That water is really nice looking. It catches the light and seems to change with each angle, just like the real ocean.

I don't see why it would not work for a 1/350 ship. There were times when I have seen the ocean table flat while we were out cruising around. Then of course there were times when it was a rocking and a rolling.

Hey guys, I'm glad I could be of help and get some ideas going.

Peter, I was thinking that some larger waves could be produced by maybe putting some balled-up foil under certain spots to produce some more depth. Hmmm....

Jim, true enough. If somebody wants to give it a shot in 1/350, that would be great. I just didn't want to promise anything to Barry without knowing from firsthand experience.

Hey Mark, I got ya covered, my man. I had always intended to rewrite this as a feature for you (with photo placement call outs where needed) after completion. I remember us talking about this way back after the escorts feature, and I'll see 'er through.

As a reminder guys, here's what the water effect looks like on completion after the hull is mounted and some blending is done. Not to mention, proper studio lighting. My two escorts...



More to come of the article after the hull is ready to mount.

Simple but verey effective another master class idea to try thanks for sharing Dade. So many brilliant ideas to play with on this campaigne ??

Dear Dade

i love this build, very inspiring!

But regarding your seascape, if you look at aerial photos of ships at sea you will see that the break away waves (your white waves) start from the waist of the ship not the bow. The bow cuts through the water like a knife but the fat part of the ship midships barges the water to the side.

Still love it, keep it going!

Andrew

I've seen plenty of photos with the effect I've modeled. I've also seen it with my own eyes in real life. It depends on how choppy the water is and the bow shape of the ship. Since the water I've shown is fairly choppy and since the bow of the escorts shown as well as the Hiryu are fairly blunt, I'll keep the effect as-is. But in case you don't believe me, here's the Hiryu plowing along.



That water's white crest is most definitely coming from the bow and not at the waist.

I also reserve the right to exercise artistic license to make a scene more appealing to my eye.

"Build Session 4 closed-Keep Modeling!"

I should warn everybody that just because the PE deck is a kit in its own right, it does NOT free up the workload. This is because it doesn't fit on to the hull without some modifications to the front and back of the hangar deck for the girders to clear. For that matter, the front and rear deck supports will also have to be tweaked. Always DRY FIT!

Also, the PE deck is missing some very key aspects of the real deck. Particularly the small side aprons, shown here (note the extra detail the PE deck has over the plastic one, which isn't bad as plastic goes):




Some surgery will have to be done to remove them from the plastic deck. Here is the deck with the parts circled, cut off, and cleaned up for mounting to the PE deck.




Here are the aprons attached from the underside of the PE deck, and detail shots from the topside.




More of the hull has been completed with AA platforms, etc. Weld lines have been added to the hull by way of small width tape...




With the PE deck dry fit, we can see the Hiryu taking form.




Here's a shot of the deck supports interacting with the PE girders.




That's it for this month. Once the hull is painted and set up, I can finish the water tutorial... Enjoy!

Dade, do you leave the tape on hull permanently?


Kenny

Hey Kenny, yes, I leave it on permanently. After I apply the tape and make sure it's buffed on nice and flat, I run some liquid glue over it and the surrounding plastic to help lock it in. The process works very well and really adds to the look of the hull, as long as the real thing had noticeable lines (most IJN ships did). Here's my 1/700 Nachi with the same process, after primer.



Try it out sometime.

Hi, Dade!
Great work last month! I guess you'll be taking serious points!
Coming back to the alu-foil water method: Someone asked, if it would work in 1/350.
Here's what it looks like with my Zwesda Varyag (sitting in my shelf like that for almost 2 years now! .










The process is very similar to Dades way. However, I had drawn the wake pattern created by natural wave and by the ship using several layers of white glue onto the wood. This helps to get a bit more structure into the surface. I painted it using acrylic artist paints "wet-in-wet". The Bow wave and the wake along the hull is white acrylic gel, which at the same time is used to fix the hull to the seascape.
You can all give it a try. It is quite easy and quick to do.

Cheers,
Guido


I like the effect a lot!

I certainly will. Thanks.


