I went back and pulled some of the cotton off And replaced it with more subtle crests between the wakes. Would it be better to spray varnish the cotton or use a brush to apply varnish?

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On a side note, I just received my next project.

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I always brush until the last coat, that one I spray to add wet to areas of the ship that may be wet such as decks and such. For your carrier, unless it's in very high seas or a rain squal, the deck won't be wet.

Not too often you see this combination 

This is some thick plastic. I put a 5mm dia led next to it for scale.

stay tuned for the completion of the hangar bay this weekend. I ve fitted the roof, painted it, and just have to put on the lights. Last will be the planes.

Still tinkering with the base. Please tell me what you think.

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Also been working on folding f-18 wings.

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keyserj, tbh it's hard to tell. From my experience once you put the medium gel on it everything changes. The cotton lays down, sometimes it ropes, you can move it around and really establish that 3 dimensional depth you want. i found putting the cotton down 1st meant i had to dab on the gel or it moved around and bunched up. Hope that tip helps  i ended up painting on some gel, stripping off small pieces or longer strings of cotton and placing them on the gel where i wanted them. Then gently worked them into the gel trying to avoid pulling strands of soaked cotton up off the diorama with the sticky tweezers lol

TheMongoose

keyserj, tbh it's hard to tell. From my experience once you put the medium gel on it everything changes. The cotton lays down, sometimes it ropes, you can move it around and really establish that 3 dimensional depth you want. i found putting the cotton down 1st meant i had to dab on the gel or it moved around and bunched up. Hope that tip helps  i ended up painting on some gel, stripping off small pieces or longer strings of cotton and placing them on the gel where i wanted them. Then gently worked them into the gel trying to avoid pulling strands of soaked cotton up off the diorama with the sticky tweezers lol

 

if hobby lobby or Michael's are open you won't get as much of a sticker shock when you see it! Take theor 30 or 40 pct off coupon with you for sure. I had to buy mine online due to C-19. Although it wasn't much more than the store price.

Let there be light.

I tried to space these out so the cones of light just overlapped. Also chamfered the hole so the light could expand a little and not look like a spotlight. Everything is glued in place so now I just need a soldering lesson for fine wire 

NICE!!

Just an idea, when you get the whole ship lit, take some pics of it in the dark  with the lights on.

John: It looks cool to me, I like it! 

Mongoose: Wow, the lights are amazing, love that! 

Gamera: Thanks for the kind words. It is my first sea base and it is turning out better than I expected.

Here is an update on the hull. It is now painted and will be ready for weathering once I get the deck and superstructure is built.

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I start my summer job tomorrow so it may be a while before I have more progress pics.

John: That looks really good! 

Whenever I really start in earnest on the LCT thankfully I want her just anchored off a Philippine beach so hopefully no wakes to worry with at all. I did get some work done on the hull but not sure it's worth posting photos of.  

That looks sweet Chris! Very cool 

Keyserj, also get some acrylic varnish (thin) and spread the whole base with it. Let every thing dry for atlest 24 hours and sometimes more. Work on something else while it sits aside. It's exciting when you find out that you can make a sea base. You didn't know you had it in ya.

Yesterday I started on detailing the planes. So far just the 2 F-14's. bought the airwing decals years ago. Looked fine until looking closely at them. 1 sheet, with all the colors, is way out of register, maybe 1/16". You can see it in the 1st pic. The rest is going well. Bet there's a couple weeks of work here since my day job is back to full time.

That's Tamiya X-13 metallic blue on the canopy. What do you think of it vs the black or clear blue options people use?

looking good mongoose , I don't mind the blue at all . for the scale it should look good

Looks good. The blue is fine. Anytime you try to paint a clear canopy with a color it just won't look perfect. And wow, those old decals were huge.

Mongoose: Those look fantastic!!! Since the canopy is reflecting the blue sky the blue looks perfect to me. 

modelcrazy

Looks good. The blue is fine. Anytime you try to paint a clear canopy with a color it just won't look perfect. And wow, those old decals were huge.

 

You aren't kidding! I think the stars & bars are 2x what they should be. It'll be an eye catcher from a distance tho and that's what i want for the display case i plan to build in the basement.

Ahoy Mates. I regret my prolonged absence from the GB. I've been rather distracted by other requirements in my life and as such, I have not kept up with activities here. The main thing I had to deal with while still in isolation was that my 94 yr old mother was rushed to the hospital 100 miles away for emergency surgery on an incarcerated hernia. We pretty much were not optimistic they should would pull through it but, that tough old lady came out just fine. So, I'm still off work on self imposed isolation while I help her with recovery. 

I will get around to catching up on everyone's efforts soon but, I need to get around to posting updates on my Oakland while Postimage is not acting up and jacking with my pics. It's been a real issue the past couple of weeks with my pics not appearing for a period of time and then suddenly they're fine. At the moment they are there so I figured I'd better move forward with that first.

