Rebuilding the fleet by mikegr - 1/700 - restoring old plastic models

[mikegr]

Two different approaches. For the bottom one I used home made snow effect for the waves. On the upper one same for the  rear wakes only. For the sides I used gel medium. Tomorrow it will be transparent. I will attempt to paint it with 0000 brush and airbrush.

cotton + PVA was not preffered this time  something more fluffy was desired therefore I used snow foam. Also I have noticed that cotton balls are not pure white and dont know how to paint them.

So when this is finish there will be two different results in the same base. The big success in this attempt was the wavy sea. But for the wakes I need to improve my airbrush skills I'm very clumsy on this, having destroyed 2  and just got a 3rd one.

Edited September 7, 2022 by mikegr

[Landlubber Mike]

Looking great Mike!!

[mikegr]

I finish detailing. Hatshusimo "slowed down" a bit. Did some work on paintwork on rear wakes but not successful as this should be done earlier.

I added some sylicon bits to give a crystal clear effect on waves then brushed them with alkyd varnish. I Painted the base, some resin could not removed totally in the easy way. I will varnish the base too before make the cover box

Edited September 11, 2022 by mikegr

[Baker]

A very nice result.

Congrats 👍

[king derelict]

As always the sea base looks so good

Alan

[mtaylor]

Looks fantastic.

[mikegr]

I made a plexi case not perfect but good enought to keep the dust away.

A label also was 3d printed. Not sure what the Japanese letters means, just found the printable file for these online.

Next project USS Saratonga with PE set, the longest 1/700 model according to a 2015 Fine Scale Modeller Magazine.

This is going to take a while as I'm going to take a break and start another project to post in this section.

Edited September 15, 2022 by mikegr

[mikegr]

A simple wash transformed the look of the model. Its almost intact no major repairs to be done. I will start with the funnel. Fujimi represents Saratoga in 1942 so I found a pic of this period to use it as a guide

[Baker]

Welcome back  👍

[mikegr]

Cold weather caused me some back neck pain which kept me out of work for some days. 

Anyway I managed to add some details. Funnel top in reality is actually curved towards sides not straight as in the model. I decided to work on it as it is. 

Added radar, mast, new platform with railings. Replaced Mk37 director with PE parts, new 5" and 0.5" guns. Added piping using brass wire and added doors. Gave it a coat of primer.

 

However I de 

[mikegr]

Time to make the bridge. The method I followed is a bit... interesting. 

In order to give a  correct shape and add details I separated the parts, though some were glued together tightly and were simply cut with a rotary tool. Base and top part were re used with added details, railing , ladders, portholes, guns and fire directors. Middle parts were reprinted and assembled all together. I coat them with primer and added some last detail on funnel. Now I only need to make the mast and add the connecting bridge between funnel and superstructure after their installation on deck.

[mikegr]

Time to weather the deck. I sprayed a light coat of tan color.

After it dried, deck was given a coat of hairspray. Finally navy blue was applied.

Using a sand paper folded on half, I scratched the deck horizontally, to give a color fade effect. Then I sprayed  thinned tan color especially in the areas of the deck which is most heavily used by planes like the rear section, from arresting cables and below.

Next phase is washing, oiling adding tyre marks etc

 

[mikegr]

I removed the deck and worked a bit on the elevator. Added few details, paint and did bit of oil brushing.

Elevator and aviaton deck put back together ready to be re fitted on hull.

[CDW]

You're doing a fine job of rebuilding this one, Mike.

[mikegr]

Time to fit the bridge and the big funny.

First I paint them in Navy Blue like I will do with the hull later. Lighter shades applied for a color fade situation. Then dark washes applied during vertical and horizontal lines, rafts, etc.

Last piece was the connecting bridge. Not a scratch built I'm proud of but it was a good exercise thought

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by mikegr

[Canute]

Looking good, Mike.

[mikegr]

I made the central mast. Several parts were used some realy tiny which I can't handle so I quit them 

[mikegr]

So time to get back to business. I had a 3 week off spent in Malaysia with a short stay in Cairo. My luggage got heavier on way back.

