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Tim Moore

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Everything posted by Tim Moore

  1. Hi Rick, thanks! The blue I used on my Fifie is Vallejo Model Air “Steel Blue” 71.087. Although this line of paint is designed for airbrush I find it works really well hand brushed on raw wood and gives a vivid result. I don’t use any sealer or primer. The general inspiration for my Fifie interpretation was the original Reaper, shown here so you can see the authentic blue. I thought it needed to be slightly punchier so took some liberties.
  2. Progress: Delay waiting for supplies, paint etc and due to various domestic duties but I’ve punched back in at shipyard now. The 14x6inch guns are all done and look mighty good I have to say. I’ve removed all the hull detail to allow for the Pontos upgrades, pre painted the base hull and finished with a satin acrylic topcoat to fix it. I will be applying most of the brass detail after bluing to add realism and retain a metallic patina. I’m hoping this will give the model an interesting texture and visual appeal, retaining all the Pontos complexity. I scribed the lower part of the hull to etch in a series of plates before painting, which I wanted to do in a white grey tone originally. Didn’t really care for how it looked, a bit too dramatic for my taste so I sanded it down and reluctantly went with the traditional red oxide. The plating is much more subtle now, although not sure it shows as well in photos as it is in reality. I’ve gone for a true black above the water for contrast with all the later fittings. It all looks a little stark at the moment but when all the detail and weathering goes on it will be a different kettle of fish. Kit Musings: After looking through the Pontos box it all looks like a piece of cake and I should be launching this Mikasa by about mid century. My plan is to do most or all of the attachments on the hull, and then set that aside and work on the deck and superstructures, and only marry the two much later in the build. If any of the Mikasa alumni are reading this and know of a flaw in this strategy please let me know.
  3. Thanks Alan, you are so right about the angle. You get it perfectly straight, and then look at it at another angle, make another adjustment….and then repeat about 30 times until you realize you probably had it right the first time.
  4. Hi Ken. Thanks for comment, yes I’m going to be using most of Pontos, adapting some. it’s just an illustration of the quality of this base kit; a builder can make a really nice product even without the add ons. The upgrades are like a hundred extra little model kits in themselves.
  5. Since the goal here is a super detailed gem of an old imperial battleship, I think the first thing I will do is perhaps a little subtle texture on the lower hull. There’s lots of detail above the waterline but it’s featureless below. Some primer is now on but that will have to harden up a while before I can do much with it. In the meantime, I’m playing with the 6” guns. There are 14 of these that poke out through the hull. The kit already provides a very nicely done version. Pontos gives you the option of going to the trouble of cutting off the perfectly good plastic barrel and replacing it with a smaller brass one. I see two good options here. Option 1 is the most sensible, and is to just go with the kit as-is and airbrush everything with the gun installed on the hull, which I think will look excellent. Option 2 is to do the Pontos brass barrel replacement to possibly minimal benefit at the end of the day. So naturally that’s what I’ll do since it’s Covid year 3 winter and, like what else is there to do. I’ve left a short stub on the plastic to give the brass a little extra reach, which to me looks more like the real ship was. I’ve used my bluing process to chemically turn the brass into the subtle patina of an actual gun, as opposed to paint. So I will make these all up like this, but then I will have to install them after the hull is fully painted. This shouldn’t be a big problem since I don’t plan on fixing the deck down for ages yet. The photo below shows the two options, so you can be the judge if all this will be worth it.
  6. Jeff: I’m just looking through the Pontos bits and pieces. And I do mean bits. I’m gaining an appreciation for your microscopic efforts on this Mikasa.
  7. Hi Darren I use a paasche so thought I’d try and help. Firstly yes the nozzle is all there, this is a good higher end brush. The knurled bit is part of the air supply hose and stays put there on its swivel fitting. The airbrush starts at the top of your red line. You should be able to lock the knurled end of the hose and screw off the fitting counterclockwise, wrapping some tape around fitting and gently using two pairs of small pliers if you have to. Don’t damage the rubber o ring in doing this. A touch of wd-40 on the thread will resolve matters if it’s really stuck tight. Forgive me if I’ve misunderstood your issue but I think that’s what you are asking about.
  8. The ‘Pontos upgrade kit’ showed up today after making it through the Byzantine Canadian customs machinery and all their infuriating last century processes and handling fees. Great value is not the first thing that comes to mind when I look at what is there and it’s final cost, but I suppose there’s a limited demand factor at play here. So descent into the madness of super detailing can begin.
  9. I’ll just put a placeholder down for my next construct, the Japanese pre- dreadnought Mikasa which just squeaks in this file category being circa 1902. Something new for me as my only other plastic boat effort was a Calypso many many years ago, a hack rush job on my part I need to atone for with the plastic gods. I got this Hobby Boss kit from a Canadian supplier. It must be the same product as various others of this ship under different labels (Trumpeter etc.). First impressions. Compact size. Good value. The plastic is really, really good. Highly detailed, workable, not brittle, and a real mother lode of part complexity. I’m almost questioning my judgment in getting the pricey Pontos upgrade, I think I could do a lot out of this box with some good detail painting and a few of my own bits of customization, but we will see. I ordered the Pontos at the same time but it is still between me and the supplier in the U.S.. No doubt marooned somewhere in the gears of the Canadian customs bureaucracy and postal system. Just poking about tentatively while I wait. In an hour and a half I have a hull with portholes and a deck! The fit is amazing. With wooden ships I’m a month and a half of planking to get here. Gives me something to look at while I ponder what to make out of this kit in terms of an overall assembly, painting and presentation scheme. I have a construction project starting in about a month, so I’ll just be making a start on this over next few weeks, I expect this Mikasa will be with me awhile.
