USS United States by popeye the sailor - Revell - 1/96 - PLASTIC - bash

[popeye the sailor]

this lull is killing me! the last couple of weeks have been busy......I haven't had the time to spend at the table the time that I did find though, I put to good use. the main objective here is to get the decks planked. some prep work was needed before this can happen. first, the wood aspects on the decks needed to be painted.

 

 

the gun deck got a coat of French Chestnut brown. for the spar deck, the opening needed to have the beams installed. to get the sense that the beams ran under the deck, the thickness was divided in two halves, and cemented together.

 

 

 

the beginnings of the mast pots were done under the gun deck. when the masts are inserted into the decks, they will be able to sit in these boxes, without all that extra dowel running all the way to the keel.

 

 

then the spar deck was painted like the gun deck

 

 

the planking is going to be a slow process. I'm beginning to think that I should have gone with a 2 mm wide planking......the .5 mm here and there in relation to the deck moldings, requires me to trim the planking to fit. I was looking at the plank detail on the plastic parts, and I see that the planking is in many different lengths, as well as staggered every three rows. there is a wider king plank in the center, so I went with a 5 mm plank to do it. here is what I have so far.

 

 

 

I gotta say........you folks out there with the wood deck upgrades for your battleships...are very lucky people I know of a fellow that planked his the same way I am, and he swore that he would never do it again! I also ran into a problem with the archive pen that I'm using for the calking.....it was running out of ink. I had bought a bottle of India Ink to stain some thread. I pulled the cap off the end of the pen and added four drops.......it's like a brand new pen I hope to have an update soon. thanks for looking in

[patrickmil]

The decking looks great.

[42rocker]

Looking Good, like the planking. Enjoy

 

Later Tim

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Popeye!

 

John

[Force9]

Great progress Popeye... I used the kit deck and scribed my own plank pattern after sanding the deck smooth.  Fun.

 

FYI - You can get a veneer deck for this kit thru John at scaledecks.com

 

Evan

[popeye the sailor]

thanks to everyone and those that pushed the like button. today was no different......I had helped my son out in buying his first car.....used, but I saw great potential in it. we took off this morning and got it registered, so he could bring it home. once it got here, I began going through it, already found and fixed an electrical problem. had to do some junk yard hopping to find the part....it would have been expensive at the dealer. I've got more to check out before he tried to get it inspected......I really don't think it's going to need much else, besides a couple of tires

 

someone mentioned this to me Evan....where I've made up wood deck platforms, I don't think they would be a good fit for them. the specs I used would make them a bit off. I've seen the work you did with your decks. after seeing them, I almost changed my mind.....but hey, I went this far.....so I may as well get totally wet! thanks for the thought and the good word.

[riverboat]

The deck is looking real good Popeye..... a little more work than painting a plastic deck, but this is gona be the kind when you finish!!!. It'll give your ship a whole different look. Good show!!

Frank

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Frank.....yea, I think it will be worth it thanks for the good word.

[augie]

I really like this decking, Denis.  Good luck with the new car!

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Augie

[popeye the sailor]

trying to follow the plastic deck was pretty fruitless.......just as much as trying to factor in the hatches and raised areas.   I tried to stay with the three plank shift,  but I messed up in a few spots.  it really isn't coming out too bad though.....

 

 

once the planking spread out this far,  it needs to go further down,  so the rows can continue.   I began to fill in,  between the hatches.

 

 

there was still time to finish the aft section,  as it began to creep onto the mid ship areas.

 

 

I was almost there with the aft section

 

 

 

 

I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something...........the poop deck!   this deck also quite visible........it's going to be an added strain on my 3 mm supply.  in thinking about it,  I could also have subbed in the area that this deck covers,  with the 5 mm.........it's too late for that now,  not that it matters much.  I even tried to think of a way to cut the wider thin stock down.......but with my limited tools,  it would be trial and error at best.  in the meantime,  while thinking of this,  I cut two pieces of 1/16 flat stock,  and glued them together.

 

 

further on down the deck......to the stern

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

I was told at one time,  that decks such as this were done with full length planks.   since this deck has butt joints.......so will mine.  I measured and marked off the line staggers.   I also gave it a center plank as well.  I think it will enhance the overall looks of the decks when they are all together,  on the hull.

