Ahoy Shipmates!!!

MSW Crewmember Kostas Katseas sails the high seas with a wonderful HMS Hood.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

While he is a very good builder, anyone notice the sea effect is always the same colour for all surface craft. Well, I can't praise him up to much, lol.
His IJN Yamato was probably the best I have seen, and although they have their own web-sites, the Chinese builders could normally knock the scocks off JB, and Kostas manages to hold his own. I still would like to see the following from Kostas, a dockyard diorama and a step by step guide of what he uses and how he makes his sea effect. HMS Hood, a very good effort and love that rigging, I feel its so important to get the hull colour just right, to much one side and not enough the other. He has this spot on, if you follow the colour up the super-structure it blends in, while a backdrop means you can only view this from one angle, imagine this work with a natural sky backdrop, I have only ever seen his work once, 3 years ago at Hendon, when I told him there was a big crack down the side of his model, him and his mate almost jumped out of their shoes (I was only joking Kostas didn't seem too amused) it made me laugh though. I like the style not bothered in the slightest how fast he can build as that's rubbish anyway, no such thing as a fast builder, I like the colour he finishes his ships with, and I feel although its great, he still has a way before he can master that rigging completely. On a scale of 1 to 10 and I'll place my nexk on the chopping block, I'd say today Kostas is a 7.8 according to my eye and overdemanding taste.
Another fine build less weathering, good strong sea effect, fantastic mix of colours and great rigging makes this HMS Hood asking to see more of it, and perhaps some close-up shots.

Thanks Alec.
Just a few things to clarify.

A)This , as every commission has some guidelines and requests i have to stick too according to the customer wish.So if they want the sea , same as a previous build of mine, that means inevitably i will have to repeat myself , and so on for building yet again the same model etc.

B)I hate rigging.I just dont enjoy it that much , and i would rather pay someone else to do it for me, but no such luck.So i try my best.Never said i was top, and it is one area i want to improve myself a bit more.

C)As i built on commission that means i can only spend that much time or effort on a build .Time spend has to reflect the final detailing/price ratio.If you want to pay me to spend 3 solid months on a single build, i can do that too.Just ask JB how much he would value his Roma in 1/350 for example if he was to sell it.

C)Here is my blog address were you can follow all my builds as they unfold .The pictures i upload there have no restrictions on size and they are much, much bigger.
http://katsflyby.blogspot.com/

D)There are some Chinese or Japanese builders specially in 1/700 whose models are truly exquisite, but so is the price you have to pay to get hold of them.That reflects the time and effort spend on them.2000 pounds anyone for a 1/700 carrier?
Last year i build no less than 25 models.And anyone of them could have placed in any contest in its category.I know it doesn't sound modest , but this is what i feel although not very interest in winning prizes.I would rather get the acknowledgement and satisfaction of my customer though any day instead. You can imagine if i had to devote the same time in only 3 or 4 builds the entire year.

E)As a personal advise to you, i would say try to avoid judging or comparing , per say .Nobody asks for it , nobody is interested in it .We are only here to showcase our effort be at any skill level and get some feedback be negative or positive , but in a constructive way.If you can suggest a better way of doing things , please feel free to share it with the rest of us.If not just keep it to your self and try to be more diplomatic in expressing your view of things.I personally dont care , but others might not feel the same.This is not a competition, but just a modeling forum.Everybody is constantly trying to evolve and improve, none claims to be at the very top or at the very bottom.
How would you feel for example if every time i see one of your models , i respond with a phrase like ''crap'', seeing better'', ''that's rubbish'' ,etc.Is there any point in doing that , apart from being rude and mean?

F)I appreciate the fact you are taking the time to write such a lengthy response in all of my builds.

The specific model aside - its up to the usual high Kostas Quality as ever - do you only build commisioned models or do you also have time to build for your self ? and if so, do you deal with a different genre or approch ?

Cheers/Jan

P.s. - I share your feelings about rigging

Steady Tiger - please don't think for a moment I am knocking your work, the very last thing I want is to upset you, or anyone else for that matter.
Okay so my sense of humour has fallen WAY out of the ball park, but no way am I rubbishing your work, if you sell to someone or building for yourself, I honestly couldn't care less, I've seen loads of your stuff on ebay, only wish I could afford it, I can't, but that doesn't take away the fact I write what I see, I'm no judge or finger pointer, and in my effort to bring attention to both builder and viewer, I am merely asking questions that are NOT intened to ofend, but myself and others also have a right to offer their view, constructive or otherwise that's the name of the game, or would you like someone to write every single time how fantastic you are ? Leave it out mate, if you think I'm trying to have you over, email Jim B of Southampton and ask him, I mean no harm, its just the way I write.
Its the same as this reply, you could have sent me an email, and I could have replied via the same thing, we both decided to place this in the open, there's no problem.
You build and sell, but like the other chap asked, do you actually find the time to build for yourself ? Chasing that Euro is great while you're selling, but from time to time, I bet it drives you bonkers when a customer let's you down.
Please never, never think I am trying to rip a lump out of you, your builds are very good - a question, if your builds are just ok, and the rigging not bad and so on, do you honestly believe Jim B would consider you building for him ?
Please don't take me the wrong way.

