Brill 👍😊
Wear it with pride, the T-shirt I mean 😉
My equivalent is I have several baseball caps from various navies and ships I have worked on, e.g. the one in my profile pic from PFG (Patrol Frigate) Almirante Lynch of the Chilean Navy. She was a gun Leander, one of two purpose built for Chile. Long since sold on to Ecuador and replaced with ex RN Type 23s.
I worked on the HF transmitters on board in Valparaiso. Took so long we nearly ended up sailing with her! Would have been interesting😉
COMMS Officer was getting very nervous! 😲
Cheers Doug 😎
PS: So was I, didn't have a toothbrush in my toolkit! 😲Sweat sweat 😱

got the T shirt now with the matching brass plaque ,should look good in the man cave

Hi Doug ,thanks for the link had a nice wee morning browsing i served my time there in the 70s and it brought back some happy memories of the ships and of the great men who worked there .Cheers Marky

Hi Marky, just ran across this link to Leith Shipyards - Henry Robb!
Lots of photos and info for your 'delight and edification' 😉
Cheers Doug 😎
http://www.leithshipyards.com/henry-robb-photos.html

I had thought the painting was of the Dianthus but it was actually of the Polyanthus I had just got the names mixed up ,thanks for all the info 👍👍looked at u boat net which has reams of info.

Hmmm! Are you sure he has more knowledge?
Polyanthus has little or nothing to do with 'Pink' but Pinks belong to the Dianthus genus - Dianthus plumarius.
Dianthus (K95) survived the war to be eventually scrapped in 1969.
She was decommissioned and sold for civilian use after the war, and became the Norwegian buoy tender Thorslep. She was later used for whaling (which this type of hull was actually designed for!) before being scrapped in 1969.
Builder: Henry Robb Ltd.
Laid down: 31 October 1939
Launched: 9 July 1940
Commissioned: 17 March 1941
Out of service: May 1947
Fate: scrapped 1969
Polyanthus (K47) had less luck 🤔
Sunk while on escort duty with Convoy ON202 by German submarine U-952 on 21 September 1943, while trying to rescue the crew from the destroyer escort HMCS St. Croix, sunk earlier by U-305 .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Robb

Doug 😎
Additional interesting info
http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/Flower/ARTICLES/Dianthus-2.htm

Have since been told by someone with more knowledge of the painting is that it was of HMS polyanthus and not Dianthus ,to err is but human.

Just to agree with Doug the Bluebell is gorgeous👍👍 , the shipyard I served my time in Henry Robb built quite a few of the Flower class I remember there being a painting of HMS Dianthus (sunk by a U boat if memory serves ) and photographs of Pink and a few more in one of the management offices ,always wondered where all the models went when the yard closed .

Doug
I can understand your concerns and I hope the position is resolved soon for all those affected both here and abroad.

Dave

PS just saw your 'Bluebell', super👍👍
very nice paint job 👍
I also still have the original Revell 1:72 kit.
Your pics are inspiring me to bump it up the 'to build' list😉
Cheers Doug 😎
PS I also have a set of 'after market' etched brass upgrades, but am a little concerned about the weight it adds🤔 will experiment!

You don't say! Germany is also a member and remains so.
Brexit is a big blunder, things will get worse for you, especially price-wise, not better. I voted against.
Recent decisions re EU citizens in UK will certainly not help. They are provoking animosity over here and will not help the terms of the exit.
If there's a backlash it will be bad for me and a few million other Brits living happily here and in other EU countries.
Doug

Yes it's called the EU.
Dave

Hmm! There must be something else!
We also have 19% VAT, but is included in the prices I quoted, but not in the Tilgear prices from Marky.
Also Germany was in the Common Market long before UK.
Must be another factor somewhere to account for double prices! 🤔
Captive market - excessive profit mark up ...? Hidden taxes?
Doug

UK prices have been higher for imported model supplies since we joined the Common Market in the 1970s. VAT at 20% also adds considerably to the cost.
Not surprising that many choose to buy on line from HK and China etc.

Dave

Not sure about the prices over here I get all my material by trawling the workshops scrap bins ,I think up-cycling is the modern phrase for it rather than hoarding and scavenging.

PS the Balsabar prices include the VAT, which makes the difference even worse 🤔😭

Hi Marky,
Sounds kinda expensive to me over here in Munich!
Here there is an online shop called Balsabar
https://www.balsabar-shop.de/
They supply in 100mm by 1000mm lengths.
Just put together a bundle equivalent to yours (with 1000mm length) and came to € 37.25 = £ 34.10 BUT x 0.45 to get the same volume of wood gives £ 15.35 !! Almost half the price!
Is this indicative of material prices in general in UK these days? 🤔
Cheers Doug 😎