Ships of the American Flag GB 2019 -2021

I'm back for now. Using Edge seems to be working.  Got all the painting done and started assembling.  This kit was designed to be a snap together, so the assembly is interesting to say the least.

Really looking great Scott.

Oh my Scott , you sure have made great progress since the last update.

Thanks Steve and John.

John, I like your caption from Oddball, thats the attitude I need man.

scottrc

Thanks Steve and John.

John, I like your caption from Oddball, thats the attitude I need man.

 

If I can't, I just fake it. 

Scottrc: that is looking really nice in color and the hull red looks perfect. 

UPDATE: I got all of the basecoat on my Arizona and will now begin painting some of the detal along with construction of the superstructure deck splinter shields for the 5" deck guns. 

If you remember, I am going after a look in the late January early February 1941 paint scheme. This is the time that it just left the Puget Sound Naval Yard. The modifications to the Arizona while there included the addition of the birdbath with the 50 cal guns on top of the main top, etc. That means that mine will be all Standard Navy Gray #5 (before April 1941). To me it seems that everybody I see who built this kit applied the two tone Measue 1 so I wanted something just a little different. Since I still wanted to have the OSU2 planes along with nearly all of the modifications up until the Pearl Harbor assignment, this seemed like the best period for my build. The main gun turrets 1,2 and 4 will also have the red tops. 

Now, back to the splinter shields... I am trying to determine if the front (round) tubs on the superstructure deck had a wood or metal floor. I believe they are suppose to be metal, can anyone confirm that for me? (I have seen models built both in wood and metal). The ships drawings I have and the photos I could find do not show that little area. 

Another thing I see on all of the photos from 1939 to early 1941 (prior to the Measue 1 paint); all of the main gun turrets appear to be in more of a lighter color that the rest of the ship. They look somewhere between 5L light gray and a light haze gray. Am I correct?

Below is a photo showing an example of the pre-shading and base color applied to the #3 turret and funnel:

And now the fun begins!

Ben

Ben,

I have no idea about the composition of the tub flooring however yo your other point regarding the turet color, they may have been lighter due to sun fading. Just a guess here. 

In amongst all the car and house projects I got a little modeling time. My Flory washes came in from England last week, I watched the video of applying washes to the Iowa Jima. Based on that Iput a few coats of satin clear on the deck, island, and gray hull sides in preparation. Ill wait a few days before starting so look forward to that later in the week.

 I'm half way through the hose reels. It's been so hard to get motivated on these that i think you can see dust build up in the tray lol

Never did find any steps on how to assemble them. For anyone who searches hose reels on here in the future I'm going to post a few pics to help them out.

then the frame was glued onto 1 side. 

then i folded them, leaving the top PE spine in place to hold it all together. Doing it without this was a real pita! It's just so much to hold onto without springing parts across the room

then fold the frame over and complete the glue joint with CA in the open end of a needle!

And then lastly the 1st set of 144(now 143) sailors were painted. Just have to gloss coat them. Found 4 more packages of them in Japan Super cheap. Unfortunately shipping took most of that away but they still ended up being $6each cheaper than the ones on ebay.

That's it for this weekend. There's a few more nights working in the garage this week, then trying to get an old car running before i get back to her. That should guarantee I give the clear coat planty of time to dry before the wash is applied 

Awesome Chris. I think those hose reels are going to work out well 

I have some 1/350 IJN guys ordered from HLJ but tjey aren't in stock, so I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting 

I do have plenty of guys for the NC though. 

Ben and Chris, awesome fine scale work!

This kit was as snap to put together.  (pun)

Now to start adding all the PE.  It came with a full suite of radars and railings. This model will also be a good one to hone up my rigging skills.

Hi;

 It's been a while since I posted my interest. I got started on the kit then realized I had made a mistake in the construction. Correcting this on Paper is not the same as plastic believe me. Well, anyway the "Eddie Fitz" will grace this thread soon. I have to figure out the new camera too!

I wouldn't have know that was a snap kit Scott.

GM, looking forward to it.

modelcrazy

I wouldn't have know that was a snap kit Scott.

GM, looking forward to it.

 

Ya Steve, Acedemy started offering the kit as a basic intro to modeling.  So all the parts have big nubs on them that fit into undersized holes. Whats really tough is that nothing fits 1:1 not matter how much trimming I do, so the there are gaps that are way out of scale.  Filling them seems to cause more problems that its worth at this point.  But the kit overall looks good when put together, and the molded details can compete with resin.  I'll get some close up  shots next time.

Scott

Scott that ship looks really good! Shocked it's snap tite. Although you do make it sound like it's a 3-footer lol

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

 It's been a while since I posted my interest. I got started on the kit then realized I had made a mistake in the construction. Correcting this on Paper is not the same as plastic believe me. Well, anyway the "Eddie Fitz" will grace this thread soon. I have to figure out the new camera too!

