May 13 2012

Well, once again I take a detour. Decided to make some new 1/700 FACS at the urging of some (thanks for the nudge, Rob). As of now, I have DONE AND MOLDING THIS WEEK:

Danish Willimoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swedish Spica I

 

 

 

 

 

 

the beautiful little T-42 MTB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, last but not least, the Soviet Tarantul II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have more in process and will be adding more Soviet, Chinese,  and North and South Korean boats soon.

Once the slipways are clear of the moderns, I am seriously considering some 15mm French projects, specifically the Char G1L, AMX 38 and maybe the AMX Tractuer B

 

 

 

 

For now, ENJOY THE SALE EVERYONE. The 15% off ends May 25!

April 7 2012

Just back from another sojourn to the Far East and finally sleeping normally again. Fired up the casting factory to catch up on the backorders and molding the new projects.

Just before I left, I finished the 1/1200 USS Narwal. This was perhaps the longest project I have ever done as I started this master in 1999. Don’t know why it took so long. A similar long standing project, the French 1500 ton destroyer, will also be finished once I find the bag with the master in it.

Besides the Narwal, the 1/1200 line will have some cool additions in the next week or so.

Greek Sub Nereus

Greek Destroyer Kountouriotis

Italian Armed Merchant Cruiser Lago Zuai

Italian Tank Ferry Aspromonte (former Train Ferry. Used to ship Tiger tanks to Tunisia in 1942)

And last but not least the Polish Sub Orzel

The subs are molded and the surface ships are finishing up. Getting to be about time to switch back to 1/600 after this run so stay tuned….

March 1

Well, the rush on the USS Reprisals has slackened and now I can think about the next wave of ships. Still planning more in 1/1200 for now. Today I finished my long suffering master for the USS Narwal, perhaps the longest project I have ever had, I started her about 13 years ago for for a number of lame reasons she has lingered in a 3/4 built state.I’d like to say here she is ready to go in nearby Sodus Bay but she is not molded yet and this picture has more snow that we have had all winter.

In addition to the Narwal, today I discovered this sea monster, the German Projekt 50 UD-1 from 1918:

This was a steam powered sub with four 5.9″ guns and a bevy of torpedo tubes. Been fascinated with U-cruisers since I visited Nauset Beach in Cape Cod, where a U-boat shelled a convoy of barges and forced the tug to beach in 1918. This one is the ultimate and was planned to be started in late 1918. Very cool and her master is in process.

In addition to this, I am considering a kit of the USS Long Island AVG-1. I have always loved her lines and her air group of Buffaloes and Seagulls in 1942.

I understand Navis Neptune is looking to release one but as we know the Ironworks has a different price point than NN. Besides, am I going to pay $60 or so for a CVE? Me thinks not and if I built it, I might as well mold it.

The other candidate is the Hokoku Maru, a ship that not only has a name that is fun to say but also had an interesting demise, being sunk by a Dutch oiler and an Royal Indian Navy Minesweeper in 1942. Shades of the German raider “Stier” getting sunk by a Liberty ship!

Put all these together with anpther upcoming trip to Asia and we have a nice surge of 1/1200s to look forward to, I will be releasing a redone version of the US 1919 destroyer with a lowered freeboard and attached guns and torpedo tubes- no more fiddly little parts ( well, not as many). I also have some others in process that I will keep as a surprise. As usual, double the watch and tell the lookouts to be extra sharp.

February 8

The USS Reprisal Battle scout started the mold process tonight!

January 28

Well, the 20-12″ gun BB is moving along but another unfinished hull has surpassed her. I am in the final stretch on a 1/1200 USN “Battle Scout”, a 1915 design for a large cruiser with 8-10″ guns. She will be the USS Reprisal as these ships will draw their names from the original Continental Navy

Should have her done in a few weeks. She has a bridge and short tripod mast reminiscent of the 1942 USS Portland, four stacks and a bevy of 5″ and 1.1″ to go with the 10″ turrets. Looks like a tough customer for those big bad Japanese cruisers or some wandering German pocket battleship.

Here is the master so far. I glued it together for the shot with gluestick paste!

Meanwhile the USS New Hampshire ( 20-12″ guns) proceeds in the next slip here at the Dockyard.  I have a bunch of other 1/1200s I am looking to do including a few “Yippie” boats. Here is one, the YP-346 that was sunk off Tulagi by the IJN Sendai

December 17

That sound you hear is the groaning workers at the Shangri-La Ironworks as we commission the UP-41 and lay down the next BB. Actually, I am adapting a long unfinished hull for this project so it will be a lot faster than the UP-41.

