| CV Task Group's Passage South | ||
| HMS Invincible (R05) 'Invincible" class Aircraft Carrier and HMS Alacrity (F174) "Type 21" Frigate sailing in company from UK (05 April 1982) to the Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ) in the Falkland Islands, arriving on the eve of 01 May 1982. They were part of the larger group of CV Battle group which included HMS Hermes CVS-flagship, HMS Glamorgan DDG, (which joined them before their stop-over in Ascension Island), and frigates HMS Broadsword and HMS Yarmouth, (which rendezvous with the carrier from Gibraltar). HMS Invincible initially carried 8 Sea Harriers FRS.1 (as shown) and 12 Sea King HAS.5 (4 shown). | ||
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HMS Invincible (R05) is a Shanghai/Dragon DML kit. No conversion was made. The only PE applied is the rear ‘catch-net’. Eight (8) Sea Harriers FRS.1 (two on the runway as ready-condition aircraft). Four (4) Seaking HAS.5 are also shown on deck, 3 of which has their main rotors folded. The kit only contains 4 Sea Harriers and 2 Seakings but I manage to save some from another Invincible kit. Rotors of Seakings were WEM PE’s as well as the wheels of the two ‘frontline’ Sea Harriers. The rest of the Sea Harriers were ‘conversions’. Deck vehicles are WEM resin add-ons. I actually spray-painted the white lines on Invincible's decks, expending a lot of hours masking. HMS Alacrity (F174) is a Type 21 ‘Amazon’ Frigate kit from Pit-Road. This resin kit is quite a beauty in terms of casting, but it depicted the Type 21 in 1990’s mode. The instruction set is a 1-page back-to-back Japanese, but illustration suffices. However, I had to refer the actual 1982 fit from photographs of the period. The post-refit hull-hardening strakes has to be sanded away. I had limited reference sources, so I ask some fitting problems via Steelnavy and some posters are helpful enough. Alacrity carried SCOT radome in white (as opposed to the blacken domes of its doomed sisterships – HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope). It also had (or probably not so) painted over its “F174” pennant number. The kit had no PE details for mast antenna, so savings from WEM Type 42 PE was useful. Also, I had to add the small radar platform on the midsection of the mainmast, as it was absent on the casting. I didn’t apply PE railings. For the sea diorama, I used a ?” styrofoam base, which I wrapped with a thin blue cellophane. To fix the cellophane, I used greenish blue latex paint as ‘adhesive’. This also provide the contrast color. For the wakes, I used ‘guitar-brand’ acryllic gel. For final touch, I air-sprayed the correct colors (dark sea blue, white) on it, before attaching the ships. NOTE that sea is rough as it is in the south Atlantic. These are my 4th-7th models, and my worksmanship is still below desirable. I work in batches of kits to save on spray painting :). Notes : Few weeks after the set is built, a lot of new reference books has came in. I saw some inaccuracies on some fit of HMS Alacrity. |
