IJN Yamato by RGL - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/350 - PLASTIC

[Elijah]

Nice job with those guns! They look fantastic!

[cog]

She's stunning, we have daughters because we deserve them.

Must have done something right

[RGL]

Moving on with the hull, preshading, base grey, lighter grey along the plate lines, the rear flight deck which was concrete. I have subsequently done a 90% diluted overspray with The same light grey which is a 50/50 white grey mix to take off the sharp edges and diffuse the colour. I won't get back to her till next week now when I will add a grey filter. Once that sets I will remove the masking skirts and add the depth marker decals. Then the weathering begins.  

Edited February 23, 2017 by Greg Lester

[WBlakeny]

Your paint job makes it so real! Nice, very nice.

[BANYAN]

you've really got a grip of this airbrushing lark now Greg, looks very good.

cheers

Pat

[RGL]

I'm getting better at it slowly, still can't do a strait horizontal line, vertical is fine. So much work to go. 

[cog]

I wouldn't worry to much about those straight lines, a steady hand comes with time. You need to keep on practising though. Once I could draw a straight line a meter long, when I was at the Academy of Arts, but nowadays, I'm glad if I can manage 20 cm

[dgbot]

I love your shading and texturing.  It really brings the old girl to life

David B

[RGL]

The base colour is done! I removed the masking tape and have a few chips on the lower hull, but I intend to make them rust spots anyway. I have added the hull depth markers and the ships name and crest on the bow.

 

Next will be to paint the scuppers then start the weathering. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the paintwork yet on the upper hull, but I'm expecting the weathering and washes to bring it to life.

[CDW]

Looks great from this angle! 

[BANYAN]

That's a very good finish Greg, just the right amount of shading and highlight to make out the the armour belt panels.  From this angle at least, the shadow for the various downpipes etc are just right also.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[RGL]

To make the hull a little less bland, I have started the washes, covering the degausing cable and deadlights. I intend to drybrush over the next to bring out the detail.

[RGL]

Next is the foredeck, wash added, then drybrushed to bring out detail. Once it sets I can start on rust, chipping and grime etc.

 

The rear aircraft deck next, same thing. Eventually I will drybrush the railings silver to show wear.

[cog]

You've been rather busy with your airbrush and brushes. I really do like the effects you create with it ... very inspiring! The "flight deck" has some big concrete slabs on it. When I look at my PE parts for it, both Fly Hawk and Pontos have far smaller slabs. Do you know if that is the result of the new information gathered from the wrecks?

[George-JK]

Great Work!  I could hardly imagine, that a plastic model could look so realistic. 

Looking forward to the finished ship. 

[RGL]

No idea Cog, I've just gone off some other models and the old AOTS, so  too late for me now I suppose as I won't get the new AOTS till April. I'm happy with the progress to date. 

[cog]

Thanks, Greg. You should be happy, at least I would be! Smashing job !!!

[RGL]

Weathering time! I've never tried this before, and as there is so much detail on the hull, I want to get the hull weathering done first so I can airbrush a grunge coat on the bottom then leave it on the stand to work on.

 

I have used (so far) rust/green slime, with salt then a grunge coat underneath. Half the hull done after a full day. You can see the bits where the paint came off as I removed the tape an I have used a light and a dark rust product.

[BANYAN]

Impressive Greg; done as if with the hand of the very experienced.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[RGL]

Pat,

 

how much salt sticked to warships and what would the main place be on the upper works would it streak?

[vossy]

hey greg, the uppers on a sea going ship are washed down and cleaned every day. every branch has a part of ship they are responsible for. main weathering would be mostly inaccessible area's like the hull as this is generally too dangerous to do at sea.

 

cheers

chris

 

[RGL]

Thanks chris, does it accumulate on the hull near the breakwaters? Anywhere else? Being a landlubber I can only go off very old photos.

[BANYAN]

Hi Greg, Chris has basically nailed it.  

