Leander Class Frigate Build

[KiwiKev]

The Airfix 1:600 HMS Leander still seems to be a popular and sought after kit. At about 7 and a half inches long its a smaller model to tackle than some of the bigger ones, so is a nice option if you want to build something with a bit less work involved. I will diary my build here.

[KiwiKev]

One of the most iconic fittings on post war British ships was the large Mk6 twin 4.5 inch mounting. I had earlier purchased two 3D printed ones from Micro-master, so will use my second one on this model.

It's pictured below with the original supplied with the kit. You'll notice how much wider the after-market turret is, how much narrower the slot for the barrels is, and how much finer the dividing strip is between the barrels.

I may also have a go at modifying the original turret to the same dimensions, as I have a Daring to do and that will need three turrets. Much as I like the Micro-master parts, they can tend to blow out the budget somewhat, so if scratch built modifications work OK, that is always the cheaper option.

[Sailorman]

Here's mine built as Penelope. Lovely little kit. I'm looking forward to seeing your build.

[Sailorman]

Have you ever tried moulding turrets in Resin? I use plastacine, press the master turret into the plastacine and withdraw it carefully. I then pour resin into the "mould" and once it hardens then hey presto! With a bit of cleaning up you get a usable item.

[Sailorman]

This was a scout figure I cast some years ago for Ratch. The original is on the left and the resin one on the right. It was cast in sections and glued together. The system works well. I often use it for casting lifeboats for my liners.

[KiwiKev]

Looks like you're replying to my comment and pic of the turrets, but its gone. No I haven't tried molding yet. The original turret looks relatively easy to "fix". 1 mm styrene glued either side, open up the centre barrel slot, and line the sides with 0.5 mm, and that is most of it done. Then just some detailing to do.

[KiwiKev]

This photo shows the method used to modify the original 4.5 turret.

1 mm styrene sheets are glued either side to widen it.

The original barrel dividing strip has been cut and drilled out and the slot sides filed smooth.

0.5 mm styrene is glued on the inside edges of the slot to narrow it.

0.5 mm styrene has been glued on the base of the turret.

a further 6mm diamter circle of 0.5 mm styrene was glued on the base.

The turret captain's window has been added to the right hand side of the turret roof.

The original barrels have the tag at the end trimmed so they sit a little lower in the turret, and glued either side of a replacement dividing strip of 0.5 mm styrene.

A lot more detailing has yet to be done. The edges of the turret are all rounded as can be seen by looking at the micro-master item. Most advisable to paint the inside of the barrel slot and the barrels and dividing strip BEFORE gluing in place.

Once additional detail is added and the whole thing tidied up and painted, this should provide a really good likeness of the 4.5 turret, which can also be used on the "Daring" and "Devonshire" models.

A word of warning, before gluing the styrene to the vertical surfaces, make sure they are filed vertical, as any angle will show up badly. I learned this the hard way so what you see below left is take 2.

[KiwiKev]

Progress shot showing the modified 4.5 inch turret painted and dry fitted.

The bridge wings are original but with an attempt to file down the inside of the shield to reduce their thickness. The shield around the lookout positions behind the bridge have been replaced with thin styrene more in keeping with the scale.

As this will be a Kiwi Leander, the Limbo mortar well will be plated over and a pair of triple AS torpedo tubes will be mounted on the white deck extensions protruding either side of the hangar. These should not be added to RN Leanders.

The Seacat Director is not original, but a left-over from an Airfix HMS Tiger kit. This item is much better than the one supplied with the Leander kit, it's reasonably accurate and also has the octagonal platform around its base.

Next step will be detailing the superstructure. It needs doors, ladders, port holes, and other fittings, some of which are supplied with the WEM PE. Also needed is a platform aft of the bridge wings for the life-rafts, and then the painful task of trying to produce 12 tiny canisters of about the right size and shape. The ones supplied are definitely not right. That Tiger kit might come to the rescue again with life-rafts too.

