Trumpeter HMS Dreadnought 1915

Mike,

I don't know how they do it either as I am also moving along at a snail's pace.  Installed the new bridge last night and only have on boat left to paint.  The launches and boats were a pain to clean up and maintain the bumper rail along the sides.  A seam scrapper helped a lot.

What did you use to add the blast bags?

Marcus

Marcus,

I understand about not wanting to disassemble any bunch of components that have been carefully put together. I was at a point where it didn't seem like it would be too difficult so I went ahead with it. I'm real sorry about the dropped bottle!

I'm posting what seems like a small update but it's taken me many hours to get to this point. I just don't understand how other modelers work so quickly and deftly. I will no longer bemoan my shortcomings since I enjoy the building process whether or not it's neat and tidy. I do, however, have a LOT more respect for those modelers who post close up pictures of their work. Each time I try to do that I see so many things that I wish I'd done better or should do over that I think I'll avoid that kind of image in my future posts.

Mike

Here's where I am now:

She is coming along just fine.  I am in the process of rebuilding the bridge on my dreadnought, drop a bottle of thinner on it while reaching without looking for a new bottle of glue.  Also decided not to add the brass rod as I already assembled the platform before realizing that the yardarms would not support any weight.  I did not want the hassle of disassembling and reassembling, most likely would break something.

Next model I will check the yardarms before assembly.

Marcus.

Replacement masts look the part Mike! See, I knew you could do it!

Another small update.

Attempting to do what I've never tried before. Bill said "...I found it fairly easy to pull off." That means, to me, that the level of difficulty might just be within the compass of my abilities .

So, after tearing apart the searchlight platform (and breaking off the lower yard), I'm trying to do the mast/yards in brass rod. Here's the result so far.

Mike

The last image shows that I've redone the railing on the compass platform. I used generic PE from the WEM PE I bought for this build. A little better than my first couple of attempts. I also added the ladder and platform to the forward stack.

Making good progress on this one Mike! Looks like everything is coming together as it should. As for the soldering and brass mast option, I'm by no means a soldering expert but I found it fairly easy to pull off. Give it a whirl if you're inclined to do the rigging, you'll be happy you did. The styrene masts just aren't strong enough on their own to stand up to any kind of complex handling or tension strain IMHO without bowing or even breaking. Keep up the good work on your 1915 Dreadnought!

OK, latest update.

I'm not happy with some fit problems that I had. My fault for not dry fitting the parts more carefully and taking care of the problem(s) prior to attaching. I DO dry fit many parts before attachment since it has saved me headaches in the past but in these cases I don't know why I missed them.

My clumsy, shaking fingers do not lend themselves to attaching tiny PE or styrene parts very well. However, I'm doing the best I can thus far. It's still fun to work on even if it's not pretty.

I'm a little concerned about rigging (when I get there). I thought about substituting brass rod for the styrene mast and yards (I have brass rod and some silver bearing solder paste and a soldering iron) similar to the work that Bill did on his model but I don't have the confidence to do that just yet. We'll see when the rigging calls me .

Mike

Steve,

Thanks for chiming in. I'm really sorry about your health issues. I sincerely hope you'll be back to 100% in the near future.

As to Gator Glue - I do use it. I reserve it for PE and will use CA instead of Gator Glue if I feel a more secure join is in order - that may be faulty thinking though. I really do like the stuff (Gator's Grip glue that is).

Shields down is what I'm planning on doing at this point.

Get well soon.

Mike

Mike,

I know all about reading twice and cussing far more than that.......... I also know about how the close up on film really bring out the defects that are glaring to us the modeler but are usually never noticed by the lay person.  Just look at my last Dreadnought post, I had Gator Glue all over the turret mounts, but one of the things I have Really like about Gator Glue is that it is VERY forgiving.  Just wet it down with water and let it sit a bit and then you can reposition the PE and clean up the excess with a dry brush.  Unfortunately that does not help with the positioning of the guns.

Although I really appreciate the heads up on the positioning of the guns, but I think I might be able to make a suggestion on a work around.  If you position the shields open, (dropped down) it is still accurate and a whole lot easier!  I was planning on doing that on my build anyway because this is only the second time I have ever used PE on a model so I am learning just like you.

The the work you have done so far is looking good and I know how frustrating working with the rails and funnel grills is, heck I am so ham fisted that I have to do just a bit at a time or I'll end up with no railing left!  I am starting to look at PE work as I do rigging work, I can only do about 15 to 30 minutes at a time or else I start making dumb mistakes and end up having to do it over again.  So take it slow and juggle some of the other building needs or painting with the PE work.  Just a suggestion but as my Dad used to say, free advice is worth exactly what it cost.......nothing.  Figure out what works for you and build on that.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I have dealing with some serious health issues that have not been conductive with modeling so everything is at a standstill at this point.  This si the first time I have been able to even check out the Forum.

Keep at it Mike!

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for lightening up what seemed to me to be more of a dirge than a WIP .

