" guns to replace the British 13.5" guns they would actually have had a much longer range as well as a higher rate of fire. Not sure how our American cousins would have felt about that, with the battery able to cover a good portion of the Juan de Fuca Straits! Gotta love the what-if's about that.......

[gnomemeansgnome]

Here are the spare sprues from USS Minneapolis and HMS Hood, plus the few bits I was able to salvage from the remains of HMS Iron Duke and the styrofoam bits I hope to wrangle into some semblance of a seafort....












Not sure how to proceed; I am considering some cut up sections of deck with the barbettes and interesting deck detail, and scratchbuilding a tripod mast for the rangefinders. Or maybe I will forgo using the deck , go for an all round concrete island like Fort Drum and pull a Vacant by reconstructing a new Iron Duke around the decking instead

[gnomemeansgnome]

Some slicing, dicing and splicing of the deck, which hopefully will look right. Or not. Still a matter of getting the basic shape right before I commit to cutting, fitting and gluing the styrofoam bits on the bottom and then priming on the whole shooting match. I brought out all the turrets but in the end I think I will only use two at a time.

[gnomemeansgnome]

More futzing about with the major components. Still much guesswork as to how the layout will end up. Here's a couple of pics depicting its look from beginning to almost end.......