Landlubber Mike

Looking great Ron! i haven’t tried Vallejo’s Liquid Gold line, but I’ve used some of their other Metal Colours and really like them. Another thing to consider is using gilding wax. It’s a paste like wax that people use to give an antique metal look to furniture, etc. I used it when I turned some wooden magic wands for my kids and i really liked the effect. I was thinking of using it on my Renommee build. I also like your approach on using gesso to build up the multi-layer PE. One reason I was looking into scratch building the ornamentation on my Pegasus was I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the look of layered PE. Using gesso to build it up is a great idea. Happy Thanksgiving!

I ordered mine around the same time and it came last week. It's a very solid tool that should last a lifetime.

Hi Mark, even though we've never met I felt crushed reading your post after all the kind exchanges we have had over the years. I'm at a loss for words right now, but wanted to send my best wishes to you and your family.

Wow! Looks awesome!!!

Great job Glen! I love how it turned out, including with the wood base and the cork knot. Very cool!

Such great work, all the more impressive being in card. Nice job!

Excellent!! So glad the repair worked!

I have this, but haven't used it much. I usually just try to cut the tabs as closely as possible, or use the knife to trim off any extras. I found that at 1/700 scale, attempts to clean up parts could do more harm than good given the thin brass. For 1/350 maybe a little less risk, but you have to ask yourself if you will be able to see the little tab, and weigh the risk of cleanup versus the risk of ruining the part or even losing it if it happens to ping off the tweezers. One place I found, however, that you want to remove the tabs is when building box-type structures as tabs will interfere with having clean joins.

Finally got most of the details onto the hull and will spray gloss clear tonight in preparation for the weathering, etc. process. I have a few more things to add like a few more AA guns and the small boats, but I wanted to make sure I had access to areas for adding washes and other treatments. I used some other sets to get a little more detail to the kit. FiveStar sells resin life buoys which are nice because they are 3D and don't have to be folded like PE buoys, and you can paint them right off the plug. The kit searchlight was ok, but I ended up using a FineMolds 90cm searchlight which I thought gave better detail: Here are the torpedos and their carriages - great little details from the Infini upgrade set: Small boats - lots of little details from Infini, including the wood bottoms for the cutters: The resource books I posted at the beginning of the log showed a small lantern hanging from the pole at the bow. The FineMolds set with the searchlight included small lanterns, so after trimming to size, I added it to the bow. Nice little touch I think: After the weathering, I'll put together the seascape, add the rigging and flags, and add figures to the model. I've left a few little details here and there for added interest, including an open torpedo hatch, a hatch at the top of one of the other torpedo launchers, an open ammo box, etc. Thanks for looking in!

Thanks Gary, really appreciate it! Roger, thanks very much for the kind words. I'm pretty pleased with how this is coming out, but I have to say, Hasegawa did a really nice job with this kit and the Infini upgrade set is spectacular. So, all I can really do is screw things up and go down from there This is actually 1/350 scale. I don't know if there is all that much more detail than 1/700 scale - the Five Star upgrade set for my 1/700 Hatsuzakura had a lot of these details! The only difference I would say is that at 1/700, a lot of the details are in fewer PE parts that just need more folds (e.g., the guns) or that use more three-dimensional parts like the bases for things like the davits and the guns. These days, both scales give you the opportunity to really add a lot of more defined details to the model though. I was originally going to start my plastic ship collection with this model, but started with the 1/700 destroyer to get a little more experience before tackling this one. I learned a lot from that kit, especially on how to manipulate PE, using an airbrush, etc. I still have a ways to go on getting better though.

Oh man Glen, it was going so well that when I got to the last post, my heart sank. Good luck on the repair, sounds like you’ve got a good plan for it. Fingers still crossed over here!

