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HMAS Vendetta (Daring Class by barry)
After nearly 4 years of researching, planning, building, moving house (3 times), restarting, rescaling, rebuilding and surviving an ever-changing home environment (2 kids that weren't around when project started) I can finally present to you, HMAS Vendetta, designed by barry, built and customized by me.
This thread was originally started as "The Daring Project" on "that other forum" about 3-4 years ago, until I got banned for voicing an opinion, but that's another story. If you want to avoid a long-winded history of how this model came about, you can skip ahead to the pictures if you like. I decided not to continue with a blow by blow build thread, and just got stuck in to the build when I could, so there's not a lot of progress shots either. I chose the Vendetta because my partner's father served on her during the Vietnam War. It was originally planned as a birthday or Christmas present, I can't remember... I've lost count of how many birthdays and Christmases since then that I've tried to set as my completion deadline, as it turns out I've completed her a week after his 72nd birthday. VENDETTA was an Australian built “Daring” Class Destroyer launched in 1956 which remained in service with the RAN until 1979. This ship saw war service in the Malaya and Borneo confrontation period 1959-60, FESR and Vietnam 1969 - 70. She was the only fully built Australian warship to fire her guns on the enemy and to serve on the Vietnam gun-line. She was also the last of the Australian warships to fire a broadside salvo. My original plan was to buy and build a resin kit online but I decided the kit wasn't large or detailed enough for my liking. This was when I turned to card modeling, hopingthere might be some way I could modify an existing kit or something. I briefly toyed with the idea of designing her myself but that was a bit beyond my levels of patience and skill. It was around this time I met Barry, who so very kindly offered to design her for me. It was a little ironic too, that the kit was designed in England, but built and modified in Australia as this is pretty much exactly how the real Darings came about. This is where I can start heaping praise onto Barry for all his hard work and effort. Without his input, this project would probably still just be an idea, or a half finished model that almost looked like it's intended subject. For a more detailed look at how the kit was designed, you can see Barry's original design thread here I've only got a few pics of the build before I started painting. These were also just prior to when I decided to go all-out on adding extra detail... this plan changed multiple times during the course of the build too. Once I had botched up a few of the joins the decision to paint was made easier, a trusty jar of wood filler became my best friend. Also, I started adding a lot of scratch built detail made from different coloured cardstock, the odd wooden skewer and that anchor chain... more on those later. Two things that came in very handy for this build were a set of plans by Webb Warships printed at 1:100 scale, the scale I was originally going to build her in, the other was 2 photo's i scanned from originals, showing the ship in a fair amount of detail. I scanned these at ultra high res and broke them down into individual sections of the ship to aid when adding detail that wasn't in the "kit". When i say "kit" it wasn't so much a kit, more like a bunch of parts on pages with no numbers, and in some cases there were different versions of the same part. There were no instructions, all I had to go by were barry's original thread, my plans and my photo's... This however was more than enough, and at no time was it a challenge to try and figure out what went where. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire build, even the bits I put off the longest (handrails, AA guns and the two larger boats). Those anchor chains came straight from my partner's jewelery box. I'd like to say I took them and she's none the wiser, but it was actually her suggestion when she found out I needed chains that size. I thought the 3 main guns were going to be a challenge due to all their rounded edges but I figured I could just use putty to fix any gaps etc. I needn't have worried, Barry did an excellent job in his design and all three of these came together with a minimum of fuss (and a minimum of putty). I then scratchbuilt some extra raised detail bits to add to them, the ladders are made from flyscreen mesh. Even after planning to add extra detail, I still hadn't planned on adding as much as I have in some areas, it all started with the main mast. I decided to go for the same cut-out lattice approach barry used, but I used a much thicker card (in hindsight, too thick). The thickness made it strong though, so no matter how much detail i kept slapping on it, it remained nice and sturdy. Unfortunately I couldn't find my stash of brass sheet when it came to making the props, so I made some cardstock "placeholder" props from some copper colour cardstock to fill in until I found it. I still can't find it, so for now the card ones stay on. Next up: more pics. |
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Once again, my hat is off to barry for his design, without which none of my extra detail would have anywhere to go. Once I started painting it she really started to come alive, especially with the contrasting deck colour. Some of the above pics show the plans I used to add detail to various parts, I should mention that very little of my added detail is to scale, in fact a lot of it is oversized. This was something that started out by accident then became a theme I continued with because I liked the results, it makes some of the little stuff stand out a bit more. Next up: Summary and any pics I've not posted yet. |
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This project would not have been possible without the help of others, unfortunately I've lost names and contact details of some of them over the years, but huge thanks go out to everyone involved. Thanks also to the Card Modeling community in general for years of inspiration, guidance, tips, techniques, friendship and support. Again, thanks to barry, without your help I never would have come up with the results you see here today, the design was perfect, more than I ever could have hoped for. I came here as a Modeler looking for a new way to complete a project, Now I'm a Card Modeler, looking for my next project. Next for me will be to dust off another unfinished project, my 1:10 Tumbler that went on ice when my son was born nearly 3 years ago, I was building it alongside the original 1:100 Vendetta. After that, I think I'm ready for one of Chreis's trucks from the Lower Hudson Valley site, I plan on doing the bigger truck, lowboy trailer and excavator, either one at a time or all 3 at once. |
#4
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Talk about perseverance paying off. Gotta love those twin 4.5"/45 guns.
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Congratulations on a fine build and really nice project.
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Congratulations!
Fine work indeed. MIke |
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Well done Jaffro pictures have a high impact and the extra details look great. I guess I ought to kit it up at some point. I shall take note of your painting if I do.
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#8
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Hello Jaffro,
a very fine implementation of Barrys design; added with a lot impressive details. With lovely greetings the Wilfried |
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thanks for all the kind words...
I had a certain level of detail I wanted to achieve, I eventually suprised even myself. It's covered in glitches, errors and mistakes, some got hidden by the putty, some couldn't be... but I am so happy with the result, i can't wait to hand her over to the eager recipient. After building this, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase one of barry's kits... I'm quietly eyeing off that enterprise... not sure if my Mrs is ready for another big boat though |
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'jaffro',
Sent you a pm re this model being available to others? While my thing in Allied Light Coastal Forces I'm also interested in RAN ships. Cheers, Roger. "Roger's Little Ships". Modelling Allied Light Coastal Forces 1914-1945. Ph: +61 3 5447 8693. |
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