[KiwiKev]

Superstructure detail. Amazing how rough my bridge windows appear in close-up. I may add some additional conduits and cables and equipment boxes just to add some interest. The forward director has also been borrowed from a spare "Tiger" kit. With slight modification it makes a passable MRS-3.

The small hatch / door on the front of the superstructure should probably be a bit lower. The "V" shaped brackets are from the WEM Post WW2 RN set.

There is a styrene platform about 2.5 mm wide added behind the bridge wings for the life-raft canisters.

[Sailorman]

You raise the issue of the bridge windows. Have you tried printing your own? I print mine on an inkjet onto clear decal paper. Once printed let them dry overnight and give them a couple of coats of clear lacquer. Then cut them out and apply in the usual manner. You can juggle around with the windows to get strips of the right size. This makes it easier to get them straight. I use Excel to plot the windows.

Here is the Airfix Queen Elizabeth. All the windows are home made decals. Right click on the picture and "open in a new tab"

[KiwiKev]

You raise the issue of the bridge windows. Have you tried printing your own? I print mine on an inkjet onto clear decal paper. Once printed let them dry overnight and give them a couple of coats of clear lacquer. Then cut them out and apply in the usual manner. You can juggle around with the windows to get strips of the right size. This makes it easier to get them straight. I use Excel to plot the windows.

Here is the Airfix Queen Elizabeth. All the windows are home made decals. Right click on the picture and "open in a new tab"

Very nice. Actually mine were paper glued to the bridge face, then painted in situ, but in hind sight I should have cut them out, painted them black, then glued them on. This would be a bit more finicky but would provide a neater result. I have a spare bridge up my sleeve, so may try this and if it works sub it in. All dry fit at this stage.

 

 

[Sailorman]

You can also buy clear decal sheet and paint it black then cut them out and apply them .......or find some old decal .... a roundel or something similar - paint it black, cut windows to size and apply them. Always remember to apply them on a gloss coat and to apply a clear lacquer after they are dry. When you apply a final satin coat to the ship when it is complete they will blend in nicely.

[KiwiKev]

If completing this model as a full hull there are two major changes that need to be made below the waterline. First is to straighten out the shafts, by creating new fairings in line with the props and rudder, and extending the shafts to reach them. This is shown below.

The original arrangement has the fairings for the shafts on the center-line skeg, which means the shafts come out at an angle to the ships center-line which is incorrect.

The other problem is with the original props which are 4 bladed, but they should be 5 bladed. The props supplied with the HMS Amazon kit are ideal if you have some spare, otherwise you'll need to scratch build or buy replacements. I'll scratch build some, as I still have the template somewhere from my Type 12 conversion.

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[KiwiKev]

Dry fit of major superstructure parts showing most of the WEM PE apart from deck railings. I built a simple rig to assist with gluing the yards to the mast and that was worth the time as it is such a fiddly job and trying to do it entirely by hand is challenging to say the least.

Despite my trepidation, it all went together reasonably well, apart from the large Type 965 antenna. I found the best way to do this was to superglue the outside parts square first, then position the inside spacers with PVA initially. This was because my first attempt to superglue all the spacers on to the front face and parallel worked until I glued the rear panel on and tried straightening the internal spacers, where upon they promptly all fell apart.

Maybe it was just my bad technique, but anyway its all together and looking OK now.

[KiwiKev]

Basically complete. The PE and added scratch built details complement the basic model. This shot shows the stowed gangways either side of the hangar opening that were scratch built, the modified Seacat missile launcher, triple torpedo tubes, and the windows on the launch that are probably too big, but are at least nice and neat, due to making my own transfers, paper strips painted black and glued on. This is much better than attempting to mask or free hand on this scale, as long as you get the paper size right. Next time!!

View from the other side. Not very happy with the alignment of the scratch built life rafts. The tubes on the deck edge, one between the boat davits and one under the bridge wing, I presume are stowed boarding nets. Whatever they are, all Leanders seem to have them, so they were scratch built.

And a couple of overall shots. I haven't made the wasp yet. Not sure the one provided is of the right proportions. I may look at some photos and perhaps scratch build the fuselage as it looks pretty basic.