 

as a Cleveland native I'm excited to see the Eddie Fitz! I've looked at that one before but never pulled the trigger. Still have the site saved to my favoties. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

 It's been a while since I posted my interest. I got started on the kit then realized I had made a mistake in the construction. Correcting this on Paper is not the same as plastic believe me. Well, anyway the "Eddie Fitz" will grace this thread soon. I have to figure out the new camera too!

 

The Midway is basically complete except for a bunch of antennas.

I've been studying photos and trying to figure out the air wing. A little challenging from an order point of view as Revell chose prime numbers for each type of aircraft, but that's reality I guess.

GMorrison

The Midway is basically complete except for a bunch of antennas.

I've been studying photos and trying to figure out the air wing. A little challenging from an order point of view as Revell chose prime numbers for each type of aircraft, but that's reality I guess.

 

cant wait to see it! The birds are looking good there.

Progress on this end finally saw the hose reels beat into submission. Started with 45 and am down to 42 now. The ship only needs 40 so still some stearageway 

I know they are way better than the kit plastic ones but honestly I think they are too tall Compared to pics I have. Is what it is though and they look good on the carrier. Added the little pins to the bottom so they would slip into the kit mounting points. Made it much easier to align and mount them on my test piece.

Looks good guys. Looking forward to your Midway GM

INPUT NEEDED...ok I've stopped at this point to get some opinions. I'm weathering the flight deck now. This is Flory washes over a satin clear so it sticks a little more. I'm trying to decide if I should darken up the flight deck more, closer to the scene being recreated, OR if I should leave it as is with more contrast between sections?

Attaching 3 pics and then a few closeup for review. 1st is the scene I’m after. 2nd is as painted for perspective on how much weathering is done now  and 3rd is weathered. I’m thinking stop here because I don’t want to lose all the visual affect I have if I try to duplicate the scene. Scene seems awfully dark now that I’m painting. Maybe even less weathering? Tell me what you think.

as painted

Weathering 

close-ups, weathering 

Yeah, I wouldn't want to go darker but the actual photo looks very dark. Not sure how much of that is shadow from the AC or if that's just how dark it was. Tough call. Unless you are going to display her next to the picture, I'd probably leave it as is. Others may have better sugestions though. 

Looks outstanding either way 

Finished!

Excelent build GM! 

Great work all around. Excelent modificaion to make her the Midway.

I always look forward to your work. I have you up on the wall and look forward to the SMS Scharnhorst in the German GB.

Here is your achievement ribbon sir.

GM the planes really bring that deck to life. Looks superb!

Looks really clean GM. I like the little birds as the detail on the rotor craft loooks wonderful. I also like the PE work on the super structure, catch nets, etc. 

I hope to be posting some progrerss soon myself.

Ben

Little bits of progress...

- Finished detail painting the 5" guns of the superstructure:

- Finished all the various base coates to both catapults. All that is left is the wash and light dry brushing:

- Finished the various base coats on the hull. Afterwards I found that my primer and paint did not like the waterline mask and pulled some paint from the hull. I used AK and Vallejo paints over enamel primer. I will have to rework that before finally painting the water line. This is not the finished color, only the base colors for early 1941. And yes, the turets are a lighter color than the hull and superstructure. They still need a similar wash, dry brush and the blast bags painted.

I also found that the foam board was too thick after I cut it out making the hull go below the waterline. I am going to try some picture framing matt board (only half as thick), that is what is under it now. If I don't like it, I will put the ship directly on the board with no cut out. 

Other things I've gotten done include painting the main and fore masts, the superstructure, and all the decks in those areas "deck blue". I also finished painting all the ammo boxes, both the main and forward fire control towers, detail painted the cranes, and base painted all of the other fiddly little bits like the water tight doors, etc. 

Once I fix the hull and paint the water line I will begin adding the wood deck to the hull. 

Till then...

Ben

The guns and cats look great Ben

Bravo work on the finished Midway GM.

After looking at the ship photos and digesting it for some time, I may bring the gun turrets back to the 5H color of the hull (perhaps with just mild highlights), WHAT DO YOU THINK? I also have to fix the hull paint where the mask I was applying for the water line pulled some paint. Then I will be able to work more on the washes and highlights. When looking at the old period photos, what do you think I should do, leave them the lighter color or paint them the hull color?

As for detailing inside the superstructure control rooms, sorry to let everyone down, but I may leave that off the build and paint inside them black. I may still add some little people in there to break up the contrast, but the white/light gray interior with all its details isn't working for me in this scale or subject (lack of reference photos within each room and lack of scaleable detail material). 

Photos on the paint corrections and assembly updates soon.

Ben

When i look at the B turret vs the hull on the right side they sure look close to the same color. I'd tend toward the same color withjust a little tone difference. Like priming in white on 1 surface and light gray on the other, or maybe 2 shades of gray. Just thhinking out loud here based on what i see.