DocRob

Thank you Egilman, where do you find all these pictures. The color really looks like GSB to me. Unfortunately I don't have such a dark blue in my shelf and it seem, like I have to mix something. Also interesting is the matte finish, which I would have preferred to a high gloss paintjob. Cheers Rob

With lots of my projects, I try to emphasize the possible difficult to solve problems, before I'm at the actual stage of the build. Having the how-to's in my head, helps to keep a clear sight. I considered masking the polished aluminum covers, after spraying them with chrome or polished aluminum following a gloss lack primer. Then I remembered, I once bought a sheet of Bare Metal foil and tried it onto one engine cover. It's not perfect in the pic, but I hope, I can do better after the blue color has been sprayed on. For now it's peeled off again. Speaking of blue, I almost decided to use the left one, Tamiya LP-6 gloss Pure Blue, but will try the darker LP-78 Flat Blue also on a piece of scrap. Lastly, I detailed the cockpit with some tiny PE parts and added the futurized canopy, to see , which insights could be expected. The canopy holds only through friction and I think, I will leave it off for painting, because I had some slight fogging issues with polystyrol canopies and lacquer paints, lately. Cheers Rob

Thanks a lot for the pics and opinion Egilman. The second picture, I've never seen before, great find, as it's far more conclusive than the well known first one. It shows not only, that dull aluminum or light grey would be the right choice, but also, how the canopy opens. The different coloring? / reflection? of the engine top cowling is also remarkable. I've not seen this before either. Cheers Rob

The fuselage color seems to be discussed relatively often for such a rarely build plane. It varies from Bugatti blue to dark blue and I will stay on the darker end of this discussion. Even more difficult is to determine the interior color. My best guess is natural aluminum, to reduce weight, but light grey would be an option too. Does anybody have an opinion or even facts about this? Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, Not with racer's pace, but with little steps the Caudron build continued. After some fine tuning for the fitting of the main components, I wanted to try, if the punch press method for the wheel covers works. I annealed the PE parts, until they changed to a bluish tint and then punched. ...and it worked. I may have gotten the PE-brass a bit softer with more heat, but due to the two narrow connection point wouldn't risk it. Here is an example for the clever design of the kit, all main component key into each other, do you hear that Zoukei Moura ? Finally, I cleaned all the resin parts thoroughly in soap water, Future dipped the canopy for enhanced clarity and started with the interior assembly. The front section was assembled and here again, the ingenuity shows, because the air intake in front and one on the cowling have an insert, which is cast to exact measure, to be used as a guiding element. Cheers Rob

Me neither, I have the same kit and extras and it itched me sometimes to start the Honda. I will follow your build and take place on the sparse (non existent in fact) back seat. Cheers Rob

Welcome on board Ken and Egilman, it's a bit crammed in that whacky little racer's cockpit, but I will see what I can do, to make it a pleasant ride for you . Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, once for the praise and second for the background info on the paintjobs of the USS Arizona. I knew, the blue-grey paint was applied shortly before the attack, but wanted to learn a bit about weathering in this kind of scales. I'm not after a 100% accuracy and take my liberties with my builds, which I often start, because I have a fascination for the subject and because I want to learn something new, modeling wise. I live a bit isolated with no modeling community around (except MSW and LSM), so I build only for my own pleasure and not for competition, it's more about challenging myself. Like you, I like the USS Arizona a lot and when I saw the Eduard boxing, I was sold. If my build struck a chord with you, I'm pleased and look forward to your rendition. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken and Edward, the built was demanding at times, but well satisfying. Speaking of detail, The USS Arizona is not quite finished, the anchors are missing and I noticed, I forgot the yellow prop blade markings on the Kingfisher planes. Then there's the rigging. I've not decided finally, how deep I will get into that. As for the next build, the decision is made. I will build a sleek flying racehorse, diversification is the best medicine against boredom . Caudron C.561 French Racing Plane - 1/48 - S.B.S. Cheers Rob

