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Post by wbill76 on Nov 7, 2015 11:05:26 GMT -5
Thanks Serzh! There is certainly a lot that goes into these big ships and I'm glad you're enjoying the ride with me.  Leon, I just hope my airbrush doesn't go on strike with all the extra work it's been getting!  |
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Post by wouter on Nov 7, 2015 13:30:28 GMT -5
Nice to see some more progress there Bill. Nice work indeed.
Cheers
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 7, 2015 20:47:11 GMT -5
Thanks Wouter! Another day, another round. Following up from yesterday, today's efforts focused on getting the Haze Gray added to complete the Texas Two-Step scheme. More fun with masking tape required of course with the top of the catapult being the most challenging. For all the little 20mm ammo lockers, I didn't bother with masking and instead used tweezers to hold them and airbrushed at an angle to avoid the previously painted Deck Blue area on top. My poster blue-tack blob provided a convenient place to stick them after painting.  After removing all the masking tape, turret #3 was fully assembled. I assembled the turret halves and guns first so they could be lined up properly and then the catapult components were added next. The trickiest part of the whole deal was adding the side tray that holds the catapult mechanism since the contact surface for it against the turret side is very narrow. I ended up just using some carefully applied amounts of CA to the front and back and with the ladder to get it all lined up properly.  While the turret set up, I added all the little bits to the aft areas of the main deck. There's still more to go in this department, but all the stuff that needed the two-tone treatment got added. Here's where keeping all the turrets, tripod, etc. removable pays off and provides the necessary flexibility to test fit/spacing and still be able to install stuff as needed.  Speaking of which, I added all that stuff back on in dry-fit mode and turret #3 is right at home with no clearance issues. The turret can freely rotate throughout its normal arc with just the right amount of clearance with the tripod and the surrounding stuff.  Just for fun, here's how the stern half of things is shaping up.  Next up will be taking care of the 20mm AA guns that go into the top tubs on #2 and #4 turrets along with a couple other details like the floater net baskets and rafts before I can seal them up for weathering and ultimate installation at some point. |
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Post by Leon on Nov 7, 2015 21:55:06 GMT -5
A lot of time consuming work there Bill! Your results really look great.  |
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Post by wouter on Nov 8, 2015 3:23:06 GMT -5
Good morning Bill! Nice to see some more. Nice paintwork again and cool to see the turrets dryfitted. And holy cow. Adding things with small contact surfaces is quite scary but you seem to manage to set it in place without any glue marks (guess that goes for the railing too ey). Very impressive, as usual!
Cheers
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Post by armorguy on Nov 8, 2015 3:40:10 GMT -5
Good morning Bill! Nice to see some more. Nice paintwork again and cool to see the turrets dryfitted. And holy cow. Adding things with small contact surfaces is quite scary but you seem to manage to set it in place without any glue marks (guess that goes for the railing too ey). Very impressive, as usual! Cheers The same opinion here, as Wout says, glueing these small parts on can be so tricky as CA glue doesn't leave any room for mistakes. |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 8, 2015 11:30:43 GMT -5
Thanks Leon!
AG and Wouts, definitely a case of test fit a lot before committing to anything! I also try to be strategic with the glue points instead of applying glue to the whole surface depending. Just enough to hold it in place is the key. For tricky spots that need a little more time, I'll use the Gator's Grip instead of CA.
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Post by wouter on Nov 8, 2015 13:37:20 GMT -5
Don't have that Gator Grip stuff, but I'll have to keep that in mind when I commit to building a ship one day.
Are you planning to do a ship someday and placing it as a waterline model in the ocean? Just curious about that.
