Nemo's Nautilus

A thing of beauty - great work on a great inovative concept!

Hmmm.

   You sir ,make me angry .Why ? Well you built a very beautiful model of the "Non" Disney Nautilus ! And you did awesome work . I haven't even been able to start mine .Darned it ! You do Gorgeous work . My Minshipco hat is off to you . I am not really angry , just bumfuzzled that time has not allowed me to put a hand to mine . Now , I know i'm gonna have fun . Thanks   Tanker - Builder

Oh I feel your pain Tankbuilder. I rarely get the time I desire to spend at the modeling bench. In past years I would crank out 12 or 14 builds like this per year, now I'm lucky to do 1 or 2. I did dust my display shelves this year but only after the wife got on my case and threatened to do it herself.

I actually started working on this again last night while my wife watched Project Runway (uhg). I've been trying to get comfortable with the paper masks included with the kit and after making it half way through one salon window I decided these things are more trouble than they are worth. Here are the problems:
1. Poor adhesion. Even after polishing the plastic with a clean swab to remove any trace finger oils they still do not stick well and want to lift along edges.
2. Poor die design. Masks that should fit rounded window panes are cut using a series of straight cuts - not a real good idea.
3. Poor fit. So far I have applied about 15 or 20 of these and have had to trim about half of them for an accurate fit to the panels. This becomes problematic when the poor adhesion is factored in.
4. Incorrect shape. All 8 of the little wedges that fit into the center of the salon window are cut like slices of pie - triangles. The panel is not a triangle but a trapezoid.
5. Not all panels are represented in the mask sheet. There are many small panels around the perimeter that are omitted because they found them too difficult to make cutting dies for. Considering complaints 2, 3 and 4 not very surprising.

In frustration I pulled out a bottle of Miskit and a toothpick. I found with one end of the toothpick stubbed off and the other sharpened I could place a drop of masking fluid into an opening and then work it quickly into the corners and have a fast yet perfect mask every time. I was also able to mask the little odd shaped panes omitted from the masking sheet with no problem. Screw the paper masks!

Swanny

In frustration I pulled out a bottle of Miskit and a toothpick. I found with one end of the toothpick stubbed off and the other sharpened I could place a drop of masking fluid into an opening and then work it quickly into the corners and have a fast yet perfect mask every time. I was also able to mask the little odd shaped panes omitted from the masking sheet with no problem. Screw the paper masks!

Thanks for the head's-up on that.  I'll not even mess with the paper masks that come with the kit.  I wonder if Aztek Dummy's masks would be any better:

http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Nautilus-Window-masks-from-Aztek-Dummy_p_2631.html

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Ultimately I did use some of the masks. Here all the panels are masked, you can see the ones easily with the paper masks - all the rest are done with Miskit masking liquid.

I am curious to see how this "Miskit" works for you. I have never heard of it before. I have a bottle of "Micro-Mask" which I have yet to get to work right for me. You have to lay it on pretty thick as it turns out, and removing it after painting is a pain. Maybe its just my ineptitude, but I don't even bother w/ it anymore.

The Pegasus kit is a very interesting concept model of the Nautilus, giving lip service to Victorian ship building practice as did the Harper Goff Disney version.

Airfix were looking to release a kit of the Disney version back in the 1980's. I saw the test shots at a London trade fair at the time, but the project was abandoned when the company changed ownership and never released.

Rumour has it that the Comet Miniatures kits were based on the proposed Airfix kit test shots, but this is uncertain.

The Pegasus kit is a very good alternative to the hideously expensive resins of the Disney vessel, and very much in keeping with the Steampunk genre.

Is that glued up? If so how are you gonna do the bubble windows on both sides of the saon windows?

Salon windows,missed an l there

I have not been able to do much on this for the last several weeks due to the mundane world causing interference. As for the bubble windows I am not using the kit clear parts rather stuffing the interiors with tissue then white gluing them to the hull. After painting I will pop them off, remove the tissue then add panes using clear parts cement then reattach them to the hull. This would also work using the kit parts if you did not want to use the poor fitting kit masks. I do have some primer on the salon windows now and everything is masked, just have not had a moment to sit down and start painting again. I am suffering serious withdraw!

Raualduke

Just ordered the kit. Is the lighting available as a kit,or are you doing that from scratch

Yes, there is, from VoodooFX:

http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Nautilus-Light-kit-from-VoodooFX_p_2642.html

$32.00 US.

I built mine from scratch, $2.50.

I managed to ge a few minutes at the workbench tonight and got the base coat of Alclad copper done.

Looks great!  Are you going to weather it?

The copper is just a base coat, now we start work with some Iron!

Some depth to the finish

Yeah, that was a pun.

Righteous!

Swanny

Some depth to the finish

Yeah, that was a pun.

OH  Groan   

but it was funny 

The sub part of this build is now complete. The new spotlight worked out real well, the liquid mask was okay but some touch-up was needed on the frames after removal. The model lights up real nice and with the room lights dimmed the red bridge looks awesome.

Now to fix up the Calamari side of this dish

Just fantastic work,I love it

What paint are you using on the octopus, and how is it working with the vinyl?  I have this kit, and am concerned about painting the thing.  

I laid down a base coat of Model Master light gray enamel. Next I applied Tamiya acrylic hull red in a very spotty fashion. Now I take some hull red and add more red then apply another spotty layer of paint. Once dry the whole thing is sludge washed. Now the suckers are dry brushed with the original light gray. The rest of the tentacle is dry brushed with the original hull red then with lightened hull red. What do you think, does it look convincing?

Needs some slimey finish to the tentacle there but I find it convincing in the utmost. And the sub is beyond reproach. Well done, Swanny!

Every time I open the site and see a new Nemo's Nautilus post I say: " Oh boy - what's he done now!" and rush to open the thread.

More seafood

Here is the base. Two holes get drilled into the edge of the flat area where the squid will rest to run the power lines.

And now once last test fit of the squid before it gets secured with a nice blog of hot glue. Superglue will secure the sub to the squid.

Swanny

I laid down a base coat of Model Master light gray enamel. Next I applied Tamiya acrylic hull red in a very spotty fashion. Now I take some hull red and add more red then apply another spotty layer of paint. Once dry the whole thing is sludge washed. Now the suckers are dry brushed with the original light gray. The rest of the tentacle is dry brushed with the original hull red then with lightened hull red. What do you think, does it look convincing?

Thank you for the detail.  So enamel as a base, and it dried okay? 

It does look convincing enough, and the details are brought out nicely. 

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

I'm calling this one done. She is now installed on top of my 150 gallon aquarium in the family room.