I'm building Aoshima's 1/700 HMS Illustrious so I thought I'd put up a few pictures of my progress. Most of my time has been taken in cutting and filling.

The main alteration to the kit is to cut out all the openings in the hull sides, not easy in some places as the plastic is really thick. Here's before and after pics of the stern which is a lot easier as the hanger deck piece is a seperate part.


You can see my inbox review of this kit here http://groups.msn.com/Armoramauk/hmsillustrious.msnw

Martin:

Looking great so far and read the review and looked at the pics there too. The review was very informative.
Couple questions though.
Did you cut the hull down to make it a waterline? Because the bow in the pics here looks different than those in the review? or it could be the angle of the photo? Eyes aren't what they used to be.
Secondly are you planning to sand off the moled on arrester wires and replace them with fishing line??
Anyway thanks for sharing and it looks to me like it is coming along nicely Great job and keep going after watching this I might just dust off my Misouri and pick away at that.
Paul

Hi warlock0322, the kit is a waterline kit and i haven't done any alterations to it, I think my crappy photos make it look diferent here compared to my review
As for the arrester wires I was going to leave them as is but now you have mentioned replacing them I think I will, fishing wire if I can scrounge some fine enough from a guy at work or maybe stretched sprue, thanks for the idea. I'm a complete warship novice so any tips like that are welcome.
I will be finishing the kit in late war BPF camouflage, partly because it is the best reference I can find and partly because I like the look of the Aoshima corsairs that come with the kit [I bought an extra set of aircraft to go with it]. I have bought another WW2 carrier, Ark Royal to build in the future so the swordfish aircraft I don't use now will go with that. I do wish a/c carrier kit manufacturers would give a decent sized airgroup with their kits.

Martin:
After looking at the pics again it was my eyes that played the trck on me not the pics themselves. but with more caffine in my system I now can see them clearer.
the only other thing I can suggest off the top of my head would be to tip the gun battery barrels black giving them a hollow look. Due to the scale I don't think drilling them out would work, or if you had access to little syringe needles or tubing that small you could that also.
If the flight deck had padeye tie downs on it you could highlight them on the deck. That can be tedious as all get out.
Evwen if you decide not to do all that she still looks like she is going to be a keeper I am sure you will do her justice.
Paul

Thanks for the kind words Paul. The main battery will need quite a bit of work to get them to look anything like decent.

I will remove the gun barrels and cut tracks where they are raised and lowered. I don't have access to any tube thin enough to make new gun barrels so I will use some plastic rod and like you say tip them with black.

I decided to order a set of etched brass for this kit so until it arrives things are going slowly. Apart from the odd bits and pieces for aircraft I'm not in any way experienced with etched brass but I think it will be worth a try. I've started a 1/700 tamiya O class destroyer to set next to the carier to give a better impression of the size of these ships

So far so good. Are you going to put it on a stand or in water? Keep us posted on the progress of this sweet little beauty.

~Chip :-)

Hi Chip250, I'm going to set it in water made from plaster. I've got an old picture frame for the base and will slap the plaster on, sculpt it into waves and press the ships into it before it dries to get a proper "sit". Then if all looks right paint the sea dark blue/green and drybrush the tops of the waves white. That's the plan anyway :-)

Looking great. My wife keeps pressuring me into doing a ship but I'm not sure I'm ready. Being a sailor it only seems natural that I build them but who knows-maybe some day.

I'm not an expert about ship, but I think your ship is growing very nice...
I want to try to do a submarine in the future....a german submarine on the ww2...
regards

looking great so far Martin. she is coming along nicely. The brass set should make her a real beauty. Just be careful though these ships can be addicting..
The only thing I can think of if it isn't to late is take the island and the flight deck apart to make painting easier. If not your going to need alot of itty bitty little pieces of tape
Like i said loking great and keep going.

Hi Warlock0322, the island is not yet glued into place so no problems painting. I just sat it in position for the pics. I took a lot of care sanding the bottom of it to make sure it was a good fit, I don't fancy having to fill gaps after painting the thing lol.
Venom I would love to build a submarine kit but there only seem to be a limited number available. My ideal choice would to build a T or S class WW2 British sub but there don't seem to be any available.
Once again can I thank everyone for their comments and suggestions, as I said I am a complete novice in building ships so ANY advice will be welcome.

Martin:
Any small gaps the may pop up after glueing and Painting can be taken care of with a little Elmers glue (White Glue). Either straight out of the bottle or watered down. Put the glue along the seam. Take a cotton swab wet it and run it along the seam with the glue in it.
It will do two things.
1. when the glue dries it dries clear so if the parts are painted it will carry the pigment in the paint so touch up may not be necessary.

2. It dries smooth too so no sanding is required either.

This works not only with ships but all seams that you may encounter.

Hope this helps
Paul

Hi BrandyDog,

My father in law served on the Illustrious in the late 40's. If you require any more info...

Thanks rosedale73, I've sent you a PM.

Thanks for the PM BrandyDogUK.

Have you visited British Pathe News and typed in HMS Illustrious in the search box?

Next to Armorama this is my site of the year!

The ship is now primed and I am making progress with the etched parts.



I did a little feature on how I tackled the etched parts. http://groups.msn.com/Armoramauk/workingwithetchedbrassdetailsthebrandydogway.msnw
I must thank Rosedale73 who put me in touch with his dad. He has been a big help with his descriptions of the ship and given me another contact for some more help.

Wow Martin she is coming along nicely. The Pe looks clean and the bends crisp. Are you sure this is your first ship??
Because by looking at the pics it looks like you have done this before.

Paul

I've started the painting on the flightdeck. I've noticed on carrier pictures how there is a tonal diference in areas such as round the catapult and where the aircraft land so I tried to simulate it. First I airbrushed with flat black. Then I softly airbrushed a dark charcoal to lighten parts. I will be adding more weathering after final painting of the hull and decalling.

Here's the latest on this one. The painting is just about done on the main hull and flightdeck, got to sort out the details now and then look at weathering.

Martin:
That is a fine looking lady you got there great job. One question though. the landing stripe in the middle of the deck is it painted on or a decal?
Once again looking great and keep up the good work.
Paul

Hi Warlock0322, the white stripe is painted on. I'm going to lightly sand it with 1200 grade wet and dry in the area where the aircraft touch down to give it a worn look. With a bit of dark pastel it should look like it has been well used. The trickiest part was masking the white areas under the sponsons to paint white, it took 40 minutes, 3 minutes to paint and 20 minutes to clean up after.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes the infamous mask and paint ratio.. I know that all to well.. Usually for me though it is the boot strip on the middle of the hull between the antifouling red and the hull gray. That is a blast.. it may look straight but there are curves on a hull you woiuld never suspect. That is what keeps me coming back for more on these beauties.
Can't wait to see some more pics of her she is shaping up nicely
Paul

I started on the aircraft. I cut the wings outboard of the main gear and glued them into folded position. Then I cut off the pins representing the main gear and glued on a pair of etched ones. Man what a stressful job. It took 20 minutes to do the first one! Only 15 more to go.

So far so good Martin. They say the first one is always the hardest.. Once you get that one out of the way the rest get easier. That is if the eyeballs hold out from squinting to see what they are doing...
The plane looks great and the folded wings are a nice touch.. Keep going..Looking foward to see some more photos
Paul