Landlubber Mike

Lou, are they resin with PE to attach? I picked up a 1/350 IJN Ise carrier/battleship on eBay that was loaded with Veteran guns. It's been a while since I looked at them, but I recall them looking very detailed. Will wait for you to blaze the trail on putting these things together 🤨

Nice work!

Love the looks of this car. What a beautiful convertible!

Wow, very nice subject! The Italians sure know how to add elements of design to many things - cars, ships, planes, clothing, jewelry, etc. Not sure about the practicality, but they definitely make beautiful things!

Ha! You know what's funny? I actually enjoyed this build a lot. My plane builds have been filled with frustrations from painting, breaking things and having to repair them, etc. Then I recently tried a new paint on a couple of car builds and the paint ran too hot and it crazed the plastic. This 1/700 build was fairly uneventful - just a lot of Optivisor work.

Thanks guys - that’s what I was thinking when it came to the rigging. Seems the safer course. Really appreciate all the kind words and encouragement. I’ve learned a ton on this build. The early portions like the bridge are rough in some places, but overall I like how it came out and will do better on the next one. Got to practice with PE, tried using a filter coat, played with weathering enamels, etc. I thought a destroyer would be a fairly simple subject to cut my teeth on, but man, there were a ton of nice details in the Five Star upgrade package. I should have mentioned a couple of small details I added. The life rings are pre-painted PE from Eduard - how cool is that! Easy to install. Also on the starboard side there is a rack along the rear deck structure. Looks like racks like that held wood for repairs, so I cut little splinters of some leftover tanganyika from my Badger build, wiped them in wipe on poly to bring the wood a little life, then glued them down. Nice little touch I think. If the model came out ok, I was thinking about waiting to put it in a waterline diorama setting until I had a few more of these, but I might put it on a base sooner rather than later. I’m pretty happy with it so I think the waterline is a go and will look into how to do it at this scale. The slightest bumps and touches bend pieces so having it on a base should give it a little more protection. Last week I dusted off the 1/350 Shimakaze and started working on it. After working in 1/700, the tiniest of the 1/350 is no sweat. Looking forward to bringing that one to life, but will probably add another 1/700 build as a side build. I might have added a few 1/700 kits to the stash 🤪

Thanks guys, really appreciate it. I might try the sponge idea since there isn’t too much to do here. I feel like every time I use the airbrush, paint gets where it shouldn’t, even when masking. I have a couple of small sections where it looks like some of the gray got under what was like three layers of tape - not from too heavy a layer that went under the tape, but sorta like the mist floated under the tape - doh!

I've been spending most of my time working on my 1/700 destroyer, but have been getting in some progress on the Wildcat. Everything is painted up aside from the life raft, just need to do a few touch ups. I used Tamiya Insignia White for the underside from the rattle can, and Vallejo Dark Gull Gray for the top side. I really like how the two colors are working together. Question for everyone - when I look at pictures of the Wildcat, there usually isn't such a sharp line between the colors, but more of a soft transition as if it was overspray. Any ideas on how to achieve that? I considered taping just outside the line and spaying a very diluted paint mixture. I don't know if I want to re-tape, but was thinking about possibly hand brushing a very thinned gray along the line - sorta just pressing the bristles against the line like I was sponge painting. Any ideas on which would be better? Thanks in advance!

Just about at the finish line. Everything is assembled, just need to add the rigging. I played around with some naval enamels from AK so I'll let those dry over the next few days, and then add a matt clear coat. I'm wondering about adding a clear coat after the rigging. I'm planning to probably use EZ-Line - would it be ok to rig the ship now, and then clear coat at the end? Or should I first clear coat and then rig the ship? I figure the clear coat won't effect the EZ-Line, but just wondering if anyone has any experience on this. Thanks for looking in!

Looks awesome man. That camo scheme is complicated but really stands out, nice job!

I could be. I’ve got three models that are near the finish line. I’m a lot slower than you though so don’t let me hold you up...

Beautiful work Craig! Is there a McLaren in the future? 😉

Whenever I start to think about how many projects I have "in progress" I always feel better when I remember that there's this Popeye guy out there with a lot more

Looking good - I like the lines of the He111.

Nice work! Good to see the brass going on.

Beautiful work as always Greg. Nice job!

Just saw the end result. Great work as always Popeye!

Fantastic work Yves!

That's coming along really nicely OC - well done!

One of my favorite subjects of this era. Very nice start!

Wow fantastic work!

Made some more progress. Got the final 10 AA guns installed, along with some ammo crates and other assorted items. This one in particular was fun: I ended up spraying a coat of Future so I can start the wash and weathering process. Here are some shots of what it looks like. I always cringe when I post these, and have to remind myself that they are taken at high magnification: On the final stretch. Thanks for looking in!

Nice progress man, looking fantastic!

Beautiful work as always Craig. At the rate you're going, you're going to need a few more display racks

Wow, very nice! Congratulations!! I was getting nervous as I started reading your post, but glad to see it worked out in the end. 😁