USS Perry by EricWilliamMarshall - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1/96

[EricWilliamMarshall]

5 hours ago, TomShipModel said:

It looks even better up close.

You are too kind! 
 

 

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Nice save

Thank again for the kind words!

 

I’m not going to plank this hull, since a) I’m going for building this as directed (mostly) and b) as an apprentice builder I’m don’t have the skills to plank a hull without some guidance from the kit. (That was a misstep of mine with the Dapper Dan, that will be remedied before I return to the Dapper Dan build.)

 

So, I almost at the point to start thinking about painting.

 

I wish you all a pleasant and peaceful Thanksgiving!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I snuck in some time in the workshop and dug out my air brush and compressor (cheapie stuff from Harbor Freight) and relearned. I briefly explored the airbrush back when I started posting here at MSW but haven’t used since working on a plastic kit a couple of years ago. I trimmed the height of the bulwarks after noticing a mismatch in painting diagram and my work. It is also in the regular plans - I just missed it. I used a sharp block plane but sanding stick or similar would work.

 

I picked my colors from my collection of craft paint. (For a while my kids painted minis for role playing games, and craft paint is junky but cheap and cleans with water. It worked very well for us.) I would not recommend this paint for airbrushing since the particulate size in the paint varies greatly, often quite large. Which is the opposite of what is desired for paint to be used in an airbrush!  I mixed in some water with the paint until it is similar to milk in thickness.
 

First was a bit of grey as primer. Then white cut with a bit of eggshell/off-white to cut the brightness of straight white for the stripe across the gun ports. I should mention I use my heat gun to speed up the drying. Which also helps when I mix in a little too much water and/or I’m in danger of drips on the model. A few seconds of the heat gun dries it immediately and I can spray again. To site a source: Adam Savage of Myth Busters fame uses the air brush without paint, just blowing air to speed up drying between coats. After the white coat, I tried using some modeling paste as filler, but couldn’t quite get it to work as I would like. I will explore its use further.

 

I then added more tape and sprayed my black (which isn’t a pure lamp black but is also cut with a warm grey). After that, I removed the tape to see how it went.

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

 I love black and white hulls. 

[Hubac's Historian]

This looks awesome, Eric!  It is interesting to note that craft acrylics can be airbrushed.  I have found that I have to significantly thin my Testors ModelMaster acrylics to get them to airbrush well.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

 I have found that I have to significantly thin my Testors ModelMaster acrylics to get them to airbrush well.

The craft paint is similar. There isn’t an exact ratio since the paint varies in thickness and ability to cover depending on color and age. The worse I recall is two parts water to one part paint; most are one part water to one and a half of paint.  All of it dries flat. It is prefect for the kids painting minis. I will note that craft paint takes a while to fully dry and adhere to plastic. The chief advantage is that is cheap and easy to find.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Stupid suggestions: I painted the tops of the various paint jars with the color they contain. This makes it easy to see what color you want, how opaque they are and what it will look like when dry. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Another stupid suggestion: to learn some control with the airbrush, fill the paint receptacle with just water. And spray on newsprint or brown paper bags or cheap construction paper. Any material that looks different when wet.
 

You will learn to keep moving when spraying and the variety of effects easily without getting paint everywhere or needing a respirator for the solvents. Added bonus, you don’t have to clean the airbrush when done!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

4 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

This looks awesome, Eric!

That is very kind of you! Nothing like your work! I recommend anyone reading this to head over to Marc’s build log right now and see the insane labor of love there!  

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

OK, kind souls of MSW, more than one dear reader has mentioned that my use of ‘stupid’ to label some of the things I share is off/wrong/etc. I have used that word as shorthand for “the following observation may or may not be of interest, use, etc. It may not work exactly as expected. May not be of any practical value in your own work. Your mileage may vary. Etc.”

 

What would be a better replacement? I’ll use (and replace) a sensible or clever word or phrase that folks like. So if you have minute or two, please suggest something better!  Thanks!

[hollowneck]

Eric,

The English have a great one vowel word: "naff." This is not quite the same meaning as your use of the word "stupid" - but reasonably close.

Perhaps the closest colloquial expression is "lame."

 

Nice work on your Perry BTW; not stupid, lame nor naff.

 

Ron

Edited November 27, 2021 by hollowneck

[Keith Black]

45 minutes ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

my use of ‘stupid’ to label some of the things I share is off/wrong/etc

 Eric, a suggestion if I may. Simply share your tip/idea with as much explanation as necessary, let it go at that and let the reader be the critic. You'll know how well the tip/idea is appreciated by the number of thumbs up's you receive. 