This will be a strange one. In the 1930′s, the USN entertained a design for a battleship with 20-12″ guns. The more I thought about this, the more this seemed like the BB version of the Brooklyn CL, a class I have found to be one of the most effective on the game table. The way I see it, by the time it would get laid own the US Navy would only want a fast BB, so here is my concept based on the 1933 Scheme A design found in Friedman’s book:

Some of the argument against this is (legitimately) she would have a hard time closing range against a BB with bigger guns. Historically, something like this may have doe quite well is some of the short range knife fights that battleships were actually involved in.  Anyway, despite some cat-calling about the design here and there I am taken with it and last I looked this was a benevolent dictatorship here so….

Along with this I have some other “real world” 1/1200s in progress too. We’ll see what I can get done over the holiday and during by upcoming once again Asian jaunt right after New Years.

November 5

“Hello-o? Anyone there?’

Haven’t written in a while as, as usual, been very busy. Between molding, casting and restarting the BIG PROJECT, there has been nary a moment to write.

Only one more 1/600 master to mold, the BPB 63′ Air Rescue Launch, which hopefully will get done this weekend.  I’ll do the HDML soon too.  With the change in the leaves but no snow yet ( Ha-ha- my brother in law in VA got snow first this year) my interest shifts back to 1/1200. By year end I will have the BIG PROJECT done, the Italian UP 41 super battleship with 9-16″ guns

Along with this, I have several US patrol boat and  Coast Guard projects going, including a WW1 subchaser and a rare USN ww1 “Q-ship” and some weird stuff like an Italian rail ferry converted to a tank landing craft ( LOVE those Italian landing craft). I plan to take some of the smaller ones with us on our very first cruise in the days ahead so the Dockyard will have it’s first masters that will be completed on the high seas!

After UP41, I have three or four other BB projects and some US cruiser designs to do. One BB project is as big as the UP41 and very strange, the Progetto “G” with four quad 15″ turrets. Take that, Lion class….

And, what about the three carriers I have in various states of completion?  They are all “we’ll see.”  This dang flight decks look a bugger to cast…..

Meanwhile, I enjoy the first autumn in four years that has not involved Asian travel.

August 12

“Hey Dave, where are all those new boats???”

Well……. there are a number of factors here. The Dockyard has had a nice order surge for the past several months (Thank you to all!!) that I have been trying to get ahead of unsuccessfully. Some of that resulted in remolds, which takes away from time to do new molds.  Then there is are a few crisis with day job my Asian suppliers which resulted in basically working all day, eating dinner and then getting on the phone or Skype pretty much every night. The culmination of this is ..BOOOOOO.. another trip to Asia starting tomorrow. This is a surgical strike of only a week. It will not help in the catch up efforts though but I am taking my old “MTB” game with me to keep me sharp:)

I have been busy and when the new stuff comes (many are already molded) it will be a surge. Just did a complete rebuild of the GB1 BPB 71’9″ MGB. I plan to do multiple builds of the 63′  BPB hull with several MGB configs, MASBs and the much requested Air Sea Rescue Launch.

Keep watching.

24 July

HOT HOT HOT. Thailand wasn’t like this. Trying to stay cool at Keuka Lake and get some stuff done. I found a great artcle in the French “Marines ” magazine on the Free French Chassuers and decided to rebuild mine prior to a long overdue remolding. Like all rebuilds  it look longer than anticipated but the new one will have all new weapons (75mm, 2pder, two twin Lewis guns and 20mm plus am optional twin 13.2mm) and rearrangement of pretty much all deck details.

While on the French I finished a “what if” build of the VTB15-22 class. No pictures that I am aware of have surfaced but these were supposed to look like the 40K boats. Mine is like a sleeker 40K and will have parts to also make an MGB version.

I am thinking of making a 15mm model of the “Maklen” McClean 37mm automatic gun to go with the Garford. Send me a note if this looks like it is of interest!

The big news was I actually ran a Flaklighter game Thursday night. It was a blast as a few guys at the local gaming store have taken an interest in the hobby. Four short hull MTBs ( two 70′ and 2-60′ Vospers), two Farmile D MTBs and one Fairmile C MGB took on a four merchant German convoy escorted by two AFPs and an R-boat. The game saw the AFPs drill two short hull boats with their 88s and rip another apart with 20mm fire. Here, 60′ Vosper MTB 71 brews up as an 88mm shell drills through the bow and detonates against one of the engines. MTB 72 wheels about after she launched two fish, one of which that connects with a ore carrier .

