king derelict

Thanks OC. Its going to be a challenge but so far so good. The PE is very nice to work with too. I hope you have the bathroom renovation under control; I look forward to seeing the Hood back underway. Alan

Thanks Dave I hope you enjoy the build. The details are going to test me. Alan

Progress although very slowly. I am realising that with a lot of good photographic documentation I am cross checking a lot of the assembly instead of assuming that the kit is correct. That is slowing me down but it is interesting and so far Hobby Boss seem to be on the money with the Wasp. I came up with a plan for the build. I will add basic (flat) details to the hull and the island and then paint the hull colours and the deck non-skid surfaces which will then be masked to allow the superstructure to be painted. Details will then be added. The deck will be painted and decals applied before being installed on the hull. We will see how this works out. The Eduard PE provides a huge amount of railings which I'm hoping will really improve the model. The radar arrays are almost identical to the kit PE so second chances are available. So far both kit and Eduard PE has been nice to work with. It cuts out of the fret nicely, bends crisply and it seems to have very little spring. Watertight doors are provided in various sizes in the Eduard frets and are very neat. I added the doors to the hull and the fantail along with the Sea Sparrow and the two CWIS In the photos I noticed that the Sea Sparrow launchers have structure between the two sets of tubes which was lacking in the kit part so I used 2mm lengths of thin wire to replicate the braces. The photo also shows the upper gate to the wet well to be in the raised position. I have gone with that although it does then reveal the false hanger deck but I am hoping that the black paint will hide it. If not it will be set in the lowered position. The basic structure of the island has been started and the watertight doors are mostly installed now I have started on the radar arrays and they have gone together well so far. This is turning out to be a very enjoyable project; especially being able to work off the photos as I move along. The instructions, both kit and PE, are a bit vague and the photos are a great resource for working out the final positions of some of the parts. After fitting the last watertight doors I think it will be time to wake up the air brush. I have one minor issue to resolve before then. The Eduard PE has the part identifying number printed on the fret rather than etched as I have seen in other kits and after market frets. If I primer and paint the frets I will lose the identification of the parts in the fret. I am going to try to photograph the frets and see if that captures the numbers. Thanks for looking in Alan

The engine frame looks very effective. Very tidy too Alan

Wonderful work; absolutely no hint that it all started as a flat sheet of cardboard. Alan

The first uncertain steps of progress were made today. I cut a card template for the hanger deck and then glued the side decks and elevator door portals into place. The deck template was then modified to fit against the elevator door portals The pattern was then transferred to a piece of styrene sheet and glued in place. I also added the basic parts of the structure at the fantail. I thought about adding some basic side walls and the forward bulkhead to the hanger deck but a check with the lid on showed that it will be very dark on the hanger deck and even the shapes of the SH-60s might be tough to see so I think it would be a wasted effort. The check with the flight deck turned out to be useful because it showed a poor fit with the top of the aft structure; the deck was about 2 mm too short as it was assembled. Luckily the glue was still soft and I was able to separate the parts and shave a small amount off the two side walls. Reassembly and check showed that the deck now covered the edges of the walls There is a lot of PE to add to the hull now and the decision is going to have to be made when to stop and paint and then add the delicate stuff afterwards. This looks like being a great kit to make. I'm enjoying exploring what I can do with it. Thanks for looking Alan

I like the idea of painting the tram line; it would be easier to get teh right amount of dirt on it but there are two white checked lines running along the edges of the main yellow line that I think would defeat me so i might have to work with the decals and hope i can get the sooting right Alan

Not a lot of progress today; maybe some reverse progress! In thinking through what I needed to do with the hanger deck and the elevator doors I realised I have got ahead of myself a bit so i took the roof back off. Luckily I had only tacked it down lightly to see if the warp had been successfully corrected 9it had) so ! was able to remove the deck without damaging anything. I spent most of the rest of the time moving parts around on the bench trying to work out the sequence of building and painting. The side decks are boxes with detail and a number of PE parts. The elevator doors are also fitted from inside and will require some PE. So do I make up and paint the side decks off the model and install them before putting the deck back on or add them at the start and paint along with the hull and then detail later. I need the side decks and elevator portals in place to make up the hanger deck and the side decks should still have decent access when added to the hull. I plan to paint the side decks a darker grey than teh hull to improve the look of depth but I can mask the hull to do that provided I do it while the hull is still fairly basic. . I spent a lot of time reviewing photos of the real Wasp and comparing it with the kit. I haven't found any glaring anomalies. I thought the boat stowage on the port side was wrong but eventually found a photo showing it to really be there. With the Eduard PE this should make a very well detailed and representative model. I hope i can do it justice. I think I will be going for a lighter grey for the flight deck than given in the kit paint scheme. The anti-skid on the deck has become quite a bit lighter with time so I will use a mid grey. This then gives me scope to use a darker grey for the patch at the aft section of deck and also to add the exhaust marks on the tram line. The deck decals are going to have to go on fairly early because the deck edges are going to get delicate once the PE starts building up. Hmmm, this is going to be a complicated build to think the sequence through; it almost need a project chart to be created. Thanks for looking in Alan

