Hi Jay

I am glad that the book helped (now you don't have the excuse of not knowing about that particular detail )
Looking forward for more updates
Cheers


Rui

Ahoy Mates,

I have been tinkering on this and reading over the book as well. It has given me a couple of ideas of things that I want to add to the build. I got out the PE Main Gun Turrets and using one of the plastic ones as a form bent them to shape. While I was removing the requisite parts from the sprues for the bases and barrels, I noticed a little sinkhole in each of the base parts. These are located under the breech of the guns once assembled and not being sure how much would show, I filled them with putty.

I also have a few details to add to these parts as I go along so I will keep you posted. Here are the parts laid out for more work.



While working on the parts on deck as I went along, I did discover that the after torpedo mount did not fit as it should. The after deck house sits too far forward and made it necessary to reshape the back of the torpedo tubes as well as do some trimming on the round center pin to allow for it to fit on there. The forward torpedo tube mount has no such problems however with about an 1/8th and a 1/16th of an inch of clearance front and rear. One of those little oddities that I am discovering with this kit. The deck house mounting position is set on the deck with little raised ridges that it fits over so it wasn't a question of me misplacing the part, but I will watch for that on the next one of these that I build up.



The aft section of the ship has a lot of little PE additions, hatch covers, cable reels, and such. They also suggest using their little bit bases after removing the molded on ones, but I think that the molded on ones looked fine as they are and would require cutting and adding some styrene rod so I just left them on deck. The cable guards on the stern are a trip to fold up, the upright bits being rather tiny and easily damaged if you are not careful. I had one break away on the opposite side but managed to replace it without any problems. I also have the digital camera blues, have a blob of CA that I will have to remove from one of the uprights there I see.



More to come as I go along.

Awesome stuff Jay.

Kenny

Hi Jay

All that researching is paying off, and your PE work looks very good!
Usually models reserve us some surprises, like your aft torpedo tube mount, but I see that you managed to turn the tide in your favor!
Could you have made a new pivot area a little bit forward, instead? (just a thought for future problems)

Keep up the good work


Rui

Geez, this is the first time I've seen this build log. How in the world did I miss it? This is looking really good, Jay! The PE looks great!

Thanks Everyone,

Rui, as to moving the mounting forward for the aft torpedo mount with the little hatchway just ahead of the mount as well as having the walkways mounted and the after deck house, it would have been difficult to remove the original bit without messing something up. The best thing I could think up was to whittle at the large mounting pin on the part itself to give a little "creeping" up area to the part. Suffice it to say, the next one will get checked before gluing the related bits down so I can make any adjustments beforehand.

Despite the problems with some parts, this is still a pretty fair kit with loads of detail for the size. It sure beats the 1/700 scale stuff that I am used to building in that area. As a kit that can be had for less than $10 this is a pretty happening affair IMHO. I have two others in the series in the stash already and am planning on getting a couple more for conversion purposes to other similiar designs that were in use by the French Navy of the same time period. So all the little bugaboos that I am discovering with this build will be better dealt with in following projects.

Well back to it, as well as work, tomorrow being my "Monday".

Great work Jay! I have some "Mirages" on my stash, this build is inspirational and educaitonal, will be one of my guides for sure!

Great work Jay, very clean construction and PE fabrication.

Frank

Thanks Guys,

I appreciate the nice comments.

I am having entirely too much fun getting the turrets built up and will show that bit of fun in the next installment.

While this is only the second larger than divine scale ship that I have worked over other than 1/72 scale PT Boats, it is a whole 'nother critter compared to what you have to deal with in the divine scale. So I am trying to take my time and figure out the best way to deal with little surprises as they come up. What I learn from this one will no doubt carry over to the rest of the Mirage line in the stash so it is all to the good.

Ahoy Mates,

Work has been keeping me a little on the busy side as we ramp up to the usual holiday insanity. Between trying to post a review or two as well as work on the Wicher, I sort of spent more time tinkering each evening and less taking pictures. At any rate, I have been hitting this thing a lick or two as time goes on.

The small boats were one of the things that I looked forward to since the PE set contained top plates for each as well as several oars to add to the tops when completed. As you can see from this shot, sinkholes were the order of the day and did require some work. To use the top plates it was also necessary to sand down the molded on details so things would fit on each properly. Since the plates hid the sinkholes on the tops it was a good thing to do.



Once sanding and filling was done, I CA'd the plates down then cut and trimmed up the oars to go on each. It was quite the little trip to position them across the top and glue them in place.



While I was working on the forward mast, something kept looking sort of strange, reference books and pictures tend to mess with you that way. The kit instructions would have you fit the forward facing arm in this manner.



Looking over the AJ Press book in the reading room on breaks pointed out that it was a little off the mark. There was also a couple of cross beams that were missing from the assembly. Once I got it all sorted out, I used some stretched sprue to fill in the missing pieces. I also used some 1/700 railing trimmed down to add the upper run of rail that went around the upper part of each of the stacks. The support guy wires from various places on the engineering house attached to that railing to help stablize the stacks.



