Trafalgar Class Submarine by Old Collingwood - FINISHED - Airfix - 1/350 - PLASTIC

[popeye the sailor]

hey there OC....finally got a chance to see what you are up to    off to an impressive start.   it will be interesting to see how your going to improve on this added detail your thinking of   

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

hey there OC....finally got a chance to see what you are up to    off to an impressive start.   it will be interesting to see how your going to improve on this added detail your thinking of   

Thanks mate,   yep its not always easy to make a round smooth object detailed and interesting, but I will give it a go.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Wife just took note of my sub build   and asked  "where does the batteries go"   

 

OC.

[RGL]

Just not touchIng that 

[Kevin]

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

Wife just took note of my sub build   and asked  "where does the batteries go"   

 

OC.

LOLthats not good news

 

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

"where does the batteries go" 

So what did you tell her?

[cog]

Poor performance ...?

Edited June 19, 2018 by cog

[Old Collingwood]

Admiral said  she neds to be convinced its a submarine ........

 

Blushing Old Collingwood moment

 

OC.

[cog]

Yes, and ... she is convinced ...

[Old Collingwood]

Sort of an update - I have been having trouble with the join line not joining flush despite sanding to two halves,  and even with many coats of paint it looked Horrid, so I tried to apply some styrene cement,  thi wasn't doing a very good job (dont the smallest and least complicated builds tend to give us grief)

 

So plan number two was to use some C/A  and smear it inside and over the bow nose area.

This was done to some extent and when dry I was able to give the bow (super glued area)  and the rest of the hull a thorough sanding with very fine wet n dry and water.

 

The result was the affect you get when you sand a car down ready to re spray.

 

Then it was back on using my little hairy friend and muliple thin coats of dark grey.

 

No pictures as I didn't have the heart and thought it looked a mess,   still having to use my phone camera also.

 

Not the best day TBH.

 

OC.

[Canute]

Well, I guess it was a little off-putting, OC. Stiff upper lip and all that, eh, what?

 

Or as that infamous cartoon character said: "Doh!"

[popeye the sailor]

sounds like it might have been better to use filler........glue would only soften the plastic {never tried CA}.  is it salvageable? 

[Old Collingwood]

3 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

sounds like it might have been better to use filler........glue would only soften the plastic {never tried CA}.  is it salvageable? 

Yeah  it just took a bit of sanding with fine wet and dry,  its had a few more coats back over the whole hull, but to be honest its like trying to paint a glass from top to bottom with a small brush.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

If I pull this one off  I think I will have earned the NRG achiever medal of stupid painting endurance.

 

OC.

[cog]

Type of brush? Kind of bristles? Paint brand?

 

You won't be let of the hook that easily, to call yourself an achiever of stupid painting endurance you will have to be at it a lot longer mate, note just a few hours. Besides what you find inacceptable could be well within the margins

[Jack12477]

OC, for filler I used to use Squadron green putty (also comes as white putty) worked well to smooth and fill in gaps on plastic.  Don't know if it is available in UK, I even have trouble finding it in the "colonies"  lately.

[Old Collingwood]

13 minutes ago, cog said:

Type of brush? Kind of bristles? Paint brand?

 

You won't be let of the hook that easily, to call yourself an achiever of stupid painting endurance you will have to be at it a lot longer mate, note just a few hours. Besides what you find inacceptable could be well within the margins

"Type of brush"   yep the hairy kind with a handle,  seriously  its a fairly decent size brush that I use for hand painting my Warspite build,   paint wise in using the excellent Lifecolor set of acrylic satins, they are really good.

Its one of those painting jobs - the more thinned out coats its get - the better the finish.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

14 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

OC, for filler I used to use Squadron green putty (also comes as white putty) worked well to smooth and fill in gaps on plastic.  Don't know if it is available in UK, I even have trouble finding it in the "colonies"  lately.

Thanks Jack,   I think I have seen it on flee bay.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

OC

Even though I agree with Popeye and Jack that putty fillers are easiest to work with. Another old time alternative if you can't get putty for some reason, is to take left over plastic sprue and melt it in a jar of liquid styrene cement to make a paste. If you use the sprue from this kit, it will even match the color of the original plastic. Not as easy to work with as drying time is normally at least over night, even when used in small areas, but the results can be pretty good. 

[Old Collingwood]

2 minutes ago, lmagna said:

OC

Even though I agree with Popeye and Jack that putty fillers are easiest to work with. Another old time alternative if you can't get putty for some reason, is to take left over plastic sprue and melt it in a jar of liquid styrene cement to make a paste. If you use the sprue from this kit, it will even match the color of the original plastic. Not as easy to work with as drying time is normally at least over night, even when used in small areas, but the results can be pretty good. 

I have seen that mentioned before,   the only experience I have with molten sprue  is with aircraft kits to make arials and comms wires, where you would heat up one of the lengths of sprue then pull it till it became a very fine string.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

I decided to mask the hull into sections to aid hand painting,  I did this in equal sections so as to look natural when the tape is removed,  just the one pic.

 

OC.

[Canute]

I've used fine grained auto body filler (Bondo here in the US) to even out the divots on plastic. Has a strong odor, so wear a good chemical vapor mask. And do it outdoors (peace in the family, lads).

 

I have also seen folks using superglue with fillers. But you need to sand smooth fairly soon after you do that. Otherwise the superglue gets harder than the plastic and you remove the wrong parts.

[lmagna]

12 minutes ago, Canute said:

superglue with fillers

Now that Ken brings it up I remember people used to use CA and baking soda. Fill the area with the baking soda and zap it! Stan away from the smoke though! Sets up instantly!

[Old Collingwood]

Here's the result after taking the masks off and giving the hull a gentle wash with a soft sponge.

 

OC.

 

[mtaylor]

8 hours ago, Canute said:

I've used fine grained auto body filler (Bondo here in the US) to even out the divots on plastic. Has a strong odor, so wear a good chemical vapor mask. And do it outdoors (peace in the family, lads).

 

I have also seen folks using superglue with fillers. But you need to sand smooth fairly soon after you do that. Otherwise the superglue gets harder than the plastic and you remove the wrong parts.

 

Back in the 60's/70's they used to make a filler for the model cars... wasn't a bad odor and very sandable.  I guess they don't make that anymore?

[Canute]

I remember that stuff, kind of a tan color? Absorbed paint like a sponge, too. Used it a lot for custom car models.

[mtaylor]

That's the stuff, Ken.  Came in a tube as I recall.  A bit of brush on primer and a light sanding would sometimes but not always stop the absorption.

[Canute]

Yeah, mark. Although way back when any idea of using a primer was not in my work ethic. Learned that with airplane models.

[Piet]

Looks like all your effort paid off OC, looks quite nice from Florida.

 

Cheers,

[Old Collingwood]

13 hours ago, Piet said:

Looks like all your effort paid off OC, looks quite nice from Florida.

 

Cheers,

Thanks piet.

 

OC.