Guido, great work all around with the painting but I really LOVE that base... will have to try it some day, love the look of it.... cheers

Ship building tutorials now woodwork Excellent stuff there Guido

Sexy stuff, Guido, and ready for Telford - sometimes overlooked, presentaion bases mean so much.

Peter F

Hey, guys!
Thanks a million!
In the next update I'll be presenting a nice mishap, so everbody sees that they do happen. Sometimes, with all the time to take the photos and to write the text one may get the feeling it doesn't need blood, sweat and tears and and occasional re-work!
First I will have to iron out the glitch.
Cheers,
Guido

Hi Peter,
According to IPMS rule the base should not have ANY influcence on the judge. The only categories the base may influence the judging are "Ship- diorama -any scale" and the newly established "Uboat - any scale".
Of cause one may say that a great base and presentation will allow the judge to "lean" towards the better one in this regard and it may tipp the scale in case of doubt, but by the rule you can glue your ship onto a flower wallpaper and it shouldn't have any influence as long as you don't spill any glue onto your model while doing that.

Cheers,
Guido

Gentlemen!
Thank you for your kind comments!

With the base at the ready, I try to get to get the hull ready.
Of after the removal of the masking tape it had become obvious, that a good bit of touch ups had to be done: Always some tape comes lose or some lint stuck under the tape’s edge allowing some of the paint to crawl beneath it. After about an hour I was satisfied with the intermediate result. ("Intermdiate" I say, because I usually spend about 2-3 hours touching up towards the end of the build before starting to rig.)
Sometime soon I want to remove the masking of the deck, not because I need to, but I am too curious to look at the masking much longer! However, before removing the tape I need to address and issue on the aft superstructure: The HP kit has nice square cutout windows. By application of the superb PE windows of WEM they are mostly covered, but the do look like empty holes still. The other problem is that some of the cutouts are bigger than the PE part covering them so there are some obvious gaps to be seen. So just painting the window black on the inside won’t fully do the job. I need to find a way to close the gap as well, otherwise they will remain visible.


Here’s what I did: I take a good amount of Elmer’s white glue and color it using black artist’s acrylic paint. The blend of both looks grey, but since Elmer’s is almost clear when dry, the black of the paint should dominate and make it look black. The blend is too thick to inject it into the wholes using a syringe without being thinned. Of cause water would to the trick, but that would take “forever” to dry and cure. In a try-and-error run I used Tamiya thinner and it worked out perfectly drying the paint/glue blend in the window within a few minutes.


The tri-blend of paint, glue, and thinner is put into the syringe. Then I apply just enough pressure so a small bead builds up slowly at the tip of the needle.


It needs fairly quick successive filling to avoid a mess. Overflow can't be avoided, but should immediately be removed using the all-important Q-tip drained in Tamiya thinner! While the gaps surrounding some of the window frame were already nicely closed, one go with the tri-mix will not fully fill the window voids completely in allow the impression of a glass surface before a dark background.


A second time around was enough in my case. I let the window filling dry and touched up with a fine brush to close the gaps. At this time I wondered that some of the overflow of tri-mix – even though immediately collected had stained the grey surface pretty intensely. “More touch up” I thought and did not inquire as to why the tri-mix was able to stain the surface that much. This will prove to be a mistake!



Next I planned to install the overhanging deck that extends from the raised focsle’ to the after superstructure. As the access to the weather deck below would then be blocked I decided to remove the masking from the deck. At the same time it would be useful to weather the portions of the superstructure underneath the upper deck: Later access would be hard to acchieve.
For basic weathering I use the following items: 1. Graphite pencil, 2. Black Crayon pencil, 3. Coarse nail sanding pad, 4. a small, pointed brush, 5. A bigger, flat brush, 6. a paper pen, 7. a fine pencil, and finally 8. a fine eraser.


