Loarre Castle (Spain) by King Derelict - Aedes Ars 1/200

[Old Collingwood]

Take it easy   Alan   -  safe travels  my friend.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

I’m back. I got home about midnight Tuesday after a miserable 20 hour travel day. I felt even worse on Wednesday morning so I did the nose / swab thing and Yup I’ve got Covid. Oh joy. Looks like being a quiet Christmas.

i had hoped to be back on the castle but I think there may be some schedule slip. I just put up the Christmas tree and retired to the sofa to recuperate.

There are some interesting titles in this list. I already fell victim to one.

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/aerospace-book-choices-for-christmas-2023/?utm_campaign=2674865_22 Dec - Insight Blog Roundup&utm_medium=email&utm_source=2674865_22 Dec - Insight Blog Roundup&dm_i=4OGU,1LBXT,33UWYK,7GP92,1

 

in am effort to add a little model content, I wanted to show something I acquired on my travels. From Trinity Marine and benefiting the Royal British Legion.

Nice to have small piece of Hermes.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year 

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

[Canute]

Alan, that is a very nice selection of aviation books. I may chase down several of them, like the Mosquito raid. Thanks for sharing. Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

Merry Christmas.

[Old Collingwood]

Hi buddy,  glad  your back  safe and well  -  sorry  to hear  about  your  super  flu,   vit  c  d  zinc   etc   is  what   you need   to  boost the  immune  system,  love  what  you  picked  up   used  to  love  Hermes  missed seing her  at  Pompy   when I went there  for  the  Navy Days  show   way back when.

Take care  of your self  hope  you have a  great chrsitmas  mate.

 

OC.

[CDW]

What a nice haul! It’s a bummer you have to swat down that bug over the holidays. Take your vitamins and supplements and you’ll be good to go in short order. 

[AJohnson]

Glad you home safe and hope you are well soon. That Hermes tribute looks great! 👍. Wish someone would do a good 1/350 of her or Ark Royal. There are 3D printed ones around, but not great detail and quite pricey. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by AJohnson

[CDW]

37 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Glad you home safe and hope you are well soon. That Hermes tribute looks great! 👍. Wish someone would do a good 1/350 of her or Ark Royal. There are 3D printed ones around, but not great detail and quite pricey. 

Search for the 1:350 Merit International kit version of the Ark Royal. Alternatively, the 1:700 Flyhawk Hermes is an amazing kit.

[AJohnson]

52 minutes ago, CDW said:

Search for the 1:350 Merit International kit version of the Ark Royal. Alternatively, the 1:700 Flyhawk Hermes is an amazing kit.

Sorry I should have specified which one, I was on about “R09” the Audacious class one through the 1970’s, Buccs/ Phantoms and so on. 😃

[king derelict]

10 hours ago, Canute said:

Alan, that is a very nice selection of aviation books. I may chase down several of them, like the Mosquito raid. Thanks for sharing. Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

Merry Christmas.

Thanks Ken.

Things seem to be easing. The sense of taste has got a bit weird. Suddenly coffee and red wine taste very strange. At least tea still seems okay.

I’ve bought Nate Greys Hazard Spectrum. He was a test pilot for F-35B at Pax for a while. I think I’m going back for the Mosquito book. I made the mistake of checking the 2022 and 2021 lists and bought two more there

Happy Christmas 

alan

[king derelict]

6 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Hi buddy,  glad  your back  safe and well  -  sorry  to hear  about  your  super  flu,   vit  c  d  zinc   etc   is  what   you need   to  boost the  immune  system,  love  what  you  picked  up   used  to  love  Hermes  missed seing her  at  Pompy   when I went there  for  the  Navy Days  show   way back when.

Take care  of your self  hope  you have a  great chrsitmas  mate.

 

OC.

Thank you OC. Dosing with vitamins and hydrating and laying around with the cats.

I’m very pleased to have got the Hermes model. A very tiny piece of history.

I hope you have a great Christmas 

alan

[king derelict]

6 hours ago, CDW said:

What a nice haul! It’s a bummer you have to swat down that bug over the holidays. Take your vitamins and supplements and you’ll be good to go in short order. 

Thanks Craig.

At least I wasn’t sick while I was wandering around Europe. That would have been really annoying. The trip was excellent. The Luftwaffe museum in Berlin and the airborne museum in Oosterbeck (Arnhem) are both spectacularly good.

Happy Christmas 

Alan

[king derelict]

6 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Glad you home safe and hope you are well soon. That Hermes tribute looks great! 👍. Wish someone would do a good 1/350 of her or Ark Royal. There are 3D printed ones around, but not great detail and quite pricey. 

