Jan, If you want to vary things a bit you could brush paint the blast bags a slightly lightened version of the turret color to suggest the look of the same paint on a different base material ...but for what it's worth, I think your turrets look perfect as they are!

Nice progress Jan,

Getting close to commissioning.

One thing I recall from my seagoing days, when you paint canvas it weathers very quickly, a suggestion, a dry light dry-brush with a lighter grey, and a wash with a slightly darker grey. It would show how paint weathers differently on different materials.

Mind I do agree with Tim, does look cool.

Cheers

Si

Thomas, Tim and Si,

thank you very much for your kind comments!
And I tried my hands on the blast bags:









Now they definitely look more lively than before in all grey...

And some progress, actually, pretty visible progress - some small stuff like the last railings, but I shipped all the PomPoms, 4" er and the ship's boats. Now its looking really busy!!





I was not able to exactly pin down which boat goes where, but that should be close enough - sources differ a little as far as I could find out....







And here's all the smaller weapons installed, too:





















With all that being said and done, it almost appears that the only thing left to do would be the rigging, and then hoisting the Ensign... I can't really believe...I'll have to double and tripple check what I might have missed, apart from some touch ups and final clear coat for protection...

So it's really getting close!!!

Cheers,
Jan

Yes! Those blast bags look good!

You are nearly there my friend! I can almost sense that there will be a raising of an ensign atop the glacier soon!

What Russ said,

Love the Blast bags, the contrast looks right.

Very close now mate.

Will miss having this build to follow when you are done.

Cheers

Si

Jan,

Your Hood is looking awesome. I agree the blast bags are looking good as everything else. Looking forward to your final photos.

Mark

Agree with Si, I too will miss having this build to follow when you are done. Great work, my friend!

One thing Jan... not to scare you, but over the years I've had one or two disasters when it comes to clear coats! For what it's worth, from the pics your gorgeous Hood doesn't really seem to need a clear coat. Is it worth the risk?

Well, well....some days you better stay in bed....

Now, after some silence here, I was not entirely idle but was slowly doing all the rigging - something I'm simply not good at and can only do little at a time. So this was progressing over the last weeks, and yesterday I was about to get ready for commission. Considering Tim's advise not to do a clear coat.

Ensign was already up and I was literally working on the last few bits of the rigging, when she capsized on my work bench...







I Wasen't even (mentally) able to do a full damage assessment, I just set her back on her keel, assembled the parts that were broken off and let her sit.

Now I need to find some motivation to fix this. I don't know if I feel ready for it next weekend. I hope I find a way fixing it without breaking away and cutting all the rigging I've done so far, well, we will see....

First time ever something like that happens to my. But there's always a 'first'...

Cheers
Jan

Jan,

Sorry to hear about the accident. Been there, I learned to keep the heavy stuff off the upper shelves and don't reach without looking at the item.

Mark

Oh well thats really annoying! I can really recommend you a wooden gadget I use for my ship builds:





It is called LMG BB-11 Building berth from LMG of Ukraina. I´ve bought it maybe a year ago at the Sockelshop but you surely might find it also elswhere. It was not expensive, you can adjust the two "holding arms" according to the ship´s lenght and width and you can fix the ship with the two wooden claws and even more safely and professionally with the two provided screws and nuts if wanted.

Have a beer, sing "we shall overcome" and fix the damage quickly

OMG! I feel your pain, Jan!

Nothing can take the enthusiasm from your build more than an accident like this: not sure how I'd recover...

As for the clear coat dilemma: I always clear coat before rigging, this prevents any chance of frosting on the lines; I lay down a base gloss coat before applying the mat (or satin); and always, always practice on a test mule before the real thing!

Thomas, that jig looks awesome-not sure it's available here though

Jan,

Mate, seriously bad joss, I hope nothing is seriously damaged or lost.

This is a getting straight back on the horse situation, but I would recommend a large tincture of Scottish wine first though.

I have every confidence you can fix this, I have dropped one or two in my time & I know it hurts, but most of them I have recovered from.

Good luck mate.

Cheers

Si

Si, Russ and Thomas,

thank you for your encouragement!!

