marktiedens

Hi Mark, even though we've never met I felt crushed reading your post after all the kind exchanges we have had over the years.  I'm at a loss for words right now, but wanted to send my best wishes to you and your family.

Oh dear. Who would have thought that a short post from a man I have never met who lives thousands of miles away could affect us so deeply.
 
Best wishes to you and your family from all of us in the UK.  

That is terrible news, I also hope you find the strength to fight on.
Thanks for the insight to your Vanguard build, it's always great 👍 

Mark,
 
I'm so very sad to hear your news. I will be praying for you to fight on or finish well, whichever way things may turn out. I hope that perhaps someone can be found who might be able to complete this beautiful project for you.
 
Heartfelt regards,
Chris

Mark,
I have been faithfully following since 2019.  It will be a shame to not see her completed but that does not compare to the news of your health.  It is indeed terrible news, and I pray you continue find the strength to stare that bastard down and fight on.
Alan
 

Hello friends - I am saddened to say this build is being terminated.  I have got a terminal illness & don`t have the will or energy to continue. Not sure how much time I have left, so I will look in at your projects from time to time.
 
 
Mark

Phil - my greatest concern is how well the self adhesive copper tape holds over time - I would hate to have to re-do it after all the masts & rigging is done.  I have coppered 4 ships so far with individual plates & haven`t had a single plate fall off.
 
Mark

Hello friends - I am saddened to say this build is being terminated.  I have got a terminal illness & don`t have the will or energy to continue. Not sure how much time I have left, so I will look in at your projects from time to time.
 
 
Mark

Thanks Edward.
 
 
Mark

Hi - another small update.   All the channels are glued in place along with the fiddly PE support brackets.  Extra brackets are supplied in the kit, but none are shown on the mizzen channels on the plans, so I did not add them.  The extras may have been provided because the way they needed bending to fit it would be very easy to break them (don`t ask me how I know). Need to make up a bunch of chainplates next.  Thanks for looking in.
 

 

 
 
Mark

Thanks guys.  I already have pins in the channels - just haven`t glued them in place yet.  Now, I am doing some minor house maintenance, so progress is still slow.
 
Mark

Thanks Mike.
 
 
Mark

Hello friends - I am saddened to say this build is being terminated.  I have got a terminal illness & don`t have the will or energy to continue. Not sure how much time I have left, so I will look in at your projects from time to time.
 
 
Mark

I have built about 16 ship models and this is almost exactly how I plank.

Update... somewhat.  I have the starboard side, sanded, filled, and I think ready for paint though painting is down the road a ways.    Starting the other side of sand-fill-sand-fill... ad infinitum ad nauseam. I'll clean up the stern all at once after the port side is done.   Here's pics.... 

Thanks so much for all the wonderful and generous comments - you folks are so kind.  And as always, thank you for the likes and for stopping by.
 
 
How do you know I'm not 3/4" tall?
 
 
Interior lighting Prep Work
   
This posting is a bit tedious - I apologize in advance.
 
I put LED lighting on some but not all of my models. There has to be some justification for the effort and the subject needs to call for it. These little dioramas don't just call for it – they scream for it. But in the same way that bright colors can sometimes make small scale models look toy-like, so too can bright lights (or too many of them.) This diorama would be difficult to view without lighting and it will add greatly to the ambiance providing I don't botch it.  There will also be “daytime” through-the-window” lighting which I'll explain in an upcoming post.
 
In addition to the drop light under the vehicle, there will be four pendant lights hanging from the ceiling and a single bench lamp. The pendant lights hang off conduit that roughly scales to a little larger than 1” trade size pipe. The “pipe” is stainless tubing and has an inside diameter of .013”. As you can see in the image below it is quite small and yet if I had something smaller I would use it.
 

 
 
The problem in using small tubing is that there are no prewired LEDs with fine enough wires that will fit through such tubing. Here is a prewired #0805 LED (the size I will be using) and clearly it will not fit down that tubing.
 

 
 
So I solder my own using a simple process that makes soldering fine wires easy and almost enjoyable in a deranged sort of way.  LEDs can be bought in strips that were cut from reels for literally a cent or two apiece, so when I smoke one, it doesn't bother me in the least.  Here are the sizes I use. From left – 0402, 0603, 0805, 3528 and 5050.  The 0402 is small enough that it could be used in an HO scale headlight.
 

 

 
 
LED code numbers refer to the standard SMD (surface mount device) package dimensions and don't indicate a level of brightness. They were designed to be wave soldered onto printed circuit boards, not hand soldered. And confusingly, they are sold by both their metric measurements and their imperial measurements. So a metric #1608 (1.6mm x .08mm) references the same device as an imperial #0603 (.063” x .031”.)  If that isn't confusing enough, there is a metric 0201 and an imperial 0201, but they are not the same device and have a completely different footprint. Same is true for 0402 and 0603. I can solder an imperial 0402, but it would take a wizard to hand solder a metric 0402. Point being – buyer beware.
 

 
I use #39 magnet wire that has a .0038” diameter including insulation and is adequate for feeding a single LED. The insulation is an enamel coating and is better to burn off than to try and scrap off, which damages the underlying copper. With a ball of freshly applied solder on the tip of my iron (almost about to drip off), I quickly insert the wire into the drip before the all flux burns off. This burns off the coating and tins the copper in one step. So after cutting the wires to length, I burn off a 1/4” section about 1” back from the end. This 1/4” section is what gets soldered to the LED connection pads.
 
I place the LED onto a strip of double sided tape and then position the wires over the top and stick them down to the tape on both sides of the LED. This keeps everything in place during soldering. I position the wires so the insulation comes right up to the LED on the right hand side as shown below. I don't care about the other end because those wires will be clipped flush.
 

