HMS Duke of York by CDW - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1:350 - PLASTIC

[CDW]

Hi Eddie

 

Those are exactly the ones I want to try. I'm getting the two mixed up, Ak Interactive and MRP. Aren't they the same company, but one is water based acrylics and the other lacquer based? The lacquer based paints are the ones I am most interested in trying.

[CDW]

As the old saying goes, "if I had known then what I know now...."

The Pontos set came with details to rework the tops of the ship's funnels. Sad to say, but it took me hours to figure out what I had to do to make these delicate PE parts fit. And that's just one funnel. 

If any of you decide to try this build for yourself, beware the funnels. The kit provided parts don't look too bad, and I'm not sure I would do it all over again. One consolation, the second one won't be half the problem of the first as now I know what I need to do. It takes a lot of delicate cutting, grinding, sanding, and fitting to get it to work. Once you cut the kit parts, you're committed, come hell or high water. Don't say I didn't warn 'ya!

 

 

 

[Eddie]

28 minutes ago, CDW said:

Ak Interactive and MRP. Aren't they the same company

No mate they are not. 

[Eddie]

Oh I also see you had to do the cannon first after the hull hahaha.    

[Eddie]

57 minutes ago, CDW said:

one is water based acrylics and the other lacquer based

AK are true acrylic paints.

MRP paints the company calls them acrylics lacquer paints, so its more of a fake acrylic/lacquer paint    

 

[popeye the sailor]

nice progress.......armament and stack looks real good !  

[Piet]

Nice work on the funnel Craig, yup, that PE stuff can be a toughy to make it look right.

 

Cheers,

[CDW]

I got the 2nd funnel finished along with some more of the superstructure components. Will try to get some more photos up this weekend. 

I have noticed that replacement decals to include union jack flags are almost non existent. My kit decals have yellowed over the years. 

 

Just in case any of you don't know this little trick...if any of your decal sheets have yellowed over the years like the ones I mentioned above, just tape them inside a window facing outward for a day or so. The sun will bleach the yellow right out of the decal and they will look as good as new again. Now, don't go and leave them there for a long period of time because it may bleach out the desired colors all together, I don't know.  

[popeye the sailor]

I've heard of that.......had good luck with it as well.   another tip to give folks with older decals,  is to invest in a can of decal bonder.   older decals tend to loose their elastic,  and when put in water,  will splinter in thousands of tiny shards.   I bought my second Revell Cutty from E-Bay.......I used the reorder option Revell used to have, to replace the decal sheet and most of the sails {tried to get more of the rigging thread,  but they wouldn't play ball with me}.   the decal sheet was perfect.......I thought,  no problems.........that is,  until I dipped them in water.  even those decals were the victim of aging,  and they broke up before my eyes.   giving them a light coat of decal bonder will rejuvenate the decal sheet.....the only thing is,  you'll need to cut close to the decal,  to avoid decal flash.   Testor's sells this bonder......they also sell a decal maker program.  I have the basic and standard edition.....saved me from many decal woes since purchasing it for the Cutty......I ended up making my own decals for her.

[CDW]

I've used Future, the acrylic floor product on my old decal sheets as well to prevent breakup - with great results. I spray the Future on with my airbrush. By the way, the new trade name for "Future", is Pledge Floor Care Finish. It can be found at WalMart and a bottle of it will last a modeler a lifetime (almost maybe). 

[popeye the sailor]

I have a bottle also........friends on another site use it on their aircraft and car projects.   haven't used it all that much myself.

[CDW]

On this weekend before Memorial Day here in the USA, I wanted to post this little story written by my cousin about her Dad.

 

"My father was born on the eve of our country's Independence Day in the year of 1921. He grew up the son of a carpenter/farmer/cattleman. He was next to the youngest of 6 children and he was the youngest son. He had 3 older brothers and one older sister and one younger sister. The oldest son was drafted into the Army when he was 30. His third brother joined the Navy when he was 17. My dad was also drafted into the Army when he was 22. My dad was in the Coastal Balloon Barrage Corps which manned helium filled barrage balloons. These balloons were designed to be flown held by cables over the ships making a protective field which the enemy planes could not penetrate. If the enemy planes tried to get close enough to the ships to bomb them they would get entangled in the cables and thus crash the aircraft. It was what it was at that point in our history.

These things didn't always work and my dad was wounded by flying shrapnel from an exploded bomb. He was hit in the back, through one kidney and one lung and his spine was badly injured. The medics that picked him up pulled the sheet over his head saying....."This one won't make it".....My dad pulled the sheet down and said...."Yes, I will....get me help!!!!" So he was a patient in a MASH hospital in North Africa. He healed to a point that he could get up and walk about a little but later came down with jaundice so he remained in the hospital for quite some time. One day at the hospital in North Africa he was watching a bulldozer across the way that was preparing a landing strip. As the bulldozer scraped and moved the earth a water truck followed it to wet down the area to lessen the amount of dust that was disturbed. This was done as a precaution to lessen noticability. But even with this amount of caution the worst happened. An enemy plane saw the dust and made a swoop dropping bombs that blew up the makeshift hangar and the water truck. That was a grewsome sight because the fireball was enormous.

Several months later my dad was sent back to the US and medically discharged from the Army. After he had made it home his older brother finally was discharged and came home. Both brothers coming home alive was cause for celebration. A feast was prepared and the neighbors were invited to celebrate two brothers safe at home!!!