 

 

 

the planking has progressed much further now.......the starboard side is fully planked.

 

 

 

the poop deck is fully planked by this time

 

 

then the edges were trimmed and the surface was sanded

 

 

I gave it a coat of that flat lacquer I bought..........it's about as flat as you can get!

 

 

I later gave it a second coat,  but it simply soaked into the wood.........the first coat hadn't fully cured yet.      I will wait on the third coat.......I want a slight sheen to it.   I will wait till all three decks are complete,  and they all have the same treatments.   from here,  I can go with a coat of dullcoat,  or semi gloss lacquer........when fully cured,  both will give me the same results.   we shall see  

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Very nice progress, Popeye - she's looking good.

 

John

[popeye the sailor]

thanks john........it's a slow process.    besides not having enough strip stock to do the gun deck completely,  I think I killed the archive pen.    I forgot to snap the cap on tight..........it barely had enough omph to finish the spar deck.   I may wait on the gun deck.   thanks for the good word  

 

 

thanks to you,  Andy and Mark as well for the likes

Edited May 9, 2014 by popeye the sailor

[mtaylor]

Popeye,

 

Looking fantastic.  What kind of strip stock are you using?    Curious minds and all that....

[patrickmil]

The decks look fantastic Popeye! I like the look of the staggered planking on the poop deck as well. I can't wait to see more.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Mark and Patrick for your comments.......a bright ray of light on a dismal looking day.   it's cloudy here.......further confirming my suspicions of what happened last night.   I'll get into this later.

 

Mark:   the thin planking that I use is called Annegre,  sold by Billing Boats.   it is a lighter variation of mahogany {so I'm told},  the darker reddish wood found in most kits.   some folks plank their hulls with mahogany......it is a wonder,  due to it's brittle nature.   I've used Annegre in many ways....I use it as a decorative wood,  but it is better suited for hull and deck planking.  it's a bit more flexible and not as brittle as mahogany.  when done up with the simulated calking...it looks great,  and when sanded,  the blackened grit gets into the grain and emphasizes the texture when seal coated.   it is only 0.7 mm thick, and can be purchased in a variety of widths.   best results are instances where there is a deck platform laid first........I remember the first deck I ever planked....I used the 1.8 mm strips....very tough to get it to lay down properly.   this thin stock conforms to the slightest variation in the deck line...from the camber,  to the man made goof   it's very easy to work with.   thanks for the good word.

 

Patrick:   I will appease you......then I'm going to make you jump up and say.......WT.......?  I do thank you for your comment......not to worry friend.......I'm still smiling!  

 

Anyway.............on with the update!  if anyone has the song  'San Tropez' by Pink Floyd.....put 'er on the fang tooth cobra....and give'er a spin......love that song!     it's on the  'Meddle' album,  for those fumbling to find it.......then.....follow it up with  'one of these days'.....with the volume turned up past eleven!   it make me think of the old Dr. Who....when I was a lot younger  

 

all that was left of the planking,  was the port side.

 

 

 

it took a bit of time,  but I got it done

 

 

 

 

you can see that I try to weight the decks down,  to limit the amount of curl they tend to get from sitting around.  I do this while I'm planking as well.......the drying glue tend to put the pull on it too.  while the gun deck is in wait for it's planking,  I see I need to do this....even still with all the crap I've done to it before.

 

 

what you see is all that I have left......that's around 25 strips......well below what I will need to complete the entire deck.   the spar deck was trimmed and sanded

 

 

 

after it was wiped down and the paint work was touched up,  from the nicks it received from the sanding, it was time for it's first coat of flat lacquer.  now it's a waiting game...allow to dry,  so the second coat can be applied. 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

the Wharf comes to life early in the morning.   they awoke to find that during the night,  there was a slight dusting of snow!  morning mess had to be quick.......they knew they had to clear the decks,  before they could continue their work.  the tracks in the snow began to multiply,  as the carpenters made their way to the dry docks...........

