king derelict

The pond looks great OC - sorry - darn autocorrect Alan

The pond looks great OF Alan

I hate plumbing work. It always seems to involve fittings that have frozen in place after thirty years and the damage created in getting them off leads to an even bigger job before it's finished. Alan

I'm still working away in the details of the ship. I started the ships boats. There are several very small PE parts to enhance the boats. Some of it may be a bit excessive. I'm not sure I see the value of adding the brass cabin roof. Its plain; just like the original. I omitted it but the windscreen, rails and canopy rails dress the boats up quite a bit Detail painting to finish them and some PE life rings. to add The last boat racks were added to the edge of the upper deck. I'm a bit confused about them. The instructions show railings running along the deck edge in the same place so I'm not sure if I have this wrong but it seems to match the diagrams in the instructions and there are notches in the deck for the boat racks where I installed them. I think I will have to cut the length of railings short to cater for the boats. Guns are slowly being added. I'm trying to complete the areas that will difficult to access when teh railings are added and adding the railings before other parts make them vulnerable. I'm leaving the bow and stern bare until last so I have somewhere to hold without ruining the delicate stuff. I have started with thin black weathering washes and to help with the shadow detail. The main runs of railings and the ships boats will be next to be added. Its starting to get busy. Thanks for checking in Alan

The view through the front gate looks like a real farm yard photo already Alan

OC, You probably know all this but if the resin is anything like the one I used for the Penelope diorama its a good idea to "tent" the pond with a cardboard box or sheet of cardboard over it to stop dust (or in my case cat hair) drifting into the setting resin. Watch for bubbles and pour slowly to avoid them. Its going to look great. Alan

The brickwork always looks so good. Very realistic Alan

Its looking very nice. The doors are very good Alan

Not as much progress as I would have liked today. I built the PE boat rack that sits between the rear two structures and started to move it into place. It was a tight fit and as i added a bit of a nudge the rear structure popped off. I guess the wood deck was too tight and it wasn't really glued down fully onto the deck below. It did allow me to place the boat rack and then press the structure back into place. Unfortunately this had the effect of popping the forward structure off which has the catapult and all the other PE on it. It was not a good moment watching it bounce across the work surface. Luckily it seemed to land on the few substantial parts of the piece and little real damage was done. I was able to restore it to its place on the ship without any damage beyond the need to touch up some (more) paint. I decided to go off and do something else after that excitement So I went and brushed the cats. That will teach them! Have a great weekend all Alan

Wishing her a speedy recovery. I'm sure she is badly shaken as well as bruised. My 95 year old dad did exactly that two months ago. Badly bruised also and nothing broken. Very miserable for the first days; couldn't find a comfortable way to sit or lie in bed. He made a full recovery and was digging the garden two weeksd later and walking his daily four miles by the end of the month. Alan

I've been using Vallejo black and grey primer in my air brush since I started ship modelling a year ago and it has been fine (to my inexperienced eyes). It goes on smoothly and stays on (plastic and brass) and the coat is thin enough to not obscure detail. I have been using it in the air brush undiluted or with a few drops of their thinner. I'm almost at the end of the bottle and will try the Mig One Shot next. Alan

Thank you for the encouragement OC. My plan is to finish the Geisenau which is suddenly looking like the end is coming. Lots of details still but I think I may have it completed in a week or so. As a change in scale I will work on the corvette hull see how that comes together and finally make up my mind about whether to make the corvette a RC kit. Then print the next stage while returning to the world of 1/700 for a bit. Lots of fun Alan

Thank you for the comments about the value of an auto levelling system. I think that levelling is at the core of the problems I have (and still do at a lesser rate) experienced. The Creality auto levelling kit doesn't seem too expensive and their video makes it look easy to install so I think I will give it a try. Thanks again for the input. This is still all a bit of a black art to me. Alan

Yves That looks spectacular. It is a great spur to keep me moving forward with mine. I'm sitting the fence about whether to make mine a static or RC model. Initially I had planned to go for a RC model; especially as I have a lake behind my garden fence and I have never made an RC model. Seeing your wonderful results has me swinging towards a static model. I suppose the obvious answer would be to build two! Alan

The last pieces of superstructure were added and the PE enhancements began. The platforms are mounted on girders made out of two PE with the edges bent and them glued together to form a box structure. The bending tool was a huge help to get the thin section to bend cleanly to 90 degrees. The railings and platforms were added and the assembly installed. More boat racks to add around the area but i was PE-ed out for the day Thanks for looking Alan

