Lt. Biggles

15 hours ago, Tigerdvr said:

You are doing too well to rig the crane sort of slack. Try some fine Easyline or similar. You will have nice lines as tight as you like without putting undue stress on any fragile PE.

Great beginning.

 

If I may ask, what were you building before trying ships? You obviously brought a ton of skills and techniques from other projects.

 

Cheers, Harley

Hey, thanks for the feed back. Its right on point too as last weekend I unrigged the crane and actually ordered some EZline... so it’s already on the way.

Any other recommendations feel free to hit me up, I’m all ears.

When end I was a teenager made lots of model aircraft so picked up techniques from there but didn’t have paints for ages. Then last year decided I needed a hobby so got an airbrush and a tank and plane model and just used them to practice layering and painting and then weathering. Looked at lots of tips online and buildlogs on here showing step by step painting and followed along. Seeing RGL’s Yamato build finally got me to try one for myself... and here I am

Got a lot of finishing touches done. Once the deck is finished I’ll be able to glue at least half the parts straight on. Just haven’t started on the forward superstructure yet so plenty to do!

Some before and afters. As usual a lot of the details can’t be seen at a distance but do add a nice effect to the whole rather than being a feature.

Hello all, hope you are all well. Thanks for the comments and encouragement along the way! I’m back from my holiday recharged and will slowly get back into my build.

decided to make the Walrus as aviation is my job, will help me get back into the swing of things, it’s quite fun if not abit small!

Took a few days of planning how I’d do it. Customised a few things to add that extra bit of detail, like drilling out the 2 gun stations and mounting the engine more accurately.

slowly built up from there with any spare time I had 

its not finished yet but a good chuck is done.

im quite happy with how it’s coming along. Some of the decals were pretty poor quality so had to add some paint to get them acceptable.

Not sure how I’ll do the canopy frames yet but Ive a feeling getting them right will make or break it. 

once it’s totally complete I’ll post a picture.

Haven’t had much time recently but it’s still moving along well. Once the deck is glued down there will be a big jump in visible progress.

Started working on the eight 5.25 inch guns.

I’m going away for a few weeks holiday, won’t be much happening till I’m back so here is a dry fit of the rear superstructure so far. It’s really hard to get an all in shot and get details too.

On 6/3/2020 at 12:48 PM, historyguysteve said:

Hi

   Here is a little tip on weathering the deck. You've got to use pastels. They are pretty inexpensive, just get a small set that has the browns/greys that you might use. Get some cheap make up brushes or even the little nylon/plastic brushes you see and reject at the hobby store. Scrape off some of the pastel into a pile, chop it up really fine and apply with a brush.  It is possible to airbrush clear flat as a fixative but be sparing or  you may warp the wood deck,(Hint: that would be bad).  Colored pencils might work as well but I find it difficult to get them chopped up fine enough and you definitely don't want streaks especially at this scale.

   Awesome job on the PE- what a difference that stuff makes!😍

Thanks for the tips! Awesome. Have you done a build with this technique per chance? Would be great to get a visual reference as to how it should look to give me an idea if there are any build logs were this has been used? I’ll try the pastel idea and try give the wood a bit of life.

Yes the PE really changes how it looks! Was well worth getting the set.

On 6/3/2020 at 6:40 AM, mtdoramike said:

I'm following right along, I have the Tamiya Tirpitz 1/350 scale waiting it's turn. Are you going to build it radio control or static?  

Hey, the German ships do look great! At this stage I think I’ll go static or if I’m brave do some tests on putting it on an ocean... will see. But haven’t thought about remote control so don’t think I’ll do it.

I think I’ll try doing a light coat of grey wash through my airbrush and see if that gives it abit more life and abit less yellow.

I forgot to add some ladders to my rear main gun and in putting them on noticed that the plans show some bits on the back and front that aren’t mentioned anywhere else so gave building them a go.

Its not much but I think it adds a bit to the guns, quite happy how they turned out and enjoy adding extra details from scratch like this.

I’ve not used enamel based paint in my airbrush before, always been abit unsure if it will clean properly. For acrylics I remove excess paint with water then use isopropyl alcohol to clean it properly and then water again to remove the alcohol. Guess for oils I just solely use alcohol. Will give it a google.

today I finished the final 2 upper deck parts for the secondary guns. And primed all 4. First one I sprayed the primer straight through some stray spider webs so gave an interesting texture.

