Nice work John, remember to keep the weathering subtle and everything should blend and not to overdue it.  

Chris, were you playing Ozzy while testing your light show?  Looks cool.  

Mongoose: Oh WOW! That looks awesome all lighted up! 

John: Weird to see the company make such a massive screw-up with the deck number but it's not the only one. Years ago I attached the rudders to a 1/72nd Minicraft B-24 upside down- because that's what the instructions said to do and I didn't check around until someone pointed out the mistake to me. In any case great recovery there! 

John, pastels are easy to work with as you can see. Remember the scale you're working in. When weathering, or building a sea scape, at 1/800, a 6 ft man would be around 2.3 mm or 1/32 inches tall.

Chris, that's looking quite cool.

Big achievement tonight. Feels like New Years Eve with my 1st full lighting event! Here's a shot in the dark

see that glow in the background? That's light escaping from the tube and guide for the fibre. Gonna have to black that out really well or the carrier's gonna look like the nuclear reactors are leaking 

I tore off the old decal and replaced it with solid white block lettering.

Also did some weathering on the bottom of the hull. I took a chalk pastel and randomly drew on the hull and blended it with a brush. Very effective for making the paint look scratched.

Scott: I sat my laptop right beside me to look at reference photos of each plane I decaled so that I wouldn't screw up the placement of the stars.

Bill: Glad you brought up the deck number, after doing a quick search on the internet, I found that Academy's instructions on it are wrong. Will have to get that fixed, can't have a historically inacurate model.

Enquiring minds need to know...

In Keyser's post there the instruction sheet shows the big hull number at the bow facing backwards. I sure can't find any photos that confirm that?

Bill

Keyserj

I got them done and it only took a couple of hours. I am sure all of you can relate to this, I spent 15 minutes looking for my tweezers and found them right in front of me.

The decals don't look very noticeable in the pics but, they really made the planes look better.

A big shoutout to Academy for the detailed guide on how and where to apply the decals on the planes.

I could put decals on the bottom of the planes but, I am not going to do it because you won't be able to see them anyways.

 

I know exactly what you are going through.  Except I'm nuts enough to work in 1/700. At least you didn't find that halfway through you were putting the stars on the wrong wing.  Don't ask me how I know.

Great work, I am enjoying seeing your progress.

BBorBust

I will go ahead and throw my Trumpeter 1/350 USS North Carolina into the hat here. With unlimited time to finish, Might as well give it a go on this GB as well!

You got it BB. Another North Carolina to tie up to the pier.

TheMongoose

You made good time on them for sure. You must be coming down the home stretch!

 

Bill: Thanks for the history on the kit. Although this kit is ancient, it isn't half bad considering I paid $18 for it at hobby lobby.

It is nice to have spares just in case but, I also don't think I have enough decals to do the bottom side also. I have a theory that the reason I can't fit all of the planes on deck is that the sprues for them are meant for a different kit. Came across this today, It is hard to see but it says 1/800 Eisenhower Nimitz and makes my point seem valid.

I will go ahead and throw my Trumpeter 1/350 USS North Carolina into the hat here. With unlimited time to finish, Might as well give it a go on this GB as well!

Thanks Bill, that explains it 

modelcrazy

Yeah, there's no reason to strugle with decals that no one will ever see. You'll be the only one to know.

modelcrazy

For the life of me I can't understand why Academy made a carrier in such a odd scale.

Bill

John i flet the same way, the decals change the whole appearance of the plane. Noticed them right away. You made good time on them for sure. You must be coming down the home stretch!

MC now that I know how they did those starbursts I realize how easy they were to make. They made a fortune on those things, had to 

Look for tools that are right in front of you? Ha never. My tools are ALWAYS where I place them and I NEVER set something, such as my arm, on a piece of PE or sweep a part off the table whithout thinking. 

Yeah, there's no reason to strugle with decals that no one will ever see. You'll be the only one to know.

For the life of me I can't understand why Academy made a carrier in such a odd scale.

I got them done and it only took a couple of hours. I am sure all of you can relate to this, I spent 15 minutes looking for my tweezers and found them right in front of me.

The decals don't look very noticeable in the pics but, they really made the planes look better.

A big shoutout to Academy for the detailed guide on how and where to apply the decals on the planes.

I could put decals on the bottom of the planes but, I am not going to do it because you won't be able to see them anyways.

Mongoose: Oh wow, now I'm hungery for spagetti. Great job there with all those fiber optic cables- I've got boatloads of starships I want to light but never seem to get around to them.

John: Oh gee... Well I guess it's the point of doing all the starboard wings, let them dry overnight, then do the portside wings... I hope you're watching TV or YouTube to something while you're doing this- I'd go nuts without some distraction during repeatative stuff like this. 

