Type VIIC U-Boat by Thukydides - FINISHED - HobbyBoss - 1:350 - PLASTIC

[Thukydides]

Minor update. I have finished the base of the water. All the foam details still need to be added, but those won't go on till the uboat is ready to go in.

 

I covered the whole thing with two coats of gloss varnish, but it ended up a bit too shiny so I went over it all with a coat of satin. Since I am depicting a relatively stormy sea I don't want a huge amount of reflections.

 

I also glued it onto the base and added the brass label that came with the kit.

Next up I need to break out the airbrush again and get back at the uboat itself.

[Thukydides]

Painting and weathering of the submarine has now begun.

 

The first step was to spray on the colour of the lower hull and also block in some highlights. I used VMC french mirage blue for this.

Then I masked off the lower part of the hull and sprayed in a lighter grey (VMC light grey). I was reminded of how much I hate masking off and spraying so I decided to keep it to the bare minimum and rely on brush work for most of the painting.

The above picture was taken after I had already applied some black wash to the deck and used a darker colour on a few details., but this is essentially what she looked like after spraying the light grey.

 

Next up is the fun part, weathering and highlighting. My personal workflow tends to see me going back and forth over areas, adding in shadows and weathering and then going back with highlights to correct the lack of contrast and mistakes. I am currently only going back and forth with light grey and black wash trying to get the balance of light and dark streaks right while also lining the panels and picking out the edge highlights. You can see the current state of affairs below.

I am not as please with the stern as I am with the bow, but on the bright side most of that will be under water. Also some of the wash has gotten in places it shouldn’t so there is some work remaining to clean up those areas. Once all the highlighting and shading is done I will need to repeat it on the other side and then move on to rust.

[Thukydides]

Minor update. I got some more time to paint this evening and made a lot of progress on the weathering.

 

Still some minor adjustments to go, but she is starting to look more like what I was aiming for.

[Thukydides]

Painting is now pretty much complete with only a few minor touchup still necessary. However, these will be made after I have secured the model to the base so that was the next step.

 

After test fitting things I added some epoxy putty to the stern area as I needed to make sure it stayed at the correct angle. This will also help to hold the model in place.

Then I placed the model in the base positioning it so that the the stern is pretty much level with the water. I want the waves to just be washing over the very end, but not to obscure too much of the model.

Then with a toothpick I carefully applied gesso around the edges to fill in the gaps. This doubles as both the means of securing the model, but also is what I will be using for the foam. At this point I was just trying to carefully fill in the gap between the water and the model. Once everything is dried then I will move on to deciding where the foam will extend to.

[Thukydides]

Minor update. I have started working in the foam lines with gesso. I am unsure how much of this to do and my plan for the thick foam didn't work out like I planned so I think I will put it on the shelf for a few days and think about what needs to be done.

[Thukydides]

So I lied when I said I would stick it on the shelf for a few days. Tonight I decided to give the foam another go and this time used cotton balls and mod podge. This worked better, though as you will see the effect was not perfect.

 

I wanted to try and depict water flowing out of the holes in the uboat as if it had just surfaced and so I stretched out some cotton on some parchment paper and coated it in mod podge. I then blasted it with the hair dryer (because I don’t like waiting for things to dry). Once dry I peeled it off the paper.

The thinner parts ended up looking better so I cut them off in the shapes I needed. I then carefully glued them in place. You can see here the look on the stern.

And then larger ones for the bow.

With that the model is pretty much done though I may add a few more touch ups to the foam before I take the final pictures. Overall I am relatively pleased with it for a first attempt at water. If you look to close the illusion falls apart, but from normal viewing distances it sells the illusion.

[Glen McGuire]

Really nice work!  For me, cotton is the key for spray and foam and you did very well with it. 

 

If you are going to do some touch up work, I would suggest taking out the prominent white lines I've circled below.  The lines don't look as natural as the rest of your water effects and I don't believe you need them there.  I think you could cover them with the blue of the surrounding water and it would look more natural.  Just a suggestion.  Regardless, this is a great diorama! 