I wanted to get the decals that portray the wooden walk ways around the main gun turrets before I did any more rigging work so it was necessary to shoot on the paint, I used a rattle can of Model Master FS 36307 Light Sea Gray to do the deed. Once that dried over the course of a couple of days I shot on a coat of Testors' Glosscote or two and let it have the same time to harden up before applying the walk way decals for the main gun turrets and the two smaller ones for the smaller AA point defence guns on either side of the aft deck house. I must say that the decals supplied with the kit are very nice with no surprises. They were dipped in some lukewarm tap water for a few seconds, slid right into place and were easy to move around. Once where I wanted them, a dab with a dry Q Tip to blot up the water served to anchor them in position.



Now I can do some more work on her, rigging out the masts and such using stretched sprue, my medium of choice for such tasks. I have to finish painting the small boats and then hang them as well as a couple of other little things before I can populate her decks with some crew and finish it up. All in all, it is a nice enough kit for the price and with a little work and research seems to be coming along pretty well so far.

Very nice, I am amazed of the quality you get with a rattlecan my experience tell me its har to get a thin coat.

Good thinking with decals for the wooden planking.

Cheers/Jan

beautiful work Jay, specially those boats... this thread will be a source of information and inspiration when I tackle the Mirage's I have in the stash (ALWAYS seem to be couple of them on sale in the monthly Squadron catalog!

Where did you get the 400scale PE? Thanks, cheers

Try replacing the tip with one off of hairspray. It will give a much finer spray.

Kenny

Thanks Mates,

Jan, actually I pull the tips off the spay cans, Model Masters and Testors both and leave them to soak in Testors/Model Master Universal Enamel thinner in a screw top spare airbrush jar when not in use and even when they are brand new. They test the spray cans before shipping and this always leaves some dried paint in the channel. Never have tried Gators trick of using hair spray tops, may have ot give it a whirl one of these times.

As to technique, I usually shake the can vigorously to make sure that the paint is mixed as well as it can be and hold it off about 10 to 12 inches from whatever I am spraying. The biggest thing is to never stop moving the spray until you are beyond the object being sprayed to get a uniform coat and let the layers build up slowly for even coverage overall. Don't rush it and try not to make a slow pass to get a heavy coat, that just leads to orange peel finish and runs. The paint in the can is thinner than what you would expect and mixed that way to level out on the surface of what you are spraying. 78 to 80 degrees F temprature is also good to help things even out. Most of all, shoot it, then leave it alone until it dries, for some gloss colors that can be overnight or longer, white and yellow gloss seem to be the worst offenders in that regard. You can check the level of dry by touching the masking or surface behind the sprayed object, if it is still cool to the touch, it isn't ready to be handled. That coolness is thinner that hasn't evaporated out yet and the paint itself is still not cured completely. If you have to mask a surface with tape for some reason, use a nice sharp, as in new #11 Xacto blade, to trim along the edge of the tape line before you remove it and pull it away over itself slowly to eliminate pulling up any other paint that was already on the model.

James, the PE set is Mirages' kit specific set also purchased from Squadron Mail Order. The set is quite complete and has just about everyhing one could imagine with the exception of the doors on the deck houses for some reason. The only other bits that I added were some Model Shipways Chain, 27 links per inch sized, for the anchor chains, that is available online or through mail order from Model Expo, our Hobbytown USA store also stocks a rack of them; as well as a set of Toms' Model Works 1/400 German Naval Doors. There are a lot of doors in three or four styles as well as the framing around the doors so you can open the area up and use the frames to finish the opening and hang the door. Those are available from Toms' Model Works website or from Squadron as well. If you mention Squadrons' set specific pricing in the comments section of the order page on Toms' site when you order directly from Toms' Model Works, he will honor the lower price. His service is second to none, I usually recieve anything I order from him with in a week or less and he emails you updates as to confirming the order and when he ships it out along with a tracking number.

Hi Jay

Sorry for the long "no reply"
Your work is just wonderful and I liked the fact that you noticed "something strange" on the mast - you were paying attention and you have made your homework
Keep up - you're almost there

Cheers


Rui

Thanks Rui,

It is coming along slowly but surely, sorta like watching a highway repair crew at work, if you stare at it long enough you can percieve movement.

This week will be about coming up with the rigging from my vast collection of saved sprue sticks. That book sure does show it all to good effect so does the instructions so it is mostly going to be just stretching and sticking.

Ahoy Shipmates,

After some weathering, stretching of sprue, application of said sprue and then using some of Fujimis' IJN 1/350 scale crew figures to fake a Polish crew to staff my Wicher, I have finally gotten it as far as I care to take it. I used oil paint to grubby things up a bit, this was a well cared for ship that got painted up regularly so it wasn't too dirty as far as these things go. I tried for a more "in use" look than rust bucket status.



I noticed on the boxart that there are a pair of davits on either side of the bridge wings, they are smaller than the ones for small boat use and not having any in the PE set, I subbed in a pair of 1/700 scale ones to fill that space. I also used a pair of figures going up ladders on the forward mast and searchlight platform.



For a little more interest, I built up a small torpedo trolley and torpedo from sprue and PE runner then opened up one of the forward torpedo tubes at the back then drilled it out with a pin vise. It sort of adds a little interest to the one side of the ship.



Trying to put enough figures on there to make it look interesting but not like "Navy Day" in port was a consideration.



I do like the way this, my first 1/400 scale destroyer came out. It is sort of different for me, a confirmed 1/700 builder. but there are some differences here and there.