Thank you Andrew

if you have to be sick, home is the best place. Icarus work with the RBL making some very nice stuff from recycled metals from WW1 shell fuses through F-35 wing panels.

i would love a modern Ark or Hermes preferably in 1/700 by Flyhawk. Sea Vixens, Phantoms and Bucks

i hope you have a wonderful Christmas (with a bit less wind than when I left)

Alan

[king derelict]

5 hours ago, CDW said:

Search for the 1:350 Merit International kit version of the Ark Royal. Alternatively, the 1:700 Flyhawk Hermes is an amazing kit.

I built the 1/700 Flyhawk 1937 Hermes when I was a bit too new to the hobby to do it justice. It’s a lovely kit.

alan

 

[king derelict]

I'm back albeit in a rather lethargic sort of way. The covid hung around much longer than I expected and although the symptoms were more annoying than life threatening I still seem to get really tired easily and find it difficult to work up any motivation. However coffee is starting to taste better so there is much to be grateful for.

I spent most of yesterday staring at the model trying to remember what I was doing before I went to Europe

While I was away a parcel of Woodland Scenic goodies came from the nice people at Mega Hobbies and should get me started on the landscapes. I think the end result will be a blend of the techniques suggested by @Egilman, @Canute , @Jack12477 and others. Many thanks for the help 

I reviewed the painted miniatures and touch up a few and I think they are as good as I can get them. I tried the Agrax Earth wash (thanks @Old Collingwood) and I like how its shaded and added to the shadows. Its toned down the yellow tunics a bit too.  

I played around with the hot wire cutter. It does a good job as long as you don't expect accuracy but its great for removing material and shaping hills. I have a lot extruded polystyrene so I think this will be used to block out the basic shapes. Hydrocal and plaster bandages will be used to achieve the final shapes.

I had a bit of an experiment with one side of the tower and I think it will work. I'm endlessly rerunning the drone footage of the surrounding landscape. The Aedes Ars guide has now made it to the bin.

The main towers are only sat in place while I was fiddling with the foam. I need to finish the ground and add the figures before hooking up the lighting and gluing it in place.

A few of the figures have made it to the towers.

Better photos tomorrow I hope

My Spanish friend who kindly sent me the Loarre Castle kit a few years back was thoughtful enough to send something restorative for Christmas this year.

A bottle of Franklin Four Maple Bourbon. It looks like a great covid antidote.

 

Its great to be back. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a belated Happy New Year to all.

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Good  to see  you  back  on this  Alan,    those packs  of  scenic goodies  are great  - I have   exact  same  stuff  for  my dio,  love  your  tipple  cant beat a  bourbon  my  fave  that I had  for  my bday   is a  bottle  of  Old No7.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:52 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Good  to see  you  back  on this  Alan,    those packs  of  scenic goodies  are great  - I have   exact  same  stuff  for  my dio,  love  your  tipple  cant beat a  bourbon  my  fave  that I had  for  my bday   is a  bottle  of  Old No7.

 

OC.

Thank you OC, It's nice to be messing around with the castle again - especially as it isn't stacking little blocks up. Woodland Scenic makes an amazing range of goodies.. 

Alan

[king derelict]

Today brought a little more progress. I used a mix of the Mig Ammo Terraform texture (beach sand) with craft acrylic paint (khaki). The Mig texture goes a lot further than I expected and it does break up the flat look that paint alone would give. The colour approximates to the ground in the real castle. I then added the Woodland Scenic green blend turf in the areas that it appears on the drone flights.

I'm not sure if I have overdone it and may need to thin the green turf out a bit. I'm also considering adding a bit in some of the other courtyards. The drone flights only show it in the areas I have added it but to my mind it leaves the rest of the model looking a bit bare.

I needn't  have worried about the painting of the figures. They are sort of lost on the tower but they do give a bit of scale

Once I adjust the grass to my liking the tower will be ready to glue to the supports on the main base and the build up of the landscape can start.

 

Thanks for looking in and all the likes

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Thats  looking so good Alan,  model  scenery  building I think is a real  art form,  I feel  I am just a  student  in it  and  still learning  lots.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

3 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Thats  looking so good Alan,  model  scenery  building I think is a real  art form,  I feel  I am just a  student  in it  and  still learning  lots.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. I think the scenery needed to complete this is going to be a real master class. The good thing is I have plenty of supplies to experiment with. Its also starting to feel like its getting time to work out where I am going to pit it when completed.  The cats vetoed me using the shelf that their bed sits on! And after I gave them smoked salmon for Christmas too!

