mikegr
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Cap San Diego by mikegr - 1/160
mikegr replied to mikegr's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1901 - Present Day
Santa Claus came and brought me a finished hull. I contribute a bit too. After 3 bottles of primer the salvaged hull is saved. Its not going to be perfect neither the model will be any away.
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Thanks for the likes and comments I did some work on the last submarine, bit of paint then a layer of PVA plus microballoons on top. A comparison along with my almost finished 1/700 frigate. Then I did a test fitting
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I thank all members for the encouraging comments and likes. Therefore I decided to step up with the details. Radar base and mast is not the only addition. I also printed and fitted some air vents especially at the bow. 2mm in height each, you can see at the building plate along with radar parts and some test print life rings in 1/350.
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Thanks. Good to receive compliments from a master.
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While looking for the mast , railings were done and I printed some life ring which were put in place
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I put some white paint in most areas then PVA glue then microballoon sprinkle. There should be a machine that could spread it evenly like the one they use to coat with grass, train layouts. Today its a shiny Christmas day with 18 celcius so i took some pics on the balcony on shadow and on sunlight
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Those night time pics looks awful. I take some on daylight tomorrow. The hangar roofs needs to be smoothen as nobody steps on there.
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Thanks for the encouraging comments and likes. I need to experiment a lot because it is the same materials that will be used for making sea waves. I decided to add some motion but figures at that scale is out of question. So I added some vehicles. A light coat of gel was given, then microballoons sprinkled over , thicker in some places, less in other. A bit of white glitters added, I like the shinny effect on light. Some putty on the base to fill a gap. Gel is not dried yet but I couldn't wait for tomorrow pics were taken today.
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I almost done railings today. More work than I estimated. Fortunately there won't be any in my next project. After installing them I had to check carefully for shiny brass spots and repaint them over with tiny brush. I also printed the rear type 517 radar but it will be placed upon completion since it looks quite fragile.
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Apart from some minor paint improvement with 000 brush the progress of the day was the addition of barrel liferafts and the stairs behind the superstructure.
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Because I work with resin therefore o use CA this makes a mess on painted decks. This gives me an idea of how special resin kits must be treated. After making some paint corrections with brush I added more details, like bollards, anchor chain and machinery as well as secondary antennas over hangar. What left is 4 ladders and railings. Then I have to deal of how to make the main radar mast as well as the unusual shape of rear type 517 radar
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Some pics on daylight. I added some gel and microballoons at the middle of the dockyard to create an ice effect. At the edges I poured microballoons over paste to represent snow accumulation. A small amount of white glitters added for extra shine effect. Extra snow added on Akula as well. For the roof top microballoons plus few glitters over paint did the job. I will restart the base, with less snow and more icy surfaces. Typhoon needs to be re worked also. Note on Akula, resin has warped already.
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Fitting doesn't lie. Hangar proved too long thus space between this and funnel wasn't enough for the SSMs to be fitted. I had to shorten it by whole 5mm. Funnel had to be repositioned as well. Not easy process when deal with CA glue and resin. Plastic deck broke and had to be repaired. Funnel was re printed with added details, hand ladder and grills. Also SSM boxes were reprinted 1mm narrower. The base is a separate piece very delicate, almost transparent. Its shorter, to give a correct lower firing angle. Also secondary AA was given a haircut by one mm. Finally their type 345 radar was fitted as well as the 347G radar for the main gun, at the very top of the superstructure.
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Progress has paused because I decided to have some education about ice and snow. At large surfaces even in that small scale I find that it takes more that paint job, no matter how perfect will be. I got some extra materials on hand. Ready made snow paste, ice paste and micro balloons. I added some more usual staff like heavy gel, PVA and paint. From left to right -Ice paste -Ice paste with microballoons -snow paste -snow and ice paste -heavy gel and ice paste -heavy gel and snow paste -heavy gel, paint and microballoons sprinkle on top -Heavy gel and microballoons -heavy gel and microballoons sprinkle -paint, PVA and microballoons --paint, PVA and microballoons sprinkle -heavy gel and white glitters. Ice paste gives a good shiny transparency but big colorful glitters reduce realism. This is an artcraft paste not a modeling one. Microballoons proved a fantastic material. White and shiny like crystal because its actually crystal powder. Gives a nice effect when sprinkled on other pastes but even if added alone. Tomorrow I will post more pics on day light.
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Armament. Type 79 4" Gun. This is the improved second stealth version thus the complex shape. I took a Mk38 5" gun file and modify it. Although proved too complex for my skills it turned close enough to the real thing. Barrels shape was also good and conical Next was the YJ 83 SSM Launch boxes. I made them a bit wider to make sure that every detail would be printed. I was happy to see that the base was printed with good accuracy so no PE parts would be needed Next was the HQ 7 short range SAM. This is replaced by HQ 10 a RAM style weapon. Easy to design and print. Air defence provided also by Type 76 37mm twin gun. Its elliptical shape proved too much for my design skills. After a week of trouble I printed a hemisphere shape and sanded it down with 600 grit sand paper. I replaced barrels with 0.4mm sterile needles and you can see the difference. Finally the 3200 ASW Rockets. Printed in 2 pieces. Plan was to fit 6 individual needles at the holder but holes proved to fragile. Not for my skill. I reprinted in one piece then printed again 15% bigger to have a better detailed quality. Hard to achieve accuracy without some over scale, thats why model companies can't avoid it I guess
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I have basically completed the main body of the ship. Also did the painting minus some details to be corrected. Im pleased with result as well with the speed of the progress because the armament is also ready and will be shown in the next post
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I continued building in the same way. Some 3d printing and some scratch work. All in all, the main silhouette of the ship is complete. Helicopter deck must be added but before this, all detail work on quarter deck beneath it must be done as well as painting.
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While working at the dock I printed another closed truck with great accuracy. Painting was painful as usual but it came out nice
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Thanks for comments and likes Instead of using problematic white I used a spray can to paint the dock. Then I will use shades of gray, gradually to erase the snow. So basically its the opposite technique comparing to submarine painting. Let's see of this works well. Doors on shelters replaced with other type. Light were added. I need to extend the dock because the truck can't turn and the buildings won't fit
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Now that the hull is almost done time to move upwards for the main deck area. I printed the front area of it with satisfactory result, you can see comparing to a single brush hair
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After experimentation and research i found out that the mini compressor is not working good enough with acrylics. They need to be thinned a lot for a proper flow. That means extra thin white is quite hard to cover dark surfaces. In my next diorama i will be using a new compressor which I hate because of the size and noise. So finally I did it I turned the two quartet hulls into warehouse, bunker, shelter, call it whatever you like it. Space for land construction is reduced in favor of more sea and faster progress. Need to speed up a bit
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The work on the hull is almost done. The bow looks like Virginia Class nuclear cruisers. Rounded at the upper half, tighter and more straight lower. I was thinking to shape it by sanding. But I am a better butcher than a surgeon. I simply cut the lower part of the hull and replaced with a triangle one. The shaping effort now was tremendously less
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This is the hull after a few hours of work. A plastic sheet was glued as a main deck. I need to work on details and give the bow the right shape. If I was given this in the age of 10 I would probably be the happiest child and would go straight for bathtub tests. But im a greedy adult and i need mode detailed work, rigging, photo etching and more, to satisfy my self
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