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1/350 USS Ohio help

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  • Member since
    July 2006
1/350 USS Ohio help
Posted by Scotty T on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 11:09 PM

I was trying to get my 1/350 scale USS Ohio sub for my father in law who worked at Electric Boat for 41 years.  I tried sanding and smoothing the hull halves and ended up scaring down the long axis of the boat.....UGH!!!  I tried to paint in an effort it would smooth itself out, huge rookie mistake, so now it looks horrible.  Long story long, is there any possible way to salvage.....sand, strip paint, all of the above.  Thank you all for your time and help. 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 1:05 AM

You can use filler on the scaring- putty, gel super glue, or whatever you prefer. Then sand with progressively finer grits to smooth it all out. Then repaint it.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 2:53 AM

Yep get some toothpaste, a towel in your lap and a roll of paper towel. Rub rub rub.

In design school we called it "petting the dolphin". It'll come out fine, just takes a while.

One thing about round objects is when you rub/ sand them, rotate as you go and they'll come out nicely even.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Sydney, Australia
Posted by Phil_H on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 4:34 AM

If it's significantly scarred from sanding, you may be using too coarse a grade of paper. The coarsest grade that I use is 400 grit wet and dry paper (used wet).

As mentioned above, polish and repeat with increasingly finer grades till you get the desired smoothness.

  • Member since
    July 2006
Posted by Scotty T on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 7:39 AM

Guys I greatly appreciate your advice!!  I will start on this this weekend.  Thank you very much!  I am sure I will have more questions.....but just glad it is not a total loss

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 11:00 AM

yes, with the round hul contours, make sure to follow those contours as you sand to avoid producing any flat areas by your own work.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: EG48
Posted by Tracy White on Thursday, January 16, 2014 2:05 AM

Short answer - yes, you can fix it. When I was in A&P (airframe and powerplant) school, one of the exercises was removing a scratch made by an instructor's key in a clear plexiglass window. Some of the techniques we were taught I still use and may be useful to you.

Work from heavier grits to lighter ones. when you switch grits, change directions so you are going perpendicular to the last grit. So if your deep scaring is along the length of the hull, choose your heaviest grit and sand up and down, perpendicular to the scratches. When the previous grit's pattern of scratches is no longer visible, you can switch to the next highest grit. This is why you change directions - if you always go the same direction, you'll never be able to tell which are the heavier scratches and which are the lighter scratches on top of the heavier scratches.

Work to progressively finer grits, changing directions each time. Recognize that each time you switch, you'll need to sand a larger area to feather and fair in the area you're sanding. I like to cheat a little bit and after the coarse grit I'll rub in some thin CA glue to fill a lot of the scratches in and make the medium grit go perhaps just a wee bit faster. I use this a lot when shaping hulls that have a miss-match, and since I want to cut that down I start with something like 300 grit sanding sticks. If I'm not shaping, I'll usually start with some 400 and then move to 600 and then some 2400 or 3200 grit Micromesh I have - it's a really fine grit that's good and a bit of an overkill for the last step, but should give you a good enough "shine" to see what areas you might have missed. Micromesh start sets are fairly inexpensive, or you can buy individual sheets for cheaper still.

I covered this and posted some photos a few years ago in this post, in case the photos are of any use.

Tracy White Researcher@Large

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