Secret Santa GB 2018 - Nearing the Finish Line!!

DiscoStu

Annnnnd if someone has a better way to post pics using Flickr I’m all ears......

 

I open Flickr and go to my drop down menu and select "camera roll"

I then scroll through and locate the photo I want to post. While hovering over it I click the expand arrows in the upper right corner of the pic and it makes it large. 

I then right click on the image and select "copy image"

I use that to paste into the forums image addition tool in the toolbar. 

If you have to edit the pic simply click the link located to the right of the enlarged image and it will take you to the page to edit your pic. Then go back and reselect the new image just as you did at the beginning, only  now it will be correct.

Thats all I do, it's easy and quick. Hope that helps.

BK

Thanks!  I’ll try that

Ahhhhh.  Figured out the secret.  Have to use the PC.  Flickr and iPad don't play nice together.  

Anyway, here's the two kits my SS got for me.  I've built both before and can say that both are fantastic kits.  The Hellcat is more of the true definition of a "Weekend" kit.  One color, easy build.  The 109, however, comes with a lot of options, even for the Weekend edition.  I rummaged through my spares box and managed to find an unused Brassin cockpit/radio compartment and Brassin gun bay.  I've got both AM sets soaking right now and will likely start the modifications of the kit to accept the resin upgrades.

For the Hellcat, I found some Eduard fabric seatbelts and some left-over PE from an earlier build.  I also found some Model Master metal barrels for the night fighter version.  That was a bit of a fun surprise.  I've accumulated so much stuff over the years that I often forget just what is in the spares box.  

As stated above, the Hellcat should be a fairly quick build.  More pics to follow, now that I know how to do it! 

 Secret Santa 2018 by Stu George, on Flickr" alt="" />

Making more progress on this baby today. Everything done here except the PE masts.

what i could use is some advice on how to detail all the small elements like the life rafts, buoys, and stairs. Anyone good at this or seen a build thread where someone has done something to give some depth to these?

The best and really only way is hand paint them. The stairs, ladders, small boats and such will be hull color with the exception of the small boat interior. I use Vallejo because it brushes so nicely. This is the Kirishima, 1/700 Hasegawa Hyper Detail. The Japanese version of the Arleigh Burke class DD.

Nice! Really like the waterline display too. That made for a reference. I used Tamiya panel line wash to highlight the sides and everything on them, dark grey and black so far. I put some orange on the life preservers and tried to just shadow the ends of the binoculars, missile tubes and gun barrels.

Started on the decals because I don’t want to try working around the PE once I put it on. I watched another 2 videos on pe railings. Going to try the towers though before i get to those. I’ll tell you what it sure is hard to find high resolution shots of destroyers! an awful lot seem to be blurry low quality shots that I can’t use to id details. Jeez.

That Karishima looks better in person!

The destroyer is coming along really well Mongoose!

Mongoose... Looking good, won't be long till you're done with her.

About 1/2 done with the offices on the vindicator.  Side frames are real delicate.  Will put up pics when ready to install and close up the fuselage.

Man Mongoose, you are screaming through that kit. You're gonna be done before I even get started on mine. LOL, I did read the instructions over today, so that's something.

BK

Mongoose you're really moving along. Trying to get everything on prior to the PE is wise. I will put each sub-assembly together, including PE, paint and even any rigging if possable prior to installing. I've found that this lessens the chance of my fat fingers breaking anything off while I work myself from the center out. This doesen't always work though

You do me proud looking at your Spruance.

Thank you Chad. The Kirishima won 3rd at EagleQuest, 2nd at ScaleFest and 1st at the Texas State Fair. Not a bad run before I retire her. 

Modelcrazy can you share how you made the water effects for the Kirishima?

 I started on the masts but progress has slowed for sure. Started ok but on the 2nd mast the inner landining didn’t fit. Turned the instructions upside down and that still didnt help lol

This piece was not only too long but too wide also, i couldnt slide the tabs through the crossbraced rear vertical. If i moved it down one landing then it fit however looking at the instructions and an online assembly from Dragon showing the assembled pe it wasn’t correct. So out came the snips and I modified it to fit where it’s supposed to be. Of course by that time the one-piece assembly was in 5 pieces, jeeesh. You can see a piece in the background above. I stopped to let everything dry and will go back and relook at it shortly.

Bet you can tell I’ve got the week off! And I’m spending it relaxing at my workbench 

here’s the tower that is going smoothly. This is the smallest and most precise assembly I’ve ever done and I’m pretty proud of it at the moment . 

