Bunch of Flowers1

"A Lovely Bunch of Flowers"

Building Five Corvettes by Chris Drage

INTRODUCTION

In this article I will describe how to build a White Ensign Models Flower Class corvette straight from the box as exemplified by HMS's Buttercup and Bluebell. I will also describe how to change and modify the Buttercup kit to make other close variants of the same model. Before embarking on any modelling at this level, it is absolutely vital to have the best references that you can find to hand. In this case I used Ensign 3 ‘Flower Class Corvettes’ by Raven and Roberts, ‘Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy’, and the excellent drawings by John Lambert available from WEM. It is easy to assume that you can build any of the long foc’sle corvettes from the White Ensign kit. This is simply not so. Each Flower Class corvette was unique and no two are exactly the same. Therefore the reliance on a good reference books, photos and drawings, is absolutely vital. Similarly, it is essential that you ascertain whether the kit can represent the particular ship you want to model. Even among the longer foc'sle type of Flowers we see amazing differences even in the hull shape. For example, there are some with longer foc'sles than others. It is important to gauge and to ascertain the type of foc’sle for each corvette you wished to model. With the WEM kit we find that Bluebell has a shorter ‘long’ foc’sle, than Buttercup.

It is a matter of checking every photographic reference book that you have. I decided that the ones for which I had good photographic references were HMCS Snowberry, HMS Loosestrife, and HMS Alisma. These three corvettes also sufficient variations in their deck details to make them interesting and a worthwhile building project. Also these five subjects would mean that only a minimum amount of scratch building would be required.

The Flower Class corvette kit is not one for the beginner due to the small size of the subject and the number of fiddly parts. I would recommend this kit for the intermediate and experienced modellers who are practised in using etch brass components. Similarly, painting such a highly detailed and diminutive model does place a great deal of pressure on the less experienced modeller. In order to build the five corvettes required I ordered one kit of HMS Bluebell, and five kits of a HMS Buttercup.

THE BUILD

Unless you're planning to put your finished corvette on a smooth surface or seascape it will be necessary to build the full hull model especially if you are to site your corvette in any sea which has a modicum of waves. These diminutive craft were well known to 'slip on wet grass' and bounce in and out of waves always exposing some part of their lower hull.

The WEM kit provides both upper and the lower parts to the hull and these must be joined. The first task is to clean up the hulls. Both have a large moulding sprue still attached and this must be removed very carefully. Not an easy task, so you must take care. Use a sharp modelling knife to remove the bulk and be prepared to file carefully. I found that by rubbing the upper hull and the lower hull onto a large file, I managed to smooth and marry the two parts and make a very close joint. Even so be prepared to use some filler in order to make good the joint. I used Plastic Padding car filler, which sets quickly and can be filed. For final sanding and smoothing I used 380 grit, wet and dry paper- used wet. It pays to spend some time getting the two parts of the hull properly joined and smoothly furnished as this will be very evident in the final model and that even the best painting will not disguise mistakes, cracks or joints. Although the WEM instructions suggest that you add the propeller and rudder at this stage, I did not. These fragile items would be added at a later stage when I was ready to mount the model on its base. When the hull pieces had been sanded smooth, I mounted the assembly onto a iced lolly stick with the Bluetack which is a sticky, plastic, material used for putting up posters on walls. This provided a suitable temporary platform to support the models during construction until they were mounted on their permanent bases.

Above: Preparing the hulls and Smoothing, filling and joining the 2 hull pieces

I began by assembly in the upper deck details as per the instructions. Steps 3, 4 and 5 are fairly straightforward. If you are not experienced with etch brass, try bending etch brass components carefully using flat pliers for 90 degree angles or around knife blades for acute/obtuse angles or around handles for curves. When building the pom-pom, I first cement the base of the gun into its zareba then use clasping tweezers to hold small assemblies like the barrel and the shield of the pom-pom while they set. Adding the forward ventilators is a bit tricky, as there is very little space between the funnel and the edge of the deckhouse. Some judicious trimming of the deck details on the deckhouse is required in order to make the ventilators sit comfortably and up right. The ventilators can point aft as well as forward. Photographs show ventilators pointed in almost random directions. The four short ventilators on the aft deckhouse don't present such a problem. A (remember to trim about the one millimetre from the base of the two, forward, tall ventilators. Next I secured the radar lantern to its housing on the bridge. It was quite a surprise to realise when I checked the plans for Alisma, to find that the radar lantern had been considerably shortened and on that ship. Some judicious filing was required.

