John Bennett has already shared the photos of his model of the original Caroline ship, Fredericia, which became the home to Caroline North. Now, he tells the story of the construction of his model Ross Revenge built by modifying a basic Revell Northsea Fishing Trawler kit: 'The Arctic Corsair'. (Click on photo of the Arctic Corsair model to view a larger version)

John says:

"This takes only a few minutes to type but this page represents a project which took me seven months of work. During that time, Mother suffered a stroke from which she died, and my health was also a problem. The Ross was built under very trying circumstances."

JOHN'S BASIC NOTES

The Ross Revenge was built from a basic Revell plastic kit-"The Arctic Corsair." Parts such as masthead lights were bought in from maritime model makers. Surprisingly, no model makers, do anything like mast construction kits, so I used three Hornby trackside kits and extracted components from them. There are three diaramas-seagulls landing on the mast/feeding on fish, two guys painting the mast, and an un-named female crew member sunbathing nude on the aft deck – something I saw whilst actually on the Ross!

To give the Ross a genuine look, a lot of weathering powders were used. These simulate rust, deep red for old and orange for recent, along with simulating dirt, grime, and verdigris.

This means that the Ross looks like the proper thing and does not have a "just launched" MV Freyr appearance.

The guy I made the model for had a problem with where to store it and how to illuminate it. Being only a 1/47 scale model and in plastic, the model was too small for Fredericia-type wheat bulbs, with a threat of possible fire/melt danger.

"San Tan Greenore", here in the Welsh Republic has many ships' chandlers. At one, I found a genuine sailor's metal kit trunk, in a bad state. (above, right). This was purchased, sanded and coated with anti-rust engine block paint as used on Morris Minors. On it, I put a backdrop, (below, left) with Shivering Sands forts and the DTI vessel Dioptric Surveyor on the horizon. Cotton wool clouds followed by cotton wool sea were then installed and painted to suit.

Lighting is via a two-way unit of torch and fluoresecent strip, which has Kama-Sutra qualities; it can bend and twist into many different positions!

Below, the Ross as viewed from the RAF Nimrod

John's messy workshop
The Ross exacts revenge! Modelling proves a dangerous occupation!

If anyone would like info on how to build their own model Ross, I'd be happy to answer any e-mails, but I don't suppose anyone will, after seeing the photos! John Bennett.


Sadly, John passed away in September 2014. His memories of listening to Caroline North can be found here
View other offshore radio ship models via the Model Ships Index Page.


Photographs and text © John Bennett 2004

Contact John via the Radio London website.