king derelict

Thank you OC Its an enjoyable build Alan

Thank you Keith. It was a pretty rainy trip all round but still very enjoyable. The Lakes looks great in those clear sparking days. A little snow on the tops really rounds it off too Alan

I'm glad you are feeling better Alan

Thank you very much Craig. The cats see their contribution to modelling as letting their hair get on freshly glued or painted surfaces, A great trip but Berlin with a strong east wind and temperatures in the thirties was a bit of a shock after south Florida Alan

Get well OC. That doesn't sound nice at all. Maybe time to break out the hot toddies. Lovely work on teh soldiers while I have been away. They look excellent Alan

Thank you very much Jason. Its been a very enjoyable build; mostly a painting experience. Alan

Great camo painting. Looks very good Alan

I'm back! I actually arrived home early last week but it seemed to take a long time to get back into the routines of home and of course Thanksgiving was a diversion too. A hugely enjoyable trip to North Wales (raining), the English Lake District (raining) then a flight to Warsaw (raining) and the train to Berlin (snowing). Walked miles, saw lots, ate curry wurst and drank beer. The cats seem to have made little progress with the X craft so I'm picking it back up. After three weeks absence I think I like the weathered effect so the build moves forward to the last details. There is an oddity in the kit with the saddle mines. There are brackets on the saddle mines And there are clevises provided but no suggestion of how this is going to go together. From the few photos of the area that I have found I think there are cables that attach to the clevises and fit round the feature in the hull of the submarine. I think these are the retailing cables for the mines and are released from the submarine by winding a handle inside the hull. It occurs to me that the mines would need to be released with the submarine firmly sat on the bottom. Otherwise releasing one of the two ton mines anything less than completely simultaneously would produce a pretty smart roll. I threaded the clevises onto some 0.5 mm stretch thread and fitted them around the hull feature. Painted, I think they look the part The next task was to improve the propellor. The Eduard PE set provides a set of brass blades which have to be rolled to shape and then fitted to the hub after removing the nasty plastic ones. It was all a bit of luck and judgment getting it right but it eventually came out reasnably and is an improvement on the kit part. It looked better after painting matt black and then dry brushed with Mig acrylic brass The fragile parts, air induction, compass and periscopes were added and weathered After a coat of gloss I used a rust wash around the hatches, the hull drains and detail areas. A matt coat will be added next and after adding the prop the hull is complete. I will start on a base and case (and wonder where to put it) Thanks for looking in Alan

Thank you very much OC I'm starting to get a better understanding of how the chipping solution is used. And the use of filters is starting to make more sense. Alan

Thank you Keith. I've trudged down Borrowdale in tipping rain a few times. I also have happy memories of sunny days on Jack's Rake and the Girdle Traverse. I'll be with my 97 year old dad so there won't too much of that. Maybe a walk along Goldwater or Coniston. Laal Ratty sounds like a good idea. Thanks Alan

That's going to be great Alan

Following Keiths timely reminder I air brushed a blue filter over the hull. Once again I thought I had made matters worse. It is very blue until it is completely dry and then just seems to shade the greys. I think it looks quite reasonable now for a well worn vessel. I think I will press on with some rust washes around the hatches and fittings. I'll be missing for a couple of weeks now. I'm heading over for a family holiday in the North Wales and then for a different rainy location in the English Lake District then a side tour to see a bit of history in Berlin and Warsaw -. Not to mention Cumberland sausage, Kielbasa and currywurst oh and maybe the occasional beer. I will look again at the X craft when I get back and see if I still like the appearance. Please let me know if it looks too excessively weathered. Thanks for looking in Alan

The PE work is really nicely done. Congratulations Alan

Thank you Keith That could be the way forward. I had planned to use a blue filter but sort of forgot again o thanks for bringing it up. That might modulate the chipping and get the result I want. Alan

I added a few shades of lighter grey and some rust to the hull prior to chipping. The chipping solution was then sprayed on and the dark grey top coat air brushed once it was dry. I am not sure if I was a bit quick starting to work on chipping back the top coat and the paint hadn't hardened as much as when I tried the process on the Seehund. It seemed to cut back much faster and with the watery residue on the hull it was hard to see how much I had removed. I may have been too enthusiastic and taken too much off/ I wa rather startled when I looked at the results but its starting to grow on me. Please let me know if you think it is too much. I'm tempted to go back to chipping solution and top coast and try again. I'm grateful for any comments here. Thank you all for looking in and the likes and comments Alan

Thank you very much Keith That makes more sense. It also explains why the colour has gradually changed since the bag has been open. Thank you for the explanation Alan

That jig looks like a useful piece of kit for getting the wings properly set up Its looking great Craig. Congratulations. Alan

I changed my mind and added the saddle mines. I thought it would be easier to pain. I don't plan to weather the mines as much as the hull. All the parts are now in place except for the periscopes and snorkel. They are a bit delicate and I don't want to damage them during enthusiastic weathering. A coat of Mig One Shot black primer has been air brushed onto the model and next will be some grey shades to set the hull up for chipping. I see suggestions that the x craft were black, I've also seen dark grey or grey / black. I think I will be going with the dark grey. Thanks for looking in and for the likes Alan

Thanks Rob The tankies look great. Just what I wanted. Alan

Just an early attack of the Christmas spirit Alan

I'm realising that I am a complete amateur at stocking up on kits🙂 Alan

The 1/35 8 inch howitzer looks great. I'm sure there is room on the shelf (or the cupboard or ....) Alan

Thank you very much Rob. I'll look at the White Stork offerings. Alan

Thank you EG. I need to up my game and get to work on some 1/35 stuff. This howitzer would look really nice in 1/35. The detail would step up an order. Alan

Thank you OC. This is a generally well thought out kit and fun to work on Alan