They were adjusting back to life at home in the early 1940s. One afternoon they were talking about things they had done and things they had seen. As they were talking one or the other brought up the day in North Africa when a water truck was bombed by enemy aircraft and blew up. Sometime during the telling of this my dad interrupted and said...."well I was really close to that incident, I watched it from my hospital room which was just across the field from the airstrip." My uncle said, " Well, imagine that.....I was watching it too. I was pretty close to it too. I was driving the bulldozer!"

These brothers were within shouting distance of one another in North Africa and unaware. Two brothers from Oxford, Florida, together in North Africa, watching a water truck being blown up but unaware that they were together in North Africa until they returned to Oxford FL.

I would like to thank these two men for their faithful service to our Country. My dad (92) and his brother (if he were alive would be 104). I would also like to thank every other service man and woman who has served in the Armed Forces protecting and fighting for me to have the right to live in a free country.

P.S. My dad is now 95 and will turn 96 on July 3. Even though he is now blinded and deaf he still planted a wonderful garden this year and has had the best potato crop that he ever remembers.....Blessings on my "old man"....he is tough as nails and hard headed as a bull. We are truly blessed."

[CDW]

PS: I took this picture of my cousin just this year, in April. Gets around amazing for a man that's 96 years old. His mind is as sharp as a 20 year old and recalls things from 70 years ago like it was yesterday.

 

[WackoWolf]

God Bless Him, I hope to make it to his adage

[CDW]

Just took a few photos with some of the superstructure parts I've been working on sitting on the deck, no glue yet. There are a lot of small details to cover. This remains a fun build and am looking forward to the remainder of it to finish.

 

[cog]

Not much space for the high brass guys Mr Bunny. I like how you are progressing though

[CDW]

Believe it or not, a lot of the little protrusions you see on the deck are actually small folded brass PE pieces. Others are cast resin. I think these pieces represent vents and perhaps ammo lockers. All the molded on deck detail got removed before the wood deck was applied. Now, the slow process of adding it all back. I am painting the pieces before I glue them to the deck to keep from making a mess trying to paint it while attached.

[Eddie]

Its coming along great mate.    

[Captain Slog]

Hi Craig,

 

really enjoying following your build.  can you tell what paint you are using and if it is as per the kit instructions?  It looks quite dark to what I imagined  (I have no experience or knowledge of RN colours) as thinking the HMS Hood on my to do list will be similarity coloured.

 

cheers

Slog

[CDW]

Captain Slog

My poor lighting makes it look a little darker than it is in reality. However, I would choose a little lighter shade of gray if I had to do it all over again. It's much easier to use washes and other effects to darken a light color than it is to lighten a dark color.

If you go back to post number 16, you'll see the color sheet I used to base my decision to use a dark gray, also that another modeler shared with me the color call out given in a reference book he had on hand. My color is Vallejo 71.110 UK exterior dark sea gray.

[CDW]

[Old Collingwood]

Looking really smart.

 

Craig  I was a bit confused with the color question at first as I had seen pictures of here in that mixed camo scheme, however what I will say is - almost  all RN battleships used three main colours  AP507A(RN Dark Grey)   AP507B(RN Medium Grey)  AP507C(RN Light GRey)     I would have heonestly thought that she would have looked similar to Hood at the time with AP507B hull sides and sides of superstructure, and with AP507A   on all tops and steal decks.

 

Just my understanding of RN ships of the time.

 

OC.

[CDW]

54 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Looking really smart.

 

Craig  I was a bit confused with the color question at first as I had seen pictures of here in that mixed camo scheme, however what I will say is - almost  all RN battleships used three main colours  AP507A(RN Dark Grey)   AP507B(RN Medium Grey)  AP507C(RN Light GRey)     I would have heonestly thought that she would have looked similar to Hood at the time with AP507B hull sides and sides of superstructure, and with AP507A   on all tops and steal decks.

 

Just my understanding of RN ships of the time.

 

OC.

All this could be very well true. But it's too late for me to turn back now. Besides, no one who visits my home and sees my model ship will ever know the difference  and I have no plans to enter her into any type of competition. At the time I made my decision, I did so based on the limited references I had at the time. 

[Old Collingwood]

Craig I appologise if I came across like I was critisizing the lovely work you have done - I wasn't as she is looking superb an a credit to you and your craftmanship,      I just thought I would offer what I had read when studying British RN Battleships of the period when building my Warspite.

 

 

OC.

[CDW]

Hi OC

 

No, you didn't come across in a negative way at all to me. No apology needed.

In all my years of modeling, there has never been a modeling subject that was more left to personal interpretation than color. It doesn't matter whether it's ship modeling, car modeling, armor modeling, or aircraft modeling. There are always various opinions and that's fine with me. Even if a color was matched exactly to the standard number for that country, there is always a difference to the eye when it comes to the scale of the model, lighting conditions, and natural weathering.

 

[Piet]

Nice progress there Craig and love the story about your father and uncle. 

 

Cheers,

[CDW]

These photo etch parts/assembly represent the catapult launch rail system and turn tables for the observation aircraft on board the Duke of York.

 

 

[CDW]

Pontos provides a nicely detailed set of cranes in their update set for this model.

[Captain Slog]

Fantastic looking crane Craig. Well done.

 

Cheers

Slog

[CDW]

Hi Captain

I've been looking at some photos and color art of various British ships and have noted the similarity in design of cruisers all the way up to capital ships like the Duke of York. The cranes, observation aircraft, catapult rails, life boats, and hangars are very familiar between them. Also noted the Hood carried a camouflage combination of dark and light gray very similar to the way I've painted the DoY in the later war years. 

I'm anxious to see your 1:200 Hood get started. Any idea yet when you might start it?