king derelict

It's looking very good. The boats and rafts are especially nice Alan

Absolutely stunning. It's a fantastic demonstration of the capabilities of 3D modelling and printing. The log shows the underlying skills and effort that is required. It's definitely not a short cut to excellent results. It's the modern equivalent of spending hours with a jewellers lathe and micrometers after days at the drawing board phenomenal Alan

Thank you Todd, Building the major deck sections was beginning to feel like a bit of a slog especially as I found it difficult to get the decks level on some of the thinner deck sections. For better or worse most of that is done and the last sections dry fit well so working on the details feels more like the modelling I am used to and it's enjoyable. It going to be difficult to know when to stop. There is so much potential to add details but there are fundamental discrepancies between the real ship and the model. The lack of information about specific Flowers is a challenge. I have five decent photos and paintings of Campanula but some areas of the ship are not visible and the paint scheme, secondary armament and life raft layout varies between them. I've tried to stay consistent to one image and filled in the gaps from other ships. There is a single side image of Saucy in the Lambert book Flower Class Corvettes showing the paint scheme and the searchlight platforms on the rear gun tub and mast but that's all I've seem I look forward to seeing you building another Flower Alan

My progress is slow as I still spend a lot of time reading up on Campnulas details (or copying details from other Flowers where there are no images of Campanula). I painted the mounts and barrels on the Oerlikons and dry brushed a little bare metal to add some visual interest. The radar lantern has been completed and installed. I loaded up one of the depth charge rails. It took nine depth charges just like the real thing. With multiple maskings the funnel band and top section have been completed. Possibly not quite accurate but a bit of weathering and fading plus the addition of the ladder and steam pipes will improve it. Lots of work still ahead but its getting a bit less "industrial" now. Thanks for looking in Alan

Thanks Dan That is a good idea to put in some dedicated airbrush time. I need to do that instead of trying to learn on the current model Alan

Looking very nice OC. Good to see this progressing again. The Flyhawk plastic barrels are really very nice. Its a toss up whether to use the metal ones and risk having them out of alignment. Alan

Looks great.it's becoming a work of art Alan

That should be find. I'm his videos he used masking tape but I found with the depth of resin I was using the tape bulges which caused problems with the display case and at one point it leaked and hence the dryer excitement. his name is Merrick by the way not Derrick. Darn Auto Corrupt Alan

Derrick has several water themed diorama videos on YouTube including seas with bursting waves. The epoxy water is beautiful. One warning based on my experience. If you use epoxy in any depth make sure your walls or frames are solid. The stuff will deep past anything insubstantial and it's really hard to scrape off the top of a clothes dryer! Alan

There are some real experts on the forum, @mikegr, @Landlubber Mikeand @CDWcome to mind. This guy has some great ideas and skills too I think you will have fun Alan

I like your plan better than just shelving a great model. I think how you do the sea will be critical. Maybe create a base with some depth so you can cut the hull far enough back to avoid damage to elements you want to keep. It would also allow you to set the parts at the angles you want. A layer of epoxy resin would probably be good at the surface. @mikegris an e,left at seascapes add probably has great suggestions I'm looking forward to seeing it develop Good luck Alan

Great to see this coming back. Alan

Thanks Kevin It's a bit of an awakening to realise I have spent more on the sanctions than I have for all the PLA filament to print the entire ship Alan

An "L" of a day today. Printing lockers and painting and fitting ladders. The bridge looks a bit bare and they must have had lockers for ammunition, sherry, biscuits and all the other naval necessities. The bridge photos I have show it a bit busier so I'll add a few more lockers on the rear of the bridge and on the wings. Ladders were added to the bandstand and bridge. The radar lantern was painted and the masking removed. No bleed past the masks thankfully. Its just placed for the photo. I need to add the walkway railings next. I placed all the sections onto the hull to see if it still fits - and as a bit of a morale boost. Its coming together. I sent off to Cornwall Boats for another 50 stanchions. I couldn't find them in the US - Age of Sail were out of stock. Might have to do something else while I'm waiting. I'm not sure why I initially ordered so few. Probably shock over the price of ten packs of them. This model is a real black hole for supplies. Paint and glue just disappears. Thanks for looking in Alan

Many Thanks NS I'll try reducing the layer height for the 20mms. I found your files on Thingiverse and will give them a try too. Your prints look very good. I am slowly getting better but initially I thought that it would be much easier to set up and print with teh Ender. If you have read my log (which seems to mirror other peoples experience among my friends) its not necessarily that easy. Its also apparent that the Ender as delivered is a starting point and needs upgrades to get the best out of it. Reprinting the Flower at 1/72 the hull sections and connectors were still thick enough but I don't think I would have liked to go much smaller. Its been a huge learning experience and I think I've mostly enjoyed it once I got to produce reasonable prints. In some ways I wish I had spent more time learning before diving in. I should have probably gone right back to printing the hull sections all over again but by the time I realised I could do better I had invested too much time and effort. Maybe I can try the Castle corvette but I rather like the Dry Dock subs as a static model too Thanks again for the helpful input Alan

Looks very impressive. Coming on well Alan

That is spectacular. That site has some gifted artists also Alan

Working on details today. I painted some of the ladders. I realised that I had neglected to add the railing around the companway to the lower deck from the bridge. It would have been a lot easier to install before fixing the bridge in place. A bit of fiddling with the dividers and I managed to place the stanchions and bend the handrails They are now ready to be painted and then fixed in place. I added braces to the underside of the radar walkway and then masked the lantern windows which have been painted gloss black. A dilute coat of clear coat will be added before painting to seal the masks Thanks for looking in Alan

Thank you very much OC. There seems to be a lot of repeat work on this one but I suppose its a learning process Alan

Thank you Todd, I am looking forward to seeing your model build. Alan

Wow. suddenly the scene is full of action and it looks terrific. Its only going to get better as more figures get added. Careful handling from here on out ! Alan

I'm still working on the corvette but it seems like I am going round in circles a bit. I painted the red block on the funnel and unmasked it to find that the red had crept under the masking. Its my own fault I knew that the rough surface of the model means that you don't get a good seal by just burnishing the tape. It really needs sealing with something like a matte coat. I scraped it off and resprayed the white and masked up again. This time i used too much clear coat I think and that pulled away with the masking tape and needed a further touch up. I think its acceptable now so I'll leave it to harden overnight and then mask it up for the blue elements. I found that the x supports for the bridge didn't fit properly because I had added some support strips to the hull and they interfered with the support braces and left them too high under the bridge. I tried trimming them but didn't like the result so I ended up reprinting them to be 4 mm less in height and painted them up and they fitted nicely. So the wheelhouse has been permanently installed with the x supports and the bridge added and glued down. The Oerlikons are only placed for the look. They need more paint but I think will look the part. The blast screen and several lockers were added. Theer is some artistic license with the lockers positioning given that I haven't found any clear images of the area. For some reason I can't turn these last two images vertical - sorry Still quite a way to go. I think I may try to finish the forecastle and have a break to make something small I printed and built up the depth charge racks and primed them along with a number of depth charges Thanks for looking in and for the likes. Its fibnally beginning to look like I may be making (slow) progress Alan

The sea is really well done. I like it a lot Alan

The light grey surfaces look really good Alan

It looks terrific. The lantern windows came out really well in spite of looking difficult to achieve a tidy result. You have placed it in a great location and should be very happy. Alan