popeye the sailor

thanks Mobbsie........and yes, the filler came in handy. I happen to have some of the plastic filler. I haven't used it much since I got into the wooden models, so I had to knead the tube a little to get it mixed again....pliable too there are only three places so far, where it will be needed. more work was done to the super structure......the front bridge area needed to have some filler around the top lip. with it sanded and fixed up, I chose a better alternative to the deck paint. they suggest a darker gray, but in the pictures I've seen, it looks to be more of an asphalt color......kind of gray, but more towards a blackish color. the decks were painted in this new paint I mixed up, and the sides were painted the darker gray....a battleship gray. the funnel was added after the paint was dry....the top section to the super structure {to the right} was painted with the darker gray. all that needs to be done now, are the inner bulwarks and railings, which have bee added to the aft end. a pair of life boats and the SAM launcher was assembled.....the missiles are to be another color, so they will be added later after everything is painted, the parts for the props were added to the stern. once cleaned up, I can begin on the outer hull painting. the tip of the bow needed some filler...that was done and then painted with the mixed paint. I probably should have used the air brush for this.......the main deck shows the streaking real good. flash has been a problem.......finding more than I thought. the walls were added to the elevator area, as well as the railings along the inner area. the elevator will be in the down position. odd thing I see here, is that there is a depression line {a slot}, for a wall........not included in the kit?!?! I could add something here, but not sure what would be logical. I forgot to fill in the third imperfection when I painted it......I'll do that when I touch it up the main deck was dry fitted after it was painted. as I suspected......I will have to do some trimming to fit the aft end of the main deck, to fit where these two walls are. there's still more painting to be done here as well. we'll see how much I get done today

she looks sweet!

very nice Dave........great progress!

very nice progress since I last looked in Jesse! the home made cleats are super......very nice work on the mast as well glad to see your still getting to the table....

as they say....any progress is good progress nice work on the guns.

the redo of the ratlines / shrouds looks really great Glenn! the rest of the rigging looks good too. super looking vessel

thanks Mobbsie......it's not the best picture. when it's done, I'll try and get the best picture. perhaps I'll even use the big crane lights. not to worry, I can never change. thanks thunder....I think this kit / series is a lindberg offering. the other day, I saw one of the older kits, that requires to be painted with a glow juice solution. I don't think Heller or Revell are in this group.....they are still going strong in today's market. older now defunct companies are where the bulk of the molds came from......but that's not to say that Revell hasn't sold off a mold in it's day kits do change through the use of different plastics......the glow in the dark process isn't that new......Revell and Aurora used the process in their figure models. the witch, the creature from the black lagoon, early star trek {yea..I've even built some of these}. now you have new companies coming out.....picking up what's left over and bringing back the older models {which I'm glad to see}. the other one I have uses the Henry Morgan.....I though it was a whaling vessel. the model can actually be modeled after the Wappen Von Hamberg, and other similar vessels....this one I'm Definitely going to paint. welcome to the fray

that is a really nice job on the transom Bob! the decorations came out look'in sweet

the other night, I stopped and went to shut down....figured to get some TV time in. the hull was glowing pretty good, so I snapped a picture of it. it will look better when I get the yards and sails on her,

crow's nest came out perfect! hull looks ready to cover too.

if an ink jet printer was used, water would not be a good idea........the ink is ready soluble with water. I did some sail embossing using an ink jet printer...what I used is Testor's decal bonder. it dries rather quickly and will not cause the colors to run.......do it in light coats. a flat lacquer can also be used as well. the flag is still positional after it dries.

nicely done Hof! she looks great!

look'in really good KP........hope that isn't a nick at the corner of your display stand. is that a hull made out of match sticks?

