Really cool work, Tom! I like those unusual depth charge racks - an interesting approach by the Italians.
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Nice build and quick question … i May of missed it earlier if it was explained, but what is the reason for the red and while diagonals on the forward area on the upper deck ? I take it there is a functional reason ??
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Nothing like a little friendly fire to get those paint compressors going! 
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She is a gorgeous lil ship. You have done an excellent job!
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@ Tim: Yes, she has some quite unusual feature for such a small ship. Twin screw, torpedo tubes, large depth charge storage. I would be curious how she would compare with a Flower class.
@ Johnnycho1: Yes, you ask yourself why they put camouflage on her at all. I read that the italian navy before used a kind of white wash before which could be washed off. Exactly what happened before Punto Stilo due to heavy seas. 
@ McRunty: Thank you very much!
Cheers
Tom
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After finishing a lot of tiny deck fittings from anchor winch, davits, and vents it was time to install the weapons. This is when disaster struck. During testfiring the gunshield of the 100 mm gun was blown off.
You can still see the scratches of the explosion on the deck. Even the stb. rail was blown off.
(The shield was not straight, but for once the superglue stuck immediately). When trying to remove the shield with a model knife i caused some havoc)
Fortunately the spare part department of my yard had the gun shield of a Flower corvette in stock, so with a little help of her british cousin and some careful modifications CICOGNA is as good as new.
Missing only some electronics she is ready for the naming ceremony and receiving her pennant number.
Due to some over-enthusiasm the yardworkers originally mis-spellt her name, but this was corrected quickly after another explosion, this time from the admiral.
Commissioning will follow soon!
Cheers
Tom
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I hope the yard workers were duly reprimanded, Tom 
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And finally time for comissioning 
.
After a short spell in dock where CICOGNA received her twin propeller she is finally taken over by the Regia Marina and proudly displays her flags (Can anyone guess their meaning? 
)
For camparison: she is a quite small ship. See a comparison with my COSSACK.
But bigger than my short foc’sle Flower.
Enjoy the pictures!
Cheers
Tom
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Congrats on the commissioning. She’s a beauty!
Thanks Rory
Cheers
Tom
Bravo on a superb build, Tom 
An excellent result, Tom! Such eye catching colors in the paint scheme, looks great in contrast to the Flower.
Cheers,
Marty
@ Russel Thank you, only I know all the faults
@Minux, Yes, she is a rainbow warrior. Would even make a nice yacht with a lot of deckspace. 
Very Nice! Now you’ll have to do the Bittern Class Sloop HMS Stork which participated in the sinking of four U-Boats (including U-574 which she finished off by ramming), At that time she was commanded by Capt. Frederic “Johnnie” Walker, the Royal Navy’s most successful U-Boat hunter with 17 U-boats destroyed by vessels under his command.
Regards,
M
p.s. I’m not sure there is a “Bittern” Class in 1:350th, it’s not a scale I’ve dabbled in.
@Moramarth: I have 2 more Flowers to do. One will be a conversion to an “improved Flower” with a slightly different Hull and one will be but in a heavy sea. Then i have a beautiful kit of a River class and a Scott Leader which can be converted to an Escort… So plenty of Battle of the Atlantic stuff.
There is 1:350 Stork from WEM now Atlantic Models as far as I know.
I like these small vessels. They are so busy, have not too much rails (hate the PE rails) and very diverse camouflage
Cheers
Tom
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As if she wasn’t already colorful, those flags really set her off nicely. Congratulations on a beautiful build!
Thank you very much Tim!
Can you read the flags?
Cheers
Tom
Thank you very much Tim!
Can you read the flags?Cheers
Tom!
Hi Tom, I can’t see the flags all to well, and of course Regia Nave signals were different from the USN I’m used to… but the top flag is clearly the Italian national flag, the second looks like “C” , the next is “pennant 1” and the third and fourth look like “H” and “K” turned sideways 
I give up - what do the flags say?
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