I grind down graphite(1) and crayon(2) in a 50/50 ratio on the sanding pad(3). I pick us small quantities of the pencil dust with the fine brush (4) and pile it onto the desired spot. Now use the same small brush to “massage” the dust into crevices around the portholes, doors, and other detail.


Then I take the flat brush (5) to remove the dust. I make only vertical brush strokes from top to bottom which will create the effect of water streaks. Do not push to hard! To emphasize certain areas and create shadows in corners, I use the paper pen (6): It will accumulate the dust first and after some using act similar to brush creating wide and soft streaks. Next I take the fine pencil and carefully highlight the miniscule detail on doors and window shutters, etc. Colored weathering (rust, bleaching, algae, grime) will be added to the vessel as one of the very last steps before starting to rig, while the above type of weathering is pretty much an all-over treatment and it may be difficult to do it when too much detail is already added. If done well the effect is pretty nice.


…, but of cause it can be overdone.


Some may think that it is not so bad, but I want you to consider that the painting on that ship is supposed to be about a month old at the most and that the ship did not put out to sea all too often. Subsequently a lot of crew activity would be to keep the old bucket shipshape and it should show distinctively.
As well, you have to consider that the weathering is more intense toward the water and less toward to masts. If the level of dirt is this intense on the weather deck (with good access to clean it) already, how run down does the hull have to be to make for a consistent effect? In three words: WAY TOO MUCH!


See how dark the superstructure is already now?
As a side note: I dont like overly weathered ships. There are exceptions when a ship model should look really run down, but they are few! As well, a ship is hardly ever pristine. Well you be the judge of what you like. IMHO the above is WAY TOO MUCH! So I take my pencil eraser (8) and start to remove the dust. … at least I try… and it doesn’t work out… What in gods graces has happened!?

I tell you what happened: The imbecile looking back at me in the mirror every morning has forgotten to give the kit that aforementioned over-all coat of flat enamel! The underlying acrylics are just too soft and take on the pencil dust very easily, so it is not “on” but “in” the surface. The clear coat is supposed to provide a hard and even surface to put the weathering on. Of cause the eraser has no chance to remove it as it is now!
Damn BS! Now I have to re-mask and re-paint! I could have realized this when I saw the tri-mix staining the color coat!

Lesson learned: Don’t get carried away and don’t get ahead of yourself! If something isn’t working out quite as you expected, ask yourself why before proceeding: Usually there is a good reason!

Guido

Giudo - this is some of the best advice I have heard about modeling:

"Lesson learned: Don’t get carried away and don’t get ahead of yourself! If something isn’t working out quite as you expected, ask yourself why before proceeding: Usually there is a good reason!"

I sometimes tell myself that having to use your imagination to recover from problems and mistakes is one of the best parts of modeling - of course, there always is the feeling that "I'm an idiot" when you think you should have known better than to make the mistake in the first place.

Barry

Aye!

You're awfully hard on yourself Guido!... but I admire your determination. The ship (even with the mishap) looks fantastic, a true masterpiece in the making.

Frank

Hello, Frank!
Thank your for your kind words, but this one is such basic mistake. It is right next to starting to paint without prior dusting or glueing without dry fitting. It is one of those slap-on-the-forehead things, that really shouldn't happen more than once. ... and this was not the first time it happened! (... and frankly... not even the second time, either!)
One of the problems I didn't mention above is that the pencil dust and chalk weathering techniques prohibit later application of clear a coat: With an added clear coat the darkening effect will be even much stronger. So I can't even put that protective coat on without making it worse. And that goes for the overdone AND the well done weathering!

Anyway, making and even repeating mistakes is part of the hobby we have to deal with once in while. Look at Peter and his Averoff: I am certain he did notice that the railings provided with the kit were a tad bit to massive for his tast and yet he went on using them, even though he surely had the GMM Extra Fine in the drawer already.
Sometime you do things out of carelessness and sometime even against your better knowledge, but as the master of your own project you should be satisfied. Just as Peter knew that the rainilings woud'nt do as soon as he had fixed them, I know that the weathring will always bug me, if not done in a fashion I had envisioned.

