HMS Prince of Wales by Lt. Biggles - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/350 - PLASTIC - Pontos detail up set - first ship build

[Lt. Biggles]

After lots of research and dry fittings the wooden deck is in place and I’m pretty happy with it.

I coated the sticky side with some gel medium and the glued it down with more medium so I could get it right where I wanted. 

 

Ill do some tested once it’s dried and work out how to weather the deck on the scrape parts. Seems people say to use a light grey wash? 

Any tips as to the best way to get it looking right with the least chance of overdoing it and ruining the whole thing would be much appreciated?

It needs something to take the “brand new” look away even though they would have been kept looking pretty new.

 

[Lt. Biggles]

Base coat on the hull is done. No washes, effects or weathering yet just a plain canvas. From a few test I’ve done I found it super easy to get carried away with weathering and over do it, so will try my hardest to not do that! One way to find out though!! 

 

[Lt. Biggles]

Hey all, have another question if anyone has any experience with the Pontos hull draft mark dry transfers.

 

Will they survive all the enamel washes and effects and white spirits? Or do I need to seal them in?

 

normally I weather straight on acrylic paint as I’ve had issues with the acrylic clear varnish getting eaten through and turning into muck.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[RGL]

I’ve never had problems using them (the dry decals, but a coat of matte varnish always helps. The only time I really use varnish is under a chipping coat 

[Lt. Biggles]

On 5/22/2020 at 12:59 PM, RGL said:

I’ve never had problems using them (the dry decals, but a coat of matte varnish always helps. The only time I really use varnish is under a chipping coat 

Thanks for that RGL. I’ve never used dry transfers...

 

Thought the protective plastic was on both sides to peel off. Took awhile to realise it was only on one side! Had my fingers all over the sticky side, so hope that doesn’t make them fall off.

 

 I’m giving the hull a few days between oil based washes and weathering to dry so won’t have many updates for a bit, and then probably won’t make good pictures  as weathering is really hard to get good pics of.

[RGL]

The weathering bit is fun though and can bring it to life 

[Lt. Biggles]

The weathering side was the part I was quite looking forward to as I’ve not tried it on a ship before. Slowly making progress with it. Went through and darkened the panel lines and next will do some grey washes to blend it all in. Have yet to add the last layer of vertical panel lines. I know the panel lines are not accurate but I was trying to get them from photos of the real ship, which is hard work and then my plans turned up and I saw I was a whole level of panels out... but there are a whole lot worst mistakes I could have made so in the big picture it’s not so bad.

And also been doing more PE. Got the fore mast put together today but took  a good chunk of time. Was too cold to prime so will do that tomorrow.

my competency with putting PE together has improved a lot since I made the main mast!

[RGL]

If you’re using an airbrush do a diluted grey to fade it a bit. Tripod masts are a killer to get right so you’ve got that bit done just fine. 

[Lt. Biggles]

I’ve not used enamel based paint in my airbrush before, always been abit unsure if it will clean properly. For acrylics I remove excess paint with water then use isopropyl alcohol to clean it properly and then water again to remove the alcohol. Guess for oils I just solely use alcohol. Will give it a google.

today I finished the final 2 upper deck parts for the secondary guns. And primed all 4. First one I sprayed the primer straight through some stray spider webs so gave an interesting texture.

Also primed the masts.

Haven’t glued the deck down yea as I’m still looking into how to weather the wood deck. But getting a few of the parts together so when it’s ready I should be able to stick a lot of pieces to the deck pretty fast.

[RGL]

I’ve never put enamels through my airbrush either. Weathered the wooden ‘pre chewed’ decks can be problematic as the detail can disappear with washes, maybe just a touch at the start of a plank to age it or pastels. You could always give it a diluted grey over spray to make the teak look weathered / faded 

[Lt. Biggles]

I think I’ll try doing a light coat of grey wash through my airbrush and see if that gives it abit more life and abit less yellow.

 

I forgot to add some ladders to my rear main gun and in putting them on noticed that the plans show some bits on the back and front that aren’t mentioned anywhere else so gave building them a go.

Its not much but I think it adds a bit to the guns, quite happy how they turned out and enjoy adding extra details from scratch like this.

[mtdoramike]

I'm following right along, I have the Tamiya Tirpitz 1/350 scale waiting it's turn. Are you going to build it radio control or static?  

[historyguysteve]

Hi

   Here is a little tip on weathering the deck. You've got to use pastels. They are pretty inexpensive, just get a small set that has the browns/greys that you might use. Get some cheap make up brushes or even the little nylon/plastic brushes you see and reject at the hobby store. Scrape off some of the pastel into a pile, chop it up really fine and apply with a brush.  It is possible to airbrush clear flat as a fixative but be sparing or  you may warp the wood deck,(Hint: that would be bad).  Colored pencils might work as well but I find it difficult to get them chopped up fine enough and you definitely don't want streaks especially at this scale.

   Awesome job on the PE- what a difference that stuff makes!😍

[Lt. Biggles]

On 6/3/2020 at 6:40 AM, mtdoramike said:

I'm following right along, I have the Tamiya Tirpitz 1/350 scale waiting it's turn. Are you going to build it radio control or static?  

Hey, the German ships do look great! At this stage I think I’ll go static or if I’m brave do some tests on putting it on an ocean... will see. But haven’t thought about remote control so don’t think I’ll do it.

[Lt. Biggles]

On 6/3/2020 at 12:48 PM, historyguysteve said:

Hi

   Here is a little tip on weathering the deck. You've got to use pastels. They are pretty inexpensive, just get a small set that has the browns/greys that you might use. Get some cheap make up brushes or even the little nylon/plastic brushes you see and reject at the hobby store. Scrape off some of the pastel into a pile, chop it up really fine and apply with a brush.  It is possible to airbrush clear flat as a fixative but be sparing or  you may warp the wood deck,(Hint: that would be bad).  Colored pencils might work as well but I find it difficult to get them chopped up fine enough and you definitely don't want streaks especially at this scale.