Well, I'm back in the game - kind of. I fixed some of the damage, and I should be able to finish and commission in two or three weeks, since I won't have any bench time next weekend.
However, damage was beyond perfect repair, or otherwise I would have to strip and rebuild major parts of the forward superstructure and the mast. And I don't find the motivation for that - so there will be effects visible on part of the rigging, and I hope I will be able to do sufficient touch ups with the hairy stick.

Here's what I accomplished so far:







Now I hope that I will be able to repair damage to the forward platform, some parts fell of and need to find a place. I hope I'll be able to glue them where they belong...



So far for now,

Cheers and thanks,

Jan

Great job on the rebuild/repair, Jan! I feel your pain... as much as I resist some of the less engaging aspects of modeling (painting is my own nemesis), I absolutely HATE rework of something already accomplished!

Anyway, my compliments on a solid recovery. She is looking beautiful once again!

Oh no!! You'll pull this off but bummer that happened!

What Tim said!

Mark

Gentlemen,

thank you very much for your kind comments, to the unfortunate havoc I created, the recovery, and most of all, for your support over the last three years!!

I started this build on May 21 2016, 75 years after Bismarck and Prinz Eugen set out to sea for the Rheinübung. I initially planned to finish within a year for the Bismarck-Campaign, but things developed differently.

Now, I decided to declare her finished and commissioned. Now, that was actually yesterday, 24 May 2019, on the day 78 years after her destruction. Honestly, that was not planned - I only realized yesterday evening, when I took the last pictures, what day it was. But I think it's a good day for commissioning HMS Hood.





I'll be posting more pictures following this one, largely without comments.
I decided to leave her at that, and avoid running danger for another havoc. I have to say that I'm not satisfied especially with the rigging, but I am just to afraid of doing more damage if I try to 'repair' things...

So here comes HMS Hood!

A little comparison - with HMS Repulse:















...with HMS Prince of Wales:



















...and all three together:

And finally, together with the rest of the fleet in my office.









More than ten years ago, must have been around 2006/07/08-ish, I did a Prince of Wales and Hood in 1/400 scale, the old Heller kits. No airbrush than, no PE. At the time I liked them, but today...



So, that's it for my three years build HMS Hood - the time, even though I know I'm slow, has been unusually long. I had to move in between, was busy with my job and bench time was rare at times. However, it's done! And despite the mishap at the end, that was about to break my motivation, seeing her sitting with the rest of the fleet makes me happy and I already love her again.

Now - the slipway is empty, but not for long. First I have to clean and reorganize thoroughly - somehow I ignored that over the last months, and the little shipyard tuned into something like a mess. So that will be done next weekend.

And then - stand by for something very special. I am giving you a little teaser without giving away what it will be:
I'm going completely out of my normal way of modeling. In scale, in time of the original, and it will be waterline. And resin. Well, scale, waterline and resin are simply due to that there's no other model of that ship (yet).

Most important: for me, to build a ship's model, I have to have some affection for that ship. Now, the next build I'm going to do here, that's the ship I have, and will have forever, the most affection one can ever have for any ship!!

Enough teaser?
I hope you'll be with me on my next build, that I will start here within the next weeks!

Cheers,
Jan

(and now I have some )

Jan,

congratulations on a fine finish. She looks wonderful sitting up their with the rest of the fleet. Looking forward to your next build, you sound very excited about it.

Mark

Jan,

congratulation for your patience, endurance and, last but not least, skills to finish this huge ship. You have now a real beauty sitting in your stash!

Looking forward to your next project!

Grüße aus dem Süden

Thomas

Congratulations on what can only be described as a superb build!

Your persistence and determination have paid off and, even though there were some dramatic setbacks, you have caught this glacier! And what a glacier! Hood is a deceiving beast: she looks straight forward from a distance but upon closer inspection is a very detailed ship and modelling her is a huge task!

Well done mate! It's definitely time to crack open a few and celebrate her commissioning!

It's also great to see her alongside Repulse and Prince of Wales. Interesting to see how the no-compromise approach to speed led to Hood's finer lines, versus the brute power of the Prince of Wales.

The rest of the fleet's in fine shape too!

Keep up the good work Jan, looking forward to the next build!

It's six months since I managed to look in on this build and what perfect timing! You have had your ups and downs with this build Jan but your perseverance has paid with a great version of Hood. It looks mighty against your other builds and awesome in your navy.

Cheers
Michael