Landlubber Mike

Thanks!

I recently dusted this one off after getting inspired with some 1/700 builds I came across on FB. The Five Star resin/PE kit differs from its Aoshima plastic kit counterpart in that with the PE, it has much better detail than the various plastic parts. On the flip side, this kit is lacking certain details like the girders under the flight deck, winches, small funnel pipes, etc. So, I'm using the Aoshima instructions to help detail the area below the flight deck. To start, the flight deck is going to need a lot of work to add the girders. The easiest way to approach this was to first paint the top side of the flight deck, then flip it order and add the girders and supports. I first primed both sides of the deck with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black, then sprayed Tamiya Maizuru arsenal on the top side of the deck for the gray color. The Five Star kit doesn't give you decals to paint the lines on the flight deck and elevator, but gives you metal stencils: I placed the deck and stencil on a sturdy piece of cardboard, then painted the lines using Mr. Color insignia white. As I was painting along the stencil with the airbrush in one hand, with the other I was pressing the stencil down using a wooden popsicle stick to make sure the stencil didn't lift and give me underspray. Then, after it dried overnight, I taped off and painted the perpendicular lines at the bow and amidships. I was pretty surprised at how well this all worked - all that anxiety for nothing! Next I will clear coat the topside to protect the paint job, tape it off, and then work on the underside and glue on the supports, girders, etc. As all that is in progress, I can finish up the underneath area/hangar deck. I also have to finish up the Ki-76 planes, which are mostly done but just need a few more details to be added. Thanks for looking in!

I believe so - it was somewhere near St. Michaels if I recall correctly.

Really nice job - cool display!

Nice job on what looks like a tough kit!

Thanks Mike! Yeah, I had some issues wiring it together in position, and some of the planks had slipped during assembly and gluing - the bow and stern especially gave me fits. I ended up gluing it together, then having to separately remove planks and re-glue to get the bow and stern in alignment. It's a fun kit, something different. It probably took me double the amount of estimated time (40 versus 20 hours) with those issues, and then the painting. I had to sand and then repaint sections multiple times as I kept finding little issues (putty closing the wire holes shrinking, paint went on too thick or too thin, and other touchups). Feel free to reach out when you start yours if you have questions.

Hey Glen, I haven't been on MSW much the past few months but just found your log. Wow, what a great job! You're getting very good with these SIB builds! For what it's worth, on the stand, I have a slight preference for #2 as well. I like the concept of #1, but I think I prefer the simplicity of the tree over the stand. Can't go wrong with either approach though.

Amazing work Glen!! Really well done! I loved the video too - shows really well what a stellar model this became.

Looking really good Chris!

Wow, nice paint job! Tricky but you nailed it! For custom decals, I think someone mentioned this, but you can design decals on your computer and print them out on your printer with special decal paper. I haven't had to go that route, but I can see trying it out in the future. From what I've seen from others, it doesn't sound as hard as it might seem. The one tricky thing is printing "white". You might need a special printer for that. There were these Alps printers that could print white, but maybe others now can print it as well. Maybe an easier alternative would be to design your own stencils/masks for the lettering. You design it on your computer, then get something like a Cricut machine to cut them out. If you don't want to do it yourself, there are outfits out there that can help you like this one below: https://kitmasx.com/pages/custom-mask-requests

Good choice in going red Craig. Your Ferrari is stunning! And thanks for posting pics of models from the show. You've got some talented people down there! I really like your Bugatti - what kit/scale is it?

Oh no, that is terrible news! I've dealt with them on a couple of occasions and they were incredibly nice. Hope they can sell their business - they really put out some beautiful kits of some very nice subjects.

Oh yes, now I remember your log! Such a great build, love it!

Oh wow, even cooler! Hope you can figure out the linking - that seems like a cool model. I remember Yves beautiful work. I have the Revell 1/144 kit with the Pontos set, along with the 1/72 kit with the full David Parkins upgrades that someone here on MSW was building at one point. I love the Flower Class corvettes - just want to get my skill level up to do the two kits justice!

Alan is that the Revell 1/72 Flower Class kit? Apologies if I forgot that you built it, but it’s a nice model, wow!

Nice work Craig! The piping on the seats came out really well. Hope you played the lottery - you were certainly on a lucky streak that day!

Such a beautiful and epic build. Really nice job!! I sometimes have a similar beverage at hand as in post #2574 to get through parts of a build

That came out really great! There's a certain charm of these small craft that you just don't get with the typical model of a British 18th century warship. Well done!

That came out really great Alan! Love the colors you used - they complement each other nicely. Pretty quick build for something fairly complicated, you've become quite the expert at this scale! I chuckled when I read your part about the missing mast. Definitely has happened to us all!

I wouldn't use Vallejo putty as it's for plastic models. It's also unfortunately known to shrink. You have a variety of options depending on the size of the cracks and whether you are painting the the section: If very small, I'd consider filling the gap with wood glue and then immediately sanding the area before the glue dries. The sawdust will catch in the wood glue and no more gap. If very small and area will be painted, you can also use super glue - use medium to fill the gap, and then sand flush. Super glue doesn't shrink so it's a very good option. But, you can't stain, etc. it so really this option is only if you are going to paint the area. If small or especially if larger gap, then wood putty works great. The wood putties tend not to shrink as much as the putties for plastic models.

Thanks Bob, really appreciate it!

Thanks Gary, really appreciate the kind words!

Another really nice one Andrew. Looks perfect!

Really well done Andrew!! Nice job!

That's a nice little kit and you're doing a great job on it. I might have to look into these for some of my wooden builds. Thanks for posting the separate build log!