Clearwater Models: September 2019

Monday 23 September 2019

BRANDENBURG GATE (Ravensburger)

Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) in Berlin is a national treasure of Germany, and a symbol of European unity in the modern world. It was built in 1788-1791 on order of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II to commemorate the temporary order after the Batavian Revolution. The Tor is based on the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens.

This is a "Ravensburger 3D Puzzle" model (#12 551 7) made totally of plastic including the 324 puzzle pieces. All walls are normal shaped puzzle pieces. Columns and roofs and base are injection-moulded plastic as are the Quadriga figures on top. The models is about 32 cm wide by 26 cm high by 17 cm deep at the base.

Brandenburger Tor by Ravensburger

HMS SHEFFIELD - DESTROYED 1982 (Dragon)

This is the Dragon 1:700 scale model of the Royal Naval destroyer HMS Sheffield, which was hit and destroyed by an Argentine Exocet anti-ship missile near the Falklands/Malvinas on 04 May 1982, thus becoming the first RN ship in almost four decades sunk in action.

HMS Sheffield was a Type 42 Batch 1 guided missile destroyer laid down at Barrow-in-Furness in 1970, commissioned in 1975, and entering operations in 1980.

HMS Sheffield was part of Task Force 317 sent into battle during the Argentina-United Kingdom war in the South Atlantic. She was struck by an AM-39 EXOCET air-launched anti-ship missile from the Argentine Naval Air Service's Super Entendard aircraft on 4 May and foundered on 10 May. The second Exocet missile crashed into the sea only 400 m from the ship.

Aircraft 3-A-202 piloted by Augusto Bedacarratz; and 3-A-203 piloted by Armando Mayora, both fired on the Sheffield at the same time. Five seconds after being spotted, one Exocet hit amidships about 2.4 m above the waterline, opening the hull. It penetrated as far as the galley and exploded causing the death of eight cooks. Fire erupted immediately and the ship filled with smoke. The Sheffield had taken no defensive actions as its electronic detection systems never saw the missiles or aircraft approaching. It was thought at the time the warhead had not exploded. Recent RN research proved the warhead did in fact detonate.

This is my first warship with photo-etch railings and electronics/antenna. It was a steep learning curve. The hull was thinned and opened up. Smoke is cotton wool with soot powder. The model kit came from the Bill Wilson collection.

HMS Sheffield - Falklands/Malvinas - 04 May 1982

Royal Navy photograph courtesy of militaryimages.net

HMS Sheffield - Falklands/Malvinas - 04 May 1982

Second place in the small powered ships category at the Syracuse, USA, SYRCON competition, 20 Oct 2019.

Sunday 22 September 2019

RUTAN VOYAGER (A-Models)

This is a very wide 1:72 scale plastic model of the Voyager (N269VA) designed by Burt Rutan and flown around the world non-stop and unrefueled by Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager 14-23 December 1986. It took them nine days, three hours and 44 seconds to travel 42 432 km around the world at about 194 km/hr. In doing so it became the first aircraft ever to do the trip unrefueled, and it broke all previous flight endurance records. The FAI formally credits the flight at 40 212 km at an altitude averaging 3350 m.

The A-Model kit is very rough and there are bad surfaces in the molds. It required a lot of sanding and putty. The landing gear is unspeakably bad, so it was replaced by closed gear doors (also bad) and mounted in flight configuration. Paint is Rust-oleum spray can gloss white. The four flat windows were horrible, and were replaced with white glue which dries clear. The decals were delicate and split apart. I mounted the aircraft on a bisected plastic globe filled with cardboard.

The model has a nearly half metre wingspan, so is tough to transport.