Cheers
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 8, 2015 17:36:22 GMT -5
Don't have that Gator Grip stuff, but I'll have to keep that in mind when I commit to building a ship one day. Are you planning to do a ship someday and placing it as a waterline model in the ocean? Just curious about that. Cheers Gator's Grip is good stuff, produced by a modeler, Kenny Loup, and it has the added advantage of being acrylic which makes it easy to clean-up and work with as well as having a solid hold once it's set. I've been using it for years on armor builds but it really shines with ship-type PE for sure. No plans to do a waterline in-the-water type dio but you never know about the future! Ships are something that I've enjoyed working on here and there as a healthy break or diversion but aren't likely something I would go into all the way in that fashion. Famous last words though, right? |
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Post by wouter on Nov 9, 2015 12:02:14 GMT -5
Pitty but I can imagine Those words are going to be anyway if they aren't Well, let's see if I can find that Gator stuff over here and see what it does for me ^^ (What, no update yet? lol) Cheers |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 9, 2015 12:44:27 GMT -5
Pitty but I can imagine Those words are going to be anyway if they aren't Well, let's see if I can find that Gator stuff over here and see what it does for me ^^ (What, no update yet? lol) Cheers Sundays during football (NFL) season don't see a lot of bench time, sorry to disappoint! Should be able to get some more time in today though to keep Texas steaming along. You can always go direct to the source, here's Kenney's page: www.gatorsmask.com/gatorglueorder1.html The bottles are small so shipping to the EU probably wouldn't be that big of a deal, and he's a great guy to deal with. HTH! |
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Post by wouter on Nov 9, 2015 12:46:46 GMT -5
Oh, I can imagine...when F1 is on tele I usually don't get to the modelling either And thanks for the link, I'll defo take a look! Cheers |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 9, 2015 19:38:57 GMT -5
Today was one of those days where I thought I would get a lot further along than I actually did but instead spent the time working on small stuff that was deceptive in the time required to get done. All for the good though as it adds up in being able to check off one more set of the detail stuff required for the rear deck areas. First up was tackling all the ventilator stuff that is called for in Step 23. These are all molded solid so I used a combination of small drill bits and needle files to open them up and provide a little depth. Admittedly, this isn't something that is going to be all that noticeable but it does make a difference even if it is a subtle one. As you can see, the parts aren't that big to begin with and there are eight of them.  Next I tackled the individual Carly floats/rafts that get attached to the turrets in different spots. There are 6 called for in the instructions, 4 for the #5 turret and 2 for the base of the #4 turret, and that leaves 3 left over on the sprues. I noticed when checking reference photos that there was often a pair also attached to the non-catapult side of the #3 turret so I added 2 more for a total of 8 to the mix. I carefully sanded down their bottom sides so they would sit flat against the turrets as I definitely don't want these puppies coming loose later on. They were hand painted with the help of the Optivisor with a combination of Haze Gray and a custom mix of a medium gray color that I have on hand from a previous effort.  Once the paint was dry, careful use of regular glue to their back sides and placement with tweezers got the job done.  While the rafts were setting up, I added all of the now Haze Gray ventilators to the deck. Hard to believe that the whole day's session was taken up by only 16 parts but there you go. The deck is starting to fill up!  Hopefully I will be able to get to those pesky 20mm AA guns I've been talking about next. |
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Post by armorguy on Nov 9, 2015 19:53:16 GMT -5
Visiting this thread is fun ! Keep going Bill !
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 9, 2015 20:00:29 GMT -5
Visiting this thread is fun ! Keep going Bill ! Always glad to hear that, thanks AG! |
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delta
Full Member
Member since: January 2015
Posts: 365 
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Post by delta on Nov 9, 2015 20:03:12 GMT -5
I'm amazed every time I click this thread. Flawless work!
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 9, 2015 20:11:08 GMT -5
I'm amazed every time I click this thread. Flawless work! Thanks Delta! Appreciate the comments. |
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Post by Leon on Nov 9, 2015 20:20:00 GMT -5
Nice work on the ventilators and rafts Bill! |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 9, 2015 20:57:28 GMT -5
Thanks Leon! |
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Post by TRM on Nov 9, 2015 21:49:42 GMT -5
I know I must ave said this a few times already, but worth it again...beautiful work Bill!
