King George V - Tamiya 1/350

Very cool!  Puts you on the sea.  Very realistic.  A job well done.

Bob

Alrighty C'ptn, go enjoy your tot of rum, you earned it.

A sunny day in Cincinnati was perfect to take my ready for inspection pictures. Pipe the Admiral aboard. 

My 1/350 Tamiya KGV was completed out of the box. A basecoat, oils, and Flory washes turned the plastic deck into something akin to worn and weathered wood. I used all Vallejo paints, primarily airbrushed, for the camo. Check out the close up of the big guins - I got the full 3 color camo lines on them. Hull weathering was done with oils and Flory washes. For chipping I dipped a drywall sponge into thin white paint and randomly dabbed it across the hull. Rigging is EZ Line. I chain drilled the cranes and carved out the sections between support bars to really open up the look amidships.

The ocean is Vallejo paints as well. TA base coat of Deep Sea Gray was topped off with medium and heavy acrylic gel to create the swells, wake, and waves. Then I applied a couple different lighter colors for turbulence. Several coats of gloss varnish and rayon cotton finished it off. 

I have about 2 months invested to complete her including the sea.

Good advice CapMac and tankerbuilder. thanks for the compliments as well. What i like about this heavy gel medium is the ability to add more anytime. Matter of fact multiple layers can look more realistic. Here I've built up the midship waves and added a 3rd layer to the wake so that it seems to bulge up fom a trough right behind the stern. 
when this dries clear all the work below it will be visible and not lost. Although after this experience maybe some white gel would be good to add as it looks better than paint. Hmmm, may add some paint to it in the future...

TheMongoose

I've been thinking higher based on pics.

Yeah the water will "hump" up behind the ship, as it passes by.

The RN ships can be likened to a giant teeter-totter in the water.  There was a great concentration of mass in the middle, and the ends pivoted around that, fore-and-aft.

Which will throw up water around the bow, but also rebound water under the stern.

RN ships were not constrained to fit the Panama Canal, and they would be wider over a given length than their USN conterparts.  This gave them considerable roll stability (which was desired) if at some (slight) expense for pitch stability.  The very linear design also damped the yaw potential.  Although that could also toss up some significant green water if the course was off (not aligned to) the seas.

This was another reason why RN ships used amidships aircraft catapaults, that was often the driest place wit hthe least amount of sea wash.

The build remains spectacular.

Tanker-Builder

See!

      That's what I was trying to tell a friend. British ships were wetter than their American Counterparts! Nice! Looks like the old Gal is bearing strong toward the Target at Flank Speed !

 I would recommend though ,that you include some larger swells along the sides, placed abot Midships and Enlarge the height of the Wake behind. I don't know about the King George V, but the D.D. I was on oh! and the Carrier raised a Wake wave much like a rooster tail given their size and dimension.

 

excellent, thanks tankerbuilder! 
in terms of the wake are you thinking higher, wider, both? I've been thinking higher based on pics. Had tried to set it up that way but even after putting tissue over the heavy gel it still seemed a little low.

See!

      That's what I was trying to tell a friend. British ships were wetter than their American Counterparts! Nice! Looks like the old Gal is bearing strong toward the Target at Flank Speed !

 I would recommend though ,that you include some larger swells along the sides, placed abot Midships and Enlarge the height of the Wake behind. I don't know about the King George V, but the D.D. I was on oh! and the Carrier raised a Wake wave much like a rooster tail given their size and dimension.

Nice monster bow wave.  Next Halsey's Typhoon!

i've finished painting! The 1st coat of gloss varnish is on the water. The boats and cranes are finished up. They're just dry fit in these shots. 

Now that I'm done messing around the hull I'm confident the masts can be put on. The odds are low I'll break one lol  
rigging and touchups while i put 6 or 7 more coats of varnish on the water 

Thanks CapnMac, especially the extra detail about the superstructure decks ! I've wet the main deck down, left some of the hidden areas dry and as i progressed to the stern started making if more of a smooth glossy water rather than turbulent.

today i added color to the water. I’m through adding the tissue along the hull. Last, probably tomorrow, I will try to do something with the rollers out front of the bow. Each pic is another color until you get to the tissue.

