Ahoy captians.

My wife and I will be going to the Oragon coast Friday morning and returning Monday night. I will be away from my laptop during this time but be able to check in and post with my phone. Since I won't have access to to the computer, I won't be able to post any finished build pics until I return.

Thanks guys.

modelcrazy

Bakster, I use Mr Surfacer 500 to replace the blast bags. If you have any give that a try when you get to it.

 

Ben, it's great to have you checking in, thanks. It's more fun to know others are watching as well.

Bakster, I use Mr Surfacer 500 to replace the blast bags. If you have any give that a try when you get to it.

Mongoose, I solder every day, but usually under a microscope soldering 2mm surface mount components to PC boards. Try adding some flux to the soldering surface, clean the solder tip and/or the surface to be soldered, and/or hold the iron on a little longer to make sure the surface reaches the proper temprature. If you are using resen core solder you will still need some flux on the surface to help the solder flow. My guess is that your tip/surface is not clean.

Tiny little thing.

a) try holding a tiny length of brass wire behind the joint.

b) don't worry about it.

Those look awesome guys! Again I'm not going to name names for fear of accidently leaving someone out!!! 

Little embarassed that Nick has almost finished his PT boat when I haven't even started yet... 

Back to the aft superstructure tonight no parts have been lost on this mission so far.

 The only thing I cannot figure out yet is if there will be a short ladder to go on the left side. Pontos shows the stock molded ladder remaining here. Only found 2 short ones on the frets so this may stay as is or maybe i have something from the 1/700 destroyer i did that would work. Hmmmm? 

Mongoose-- nice progress on your build and the work you have done looks really good! Love that PE...  

Here is where I am with the main guns:

The image below are the turrets as they look out of the box. Notice the barrels and the canvas skirts. In the next image you will see that I utilize the base of the barrels for repurpose.

I cut the barrels off, sanded the canvas skirts to a flat, glued, and then drilled.

I will make the barrels next.

PS: Thanks Drums and Hogfanfs about the decking, I appreciate the nice comments. 

I have been silent.... but watching.

I have to say that this GB is going great!. The PT109 looks like the real deal, and bakster's wood deck is just PERFECT. Those subs are looking really nice as well, I just love the Gato subs deck gun (WOW). Mach71 is bringing the Monogram sub up to a new level. Those modern surface ships are looking awesome too (details and PE). I can go on and on, but keep up the fantastic and inspiring work.

I will be posting eventually. 

Ben

Crown I love the soft fade between hull red and green!

Looking good Mongoose, nice PE work. In naval terms it would be fore superstructure, but who cares, front of the superstructure is just fine and this isn't the Naval Academy.

Mach, well done on the mod.

Ok gang it’s deadline time for me again. This year’s local club build for September is a tribute build, anything Marine Corp, in honour of a past Club President, Ed Kinney. I’ve chosen to do the FFG-48, USS Vandegrift. It ties in nicely with the group build as posting updates keeps me motivated plus I know I’ll need some help along the way to get it across the finish line by Sept 15th. 

General Alexander Vandegrift was the first Marine General. He led the battle for Quadalcanal, won the medal of hono, and rose to commandant of the Marine Corps. After the war he was probably best known for keeping the Marines from being absorbed into the Navy. Gonna try to do him proud.

 I had just started this so if you’re interested here’s the link to my work on the hull over in the Ships forum.

Now for my latest progress, slow and steady like the tortoise wins the race. The deck is glued down and the brass is on the bow. Not sure about these Pontos directions but this section made some sense to do now.

While I was at Nats got myself a touch and flow. Never seems to be in stock at the LHS. I mention it here because I don’t think the gap i had between hull and deck would have stayed closed for a year without how hot this plasti weld is. Check out the icing from this joint 

Did some minor work on the helicopter bays and finished up the front of the superstructure (is that the right term here?).

Took a beginners class on soldering PE at Nats as well. I ve got the space really organized with the intent of not losing any pieces! There’s 3 large frets of PE in this kit plus pins, barrels, and davits. Has me scared enough to clean haha.

@Bakster,

I'm going to have to back read everything you did for the deck, because I will use the same technique. It looks outstanding! 

@Nick,

The 109 looks amazing, and I agree, I think John would be extremely pleased.

@Mach71,

Wow, she's really taking shape! I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on her.

TheMongoose

This was super helpful. Definitely going to benefit from several pices of advice here. This is just my 2nd attempt at pe on a ship. Have done 1 or 2 plane cockpits but those are nothing like ships. Next i need a good rigging guide if you guys have a favorite drop a link in for me

 

Bakster

Following KCs advice I checked out some YouTube videos on veneer decking. In so doing, I came across an excellent video about PE. Most of you guys have no need for this, but for PE greenhorns like me, it is an excellent basics tutorial. This video filled in some knowledge gaps that I had.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V6C7LGDTlwo

 

 

 

 

 

 

TheMongoose, your good, I got ya down Capt.