The PE is looking very nice and neat. Alan

This has been a great project to watch coming together. beautiful models and outstanding work Alan

It is a wonderful inspiration. I am starting an Aedes Ars kit of Loarre Castle. It is a very modest effort by comparison but I will try to improve on the kit. Alan

Great decision to correct the diagonals. I suspect paint and shading will obscure any flatness of the tubes Alan

A great start; really forging ahead. And I'm excited building something twelve inches long! Alan

The matte coat was sprayed onto the tank and some of the ceramic brick dust mixed with dilute white glue was worked over the tracks to simulate sand (and reduce the poor appearance of the tracks) The chipping needs more practice but I'm happy with a first attempt And to put recent AFV builds into perspective here is teh JS-3 with the Renault 35 and the Wz34 Help - Run! Thanks for stopping by Alan

Thank you Mark; the hair dryer was a great idea too Alan

So; the box is open and bits are starting to appear on the table. I have the Eduard PE set for the Wasp and started comparing frets. The kit PE is on the left and the Eduard stuff are the two frets on the right. Looking through the Eduard set it provides a massive amount of railings. It also has coloured parts and its a bit thinner than the Hobby Boss stuff - but nothing like the thinness of the Flyhawk frets. I think I will mostly use the Eduard parts but time will tell I spent quite a bit of time with the administration side of a new build. Checking the instructions, cleaning up the work surface, making sure there were adequate supplies of tea and biccies. I went through the kit instructions and marked on all teh places where i will have to add the Eduard PE I also checked the paint scheme and found the dark gray is called out as Tamiya XF-58 which I don't have. Further examination found that XF-58 is actually Olive Drab so I will check the other paint references for a cross reference to the real colour. This is bigger than my usual stuff so I'm going to have to be careful moving stuff around on the work top. I'll be making a waterline model as usual. The kit doesn't provide a waterline plate but I don't think that is an issue. The starboard aft part of the upper hull is warped but it looked like it could be forced into place. The kit instructions have you build up the island add it to the deck, detail the hull and then add the deck. That seems pretty marginal at the best of times and definitely high risk to the delicate stuff if some controlled violence is needed to fit the deck so I added some plastic strip to push the starboard hull into place and when that was full bonded I installed the deck and clamped it down. Hopefully that's the end of the rough stuff. Although the elevator doors and the side decks are installed from the inside, I think there is enough access still to not be a problem and I needed the hull straightened so i can add a bit of the hanger deck. I think I can add enough of the hanger deck in the vicinity of the elevators to give a shadowy view of a couple of SH-60s in maintenance. Thanks for looking in. I hope you enjoy the build Alan

I hope so Ken; its beginning to look a bit daunting. alan

Mike; yes this one is going to take a while but it looks interesting. Looking at the kit PE there aren't many railings but the radar sets are good. I hope I can make a decent model out of it. Alan

Thanks Mike. I have lots of photos so I hope I don't embarrass myself Alan

Thanks Greg. The kit PE looks a bit bare so I'm hoping to dress it up a bit. Alan

Thanks for the moral support OC. This might take a while; lots of PE and detail parts. Make sure you have a comfy chair Alan

Enter the Gator Navy! I want to build the USS Wasp (LHD-1) as she was in 2013 during the second F-35B carrier flight trials. The first deployment was in 2011 but I don't have as many photographs from that one. I have the Hobby Boos kit in 1/700. The big box is well packed with a lot of sprues including three sheets of PE. Incidentally I checked the PE because it has some real weight to it unlike the Flyhawk PE with the Lance kit. I miked the Flyhawk PE at 0.0045 inches thick and the Hobby Boss stuff is 0.012 inches thick The kit includes V-22s, Av-8Bs, SH60s, CH53s, UH-1s and a full set of expeditionary vehicles. Sadly the stern gate to the wet well is closed so the vehicles could only be used in a diorama setting. For 2013 flight trials all the expeditionary equipment was ashore along with most of the usual air vehicles. Two F-35Bs were aboard along with a number of SH-60s providing SAR support. From time to time V-22s visited so I can use one or two if they make up nicelt. I put an order in with the nice folk at BNA Models in Australia for the F-35Bs. They look very nice (Orange Hobby), the level of detail the PE provides is amazing and I hope I can do them justice. There are six in the set so I have some scope for learning There is no hanger deck so the elevator doors will have to be closed unless I can make up something in the area around the elevator doors. I want to pose one jet on the elevator and one of the deck but we will see how the plot develops I hope I am not about to embarrass myself I hope you enjoy the build and I look forward to the helpful comments Alan

Thank you very much Mike, I have Kelly and Legion to add to the destroyer fleet at some point Alan

Thank you very much OC for your kind comment. Thank you also for the tip about the railings. I will try the black railings when I add the last strip and generally touch up the paint. They are barely noticeable now and the black will blend them in further. Thanks again Alan

The last detail; the rolled tarp, was added to the rear of the tank and a little more dust added. This completes the build. I also added the photos of the Wz34 armoured Polish car also by First To Fight which was being built in parallel. Nothing special about the build; very similar to the other kits but an interesting subject and fun to paint. Thanks for looking in Alan