HMS Lion by Ian_Grant - 1/150 - RADIO - RESTORATION - WW1 Battlecruiser

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I don't think I'd say it's 'out-of-range' but it depends on what you prefer and how much work it would be to try to lighten it.

[KeithAug]

Im not quite getting your worries about the deck darkness but your eyes are the ones seeing the real thing. Can the darkness be washed out with solvent?

[Keith Black]

 Ian, it does appear to be too dark. How difficult would it be to lighten? 

[Ian_Grant]

4 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Ian, it does appear to be too dark. How difficult would it be to lighten? 

Today I bought a Vallejo wash "Desert Sand" and have applied it three times. It adds a yellowish tone and is making a difference. It looks pretty good to me now but in the morning I'll probably apply the wash a 4th time. It only needs 20 min to dry, 40 min to recoat. I bitterly regret, though, applying that dark wash just because it was in stock at the local store. The really foolish thing is that yesterday I forgot my reading glasses so I could barely see the labels thus I missed the Vallejo washes entirely; there are just a few wash colours at the bottom of the Vallejo paint rack and their labels don't really differentiate them from regular paint colours. 😞

Edited March 14 by Ian_Grant

[Keith Black]

 Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. I have done almost the exact same thing. Ian. 

[Ian_Grant]

I got up the morning after my last post, walked downstairs, and my immediate reaction to the deck was,"God it's awful!".

 

I bought some "white spirit" and wiped down the decks with it thus removing all the yellowish tones and most of the dark brown. The laser-etched planking once again became readily visible. Whew! I was left with a faint, weird "greenish tone" in places. Don't know where that came from; seemed to be highlighting the grain of the surface ply even though I had four coats of clear-coat on it, somehow.

 

So I used the "desert sand" wash one more time, then a wash with "white" and I like the decks a lot now. They have received three coats of  exterior satin water-based varnish. I know, it should be matte, but I can't find an exterior matte clear-coat.

 

Here's a pic showing part of the decking, and also the interior "walls" of the aft superstructure which will be visible since there is a large well deck here. Teenaged me missed the fact that it was open; I don't blame me because it is not obvious in the single sheet plan and top view drawing. Rather, it is shown only in one of the cross sections in the lines drawing which I probably rolled up and ignored after making the hull.

Incidentally, I'm not sure what the secondary armament looked like in the aft well deck. Norman didn't show casemates for them (like the upper pair in the forward SS) but if they were open the crews could all be killed if a single shell landed in the well deck I would think. I decided to add casemates partly because they're not conspicuous when viewing the ship from outside, and partly because I didn't want to have to construct the gun breeches in the absence of casemates. Close enough for RC. 😏

 

I'm now working on printing weather deck fittings.

 

From left:

 - breakwater for the foredeck.

- top left, engine room vents for the aft well deck, "closed" and "some open" options.

- below left, twin searchlights; printed housing and base, brass rod.

- printed bollards and cleats.

- printed skylight covers, all closed. Thinking of making a couple with steel covers open.

-various printed hatches for the weather deck

I'm thinking of starting to paint the hull tomorrow. That would be a giant leap ahead for sure.

 

Incidentally, does anyone know if these ships had some sort of mechanical semaphores for visibility? My drawings show items labelled "semaphore" in four places in the forward superstructure (two at back corners of the shelter deck, two on the flag deck above). They aren't shown in detail but they could be a mechanism with the arms folded down, not in use. Or are they just big signal lights to flash Morse, not related really to a man manipulating two tiny flags?? Can't find anything about it in what books I have, or by a brief google search. 

 

Here's a pic or two:

1) Showing a semaphore placed in the corner.

2) See the four of them in this section view. They're a good 10 ft tall, whatever they are. They look more like lights here.

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Ian_Grant

[Keith Black]

 The deck looks much better, Ian. 👍

[Ian_Grant]

I ran across this article on dazzle paint in WWI. I added a topic in "Nautical/Naval History" but thought I'd mention it here for those who don't commonly browse that forum.