All in all three Merchants were torpedoes fatally….

the sole survivor hissing steam from holed boilers courtesy of Royal Navy gunfire. The Fairmiles sank another merchant and chewed up the R-67 , leaving  the R-boat crew was bailing with their helmets at the end.

What this has managed to do is push me solidly into 1/600 WW2 again ( and rereading Scott’s “Battle for the Narrow Seas”) so look for more projects.

6  July 2011

Digging out of the backlog this week and coming weekend. There is a wave of new stuff coming. In addition to the ones  mentioned in the last few entries below….

And several that will be surprises…..

Double the watch, folks….

29 June 2011

Back from the beyond and furiously casting and remolding. The LCS-1 has a new mold now  does the Elco 80′ and YMS/BYMS.  Off to the Keuka Lake Building Yards this weekend where, besides doing reconstruction on a real 16′ boat, I plan to get some traction on more projects. Will be tinkering with Miliput as a master medium for some of the weirder Adriatic boats like one with a “Bragozzo” hull.

These two are in the RTV bath:

Still thinking about the SCW stuff. Too many boats and planes that need building. for now. Looks like SDD is coming back to life too so theirs will be available again.

Just ordered a cool looking book- “We called ourselves Rocketboatmen.”  This covers the little USN 36′ LCS(S) and is the only source on these craft I have ever seen.  With their armored wheelhouse, rocket racks and MGs. I have always thought these were very cool looking boats and plan to somehow use them in a coastal game someday.

13 June 2011

To paraphrase the first words of Apocalypse Now..

“Taichung. I’m in Taichung again. Shoot…”

After a fairly easy trip over to Taiwan I am now waiting for my associate who had a catastrophically bad airline experience. While waiting I am working away today on the 15mm Garford-Putilov and laying down the big hull pieces on the RN LCF/LCG. My little cigar box or a model factory can go anywhere- the Dockyard is truly air mobile!

Over the past few days I have been smitten by some of the improvised armored vehicles of the Spanish Civil War.

(Great- the first pictures went on wrong and in deleting them, I cleaned off the last Blog post. DON’T POST UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF JETLAG, KIDS)

Anyway, looks like there is a void in 15mm for the SCW stuff so the PT Dockyard Projects Committee will have to review this.

When I return, looks like the following gets molded:

-MTB-74

-Italian VAP and Guardia Finazia Boat AS127

-P-66 Vanguard

Lockheed L-133

Also hope to have the WW1 X-lighter done too:

I brought all my stuff on the Yugoslavian Partisan Navy also. I have alomst seventy new images of boats over the past month.

Sorry about the delete guys. Below is the remains of the April post about the Abandoned Angels:

Italian Caproni CA.183bis, Reggiane RE 2006R and 2007, Piaggio P 119, SM91 and others

-Romanian IAR 81M (Inline DB605)

-Polish PZL-50 and 51 (OK- Not a 1945 subject but cool nonetheless)

-German Skoda Kauba V5

I have some even more bizarre subjects but will see how these go first.  The Marton will be out in about a week. Tell your gunners and “little friends” to watch the sun!

15 April

Another blog. Ugh! Well, I tried Facebook ( not a lot of traffic) to let folks know what is going on here at the Dockyard. This will be another experiment and challenge to my limited typing ability.

So, what’s going on here? I have lot’s of interests as the line shows. I tend to build things that I find exciting on the spur of the moment. A good example is the 1/300 F5F Skyrocket, which two weeks before it was molded I would have told folks was not a candidate. Something took me about the design one night, I had spare time and away the Dockyard went.

Recent research over tha past few weeks has centered around the Adriatic. This was set off (as most of my research quests have been) by a random find of a Yugoslavian forum with about 40 new pictures of the Yugoslavian Partisan Navy. Also present was some information on the Italian “Vigilanza Anti Partigiana” vessels. That’s enough to send me on a deep dive for info that will result in most everything else stopping. The end result is enough info to make a sizable increase to the Adriatic vessels in the 1/600 line. I have a few started and will keep all posted.

The other thing I am chasing after is 1/300 aircraft plans. I have a slew that I want to make, most being never built planes.  These run the gamut of early and late war planes, from the PZL-50 to a jet version of the P-55 Ascender. Here is one that was more concept- a jet version of the RE-2006: There are a few actual built planes in the mix too. I also plan to try some new concepts in molding my planes to improve the results. Right now I lose 50% of the castings. If I did not want to do them myself, they wouldn’t be happening at all.

Other than that, the big news is I found a war game group in Rochester that does Wings of War and is interested in seeing a Flaklighter II demo sometime. One my daughter’s wedding is past, look like I may actually get to play some games. Yee-haa!

TTFN

Dave