Landlubber Mike

I haven't done many cars, and I've been struggling with what to do. Your situation is why for the few I've done, I've stripped the chrome and repainted. I've used Vallejo Metal Colors, and was thinking about trying Alclad and Zero Paints for comparison. I've used Molotov chrome pens, but it can be a little tricky as you can't go back over what you did or it gets screwed up (haven't tried it in the airbrush yet). Also haven't foiled yet. What I think is tricky is trying to get a consistent chrome finish across all chromed parts - a little hard when you're using kit parts, foil, Molotov, paint, etc. in different places.

Looks fantastic Ron, very very nice!

This looks fantastic! Really well done! You mentioned using foil for the window trim - what did you do for the chrome on the bumpers and other trim? Looks great, and a nice contrast against the body color.

Those funnels are beautiful. No PE needed, wow!

Well you know more than me! Or at least can guess about them more than me 😀 What impresses me about the IJN ships is the variety - tons of different types, especially on the auxiliary side. Pretty amazing what they were able to build when they didn’t have the natural resources we had.

Thanks Lou! I haven't come across that site before, looks like a great resource! I should have consulted you first before spending hours scouring the internet, buying a Japanese magazine (in Japanese) and trying to decipher things using Google translate, etc.! Unsure if that rear structure is a big potty or radio room. Seems that the cross-mast was removed in the later versions. I noticed also that about the guns pointed straight up. At first I thought it was only when pulling into port for safety reasons, but it looks like that was the positioning when out at sea too. Those barrels are massive! Thanks again!

Thanks John for the vote of confidence. So far I'm hopeful, but don't want to get too far ahead of myself

Wow where did you find that? That’s one of the best pictures I’ve seen. Interesting how light in color it looks. The kit includes both a railing and solid wall for the searchlight ring. I used the railing but the solid wall looks pretty cool.

Very clean, crisp work there OC, nice job!

Probably! Looks kinda spacious!

Wow, that's super cool Kevin!

Looks great - a mask and lots of decals is a great addition to kits.

While waiting on diorama bases on other projects to dry, I put in some more time on this one. First I built up the funnel. There are five PE rings that come with the kit, but the two steam pipes do not. Took some very thin brass rod (I think 0.4 or 0.5mm) and bent it to shape, and added the pipe tops to each which came from a Rainbow accessories set. Alongside the funnel is a rack which I think was used to carry wood, so I'll have to add some at the end of the build. Just behind the funnel was another structure which includes two vents, a rack on top, and then a circular platform where the searchlight goes. Next I built the stern structure. Not exactly sure what it is designed to do, as there is a rail on only one end and sort of a semi circular extrusion on the port side. The kit includes an opening for the door at the stern side, so I installed it with the door open. Here's a look at the full model - looking pretty good I think. Before I go too much further, I might add a red stripe at the waterline to avoid accidentally breaking any of the more sensitive things like the masts when trying to mask. Once the lower hull is painted, I can tape the lower hull and linoleum deck, and add the two masts and a few other details, and paint the hull. Despite the need to add necessary details not included in the kit (like the funnel pipes and the searchlight), I'm really enjoying the build. Five Star makes really nice PE parts which are a perfect fit. The subject also has plenty of open spaces so you can treat it as a blank canvas to add various details. Thanks for looking in!

You've gotten really good at these card models Chris. Very impressive how you can get compound shapes to fit so well together.

Very nice job Kevin, looks fantastic!

What a cool subject Alan, doing a great job on this one! The design is so simple, it almost looks futuristic or even Mad Max-ish 😀

Looks great Alan! I'm sure a nice diversion from dealing with the printer...

Why not just get something like this from Five Star (this is available from Free Time Hobbies or on eBay):

Glad you got that figured out Alan. I would have been tempted to throw it out the window Parts are looking fantastic! This gives me flashbacks to when @mtaylor had to show his Death Star who was boss...

I'm in too! Wouldn't want to miss another one of Kevin's epic huge builds

On my current 1/350 build, I struggled with that question as well. Mostly because I hate taping, I tried to order assembly versus painting to avoid having to tape. For things like ammo lockers, I painted them separately then attached them. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the airbrush in tiny nooks, and would try too hard and get globs of paint. For things like the bridge and other structures, I find it easier to assemble off model and then attach. The problem is sometimes the attaching part can give you difficulties like gaps, etc. I had some problems with my bridge and had to take it off and re-glue it, and knocked off some of the PE details that I had to re-attach. Sometimes it's best to just go with your gut and figure it out as you go along. Can only plan so much!

Nice job OC! Alan, I completely agree. There has to be a lot of planning, I think particularly when working in this scale. I haven't built a Flyhawk 1/700 kit before, but the multiple sets of instructions (one for base kit, one for PE and other details) doesn't have me exactly excited.

Thanks guys! Lou, I find with my big sausage fingers and other clumsiness that I need to do the more physical work early on or off model, otherwise I end up breaking things faster than I can build 😕. The skeg was quite thick, ended up using a scriber to cut through both sides and then cleaned up with a hobby knife.

I use the Optivisor with LED light frame as well and love it. I thought my eyes had gotten much worse the past month, but turned out the lights weren't as strong. I replaced the batteries and voila! Could see tiny PE again.

Last night I worked on the funnel to add the five rings, as well as PE components at the top. Sorry for the bad picture, hard to get a good picture at high magnification on my phone. Funny thing is to the naked eye the rings, etc. look perfect, but on high magnification it looks a bit rough! I also added the vents/windlass on the bow deck - these are super tiny turned brass components from Five Star and Rainbow. You could just use a cut off piece of plastic rod, but you get crisper definition with the brass, and not to mention, it's not very easy to cut tiny pieces of plastic rod. I also added the rangefinder to the bridge. The kit includes a single PE piece that you fold in half. Instead I used an upgrade kit from Five Star which allows you to make it in a more three-dimensional fashion from five pieces - one you fold for the main box on top, a rod for the handle, a turned rod for the pedestal, and then two PE pieces to make the base. Really put the Optivisor to the test on that one! While I think it's a nice improvement over the kit rangefinder, I have to say that given how small it is, I'm not sure that most people would notice or appreciate the extra 30 minutes it took me to put this together over the simple fold and glue for the kit part.