 

Alan

[Old Collingwood]

20 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Thank you very much OC. I think the scenery needed to complete this is going to be a real master class. The good thing is I have plenty of supplies to experiment with. Its also starting to feel like its getting time to work out where I am going to pit it when completed.  The cats vetoed me using the shelf that their bed sits on! And after I gave them smoked salmon for Christmas too!

 

Alan

Yep   -  cats  are  our masters  -  just  keep the  sweet.

 

OC.

[AJohnson]

This is really looking good Alan! 

 

Cats have no loyalty, give Salmon to my Dogs and they follow you around forever!  🐶

[king derelict]

On 1/5/2024 at 2:58 AM, AJohnson said:

This is really looking good Alan! 

 

Cats have no loyalty, give Salmon to my Dogs and they follow you around forever!  🐶

Andrew

You are right. They have been getting really affectionate in recent evenings but I've realised its been getting cold here - and I'm warm

Alan

[king derelict]

Apart from some residual tiredness I seem to be back to normal. But we have seven people off sick from our test team so its chaotic at work. Real Life - aleays something.

 

Anyway I have used the foam blocks to rough out the basic scenery. The hot wire cutter was a great investment. It is quick and great for cutting curves. Much better than teh kitchen knife I used to borrow on these occasions.

The use of the foam blocks for the landscape solved another problem. When it came time to add the towers to the base I found that excessive (or clumsy) handling had resulted in the card base becoming soft and prone to distortion. This meant that the card and foam supports were sinking into the base and causing the towers to lean. It didn't look like a good long term assembly either. I cut the foam blocks that surround the towers such that they fit under the walls and provide support all round the perimeter of the towers. It feels a lot more solid now

Now I am adding layers of paper towel soaked in diluted white glue to smooth and refine the surface. 

The next step will be a coating of artists medium to provide a uniform surface for the various landscaping effects. Then I plan to use cast plaster rock faces to fill in the cliffs around the walls. Several boulders and rock faces will be added to the hillsides.

The overall effect is an interpretation of the actual landscape. The basic design of the kit on a flat baseboard instead of a slope means that some compromises are necessary.

 

I don't expect to get much sympathy for this but the current cold spell in Florida (the cats are demanding the heating switched on) means the white glue is taking ages to dry so I'm having to move a bit slower than expected.

 

Thanks for all the likes and comments

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

[CDW]

Very convincing scenery, I admire your work. Shaping up real nice.

Did you get some bad weather today? Ours didn't become angry until late afternoon. This storm is massive!

[king derelict]

Thanks Craig

This bit is a major relief after months of gluing tiny blocks to other tiny blocks. I have trees to make too. The back of the castle is heavily wooded under the cliffs. A lot of learning but thankfully there are some great experts here to help

 

Lots of wind. Just got a tornado watch alert until 11pm. Sounds like there is nasty weather all over right now.

 

Alan

[Egilman]

Your on the right track brother that's the way it's done.... 

 

On the weather front, we just went thru a massive wind and rain storm, still dealing with the residuals from it, in three or four days it will reach you guys.... Stay safe everyone....

[Old Collingwood]

That is  some great progress  Alan  and  not easy  to   do   -  I think Scenery  building is another art form in its self.

 

OC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[king derelict]

18 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Your on the right track brother that's the way it's done.... 

 

On the weather front, we just went thru a massive wind and rain storm, still dealing with the residuals from it, in three or four days it will reach you guys.... Stay safe everyone....

Thank you EG, you provided some great advice.

 

per the BBC

 

As of Tuesday evening, more than 500,000 households in the eastern US, from Florida to New York State were without electricity.

Dozens of counties in Florida have declared a state of emergency, where overnight storms have blown roofs off homes and knocked down power lines.

Twelve tornadoes were reported across Florida, Alabama and Georgia by early Tuesday, causing significant damage and, in some areas, prompting search and rescue operations. 

In Houston County, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was reportedly killed after a tornado ripped through the area, destroying mobile homes and RVs. 

One person was killed in Claremont, North Carolina, officials said, after a powerful storm moved through a mobile home park. 

 

I thought this was the time of year when we sat back and watched everyone else’s weather but it’s proving pretty inclusive this year 

 

alan

 

 

 

 

 

[king derelict]

16 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

That is  some great progress  Alan  and  not easy  to   do   -  I think Scenery  building is another art form in its self.

 

OC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much OC

Its a big learning experience and I hope I don’t fall at the last hurdle 

alan

[Jack12477]

We got 12 inches of snow last Sunday, followed by 2-3 inches of rain last night with 45-60 mph wind gusts and 50 F temperatures, lots of stream flooding. Another one coming the weekend