Kenny

Beautiful, Dade. Simulated hull plating looks great. Barry

Wow, Guido, thanks for those pictures! That water looks great, so I'm glad to see that it will work for 1/350!

Kenny, and Barry, thanks! By the way, I need to mention that once you "seal" the tape in with liquid glue, and after primer (I use Tamiya spray), the tape will stay put. I know there may be a worry that masking something on the ship with tape may pull up the tape underneath, but I haven't experienced that, so it's safe (I'll post some photographic evidence in a few days). Just make sure to use a tape that's not super adhesive when you do your masking. I use Tamiya and it works perfectly. Just don't leave your masking tape on for too long after the paint dries just in case.

Good luck!

Dade, just great work! I also always learn something new from your posts, thanks for taking the time to explain your methods, cheers

Hi James, thanks! I'm glad I can share some of my build ideas that can maybe help others to have more fun with their builds.

And here we go!

First up are the funnels. The caps that came with the kit are above, the PE replacements with styrene cap rims and baffles below.




And then it was time for a bunch of railings! Railings everywhere! Note that a couple of the lower railings are a little bent. They'll be straightened out some after final painting as I know they'll probably just get bent again from me holding the ship- constantly straightening them will only weaken the glue points, so best to leave them alone for now. You can also see on the forward area where I've scraped off the molded on anchor chains in preparation for replacements. I also added the supports to the undersides of the AA gun platforms...










I'm most proud of these... The aft rails were a hassle because there were so many curves- note the bulges at the deck level to accommodate the boats. They came together in the end though. BTW, the break in the rails on the upper platform is for a ladder to go...




And now to get back to some other projects...

Hi Dade

Wow .. beautiful work on the railings man ... seriously. With the trouble I went through with just the PE on the Yamato 1st mainturret, I must say that this is 1st class craftmanship.

This little beauty is really coming together nicely!

Very good progress Dade, that photoetch isn't easy and you've done that with some precision. Great stuff - more please.

Peter F

Very nice going, Dade!
What's with the pin stripes? I didn't see any comment of you refering to them.
Guido

Nice one Dade as always your PE is first class thanks for the tutorial

Hi guys! Wow, thanks so much for all the kind statements! Where's a blushing emoticon when I need one?

Guido, the tape lines are used to simulate weld lines (scroll up a little to see my primed Nachi with tape weld lines). Yes, this effect is a little over scale, but since many things in 1/700 are a little too big, I don't mind this. It's a kind of reverse scale effect. Many IJN ships had very noticeable lines, so I like to add these lines as a nice visual referance to help enhance the "IJN-ness" of the ships. Of course, ships that looked smooth in real life (like my escorts), I wouldn't do this to, but ships like the Nachi and Hiryu had very noticeable lines so I do this to make the ship more "solid" to the viewer's eye...

It looks strange before paint or primer, but looks like it belongs more afterwards- it also gives a little more for the wash to attach to.

One great build so far, very high detail. What are the yellow strips on the hull made from and will you remove them when the hull is painted or primed? Keep up the awesome work. Go IJN!

Edit: Yuo answered my above question in another post. Awesome work, gonna try that tape trick on my next IJN build. Thank you.

A few things I might suggest, forgive me if I overstep my place and if this is not allowed on a contest build. You might want to consider to drill out all the port holes part way with a no. 79 or 80 drill bit. This helps keep the detail from being filled with primer and paint. Second, Even though it will be alot of work, you can take fine wire, coil several loops around a small drill bit and then cut the coil from the center out, then with the loops, cut in thirds and glue over the portholes for eyebrows. You can also do a few blanks with .75 or 1mm cylinder styrene sliced very thin and glued over the portholes. Again just my opinion and my appologies if I've offended you.

Hi Dade!
Thanks for explaining. I think it'll look nicely and I understand that "in-scale" the effect will be hard to acchive.
I am interested to see how this wil react to chnages in surrounding climate. I say this because the Sctoch-tape plating on my HMS Totland (WEM, resin) the tape comes off under cool and moist conditions, while in warm and dry conditions it looks neat.
Cherrs,
Guido