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[James Duff]

Due to a family connection...



I wished to build the I-class destroyer HMS Imperial, pennant number D09, which was built by Hawthorn Leslies in Tyneside in 1936. The I class was a continuation of the Brazilian H making Peter's kit a very good starting point, however there are some differences to be addressed. The easiest problem is that the I-class had 4 of the 4.7in QF Mk.IX single mounts. The Hesperus kit provides 3, lacking Y-turret. Peter kindly supplied my kit with a fourth mount knowing my plans for this kit.

Next up, the H-class funnels were unequal height but both had oval cross sections. On the I-class, the aft funnel was taller, approximately equal in height to the forward funnel. The forward funnel was circular in cross section. Armed with a set of plans (again, thank you Peter!) I set about extending the aft funnel and replacing the forward funnel.







New 3D printed 4.7in Mk.IX QF guns were sourced from Shapeways but the barrels were as poor as the breach end was brilliant



The barrels were thus sawn off and replaced with brass



The torpedo mounts were likewise replaced by Shapeways items. They were extremely expensive for what they are, but they look nice



The pair of Vickers 0.5in quad machine gun mounts were replaced with Tetra Modelworks items which I had used before on a HMS Hood build as was very happy with them



I did as best I could in interpreting the scheme from the single wartime photograph I have ever seen. I had to pay around £20 for this from the Australian War Memorial to get a high resolution version to even find out if the photograph showed anything - the low-resolution version online just showed a smudge where the ship claimed to be






So, after a few months' work, here it is. I never really finish model ships - I just stop. I plan to get some better paravanes and fit them to the deck at the stern, and I will definitely get some crew members to stand on watch when they become available from Northstar. For now though, it's safely in my display cabinet :)

[ballastanksian]

A fitting tribute to a relative James. I like that and think it has loads of character. it is a shame that having spent out on items to detail your model, you then have to buy more to make them good enough. How annoying.