RGL

Grunging part 1

Part 1 of the lower hull, bringing out the panels and fading the paint 

this is from a Russian language book, but the final trip of the Borodino was from way up north to way down south all around the bottom on South Africa, that the 18,000 miles with 800 guys on this steel oven.

Lots of opportunities to improve on it. The fleet Stopped all around the African coast to get coal, and then throughout Asia. The wear and tear on suck a long trip would have been amazing. 

It’s a long way off that look. There is so much detail to pre plan yet. I was going to scratch build a couple of winches but you can’t see them. I can’t work from home so this is going to drag out a bit but my Zara upgrade has just arrived in Oz! I did not realise they stopped all shipping for 3 weeks 

And happy to answer questions 

Matty, I build them in sections. Find a build online and copy it, that way you’ll pick up the pattern. Don’t be tempted by lots of PE yet and eventually an airbrush is a must. 

Another primer coat and no gaps. Can start adding some more things now and do the lower hull. 

I’m really hoping this is the worst part of this build, trying to align the un alignable. lots of filler and sanding to go. 

The company name is Russian, only available now on Russian sites, and Soga Minatures takes PayPal and is kinda English language friendly. 
 

the kit on the other hand! I thought it was completely malaligned, then I realised the deck has a seam that warps it completely out of alignment. As there is a stick on deck to go this won’t be seen but it really will need a lot of clean up. So I cut the deck at this seam and will have to remove a few mm as the the wing turrets won’t fit 

So the last Zvezda kit I built was the Dreadnought. I forgot how poor the quality of these kits are compared to Tamiya or even Trumpeter. Clunky. The gunnels are 1.5mm on starboard and .5mm Portside. At least the plastic is soft. 
 

making a start on the PE on bits I won’t have easy access to once I start putting the sides on. 
 

the coaling scuttles are from the Pontos set as none were included in either upgrade set, and the bollards will all need replacing. There are buts sticking out which might be bollards or might be windlasses or even vents, I just don’t know 

So I have to leave the barrels off and mask off the holes 

The 75mm gun which were for torpedo boat defence 

15 hours ago, cog said:

Why those platforms? Doesn't the deck offerr enough support, and possibilities to fixate?

The platforms are for aftermarket 75mm guns. The kit provided ones have a tiny platform that are not suitable for the replacements 

There are 20 75mm guns that have to go below the main deck. The kit ones are not the good so will be replaced, but need platforms to sit on that will never be seen again once the deck is glued on 

I’m half way through the book. I’ll make no political comments but I’m thinking the black and brass would be quite faded and worn after travelling some 16,000 miles or so in that is basically a coastal monitor. They crammed 800 or so men onto this thing! 

Hull work; a few layers of rattle can primer, the main area I want to work on is the armour belt.

Apparently the ship was so overloaded with upper armor and nice things for the officer class the water was almost coming in through the gunports. The lower hull was apparently completely barnacled by the time of her demise so I intend to make it a mess. 

That’s a really good question. 
 

im not a trail blazer but when I research I’ll look up a completed kit, see what the kit fittings are like. Most are blobs at this scale. 
 

then I’ll look at what the aftermarket reviews and builds are like both on English speaking and foreign sites. If it looks good and value (some  prices are just stupid) and inclusive (some large upgrades miss out on a lot of sundries) plus not many people have done it (yes, I did Yamato, who hasn’t but it must be quality), I’ll invest. 
 

is my skill set up to it? Well we don’t know until we try! 
 

is the finished product in my mind before I start? Every time. It’s never as good as I imagine but at this scale it needs to be the MK1 eyeball. 
 

there are world class Plastic modellers out there (most of their work is on the facebooks) 
Who are tier #1, who take professional photos and are sponsored, plastic ship models are 10% of the market in plastic models worldwide. I’m happy to aim for tier 3 and learn from the masters 

Oh, me too! But that’s why I try and do 3 of each nation. I’ve still got a UK to go, all of France, I just hope this media induced panic does not destroy our hobby (no small businesses left) 

On 3/15/2020 at 11:51 AM, lmagna said:

To put you into the proper mood for this build, reading Richard Hough's "The Fleet That Had To Die" is excellent "research". It also makes it clear that it is "Open season" on weathering on this one. By the time they reached Japan these ships had truly been pushed hard.

I got this on Kindle and I’m currently reading it. Very well written, it’s like being there and I read a lot of history and listen to a lot on audible as well whilst I’m building. I usually buy up and read as much research on each of my builds as I can to be accurate and I’m thinking yet again I can be creative. 

Now fresh off the boat from the former USSR, replacements in resin. Turrets, funnels, torpedo boats and launches, plus smaller guns. I used some of these smaller guns on the Varyag and the quality is amazing. Only really available now in Russia I got them using the Soga Minatures website and Google translate.  
 

I have bits and pieces left over from my Varyag build, and I’m awaiting some anchors both in resin and PE. 
 

I’m actually quite excited about both my current builds. 
 

As I work in an area where I can’t work from home no virus holiday for me. It’s still a total of a winter build for both this and Zara. 

So while I’m still awaiting the upgrade from China, I bought a spares set from HMS Exeter on. FB group, deck set, masts set and frets for $30; that’s about $15 US at the moment. 
 

I don’t intend on building her but the masts alone are with $30 and can swap out plastic ones. 

Dammit you’re good! 

Yes I do indeed intend on flogging him in this one. There is so much detail in a small space. Lots of panel lines yet to be added so I can do some good chipping.