ISW 1/350 Flower Class Corvette:
HMCS Buctouche

Introduction

I first built the Iron Shipwright kit about four years ago with the intention of making it into HMCS Buctouche, the ship my Grandfather served on during the Second World War. I had limited ship skills (I am an aircraft junkie at heart, but I have found a new favorite) and built it with limited success. The model had seen a couple of moves and was a little rough so last year I decided to rebuild her with Bob Pearson's decals and some new reference material.

The Model

I stripped the kit with Easy-Off and carefully popped off the small resin parts. I managed to salvage most of the parts, but the photoetch parts were shot. I sent an email to Ted Paris at ISW and a few weeks later I had new photo etch parts (thanks Ted).

I rebuilt the 4 inch gun with sheet plastic and a brass barrel as well as the Hedgehog launcher. The 27' whaler's davits were shaped from brass rod and the Carley floats were from Blue Water Navy . The searchlight platform was modified to a round one, the rails were covered in tissue to simulate canvas and the light was scratch built from brass/plastic. The anchor chain was from a local RR hobby store and some of the rivet counters will say it is out of scale, but I like it and it works for me.

I used Testors/Humbrols to paint her and I wish I had found the WEM Colourcoats range sooner (that's all I use now). The blue is a little too light but I can live with it.

She was now too clean, so a little weathering was needed. I used a combination of washes and pastels and made her look a little used. The decals were put on and I was almost done except for the rigging. I have never rigged a ship before, so I kept it to a minimum, but I will redo it and try to add most of the lines at a later date.

Conclusion

I now had a better representation of the ship my Grandfather served on and I am happy on how it turned out. I would like to thank the people at Iron Shipwright for the photoetch, Bob Pearson for the great decals and Bryant Ross for taking the photos.