[Keith Black]

12 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I recommend anyone reading this to head over to Marc’s build log right now

At your suggestion I dropped in on Marc's build, what an amazing log. Modelers like Marc and others of equal caliber set the bar for the rest of us. Thank you for the heads up. 

[MrBlueJacket]

How about "Aha" or "A V-8 moment"

[Hubac's Historian]

What about “hack,” as in a quick and easy hack to do so and so?  I am already making use of your tips.  The mirror chisel trick is really good when trying to square the ends of very small stock, like 1/8” square stock.  So, thanks for that!

 

Eric, thank you also for plugging my build!  The check’s in the mail 😉

I appreciate the kind words, Keith!

 

I also like to do that sort of cross-pollination of other builders’ work, and have often been delightfully surprised by someone else’s suggestion.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I’m tempted to rename the my tips and hacks: “Captain Park’s Imaginary Tips and Hacks”  after a little remembered board game. It is currently a free print and play game designed by James Earnest.

 

His brief description of the game is this: “You’re all would-be adventurers who are terrified to go on any real journey, so you sneak around London collecting artifacts and stories, and then return to the Adventurers’ Club and lie about where you’ve been. Africa! China! Mount Everest! The South Pole! The villain of the game, Captain Park, thought of this scheme first, and he’s not going to make it easy for you. Captain Park wanders the streets of London, and if he spots you, the jig is up.”

 

James Earnest has a number of delightful little games. One is board game where every player has invented a time travel machine, and everyone races back in time to patent it. It is called U.S. Patent No.1!

 

https://cheapass.com/free-games/originals/captain-parks-imaginary-polar-expedition/

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I tried a painting technique I attribute to @Chuck via second-references (although I don’t actually know). The story goes this was from an assignment in design school, where he had to paint a square perfectly. Loosely the idea is this: to achieve a painted surface without any brush marks, you use repeated applications of thinned paint via a brush.
 

My goal was to see if I could match the evenness of the air brush via this technique, so using the same paint I mixed for the airbrush, mixed with more water until the paint was almost transparent. I used a heat gun to accelerate the drying. It works and with only a hand full of coats. (Less than a dozen; I didn’t think to record the number of coats. Sorry about that.)

 

These pieces are the water ways, which seem a bit wide to me but that’s what’s in the plans and I couldn’t find a clear reference one way or the other, so I’m going with “as is”. I thought if I added them to the model later than suggested in the instructions, I could have a slightly cleaner transition between the deck and the painted woodwork (and hide any messy seams under the waterways!)

 

These water ways are laser cut in thin three-ply plywood, which gives a thin but hearty part which doesn’t split and bends easily. A nice gesture on the part of the kit designer for handling parts that could be quite fiddly and worrisome. And since they will be painted, the color difference from other wood in the kit is of no importance. 

[Hubac's Historian]

Captain Park’s imaginary adventure game sounds tailor-made for cocktails with friends!

 

The paint technique you describe is essentially what I do with my acrylics.  It’s a little tedious, but I have zero brush marks.

[Keith Black]

 I'm lazy so I cheat by adding poly over the paint, brush marks are never to be seen again. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

 I'm lazy so I cheat by adding poly over the paint, brush marks are never to be seen again. 

“I'm lazy efficient so I cheat innovate by adding poly over the paint, brush marks are never to be seen again.”
Two can play this game! “Three great virtues of programming are laziness, impatience, and hubris.” - Larry Wall, noted computer programmer and inventor of the Perl programming language. He defined laziness as “the quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure“

 

5 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

but I have zero brush marks.

The technique does work as advertised. Brushless when dry!
 

It is about the same amount of time as setting up the air brush, painting and cleaning. Perhaps a smudge faster!

I added some of the water ways to the ship and recut the other ones from scrap for the bow and stern. And they are being painted white. (I counted this time - 6 coats but one coat was too thin).

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 10/18/2021 at 11:22 AM, Hubac's Historian said:

The best example of this is my wood carving assemblage of misfit gouges and skew chisels.

I finished 'recovering' my carving tools from the flooded basement thanks to Ida. (Last Wednesday we finally got the sump pump squared away! - now with battery backup!) I had triaged my tools with oil but I've been cleaning and removing rust and reshaping due to rust pits since then.  