The good thing is that after being really angry with my for a while, I do get my smile back and even chuckle about my stupidity. Still the repair will take about 2 evenings away from me.

Cheers,
Guido

Great blog entry, and an even greater learning experience. Bummer about the weathering problem. But I DO thank you for taking the time to document and share, Lesson Learned indeed for all of us! Cheers.

Thanks, James!
If one modeller draws a lesson from it the effort will be more than justified.
As well, I thought it was necessary to show that not everything runs without problems from the get-go.
The problem is now fixed and I will put out the new update soon!
Guido

Gentlemen!
Itsy bitsy steps of progress are made in the continuing build. I hope to be able to do some more serious damage in the next days, otherwise the time will be getting awfully tight to finish the project!
Anyway, I had corrected the weathering flaw by applying a very thin coat of the base colors to restore them to old glory. Next I was to give the ship the necessary over all mat clear coats. While waiting for the acrylic to dry before switching to enamel clear coat, I studied a couple of internet publication s on washings. I decided to give it a go for the learning experience.
Honestly, I am not a friend of large area washings at all! I had washed smaller portions on previous projects, but I am a “dry” builder. Meaning I don’t like sticky or grimy stuff on my models; I like chalk for weathering better than applying paint. However, if you want to improve your skills, you have to try new things and get past yourself.

I understand - from what I read in the Internet - the trick is to choose a wash that will not attack underlying coats of paint. Ok, since I used water soluble Acrylic paint as base color every non-water-based color should do as washing. A wash does not cover up the underlying color due to being extremely thinned down: Basically a wash is tinted thinner. It’s the nature of a wash to crawl along in capillary action and concentrate in the crevices on the surface. Washes make contours stand out, usually creating the effect of shadows (as opposed to highlighting by dry brushing).
So I should make perfect sense to use a brown washing to make the wood planking stand out on the main deck. The panel lines on the steel B deck (usually covered with anti slip matting and painted over) need such accentuation, too. As the B deck is not yet installed I decide I will try here first instead of risking damage on the big wood deck. The steel deck is already painted dark grey. I choose Revell’s black enamel coat with Revell’s Paint Mix thinner. Thinned down I apply it with a small paintbrush onto the panel lines. The wash runs down the panel lines and at the same time seeps into the surrounding panels. I repeat the process until all panel lines are filled. Whenever the wash covers too much surrounding, instead of the penal lines, I collect the overflow with a Q-Tip that was dipped in Revell thinner. Now I wait until the wash has sufficiently dried.
Then I take the dark grey base color, thinned but still covering, and re-paint the panels to cover most of the wash that had seeped into the panels. After this has dried, I use my airbrush to mist over the whole deck piece with highly thinned grey, once more blending down the wash.


I repeat the same with the after B-deck already attached to the hull. I like the effect, so go on to bigger surfaces: The wood decks. This time I use dark leather brown, which has a bit of a reddish touch. I apply this to the wood deck. I am very careful to remove excess wash immediately to avoid big splotches. As well, I do not intend to give the planking lines a uniform look. Having plank by plank stand out individually will not look realistic. Instead I leave some places unwashed, while others get a second and third application to make the deck look a bit dirty where appropriate. Again in my opinion, subtleness is the key to success.


In the photos the wash has not ye full dried, so the surfaces are shiny. Indeed the effect doe not look very impressive on the close ups, yet. Later work with chalks will draw more effects on the deck so I do not want to overplay on the washing technique. From as distance the effects are nice and subtle! Just as I like it!






After 24 hours of drying the over all coats of Revell’s mat clear paint give the protective cover for he work to come. The now persistent overall smooth shine will be toned down by later application of chalks, while in other places it will be enhanced to create a wet effect by application of Future floor wax. For now the hull needs resting for about 48 hours to let the top coat dry and fully cure.
From now on all handling of he hull is done using white cotton gloves.
Tonight I will fix the B deck to the hull. Then it is on to bring the hull into the water…

Cheers,
Guido

That's looking superb, Guido, and "the ship to water scenario" should be one of the highpoints of the build - great stuff!