Edited April 16, 2023 by mikegr

[mikegr]

Work has fallen behind schedule. My 3d printer which I would use to print some upgraded parts is broken. The screen died already and had to order a new one. Meanwhile and while waiting for the part I did some wood work with a help of a friend so I made a frame for my picture in 70X100 cm

 

[mikegr]

After some adventure managed to fix my 3d printer and get back to work.

I designed and made some gun platforms. Added some anti slide surface(bit over scale) and raised shields. Look quite better than plastic ones. Though can be improved a bit.

For 40mm AA guns i had some PE but these in our days are look too thin. So I decided to print my ones and use with PE. Resin+PE is the way to go In many cases. I only had to cut the pe splitters as the resin barells were thicker and could fit in the gun platform. They are not as good as the aftermarket ones but definitely an improvement over the plastic ones. And I can make as much as I want.

[mikegr]

After a lot testing and fittings Im done with the gun platforms. The rear platforms both sides came as a single piece to complex and big to remove so I just delete them with rotary tools. Also the anti slip surface was designed better on scale you can see the difference comparing to smaller platforms. However I won't remove them as almost all area will be covered by 40mm guns. The improved Bofors are larger in size so platforms were designed bit wider so fitting problems occurred.

I have installed only some bases for the 40s. I will fit the rest, the 5" guns, then the Bofor guns painted on hand. Next will be the hull painting/weathering before deck installation.

For some inspiration i use pictures as reference of another built by a Japanese modeler which was gifted to the president of Tamiya although this looks to be a later modified version

Edited June 24, 2023 by mikegr

[mikegr]

I quickly ran out of PE parts for the guns and a new order has been done but my work will delay some weeks.

Therefore I proceed with the 5" inch guns and some 20mm ones from my parts stash. The latter is a two piece part and took me some time to assembly together and install on deck

Thinking of what to do next I designed my own Bofors single guns. They came in two batches, the second was impoved and including shoulder rests. It looked better than plastic ones already installed so it will be my standard for next projects. Lesson learned.

 

[king derelict]

The resin printed parts are really nice; especially the single Bofors. I see this being a major change to the hobby providing limitless upgrades

Alan

[mikegr]

10 hours ago, king derelict said:

The resin printed parts are really nice; especially the single Bofors. I see this being a major change to the hobby providing limitless upgrades

Alan

As performance of 3d printers improving their appliance in the hobby is getting more popular.  Now resin parts can even replace PE parts to a great extend. Especially in these old kits there is a lot of parts than can be improved.

[king derelict]

4 hours ago, mikegr said:

As performance of 3d printers improving their appliance in the hobby is getting more popular.  Now resin parts can even replace PE parts to a great extend. Especially in these old kits there is a lot of parts than can be improved.

I agree with you and the 3D resin parts are so much nicer than the flat PE ones especially in 1/700 secondary weapons. Girders, catapults and cranes all look nice in PE but gun barrels less so

Alan

[mikegr]

Back to work after some absense.

After installation of 5" and AA guns it was time to paint the hull. Unfortunately the paint used for the funnel didn't perform well with the airbrush and such a large surface would take me several hours to paint it. So I bought a spray can knowing that matching the color would be impossible. Only option would be using weathering techniques to match the colors, using a brush for hull painting wasn't an option.

I then applied several shades of blue with dry brushing from dark blue to whitish gray. Then did some chipping mostly on waterline and bow. Finally used mat varnish and oil wash on guns and platforms, as well as bit of rust.

Bridge and funnel were also lightly dry brushed with same colors to reduce the difference with the hull.

To a comparison here is a job of Master Katseas with his Tamiya Saratoga. You can see the great job done on panel lines

[mikegr]

Working with printed and PE parts together gave a better appearance but it proved time consuming while results could be better, the tiny PR parts are quite hard to handle. So I started experiments by printing my own Bofor guns. Here is a test print along with a pair or Phalanx which I think are too small for 1/700 I need to recheck

Edited August 30, 2023 by mikegr

[mikegr]

Perhaps I reached my design limits

[king derelict]

Those are great printed parts

Alan

[CDW]

33 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Those are great printed parts

Alan

I agree. Quite an accomplishment right there. Such a small scale, too.