  

[king derelict]

The water at the stern looks very real and the water streaming from the ports is excellent 

alan

[Thukydides]

12 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

If you are going to do some touch up work, I would suggest taking out the prominent white lines I've circled below. 

Yes those lines are the majority of what I meant by some touchups. I was attempting to make foam lines, but it didn't work out as well as I wanted. However, I plan to go back in with very small bits of cotton wool to cover over the lines. I tried it in one or two places and it seemed to work Painting them over won't work unless I go in with the airbrush and at this point that is not really an option. I did try glazing over with some blue ink to tone them down, but it didn't really have the effect I wanted so I suspect all of them are going to have to be covered by little thin lines of cotton.

 

Then just some minor use of gloss varnish to make certain parts of the sub look more "wet".

[mikegr]

From the early stages of formimg waves this looked to be a promising project.

Certainly  gesso isn't foamy enough for a rough sea display. Especially in 1/350. 

Cotton and foam worked for me up to a point but I'm not talented enough to make extreme creations. Also it is very important to use a gel that won't turn yellowish over time.

So I ended up using snow texture while keep looking and researching

Edited October 23 by mikegr

[Thukydides]

31 minutes ago, mikegr said:

So I ended up using snow texture while keep looking and researching

I was going to try snow, but the stuff I had didn't look right so I pivoted to the cotton.

 

The gesso can work, I have seen examples that use it and they are stunning, the problem is I lack the skill to do it right. Maybe next time.

 

Like everything the first time is always fraught as you don't know what you don't know. I already have a bunch of ideas for things I need to change the next time I decide to do a seascape.

[Thukydides]

I am calling this one complete.

 

All in all it was a fun little project and I learned lots about what not to do for next time I feel like doing another side project. I feel like water is one of those things you really need to try a few times before you really get it right so I am not discouraged by all the shortcomings.

 

And here are the final beauty shots.

[Tim Moore]

Well I think it is an outstanding sub presentation to my eye. Bravo! And I appreciated you showing all the steps in the water building. 

[mikegr]

Very good result for the first time

 

The best snow paste is the one you can make at home, because you can adjust the proportions of ingredients mixed, thus you can have a smooth form up to a coarse texture for a more foamy seascape

[AON]

Outstanding! Well done.

BZ

Alan

[RGL]

Awesome job!

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nicely done!

[Thukydides]

4 hours ago, mikegr said:

Very good result for the first time

 

The best snow paste is the one you can make at home, because you can adjust the proportions of ingredients mixed, thus you can have a smooth form up to a coarse texture for a more foamy seascape

Thanks Mike,

 

I have a snow powder, but it is really fine (which looks great as snow) but it didn't play nice as foam. At some point I want to try getting a more course shiny snow powder and I will try it again the next time I do a seascape.

[yvesvidal]

Beautiful and precious !!! I love the color of the North Sea and the fantastic work you did for the foam, around the vessel.

 

I hope you keep that little marvel on your desk, and rest your eyes on it quite often. I know I would .... 🙂

 

Yves

[Ian_Grant]

I've never had the nerve to try a seascape, but yours is excellent!

[hollowneck]

Sub-Lime.👍

 

[Thukydides]

22 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

I've never had the nerve to try a seascape, but yours is excellent!

Thanks Ian, you should try one sometime. They are fun to make and if you do it with a small simple kit there is not a lot of pressure to get it perfect.

[madtatt]

Wow, a beautiful little diorama. 
A really fantastic execution for a short side project.
I have never ventured onto a water surface either. This is partly because I build very large ships and the corresponding dioramas would be very large and I only have limited space in my apartment.
But with your contribution here I would have excellent instructions.

 

[tmj]

This is nothing short of 'incredible'! "Very nice job! 

[rcmdrvr]

Excellent job.  You white water is really beautiful.  I learned a few things I will try on my current Dreadnought project.