Looking forward to it. 

This was super helpful. Definitely going to benefit from several pices of advice here. This is just my 2nd attempt at pe on a ship. Have done 1 or 2 plane cockpits but those are nothing like ships. Next i need a good rigging guide if you guys have a favorite drop a link in for me

Bakster

Following KCs advice I checked out some YouTube videos on veneer decking. In so doing, I came across an excellent video about PE. Most of you guys have no need for this, but for PE greenhorns like me, it is an excellent basics tutorial. This video filled in some knowledge gaps that I had.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V6C7LGDTlwo

 

This was super helpful. Definitely going to benefit from several pices of advice here. This is just my 2nd attempt at pe on a ship. Have done 1 or 2 plane cockpits but those are nothing like ships. Next i need a good rigging guide if you guys have a favorite drop a link in for me 

Modelcrazy I started one August 12th after i go back from the Nats. i have the hull painted and a little work to open up the turbine intake vents on a 1/350 FFG. Is that too far? I had just posted an update in the ships forum if you want to judge progress. there’s lots of Pontos advanced detail kit left to go but Bad on me for not thinking to check the group builds before starting though. No worries if it’s too far as I will do another one no matter what 

chris

It struck me tonight that I should try imaging the deck in RAW format. RAW doesn't do all the in-camera processing like it does for Jpeg, and that is where the trouble comes in. In doing RAW I was able to get much closer to what the piece looks like. I'd say I am about 80% there. The colors are still a little off and some nice nuances are still not visible, but the image is much better than the first ones that I posted. The actual color of the piece leans more to a brown, this image leans to red. I underexposed and pushed the color slighly to help bring out the subtle detail. Anyway, this will give you a better idea of how it looks. 

No comments necessary unless you want to. 

I started work on the big guns and it is going well. I will have some images for you in the days ahead.

It's almost ready for a crazy Ivan!

I'm having no luck finding the deck fittings. I might have to scratch them.

Next question for you sub guys. What color should the lower hull be? Flat red?

Brown/red?

I'm planing on Semi matt black on the upper hull.

Hey Mach--your sub is looking like an ominous beast! Like it's ready to wreak havoc! I like it....

Nick your PT is lookin very very nice! Looks like you will be 1st finished!

A small amout of progress. Work is keeping me busy. I found a bit of time last night and this morning to work on the Blueback.

I sanded the surface prep, Re painted a few spots, sanded again, polished her with a paper towel, and put another coat of primer on her. Polished again with a paper towel. I think it's finally ready.

There are a few very shallow imperfections but they should go away with another primer coat and paint.

The big parts dry fit

DutchLQ7

That deck looks amazing! Great job and the walk through was very informative. Something to aim for in the future when I’ve built up some of the skills I’ll need.

 

Yeah Nick your PT looks superb! Love how the weathering and the gunk on the hull came out- she looks like a Pacific vetern! 

Bakster: The deck looks cool, looking forward to more. 

Wow Crown, that PT looks fantastic. That is some great weathering there. John himself would approve I think.

crown r n7

but this old man well I work whats in the box. I salute you! 

No... I salute YOU! Your PT looks great! I love all the subtle weathering that you did, it looks ready for combat! Very nice work Crown...

Bakster... Going to look good under the big guns.

Crown... You do nice work OOB.  I like it.

you guy's with the after market stuff do a phenomenal job!!! but this old man well I work whats in the box. I salute you! 

latest pt pics dont laugh too much lol

A big thanks to everyone that commented on my decking...I appreciate the support! It is pretty amazing what manufacturers can create when they set their minds to it. Wood veneer is pretty cool stuff!

I watched a youtube video last night where a builder applied several washes to his veneer decking, all the washes are commercially available. In general, I felt it was too over the top. One wash in particular was near black. What I am getting at though is that he used a salt wash made by Mig. He loaded the piece with the wash and over minutes the stuff dries out leaving behind a blended and lightened appearance to the work done earlier. This intrigues me and I might have to buy some for testing. Not so much for this build but for future projects. This might be good for producing weathering effects. The stuff really knocked down some of the heavy washes he applied. 

And that is my Sunday morning two cents. Lol.

Darn!

 How're my "Snipes" gonna get oil smoke stains on Forward decks when we " Blow Tubes"? I guess we can do it when we are going " Full Astern"

 We like to mess up purty decks. Gives the "Deck Apes" sumpin ta do! And those are beautiful. Very nice job. I haven't used any wood decks yet.