king derelict

Thank you Mike I plan to try colour in the next attempt. I also probably stirred the mix too fast. It's a bit scary committing your finished model to the resin but for some displays it's a great look. I have a handful of 1/700 submarines that I want to use this technique for Alan

I think your Hood diorama will be great. It's worth practicing with your chosen resin before committing to the main task. I found a half inch layer cured no problem. A few stray bubbles aren't going to be an issue with all the mayhem of the sinking. Alan

In an effort to maintain my last unbroken New Years resolution (finish all started projects). I completed an experiment with the 1/700 Hobby Boss HMS Astute. I have a few submarine models and it always puzzles me to find a good way to display them. I have also been impressed by modellers who have encased their finished project in resin. I wanted to try it but had no real idea about how to build a casting tank, the right resin, release agents, does the curing heat damage the model or the decals etc. So this is less about building Astute and more about trying to set in an epoxy sea. The Hobby Boss kit has few parts and the submarine has a simple black paint scheme. The decals are a bit of a challenge with lots of long thing bands to place on the hull The casting tank is made of 1/8 Perspex and held together and sealed with hot glue (first mistake). I sprayed the inside of the tank with Future polish as a release agent The plan was to present the model on the surface so the craft sticks, double sided tape and Lego bricks set the sub at the right depth in the tank The project was going to sit on the brand new dryer while the resin cured. It seemed a good idea to put the tank in an extra container - just in case. There was a bit more resin than I expected in the first pour but I put it all in and was not terribly happy to find that the tank had a leak on one of the sides. - but I was thrilled that I had decided to use an extra container and I decided to carry on. Then winter hit Florida for a week and I didn't want to try the second pour in case it didn't cure properly. I resumed with a different brand of resin and made three further pours to get the depth I wanted. They all cured nicely The leaked resin peeled off the bottom of the casting easily The sides of the tank released with a bit of force and the basic casting seems to be successful with a couple of caveats. The long delay between first and second pours resulted in a definite interface between the two pours. Also the second resin has a slight tan cast to it. I had planned to try to colour the resin but couldn't think of a way to get a consistent colour. It belatedly occurs to me that I should have coloured one part of the two part mix which would then be used in all the pours. There are small bubbles - I'm not sure how to improve that I added some waves and wakes with artists gloss medium but it wasn't very visible against the clear resin so I added some medium with micro balloons added. I think it was a bit too much and its stark against the clear resin So i added a sea blue base which has got closer to the effect I wanted Far from perfect but it answered some basic questions for me and I'm happy with a first attempt. I have a part built 1/700 USS Gato for the next part of the project - full immersion. I have a couple of Flyhawk U boats that I would like to make up into a single display with one surfaced and one submerged. They are much too nice to pour resin over until I know what I'm doing, Thanks for looking in. Alan

I'm still moving slowly along with the walls. I've reached the front gate which will be fiddly especially working between the two towers. I've started sanding the completed section of wall; its good for morale seeing the wall clean up. The last section of wall is the highest but the landscape starts to creep in and not all the wall needs to be covered. Thanks for looking in and the likes Alan

Thank you OC, I hope it will look better once the sanding starts; some of the gaps will close up. There will need to be some serious sanding though - fitting the blocks around some of the compound curves is a bit challenging. I've started saving the sanding dust to make mortar. Alan

The materials for the display case arrived today so the diorama is safely boxed up. I grabbed a last few photos from more of an eye level perspective before the case lid came down Thank you all for looking in, the likes and positive comments. Alan

Thankyou very much. I learnt a lot about making a landscape. I would like to see a Whippet. I was hoping to see a Ft-17 while I was in Warsaw recently but I went to the wrong museum. There are two military museums in the city (as well as the Resistance Museum) - i found out when I got home. Next time. Alan

Many Thanks Jav This one was a fun project all the way through (apart from when I dropped the FWD) Alan

Beautiful model' super work alan

The gate looks terrific and you made a good decision to add it. Looking at the earlier photo of the diorama in its case the blank wall kind of chops the scene into two halves. With the gate it brings it all together. Or maybe that's just me. Alan