 

Unless the ship was in an operational environment for a prolonged period, the upper decks were well maintained with a washdown as required.  Noting in older ships, up to 1980s or so, fresh water was a real hassle and needed to be carefully managed (I well remember the 3 minute rule of the splash, lather, rinse and dash daily shower :)), so a wash down was done with sea water unless the salt had caked too much.   Breakwaters etc would only rust if maintenance access was a problem or the area had been chipped due to shell casing chipping or other operational wear and tear, (prolonged periods in an operational environment where crews were closed up in two watches and manning their weapons, making maintenance a lower priority).  

 

So, if depicting a ship in an operational environment which had been at sea for awhile, then there would have been some minor upper deck rust runs etc from fittings, depending on how long at sea and in what Defence State the ship had been operating.  But it would not have been too much as basic maintenance, such as wash downs would have been observed regularly, for crew safety, weapon and ship husbandry etc.  As you have depicted significant rust etc on the sides, this I would assume would mean she has been at sa for a while, and some minor rust and streaks on upper deck fittings may have ensued, especially in unmanned areas (away from some weapons and ready access).  Things such as capstans, boats, davits and cranes that were required for safety and weapons service would have been well maintained but painting/ship's husbandry may have been minimal.

 

As to salt, minimal on the upper deck and superstructure areas ready to hand, unless immediately after some roughers, at which time a wash down would have been organised.  Ship's are designed to shed water so accumulation of salt would have been in nooks and crannies only, and then would only have been a slight puddle of crystals, and a powdery effect on some screens - I would stay away from showing too much salt build up as it would have been a very poor XO and Bosun who let it build up to an extent that it would show, even in war time.  Then again, on the Murmansk run   In the tropics we would actively chase down passing showers etc when possible to provide nature's wash down

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

 

[cog]

When I look at the frequency these battleships were in harbour, I would expect them to be reasonably well maintained. Besides that, I thought the Japanese to be quite stringent in maintenance of their materials and "equipement"

[RGL]

Thanks Pat.

 

The second last step on the hull base is salt. I have done a salt line on the waterline, as well as from the scuppers and beneath the hawsers and along the centre armour belt. The Starboard side is not done, next is the Port side which I won't get to till next week. Thoughts for improvements?

 

Once that is done back to the airbrush.

[BANYAN]

Hi Greg, I just added a little about salt to my last post - wires crossed in passing   As COG said, don't overdo salt as it is a very poorly maintained ship that would have too much of it.  The Japanese in modern times have some of the best maintained ship's I have  seen, so that must be a cultural thing also and would have been evident in WWII also.  But in prolonged periods of high-intensity operations, some issues would have developed, no matter how disciplined the ship's husbandry - a matter of priorities.  A salt line on the waterline would indicate a ship alongside for a prolonged period with very little maintenance or water movement (current etc).  The action of the sea on the hull would have prevented such encrustation.  Have a look at the many photos of ships at sea (steel navy - waterline/hull etc) and notice there is no  salt encrusted; sometimes a little wear and tear from bumps etc but that would be about it.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[cog]

Quote

so that must be a cultural thing also and would have been evident in WWII also.

 

As Banyan wrote. The Japanese are clean and keep their properties well maintained. WWII was still a feudal period for Japan, not complying to rules/regulations had certainly severe consequences, which means maintenance would not have been passed over lightly. You might sooner go to far weathering than not on Japanese ships

[popeye the sailor]

hello Greg!    catching up on your fine build     I must say that your paint work looks really super.........the weathering really adds to the overall appearance.   you've made some great progress  

[RGL]

OK, I'll reduce the salt by about 50%, comes off very easily with white spirit.

[Kevin]

wonderful work, great fun rereading you build, as I tend to be away a lot from MSW recently.

 I am currently working on a 1/200 trumpeter kit (Sovremenny) to get used to the airbrush, then hopefully get back to the Bismarck to test the new skills on her, Yesterday my next big project arrived Merit 1/200 Hornet