HMS ZULU 14 SEPT. 1942. ( FOR SIMON ).

[Tim Marlow]

P. S. I forgot to say the surgeon also gave me bad news. He cancelled Christmas Dinner. I am not allowed to deviate from the ultra strict pre surgery diet for at least another week. Does anybody know if you can get Christmas Dinner flavoured soup ? !
Cheers, John.

That’s a shame John. Turkey and sprout soup perhaps? Hope life improves soon.....

[JayCee]

Well, I am finally able to sit and work comfortably at my work table. This excrutiatingly slow build may now progress. A total lockdown here should also help. The first news is, I have finally received a book I ordered last May. This should help me with detailing Zulu. While the book concentrates on Cossack, all the Tribal class were identical unlike some of the other destroyer classes. The book is also highlighting other mistakes/omissions on Trumpeters part. The latest I have found is the rear of the bridge area around the director tower and rangefinder. Trumpeter has it as wood planking. It was actually covered in rubber compound. This is the anti-slip coating used on most of the deck walkways. Onwards, the bridge/wheelhouse will be built separate and then fixed in place once corrected and equipped with the necessary binnacles/pelorus/binocular sights/voice pipes,etc. This is the starboard side of the bridge/wheel house. One porthole(top right). The port side is a mirror image although all photos of the ship show two portholes in this position.
This is the port side after I have added the missing porthole. It looks wonky in this view, but is fine in real life.

I have also made a start on what to do with the main armament. On the left the kit offering. Overscale and lacking detail. On the right are the A/M parts. This has just had a quick splash of paint so I can actually see it as they are printed in a translucent material. Every thing will, of course, be painted properly before assembly. Here is where I could do with some help guys. Would you recommend a wash of some kind to enhance the detail as the guns will be mostly hidden in the mountings. If so, what ? I am pretty new at this wash business. All paint will be Vallejo Model Air.

And finally this is where we are up to at present. Deck Houses in place and deck fittings done. Funnels still need etch tops fitting. Note rear funnel has been shortened as per refit in June /July 1941. This was to improve arc of fire of A/A guns.


All C and Cs gratefully received.
John.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John. This is coming together. As to a wash I would recommend Vallejo Game wash. What colour is the gun going to be when painted? There are several options colour wise, but if the gun is a grey then go for black.

This one!
The medium is useful for dilution if the black (or other wash) is too strong. Don’t use water, this will increase the surface tension of the wash. It will blotch on drying and not get into the detail so easily.

[Guest]

Good to hear that you're on the road to recovery John.

[Jim R]

Hi John
Great news that you are feeling better and back at this. Looks as if you have made good progress.
Jim

[The Smythe Meister]

Hi John,
Well,firstly i`d like to say that i`m pleased to hear that you`re on the mend after your health problems:thumb2:,
Secondly,I`ve just had a very enjoyable read up on this build and have to say that "It`s a right,riveting,read",the detailed extras you have amassed,and,fitted are most impressive.
I`m impressed with the size of the Zulu,bigger than i expected in this scale by far! Between yourself,Dave and Bob,i`m quite tempted to venture into a Ship build myself:thinking: ,(Considering i did my apprenticeship in Devonport Dockyard when it was M.O.D. Navy,i guess i ought to do at least ONE Ship!!)
Excellent stuff this blogg,looking forward to the next update,
Andy

[scottie3158]

Hi John,
I will follow along this will be a great build with all the bling and AM.

[JayCee]

Tim, many thanks for your advice re the wash. I will see if I can get some. My problem is there are no model shops here so I have to use the interweb for everything. With Brexit most of the UK shops I use will no longer post items to the EU. Something to do with cost and restrictions.
Peter, Jim, Thank you for your comments, life is looking better by the day.
Andy, Welcome to the Cyprus Insane Asylum ( Sorry, that should be Shipyard. ) Glad you've enjoyed the catch up. Yes, the Tribal class destroyers were big. Almost the size of a light Cruiser.
Paul, Pull up a seat, all welcome.
John.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John. I think I got those paints from John who runs the site. Might be worth asking him?

[JayCee]

Thank again Tim. I will have to check with John.
John.

[Steve Jones]

Good to see you back at the bench John. A lovely tidy build. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the wet stuff

[JayCee]

Thanks Steve. It's good to be back. Hopefully I will make some progress now.
John.

[JayCee]

Hello, all you good folks. What is probably the slowest ship build in history has moved on a bit further. I have been spending time buried in my book of blueprints that I posted earlier. This is a good book in that it shows me everything that Trumpeter has got wrong or missed completely. On the other hand it is a bad book as it shows me EVERYTHING that Trumpeter has got wrong or missed completely. A couple of details missing from the kit are the trunking for the fire control aerials from the foremast and a 12inch diameter skylight in the wheelhouse roof as per this.

After scratching my head for a while as to how I could portray the trunking I remembered that I was replacing the main armament with A/M parts. This left me with unused gun barrels which turned out to be almost the correct shape and could be cut to length to suit. This is how they look after fettling and glueing in place.

However, after all this, once the bridge wings are installed the damn things are all but completely hidden. At least I have now got the correct location for the ends of the aerials. Here you can also see my attempt at the skylight.

Most of my work has been on the armament. As stated the main gun mountings have been replaced with A/M ones. The armament fit is another of Trumpeters mistakes. The box gives the fit of the ship as 1941, however after the shock given to the Navy by Luftwaffe dive-bombers in the Narvik battles ( April 1940), the Admiralty decided to upgrade anti-aircraft armament across the whole fleet. In August 1940 Zulu had her X mounting removed and replaced with a twin 4inch high angle mounting. Trumpeter have missed this completely and just armed her with 4 twin mountings of 4.7 inch guns as originally built. Another of Trumpeters "mistakes" was to equip Zulu with an 8 barrelled Pom-Pom. These weapons were never fitted to Destroyers, they were just too heavy. The weapons used were the 4 barrel versions. A/M to the rescue again! Most all these items are by Black Cat Models in France. The detail is just amazing in this scale. There is even ammo in the magazines. My painting does it no favours, touch ups definately needed.
The orange blob is the head of a dressmakers pin ,to give some idea of scale. The whole thing is smaller than my thumb nail.

To further compound Trumpeters mistakes, in June and July 1941, Zulu was in a shipyard in Falmouth having repairs done and also a refit. At this time additional A/A guns were fitted. The half inch Vickers machine guns between the funnels were replaced by 20mm Oerlikons. Two more were placed on the aft superstructure and two single Pom-Poms were placed in the lower bridge wings.
To conclude this chapter here are some photos of her as she stands at the moment. Still lots to do.





Stay safe, one and all. I am going for my second jab on Friday.
John.

[Jim R]

Hi John
WOW! Wonderful work showing great research and detailing.
Jim

[scottie3158]

John,
Great attention to detail.