75th Anniversary of 1944 Group Build (World at War)

Thats some real nice work on those buildings Paul!

Looks good, 68.  And:  even slow progress is still progress!  

Check,

I started on the North Carolina. To simulate the hull plating, I added stretch sprue and some Evergreen strips. I'll sand the hull down some to smooth it out

I never noticed all that plating, Steve.  Nice work replicating it.  

Paul this is absolutely fantastic! So Inspired and Inspiring!

The construction of one, of more than 36.000 Shturmoviks to be finally built, has begun in my humble Zavod (factory).

Cockpit and control panel first, with the aid of Czech comrade P.E Eduard. Some detail of AC/Italeri was so nice that I opted not to replace with the respective PE part (also helps mass production, or in my case: laziness).

One thing I learnt is that these film C.Panels need a white paint background, otherwise the instruments details simply get lost.

Some styrene was also used to replicate various boxes and panels that nobody knows what they are used for, apart from giving a 'busy' look . 

Next I will remove all this CA glue from my fingers and investigate what is the proper color to spray everything.

Good looking detail work, Zvezda.  Very nicely done!

Zvezda1980

Paul this is absolutely fantastic! So Inspired and Inspiring!

 

C&Cs encouraged. PaulE

Great work, Paul.  It's a very effective and dramatic presentation!  You can practically feel the ground rumbling under the weight of those vehicles.  Good job!

Do you have a preference for the finsih-photo?

checkmateking02

Great work, Paul.  It's a very effective and dramatic presentation!  You can practically feel the ground rumbling under the weight of those vehicles.  Good job!

Do you have a preference for the finsih-photo?

 

You did fine this time, Paul.  The diorama has a lot of interest and action going on, and the detail you've put into it is superb.  Good job!

Thanks for taking part in the GB.  It's a pleasure to see what you accomplished! 

Hi gents,

Been under the weather and finishing a semester hopefully back in business. I intend to do the Tamiya 1/700 USS Bogue. I've actually been fiddling with it for a while - finished almost all of the PE and scratch building masts, not something I like doing. But the kit itself isn't complex and there's not much rigging - may finish it in time - or not.

kit by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

MCrazy - I like what you're doing on the N Carolina. (Still haven't figured out why there's no 1/350 Washington - it's one of two BBs in WWII that sunk another BB mano v mano - Bismarck obviously the other.) That might work for the plates. Merit put out a 1/350 Enterprise a few years back and over did the plates grossly - ruined the kit for me. (I've got the 1/700 Academy now in Midway garb.) But I'm very curious to see how it works out. Years back I interviewed a couple of vets of NC - interesting chats. There was a saying during WWII - "smaller the ship, better the service" and neither gent relished service on the thing - one guy almost went deaf during the Eastern Solomons because his 20mm mount was right below a 5'38 - a gun that was notorious for a really loud "crack."

I'd forgotten that AC made an IL-2 - should be a neat kit but you'll probably have an adeventure if it's standard AC. I've got the Tamiya IL2 and plan to build it for 1945.

Eric

EBergerud

MCrazy - I like what you're doing on the N Carolina. (Still haven't figured out why there's no 1/350 Washington - it's one of two BBs in WWII that sunk another BB mano v mano - Bismarck obviously the other.) That might work for the plates. Merit put out a 1/350 Enterprise a few years back and over did the plates grossly - ruined the kit for me. (I've got the 1/700 Academy now in Midway garb.) But I'm very curious to see how it works out.

Thanks Eric, I sanded the plates last night and becides knocking off a couple during the process, which were replaced right afterward, I think it turned out really well. I will be spraying a black base on the hull and deck tonight. Then comes the hull camo, spray the deck fittings grey, mount the deck and install the wood veneer. Of course, not all in one night.
the Bouge looks awsome. There are some intresting subjects that Hase did for their waterline series that I'm still discovering. Being able to talk to some NC vets would be a real honor.

Eric:  Bogue is added to the build roster.  Looking forward to see her progress.

Steve:  glad to hear things are progressing well.  Sharp ship in the dazzle measure.

Paul: Some pics could easily pass for newsreels of the era enhanced with color. Beautiful! I would like to see a little more rubble piled around - after all this destruction on the buildings, but that's totally subjective and minor. Thank you for this very nice diorama.

Eric: The kit seems nice. How adventurous , I guess I will find out...

I took a quick pic after I painted black on the hull and areas of the deck. On to masking off the hull and the rest of the camo.

Looking good, Steve.

Here's a couple of photos I took last June when I toured the ship with my wife and daughter.  

Supper cool pics Check.

One think I keep looking for is there is some rigging that attaches to the top of the B turret but can't find any pics that show that.

Intresting the camo change on the barrels.

I haven't seen that kind of rigging on any photo I've found either, Steve.  Looks like there are two column-like structures on it, but I don't know what they'd be.

Yes, that counter-shading on the barrels got my attention when I posted the pictures.  Appears to be Light Gray under the Ocean Gray top.

It also looks like Navy Blue was substituted for black, the way she is currently painted at Wilmington.  

checkmateking02

It also looks like Navy Blue was substituted for black, the way she is currently painted at Wilmington. 

I was checking on the color last night from the Trumpeter's color table (don't necessarily trust that) and Squdron's NC "at sea" series book and they both said flat black, 5-O gray and 5-L gray.

Synder & Short say that, too, so that's what I followed when I did a NC a couple years back.  As for horizontal surfaces being a pattern of 20-B and 5-O, I don't think I noticed any.

Vertical Surfaces:

Paint all exposed vertical surfaces a pattern of: 

Light Gray 5-L.

Ocean Gray 5-O.

Black 

Horizontal Surfaces:

Paint all decks and horizontal surfaces a pattern of: 

Deck Blue, 20-B.

Ocean Gray 5-O.

OK Check, here's what I got after painting the hull camo.

Next, I'm installing the deck

After spraying MM no buff aluminum I carfully masked and painted with their chrome silver.  After all that I only ended up with a slight difference that is barely noticeable in the photo.

Guess I'll see what a clear coat does and go from there.

Looks great, Steve.  The hull plating show up quite well.  It's a very attractive measure.

Great looking finish, Ed.  You got a smooooth coat on.  Well done!

Check these are indeed great photos of this historic ship. I hope I will be able to visit also someday

Steve: Great work on the hull and camo, I am anticipating for the deck and the 'big guns'.

Ed: Very nice aluminum works. It would be nice to see the color variations that you make in some other photos.

Today the assembly of the cockpit was completed.

The rear fuselage armor plating was replaced by Eduard's PE parts (took longer than I expected).

The kit started to show its teeth, some struts of the lower fuselage had to be spliced in order to conform to the geometry.

Everything was sprayed with AKAN's 'A-14' steel gray acrylic, enchanced with a drop of blue mixed in.

Cockpit fuel tank was sprayed a random dark green, as per references.

Everything were then left to become nice and dry.

Great results with the cockpit, Zvezda.  Lots of detail in there.  Good paintwork, too!

Thanks for your comments about the BB-55 photo's.  It's a huge ship, and I hope you do get a chance to visit.  

I got some clear on the other day to seal things up.  Today I masked and sprayed some basic gloss red testors enamel on.  Really didnt get as sharp of a line as I wanted but was lazy and got what I got.  I'll clean up the edges once things set up.

Looks good from here, Ed.  That will be very colorful.