Having decided to light the castillo decided I needed to get a sense of how the model was all going to look as a whole and where the lights would go and how many etc. So I built up the cardboard formers for the mian structure. This is the first level. Another level will go on top but the lights will need to be installed before the roof is added. There is plenty of room to cut a hole in the floor for wires to run through. Having not done this before I am not sure how many leds will be needed and whether I should try to build some interior walls to separate some of the lights. I will get a handful and experiment. There is quite a bit of time before we get to that part of the build. I have read a lot of lighting builds having problems with light bleed through. I think it could be possible with this if there are chinks in the blocks in the wrong place so I think I might tape all the joints and then spray the interior with black primer. I placed the main castle in its approximate place on the base and it shows there will be plenty of room to route the lighting wires and also the amount of landscaping that will be needed The main castle will have the blocks added as a separate module so I can work on that on my usual bench which will be more comfortable especially if summer has arrived by then. Meanwhile the walls are creeping forward. I am turning the corner at the next round tower onto the next section of wall. I started sanding the first round tower and its taking shape as the edges of the blocks sand away. Thanks for looking in and all the likes and helpful comments Alan

The Olympia looks really nice. Great work Alan

Great subject Craig. You will make it spectacular I am sure. It sort of looks like there is an F=16 stuck in there somewhere Alan

The catapult is a beautiful piece of work. You did a great job Alan

The walls are continuing to rise and I have been thinking as I sand the piles of blocks ready to add more tiers. The Pendraken link from @Old Collingwood sparked my imagination and I have ordered some pikemen for the walls and mounted soldiers riding up the ramp to the main castle. My only concern is that their size may draw attention to the block size but I hope that will not be so obvious once sanded and filled. The kit (I think) represents the current state of the castle but it seems to be largely representative of the medieval days. if not, well then the figures must be reenactors. I also decided to try to light the main castle. To that end I have started to build the formers for the building so I can see how the lights will have to be installed and precautions that might be needed to prevent light leaking where it shouldn't. There seems to be sources of warm white and yellow flickering leds both from Evans lighting site referenced on this site and possibly more dubiously from Amazon. More investigation needed. Thanks for looking in and for the comments and support. I hope everyone has a great weekend Alan

Thank you Gary Its a lot of blocks but I hope to break up the repetitive stuff by playing with the other elements of the kit and probably some short side projects that don't involve masses of sanding and filing. Alab

Thank you very much OC. The Loarre castle tour site is very helpful especially the drone video clips help a lot with the surrounding scenery. They also show that Aedes Ars got the basic layout correct. The outer wall I am working on looks exactly right. You have also solved one issue too. The photos and videos do show the stone as a warm creamy tan colour (limestone?) so the blocks are close to the correct colour and will not need any further tinting. The Pendraken site is also very helpful. If my arithmetic is correct 10mm is only 1 mm taller than 1/200 scale so will work very nicely. Actually I think some of the doorways on the model are a bit overscale probably driven by the limitations of the block sizes. Thanks again Alan

More very nice painting OC Alan

The stairs are spectacularly good. Its already very real looking Alan

I think realistic sails are one of the hardest things to achieve. Your jibs look great Alan

That's beautiful Alan

Lovely neat PE work Alan

Thank you very much OC. I think I need an assistant to square and angle the blocks and then we would really see some progress - but that would feel like cheating. I want to try that glazing technique that @Jack12477 referenced recently on one of the figures . That looked very effective. But first the walls have to rise a little further. I'm conscious EG is out there with his howitzer😎 Alan

Pushing long down the long section of wall. The first round tower is complete and I started sanding down the square tower. The little trays are very handy for keeping the squared blocks of different sizes and the angled blocks. Many thanks to my cats for liking that particular brand of cat treat and keeping me well supplied with the containers I think I will be breaking off at intervals to work on some small projects to recharge the enthusiasm. So following the conversation about Verlinden being no longer in production I thought I needed to get some while I can I am taking the 2023 Moratorium on New Kits more as a suggestion than a hard rule. The 2023 Moratorium on new book only lasted 5 days. Oh well Thanks for all the support, likes and comments Alan