 

I also added the waterways to the ship. The long one runs in the center have gaps and I have to either fix or fill that. Two photos due to me choosing a range to have all in focus.

[Hubac's Historian]

Wow - what a collection!

[Keith Black]

 Eric, hull progress looks very good. As you said, a little filler and those gaps disappear. Thank goodness you were able to save your tools, that would have been costly should you have needed to replace them. You've got a couple of sweet carving knifes in that group, makes me wanna go to the internet store. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Thanks for the kind words. As for the carving tools, I wouldn’t be able to replace them. It took me decades to find them. The oldest were bought in my first weeks working full time in NYC doing furniture restoration back in the ‘90s. The Japanese ones and some of the large ones were bought at a sculpture supply place that gave up on wood tools for pennies on the dollar on the west side of NYC.. The Chinese ones took years to find a set I could afford. There is at least one in there that I made from old files and turned the handles. And the mortise chisels and the ones on the bottom with the mahogany handles were my father’s before he died. He turned mahogany handles but never attached them. So I did finished his project. Some are from the 19th century and I reconditioned them. I traded time and hunting in NYC for just buying sets at full price. If you can sharpen the chisel, you have enough skills to save old chisels, which are usually quite cheap. I remember the ones I had to pay full price for that where needed for a job and the like. I’m not a master carver but I can hold my own and have done some nifty work here and there. But I digress!

 

As for the mended hull, you can see the scars if you look for them but they don’t jump out at the eye. And that is fine with me. I can live with that.
 

I have a little work with the rudder ahead and then the whole topic of coppering is up next!!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

10 hours ago, Keith Black said:

As you said, a little filler and those gaps disappear.

To quote Nic: 

"Putty and paint.....

Makes it look like what it ain't"

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Keith, do you carve? If so have anything you want to share? Same for you Marc? We have seen you work in plastic, but I know you have worked in wood as well! Or anyone else along for the ride, have something to share a snap of?

Edited December 1, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

Keith, do you carve?

Eric, no I don't but I enjoy looking at pieces of those that do. My dad carved but for whatever reason that bug didn't bite. I enjoyed painting and clay sculpting but that's been what seems like a long time ago. Classic car restoration consumed the better part of my productive years. 

[Hubac's Historian]

On 12/1/2021 at 12:05 AM, EricWilliamMarshall said:

Keith, do you carve? If so have anything you want to share? Same for you Marc? We have seen you work in plastic, but I know you have worked in wood as well! Or anyone else along for the ride, have something to share a snap of?

UhOh!  Are you inviting me to take you on a tour of Marc’s museum of wooden objects?  AKA, the “Heirloom Furniture Project,” AKA things my children think of in terms of “all that careful surface prep, so please mind your skateboard in the house?”

 

Those things that I’ve been diligently repairing and refreshing because they are my only true professional legacy?

 

Back before my return to ship-modeling - when I was still making furniture - I kept a page on Fine Woodworking’s members’ gallery:

 

https://www.finewoodworking.com/tag/marc-laguardia

 

Interestingly, they appear to have taken down my Maloof rocking chair copy.  The online edition of the magazine once used a picture of my rocker in a brief article exploring intellectual property theft.  While the chair I made IS very faithful to the Maloof design, it was not made for sale; it was a gift.  Further, I patterned the chair from Sam’s own video explaining how he goes about making them, and also with the help of a few coffee table books of his furniture.

 

Anyway… THOSE WERE THE DAYS!

 

Eric, I’ve always wanted a nice set of Stanley socket chisels, just to have them.  I like that you finished your Dad’s project.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[Hubac's Historian]

What eras of cars interest you, Keith?

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

What eras of cars interest you, Keith?

 

 Marc, the question should be in the past tense. I stopped messing with cars in 2010. It was a drug habit I finally managed to kick but while still an addict I mainly messed with British iron. I did some American cars....1919 Model T fairground racer (real deal out of Wisconsin), 27 Nash rumble seat roadster, and 32 Model A set up for the Great Race. The British stuff was a 1937 MGTA, 49 Morris Minor convertible, 58 Triumph TR3A, 59 MGA, and a 64 box Sprite. 

 

 Got too old to twist wrenches, only thing I've still got is a 48 Farmall Cub tractor. 

 

 Marc, I love tours. Do you throw in a free lunch? 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Keith Black

[Hubac's Historian]

Wow - those are some sweet rides that you’ve brought back to life!  Cars are a dream of mine, as I’ve never owned one I could be proud of.

 

Cocktail brunch - you are welcome any time!