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 10, 2015 11:25:40 GMT -5
Thanks Todd! It's always the little stuff that make or break a ship build. |
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Post by TRM on Nov 10, 2015 11:29:27 GMT -5
...and drive us all a further into insanity! |
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Post by wouter on Nov 10, 2015 12:34:31 GMT -5
Agree with the lads, and drilling those vent thingies sure was the worth the effort. Keep it comin' Professor!
Cheers
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 10, 2015 18:23:07 GMT -5
Thanks Wouts! I thin I might have caught some of wing-nut's disease when it comes to dealing with small stuff...see below! Managed to sneak in a little time today at the bench and opted to work on the Kingfisher seaplane since it was something that will have to be tackled sooner or later regardless. The kit includes 2 planes but only enough decals for 1...which kind of defeats the purpose I think! I was originally going to mount both as Texas carried up to 3 at a time depending on the circumstances, but just 1 will have to do. The assembly is covered under Step 36 and the top half of the fuselage is split in 2 while the bottom and the wings are all one part. All of the floats are separate components, so I removed them from the sprues and cleaned them up. The downside is that all of the parts are provided in clear styrene and that complicates being able to judge how things are truly going together in terms of fit, seams, etc.  I decided to give the three tone scheme a shot so I airbrushed a coat of Testors flat Sea Blue after I'd used some blue tack poster putty to mask off the canopy portions. This was applied to all surfaces so it could serve as a kind of pre-shade/primer coat and ensure I didn't have any bare clear surfaces peeking through. It did reveal some areas that needed some putty attention, seam removal, etc. which were dealt with in short order.  I hand painted a 'stripe' of Testors Hellblau since I had it on hand and it was a reasonably close match to Intermediate Blue in this scale. It was meant to serve as a guide only and I airbrushed a thin overcoat on top of it to get the color solid over the Sea Blue with some masking tape used to protect the rear stabilizers in the process. Then I used some strips of masking tape to protect the wings and flipped it over and airbrushed MM flat Light Gray to serve for the non-specular White in the scheme. It was carefully feathered into the light blue to create a soft edge scheme and the floats got their treatment as well.  Blue tack came off and some small touchups added here and there. After I add the floats, I'll apply a coat of Future to protect it all so I can add the roundel decals next.  Still haven't forgotten about those 20mm guns. |
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Post by Leon on Nov 10, 2015 19:18:53 GMT -5
Nice work on the small wingie Bill! Especially the painting. |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 10, 2015 21:58:52 GMT -5
Nice work on the small wingie Bill! Especially the painting. Thanks Leon. My first 1/350 aircraft, so can scratch that off the bucket list. |
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Post by wouter on Nov 11, 2015 1:28:01 GMT -5
Holy crap that looks good It strikes me that often on those ship kits, the planes are in a clear plastic...is there a reason for that? Cheers |
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Post by wbill76 on Nov 11, 2015 2:20:14 GMT -5
Holy crap that looks good It strikes me that often on those ship kits, the planes are in a clear plastic...is there a reason for that? Cheers Thanks Wouts! You're right about the planes in this scale usually being 100% clear plastic. Makes it easier for the canopy to be kept clear vs a separate piece like on larger aircraft. There are certain economies of scale (no pun!) involved in clear vs regular plastic as the material formulas are different so if they are going to do it, makes sense to produce all the parts as a single sprue vs just 1 or 2 tiny pieces alone. |
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Post by dierk on Nov 11, 2015 9:49:33 GMT -5
I think I'll prepare a Word template with phrases like 'great build/job/progress' 'stunning display of skills' etc. So I can just copy and paste my comments... oh, forgot to add 'masterful' |
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Post by wing_nut on Nov 11, 2015 10:41:19 GMT -5
Dierk... send me a copy of that wuould ya? What he said. As for the wee little Kingfisher.... welcome to my world. So, who's spotting who?  |
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