I must say that, at my age and with my limited - but growing (I hope) skills and confidence, comes a sense of satisfaction even if I'm not in the same ballpark as many who post here. One of the abilities I lack is being able to form and attach the very delicate PE that is supplied with the Trumpeter kit. I refer to the stack gratings specifically. I bought a second kit for spare parts as I mentioned above and, just to see if I could manage those stacks a second time around, gave it a go. Total failure. I guess my fingers/hand/eye coordination is just not up to that task. However, not to worry, I'm trudging on with my build.

ALWAYS read ahead and try to anticipate problems with the build - - well, next time . I've discovered  that it's necessary to place the 12 lb. cannon that project from the interior of the "super deck" exactly as the instructions show. Otherwise - as in my case - you'll be SOL when it comes to placing the PE parts that act as shields in the proper places. The picture I'm attaching in this regard still has lots of little clean up issues - always shows up with close up images - so, disregarding the clean up work to be done, look at where the cannon are placed in their openings.

Mike

Speaking for me;      if I dont hash up, some part of the build,  I just have to wait for the next step.

At least good ol' G17&D17 are nice a cozy inside the vac.bag and not being eaten by the cat.

Repainting the hull is getting easier now, isn't it? What with all that practice- so there's a time savings, a plus.

Canvas covered railing looks  more interesting than all that bare metal, and so counts as a "detail feature", not a (wait for it)............. Cover-up!     

Enjoying your WIP, self proclaimed warts and all --NO, not real warts-- the paint looks fine realy. 

       Model On, Brother, the styrene calls us all 

OK some more then others

A small update is in order. First a mea culpa. Here is a short list of some of my mistakes, bad luck, and poor skills:

1. I'm having a devil of a time with the forming of the PE. I'm doing it but not to my satisfaction and not to close up inspection.

2. I've lost (first to the carpet monster and then - since I hadn't realized it was lost - to my vacuum cleaner ) parts G17 and one of D17. I don't feel I have the skill to scratch build G17 but I may try to substitute some wire for D17.

3. I made a mess of several lengths of railing on the compass platform so I ripped it off and substituted the canvas covered railing instead. Still not great work but, for me, it'll do.

I decided (at a stage that's a little late in the build process since I've already painted the hull about 3 times!) to add the re-enforcement ribs on the hull that Bill did with his model. In 1915 there were fewer of these ribs as far as I can tell from the pictures so I added six per side where I saw them in the John Roberts book.

Because I won't be spending any more $ on kits for the next few years (while I whittle away at my stash) I decided to buy another Dreadnought 1915 just for spare parts.

.
Steve,

Thank you - as always - for the encouragement and tips.

I've been doing more hiking than model building lately but in a few weeks the weather is probably going to dictate more bench time.

Mike

Mike,

Your Dreadnought is looking great!  I know about comparing your work to other modelers, I have done it myself but I try and remember that every time I build, I try and do better than what I did last time.  Which can be tough considering that I work on numerous models at the same time!  So, there is nothing to it but to do it.

One of the things I have learned working in 1/350 scale for the first time, is to cut delicate parts on a piece of balsa wood, it has a little bit of give but is still is stiff enough to handle the cut.  Another trick, which you probably already know is when cutting delicate parts, i always cut the major sprue around it and then cut the part off.

Keep up the good work Mike,

Steve

Bill and T.B.,

Thanks for chiming in and for encouraging words.

Mike

Hey There !

        If you call that sloppy then I wear  a girdle ! Mike you're doing fine .Own worst critic and all .See , you are getting in the spirit of it .I have folks here at home tell me ." Why are you being so fussy , it looks great !" " Yeah , I've heard that before "  is the under-breath reply .

 You do know what all that means don't you? Even the trouble with taking pictures ? Why , You have arrived ! Welcome aboard the most frustrating , and satisfying hobby in existence ! Love your work . T.B.

We are our own worst critics Mike, don't knock your work though, it's looking good! The key is that you're enjoying the project! I hear you on the troubles with photographing the hull and details, always tough with something of this size. Keep plugging away!

This is my latest update. I'm embarrassed to look at what now appears to me to be really sloppy work when I view my own build close up . C'est la vie. I have tried to the best of my abilities to get things as neat as I possibly can but I'm just not up to doing the kind of work Bill has done on his model.

Non-the-less, I'm enjoying working on her again and, coming up this week, were going to have some rain - finally - here in western Oregon. That means that I'll be able to concentrate more on my model building instead of hiking and photographing.

The three images I'm posting now are actually stacked images. There's no way I could have gotten the whole ship (or super deck) sharp in one shot so I took as many as 23 shots for each of the three images you see here with each one focused on a slightly different plane and combined them in Photoshop. There are some blurry slices in some of them but, in general, it worked out well.

I've broken some parts as I cut them from the sprues but I've tried to glue them together again as best I can. Those broken parts will be coming up to be attached this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll not break when I attempt to glue them to the super deck and that they'll fit OK.

