king derelict

Thank you very much for all the great information and photos Patrick. It’s very helpful. The Comet for sale has some excellent detail photos. And looks like a bargain to buy- maybe. The photos seem to suggest dark brown is still a good color but not so much silver / bright steel. I don’t think Ive ever knowingly seen manganese steel. It doesn’t feature in jet engines. Thanks again Alan

I decided on a couple of small projects before another 1/700 ship. Here we have the Vespid 1/72 kit of the A34 Comet British tank. i have no recollection of buying this kit and it’s my first time trying a Vespid kit, Chinese I think. I suspect it must have been weak will and a sale somewhere. As I understand it, the Comet was a late war production aiming to correct the faults of the Cromwell tank. Significantly upgunned, better armor and an improved drivetrain for the already reliable engine. it entered the field in March 1945 and then served with the British and other armies well into the fifties. Inside the box is a large amount of parts, nicely molded, a small fret of PE, a brass barrel for the main gun and a resin option for the mantlet which looks nice. The instructions look clear although the paint schemes are hard to interpret. We’re going with brush olive drab. I actually got the DSPIAE circle cutter working and knocked out twenty masks for the road wheels fairly quickly. The key seems to be to use the lightest possible touch with the traveling blade. The road wheel tyres have been sprayed with Tamiya NATO Black and are ready to assemble. i have question for the knowledgeable AFV people among us. Conventional wisdom seems to lean towards tank tracks being painted to show rust and a silver color where contact with the terrain has abraded the track. I recently read that tank tracks are made of manganese steel which is pale gold and does not corrode significantly. Any thoughts? Especially looking for help from @Egilman and @Baker. Thanks! Thank you for looking in. alan

Thank you very much Mike. It generally went together well. I’m thinking about starting another WW1 ship. Regarding the mast mystery, I think this might be the culprit. I think the mast might have been knocked to the floor and got caught in her fur and transferred to the couch. alan

Wow, that’s going to be an amazing project. I’m looking forward to seeing it develop. alan

Thank you very much Per, at least I got some much needed practice soldering masts😄 alan

Thank you very much OC. Now what’s next? I spent time today opening boxes, ship (USS Lassen), AFV (A34 Comet), figures (Pegaso Slavic warrior) and not feeling very motivated. I’m sort of gravitating towards the figures. alan

Thank you very much Andrew. I hope you try on of the PE heavy ships. I think nicely folded PE looks great as railings, cranes, catapults and girders but less so for more 3D objects. I’m getting a bit more fussy about which bits I use. It’s very satisfying to fold up something delicate and for me at least, there are the other days ….. I suppose resin is taking over in a lot of areas, guns etc alan

Very nice. Congratulations alan

Very sorry to hear that OC. Your painting artistry will be missed. All best wishes alan

Oh, and the missing mast. Very much as everyone predicted, it turned up just after I finished the model. I made a celebratory cup of tea and sat down on the sofa in the lounge (at the other end of the house from the workbench) and sat on something sharp. Lo and behold, the mast. alan

In amongst too much real life interference I painted the new mast and installed it. Much to my surprise it fitted nicely and is correctly oriented. The way it’s fitted between two different parts of the structure means that there is little wiggle room. That completed the adding of bits. I tidied up paint and some PE that needed finessing then moved onto weathering. I didn’t go wild with the rust. Just the usual areas around the anchor hawse and portholes. In 1/700 I think it’s too easy to overdo the rust and get a result that looks garish. If it bothers me later I can add a bit more. There should be a third flag on the bow Jack stay, a tiny Union flag, but I could not get it to look anything other than toy like so it was abandoned. And the final photos This was a harder kit than I expected, the tripod and bridge superstructure was finicky although it was quite robust once in place. Lots and lots of railings and some needing some tricky bending. Generally I enjoyed the build, I have Dreadnaught as well which is going to be very similar so hopefully some lessons have been learned. Thanks for looking in and the likes and supportive comments Alan

Many thanks OC. Tougher than expected but mostly still fun. alan

Thank you very much Andrew. This is a bit more complicated than I expected but we need challenges. Thankfully the mast was a scratch built part so could be repeated. I get annoyed when it’s something that doesn’t lend itself to being easily copied and is visible. I use the trays from the cats treats to hold bits in various stages of paint and assembly but I still mislay stuff. alan

I can’t believe that I can’t find the stupid thing. It’s not really tiny. Oh well

A rather mixed day for progress. I had made a brass mast to replace the kit plastic one. I painted it and set it aside to dry and now I can’t find it anywhere. I stripped the work bench, crawled around the floor with a flashlight, even vacuumed through the house and nothing! It’s not that tiny so I should be able to see it I would have thought. The cats are looking innocent, it’s gone! I made another one this morning and I made a better job of the soldering so maybe there are some positives. It’s had a coat of Mr Metal primer and it will get the grey paint tomorrow. I added the railings to the structure at the top of the tripod and bent up the admirals walk and fitted it. It actually fitted well and I placed the name boards on each side. The photo shows I got them the right side out and the right way up😁 once the mast is added I need to add a bit more of a black wash and a bit of rust. Thanks for looking in and the likes and comments. alan

Thank you very much Mike, the tiny braces on the underside gave me fits and I was not confident that everything was going to line up well. The mast passes up against the back of the platform, hopefully vertically. We shall see. Alan

I know the feeling. I made a brass mast for The Iron Duke, painted it and set it aside to dry. And it’s gone! Searched on hands and knees with a torch, vacuumed through the house, no sign of it. Even the cats look innocent. I just finished building a replacement so I’m expecting to find the original any time now. alan

Beautiful work, the seat looks amazing alan

Looks like this kit is working you hard but it is paying off with a beautiful hull. alan

The elephant sitting in the corner of the room couldn’t be ignored any longer. I’m not sure what the proper name is for this element. Upper bridge? Anyway it is made up of several bits of PE, mostly small and with several bends. I used a small amount of epoxy to secure it to the top of the tripod. There is a mast to add yet which has the potential to be a fiddle so I wanted this piece to stay put. It actually went on quite well. A plastic mast is provided but i elected to make one out of brass rod which looks a bit better and I think it will be easier to install. Thanks for looking in and for the likes and helpful comments. alan

That sounds like a very rewarding hobby, I’ve seen some beautiful examples. alan

Thanks Per, I find it has a bit of time for adjustment and so far Ive had no adverse effects using it. alan

Thank you very much Mike. I think railings are one of the best upgrades to a ship kit and really set the finished model off well but they can be a miserable experience especially when there are complicated shapes. i try to avoid CA glue, I seem to have become sensitive to the stuff and get cold like symptoms after using it. I now use Bob Smith Gold CA which is a medium thickness low odor glue and is not super fast setting. Gators Grip and MiG Ultra give me a bit more flexibility when placing the railings. I apply the glue with an pin and then give it a few minutes to tack up and then place the part. It usually has enough grip to hold then. I’ll work by placing one part of the section and let it set up before positioning the next part. I find it easier to get the railings to follow curves that way. I definitely like the fact that the PVA type glues have a bit of a flexible bond and parts doing break away from accidental contact. Some days seem to go well and others are a fight. Alan

You created a beautiful model Mike. The color choices are perfect and the wood looks so nice. Great job alan

Lovely work on the seats. Adding to an already beautiful canoe. alan