1/192 HMS Laforey (Scratchbuilt)
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by Dennis Vella |
1/192 HMS Laforey (Scratchbuilt)
After taking a short break of a few weeks since finishing HMS lance (1941) I commenced scratch building one of her 4.7 armed sisters HMS Laforey (1943). I have long dreamed of doing one of these ships which I consider as having the most racy and powerful appearance of all WW2 destroyers and since, in modeling, appearance is everything I decided to go the whole mile including camouflage and as much external details as possible.The 1/192 model is based on a John Roberts scale plan form the A&A collection plus additional research material obtained from the internet, reference books and a few overseas contacts. At first I could not make up my mind on whether to depict the ship as in 1939 or in 1943. I finally deciding on the latter date as by this time she had a striking camouflage and was operating in the Mediterranean.
The materials and methods used in scratch building this model have by now become standardized in all models in my collection. Soft wood for hull and superstructure, brass and steel for smaller details like railings, gun barrels, poles and bollards. Both industry type white glue and super glue were used and the paints are from the WEM and Humbro ranges.
The model took 187 hours to complete which worked out at considerably less than those spent on her sister HMS Lance. This was due to the fact that since both ships had the same basic hull a lot of research, drawings and temp plates were already available from the previous model.
Please enjoy this model which will probably be the last I will display for a very long time to come as I now hope that God willing and time permitting, I will start on either an aircraft carrier or a battleship either of which is predicted to take between 18 to 22 months to complete.