That's a lot of fiber optic cable Chris. That reminds me of the starburst lights in the 70's. I never bought one but always wanted one.

All I can say is set up the assembly line! Seemed that approach worked best. Like Bill I did quite a few under magnification but once i got the pattern down practically wasn't using it for the last half of the planes. Those decals have to look like spots at that scale lol

Tomorrow?

Oh ha ha ha.

My only advice is not to hand hold them.

Set up some kind of clamp and down it under magnification.

Bill

Just realized I still have to do the decals for the planes. Bet you can't guess what I will be working on tomorrow.

MC thanks in advance for the refresher on rust streaking! Been saving that part until the deck is ready to be flat coated so I can do the whole model at once. 
I'll tell you guys, I bought 560 pieces of electrical shrink tube just to get the 1mm tubes i needed for a custom smoke tube on my F-100 and I NEVER thought I would use them all...

...not quite 1/2 done and I'm sure I'll make a dent in that case! These things splay everywhere lol

Mongoose, John, 

Nice paint work on your carriers guys.  Good balance of the weathering.  The ships look underway, not in rusting in Ordinary.  

Good start John, keep at it. It's not going to be perfect on your first try. The removeable options like pastels and oils are best, as you have found. Stay away from enamels or anything that can't be wipped off either with a dry rag, turpenoid or water. Also when doing rust, let it bleed as it would in nature. Think of gravity, airflow, waterflow, slipstream ETC. Again, with most navies, less is more especially on modern ships. Unless the ship just came off a long patrol, they won't have a lot of rust. The Boatswains mate will have the deck apes over the side faster than you can say needle gun. The spit and pollish of the brite work is the pride of every BMC. Ship shape and in Bristol fashon!

Wow! Those look awesome guys! 

Great work just keeps going on here!!! 

Mongoose: I must have missed your post of your deck. The masking you did was really impressive and the deck turned out great.

Joe: Hope you are feeling better after your surgery. Take it easy, there is no rush for you to get progress done.

Started experimenting with pigments on the Kitty Hawk. Some areas are better than others and I will have to go back and redo parts of the hull.

The bow section is the looks the best. It has got the rust streaking and a little bit of the salt residue from sea water.

The weathering above looks really bad so, I am going to wipe it off and start fresh. I am going to look for some more reference photos before I do this section. It was easy to find pics of the weathered bow but, the mid section of the hull is tricky to find a photo of.

OK, where do I begin.

Scott, your most welcome. Now that is much better . Looks superb!

Chris. WOW! I thought at first it was a little light but I can see I was completly wrong! Absoulty fantastic work my friend.

John, Your Kitty Hawk is looking excelent as well. Very nice!

For the flags, that's what I do. I will also crumple them some so they look less like the flag on the moon. That's what makes the foil so nice, it makes it easer to bend some. Now if the weather is bad with high winds, I'll shread the flag ends and then stand them out with a slight ripple. Flags just get beat to shreads in gale winds.

As far as weathering, I will spray light grey vertical lines on the anti foul paint, maybe add some pastels and oils. There is a whole world of mediums that can be used for weathering hulls, also including dry brushing. Honestly, you will have to try some techniques to see what works for you. Now above the waterline, I can't go wrong with oils. I use Burnt Umber and Sienna for rust. I will put a little in some Turpenoid and just touch where you want some rust and let it do it's own thing. Don't like it, wipe it off. For heaver rust, I'll put a small bit of the Umber for newer rust, sienna for older rust on the area, and again, put some Turpenoid and let it do it's think. The smaller the scale the less you need. US naval ships are constantly cleaned and painted even while underway so a little goes a long way. Rust won't usually form on items that remain underwater due to the lack of oxygen exposure.

My U-Boat showing the flag, hull weathering and rust. This is a 1/72 scale kit. The hull weathering was made with pastels and water. It kinda makes a mud that can be drawn with a paint brush.

Joe, I'm looking forward to see what you got when you're ready.

Scott: Oh yeah. That looks much better. Glad I stocked up on some Uschi line some time ago. Definitely looks the part.

Mongoose: That is some righteous paint work on the flight deck. It all appears to have come out wonderfully. That there is a job well done my friend.

I've been chipping away at the Oakland. Mostly cleaning up parts and getting things closer to the initial primer stage. Going to be out of action here for a short while. I'm going in for surgery tomorrow to repair my umbilical hernia. Long over due precedure. As such, I may not be able to lean over at the bench for a bit. Although, I might rig something up at the recliner where I can sand on parts of something.

Cheers All.

John your flight deck looks like its well worn and seasoned. Great job!