Tiny Shiny Sheff - Falklands-era 1/700 HMS Sheffield

[KiwiZac]

Hi all,
Three weeks ago was the 35th anniversary of the loss of HMS Sheffield and 22 of her crew to an Argentine Exocet. For some reason even though I'm not really into boats and naval stuff, I've always been interested in the "Shiny Sheff" and have long wanted a model. A month or two ago I found out there was one in 1/700 with some PE so, after having sold some wargaming stuff, I bought the Cyber Hobby version. Here's where I am after a couple of hours:


There are a LOT of small parts - weapons, lifeboats etc - so I decided to get the big stuff done first!

[Captain Canada]

Nice one Zac she is a good looking ship !

[KiwiZac]

That she was!

[KiwiZac]

Superstructure's all in place, now working on painting the little bits.

[Thorvic]

I would get the flight deck on pretty soon, the fit is not great and you'll need to do a little work to blend it in to the rest of the fight deck to get a seamless join.

Nice work so far and yes that's the way to build them spraying the detail parts on the sprue, spray the etch to as its easier to touch up than to completely paint once attached. See if you can get gator glue as they do a version especially for PE its more forgiving than Super Glue. Look forward to seeing it done 

[Weaver]

If you want to do her actually in the Falklands campaign, don't forget the black stripe on the funnel and the Union Jack on the bridge roof!

If you want to be really pedantic, she also had the conical TV aerials rigged on the sides of the forward superstructure when she was hit. You can see them in the pic you posted, but I think I'm right in saying they arn't included in the kit.

Close up pic here: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-new-h-m-s-sheffield-is-first-of-a-class-of-type-42-news-photo/592347392?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect#the-new-hms-sheffield-is-first-of-a-class-of-type-42-destroyers-and-picture-id592347392

[Captain Canada]

Great stuff. Gator glue, check 

[KiwiZac]

If you want to do her actually in the Falklands campaign, don't forget the black stripe on the funnel and the Union Jack on the bridge roof!

Definitely already on the to-do list! I'm hoping I have a decal for the Union Jack, not sure if they put one on the sheet.

Thanks for the tips about the flight deck, I did have concerns as the bits underneath look to curve into the lower deck...a bit of work ahead. On that area, I trimmed the hangar door so it's 3/4 open - I think it'll "add interest" as opposed to closed or fully open.

Weaver - thanks for that! The two sprues of misc warship bits may help there, if not I should be able to sort it.

[Weaver]

You're welcome. Given how vague some OE bits are on 1/700th ship kits and how simple the aerials' shape is, you could probably just carve them from sprue and they'd pass.

[Thorvic]

Give the size of the cones in 1/700 I would possibly stretch sprue, trim off the string and shaped the tip to a cone before trimming whilst wearing a good set of magnifying specs as they are tiny in scale !

[KiwiZac]

A fair point. Does anyone have any photos showing more of the ship relative to them? I'm having trouble visualising the location in that Getty Images photo.

[Weaver]

They're visible in the photo you posted Zac: just below the 20mm Oerlikon.

[KiwiZac]

Excellent. 

[KiwiZac]

Believe it or not, things are happening! The superstructure has been painted (thinned paint so several coats required) and I'm working on the nameplate: the Revell boxing I bought to build as Coventry has the Sheffield nameplate! Which is very lucky. Maybe a photo or two tomorrow.

[KiwiZac]