I'll stand corrected.  Learn something new every day.  Thanks guys

TheMongoose

nd they seem to throw alot of water even in calmer seas.

This is very true of RN ships, which never seemed to have much sheer at eitehr bow or stern.  Whic his also why they can have more than one breakwater on the bow, too.

USN ships tended to have either more sheer, or a forecastle deck (or both) to keep the bows drier.

Once you get water over the bow, pretty much all the main deck surfaces will be at least some wet.  Superstructure decks will be drier, but not immune to thrown spray.  This is why exposed areas will be covered in linoleum (there's a different brand name in the UK) for better traction.

That will vary based on the "why" the seas are rough.  If there is a squal line, there may have been rain.  Some frontal boundaries wil lbe dry but leave unruly seas behind.  If in the North Atlantic, it can just be because the Ocean is Contrary.

goldhammer

I'm the very first to admit I'm not a water or ship person in real life. 

You've got a great start on the bow crash/splash, but the rest of the water/seastate doesn't appear to be high enough to cause that big of a splash.

Just a thought in passing.  Everything else is just beautiful.

 

yes, absolutely. I've been struggling with how to show the sea state. My base is fairly narrow. I looked at modelcrazy's modern destroyer and it had a pretty rough sea. then i look at some photos of the big BB's and they seem to throw alot of water even in calmer seas. This is the best one I've found so far. Take a look and see if you guys think i need to create bigger swells, or at least the impression of bigger swells on my narrow base. Definitely a work in progress :-)

I'm the very first to admit I'm not a water or ship person in real life. 

You've got a great start on the bow crash/splash, but the rest of the water/seastate doesn't appear to be high enough to cause that big of a splash.

Just a thought in passing.  Everything else is just beautiful.

steve5

very nice mongoose , how did you make the bow-wave , 

on the matter of the other decks , wet or not . they must have a certain amount of misty spray over them . even a thin hit of gloss here and there for the illusion . though I must admit I am no seaman .

 

 

thanks Steve. I started with a whiskey glass..once it was empty I put liquitex heavy gel on it (i used medium gel as well and it works to). held 3 toothpicks together and ran them thru the gel to create the pattern in the wave. The sharp angle on the glass helps create the arc to the wave.

the smooth side becomes the part you see. The rough side I painted. Used dark sea green, olivia green, and white. Dry brushed over the sharp eges with white. Doing the rough side on the clear gel gives a muted tone on the flat side. Careful with this...the 1st one i did came out way way bright and didn't look realistic. Surprising how bright the colors dry.

embedded some copper wire in with more gel. The gel makes it easy to paint over the copper fortunately. This helps it hold the shape. Experiments without the wire resulted in the "wave" drooping in less than a days time.

then i flipped it over and used a white-wash to create the water streaking based on this pic from british war museum. 

Kinda involved as it turns out. I thinned vallejo white with x-20a, once dry i put some x-20a on a cotton bud, blotted off the extra, wiped it gently with the water flow to remove the heavyier streaks and tone it all down. Then i went back over it with a brush sideways to create some strong narrow streaks so the water looked thicker in spots. 
so that was the approach. Hopefully it looks kinda realistic.

very nice mongoose , how did you make the bow-wave , 

on the matter of the other decks , wet or not . they must have a certain amount of misty spray over them . even a thin hit of gloss here and there for the illusion . though I must admit I am no seaman .

This weekend i hope to finish the acrylic gel anf get to painting. On track so far. Tonight I got the bow wave on and blended in. This will get some cotton over it to add some dimension to it. 

High praise inded, thank you Bob!

More updates come the weekend. Hoping to be done with waves and applying the varnish 

Looked over all your builds.  FANTASTIC!  And quite a wide range of builds as well.  You are quite talented.  Well done!

Bob