 
 
I then place a drop of “no-clean” electronic liquid flux on the LED followed by a split second touch with the iron in one hand and solder in the other applied simultaneously. No more than a second. One wire at a time with a cleaned iron tip and a fresh drop of liquid flux for each wire. I've had no luck going back to correct a bad solder joint because the solder becomes thick and clingy and the device can't survive the additional heat. It's a fast one shot thing – not difficult but takes a steady hand.
 

 
 
I use Kester 951 no clean liquid flux, Kester 83-7145-0415 electronic silver solder (.02” dia.) and a Weller 25 watt pencil iron with 1/16” flat tip. This little 1/2oz. syringe type applicator is handy for the flux.
 

 
 
First the desk lamp is made by annealing the stainless tubing and bending it into a gooseneck. The lamp shade is 3/16” diameter aluminum and the base is 1/8” dia. brass. The LED is a 0402 warm white.
 

 
 
The pieces are assembled and the underside of the shade gets a drop of “crystal clear” Gallery Glass to insulate and hold the LED in place. It will dry clear and shrink down flush with the shade or close to it.
 

 
 
The completed lamp is just over a 1/4” tall, 2 scale feet.
 

 
 
I cut four lengths of the tubing for the pendants and work a tiny flange onto one end of each. This mushroomed end will hold the shades and was made by reaming/wallowing with tip of a dressmakers pin.
 

 
 
The aluminum pendant shades are from Ngineering.  I center drill the domes with a #77 drill bit which makes for a tight fit allowing the flange to hold onto the shade.
 

 
 
The shades are primed in and out.
 

 
 
The tubing is pushed through the shade and the 0805 LED wires slipped in. The LEDs were encapsulated with clear Gallery Glass after they were soldered and allowed to dry. This insulates the bare connections so I can push it back into the shade without fear of shorting it out.
 

 
 
Then another drop of Gallery Glass to hold it firm.
 

 
 
The shade tops are painted a heavy acrylic wash over rust colored primer. It looks like oxidized copper (serendipitous and not what I was aiming for, but I like it and must write that down.)
 

 

 
Thanks for looking.  Be safe and stay well.
 
Gary

Hi,
I bought the Tamiya flat clear XF-86 and sprayed it on the entire model. Fortunately, it seems that the red of the decals did not fade further:

 
The Tamiya flat clear gives a finish which is not completely dead matt, but leaves a satin shine. Although additional matt effect can be added to it, I like this finish which is like an 'egg shell' type of matt finish.
 
Finally, after long, I can start removing the masked areas. This is one of the most awaited step of aircraft modelling. Starting with the jet pipe:

 
Removal of the brakes:
 
The canopy, which was kept in place by drops of masking fluid, was pulled out and the cockpit could be seen again:

 
The masking of the windshield piece was removed:

 
The masking of the canopy was removed and the canopy posed in place (shall I glue it closed or open?):

 

 
That's all for now, refining weathering and touching up of the paint will follow.
Thanks for following,
Dan.

Hi all,
after the gloss paint, I tried to bring up the surface details with art oil colors. The underside was treated with Payne's grey which has a shade of blue in it:
 

 
For the upper surface, I used Burnt umber which is a very dark brown. This is a picture taken after brushing the color. This is when you hope that chemistry really works as promised:
 

 
After cleaning the oil color:
 

 
I realized that I run out of flat clear paint, so I am driving now to the LHS to buy some.
See you soon,
Dan.
 

Finally got most of the details onto the hull and will spray gloss clear tonight in preparation for the weathering, etc. process.  I have a few more things to add like a few more AA guns and the small boats, but I wanted to make sure I had access to areas for adding washes and other treatments.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I used some other sets to get a little more detail to the kit.  FiveStar sells resin life buoys which are nice because they are 3D and don't have to be folded like PE buoys, and you can paint them right off the plug.  The kit searchlight was ok, but I ended up using a FineMolds 90cm searchlight which I thought gave better detail:
 

 
 
Here are the torpedos and their carriages - great little details from the Infini upgrade set:
 

 
Small boats - lots of little details from Infini, including the wood bottoms for the cutters:
 

 
The resource books I posted at the beginning of the log showed a small lantern hanging from the pole at the bow.  The FineMolds set with the searchlight included small lanterns, so after trimming to size, I added it to the bow.  Nice little touch I think:
 

 
After the weathering, I'll put together the seascape, add the rigging and flags, and add figures to the model.  I've left a few little details here and there for added interest, including an open torpedo hatch, a hatch at the top of one of the other torpedo launchers, an open ammo box, etc.  
 
Thanks for looking in!

"I'm  Back"
 
So after putting my Hawk on the back boiler  - I decided to have another bash on this,   if you remember I was struggling with  rattle can painting it,  so I decided to give it a bash with my airbrush,   I mixed up some Nato Green  in my airbrush cup  with 50%  water and started several coats all over my wokka, drying it before turning over to paint the bottom.
When finished  I also sprayed the tail gate.
Think it has painted up quite well.

Got a little more done between other more important chores.
 

Hi, the stern platform

good evening
 
the  D9R kit  requires 43 links on the tracks 42 is to tight and 43 to loose, the looseness was solved by a simple solution i read about at the time in 2013 by cutting the wheel casing  in 1/2 and putting a sliding tube in to enable the two halves to be moved in or out
each link is made up of three parts,
 this was built up using pva glue and then the track was put on top with extra thin
 
 

Evening all  -  Day Three  of my airbrush   experience   - after being more methodical  and cleaning  the plane  with wet sanding, I think I  got a better finish  from my airbrush, just one tiny area that needs a bit more work  - but I am more happy with it.
 
OC.