Do you guys hand paint these or can you do it with an airbrush without blowing pieces off?

Mongoose, nice job! PE masts are the bigest struggle for me in that scale. Yours turned out great looking. I AB them, they stay together better that you would think. In fact, I think brushing may damage it more easily.

Ahh the water.

In short, I use hard Styrofoam, cut out an area for the hull, cut and sand the wake and waves. I then add strips of paper applied with medium acrylic gel to cover the Styrofoam texture and this also adds small ripples. When that's dry, I'll go over that with another coat of med acrylic gel. I then paint the base with a blue base color and paint it again with a thinner slightly lighter color. I add cotton for the bow wave and wake using acrylic varnish. I will then go over everything with several coats of acrylic varnish to add depth and shine. Thats it in a nutshell.

Just got this in the mail:

A bit late, but it is a nice kit.

Goldhammer I can’t wait to see an update on the Vindicator!

”Redemption” was a good nickname for this kit. You’d swear modelcrazy read my one and only build on a ship and challenged me to do better! Here’s a good string of photos installing and painting the bow rails...and i didn’t ruin anything 

First i bent a small section around a nail which seemed to be just a little smaller in diameter than the curve i needed, allowing for pe to spring back some.

Nicely done.  I hate ship PE in 1/144, can't even imagine in1/700.  

Sailing_dutch those afv club kits are nice! Looking forward to seeing that one.

Looking good so far Mongoose. That PE's not so bad once you get use to it.

Sailing_Dutchman, that is a cool looking kit. I have'nt attemped any armor yet, I can't wait to see what you do with it.

Mongoose, you have the patience of a saint. Looks great.

BK

Here’s a few teasers before the finale...waterline decals and dull coat left to do.

 I decided after doing the bow to paint the pe rails before attaching them. The bridge walls were so close to the rails that I wouldn’t be able to paint the inside of them now that the ship is assembled. Turned out for the best though because the lacquer paint holds up well on pe. I just touched it up where needed after the superglue dried. 

I sprayed a 50/50 thinned down mix of the light and dark gray over all decals and i also misted on the color over areas where deck plates come together and on the decking itself to blend it all together. The decals were just too bright compared to pictures I looked at.

Beautiful build. Can't believe only your second ship.

Brandon - A huge thanks to you for running this Secret Santa group build! The ship I got took me out of my comfort zone but also let me use some techniques from my airplanes.

The end result is probably one of the best models I've built. Other than helping my younger sons build battleships this is only my 2nd ship. Ohh, and every piece of plastic, PE, and decal called for in the instructions has made an appearance on this ship. I had 1 scary moment where a piece flew off the tweezers but landed behind my coffee cup and was recovered in less than 60 seconds lol.

Here are the final glamour shots...USS Spruance DD963.

MCW (Model Car World) paints, mottled under-coat using 1 shade darker and lighter than the base coat to simulate age, decals above waterline misted with base coat to age them too, Tamiya panel line wash used around all doors/fittings/corners for shadowing, final finish with 2 matt coats of Vallejo varnish.

Wow, nice spruance!  Never have done a ship but that's the one I want to do but I  1/350.  Nice job and fast!

Mongoose,

Great job on the Spruance! I don't think I've done pe on a ship yet, but I remember the masts being very fidgety in plastic on the two Sprucans I've built. I hope my first attempt is as good as yours.

Very cool ship! That was fast!

Mopar Madness

... That was fast!

 

I'm on the perfect vacation...My wife and teenage daughter are wathching a marathon of "Project Runway"...leaving me to my bench while on vacation for 10 days! Needless to say it was quick in terms of number of days but I bet I have over 40 hours in the build at least. Seems like hours went by while doing just a few pieces of that PE railing but I took my time, fitted every piece at least twice.

Well I started my StuG.

5 hrs later..................

It's went toegether easy, a small amount of flash and mismolding to clean up. I've thinned the fenders so there more to scale.  I'll probably add scratchbuilt schrcen ( :-)) and zimmerit with a woodburner tomorrow. 

Mongoose, your Spruance turned out fantastic . That's something to be proud of especially being your second ship! I'm glad you enjoyed your gift. Now I'm going to start on yours and the 2 form my other Santa.

GA, I'm having trouble seeing your pictures

German, I too cannot see your pics. Not sure what's up with that.

Mongoose, wow isn't enough to say about how good that looks and how fast you put it together. First one done and a great job too. Excellent work.

BK

GA I could see your pics yesterday but they are gone now. Maybe something on the hosting site side?