 

 

 

 

lacquer is the hardest paint to work with.......everything need to be right,  in order to get good results.   in my experience with it,  there are two things that are required.......the ambient temperature must be above the point that it can harbor moisture,  and of course,  moisture in itself.   when I did the first coat,  it was fine.   I had done the poop deck earlier in the day.  I did it at my table, seeing that it was such a small piece.   I got such a raving review form the smell,  that I moved the operation to the hallway.  I would have brought it out to the garage,   but by this time,  it was getting dark,  and the temp was falling.  what this told me is that the hallway isn't as airtight as I thought it was........I did the second coat........it rained sometime after that........temp had fallen and the moisture content went up.   all is not lost though......I can give it a light sanding and redo it........it should be fine.  I'll see if I can fix it today  

[patrickmil]

Popeye, from your pictures it almost looks like that was meant to be. The recesses being nice and dark as they are, it gives it a well weathered look. There are some of us out there who couldn't get results like that if we tried.       

[riverboat]

Nice!!!!

Frank

[Piet]

Hey Popeye, nice piece of work on the planking !!!  Bravo.   Yes, lacquer doesn't like humdedity.  When I was painting airplanes in New Jersey I had to use a retarder when spray painting, which is not really that good for the durability of the paint but one has to do what one has to do.  

Other then that, I do like the end result with lacquer though, 16 coats hand rubbed !!!  Although it's now superseded by much better paints. 

 

You gonna buy some more of that lovely lumber?  It really makes the model outstanding.

 

Cheers,

[popeye the sailor]

thanks to you all.........and to those that hit the like button.   I did some sanding today.......but got side tracked with my son's car.   I'm really starting to regret helping him get this car.  then I find that our government has their head's up............never mind

 

I don't know about that Patrick.........I think I'd rather have seen it look like the poop deck.   I did sand it down a bit,  but the longer I wait,  the more permanent it will become.   it was wet today.......so it may turn into a bigger job than I thought.  thanks for the good thoughts though......I appreciate it

 

thanks Frank........if both parts came out the same......it would be   you still brought a smile to my face.....thank you  

 

there is another,  more dangerous side to this type of paint.......it has the ability to generate it's own heat.   you mentioned retarders Piet,  and it reminded me of this fact.   I was a lead man at Keller cabinets in Florida....we were trying out a different mix of lacquer at the spray booth.   the booth caught fire......crazy and hectic time.....we got the fire out just as the fire department came rushing in.  the plant manager and I were discussing what went wrong.  at first we thought it might be because the booth was heated.......too high a temp for the paint.  we did a test by spraying some of the lacquer on a filter,  and setting it out in the aisle,  outside the paint room.  within less than five mins,  it burst into flames.   this was with no heat source as a conductor.   I forget whether it was thinned with a reducer or a retarder,  but the drum was sealed and removed from the paint room .......pronto!  for the finish it can't be beat.....it dries with a harder finish than urethane.....and pretty resistant to scratches and dings

   yea.......unless I figure out a way to cut some of the wider strips down {I have quite a bit of it.......figures},  I will be ordering some more.    if I can't straighten out the spar deck,  I'll end up making another one.

 

thanks for the good word Piet  

Edited May 10, 2014 by popeye the sailor

[popeye the sailor]

I did some sanding to the spar deck.........today,  I came home.......got settled back in with home life,  and grabbed the deck.  I went out to the garage with it.   it was rainy in the morning,  but it cleared and it was quite warm.   the clouds were making another run at me when I sprayed it.   I let it set for a bit,  then brought it back into the house.   it had some time to dry,  before rain moved in again.......but it still managed to turn yet again.......not as bad as before though.   it may be because the lacquer is too concentrated.......perhaps I will decant a can,  thin it and try again later.   the semi gloss lacquer doesn't do this.........it's not in a rattle can and I do thin it to some degree........I will have to experiment a bit 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a block of wood under the poop deck......you can see the difference.

 

 

back to the drawing board Sherman   OK Mr.  Peabody!

[Jim Lad]

What a difference!  Great work Popeye!

 

John

[lambsbk]

It is looking very nice Denis.

[themadchemist]

Wow, I have no idea how I missed this build.
Excellent project Popeye, I'm glad Mark asked the wood type as that was my first question. The decking and caulking looks great. love the colour.
 
I also agree with the San Tropez and OoTD but I recommend the whole album as why miss Echoes, plus Fearless, Pillow of Wind and Seamus. Although I prefer the Pompeii version of "Mademoiselle Nobs" the live version of Seamus but with a better vocalist. You can see from the photo that she's giving it her all.