As you may recall, I ordered a second kit to start over on in order to rebuild the cockeyed forward superstructure. The new kit arrived a few weeks ago and it took me awhile to get into the swing of things to start over again. The first thing I noticed when I opened the new kit was that it was a darker gray plastic and it had a wee bit of texture to it. It took me a bit to realize that the sprues had been pre-painted or primered. Even the hull parts had been painted red rather than molded in red plastic. I've never encountered this before. Needless to say this adds some extra work in sanding and scraping all of the gluing surfaces so that the Tamiya cement will properly weld.

It took me a good amount of sanding, scraping and test fitting to finally get the new superstructure into a better alignment but I've got it into a much better shape. Also got the bridge windows drilled out straighter. Here's where I'm at with it for the moment. It's not all fully cemented yet. Still some dressing up to do.

Here is some pics to show the contrast in kit sprues. The lighter color is the from the first kit. The hull and forward structure is from the new primered kit. I am only using the parts from the new kit that I needed to fix the initial issues.

So, all in all I've got it nearly all the way built to where I left off when I discovered the mishap. It took a lot of work and renewed motivation but, I'm much happier with it.

Joe that's looking really good. Definitely made the right choice there. The fitup looks like it won't take much effort from the angles you show. Is that lower hull port side actually sticking out that much or is it just the test fit? Looks like you'll need a saw if it's not test fit  lol

That looks better Joe, I know you're much happer with it.

Chris, I think what you're seeing in is the torpedo belt. 

Joe, that's a big improvement! And if you're happy with her that's the main thing. 

modelcrazy

That looks better Joe, I know you're much happer with it.

Chris, I think what you're seeing in is the torpedo belt. 

 

ohhh that's interstellar (i wrote interesting but auto correct liked this better and it's a rather unique description). Have never seen something like that. Love learni new stuff!

TheMongoose

 

 

modelcrazy

That looks better Joe, I know you're much happer with it.

Chris, I think what you're seeing in is the torpedo belt. 

 

 

 

 

ohhh that's interstellar (i wrote interesting but auto correct liked this better and it's a rather unique description). Have never seen something like that. Love learni new stuff!

 

JOE RIX

 Steve is correct. It is the torpedo belt and I'm not quite sure why they felt they needed to mold it as a seperate part. It gives the hull a rather..well..interstellar appearance. I've given a lot of consideration as to if I need to do some extra work on it. It is not currently glued in place but, it might be fine once I do. Just another head scratching aspect of this kit.

So, you noticed that there's no belt on the lower hull? Seems odd for a torpedo belt.

Add that first using sheet styrene. I used 0.010. Thinnest I had. Then use that as a gauge to sand down the upper belt to match. I went back and squared up the edges with a razor blade. It also extends way too far astern. If you care, nows the time to fix that.

Actually I went a step further. Again, only for a full hull. The underwater hull is way too shallow draft. So I spliced in a layer of basswood to make up the difference. Then added the lower armor plates. Frankenship.

Oakland is Atlanta with new parts, including the 40 mm tubs in your photo in place of the original twin 5" gun houses. So it could be pops spread apart by years.

GMorrison

 

 

JOE RIX

 Steve is correct. It is the torpedo belt and I'm not quite sure why they felt they needed to mold it as a seperate part. It gives the hull a rather..well..interstellar appearance. I've given a lot of consideration as to if I need to do some extra work on it. It is not currently glued in place but, it might be fine once I do. Just another head scratching aspect of this kit.

 

 

 

NO, WAIT! FULL SPEED ASTERN! It won't fit any better than it looks now. I don't much remember the math, but it should be about 2" thick, which on the model is about 0.0025 ". This is the time to sand it WAY down. If you have a lower hull and plan to use it, glue the top and bottom together first.

 

So, you noticed that there's no belt on the lower hull? Seems odd for a torpedo belt.

Add that first using sheet styrene. I used 0.010. Thinnest I had. Then use that as a gauge to sand down the upper belt to match. I went back and squared up the edges with a razor blade. It also extends way too far astern. If you care, nows the time to fix that.

Actually I went a step further. Again, only for a full hull. The underwater hull is way too shallow draft. So I spliced in a layer of basswood to make up the difference. Then added the lower armor plates. Frankenship.

Oakland is Atlanta with new parts, including the 40 mm tubs in your photo in place of the original twin 5" gun houses. So it could be pops spread apart by years.

 

 

 

Sorry for not being as active in the GB as previous... life happens. In this case it has been a few things such researching, negotiating, and driving 450 miles to get a new wheelchair van for my son. Another thing that has kept me from participating is the 67 2cf bags of mulch 13 50lb bags of potting soil, 10 bags of top soil, and 26 shrubs - bushes - or perrenials that I got planted or spread doing some serious landscaping in the yard. Combined this has added up to near a three week sabatical. I should be getting some work done on the Arizona this weekend with pictures to follow.

Joe Rix: that looks like it will be a challenge to get looking correct in scale, but I agree that the second kits fit is a better starting point.

Mongoose: the carrier and its lights look great, as does the canopies of the F-14. I'm not sure about the stars and bars though, wow (big and out of register).

Ben 

Joe, I was thinking the belt looked more like the belt on the North Carolina, but unless your looking for a precise recreation I wouldn't worry about it.

modelcrazy

Joe, I was thinking the belt looked more like the belt on the North Carolina, but unless your looking for a precise recreation I wouldn't worry about it.