Two other tools that might be handy are the Tamiya PE bending pliers. There is a small one and a larger one: https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Tools-Bending-Pliers-Photo/dp/B001HBJ2YG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=tamiya+pe+pliers&qid=1636555835&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/TAMIYA-America-Bending-Pliers-Photo-TAM74067/dp/B01LX200XY/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=tamiya+pe+pliers&qid=1636555835&sr=8-2 You can use these to bend PE and they do a good job. I used them a lot on my 1/700 build since the PE was so small and thin I didn't think it was as critical to get 90 degree bends. On my 1/350 build, I almost exclusive use the Bug to get the bends going, and sometimes, like with box-type shapes, will use the small Tamiya pliers to finalize the bends since they have more surface area than tweezers. Where these pliers really help, especially the long one, is where a piece of PE gets twisted or is otherwise no longer flat and needs to be. This could happen on fret removal, mistake in construction, the PE fell on the ground and in looking for it you accidentally stepped on it (yes, has happened to me a couple of times), etc. Put the piece in the pliers and you can get the piece flattened out.

I have their large PE cut off set and really like it. The black acetate really helps to set off the color of the brass PE, making it easier to locate cut-off tabs and find pieces that might have moved. Those plastic hold downs can be helpful as well. I stopped using them on my 1/700 scale model because the PE was too thin and I found it did more harm than good. I ended up just using the tip of my finger to hold the PE in place. You definitely want to hold the parts down as they can ping off the fret when the last cut-off tab is cut - has happened to me more times than I care to admit! I similarly mostly use my fingers on my 1/350 PE, but have on occasion used the hold downs. I think I mentioned earlier that I have one of the larger PE benders as well. I have a few larger kits (1/72 Snowberry and the 1/200 Bismarck) and some of the PE looked like it was on the larger side so to be safe, I picked it up. Thus far for me, the Bug has worked for all my PE needs. You probably could just get one of the larger sets and call it a day as it looks like it has some of the smaller bending fingers like the Bug, but I think it's nice to have both the Bug and a larger one as the Bug doesn't take up much room on the bench. All in all, I really like the Small Shop products. I have their rolling set (very helpful when you need to roll PE into cylinders) and their Wrangler, which I think I've only used once. Do you "need" these products? I would say that with most things in modeling, there are multiple ways of accomplishing the same result. These products though are very well designed and make it much easier. Hope that helps!

Agree with Jack - it's what I have been using and I really like it. Well made, and very versatile. I have one of their larger hold and folds but haven't had the need to break it out yet.

Clare, I've seen your models individually on various threads here, but seeing them all together on display is really impressive. You do fantastic work on these really neat subjects!

Nicely done Eric - getting the pre-formed gunwales on is always a stressful part of the build, and you've done a great job with it. I have to say though, in the end, the pre-formed gunwales are much easier to do than planking the hull and cutting out gunports! I had to do that on my La Renommee build and it took forever.

That's really nice detail on there, wow! You're doing a fantastic job on it. Putting aside the PE, the hull detail with the plating is really crisp and impressive. I know what you mean about taking breaks. Need to relax the eyes and hands, and sorta reset the mind. I also find I need to stretch my back and legs if I'm sitting too long hunched over with the optivisor and tweezers

Great job OC! I love it! Can I ask what you are using for the diorama base? Looks pretty cool.

Really nicely done Gary! I second the build log idea

This is one of the coolest dioramas I've ever seen, and incredibly impressive considering the scale. Absolutely fantastic work!

Chris, it's really amazing what you can do with card. Really impressive!

Thanks Jack and Derek. Sorry to keep asking questions on the honing guides, but what do you get with the Kell guide that you don't get with the Veritas guide? I'm still not exactly sure of the difference, but likely because I haven't used honing guides very much. For what it's worth, I'm only looking for something for smaller/miniature chisels as I don't expect to get into using larger ones (famous last words). I do want to get back to my wooden ship builds now that I have these cool toys.

Jack, since you have both honing guides, would you say it’s worth getting the Kell guide if you have the Veritas one?

Really nice job Scott! Love all the details!

Looking great Glen! Moment of truth coming soon! Good luck!