Yeah, the Uganda's almost done Paul but I haven't been able to get in touch with Steve about it for weeks. He hasn't laid eyes on the model since early September and should be pleasantly surprised. Uganda's appearance has been greatly improved and everything inside is now neatly laid out and secured to the hull. Last night I shaped a generic funnel cap from 1/8" styrene suitable for the Southampton, Fiji, Uganda, and Swiftsure Classes and HMS London post-reconstruction. I made a rubber mold, cast the first funnel cap overnight and have a second one curing now. They'll look a lot better than the original flat topped funnels. Extending the forward funnel 3/8" to scale height made a surprisingly big improvement in the appearance of the model. Tomorrow I'll finish the last 2 twin 4" mounts, add the tripod foremast, touch up the superstructure paint job and Uganda's ready to go back to Steve. All he'll need to do is install the receiver, a Dean's minwhip antenna, and run speed trials. Bob
Hi Bob, I ran into Steve at Home Depot last Sat. after the snow. I told him to call you wrt his ship. He was supposed to install the two new boilers he bought and with the crappy weather last weekend, the timeings may have been shifted. J
HMS Uganda's rebuild is finally finished except for the aft pair of twin 4" gun mounts. It'll get more detailing at a later date. I was up until 0200h building a new styrene bridge around and over the fiberglass original that was 50% too short. There was no way to correct the rounded front without hours of work so I disguised it by fitting a compass platform with the correct flat front and rounded corners. Today I soldered the tripod foremast from brass tubing and added styrene hangar doors to the blank aft end of the forward superstructure. The addition of ~40 portholes, 14 W/T doors, funnel caps, the 4" gun mounts, hangar doors, taller forefunnel, foremast, scale size main gun barrels and a semi-scale bridge have made a huge inprovement in the appearance of the model. I have a life raft of the correct size so may mold 18 copies for the sides of the hangars (9/side). I'll also take a mold of the maple leaves on the HMCS Prince Robert's aft funnels and make a pair for the HMCS Uganda. The superstructure was painted this afternoon and the model was photographed a few minutes ago. Photos will be posted later today. All that's left for Steve Hill to do is install a Dean's minwhip antenna in the hole pre-drilled under the tripod foremast, make a pump outlet restrictor that'll reduce the output to 0.75 gpm, and take Uganda out for speed trials. Bob
Good question Mikey. Next on the 'to build' list is a light fiberglass hangar deck for the Ibuki. to be glassed to the Mogami hull. That has to be done between the 9th and 11th while Kim is away visiting her parents. What to do in addition to Ibuki this winter? Hulls: I have untouched hulls for the Indefatigable, Furious, Sri Ayuthia, Albatross and Krasni Krimi, a hull, fiberglass deck and turret set for HMS Rodney, and a cut-out hull and fiberglass deck for Vanguard. I'm also getting either a London or Colony Class hull in exchange for rebuilding Steve Hill's HMCS Uganda. Of those I'm most likely to build the Krasni Krim (Class 2) or the London (Class 3) this winter. Models: Armored cruisers Black Prince and Minotaur need minor refits after battling this year. (Black Prince will be for sale in the spring.) HMS Gorgon and HMCS Prince Robert are battle ready other than speed trials for their reduced Treaty speeds. I-402 is sitting there disarmed and partly converted to a convoy ship. I doubt that it'll be finished until next summer. New Molds: Scott Foster has asked me to make an Abdiel hull mold, which I'll start when he gets the plans. I've got the carrier bug and with Rob Clarke planning to do the Eagle I may commission Ralph Coles to do a mold for either its smaller contemporary Hermes or the older HMS Argus. Due to shipping problems to the U.S. (no insurance available) I've decided not to do the QE/Valiant mold this winter. There's no shortage of work for my shipyard! Bob
Hi Bob, In my "Ships of theWorld - History of British Aircraft carriers" there is a good profile and top view of the Hermes (but no lines) and a good selection of photos of both Hermes and Argus. I also have a 1:1200 waterline model of the Hermes.
Photo of Uganda during superstructure mods. This shows the incorrect aft level 02-03 superstructure that was replaced.
This photo shows where the aft end of the superstructure has been shortened 5/8" to allow the aft barbette and turret to be installed in the correct location. You can see the darker gelcoat where the new section of deck has been added and the outline of where the superstructure used to be.
This one shows one of the turrets that were originally on the Uganda and the new turrets with scale size gun barrels.
General view of the Uganda during superstructure mods. The too short funnel that was molded as part of the fiberglass forward superstructure has been cut off and was being lengthened when this photo was taken.
View of the new aft 02 level superstructure cut from the larger original piece made from solid pine. You can see the rough outline of the new part drawn on the old in previous photos. To lighten it most of the underside was hollowed out using a large diameter drill bit on a press.
Forgot to mention that in the last photo the secondary twin 4" gun mounts are from my model of HMCS Prince Robert (see photo section of the RCNC forum). Four new mounts were under construction for the Uganda. This photo shows the lengthened forward funnel. It's 3/8" taller (the dark gray gelcoat at the bottom is the new section). It's been reglassed to the superstructure and its former forward tilt has been corrected.
Here's the HMCS Uganda last weekend, sporting a new bridge and cast resin funnel caps. The rebuild was nearly complete: one pair of secondary guns and a receiver antenna are missing.
Another view of the nearly complete Colony Class cruiser model HMCS Uganda, one of two operated by the Royal Canadain Navy in WWII. Bob
Bow view of HMCS Uganda. From this angle the error in bridge shape is more obvious. The forward superstructure mold made by Steve Hill was rounded in front and correct for the Fiji sub-class of the Colony Class CLs, but not for the later Uganda and Swiftsure sub-classes that had flat fronted bridges with rounded corners. I saw no way to correct this without sawing off the rounded front of the superstructure and trying to re-fiberglass it to the correct shape. I considered doing it but the refit had gone far beyond the time expected and was delaying my Ibuki CVL project so I didn't. All I could do was try to disguise it by fitting a semiscale compass platform on top with the correct front end shape. From the side and several feet away the bridge looks OK.
Port quarter view of HMCS Uganda. In this photo you can make out 6 of the 14 resin watertight doors added to the superstructure. The hangar doors on the aft end of the forward superstructure are out of focus so the details of the 'garage' type roller doors can't be seen. Behind the forward pair of twin 4" gun mounts are the fill caps for the BB cannon magazines. The aft pair of secondary guns hadn't been finished on Sunday but will be installed tomorow night. You can see the brass pipe from the bilge pump sticking through the deck on the port side aft without an outlet restrictor. Hope you enjoy the photos! Bob
If anyone runs into Steve Hill please ask him to contact me ASAP re HMCS Uganda. I've been emailing him, leaving messages with his family and on his answering machine for over 2 weeks with no response. Uganda has been displaced from the 'shipyard' by the Ibuki and has been sitting on the dining room floor for several days. Kim has tolerated it so far but it needs to disappear in the immediate future. The boss has spoken! [8D] Bob
