madtatt

The falcon alone looks even more dynamic...

Thanks for the great video, Andy. So you friends of the fastest scrap metal mill in the galaxy. The crumpled sheet I used to photograph my model wasn’t that great. So I used Photoshop to isolate the falcon and give it a decent background. That’s what I call a galaxy, far far away. May the force be with you. 🫵

@Jeff59 It'll be fine, Jeff. And then your Bismarck will look great.

Let’s get to another mini-update today. It cost me a lot of nerves and the whole weekend. But first things first. I was once again spoiled for choice between Pontos and KA for the funnel surface. Pontos offers riveted struts, KA rings that run around the funnel. So, I once again rummaged through my archives of the original ship and looked at conflicting pictures. Of course, often of rather poor quality. The deciding factor was once again the quite good picture from Vladivostok, which I believe shows rings. And since it’s one of the last photos of the intact ship, I chose that one. I like it better anyway. So first I cut the components out of the circuit boards. And again, KA Model wins. My enthusiasm was dampened slightly when attaching the rings. They were a little too big. That’s why they were touching on one side, leaving an unsightly gap on the other. I took them off again, sanded them cleanly, and then primed them thoroughly. Another attempt with the blue BluTack putty. This allowed me to keep the rings centered. It works. And since I’m using Mig’s acrylic adhesive, there’s no mess like with superglue. Diluted and applied with a fine brush, it flows wonderfully evenly into the gap thanks to capillary action. Excess glue can then be easily removed with a brush. Ring by ring it continues downwards. It’s nice that I managed to solve it cleanly after all, since the funnels are in a rather prominent spot. So I set them up for a test. They look great with the rings.

Hello everyone. The EME is behind me and the falcon is back in its home. Time to get back to work on my boat. To warm up, I turned my attention to the two dinghies. It was clear that I didn’t want to cover them completely. So I designed a little scene to get around that. I made a tarpaulin out of tissue paper and diluted wood glue. It took me a few tries. Then guys made to cover the boat. Add the railing and rudder blades. Nice extra income, I don’t have to tie down the cutter anymore. And the first railing was also installed. A few spots are still shiny, so I need to apply another coat of clear coat. I’m pretty happy with the way it is, and now I can move on to the funnels.

Thank you both very much. 😊

Good morning everyone. I’m back from the EME. Your fingers crossed and good wishes seem to have worked. The little bird brought home some precious metal. I’m very happy about the gold medal. And, almost more importantly, the falcon returned to its nest in one piece

I had to expand my dry dock again. I know, it looks almost like a Mikasa in prison, but it’s necessary. Its creator is a bit of a clumsy person. While handling it, I pressed my thumb on a gun barrel and it cracked. It wasn’t a big deal; I was able to carefully glue it back on. But that’s why… …more protection Now I can continue working on the ship without worrying and don’t have to constantly worry about the guns sticking out of the sides.

Hello dear forum community. Today I just want to share a small step. The reason: Micro Master’s boats look absolutely fantastic when painted, and I don’t want to keep that from you. So here are the two of them, piggybacking. A nice duo. When painted you can see all the fine details. The extra expense was definitely worth it.

I did a little research in my archives and came across this picture of the Bismarck’s tenders amidships. I then placed the rescue boat on its cradles and positioned it in the pinnace. Liked it.

Good idea, Chris. However, there's still a small boat on cradles in the pinnace.

Thank you, Mike. Yes, that's true. I had the Northstar figures for my Bismarck, which were already good. But the ION ones are even better. A new little update. Continuing with the preparations for the next internal structures. The MK set also clearly wins the race for the chimney stacks over the Pontos set. The brass sleeves look excellent. Here too, Pontos had no improvement to offer for the original component. I’m amazed at how well the MK set is performing. The extra expense was definitely worth it for me. The fourth cradle for the pinnace has also been adapted and installed. And so the boat can take its place. Which brings me to my next dilemma. Micro Master’s boats look so incredibly good that I’m considering leaving the boat cover off. 🤔

It's amazing how much effort you're putting in. But it will look fantastic when it's finished. 👍

Hello Jeff. That's how I always work on boats, always from the inside out. It served me well on the Bismarck, too. I'll take a slightly different approach to the funnel rigging and use deck eyes on the boat deck. I don't know the technical term in English, but they look like this. And by the way, your build report is my standard reference when building my Mikasa.😉 Let’s move on to the support structures that connect the boat deck and the internal superstructure. I soldered these to ensure maximum strength for these delicate T-beams. After testing it, everything seems to be fine. Only this connection needs to be slightly adjusted. It’s only provided by Pontos; it’s simply missing from the original kit, and it would create a large gap. Therefore, there’s no offset for it in the model, and the length of the component needs to be exactly right to ensure proper attachment. New sailors have taken up their duties. Get to work with them immediately. Spread nicely on the deck. Provisions have to go into the belly of the ship and the first sailors have to scrub the deck under the supervision of an officer. A sailor climbs the ladder to search for the missing funnel. Afterwards, I opened the dry dock again to see how it all looked through the gun ports. I think it looks very lively.

On to the next construction phase. The plan is to breathe a little life into the deck in the form of a crew. And this is where the next 3D print comes into play. This time I’m using the figures from ION Model, which I won in a competition with my Bismarck. After an initial inspection, the quality is excellent. Then I started looking for photos showing IJN sailors in their uniforms, like the following image: Wow, much easier to paint than the DKM guys. I had a few leftover Kriegsmarine sailors and wanted to use them to save on figures. The first ones were supposed to go behind the gun ports, where they’re almost invisible. So I shaved his head and punched out flat caps from styrene. A small dot of superglue on the top hair, and the Japanese sailor is complete. Painted and ready to go on deck. To the cannon sailors, ahrrrrg… Fire free… And so the lid can go on. And the deck portside Aged and found to be good You don’t see much of the figures, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. The hint of the sailors at work below deck adds depth to the whole thing.