Très cool was my first impression when I've first seen the Caudron C.561, what a design, completely different than other race planes of it's time. The design was not so much max power orientated, than sleek and aerodynamic. My last contact with the whacky racer were Hugault's paintings in the German version of the comic book 'Au-dela des nuages T1'. I bought the kit a while ago, initially after I stumbled over it somewhere in the net, I couldn't resist the magnetizing box art. The producing company is from Hungary and they produce resin planes and accessories in 1/48 and 1/72 mainly. When I opened the sturdy and beautiful designed box, I was up to my next wow. Securely packed where the grey resin parts for the airframe, including a quite detailed interior, along with a clear (and I mean clear) resin canopy, metal casted wheel struts, a PE-fret, including seatbelts, a dashboard, wheel covers and other detail parts, Kabuki canopy masks, decals, a manual and a separate four side color print. The quality of the resin is perfect, there are no bubbles or blemishes, the whole kit oozes a 'build me' type of quality and as it is my first full resin plane build, I have to confess, all my fear was gone, after inspecting the kit contents. Yesterday, with my USS Arizona build more or less in the books, I decided to use a good spare hour for removing the cast blocks (easy) and do some test fitting. What's to say, the first impression didn't exaggerate, the fit is almost perfect and it seems, filler will only be needed in small quantities on the bottom seam of the fuselage. The parts design is absolutely clever, especially around the wing root to fuselage to engine cowling area and even includes guiding pegs, Chapeau S.B.S. Another example for smart design are the wheel well covers, which are made from PE, which should be annealed and then press formed between the included resin punches. This kit is a true gem, it doesn't happen very often to me, that I'm totally enthusiastic from first of the kit, through opening and inspecting the box and dry fitting and getting a grip for the kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, I'm completely undecided about my next build. It could be a 1/48 Oeffag 253, an Austrian biplane of WWI or a 1/20 vintage McLaren, or I continue with some stalled builds. The next days will show. Cheers Rob

Thank you Johnny, I wanted to build this kit, the moment I saw the color scheme. What a nice distraction from the normal light grey jobs. The build was testing at times, but I have to say, there were no real project threatening failures, astonishingly. Most hick ups were self induced, due to lack of research or laziness and being inexperienced. I have to praise the Eduard PE, which is very detailed and precisely designed. The only determining factor in this project was the will to finish, as it needs some tedious and methodical work. I had moments, where I distracted me with thoughts about next projects, but the motivation came always back, after taking a short break. Cheers Rob

Phew, almost there. Some touchups are still to do and there are still some parts missing, like the anchors, which I forgot. I added all the railings, which proved easier than thought. I bent them to shape before carefully set them on a wooden board with double sided adhesive tape and then primed and sprayed the railings. Before installing the outer railings, I glued on the masts, cranes and superstructure, not to interfere with later. Lots of figures were added and I hope, they tell little stories with their poses, interaction and placement. Lastly, there is the question, if I rig the Arizona. I'm not so sure, if rigging would be visible in this scale, but this decision will be made later. It seems like I can think about new projects. There were times, where I couldn't think of getting to this stage, during the build and this feels good and satisfactory. Cheers Rob

Thanks for continuously finding hairs in my USS Arizona soup, ddp . Checking the pictures, it seems you are right. I initially wanted to place the guns like you mentioned, but now they are glued in place like they are. Not the most accurate Arizona build around, I fear, but I can live with that. Cheers Rob

I added more and more sub assemblies to the mix. After a bit of detail painting with a brush, the numerous boats were glued to the decks, later followed by the gangways. More figures were CA-ed to their stations. The superstructure and the mast section are not glued in place yet, as I will add some railings first. Not shown on the pictures are the anchor chains, which I blackened in burnishing fluid. Cheers Rob

It's a bit of cash in time now, as it's the time of the build, where all the pre fabricated sub assemblies got finally detailed and added to the decks. I mounted the planes on their sleds onto the catapults, dozens of bollards, winches, AA guns and mid artillery with their gun shields. Not all is glued yet, and I try to assemble in a logical order, without risking to destroy glued on details through bad sequencing. Suddenly the whole build appears to melt together with these very rewarding steps. Cheers Rob

You made your decision Bill and I think it's a good one. Answering the initial question of your thread, I can only add a personal view, as my experience in wooden ship and plastic ship builds are limited. I'm an experienced modeler though, but ships weren't on my past schedule. Last year I took all my courage and started my first serious attempt in wooden ship modeling, I built the Duchess of Kingston from Vanguard models. I never limit my modelling urges, but I always need a trigger or a point of fascination to start a project, in this case the biography of the name giving dame. When this initial spark is ignited, I will loose myself in a project, no matter what. The DoK was way above my skill level, but it is a well designed and with the help of the forum members, I almost sprinted through the build, which is finished sans the rigging. I had more fun learning and building and working with wood instead of plastic. It was so very exciting, that I bought another Vanguard kit, which is very helpful with a very clever design, good materials and exceptional step by step manual. This year, I started on the other side of the medal, building a 1/350 scale USS Arizona and it was a love and hate build until now. The plastic of the base kit is so bad, that luckily nearly all the weaknesses of the kit are substituted by countless photo etched parts and 3D-printed ones. I had difficulties to get into a building groove, like with the wooden sailing boat, but I will finish USS Arizona soon and besides some letdowns, most of the build is tedious but satisfactory, too. Interestingly it took me four month to build the Duchess of Kingston (without rigging) and the USS Arizona will take about the same time. Like I did before, I will build models from plastic, wood, resin and maybe metal like before, but it will be generally more biased to ship modeling. Personally, I easily get bored, therefore, I always seek new challenges in modeling. I guess with your background in modeling and woodworking skills, you will easily achieve good results with a decent wooden ship kit. The rest is determination and working always to your standards and like others already mentioned, have fun. Cheers Rob