Oh I notice no one mentioned the photo with the Popeye spinach can, so is that your planking motivator?

I also like the poop deck stagger, it has more character.
 
First cars, AH the memories... mine was a 289 CID '68 Mustang. I learned how to work on cars with that car, as I had to replace nearly everything. It was $600 bucks in 1982 and now that is the cost of a small repair. A bad coil caused from a leaking valve cover gasket just cost $450 which stole my building budget for this several months.

Of course I was bashing back then too. We called it hot roddin'.  Good Luck with the mechanics, as its taking away from your precious build time.
You probably should have purchase him one of these ... 2 birds...one stone...although the 56k might be a deal breaker, but how cool would an amphicar be. Maybe that concept may spark an idea in some spinach consuming manic individual  
 http://www.amphicarbroker.com/cars/60/1965-amphicar-770-boat-car.htm
 
I also am stunned at your grating production method, what a simple way to make gratings. Thanks for that.
 
I remember a '70 Monte Carlo  I was restoring and black lacquered the inner fenders and firewall while the engine was out. It looked great.... then it rained. It fogged so bad the painted surface looked flat white.  So is the lacquer fogging sanding off ok? Woods a completely different material from metal due to its porosity. Would scraping help.
 
Anyway I love what your doing and now that I know this logs here, I can follow it.

Edited May 11, 2014 by themadchemist

[Piet]

Hi Popeye,

 

Never heard of lacquer bursting into flames as you described, that's news to me. When we were painting aircraft as part of our business we elected not to use lacquer anymore, too labor intensive and too problematic.  Acrylic enamel, urethanes and epoxy paints.  After the EPA rules on stripping we gave that up and just did sand a paint.

I'll stick with urethane anytime or enamel.

 

Keep up the good work, and have a fire extinguisher handy  

 

Cheers, 

[popeye the sailor]

well.......we were standing there when it did it.......we couldn't believe it either...but it did.   I'm thinking that there were chemicals in it that interacted with each other ,  to cause such a reaction.   to understand fire.......it's a huge part of the whole.   fire needs three things.....air, fuel,  and it's flash point.  think of it as a grease fire.......fuel is there........air is there......but if the temp is not above the flash point,  the fire will not survive.  wood has a low flash point........so it need to have the fuel to survive and grow.

 

here is an even better example......body filler.   alone,  the filler is harmless..........alone,  the hardener is harmless as well.   mixed together,  chemicals in both parts interact with each other,   and allows it to create it's own heat source....this is required to promote curing.   the more hardener you add,  the more heat that's created......thus a faster cure time. 

 

I'm not too worried though........those chemicals probably aren't available to the public.   as much as I work with it,  I'm sure that nothing like that would happen.

Edited May 12, 2014 by popeye the sailor

[popeye the sailor]

yes Keith.......sanding is about the best way to eliminate the problem.   if I was able to repaint it sooner than I did,  it wouldn't have had time to cure.........the white would have simply disappeared.   to catch it before the paint has cured,  it would have caused the paint to become solvent again,  and caused the white to 'melt' back into it's liquid form.  I had another good window today.......but I had to work.  it being mother's day......I was in charge of making supper.   oh....well .........

 

my first day off.......Tuesday.......is going to be wet.   but I hear that it will improve after that.....so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.   I just hope I don't have to make another deck...........bad enough,  I'm thinking that I should make another gun deck.......now it's beginning to ripple.   I'm not catching a break here...........this is not good.

 

love that article you sent along........I had forgotten about that car!  for those who aren't aware.......the electric car was built around this time as well.......Renault had done a prototype....as well as a car that could go well over any car MPG that is made today.  the technology was out there........the question asked here........is who dropped the ball,  or hid these facts from the public.   the non serviceable battery was invented around this time as well........they swept that one under the rug too!   I was listening to Pink Floyd as I wrote that post.......I love the fact that I can do this with my computer.   I also use the computer to practice songs as well......I made quite a few practice CD's.   I wish I could play in a band again.   I thank you.........I enjoyed everything you wrote!

 

   that car would make a fine 'Popeye-mobile'!

I's don't has the pitcher 'o me can...........AK-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k--!

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Dave and John........it's getting better,  but I still need to do more on it.  I just hope I can save it!