Photoetch.. before or after painting?

Short answer about the photoetch: Yes. Some of it should be installed prior to painting (those areas which are difficult to reach. Other parts - especially main deck railings - should be installed after painting.

As far as drilling out gun barrels without buying a small bit to do it? If you figure that out, let us all know. Besides, if you can afford the Missouri and the GMM photoetch, you can afford the drill and bit. In fact, you CAN'T afford not to get the drill and bit. Tools are the most inportant items you can purchase.

Okay, thanks a lot. Winks I appreacite it. I will def look into getting a drill.

MarinROO,

Go to 56th and South Tacoma Way and just on the right is American Eagles hobby shop. They have it all, including very affordable pin drills and bit sets along with all the modeling and detailing tools you ever wanted.

I'll warn you, though ... make sure you have plenty of time to drool at the thousands of excellent kits, books and accessories they have ........

Awesome. Thanks guys. Its great having someone local!

Marin,

I'm trying something relatively new myself, which in itself is a feat considering the number of ships I've built and scratchbuilt in my lifetime.

I've got a new North Carolina sitting here that must be built for a Workbench Review. As a result, it must be built straight from the box, no aftermarket. Since that goes against everything I've ever done in ships, I intend to build the model using mostly white glue the first time around. Once the model has been photographed for FSM, I'll partially disassemble it and go back and add PE and resin update parts from L'Arsenal and my own castings, most likely the 40mm and 20mm guns. Then she'll be waterlined and placed on a base next to a DD. It's the first time I've tried anything like this, and I'm pretty confident it'll work out ok, so I wouldn't be too worried about building as much of the Mo as you can and adding PE later on.

Jeff

I was going to say Jeff, that I once built a U Boat using nothing except white glue and paste. However, I was nine years old and the model went back to its original configuration of being in many little pieces within a few days.

So I went to the next best adhesives that a mother of a rambunctious nine year old would allow to have in the house, masking, and scotch tape.

That kept the model together for about a month. After that second attempt, my Agricultural Engineering minded father stepped in and introduced me to the wonders of Duct Tape.

30 years later and that old sub model is still in tact.

Scott

Scott, hilarious...that reminded me of a funny story when I was a model building kid...I needed a paint brush, and didn't have one...so I cut my little brother's hair (in nasty clumps of course) and glued it to a pencil.

Man, did I get whupped for that one...

J

Hey Jeff,

Just a thought ... you might want to take it up one notch and use the almond-colored water-based wood glue instead of the white craft stuff. It's a little tackier during assembly and dries a bit harder, but you can still soak it off the plastic later for your retro-build.

And a question, based on your wealth of experience. I have a very nice 1:200 card model of Von der Tann, but I'm afraid to start it because I had bad luck with white glue on a Seydlitz card model ... made the paper wobbly. I finished the kit just for the practice, then crushed it and threw it out. So ... what's a good glue for card models?

Well, you can do what I'm doing with my Takao and Myoko. Instead of using the paper parts, why not use them as templates and cut the parts from plastic sheet?

This way, you end up with a plastic model that's easier to work on than paper. Not to mention, it takes paint and filler much better.

JH

I considered that and I'd love to increase the scale at the same time, but getting a perfect match would be difficult with a trace-off. If I had a good means of printing the templates on thin plastic sheet, my home printer will go up to 13x19, so I could even go up higher from my 8 1/2 x 11 sheets to something larger yet. It's inkjet, so just finding then right thin plastic stock would make it possible.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ..................................?

The search begins .....