Encore 1/232 Protected Cruiser USS Olympia

[wbill76]

Made some more progress today on the main hull. I had airbrushed a protective coat of Future acrylic floor polish and let that set for a good 24 hours before I started on weathering the anti-fouling red areas. I used the dot filter approach here, applying small dots of enamel Flat Brown and MM enamel Leather and blending them together with a square tip brush lightly dampened with thinner. I worked in small sections at a time to avoid the dots drying and wore a breather mask due to the thinner fumes.



After a couple of hours, I had one side done. Then it was just a matter of rinse-and-repeat for the other half. The combination of the dot-filter and the previous pre-shading work did the trick in terms of providing the variation to the red I was after.



The propellers were also bronzed with a thin wash of MM enamel Burnt Umber over the previous Metalizer Brass base to round things out for the day.

[wing_nut]

Didn't read a single word of that... for now... but the pictures.. Yowzer, that stryoporn right there. For all I know every ship modeler in the world might say that deck plating is wrong, out of scale or what ever. But I don't give a rats hairy hind parts... that is hotel sierra brotha!

I hope I can get the Connie and Roland done to get to the build for this GB in time.

[Leon]

Really like the variation of the colors on the lower hull and the props look great Bill!

[wbill76]

May 22, 2016 17:45:26 GMT -5 wing_nut said:

Didn't read a single word of that... for now... but the pictures.. Yowzer, that stryoporn right there. For all I know every ship modeler in the world might say that deck plating is wrong, out of scale or what ever. But I don't give a rats hairy hind parts... that is hotel sierra brotha!

I hope I can get the Connie and Roland done to get to the build for this GB in time.

I think you just coined a new phrase and might also have launched a new industry with 'styroporn' Marc! Got to love these riveted construction ship designs, the plates are in sections that overlap each other and I tried to treat them as distinct areas accordingly with both the panel work and the weathering. The fact that this is 1/232 vs. 1/350 means there's an escape clause for any 'in-scale' discussions IMHO!

[wbill76]

May 22, 2016 17:48:39 GMT -5 Leon said:

Really like the variation of the colors on the lower hull and the props look great Bill!

Thanks Leon! You sneaked one in on me there. I tested out a couple different approaches before settling on the right mix/approach. I was surprised a bit (but shouldn't have been really) that the biggest factor was the orientation of the plates themselves on the hull in terms of which direction and approach worked best. Think of 'moving with the grain' type of factor since the molding of the plates and their overlaps aren't perfectly flush and are also staggered. Made for an 'aha!' moment.

[dierk]

I must have deleted the 'superlatives and praise' copy and paste sheet I used for the USS Texas - so just insert your own...I've run out of anything original to say

[wbill76]

May 23, 2016 3:02:25 GMT -5 dierk said:

I must have deleted the 'superlatives and praise' copy and paste sheet I used for the USS Texas - so just insert your own...I've run out of anything original to say

Thanks Dierk! Still early in the build with a lot more to come, so you may have to resort to the popcorn babushka method!

[wouter]

This is great stuff indeed, I love that preshade and in combo with the dot filter it turned out awesome...really a great looking effect there.

Cheers

[wbill76]

May 23, 2016 11:00:34 GMT -5 wouter said:

This is great stuff indeed, I love that preshade and in combo with the dot filter it turned out awesome...really a great looking effect there.

Cheers

Thanks Wouts! Now I have to tackle the gray portion next.

[wouter]

May 23, 2016 12:01:05 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

May 23, 2016 11:00:34 GMT -5 wouter said:

This is great stuff indeed, I love that preshade and in combo with the dot filter it turned out awesome...really a great looking effect there.

Cheers

Thanks Wouts! Now I have to tackle the gray portion next.

Well, you won't stand alone When I continue Yamato (too much work lately...) I will face the same. Unlike the lower hull I'll be preshading the hell out of the grey, looks like we are in for a lot of fun ey LOL

Cheers

[wbill76]

May 23, 2016 12:09:29 GMT -5 wouter said:

Well, you won't stand alone When I continue Yamato (too much work lately...) I will face the same. Unlike the lower hull I'll be preshading the hell out of the grey, looks like we are in for a lot of fun ey LOL

Cheers

You'll definitely have plenty of canvas to play with on that hull!

[wouter]

Don't remind me...reading it took you a couple of hours, I just don't want to know how long it will take me to do. Luckily you keep us motivated

Cheers

[wbill76]

I didn't have a big enough block of bench time available to continue with the hull weathering just yet but did have enough to work on one of the other important detail areas, the 5-inch gun batteries. There are 10 of these that install on the 2nd deck level and each had to be cleaned up and a slight mold shift seam issue dealt with first. Plastic barrels were removed and the breeches sanded square and holes drilled with a #70 finger drill to accept the mount pins on the brass barrels. Add a little bit of CA and voila! The makeover is complete.



These guns install into barbettes that will all but obscure the breech portions so it's not a big deal that they are devoid of any real detail, they just need to look the part sticking out from the mounts.

[Leon]

Bill,those brass barrels look great! There a huge improvement.

[wbill76]

May 23, 2016 18:56:53 GMT -5 Leon said:

Bill,those brass barrels look great! There a huge improvement.

Thanks Leon! You're right, the original kit barrels were too large, had a weird step in their barrels that wasn't present on the actual guns, and had solid muzzles to boot. Brass to the rescue!

[TRM]

The hull looks fantastic Bill!! Tidy work on the gun too!

[dierk]

Sticky out guns! Nice!

[wbill76]

Thanks Todd!

May 24, 2016 5:36:52 GMT -5 dierk said:

Sticky out guns! Nice!

These predreadnought designs are funky like that, guns of different types and sizes poking out all over! Olympia even carried 2 Gatling guns!

[jsteinman]

Smokin'

[wbill76]

Thanks John! Something tells me I should be grateful that your meme cuts off where it does.

[martslay]

Beautifully it turns out, Bill! Very much it is pleasant to me. Good luck!  

[deafpanzer]

The hull really came out great!! Looking forward to see how the guns come out next...

[wbill76]

Thanks Martin and Andy, appreciate the comments! Stay tuned for the next round...

[wbill76]

Started in on weathering the Navy Gray sections of the hull and got one side done before I had to call it quits for the next couple of days. I applied a dot filter using MM enamel IJN Sky Gray and Gunship Gray in a 2-1 ratio. The dots were blended horizontally first to get them onto their planking sections and then additional blending vertically with a smaller square tip brush since these were surfaces above the waterline and there would be the inevitable streaking/staining/fading from exposure to salt water.







This isn't the final look for the hull, I'll come back and do some pin wash treatment to bring back out some of the raised hatch detail and portholes of course. The one side took about 2.5 hours to get it to this stage, so half way there!

[dierk]

Floatylicious!

[wbill76]

Thanks Dierk! I'm logging more hours in the breather mask than Darth Vader these days!

[wbill76]

2nd verse, same as the first! Got the dot filter treatment on the opposite side of the hull dark gray.





Next up will be some long sessions with the pin wash treatment.

[wouter]

It looks soooo good, keep it going, you're on a roll anyway ^^

Cheers

[mrt51]

Outstanding!

[wbill76]

Thanks Wouts and Terry! Feels a little strange doing all the weathering up front since that's usually the last stage on other builds!