Also primed the masts.

Haven’t glued the deck down yea as I’m still looking into how to weather the wood deck. But getting a few of the parts together so when it’s ready I should be able to stick a lot of pieces to the deck pretty fast.

The weathering side was the part I was quite looking forward to as I’ve not tried it on a ship before. Slowly making progress with it. Went through and darkened the panel lines and next will do some grey washes to blend it all in. Have yet to add the last layer of vertical panel lines. I know the panel lines are not accurate but I was trying to get them from photos of the real ship, which is hard work and then my plans turned up and I saw I was a whole level of panels out... but there are a whole lot worst mistakes I could have made so in the big picture it’s not so bad.

And also been doing more PE. Got the fore mast put together today but took  a good chunk of time. Was too cold to prime so will do that tomorrow.

my competency with putting PE together has improved a lot since I made the main mast!

On 5/22/2020 at 12:59 PM, RGL said:

I’ve never had problems using them (the dry decals, but a coat of matte varnish always helps. The only time I really use varnish is under a chipping coat 

Thanks for that RGL. I’ve never used dry transfers...

Thought the protective plastic was on both sides to peel off. Took awhile to realise it was only on one side! Had my fingers all over the sticky side, so hope that doesn’t make them fall off.

 I’m giving the hull a few days between oil based washes and weathering to dry so won’t have many updates for a bit, and then probably won’t make good pictures  as weathering is really hard to get good pics of.

Hey all, have another question if anyone has any experience with the Pontos hull draft mark dry transfers.

Will they survive all the enamel washes and effects and white spirits? Or do I need to seal them in?

normally I weather straight on acrylic paint as I’ve had issues with the acrylic clear varnish getting eaten through and turning into muck.

Thanks in advance.

Base coat on the hull is done. No washes, effects or weathering yet just a plain canvas. From a few test I’ve done I found it super easy to get carried away with weathering and over do it, so will try my hardest to not do that! One way to find out though!! 

After lots of research and dry fittings the wooden deck is in place and I’m pretty happy with it.

I coated the sticky side with some gel medium and the glued it down with more medium so I could get it right where I wanted. 

Ill do some tested once it’s dried and work out how to weather the deck on the scrape parts. Seems people say to use a light grey wash? 

Any tips as to the best way to get it looking right with the least chance of overdoing it and ruining the whole thing would be much appreciated?

It needs something to take the “brand new” look away even though they would have been kept looking pretty new.

3 hours ago, S.Coleman said:

Stunning job and great painting job.  Looks like fun but I’m not to crash hot with plastics. I see you are from NZ too. I’m originally from Otago. Best of luck with the rest of your build.

Hey Mate, thanks. I’m a Tauranga boy, but due work have found myself in Gisborne... so needed to find a hobby!! Used to do plastic planes as a teenager so thought I’d do something similar but this time have some money so can buy paint! Haha

your HMS Endeavour looks amazing! The replica sailed here few months back and looked great anchored in the bay! I wouldn’t know where to start on a all wood model.

Lots of little things being done, all pretty time consuming so in a stage where progress is steady but not visible. 

Ive cleared the decks ready for the wood to go down once I’ve got everything ready

will glue the 3 parts together but off the hull so I can get the 3 main guns attached correctly. Then once the hull is painted with main coat I’ll add the hull and deck together before I do any weathering and washes.

Also doing odd bits and pieces off PE 

so slow but steady progress at this stage.

So decided probably not the best idea to experiment with new painting ideas on the hull. Instead made the rear big gun and did some test painting. Ended up pretty much getting what I wanted after the second attempt.

all my modulating of the grey disappeared by the time the black panel lines were at the level I was after.

 So over sprayed the panel lines until they were almost done then modulated then over sprayed again

I’ll overspray a tiny bit of lighter colour for highlighting and then it will be down to washes and weathering. 

Just have to work on getting the under shades to look convincing as I found that part the hardest of it all! Once I’ve worked out some sort of pattern I think I’ll be quite happy with it.