Corvette flavoured lollies!

Two items to take great care with are the bridge supports. These are fine, etch brass parts require great care in order not to distort them. I found the best method of fixing these items, was to place a little Impact2 contact adhesive under the bridge and run up a thin layer on the deck where the supports were to stand. When tacky, I added the bridge supports. In one instance I found that there was not enough space to accommodate the support so once again careful filing was required in order to create the right gap for the support. One of the most noticeable differences in these ships is the placement of the carley floats and their supports. I had to fabricate extra supports for Alisma and reposition other ships’ float supports where required. Again only good photographs provide the information. Buttercup has mine sweeping equipment on the deck and an acoustic hammer on the bow. Through trial and error I decided that the best way to model the acoustic hammer was to use a combination of etch brass supports and resin 'hammer'.

To Buttercup's minesweeping reel can be added rigging thread to represent the mine sweeping line. Do this before adding the etch drum ends. The etch brass davits and fairleads, are extremely small and can be easily misplaced or lost. Take great care here. If you are not confident using C.A. glue, then I suggest using Evostik Impact2 instead. Put a tiny amount of this contact adhesive onto both the base and part, let them dry, then place them together. These gives you time to reposition and to straighten the piece before the adhesive dries. If you really want to make sure of a strong and rigid joint then add a tiny amount of C.A. glue later. Ideally use a C.A. glue with about a five-second setting time.

Above: Davits and fine details added

With regard to Loosestrife's 20mm sponsons, I opted to fashion these from the very thin plastic card. Not having any good photographs of Loosestrife apart from the one in the Ensign 3, I'd decided to fashion these to match those of HMS Azalea, which is featured in the photograph above. These sponsons are not quite square in plan view but have one side angled outwards. Firstly, I cut out the bases and attached these. When I was happy that these were horizontal and were firm, I proceeded to construct the sides of each sponson. Again, these were fashioned from very thin plastic card. I joined the pieces using Slaters Metpak solvent. The supports for each sponson and were fashioned from etch brass pieces left on the fret and were joined using impact adhesive. These sponsons were the most difficult part of the scratch building required on any the five model ships.

Above: Scratchbuilding Loosestrife's sponsons

The only other item that required scratch building was Alisma’s mine sweeping capstan and winch. These were built using plastic rod and card. One point to note about assembling the depth charge racks and depth charges. I painted the resin depth charges first, only adding the etch brass racks when dry. When assembled, these would be added later when most of the after deck details were in place and the ship had been given an initial spray with white undercoat.

Although well detailed as these kits are, they nevertheless lack one of two details that are all too evident on the drawings and photographs. Additional pipes on the funnel for one and the weather shield, which protects the hedgehog throwers for another. These appear both on the kit’s plans and drawings, but are not included as part of the mouldings. I fashioned these from plastic card, again noting the differences on each corvette. Another small detail, which is lacking on the original casting, are the depth charge sinkers which protrude at right angles from the depth charge, look for all they are worth, like a stalk. These I fashioned from plastic rod and carefully assembled on the moulded depth charges insuring as best I could that they were placed in the same position as depicted in the photographs. You do not have to go to these lengths but I feel it is important if you are to get the character of the original ship and accurately portray it. The etch brass set accompanying the corvette kits has sufficient parts to enable a great deal of detailing but again it is important to check and only the photographs reveal which items were on a ship at a particular date. When it came to adding the 20mm anti-aircraft guns, I preferred to leave the moulded resin blocks in place and mount the gun shield and barrel assembly on these. However, when it came to placing the guns on Loosestrife’s sponsons, the photo etch pedestals proved a necessity.