Mike

Mike,

I was going to use Vallejo 818 Red Leather originally for the upper boat deck and the Admiral's walk; however, I read a post on the WEM website that calls out the color as #4 Grey (GW04) which is a dark grey and this is what I am now going to use.

Although I am an Acrylic painter by choice, in this case I will be using mainly Enamels.  I am waiting for my delivery of WEM Colourcoats' RN19 Anti-Fouling Red for the lower hull, Grey #3 (GW03) as the main hull color as well as the #4 Grey.

I was tired of trying to match the colors in Acrylic, so I went with the colors in Enamel.  This should be interesting airbrushing them as I have never airbrushed Enamels in the almost 30 years I have used an airbrush!

I agree with Bill, don't sweat building your model, have a good time.  Keep calm and carry on.  I think you are doing a great job on her so far and you like myself are stretching our comfort zone but we are learning a boatload of new techniques.

Steve

Ah...I see. I've been using the color guides in the Kagero 3D book and most of those areas (except for the admiral's walk) are shown to be a dark gray vs. what Trumpeter shows in their finish guide. So I've been using Model Master Panzer Schwarzrau (because it's what I have on hand and fits the bill) for those areas and/or the Wood Hunter deck portions. I suppose there's some debate on whether the upper decks had linoleum or wood but I'm planning to go ahead and use all the wood decking inserts provided on mine as I like their look and don't want any of it to go to waste.

Bill,

Regarding the "linoleum" color, I'm referring to this:

Mike

The important thing to remember with this build Mike is to have fun with it, learn where you can from it, and soldier on just as you're doing. Don't worry about skill level, there are lots of helpful folks here that can offer great advice and steer you in the right direction!

By linoleum for the superdeck, are you referring to the admiral's walk portion? I'll probably use something like Italian Dark Brown or similar for it.  

Bill,

I've already screwed them up . I will not have realistic looking funnel screens/baffles on my ship - too bad. I used the WEM PE as a substitute and couldn't get them to work as they're supposed to. They'll just have to do. Even though I began this as a WIP I have been aware that I'm going to make more mistakes than the average poster on Finescale so .... folks will have to put up with my skill level.

I do very much appreciate the heads up but as I say, I've botched it anyway. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to work with PE properly .... but I'm soldiering on . I'll post some more progress pictures in a week or so and try to show how I've handled the funnel tops.

Today I re-airbrushed the red portion of the hull. Somehow it seems like all I've been doing lately is painting and waiting for it to cure so I can re-paint some more .

What color are you and Steve using for the linoleum on the superdeck?

Mike

Mike,

Probably the biggest challenge in the kit PE-wise I think is the funnel baffles/screens...so brace yourself!

Thanks Bill and Steve.

I just hope there aren't too many more PE challenges in this kit but I'm not holding my breath!

Mike

Nicely done Mike, you have got be happy with how they turned out.

Steve

Yep, those three little supports are how it's supposed to be...getting the Trumpeter part bent into the correct shape takes a little bit of origami for sure! Your solution is much better.

Bill,

I re-airbrushed the boot stripe today - made it a bit wider.

I also guess I just don't understand how that PE that I mentioned in my last post is supposed to work. The illustration/drawing in the K3D book make that section look like they are supports for the structure above - three in each of the actual areas on board. The PE only had two in each unless the little bit in the middle was supposed to be bent to represent a third? I couldn't figure out how to do it so the one I did not lose just had two triangular support beams rather than three.  Soooo, even with my shakey hands/fingers and less than perfect eyesight, I attempted to cut some Evergreen into little triangles and glue them in place. They're not perfect but I think they'll do for the moment.

Mike

Don't sweat it Mike, onward and upward! You'll get her together. I feel your pain on the masking and the delicate nature of some of the PE. Trumpeter's PE is very delicate...it usually will only take a bend once and then you are set...so you have to study it very closely and make sure you really are doing it the correct way since you only get the one shot! That, combined with the fact that some parts are offered only in PE, means you get a little added pressure...but don't let it get you down, keep at it buddy!

Yep that sounds like model building  to me 

Your probably right Bill. Like I said, I just hope I can catch any other discrepencies.

I kind of drifted backward today. Trying to swim upstream .

I broke a rudder off the hull today, tried to drill a hole to put a piece of brass wire in to anchor it in place and drilled out a gully on the exposed side of the rudder while I was at it . So, moving on, I used some Squadron white putty on the ravine, filed and sanded and it now looks ok. Then, while masking the boot stripe for what must be the fourth time (after having received my copy of Kagero 3D book I realized that my boot stripe could use more width ), I broke off part of the starboard bilge keel and have just finished gluing that back. It seems like for each step I take forward I fall 1 1/2 steps backward!! Now with the extra glue that I used on the bilge keel I'm sure I'll end up having to mix up more hull red and repainting the whole thing. I also ruined (mangled) part PE38(A) so no support will show under that section of the super deck. (I managed to glue part PE24(A) on the other side without too much trouble. C'est la vie.

Mike