Hello Guy's
Have been very busy laterly with the build. The paint masks have turned up have been working out how I'm to use them. Have sprayed most of the superstructure , gun's & torpedo tubes white matt ready for the stripes. Have sprayed the bottom of the hull a reddish brown not sure if I like the colour.
The diorama I have built nearly all of the ramp & the jetty . Mixture of woods used. The base has been covered with pollyfiller ready to be painted then covered in a sand mixture. ( pacific ). Am now scratchbuilding a torpedo & trolley to go on the jetty. Have managed to find about 8 men so far that I'm going to convert into the crew.
I've added some more pictures this time into 2 new files. Links are
Diorama build
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1891632
Boat Painting
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1893543
I'll add some more pictures later hope you enjoy these.

Shaun this is looking very interesting please keep as posted as you go.

Ciao
Luciano

That boat ramp looks just like the one they used in "They Were Expendable" Excellent work

Hi
Your right I have loosely based the ramp on the 1 from the film. had to freeze frame the dvd so many times so that I could make a rough sketch of what I wanted.

Ahoy Shaun

This is looking great mate. Keep up the good work.

Regards


Sean

That's awesome Shaun!

Hi
Have spent about 5hrs putting the masking on the hull ready to spray with the black. Have used Gator's masks as the basic mask. I've the chopped it about a bit to make it look more like the PT174's paint job. Will be spraying it tommorrow . I'll add some pictures later in the day if all goes well. Once that's done I'll attempt to get the stripes on the cabin's & torpedoe's etc.

Hi
PT174 has got stripes to her hull.
Sprayed the hull late last night with a Black/Grey colour. Looks OK .
Few areas were some of the paint blead under the masks, mostly were the masks went over raised detail or over a corner. Soon paint over them later. I'm very pleased with the way it's turned out.
Next job starting on the cabin's & tubes etc. Have added some pictures of the stripes.

stripes went on well by appearance. Very rarely does one escape without some bleed over when airbrushing

Nice work Shaun your model looks good and i really like the stripes, i don't know if you tryed spraying a light flat coat over your masks before your color coat helps seal the masking and stop the bleed through, it does work try a test on scraps.

No never heard of doing that will give it a try on the cabin's etc when finnished masking them. Too hot in my shed at the moment shall be back in there later tonight. Thanks for the tip

Hello
Have managed to finnish getting the stripes done on the cabins etc . I'm now painting the torpedo tubes.
have added some more pic's. The tubes & the 20mm are only placed in postion to give an idea of what it will finally look like.
Another day & I should be finnished doing the stripes then I've got to touch up where the lines have blead under the tape.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw it! Impressive work, keep the updates coming.




You can also spray another coat of the base coat on top of the masking, which will reportedly seal the masking too. I haven't tried it myself, but intend to on my next camo scheme.

Hi
have been busy with the build. Only the mast to zebra stripe & the leading edge of the deck. Have also started to paint the cabin's / cockpit area's of the boat using a pale grey. The inside of the front shield I've used a darker grey. The deck has been painted with a dark deck blue.
Have also started to paint the .50 cal's & gun tubs.
I repainted the hull with White Ensigns Anti fouling red paint.( nice colour).
Have added a few more picture's.

Ahoy Shaun

You have been busy.

Those stripes look awesome.

This is going to look truly spectacular when its finished.

Regards


Sean

It just keeps getting better and better

Hi
Boats just about ready for sealing ready for the weathering.
Have added some countershading in a light grey as in the picture i'm using for reference. Also have added a section that is being repainted by the crew in a green colour as the white was repainted with green when the boat was transfered to the pacific, (diorama).
have also started to try out the figures that I'm converting into the crew.
Deck & tubes are still loose only there for the figures, shall fix finally when I've weathered the hull I think easier to handle.

Hello Everyone
Not posted any update for a while with the kids on 6 weeks school holiday have been trying to keep them busy & quiet. only done some small jobs on the build. last couple of weeks have managed to get some more work done, mostly with the weathering of the boat. Still got some small detail items to pick out & the final weathering to do once the boat is in place on the diorama. Have managed to paint the jetty & the ramp in the base colour will weather them later. Also have built the crew, some alteration need on all the figures, most have got new heads.
Am in the process of building a large palm tree & a smaller one for the corner of the base. Have also built some scaffold towers to go along side the ramp.
very pleased with the weathering so far. used a mixture of oils, enamel & acrylic paints.
I have added some more pictures to the folders for the painting of the boat & the building of the diorama.
Will add some more next week.
Once I've completly finnished the boat & diorama I'll add some pictures that I will take with my old 35mm slr camera (scanned then posted)as that can do macro close ups unlike my basic digital camera.

Hello
I've added some pictures to my diorama build. The smaller items are taking as long to scratchbuild / convert as the boat did. Have painted most of the items. The palm trees I'll be priming hopefully tonite. then once they are painted I'll add the sand & then its time to paint the figures.
Diorama build link.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1891632

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1891632

Congratulations - all the parts are coming out great!
And I must add that the Palm Tree is one of the best I have seen

A FEATURE IS REQUESTED (once you finish the dio)
Congrats once again,
Skipper

That is some awesome work Shaun! Very impressive.

Gator

Very impressive, well done. Love the detail, and the way you've chosen to display. Can't wait to read that feature, and see the finished dio.

Thanks Guy's
Glad you like the work done so far. I'm enjoying the build.
As for a feature on it I'll see what happens when it's complete.

There's some great work being done on the other builds in this campaign as well.
So Keep Up the Good Work .

That's a great tip! Thanks!


Shuan, your boat is AWESOME!

Hi have been busy on the build. almost all of the accessorie items are now painted ready to be put on th diorama.
Had a small disaster on the diorama, glued the sand on in the area that was going to have the water in, appied the water effect resin (vallejo) on & left it to dry before adding another layer. then disaster the resin cracked up then started to peal off in large areas. So I had to scrap it all up . Am going to try a different type of resin , this time a 2 part mix & see if this works.
Have also been busy painting the faces of the crew with oil paints ( a 1st as never used oils before) very pleased with the results. Starting on there uniforms this week.
No new pictures at the moment when I've some descent figures painted I'll add some of them.