going a bit further with the ship, I thought to assemble some of the sub assemblies. the 100mm guns were first......the parts were found and laid out. if you read through the article I posted on this vessel, there was to be quite a bit of armament aboard. for starters..there were to be six 100 mm guns. the two guns aft of the super structure were eliminated, leaving only the two fore of the super structure, and the two at the stern. she was also to have a quadruple 305 mm mortar launcher on the fore deck, but this was never installed. the openings of the gun shells have a lot of flash that must be trimmed out. I have partially done one of them. once they were all trimmed out, gauging the openings by eye, I made up a sanding stick for them. planking comes in different thicknesses......I chose one and CA'd some fine sandpaper to it. sticking it in the openings, I found {and was glad to see} that all four openings were the same size. once all the other parts are trimmed of sprue marks, they can be assembled. a strange thing to note about this kit......the actual ship is fitted with twin triple mm38 Exocet anti ship launchers at the front of the super structure, at the fore deck. earlier in her concept, she was to have a twin Masurca SAM Launcher mounted there instead. these were never installed. the kit features the SAM launcher...the only picture shown in the article, is an artist's depiction of what she would have looked like. the Exocet Launchers were installed in 1974. {same year I graduated high school} the top part was cemented on the super structure.........what a pain it was to fit.....it's not perfect. at the aft section in a recess, were can only be described as injection pin marks. for the marks to be this pronounce, the knock out pins must have been too short for the mold. my intention is to trim them off. yea......there's a lot of sanding scars. hard to figure out why they made the super structure to have this many parts........counting the top part, six in all. I removed some pin marks from the deck on top as well. they will be sanded to insure a smooth deck. along the sides of inner wallsthe hull, there are two levels.....walkways below the main deck. these are to be filled in with railings. the kit comes with two types of railings.......neither one is numbered to tell you which one to use. I used my better judgement here......I'm sure I am correct. both sides are done....with a little cleaning up, they should be good. along the top of this section, the hull cuts away from the main deck and there is a heavy mold line down the middle of it. I did my best to eradicate these lines. the decks are ill fitting as well. the stern section has a wall on both sides of the elevator area.....they connect to the outer hull. I cemented the stern section into the hull so I can line them up better.....then I can fit them to the main deck section. walkway / shelves needed to be installed along the elevator's inner walls. I used a piece of suitable width planking for spacing. the appendage that runs toward the mid ship hangs free. the main deck is to fit over this, creating the outer walls for the side hull walkways. I was going to cut and add a length of sprue as a support for it, but it would get in the way of the walls, molded on the main deck part. the fore deck fits pretty much in the same way. I will need to use a little bit of filler to fill in the small imperfection. still a lot of tiny pieces to go.

thanks Greg for looking in.....I took a look at the site you mentioned.......they have the super frelon helicopters w/radar {SA321G} and the Lynx choppers..and I'm sure one of the P.E. sheet could be used. I might have gone too far though, opting to use what is supplied in the kit. makes me want to find a carrier though thanks for the tip I bookmarked the site! thanks Mobbsie wood or plastic, any kit can pose problems. I've made it a bit further, thinking up some strategy for the assembly....some parts are not lining up very good. another thing I see in this kit is the ejection pin marks...some protrude quite a bit. I've trimmed most of them off and cleaning them up with sanding, so they might not look too bad when I get around to painting. I have some update pictures handy......still in the camera at the moment. I'll be back.

looking good with the coppering....will be nice when done

nice bit of progress J simple and easy way to emboss your sails.........gotta get off my duff one day and perfect how to do it in a printer. started, but never continued. how many sizes do you get with the punch?....I see they are interchangeable.

I still think you don't give yourself enough credit......she looks awesome! the funnel structure looks so realistic.....WOW! now if I can only learn a fraction of what you do with these vessels.......I think I'm too old to learn new tricks beautifully done Greg!

your not going to be able to remove it now, are you? will be harder to work on the deck fittings? looks really neat

WOW Sjors! she looks great.......glad to see your back

I found your new build Kees! you had me right up to the point where you added the expando foam {I use it too at work}.........but with the revelation that this is a plug for another vacuum form hull, I understand fully! I like the way your doing this........it's so cool! you really have a knack for these hulls......really nice progress so far!

sweet looking model! I was wondering when some one would do something with Popsicle sticks.......your not going by the 'eat and use method are you. that would take some time to accumulate that many sticks craft stores carry them by the bag....some are wider than others too! I will follow long.......you've done great job so far

really nice work Greg! look'in super

rigging looks super nice........as with the rest of the model

sometimes, the skill level of a kit can be deceiving. the wood model medium is a two headed coin....the kit may be more complex, but it also relies that the modeler has the knowledge of basic hull/ship construction and is willing to do the research, filling in the extra detail that the kit doesn't include. how interested you are in the subject is a great motivator as well. I too used to be a plastic modeler......I'd see the wood kits and I never thought I could pull one off. I was given an old partially started Billing's expert kit from a friend of mine, and I've got to say...it was the most fun I ever had with a kit. from what I've seen with a lot of builds, the instructions can be a crap shoot. Billings has vague instructions.....I'm also working on a Sergal kit, and theirs isn't much better. I guess you could say that i've become a Billing's fan, having built a number of their kits.....most of them being advanced beginner. they offer just as much of a challenge, as a higher level kit, and adding extra detail to them makes them look all the better