Phew, I painted up the figures. The printing quality is excellent for the scale and these little guys will bring some life onto the decks of USS Arizona. The figures were primed matte white with the airbrush and then followed by skin color, light blue and blue gray, brown for the shoes and some other details, applied with a 000 brush. Last, I brushed on a mix of grey oil paint and matte thinner as a wash, to let the detail pop a bit more. And here there are the first officers and sailors on duty (or resting). Cheers Rob

I always use a good respirator mask, when airbrushing and cleaning the equipment. I use my airbrush frequently and I can remember my airbrush beginnings, when I sprayed acrylics in my room. If I lifted a cup afterwards, there was a non soiled spot, I definitely don't want to have that in my lungs, along with aggressive and poisonous chemicals. My health is too important to me than to have that tiny bit of more comfort. I wear the mask, even as I have a spray booth, which minimizes the spray particles. I also wear a mask, when I sand or saw resin parts, as the dust particles are carcinogenic. Well with wood sanding it depends on the amount and the sanding place. When I sand a planked hull outside, I might skip the mask, but mostly, I wear one. If the question is, do you need a mask for different modelling tasks, my answer would be definitely yes, it's a 35€ investment into your future. I got this one and different sets for filters (dust / paint) Dräger X-plore® 3300/3500 | Draeger Cheers Rob

It looks like I've done nothing, but that's not true, did many little things, indeed very little things. I folded lots of boxes and hatches from PE along with ladders, which are time consuming, because I bent all the single steps with a sharp blade and a very fine pair of tweezers. There are more boats with racks and a big range of other tiny PE assemblies, some shown here. All these are now painted up and ready to install. Next were the Kingfishers, which received a two tone camo. The planes were primed light grey and then all undersides where covered with liquid mask, brushed on and then sprayed with the top color mix of light blue grey. I thought about how to paint the windows and tried black panel wash and liked it, as it pronounced the framing and dries glossy for contrast. Now they are up for decaling. Before I install all the larger subassemblies to the decks, I will apply the figures, which is easier due to better accessibility. These figures from Ion Models are really tiny and it took a while, to cut them off the print sprues. Luckily only one leg was lost, the print material has a bit of flexibility and is not too brittle. I grouped the 74 sailors onto double sided adhesive tape for painting and prime them white with the airbrush and continue with brush accentuation . Cheers Rob

Thanks again ddp, I corrected the catapults angle and the housing will be, where it belongs. Cheers Rob

These are great drawings and photos ddp, thank you for that. You are right about the angled catapult, I somehow missed it in the manual and I have to see, what I can do about it. The proposed quad gun tubs are raised, but somehow, it doesn't show on the picture. I've read, that the tubs were readily installed, but there were no guns mounted, when USS Arizona was attacked. The 'thing' you mentioned, is only there for a condensed view in the picture. It belongs behind the single mast of the main mast structure, between the boats. Cheers Rob

Slowly pacing through the on deck applications. This build is testing my patience a lot and the last nagging bit are the gun shields for the middle artillery. They are made by PE and the enforcing struts, tiny triangles needed to be bent in place. I dreaded this part of the build, because the first shield, I tested, lost a lot of the tiny struts through breaking. The others, I annealed had less broken parts, but still some. Some of the sensible struts were too long and had to be shortened with unshivering hands. Nothing is glued, because the parts will be airbrushed off the deck. You will notice, that I left the cut out deck segments in place, which would have to be removed for the original plastic. Leaving them, will look more convincing, I hope. Cheers Rob

That's an interesting project ddp, converting these kit dinosaurs with a lot of scratch work. No wonder, you are familiar with the details and drawings. For me USS Arizona is only a short stint into small scale ship modeling, as I do all kinds of modeling and like to continue with my wooden Duchess of Kingstons rigging and some other plastic kit projects. Cheers Rob

Somehow, I missed your build RGL. I really like what you've done to that dinosaur kit. Extra detailing and great painting skills show on that positively quirky airframe. Cheers Rob