Looking good Jan!

Russ, that you very much! Great job on your King, too!

Now history on my project comes in touch with real time, I have one or two 'older' updates, like for the Oerlikons, but pretty much what you see now is where I am at. So while the paint is drying a quick update on the triple 4"ers, simultaneously I am working at the big guns. But I will leave that one for later...

Now that's how the triples look in 507 A and 507 C, respectively:





















Well, the seats are probably not the most comfy ones...especially the one that's a little misaligned, but I hope it won't show later on...

And soon you will experience what I meant when I said I am a slow modeler

For now

Jan

Thanks Jan!

Nice work on the 4"

That gun mount came out great.

Thank you very much, Russ and Michael!!

Today's update is about my way of doing the Master's 20mm Oerlikons. No hybrid or additions this time, these are great little kits, best that I know of in this scale.

I am using good quality flat nose pliers, tweezers and a piece of plastic card as tools.

Here's the cradle on the plastic sheet (becomes important later on):



Taking it with the pliers and bending the first parts in correct shape:







Now the plastic card, grinned down to the right thickness to support the cradle:







The huge red thing in the background would be my fingertip - to give you an impression of the size. And no, I am no mutant





Holding it with a tiny but sharp tweezers to bend the remaining parts:







Getting there....







The barrels ready for painting, sitting on double-sided tape:



painted:



Preparing the splinter shields, again the pliers:



Tweezers:





Pliers:



Fixed.





Gun mounting:





Small stuff added:





Cradle inserted into the mounting (no special tools, just patience...):







Somehow failed to make pictures of the painted guns without barrels, anyway, you'll get the idea.
Final Guns:





















Well, I hope you like me little 'instructions', maybe they are even helpful

If you haven't tried those, a few final words:
The beginning can be frustrating, and be sure to buy more than you need - you will lose some on the way. Expect the first two or three to be for the trash...
After a while you develop a feeling, after a dozen or so it'll become fun

And one more thing from my experience - should you drop something, let it fall. Chances are it will land on your workbench or the carpet monster will give it back. Trying to catch it will almost certainly result in not only destroying the very part you are catching, if you are assembling parts you will likely destroy the part your are holding in your other hand as well...

I hope you like it, thanks for looking in,

for now - cheers!

Jan

Great Tutorial on the Master 20mm Jan,

That would make a great feature article, I have messed a couple of these up trying, but I will be referring to this when I have another try.

Thanks,

Si

I second that!
Great work Jan and I'm feeling good cos I only need to assemble 4 of these.

cheers
Michael

Really amazing Jan. Really beats me how you can even see the parts Fantastic PE work.

Si, Michael, Julian,

thank you very much for your comments!!

Michael, the need to build only four may seem relieving, however, you'll need to build more then that to get into the right spirit

Well, to see the small stuff, I am using magnifying glasses, actually for some years...they are just great, x2.5 with enough depth of focus to be comfortable while working. In addition, it's a psychological thing - I am hardly doing any work at the shipyard without them, as soon as I put them on I detach a little from real world and become more relaxed...



Another very important thing is light. Can't have enough of it, especially after I passed 40 I realized that I can't see things as I used to. So I invested in those LED's a year ago, proved very worthwhile for me:





Apart from this, I really love those little Oerlikons - with a little creativity they are more than Oerlikons. I omitted the shields and used German 20 mm barrels in an earlier Graf Spee build, and they serve as 20 mm singles. I doubt anybody can tell the difference







Cheers,
Jan

A quick update while my lights are charging - quite dark outside even during early afternoon....

Okay, on with the big guns

The gun tubes on top need to go



Some etch work







And the barrels with the blast bags. This worried me, since the blast bags are needed, and they are built out of two parts, so there will be some sanding needed to avoid a seam right on top













The forward fire control/range finder




More soon!

Nice progress Jan,
Nice up-market optivisor you have, I can't even see the bloody models without an optivisor nowadays
Where did you get those Philips lights? Do you have a type or name for them? Looks like just what the doctor ordered...

Thanks Julian!

The LEDs prove to be very helpful, though they were not a bargain.

Here's a linkt to Philips UK

http://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/LPL073MODX1/led-inspection-lamps-3-modules-rechargeable-with-docking-station

I got them via Amazon.

Cheers,
Jan

Nice work on the main turrets Jan, and the director.

Si

Thank you Si!

Brief update on the Repulse, the big guns:

Some creativity and scratch for the Y-turret's Oerlikons.



A piece of railing with cutout from a generic WEM set, wrapped around a drill, fixed with tape and glued:



The base plates from the quad .50 cals were not needed, so they help out here:









Barrels fitted and glued, now some filling and sanding is required:





I could not resist - 'mounted for effect'



Barrels are straight, correctly aligned and parallel...













And back to work...



ready to paint:



basecoat applied:





...and finally color!







The blast bags were painted with a hairy stick, I used white with just a few drops of deck tan, hope that's about right...













What a difference the main armament makes...now she's looking like a warship at last!



















All right, more than enough pictures for one update, almost a movie...hope you like it anyway!

The differences in color you can see, especially with the dark, 507a color, is because I gave the ship a glossy coat before moving, which the new parts of course are lacking. She will get an overall glossy coat as protection and that a matt finish in the end, that will equal everything out (and hide some spots of CA glue...)

Thanks for looking in, more to follow in a few days!

Jan

Jan this is really coming along, great work on the turrets.

Coming on really well Jan,

The main turrets look good, taking shape very well.

Excellent build.

Si

Thank you very much, Luciano and Si, and all,

all of your comments are very motivating - in fact, it was a little bit of a struggle getting on, or re-commencing, work after some three months break for moving. But now I am back on track I would think - getting the turrets on was very motivating after some stalling during the last weeks. The workbench was all set up and ready, however, over moving I had a little disconnected from the good Repulse. That's for sure cured



Jan

Genuine museum quality Jan,
gorgeous,
Julian

Your build is looking great!! Love the work you are doing on it! Can't wait to see more!

Cheers,

Mike

Really starting to come together now, Jan

Thank you so much, Julian, Mike and Russ, that's really kind and much appreciated!!

Little progress here to show, again back to detail. For the signal lights, I was really unsure wether to use them as they are - not really bad -



or to go the extra mile with the WEM upgrade to signal lights...what made me think most was that there are exactly six pieces for six needed...so no chance for trial and error. Well, I tried and was lucky

One done, one still OOB, and the PE parts used:



six done - no losses



Work on some railings, preparation for painting.



Painted and installed







Some more small stuff...life rafts and signal lights. I painted the lens behind the PE cover in different colors: medium blue as 'off'...



...and yellow as 'on'.





Just 'yellow' looks pretty silly, but behind the PE cover/grating (lacking the proper terminus here) it looks quite good

I hope you like it and thanks for looking!

More to follow, for now -

Jan

Exceptional work Jan,

The searchlights look superb.

Si

Great searchlights Jan!

Si and Russ, thank you very much!!

A little more work done, on the forward superstructure mostly.
One small thing that I am quite proud of - basically the idea: the pillars next to the front funnel, which support the quad .50 cal machine guns, need to be painted in two colors with a sharp and exactly circular line. No chance for me with the hairy stick...and masking would be difficult to impossible.
Then I saw my almost ancient radius gauge from the university, and that did the trick!





Some more small stuff added:









First weapons permanently installed: two sets of Oerlikons.



















A few touch ups needed to the railings, but that will be a job for the hairy stick and should not be any problem.

So much for now, thanks for looking in and more hopefully in a few days...

Jan

Coming on great Jan, This lady really has a complex superstructure, and your build is showing that off superbly.

Si