marktiedens

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.

There seems to be quite a lot of debate on the colour schemes for the British tanks in WW1. Opinions range from grey, to olive drab and khaki. I decided to go with olive drab so the base coat was air brushed on. The tracks will them be worked up with rust, silver and dirt then washes and shading to the hull. With paint on the ditch rails look OK and I think the homemade Lewis guns will pass muster.

 

 

Thanks for looking in
Alan

Good evening everyone
 
as i mentioned earlier, to proceed with the Bluebell build, i needed to get my airbrushing up to speed, the other day i thought i had made leaps and bounds, today no such luck
eventually i kind of made it work, but after lots of messing about and 3 brush strips
it maybe down to old paint, this primer is over 10 years old, also it could be the AB needles they do look bent, so i took the hit and bought another brush from Amazon, should be here tomorrow, along with new paints and a replacement coolant vent PE set
i did however get some primer of most of the build
 




 





 
 
 

Due to some foul ups early in the planking, I figured out what I did wrong compared to my other models which involved miss sanding the taper of the planks.  About 50% would have been a better choice and bit better quality control on the taper to get it more uniform.  Too late to fix the starboard side so I did the best I could and it's now planked.  Live and re-learn.
 
I plan on painting per my previous post but still deciding on "artistic" changes like not painting over the keel but... still thinking about it.
 
I took the easy way out on the remaining planks and just cut each one in half and planked a way.  Now comes the sand-fill-sand-rinse-repeat until everything is nice and smooth.
 
After spending several hours cleaning up the shop, here's the progress photo of the starboard side.  

BUILD DAY 17 / 3hrs / (TOTAL: 45 hrs)
Headrests. There are altogether 10 pairs of them, one pair for each compartment.
I applied white glue using brush until the last step, where I used superglue to fix the loops to the back. 
Figures 183-193: Below I am adding several photos showing the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

That's all for now!
Thanks for watching!

Hello and thank you for your comments and likes
 
Yes Chuck, I used a scraper for the mouldings, but also carving tools.
Today I installed the first channel, but not fast at all. That was more work as expected, but at least I got it. The next will go faster.
 
The shipwright spend a grog for that and I think the water is hot 😃
 

 

 

It seems the balance of power needs to be redressed for the Entente Powers so I had added the Mark IV lit to the pile.

On Sunday afternoon I opened the box - just looking you understand.
There is quite a bit more to this kit than the a7v. More parts and three pages of instructions. Tracks are a rubbery fold around type. Detail is quite nice of the parts and not too much flash.

 

Then the glue came out - just to check the fit on a few parts you see

Sponsons assembled and the lower hull and inner skins mated. The fit is actually quite good. No positive locators but its all pretty obvious so far.

The outer skins and drivers cupola are in place and now the bit I was not looking forward to - the tracks. I have memories of dealing with the rubber track on Airfix tanks fifty years ago and they rarely went well. The instructions say that the plastic can be bonded using normal styrene glue which I was a bit cynical about. I tried a test piece gluing two bits of the sprue together and got a solid bond so on we go. 

I worked a bit at a time gluing and holding each section to get a good bond. Got a bit generous with the glue at the sharp radii to sften teh track and it wrapped around the corners and held very nicely.
The short section was added at the bottom. I was expecting the long piece to be deliberately long and provide some spare to cut back to fit. In the event the exact length is provided. Actually it is just a whisker short but I think it will fill and be unnoticeable

Looking through photographs of Mark IVs the kit has an error with the external fuel tank. The kit has the hatch and filler on the side rather than on the top where real life (and logic) places it. I sanded off the hatch and built a new one from card and some scraps of PE and added it to the model

 

The exhaust and rear structure has been added. It needs to be softened with some adhesive to bend it down the rear wall and across the top of the tank. The sponsons have been added and I was impressed at how nice the fit was after a touch of flash had been cleaned off.

The remaining parts are the ditching beam rails which look a bit fiddly and then its back to the air brush.
So far this has been very pleasant. I am rather disappointed with teh kits rendition of the Lewis guns

They are parts 34, 35 and 36. I am reluctant to use them and think it might be possible to do better with some thin plastic or brass rod inserted into the dome at the base of the kits effort. I see resin options out there but it seems a bit profligate to buy those and discard most of the gun
Thanks for looking in.
Alan
 

Hi,
Thanks for the likes and comments.
Just adding four guns to the upper deck.
Will add gun tackle later, maybe when my hands stop shaking.
Next is the channels and lower deadeyes.
Regards,
Sam.
 

Good morning.

Hi🙂