Above: All depth charge sinkers added

Next came the mast assembly. The kit provides brass rod for the masts and plastic rod for the crosstrees. I substituted 0.008-inch brass rod for the crosstrees as well. I prefer to have the added strength of the brass rod when I assemble masts. This is a personal preference as I find it helps when rigging to actually make the mast quite strong. I use Blue tack to hold the brass rod in place on the template provided with the instruction sheet. I add the cross trees having already cut that to size. When dry the mast is secured on the model making sure of the correct angle and alignment. Most corvettes appeared not to have the lower crosstree that is depicted in the drawings in the instruction sheet. When this task was complete, the models were ready for overall spray of white undercoat. Lastly, the depth charge racks were added prior to hand painting.

Many modellers will raise their eyebrows when they realise that I paint these models retrospectively, after they are assembled. Many modellers prefer, quite correctly to paint subassemblies as the construction proceeds. This is the preferred method of working but I am hampered in that my modelling space is extremely limited and it would necessitate putting everything away and replacing it with painting equipment, which is rather tedious. I would rather dedicate more time to painting even though it may take longer. When painting these models it is essential to try to obtain a scale effect to the paint colour. I always try to tone down colours slightly to make sure there is a scale effect to the paint job. This is usually achieved by adding one of the lighter constituents of the paint mix, for example a dark grey will be toned down by the addition of very pale grey or even white; similarly with blue and other shades. For the Western Approaches colour scheme that most of the corvettes wore during World War Two, I used Tamiya masking tape to mask the areas off as I paint. When doing this, especially on a small model like a corvette, you need to take great care that any seepage that appears under the masking tape is dealt with promptly on completion of that particular panel. Don't be tempted to leave the masking tape in place whilst you work on another area. It is best to remove the tape promptly. I began by painting the lower hull red oxide using the Humbrol colours suggested in the instructions. When this was dry and any paint seepage had been dealt with, I proceeded to paint the decks. It was interesting to note on several corvettes where wooden panels appeared as part of the decking. Both Alisma and Buttercup had wooden panels abaft the astern end of the deckhouse. When the decks were dry I proceeded to paint the camouflage patterns on the hull and superstructure.

Above: Lower hulls painted

Loosestrife has a light Admiralty disruptive scheme, which appears to be:

Deck: G20 (3xH31 + 1x H34)

Hull/superstructure: G10 (H79 + white to tone it down)

G45 (3xH34 + 1xH87)

507c (H147)

While the ships were drying, I proceeded to construct the bases, which were to roughly depict the bottom of a dry dock. To do this I used plastic card and scribed suitable sized blocks representing the concrete on the bottom of the drydock. Onto this I assembled dozens of plastic rods to represent the cradle which supports the ship. When dry, these were painted in a suitable concrete colour. The corvettes were now ready to be glued onto the completed bases.

Above: Concrete drydock bases

At this point I add the etch brass railings which I had already sprayed with Halford's grey Primer. My preferred method is to use the Impact2 adhesive, which is so forgiving. The railings in this kit are very fine and must be treated with care. Ladders too are added at this stage. It was at this point that I discovered that both Buttercup and Alisma had landings for each ladder! These were added using the ubiquitous plastic card.

Pendant numbers were added next. These I make myself using Letraset Helvetica 8pt, black and white lettering. I rub the letters onto decal film, cut these out with a scalpel and affix using Decal setting solution. When dry a coat of matt varnish makes them more or less permanent. Again check references as to whether your corvette had a stern number or not.

Rigging is the last task. Not yet up to Jim Bauman’s amazing standard, I opted to use my tried and tested 0.004" wire. Measured using a pair of dividers and secured using C.A.glue, these remain taut and need no straightening. However, sags and bows can be easily added if required. Voila: five unique and detailed corvettes.

HMS Bluebell K80