Hello Julian,I never knew that the Staghound was being deployed on the Wasp. Seriously, it looks real good. I have one in my stash also, destined for a future project. The Cobras look terrific, I'm impressed by the wash in the panel lines on such a tiny aircraft. Al

Hi Al,
Staghounds were used in the original Gulf War during operation "Horny Gerbil" , an operation designed to baffle the Republican Guard Well maybe not
The Staghound is a nice little build though, 3 days all told; just a welcome break after 6 months of the Wasp
The wash in the panel lines is a non item Al: lampblack black oil paint well thinned and applied 4 times letting each layer dry properly in between, even I can do that
Cheers,
Julian

Julian,

Cobras look great. Amazing how the details pop. Your Wasp is coming along nicely. I have made almost no progress on my CVN... Maybe this summer...

Hi Thomas,
You will get around to your build. Mrs Gremlin56 had me out chasing the lawnmower today Nice weather at last and even some Sun
Does spoil model time
Cheers,
Julian

Great work on the Cobra's Julian, very neat and understated washing.

Si

Thanks Simon, they worked out okay. I need to use a slightly darker colour for the rest of the air-wing: the decals are a great match for haze grey and disappear from view completely
cheers,
Julian

I've been quietly watching this quietly for some time and being inspired. However it's about 1/10 my normal scale so as a taster I got the LCAC & Marine Vehicles from MRC:




Still bits of clean-up painting to do and washes for the vehicles. Will start the second LCAC soon...have to figure out how to make the cushion look deflated and sculpt away the front so the ramp can be in the lowered position

But what I can say after just that little bit is I am in awe at what you've done Julian! I will try another 1/30 project, but not a full LHD... keep it up

Hi Sean, thank you !
Nice job you are doing on the LCAC; I still have them to do
The Wasp has turned out to be a bigger project than I first expected
cheers,
Julian

May 1st update:
Radar array and 1st LCAC, ( your build got me wondering how the fit of the PE would be on the LCAC's Sean ):













All for now, some touch up and clean up work to do around the main mast and the LCAC demands further attention.
Cheers,
Julian

Nice work Julian. The "island" is looking great!

Hi there Daniel, how are things in Switzerland?
Thanks for the kind remarks, still going strong here but starting to get some "LHD" fatigue
I think after finishing this build I will round up some smaller builds, Maybe do some of the Trumpie 1.32 aircraft I have in the stash, actually anything but a ship
Cheers,
Julian

Hey Julian, things goin' quite ok. Only Canada just scored it's first goal against us in a friendly...

My last build was a 1/144 C-121C Super Constellation for my dad's birthday, a weekend-build... now I'm again working on my master's thesis; I've read lots of old US Army/Air Force manuals, quite interesting.

You're going to do some "little" Trumpy 1/32 planes? Which ones do you have in your stash??? My last 1/32 was a UH-72 Lakota built from the Revell kit...

in 1/35th Trumpies Corsair, Hellcat and Wildcat: WW II. Also have Airfix 1/24th Stuka, Me-109 and P51D Mustang. !/48th I would have to check Also have a lot of Revell 1/32 aircraft gathering dust.
Julian

Hi Julian.

Looking good so far, but I have one question... Why did you paint the canopies of the Cobras black when they where moulded in clear? (This will be a good story)..

On another note, what colour do you think I should paint the canopies on the aircraft of the Musashi? Silver or black? I am leaning towards silver myself. Oh BTW they are moulded in grey plastic so I have to paint them some colour..

And one more thinmg, I didn't know Trumpetre made 1/35 Corsairs etc.. lol

hope Trumpter makes the Makin. i'll be first to buy it. Just looks great Julian.

Very neat work on the LCAC Julian, looks quite a kit in it's own right.

Masts & radars look tidy too.

Great stuff

Si

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens every day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls go by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

Hmm, hmm, hmm,...

I wanna see it tainted, tainted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it tainted, tainted, tainted, tainted black
Yeah!

Really couldn't give a tupenny toss which colour you use. Paint it pink, it's your build as you so often say
Cheers mate, watch out for rabbid koalas down under.

Julian

Thanks Simon,
the LCACs are indeed small builds in their own right
Cheers,
Julian

Thanks Mardis,
a model I can recommend,
cheers,
Julian

Wow Julian, what a mammoth build. I have only just re-found this site after joining a long time ago. It has taken me 2 days (on and off) to catch up on this thread. I am another with the kit in the stash and after seeing your efforts will be looking forward to starting it when I clear the bench. Looks like I need to get myself the after market PE set to do it justice.

I have not built a ship in a long time (especially with PE) and have a couple of questions. I noticed when you built the island you added most of the PE railings and then painted. Did you spray the light grey first and then brush paint the decks?

Next, where did you source the crew figures, they do not look like the normal etch ones I have seen on other builds.

Finally I look forward to more progress, this is a fabulous work of art!

Cheers

Good morning Ray, thanks for the kind remarks. This monster has lived on my bench for 6 months now so it's interesting to hear comments from someone who has just dialed back in
The island is a micro masterpiece of design and it can be ruined by brush painting the whole thing, (the details will vanish).
I sprayed the decks in the basic dark grey colour, let it dry thoroughly, sealed it with Vallejo varnish and carefully sprayed the haze grey, the dark grey needed a bit of touching up after all that but it worked out okay. The smaller decks are first sprayed with haze grey and the decks are brush painted with dark grey.
The crew members are Fujimi WW II Japanese navy crews that I had left over from my build of the IJN Haruna.
This is a fantastic model to build: fit is excellent and detailing amazing. It is a huge project though and I underestimated the work that would go into it
Cheers,
Julian

Thanks for the quick reply Julian, I look forward to more updates.

I also have the Illustrious and the WEM etch for it. I saw a link to that build by another member which was just as amazing as yours.

May 4th update:
LCAC madness




Wimpey little thing:



And painted:





and finally decals added:






And a quick peek under her skirt




cheers,
Julian

Absolutely perfect.

Thank you Daniel,
Lets say some very minor warts
These are great little models to build, I think time has come to put some cargo in them
Cheers,
Julian