Nuclear Icebreaker ARKTIKA 1/400 (COMPLETED - for now)

Oh wow.  I was thinking of buying this kit, inspired by your build and learning about this ships accomplishments.   But not sure I want to deal with these issues as I am not a ship builder.   Looking forward to your progress and finished subject.

I’m not sure. If you look at some tourist photos on the ships it almost looks like they’re on a mini-putt green while watching icebergs. By the way I looked into how much an Icebreaker tour to the North Pole is: the first figure that popped up is $30k. So, I don’t think this is the cards for me.

Do many ship models require you to glue on the doors? Look at all these doors! 5 were too deformed to be usable, but there’s so many I don’t think anyone will notice. I attached 2 tonight and gave up in order to spray on some clear to protect the paint because it’s going to take a lot of manhandling to attach these doors.

Well done!  Curious why the green decks?

OK, I gave it a shot. I had some sprue from an Airfix set, and the diameter of it was similar, and it had a little bit of sheet where the sprue information/manufacturer numbers were on. It’s pretty basic, and somewhat big, but it might be OK once I paint them black. Here’s the result next to one of the mutant winches. 

Here’s the winches I made on the model itself. Yes these ships had green decks. The colors will tone down once I weather it.

Aww, come on - I know this is additional, unnecessary work - but you can scratchbuild those babies easily! Look - those outer wheels are exactly the diameter of the sprue - so you slice some sprue and you already got those outer rings. For the shaft you will have to find some thinner rod - or in a pinch go with toothpick or stretch some sprue - also not really a big deal here. And take some styrene sheet for the bases - you could go for more correct triangular bases perpendicular to the shaft. If you don't have styrene sheet (why not?), you could always try some old credit card, or some ice cream box - this stuff also usually lays around and gets dumped.

So I hope you can not only save the day here, but even improve those winches! Good luck with it and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks for the comments.

One frustrating snag I hit today (other than airbrush issues that I think I resolved), is some of these reel details for the deck. There were supposed to be 8 of these pieces but only one was fully formed. The rest were a mess. I might have to leave them off the model, leaving some unfortunate holes on the deck which I had already painted.

Love the paintwork and the weathering.....Cheers mark

Outstanding paint job.

looks good

Rick

That’s a great shot of Jamal. Hopefully a modern manufacturer will take on one of these ships. The kit I have is nice so far, but it lacks a lot of detail. Included is a tiny helipcopter that looks absolutely ridiculous. I won’t be adding it.

Despite its simplicity, I thought the simple paint job I gave it looked nice, and I was almost afraid to weather it. But weathering is the most fun part, and when I started there was no going back. I tried a variety of media, but what turned out best was artist oil paints. Some thicker dabs of white beld and broke up with a mineral oil wash that helped achieve the look I was going for based on the reference photos I found. 

Once this dries, whenever that may be, I’ll add some sporadic rust streaks with soft pastel before adding more clearcoat.

I also painted the pedestal black and gold, added an oil wash to make it look brassy. It came out pretty convincingly I think.

Saw this picture of a icebreaker shark mouth on Facebook that couild be used as a template for the model Russian icebreaker.

Happy modeling   Crackers  

Darkhorse

So! I’ve started painting based on the circa 1979-1980 era orange paint scheme. Referencing photos it becomes clear where the inaccuracies in the model are compared to the actual ship. But it doesn’t matter! I’m using a gray primer, and it takes the straight orange color to an extent, I’m sure I can tame it a bit further upon weathering or applying a mineral spirit wash. 

I tried chipping via the hairspray method - it works! 

I’ve also ordered some pastel chalks to add some snowiness or saltiness and rust effects. The question is will these chalks be effective over a clearcoat? I haven’t applied the clear coat yet. In the image below the hull is wet from a spritz of distilled water to rinse it off, and to see how rich the colors may be once I do apply the clear coat (semi-gloss).

 

Looks very good '

Rick

That looks great. What a cool subject.  Watching!  Btw the santa thing on ebay was cool.  Make it part of your display ;)

So! I’ve started painting based on the circa 1979-1980 era orange paint scheme. Referencing photos it becomes clear where the inaccuracies in the model are compared to the actual ship. But it doesn’t matter! I’m using a gray primer, and it takes the straight orange color to an extent, I’m sure I can tame it a bit further upon weathering or applying a mineral spirit wash. 

I tried chipping via the hairspray method - it works! 