Hi guys!

First, and more important:
- Kostas managed to make another of his high signature models! I always like the atmospheric way that Kostas sea always transmits to the viewer, apart from the nice weathering and usually high built standard!

Second:
- This has been discussed before, the commissioned work "problem". As Kostas so well mentioned it, to make a profit out of his work he has a limited amount of time that he can spent on each project! Even if I don't do model commission work, I understand this from my profession!
If you are paid by work/hour in the end you would end up with a ridiculous amount to be paid by the customer, meaning that you would not be able to sell your "product"... I have made this math with my models and since I am a slow worker, all my models would be too expensive (if I was willing to sell them, which I am not). Exception made for the Seawolf sub, that only took me a week and a half from start to finish

Third:
- I understand that Alec can be sometimes a little over the edge on his remarks, but please let keep the comments true (as it is preferable) but with some temper...
The main reason for this forum/community to exist is for modelers to share their work, put their doubts on the "table" and receive answers on how to solve those issues, independently of the level of the modeler (the one who asks and the one who answers), and most of all to have fun and enjoy this hobby.
For me, this is still a hobby, my preferred one, the one that I spend more hours with and when it's not fun, then, something is wrong! Very wrong....
For Kostas, it's not a hobby! He makes his living from commission works and 25 models in one year, most of them 350th scale with that level of work is a good score... as comparison, in 700th scale, 2010 was the top scoring year for me with.... 5 models!!!!
So, speak your thoughts, but think before you write, so that misunderstandings like the above ones can be avoided for the community (and specially the involved) sake!
(ok, this may sound as the Managing Editor speaking, but old habits die hard)

Cheers
Rui

PS: I am in no way shooting Alec, nor protecting Kostas... first because there's no reason to shoot Alec and I don't need to be Kostas bodyguard - since this is a modeling community, and his works speak for him, he is a "heavy weight"!

I wasnt taking it the wrong way Alec.Just the way i saw it .Am not offended in the slightest.This is only a virtual forum.
But if you are cheeky enough to write this in public, i should only answer in public.

It is funny how people like to be judgmental about someone else, but dont like to take on ,a simple advise or note. I dont think you had a go at me, but still you should be more careful in your writing style.That's what i am trying to say.This is not verbal so i cannot judge the tone of your voice, only what i see in writing.It was early morning, i didnt had coffee yet and was feeling a bit grumpy, that didnt help things a lot either.

To be honest i present the models i build here only for the same reason you do yours.If someone has an observation to make in a constructive way , i am all up for it.There are a lot more knowledgeable people here than me , and it always helps me to rectify a mistake in my next build.I just dont see a point in making silly remarks about obvious and trivial things like (railing not straight , or anchor sits slightly to the left, or that spot is painted brighter than the other etc.If you go out each time to find small defects in someones model, am sure you will.No one is perfect.That said am sure they know of them only too well themselves.Try to learn from someone else's build , instead of wasting your time trying to put his build down in one way or another.I have seen you doing this a lot and i dont think you or anyone else has much to gain from this practice.

Take all this with a friendly pat on the back , or with a hint of salt and pepper , either way its your call.
Looking forward to your next build.



As for , if i have time to build for myself or not , answer is no , but if JB wants me to build a model for him, thats honestly for me and JB or any JB out there only, dont you think?

And as this can go on forever here, thats my last post on this thread regarding you.

Hi Kostas
Colin Swager from New Zealand here. I just want to say tHat personally I think your models are superb, and if I could aspire tO be half as good as you I would be ecstatic . I love the way you do the sea and if it looks much the same all tHE time( which it does not) then who cares, because it is so well done in the first place. I would be proud to have one of your models on display in my house if I could afford it. HMS Hood is my favorite ship of all time and I love this latest attempt of yours. The best model I have ever seen of the Hood is in my opinion the version by Imre Somoygi, THIS IS A WORK OF ART AND REFLECTS A TWO YEAR TIME FRAME. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT YOU COULD ACHIEVE IF YOU COULD SPEND TWO YEARS ON ONE SHIP.
MY OTHER FAVORITE MODEL IS JIM BAUMANN'S HMS DREADNOUGHT.
(THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON ON MY PC HAS FROZEN )
ONCE AGAIN GREAT MODEL MY FRIEND. KEEP IT UP.
KIND REGARDS
COLIN

Hey Kostas! Excellent work as always! I've been following your work here for some time now and have to ask once again if you could do a step by step demo of how you recreate your water effects and white caps.

I've found tid-bits of images of your work here and Model Ship Forum but nothing that shows your process from start to finish... PLEASE teach us your secrets!

I've bookmarked your blog space so whether you do it there or here would be greatly appreciated.

I'm eager to learn new techniques to achieve water effetcs similar to yours. Thanks in advance!!

Carmen

Truly beautiful work! Very impressive