1945 GB

stikpusher

 

 

checkmateking02

Very well done, Rob!

 

 

 

 

  A beautiful Tiffy indeed! Can I ask you to get a photo or several against a plain background for the finished roster please?

 

Uni Caenis 20 denier is .043 mm. I think something twice that thick would pass muster for anyone but the really hardcore. (I like line about .07.)

Been plugging along on the Kubelwagen. A little more fiddly that I thought, but the kit itself is probably over 20 years old. And the instructions are a little scant. That said, the fit has been excellent. Others will need my help next week, so I may cut a few weathering corners. But I think it'll be okay. Some more pieces needed, then (maybe) a little rust, some streaking, fading and pigments. Actually I think I can just finish the panel wash and do a little pigments along the bottom and call it a wrap. We'll see. Cute little thing (no pun intended for anyone that remembers the VW Thing which was a KubelW copy in the 70s).

Eric

There is another branding of EZ type line for rigging by Uschi, and their smallest of three sizes available is 0.01mm, maybe still overscale for 1/700?

There is some photo examples of ship rigging on their webshop page:

http://www.uschivdr.com/products-in-detail/rigging/

regards,

Jack

Joe

Both. Although Wingnut Wings is recommending it's use for biplanes. The nice thing about fly lines (or standard fishing line) is that it's waxed and will tighten if you employ just a bit of heat - an incense stick works well. Ditto sprue. I use EZ for antennas but don't think it would work well for ship rigging - but no reason not to try it.

Eric

Rob,  excellent job on the Tiffie, and with both gun bays open too, nice!

regards,

Jack

Rob: Your Typhoon is tremendous. You did one heck of a paint job on the camo. And you certainly answered my question about painting the gunbay post camo painting. Stellar work there. Thanks for sharing your Typhoon with us .

Eric: Thanks for the take on glues and rigging. Is EZ Line not used because it is out of scale or maybe because it can produce undo tension on delicate masts?

checkmateking02

Very well done, Rob!

 

  A beautiful Tiffy indeed! Can I ask you to get a photo or several against a plain background for the finished roster please?

I'm done with the Typhoon. Just in time too. I'm starting holidays Saturday and I'm going to be away until 10 January, so, I am happy to get this one done before year end. So, great kit. VERY well engineered Airfix goodness. There was some sanding needed, but, not a tremendous amount. Anyway, thanks to Bish for hosting this great '45 GB and maybe I'll get to do '46, but, we'll see as I engaged in a ship build and that's gonna near kill me, LOL. Great work guys and keep up the good work.

Nice work, Rob!

And, Moff, I hope you don't catch anything on fire!

checkmateking02

Looking forward to seeing your photos, once the light box starts behaving, Moff.

 

I may just upload some bad pictures of the model now, just so there's something there. It's really a matter of cutting the poster board to fit inside the box for the infinity white, finding enough LED lights that won't catch the tissue paper on fire, and stopping the procrastination. Just a few lol.

My last pic tonite finally decided to 'show up'. Lots of trimming to get all the extra film off the numerals and letters, but, worth it in the end.

Yeah, for some reason, when I upload, it 'hangs' at the last few percent uploaded and locks up. I've not had this happen before. I switched to my other PB account and got this pic up. May switch to Imgur....

Got some more progress...she's 'glazed' (still struggling with PB...not sure even if it is the connection to my phone?)

Yellow was painted. Decals provided, but, have had bad experiences with these, so, i went with masking and paint. Weapons bays completed.

prop dry fit and pre-yellow tipped

Wing roundels placed on whole and will trim down after they set up

Decals trimmed back

AND, PB will NOT upload the last pic....more tomorrow.

David Griffith frequently contributes to ModelWarship and he's one of the arch druids. His kits book is pretty good for assembly techniques. Mucilage is a kind of rubber cement that's hard to find. It is, however, used by dollhouse makers (a very neat hobby - some astounding stuff) to attach "wallpaper". So check MiniGraphics Wallpaper Mucilage and you'll find it out there from several hobby stores. He uses this brew for the most difficult type of ship rigging line in the known universe - Uni Caenis 20 Denier fly tying nylon line. This stuff is beyond thin and is extremely hard to use. Arguably it fits 1/700 scale - preferred by Griffith - but because it's almost invisible, how to put it on? His answer is mucilage. I tried it and couldn't get it to work the Griffith does. (Actually it might do to seal a half-knot: might try that.) Anyway, Uni Caenis is very popular among hard core ship builders. Personally, I hate the stuff. One has to ask, why make a demanding process like rigging twice as hard by using a line that you can't see from five feet away. It's really for photos only. A 12/0 gauge tying line is much easier to apply and I'd guess is closer to scale for a 1/350 model. You do need really sharp short bladed scissors for this stuff. There is an alternatives (shown by Griffith) and that's stretched sprue which can be made incredibly thin. The best technique was developed by the arch-arch druid at ModelWarship the incredible Jim Baumann. Search "Making Stretched Sprue for rigging" by Jim Baumann and you'll find an illustration online. It's very easy to make, and I've found it useful for many projects. What I don't get, is how to attach the stuff to metal - I make all masts and yards from brass (easy really) - plastic rarely stands up rigging and can break. Baumann uses the equivalent of Tamiya Yellow Bottle Glue or Testors liquid cement - but that stuff melts plastic. If you could figure it out, rigging would be a whole lot faster. Griffith also has a good section on weathering. This is a sore subject with yours truly. I think that if you're building a ship in wartime service that it requires weathering that is quite visible - depending upon what service it should include very heavy streaking and rust. It's a rare ship modeler that weathers heavily. Flodberg's ships are beyond good, but I don't know how ships plowing through these heavy wave water bases he makes can come out clean as a whistle. Salt doesn't like metal. I drive by an oil refinery at least once a week and there's always at least one ship there. If the oil has been pumped out, and you can see below the waterline, most are really beat-up. I've got a bucket of color photos showing WWII ships and many are likewise pounded. (Anything in the Pacific Theater after mid-44 was supported by a dedicated logistics fleet and man made dry docks at places like Manus - no going back to Pearl or the States for a full service check up and repainting. Very long cruises and very hard on the men. Some of the BBs have huge hunks of pealed paint and rust galore. Look close at a pic of Missouri at Tokyo Bay.) This has me interested in one of the rebuilt Pearl Harbor BBs that ended up at Leyte or Okinawa - good history and room for serious mischief. Anyway, I think many ship modelers are reluctant to mess with a project that has probably taken them a good chunk of time. Great models but often, in my view, at the expense of good history. Everyone's mileage varies on that stuff. If you like the light touch for ship weathering, Griffith is a fine guide. Lastly, Griffith now has a book out on making sea dioramas - it looks very neat. Eric