Peter F

Thanks Peter!
I am a bit miffed that the effect of the stained wood deck doesn’t really show on the pics. Anyway…

Gentlemen-
Before making that big step of putting the ship to water A bit of prep-work was still be done.

(Personal side note: I was stopped in my stride this the weekend by having to go to a hospital to have my chronic snoring with connected breathing failure checked out. I am happy to say that it did me world of good! I now have to sleep with an air pump connected to my face, but I have reduced my heart attack risk, by 30% and my stroke risk by almost 40%. After the third night I didn’t even feel the pump any more. I had actually forgotten how well you can feel after a good night’s sleep, when your body does not fail to breathe every 45 seconds! All of you out there with a snoring problem: Go to the next sleeping research hospital tomorrow! It may change your life for the better!!)

Just before the weekend I attached the B deck to the superstructure, which had to be done before going on to place the hull into the water. Since the ongoing “How-to”-s seem well appreciated, I thought I go into detail of fixing B deck to demonstrate some basic craftsman technique that the less experienced modelers can easily copy, but are essential for every imaginable type of project.

First the deck needed to be glued into place. I put some rubber bands right in front and behind the place the B deck had to be put. Even though I tried to make sure that the decks would indeed fit into the gap. (Remember that resin parts contract and expand according to the room temperature. Thin parts like decks change dimensions differently from solid hulls, so if it fit yesterday doesn’t necessarily mean that it still fit s today!). Having assured the fit I applied a drop of 2-minute-epoxy to the rear portion of the B-deck and put it into place. I sued the curing time to assure the proper (or best possible) position. With the deck fixed into position on one side I had made sure I would not screw-up the positioning process with larger areas glued together. I lifted the front portion up very carefully and sparingly put 2-minute-epoxy onto the gluing surfaces.
Now I stuck a balsa wood beam under the rubber bands to bring the part down. The beams are to build up even pressure along the full length of the part, ensuring the deck would sit nice and flat all over. To increase rubber band pressure I added more beams as needed.


Of cause there was nasty gap between the B deck on the aft superstructure and the B- deck just applied (A). Any self respecting modeler knows: Unwanted gaps are a definite No-No and must be removed. Of cause one way is to put on an amount of putty and sand excess away.
Now, here’s another way – a less messy one, IMHO. I protect the adjacent and below decks with masking tape. The tape placed to follow the panel line on either side of the gap. I apply a good amount of regular modeling glue (the one that melts styrene plastics, but leaves the resin untouched) into the gap. I place a styrene strip a bit bigger in length and height than the gap at hand (B). After a few seconds, when the surface of the strip starts melting I knead the strip into the gap with my hobby knife. I all allow the glue and styrene to dissolve the already applied color coat on the deck (C).


After 15 minutes of drying time, I level down the hardened excess styrene-color –melt with sanding pads: Coarse-medium-fine (D). To level the surface a thick coats of Mr. Hobby Primer 1000 is put onto the deck (E) followed by a covering layer of dark grey deck color (F).


From here it is repeating the washing technique: Applying the enamel black wash (G) – repainting the panels with dark grey color (H) and dust over with highly diluted dark grey coat followed by a covering matt varnish (I).


The gap has completely vanished. I do have a new panel-line across the centre panel, which wasn’t there before, but it will be completely covered by the next level of superstructure.
The gap was filled within 60 minutes with a minimum amount of mess made.
I will have to check again, but I think the hull is ready to touch water!
Cheers,
Guido

Hi Guido,

The wash weathering looks great. I usually show your (along with those of our other colleagues) posts to my wife so she can understand how good a model ship can look (she doesn't get that sense from mine), but am going to skip this one because of the note about your apnea treatment. I don't think my snoring is that bad, but she has another opinion. Be well!