I’ve also ordered some pastel chalks to add some snowiness or saltiness and rust effects. The question is will these chalks be effective over a clearcoat? I haven’t applied the clear coat yet. In the image below the hull is wet from a spritz of distilled water to rinse it off, and to see how rich the colors may be once I do apply the clear coat (semi-gloss).

I saw an unusual Arktika item on eBay and had to share. Merry Christmas, everyone!

eBay link (opens in new window).

The more I examine photos of the ship it seems clear that the shape of the bow for Yamal and Arktika are quite different. I think I’ll proceed with Arktika, based on the orange color scheme circa 1980 (the year I was born).

I have always wanted this Kit but will be watching this one with keen interest.....Cheers Mark

I think the shark mouth would be the easiest thing to hand paint.

I’ve been thinking about this. Might the hairspray technique used for chipping on model aircraft be apropos here? 

Here’s a shot of Arktika from 1980, which has a couple of scars. Interestingly, the atom logo is missing from this time period. The superstructure is more of an orange color. I might take on this color scheme. Just a dilute white wash for the saltiness or frostiness (or both) perhaps? 

GlennH

I never paid much attention to these ships nor realized the deck structure were so huge on them. I guess they have a crew way, way larger than I would have ever guess.

Breakers are frequently cargo carriers.  Full of fuel for generators for Arctic outposts. 

Counterintuitively, they also have large refrigeration plants to keep produce as fresh aas possible for those posted to those artic outposts.

You probably need a guinea pig to test the ice-scarred paint scheme.

Or not--still your choice.

Often ice-breakers wear their ice scars as a matter of pride, "war stripes" as it were.

I’ll keep an eye out. 

This weekend I’ve glued, sanded and primed the hull. 

The set comes with a little pedestal, which is helpful.

Darkhorse, do some decal research on your computer.  There are decals of shark's mouth for model aircraft. Get a decal that matches as close enough for your Russian icebreaker. Hope this helps.

Happy modeling     Crackers   

GlennH

Looks fun. I never paid much attention to these ships nor realized the deck structure were so huge on them. I guess they have a crew way, way larger than I would have ever guess.

They had a crew of up to 150 people. Apparently they had all sorts of luxuries like a cinema, and even a swimming pool. These ships would break records for being out to sea so long that I guess that kind of entertainment would be a necessity.

Paweł, I do plan on experimenting a bit with the colors. As for the decals, I haven’t decided. The big challenge I see with Yamal, aside from the shark mouth, is its different radar arrays. I’m not sure how I could change it to look accurate. I do intend on including some PE handrails. 

As it stands now I did sand off these raised details, mainly because one printing of the word Arktika was kind of sloppy.

Glenn, I guess many of the things you would just do on the deck of a normal ship have to be done "indoors" when it's really cold. Plus, an icebreaker also serves as supply ship for polar bases and such.

Have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

If I was in your place, I'd probably build the "Yamal" - you seem to have a soft spot for her! Don is always recommending printing the decals yourself, I usually say you're better off goint to the pros. Unfortunately I don't know any custom-decals company in the States, but if you find a good printing company they would give you very nice yellow and white prints, they even could print silver and gold should you ever need it. The biggest problem in any case is always drawing the pattern you neen on the computer. Once that's done, all other things are easy.

Now the sharkmouth could be printed with an ink-jet on white decal sheet, but the yellow ship name ant the "atom" logo could be tricky.

And I can't find it now, but I think I have read that you want to experiment with the coours a little - I only wanted to say that you should definitely do that.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Now you’re tempting me with these custom decals. Arktika could potentially be transformed into the same-class vessel Yamal, which you’ll agree, is quite distinctive:

crackers

Go on U-tube and look at the video on how to make "decals, hand made for modelers" . Perhaps this might help.

Happy modeling.   Crackers  

 

Also, there have been a number of threads on the decals forum about inkjet decals.  I picked up some great hints there.

Go on U-tube and look at the video on how to make "decals, hand made for modelers" . Perhaps this might help.

Happy modeling.   Crackers  

Thank you again, Paweł. Looks like I have all the colors listed.

One thing about this set is that it has no decals - the things you’d expect to be decals (ship name, atom logo, and hammer and sicklel) are raised details.  Can any of you recommend how you would handle such detail? In the past I’ve just been very careful with a brush, or even a toothpick, but I need to be precise here so the words don’t look sloppy in the model.

I’m eager to get started. I am in the middle of building a P-40 Warhawk, but I’m putting it on hold. I built a Revell Northsea Fishing Trawler a couple months ago, and I had so much fun building it, and the result was so satisfying. There’s just something about model ships.