Hi Joseph!

Firstly, let me welcome you to the wonderful world of ship modelling! You'll definitely find some of the friendliest and best modellers here on MSW.

I too have a KGV in 1:350 i'm planning on building, (although I'm using the POW kit to back date her to the Bismarck episode) so I'm keen to watch your build.

Don't worry about how long it takes, just keep plugging away. Sometimes breaking it down into subsections helps.

For reference material i can highly recomend the book by V.E. Tarrant 'King George V Class Battleships' ISBN 1854090267. It's specific to that class of ship, but is out of print now. Go to www.bookfinder.com and you'll find lots of copies available.

Good luck! It's my favorite ship of all time so I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress!

Russ.

Joseph, glad to see you back at that bad boy. I'll follow this thread with interest. You've got nerve, tackling KGV on your first ship build. What you've posted so far looks great and you've done a fantastic job with the PE so far. I'll be watching for your updates.

Bob

Image fixed for you Chris.

Thanks for the vote of confidence and the encouraging comments everyone.

I was just doing some sprue removal and parts prepping last night. Those quad main batteries look downright menacing despite the problems they actually had using them. It's going to be a rewarding build and I'm looking forward to updating soon. This weekend will be the first chance for me to sit down and devote some serious time to this project in a very long time.

I'll have to post some reference photos soon as I have some questions about what some objects are in the pictures. Mainly those long rod shaped items on either side of A turret and the ones along side the rear 5.25" guns which the kit doesn't show, but I've seen in a photo.

The main deck is going to be a challenge as I'm going to attempt to model the vents a little more accurately and not just rely on the kits generic square shaped blocks. I need to refine my photo-etch cable reel skills as I've already wrecked two of them!

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks again for the encouragement.

Russ: I luckily have access to Tarrant's book by way of our local library and in fact had requested it a few days before your post. Coincidence? I think not.

That's some library Joseph! Must be fate.

Some good references here, and just ask a question if you get stuck.

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4715

Joseph, I noticed your problems with filler earlier on in the thread. I apologize for not catching this sooner. Have you ever tired Apoxie Scupt? The stuff is great. It's a two part epoxy like filler, but has a very plastic like consistency and a long work time, up to three hours. I couldn't model without it. It takes a while to cure, about 10 - 12 hours to be sandable, 24 hours for a full cure, at which point it's rock hard. If you need a link to a vendor, let me know, or you can just Google it. Keeps well on the shelf to.

Bob

Thanks for the link Dave. Some very interesting and useful comments there. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions along the way!

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the suggestion. Right now I'm going to try Tamiya's two part epoxy putty. I dabbled with Squadron's Green Putty for a couple of holes but haven't attempted to redrill the porthole yet. I have a sinking suspicion the green putty plug will just pop out as I drill.

A note on progress. No pictures yet as I'm just filling portholes and sitting trimming and sanding parts in the evenings while my spouse watches TV. I've been told she's getting tired of seeing the back of my head while working at my desk.

I found an excellent close up picture of one of the aft 5.25" gun turrents so I've decided to try and add a little more extra detail to them. One is almost completed and I'll post a picture showing what I have done.

I've also decided to tackle the cable reels again and will use fine copper wire to simulate the lines.

I know the kit is an old mold and Tamiya's quality and fit is usually first rate, but there are numerous ejector pin marks to repair and many are in awkward spots on the main superstructure. Also, is it just me or do others often find Tamiya's choice of sprue attachments points for parts rather poorly chosen?

While prepping the funnel parts the attachment points are right on the middle of the pieces where raised detail is making it difficult to sand. I've sadly sanded some of that detail off. Considering both the top and botton of the funnels have additional parts to fix there, that seems like the logical place to have put the sprue attachments as they'd be eventually covered. On some photos I've noticed the ridge detail on the funnels is quite prevalent so I may sand all the raised detail off and replace with thin copper wire to make them pop.

We have a long weekend here upcoming so I hope to show some progress pics by then, if I can remember how to post pictures! Thanks for all the posts everyone.

Glad to see you back at it.