Recently I was commissioned to make a diorama of HMS Iron Duke as she appeared in 2009 off the coast South America.One of her roles on this deployment was the seizure of narcotics.
The kit chosen for this diorama was the excellent White Ensign Models 1/700 scale, resin and brass etched kit of HMS Norfolk. The detail is good, but it needs some alterations to represent Iron Duke as she appeared in 2009.
Firstly I needed to replace the Vickers 4.5 inch gun on the HMS Norfolk kit, it is of the older rounded style gun housing and can be seen here in the background. I replaced this with part of the Dragon 1/700 kit of HMS York, this has the newer angular Gun housing, shown above in the foreground.
The gun barrel is ok for an injection moulding of this scale, but is not suitable for a model of this quality, so I shall be replacing it with 0.3mm or 0.4mm diameter brass micro tube. This will greatly improve the scale feel of this component of the ship.
This Project is on pause at the moment whilst I await the release of the new 1:350 type 23 kit from Trumpeter and decide whether to make the larger model instead.