Barry

Wow Guido! Seeing the amazing work you bring every time makes me feel very lucky to be able to witness your skills in action. This is just incredible! Our wash concepts are very similar, but the part about filling in the seam is poetry.

Hi Guido

I've had one of those pumps for the last year or so. No more snoring and SWMBO actually sleeps in the same room as me now! I don't go to sleep in the office during meetings, fewer headaches, more energy, lower blood pressure.
For anyone else that ha similar problems go to your doctor or medical centre and see about getting checked out. Especially if you drive a lot sleep apnoea can actually be a killer.

Back on topic - I must do another ship sometime. All the builds on here are getting the (chlorestorol reduced) salt in my blood coming to the surface!

More great things from you, Guido, and I would say, together with the photographs, this is magazine quality!

I suggest you submit this to a mag when you're done as it's a state of the art presentation with minimal editing.

Cheers,

Peter F

Hello guys!
You are really too kind!
It's good fun doing all these reports, but since real life is a bit more demanding right now, I am slowly getting the feeling that the competition won't last long enough to really finish the build. Well it's not yet over. I have done a bit of superstructure work, as time wouldn't allow let the boat swim, yet. Anyway I'll do my best to get some more action until Saturday night!

Peter - Too little time for book writing. I'll leave the books to David G.!
Dave Cox: There is only one way to remedy the "Salt Water Desease": Build a ship model!

Cheers,
Guido (well rested)

Methinks you already have the article, Guido, all you have to do is submit it to the editor.

I hope you find the time, to finish, and complete the story.

Peter F

Gentlemen –

The hull is ready for being placed into the water base. However, since I didn’t have any extended modelling time since my last update, I proceeded with a bit of base prep work and superstructure detailing.

Base prep work:
Before the water base is permanently placed into the wood frame I have to make sure the styro-foam water will sit properly. The way I did marked the wavy outline for the wood frame inherently causes the water to sit too deep in the frame: See red arrow. The rim stands over the water surface, which makes the water look confined by the wood frame.
To remedy this effect I place 3 pieces of 3mm balsa wood to the frame to make the waves ride higher. The balsa boards left and right fit the frame exactly. When being fixed into position by white glue and a few wooden dowels, they determine the position of the frame on the base’s board. So make sure they are in the right place. The middle blasa board is just a support to stop the water to sink-in in this place.



Now the waves ride just above the wood frame, which is exactly what I wanted. Looks much better IHMO, doesn’t it?


Since I hadn’t more than about an hour of modelling time for each session during the last few days I proceeded with getting superstructure parts ready to paint. First a twin set of funnels which will sit right behind the aft super firing gun. I was not able to determine the use of these funnels so I keep calling them Galley-Funnels, but there is no proof to that use.


..and the aft director platform that need a good bit of work: on B-level (top, arrow) the cut-out for the staircase had to be widened (Dremel, sanding, scraping) to house an inclined ladder. The deck access for that ladder on the C-deck was missing, so I cut it out with my model knife. On C-deck the forward bulwark was about 3mm thick and denying access to the front side of the deck house.


Using the Dremel tool again I removed the better part of the bulwark and reshaped the front of the deck house. The missing piece of bulwark was replaced by styrene strip.
The rest was gluing and adding bits and pieces. The kit is most complete, but I added 2 small binoculars made from scratch, two L’Arsenal 20mm gun pedestals from their 350th scale range of items, while the 20mm guns are taken from the WEM 400th Scharnhorst/Gneisenau set.


Both galley funnel and aft director platform are ready to be painted.

Maybe I can get some more work done today. Let’s see…

Cheers Guido

Guido thanks for the encouragment and the excellent painting and wheathering tips more notes for me to take and hopefully master.

Another great build month Guido, cheers...

superstructure PE detailing is fantastic, inspirational...

fixing a nasty seam in just 60 min?? Im jealous!

and yet again, I just love that water base....