Here goes:
I finally decided that the SR would be a good subject for my next WIP thread...
There are other build logs for this kit elsewhere on the internet, some are very well done, and some...well, just never seemed to get finished. It's like the builders sailed into the Bermuda Triangle or something!
Anyway, I'm hoping to learn a bunch of stuff during this build, and I'd love it if I could count on my fellow modelers to help with advice/insight along the way....I already have questions! But I also feel like my skills have developed enough since I started building ship models (almost 3 years ago!) that I may have what it takes to do a decent job on this one.
Please feel free to chime in, but I do ask that remarks be kept positive and more or less on-topic...especially since this build will likely stretch on for many, many months (or years), and I hope it will serve future builders of this kit, should any dare to follow in my footsteps! :)
Though I have lately begun to consider myself a little more of a *serious* scale modeler, most of you know that I don't trouble myself too much with certain aspects of authenticity or correctness in modeling. I like to make things that look cool to me, and some stuff doesn't matter so much. The plan is to make several changes to the kit, but I won't be addressing ALL of the known and oft-mentioned shortcomings...mostly just the ones that I think make it look better to my eye. We'll get more into that later.
For now, I would like to start with a current progress update:
I have some parts prepped, no painting done yet. I washed everything in the bathtub in a warm bath of Water and Dawn dishwashing soap...then rinsed them copiously and let them dry for 36 hours..anyone who knows abbout this kit knows that there are LOTS of parts, so the Dave-Cave was littered with plastic sprues over the weekend!
I have removed the windows from the rear quarter galleries, and assembled a couple of gun barrels, just to test the fit of them.
I am torn on whether to assemble the masts and yards first, then airbrush the basecoats....it's much easier to handle and paint parts while they're on the sprue, but it's also difficult to paint halves separately and then assemble them, while trying to keep the seams of each part hidden. So that's on my mind...though I'll probably go ahead and glue them before painting.
Same problem with the gun barrels. But they will be painted while on the sprue, then assembled later, for reasons of convenience.
For now, my biggest holdup is the *what-have-you* of chainplates and lower deadeyes. I have some material on order from ME, so when that stuff comes I can start experimenting with how the chainplates will be set up...once I figure that out, then I can make the necessary hull and bulwark modifications to accommodate whatever means I'll use to fasten the chainplates (of course, the plastic kit eyebolts will not withstand the tension of the shrouds, so that's the issue)....
So, there it is. I'll put a couple of quick pics, just as a headline.
Hope you guys find this project interesting and provocative!
Thanks!
David_K