So didn’t end up making the Walrus... instead made a start on the hull. If I can paint the hull to a good level I think I’ll be pretty happy!

first I scribed some panel lines. Have a plan about the end so won’t do scribing below waterline but will still preshade and paint fully.

and once happy I primed.

And then started on the preshade. Not sure if there is a proper order but I’ll paint the upper hull first then the lower hull and end with the black. or  black then red... will see.

Next I’ll do different shades of grey in side the panel lines so once I lay the base coat on the grey doesn’t have a perfect one shade look. I know this ship was pretty fresh so the finally weathering will be light as I dont want a brand new look. But hopefully if I get it right will give it some character, plus I really enjoy the weathering part and subtle is really effective... but first I’ve got to get this base coat right!!

First layer of the modulation, will do this with different shades before the base coat. It’s an experiment really with mixing techniques so will see if it works or not soon enough. it takes a lot of air as it’s a big surface so my poor compressor, will have to spread it over a few days to help keep it cool.

I think the size of the build has started to sink in as today I was very tempted to just build the Walrus plane and leave the rest!

9 hours ago, jwvolz said:

Nice start. The PE looks great!

Thanks, takes awhile but the improvements it makes is well worth it I think!

8 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Dont know if it will help at all, but I built a similar Battlrship  (in regards to equipment)  -

 

OC.

 

 

Great build there! I don’t have enough knowledge in the ship world to even know what most of the extra details on the hull you did are!!

6 hours ago, RGL said:

Denier is not wire, it’s the name of the rubber compound 

Thanks, I shall order some and give it a go.

Thanks Steven,

Had a watch learnt even more and found a few photos... in full 1941 style HD. The hull panel lines really stand out! I have to get on with scribing those so I can get painting! 

My plans finally arrived and so can look over what I’ve done and only found a few bits to change, a couple of ladders in the wrong place type thing. I’ll fix the main big ones but the rest will be ok.

the kits funnel Vs the PE one on a milk bottle lid.

a few details to add once they arrive in the mail and the rear superstructure will be ready to paint.

i did some test painting and learnt it’s best to use primer on the brass as the Tamiya acrylics seem to scratch off pretty easy.

16 hours ago, RGL said:

BNA is still shipping, and they have denier line. The AUD has tanked so it shouldn’t be that bad. The fading thing is a nice effect. Look up a bloke called Jamie Duff, he runs a site dedicated to warship camouflage 

BNA is where I got my Pontos set from, I quite like them. From what I can tell their Denier line is thin wire? Is it better than EZ line? Wire dodges me out alittle bit as a little kink is impossible to remove!

14 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

A worthwhile subject to build. I'm not sure whether you can get good pics of her for your detail work, but I just checked Google image search and Pinterest, and there are a reasonable number of photos. Might be worth checking out.

 

Steven

Thanks, I’ve been using google a lot to try find out bits of info. Quite crazy how much you learn about a ship when you are trying to find out all the little details! I’d never thought about a crane on a battleship before... and here I am now trying to scour the web and plans to find out how their cables are rigged and what they were made out of! 

Done some more work on the rear superstructure. 

1 hour ago, Tigerdvr said:

EZline is very easy to rig with. Check it out. There are some other commercial lines available

Sorry, I can't help you with your two questions. Colors depend on which navy and then what time period, last time the ship was painted,

what color scheme was approved, what kind of service etc. You can go crazy trying to get the correct grays and blues. Sometimes it's easier

to do some basic research and then pick which ones look good to you.

Thanks Tigerdvr.

from what I can find looks like I’ll do it in a dark grey with maybe a splash of red or blue. 

My build is not from a specific time, but I like the idea of painting her in light grey instead of camo, that way I can try some shading and layering in the paint so it’s not one solid colour but 10 shades of the same colour. It’s the thing I want to try during this build as a new challenge. Which means technically I’m building the early version of her around the Bismarck time. 

But I looked into EZline and will see if I can get some, seems good but these things are almost impossible to get in NZ or the shipping is twice the price and the 1 month wait haha!

I’ve got 2 questions if anyone can help..

1. Apart from the real wood main deck, what colour are the superstructure upper decks? From what I can tell maybe a dark grey?

2 once I’ve put the Pontos wood deck on how do you get under the deck to secure the main guns? Is it strong enough to lift the 3 deck parts off, secure the main guns then glue the deck down in one go?