   Awesome job on the PE- what a difference that stuff makes!😍

Thanks for the tips! Awesome. Have you done a build with this technique per chance? Would be great to get a visual reference as to how it should look to give me an idea if there are any build logs were this has been used? I’ll try the pastel idea and try give the wood a bit of life.

Yes the PE really changes how it looks! Was well worth getting the set.

[Lt. Biggles]

Haven’t had much time recently but it’s still moving along well. Once the deck is glued down there will be a big jump in visible progress.

Started working on the eight 5.25 inch guns.

I’m going away for a few weeks holiday, won’t be much happening till I’m back so here is a dry fit of the rear superstructure so far. It’s really hard to get an all in shot and get details too.

[Old Collingwood]

looking splendid.

 

OC.

[jwvolz]

Really nice work so far. 

[Lt. Biggles]

Hello all, hope you are all well. Thanks for the comments and encouragement along the way! I’m back from my holiday recharged and will slowly get back into my build.

decided to make the Walrus as aviation is my job, will help me get back into the swing of things, it’s quite fun if not abit small!

 

Took a few days of planning how I’d do it. Customised a few things to add that extra bit of detail, like drilling out the 2 gun stations and mounting the engine more accurately.

 

slowly built up from there with any spare time I had 

 

 

its not finished yet but a good chuck is done.

 

im quite happy with how it’s coming along. Some of the decals were pretty poor quality so had to add some paint to get them acceptable.

 

Not sure how I’ll do the canopy frames yet but Ive a feeling getting them right will make or break it. 

 

once it’s totally complete I’ll post a picture.

[Lt. Biggles]

Got a lot of finishing touches done. Once the deck is finished I’ll be able to glue at least half the parts straight on. Just haven’t started on the forward superstructure yet so plenty to do!

 

Some before and afters. As usual a lot of the details can’t be seen at a distance but do add a nice effect to the whole rather than being a feature.

 

 

 

[Tigerdvr]

On 5/8/2020 at 5:11 AM, Lt. Biggles said:

Had better call that one complete crane, otherwise I’ll keep tinkering with it forever while I have a whole ship to build! At this rate I might be done by Christmas!!

You are doing too well to rig the crane sort of slack. Try some fine Easyline or similar. You will have nice lines as tight as you like without putting undue stress on any fragile PE.

Great beginning.

 

If I may ask, what were you building before trying ships? You obviously brought a ton of skills and techniques from other projects.

 

Cheers, Harley

[Lt. Biggles]

15 hours ago, Tigerdvr said:

You are doing too well to rig the crane sort of slack. Try some fine Easyline or similar. You will have nice lines as tight as you like without putting undue stress on any fragile PE.

Great beginning.

 

If I may ask, what were you building before trying ships? You obviously brought a ton of skills and techniques from other projects.

 

Cheers, Harley

Hey, thanks for the feed back. Its right on point too as last weekend I unrigged the crane and actually ordered some EZline... so it’s already on the way.

Any other recommendations feel free to hit me up, I’m all ears.

 

When end I was a teenager made lots of model aircraft so picked up techniques from there but didn’t have paints for ages. Then last year decided I needed a hobby so got an airbrush and a tank and plane model and just used them to practice layering and painting and then weathering. Looked at lots of tips online and buildlogs on here showing step by step painting and followed along. Seeing RGL’s Yamato build finally got me to try one for myself... and here I am

[Lt. Biggles]

I’ve started on the main superstructure.

 

I’m still waiting for a few supplies to arrive and one of them is a book that I got for a really low price. I found googling pictures quite hard with the new carrier having the same name... so maybe the book will help me with the details. Which is why my build has slowed down as I’m at a place where final decisions have to be made and I don’t know what to choose so I’m taking my time... hopefully it pays off.

One of those details are the aircraft hangers. If the book has them in any detail I might have one door open. 

 

 

I quite like the idea of having some internals visible seeing all the doors are closed and an open one gives an idea that the inside isn’t just hollow. Any thoughts?

[RGL]

I appreciate it’s from a cruiser but the layout might be useful to you 

[Lt. Biggles]

Sweet thanks, basically a typical closed in car port!

this is the pic that got me thinking.

 

And I guess I’m committed now!

 

[Louie da fly]

Love that Walrus! You've done a brilliant job with it.

 

I was lucky enough to see the restored one at Point Cook RAAF Museum some years ago. 

 

I don't know if the same applies to the Prince of Wales, but on HMAS Perth during WWII, apparently the ship's Seagull (basically the same aircraft) was known as the Pusser's Duck.

[Lt. Biggles]

I had a whole afternoon to play around with the a/c hangar, it’s not full size due to internal supports that I wanted to keep intact and also I don’t know how big it is meant to be. But for what I’m after it works well seeing it will be mostly hidden.

 

 

 

[Lt. Biggles]

I’m still try work out how to get the wood deck looking right. Nothing seems to work on it so far, it’s still too yellow. Hope I don’t ruin it. So while I wait for that to happen I’ve been doing some little details like these life rafts.

 

Nice to get some colours on that aren’t a shade of gray!

 

 

 

 

[Lt. Biggles]

Have made some good progress on the main super structure just doing it in a very unstructured order, got the main lower structure done and jumped to the top and am working down... will get there in the end. 

I also got 4 aftermarket rangefinders for the 5.25” guns which do add some nice extra detail which you can see two of them here.

 

 

 

[Louie da fly]

Looking very good!

 

Have you sorted out the deck colour yet, or are you leaving it to "percolate" in your head for a while?