Oh for the love of Pete! I went to post some update pics but, that rackin' frackin' Photobucket is acting up. GARRR! Eggnog! Bring me Eggnog! I need EGGNOG!!!

Tony, looks as though you are off to an outstanding start.

Well Check, I highly recommend it for resin and plastic building. Actually, one of the best How To Modeling books I've seen. I believe you will find it to be a sound investment.

What I found interesting is he mentions using mucilage glue for securing his rigging. It's an old craft glue that used to come in a brown bottle with an angled rubber tip that had a slit in it. I actually remember this stuff. Think I can find any? Not much luck on Amazon, Hobby Lobby or Micheal's. Ebay has something called "mucilage" for a manicure glue. Not sure if that's similar at all.

Hi all,

Here is an early progress photo of my Hasegawa FW 190A-5. The props and spinner just got sprayed too.

I've just used the kit decals for the panels as the canopy will be closed, so a representation of it is fine.

Cheers

Tony

No, Joe, I'm not familiar with it, but I looked it up on Amazon. May have to pick up a copy, since it says that the book deals with resin ships also--which I have two of, but have not yet built.

Thanks for the information!

Thanks Bish, Brandon and Joe.

Brand name of the R-boat kit was Samek Models.

I went and looked at the two videos suggested, and they are informative.    One thing I noticed right away is all that elbow room when working in a larger scale, let alone a larger class of ship.  Definitely need some of that gloss varnish when the next ship project comes along.

I made the mistake of putting a final coat over everything with the future clear.  The cotton soaked it up greedily, thinner strands all but disappeared and other portions lost their white and become a cloudy silver shade.   The other negative is it created a curved slope of 'water' against the hull, which really isn't realistic looking, but is not noticeable with the naked eye.

Sort of war time snapshopt/postcard look with the seascape background.  My Corel paint program has a snapshot effects.  I first transformed the photo to Albumen style, followed with Sepia toning, and finally Platimnum photo.

regards,
Jack

Rob: Very nice work on your camo. It is really well done. I'm curious about your process. I noticed that you opted to leave the gun bays open and unpainted and the hatch doors open and in place while you paint your camo. I assume you paint it all afterwards. Is this a process that you are comfortable with? By no means is this any kind of critizism but, rather an observation as I don't often see this.

Jack: Your water, wake and overall presentation are just really wonderfully done. I'm impressed.

I'm certainly taking in all these excellent tips on producing water effects. Although, I'm not quite sure that I will get that far with the Richilieu. Concentrating on simply building a ship model itself.

Eric and Check, Are you guys familiar with the ship modeling book Ship Models from Kits by David Griffith? I picked it up a few years ago in preparation for my ship modeling and I find it to be an excellent book. Very thorough and extensive in my opinion.

Concerning cotton: look at that Chris Flodberg video - it makes things clear. Flodberg uses rayon but cotton works and the technique is identical. You fluff out a piece of cotton, mount it on top of a small dab of gloss varnish, shape it, then use gloss varnish and dab the tops and side of the cotton just mounted. You don't want to wet it. Just sort of coat it - so the cotton underneath is still dry. Flodberg warns that it's hard to remove cotton/rayon from the base - I found it quite possible, just had add a little gloss medium with a brush and start over. Anyway, check out that video - only about 7 minutes long. He's as good at ships as Mig Jimenez is at tanks.

But, as noted, for something of your scale, a full bore water base would have been complete overkill. So your boat looks terrific. Those are good techniques and I think would work nicely in land dios too for a stream, pond, or shoreline.

Eric

Jack - That minesweeper is jaw-dropping, and I especially love the photo that looks like it's on the open sea. It really looks like it could be real, especially if you switched it to black and white and added some graineness. Wow!

Tony - I can't wait to see a French FW-190! I am working on the Airfix 1/72 kit now and am really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to yours.

Rob - Nice paintwork on that Tiffie. It's really coming along nicely!

Eric - Your destroyer looks like it's straight out of the war. Really nice weathing on it. You all have me wanting to try a ship sometime.

-BD-

Rob, some nice spray wotk there, i need to try that method for masking for a feathered edge. I know what you guys mean about PB. It can be a real pain at times.

Jack, that is just gorgeous, i love it. Great water effect as well. I have adde it to the temp roster, bt unfortunatly i had not put the details on before and can't recall what make of kit it is.

Thanks for sharing that with us.