  10. The finish process on my Miss Severn was a bit involved. It first had several coats of finish-cure epoxy thinned with xylene to waterproof it as it is fully motorized for performance use in water. Not a suitable process for the dining room. You don’t need that step if it is a display model. The final finish was achieved by 4 coats of carefully brush applied Helmsman spar varnish, satin, using 400 paper for between coats and then 600 paper after last one. It is then left for at least a week to fully dry and off-gas. This is VERY important. After that it is wet sanded using 600 and 1200 paper. After leaving that to totally dry again for several days, I used a buffing wheel and guitar polish to give a final perfectly smooth mirror like finish. 5 years on it still looks perfect.
  11. Hi Randy. I’ve built similar mahogany runabouts. This is how I would approach this. ideally, you would remove the side planking and redo it, starting by butting against the bottom planking and going up to the deck. Start at the stern and proceed gluing the planks forward from there. The last few planks will probably not run the full length to the bow, that is normal. Attached is a picture of one of my boats for reference. if you can’t remove the side planking, you can overplank the same way, starting from the bottom planking and going up. The top edge of the side planking at the deck can be covered with a chrome trim if you can’t get a perfect looking joint, since many of these boats have that detail anyway Good luck with the repair! Tim
  12. Fabulous! I’m gonna have to do this at some point. Definitely Mark is quite right - seems to be burning a little oil.
  13. Thanks Dan, Druxy and Lou - yes I’m pleased with how this turned out - going back to shipbuilding next but plan on doing another car after that.
  14. Thanks Bill, Egilman & Dan! Yves, Mike: The Mefistofele engine looks incredible, just looked it up. Kind of an interesting story too. I showed the admiral pics of it and the Bugatti; she decreed the big M as interesting, but fundamentally an ugly car and voted enthusiastically for the Bugatti so I’ll have to take that into consideration. Heres a shot of what the 806 kit looks like, out of the box more or less as opposed to my grubby edition, so you can see the range of end products you can produce with this kit. Here is mine rendered in b&w as per Dan’s comment. Cheers all. Tim
  15. Hey thanks Yves, Bob, OC, Druxey, Mark, Mike and Lou, and all the likes I appreciate the comments, very much. Still doing a bit of finishing then will post one final calendar pic. Ok Yves challenge accepted I will do another in due course, like the look of that Mefistofele and Bugatti, maybe also look around to see if any other 1:12s from other manufacturers look interesting. I’m from the polymath sect when it comes to modeling I now realize; the car world was a really nice break I want to get back to, but think I need to find another ship for my next major victim. A good old dreadnaught type vessel maybe if there’s something substantial available?
  16. Thanks Bob. A bit of aging and colour variation really does give life to a model. The basics I used here were: 1. I used an airbrush for most of the base colour on major elements. Brush for bits and pieces. 2. I applied a black wash over the base colour using a brush. I varied the amount of paint to water to give more black density to some edges, bolts etc. I also dabbed a bit of rust colour on some mechanicals and springs. It’s a bit of an organic process. 3. For the numbers, I sprayed them on (before the back wash) using a sticker mask provided in the kit. I added a bit of yellow to white in the airbrush cup to give a more aged appearance. I actually cocked this up badly as the mask leaked at the edges horribly, so I had to go back and hand paint them, which surprisingly ended up looking better and more vintage anyway. 4. to give depth on body panels before weathering in this case, I airbrushed a grey primer, then a light orange red, then the final brick red colour. That allowed me to burnish some areas using 400 paper as a final step after the black wash, providing some highlights by exposing the undercoat where paint might have been lightened by the sun, or abraded away from use. I’m still working on this. I was doing a bit of experimenting with this model, thinking I might want to tackle something more substantial in plastic like an old battleship or something similar.
  17. A few shots of this more or less finished rendition of the Italeri Fiat 806 Grand Prix, which is approaching the chequered flag. Bit of a change from wooden ship-building. First car model I’ve ever done now I think of it. Pretty satisfied with the result - the look I was going for was something 100 years old with some long gritty racing under its belt, with lots of oil and petrol flying about. It all went together pretty well. The only kit related issues were some body panel struggles at the front end - the engine cover plastic was pretty bad and hinging apparatus is dodgy, needs to be re engineered. I may redo so it opens to see the engine more easily.
  18. Thanks Mike! Finished hacking away at the vent openings, assembled the three main pieces of the body and gave it all a coat of primer. Looks fine I think, I can deal with a few imperfections.
  19. Thanks Gary and Egilman. I’ve set aside the chassis assembly for now and am tackling the body for something different. The body sprues are a bit rough with this kit, pretty crappy actually so a bit of work to knock them into shape. Could just do a painting exercise now but I can see from the original picture I have that the vents on the back were prominent, while the plastic piece just has a few insignificant closed bumps, so thought I’d open them up a bit for a more authentic look, which I know some other builders have done. Spent a good part of the niners packers game doing that with a blade and micro drill, to an unexpectedly good result. Then I went to the other side and made a complete shambles of that side. So now I’ve just cut them both out completely and have to start again with something from scratch. Guess I’ll now do this for the two at the very back as well.
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