Thank you for the kind comment OC. The parts and PE still to install seems to be going down but there is a lot a lot of stuff still to install. No rush; its fun working on a new area each day. Alan

Thank you Grant I was beginning to think I was in the wrong part of the hobby for a while. Alan

Thanks Per I think I have been learning the hard way that the levelling is crucial, very sensitive and for me took quite a while to evolve a methodology that suited me and was repeatable. I am looking at tinkering with the print speeds. I have been slowing down the initial layers to improve bed adhesion but I plan to look at the effect of lower speeds throughout the print on the smaller parts where experimentation isn't going to lead to huge investments in time. Thanks for the link; there are some really good tips in it. My colleague has the bushings under the bed instead of the upgraded springs and he is happy with them. The manufacturer supplied springs are well worth replacing regardless. I think the gold springs has made the level setting much more repeatable for me. The alignment features look like a good idea to ensure a straight hull. Those Haze Grey ships are beautiful Alan

Thanks Craig. I think I might have given up but getting support from the people on this forum helped keep my morale up and give it my best shot. I think those hull prints are a work out for the machine. This sections and close to the edges of teh bed. I'm printing a 6 x 4 lithophane box as a bit of a change of speed and it is printing nicely with no supervision. I am looking at upgrades for the Ender and was wondering about their auto leveling system, I need to read some reviews Thanks for the help and advice Alan

Thanks Yves. I'm very grateful for your support through the trials of learning to use the Ender. Alan

Phew. It's great to hear the contents are in good shape. The parts are usually nicely packed with handling in mind. I hope the PE sheets aren't bent. It sounds like everything else is likely fine. Looking forward to the build. Alan

I'm glad its arrived; mine is still out there and now I'm nervous. That has really been roughly handled. Mine have usually been shipped in think slabs of expanded polystyrene. Its a shame to see it in such bad shape. How does the contents look? The Flyhawk boxes are usually so packed with parts that I'm anxious. Alan

I'm still working away at the detail and slowly the PE frets are getting emptier. I've completed the large cranes; they just need final painting. added the railings around the upper platform on the funnel and on the upper decks, The first guns were installed and the boat racks were made (and were very delicate, both to make and place) I probably need to get the boats painted and added before the deck gets more crowded with fragile stuff. My new paint supplies arrived so I can work on touch up too while I can still reach the areas I want to work on. I rounded up all the parts that I had not yet painted along with the brass masts and airbrushed primer onto them. Thanks for checking in Alan

I didn't get much time for anything constructive in the last few days. I spent Sunday installing a Blink camera system for a friend. A happy time working around the edges of a bougainvillea placing one of the cameras. Monday was spent aligning her expectations with what the system actually does. yesterday was the day for the doctor. So between the real world rubbish I got the last hull section printed without problems. The bed seems to have stayed stable throughout the last several prints and it has been a real delight to set the machine in motion and watch a print develop. I had already printed four of the hull couplers to use up the end of the last reel of filament so I started on the remaining four and three printed nicely although the brim was a little ragged on the last two. The voodooo was wearing off! It looked like the nozzle gap had opened up a touch on the rear corners and the filament was not adhering to the plate very well. I ran the test print which confirmed my suspicions and I adjusted the back levelling screws. Unfortunately I got my "Leftie Loosie; Rightie tightie" confused and went the wrong way making things progressively worse. Once I realized my mistake it was very easy to bring the bed back into alignment. I like the bed levelling test piece rather than checking the gap and adjusting. I find it much easier to watch the print and adjust the screws relative to the results. After a successful test print I started the last hull coupler and a few hours later it completed successfully. So I have at last got all the pieces to assemble the hull - and learnt a lot about the intricacies of using the printer too. I now need to trim the brims and start putting things together. this may be a little while with the Geisenau on the work table. I will start printing the deck pieces in the meantime. Completing the hull prints feels like a major milestone has been achieved. Thanks for checking in Alan

Wow the PE 30mm guns are more complicated than the IBG ones. You did a great job of the folding but they are awfully delicate. I didn't like the flat barrels and thought of replacing them with wire but they are too small to even attempt it. The kit plastic ones are at the other end of the scale. I hang onto all the spare Flyhawk plastic guns for times like this. Alan