Wasn't taken as such Tracy. The GBay is currently wrapped in paper and masking tape after having the Hull Red applied to the bottom of the hull. The big unwrap happens in a few minutes.
In the meantime I have been putting together the flight deck after removing the parts that are replaced with PE for the wooden deck.
Pictures this afternoon.

An hour or so later..

Well, I started the big unwrap but after I removed the paper etc covering everything above the boot line I found a few thin spots and decided to put the paper back on and spray some more colour. Lucky I didn't just through it in the bin like I normally do. Will leave it to dry for a few hours and do some more of the deck.

Catch ya!

Some time later...

I am back from the hobby room.. and the shops.. and my jobs at home.. but here I present for your comedic entertainment the GBay in the nude before I have done any touch ups..

Front right.. and I have missed a patch of light grey.. (Bugger)

Rear Right.. Just got the Deck Blue and a patch of light grey on the sponson.

Left front.. same to do again..

That messy bit in the middle is Gunze masking fluid that doesn't want to relinquish its hold on the GBay. Bit of touch up on the boot top as well.

Here we have the deck before the gun tubs and walkways are added. It has been painted already but you can't see the detail down the sides in this photo.

This is the sprue with all the gun tubs and walkways. The walkways even have a perforated finish which looks much more realistic than smooth surfaces. The stairs are nice and small. All the deck blue is hand painted as it would be a real PIA to mask up the tubs etc to spray them. Lifecolor paints cover very well with a brush and only ever require two coats.

Here is the back of a couple of the tubs and walkways showing the nice detailing under them.
@ Julian, I tried the Lifecolor Thinners with the Lifecolor paint and you only need a small amount of thinners, like less than 30%. Anymore than that and it gets a bit thin.. although I didn't try at different pressures...
I think that is enough for the moment. Now the deck blue on the gun tub and walkway floors is dry I may as well go and glue them to the sides of the flight deck.
More pictures anon...

looks good Warren, very eye-catching dazzle job. You have a bit of touching up to do but nothing to worry about. Are you going to put on a layer of matt varnish to protect the paint?
The GB is a rather tubby looking little ship and the big lump on her bow doesn't improve her looks A very interesting subject though and you are making excellent progress.
cheers,
Julian

You knew I wouldn't be able to leave it alone for the rest of the day didn't you.
I did a bit of masking and added the light grey patch I missed up near the top of the hull. Still haven't put the patches on the sponsons. Then I touched up the matt black in a few areas with a paint brush..
I even test fitted the deck and I am not even going to bother gluing it it fits so well.
I often wonder what drugs these guys were on when they came up with these dazzle schemes. Certainly are disruptive!
@ Julian, the brass props and WEM PE for my 1/200 Arizona turned up last week. Now all I need is a wooden deck and I am ready.

G'day one and all.
Welcome to another installment of the GBay.
Today I started PEing in earnest after a week of afixing stuff to the deck.. all the fiddly bits like support brackets etc. I also did a test fit and it won't need any glue at all to hold it in place.
Anyway, back to the PEing..
I started at the bow

and worked my way up the port side..

around the stern..

and then back up the starboard side to the bow again.
One significant difference I have found between this PE set and other railings I have used is that you have to bend the bottom of the rails inward to give the railings something to be glued by. Most of the other sets I have used you just use the base of the railing to glue it in place, no bending reuired. This does make for a good solid bond though.
Unlike what most PE instructions tell you I use Gator Glue and Thin CA for my Railings. I put the railing in place and then apply the thin CA, or put the Gator Glue on before I attach the railing.
As you can see I didn't paint the hull PE before attaching it as the camo scheme means the railings change colours quite a bit and I will hand brush them.. but not with the air-con on as it tends to dry the paint too quickly..
But for the railings and nets around the sides of the flight deck I am spraying the PE first because there are not many changes in colour and the masking will be easy.

This is the basic Hasegawa PE set in the spray booth after my first coat of grey. Will let it dry over night before I spray the blue bits and black bits.. But I will apply the grey bits to the ship before I paint the other colours to prevent overspray problems..

And here is a photo of the PE up close and personal to show how nice and fine the etching it. The attachment points are so small you only have to lean on the knife to cut each of the PE parts off. They are relatively sturdy and bend easily if you remember they bend the opposite way to most PE I have used, away from the scribed line rather than towards it.
Oh well, enough for now. In between building and painting I did quite a few other things today so not as much progress as I would normally have made.
Hope you enjoyed looking.

Nice progress Warren, the GB is coming along nicely there. Tricky camo to apply The PE looks nice, the flange thingie on the bottom makes life easy I would guess.
Julian

Hi Julian.
Glad to see you here. Please feel free to add comments and suggestions. BTW, I got the Arizona Wooden Deck during the week.. Almost ready to go!!
I have never really had any problem with Eduard PE without the flange, but the Hasegawa railings are nice and sturdy.
5:47am and I am off to the hobby room to do some painting before it gets too hot and humid.
Cheers!!

Well...
I some more PE painting and touch ups and thought to myself I would see how well the deck fitted again..



Pretty well actually!
No glue or anything else needed on this part. Will start PEing the flight deck and sides in a few minutes. See how much I get done before I go to the shops for a pot of tea and some scones... mmmm.. scones... scones. butter, strawberry jam and cream.. a combination made in heaven!!
These macro shots are great for finding bits you have missed painting properly. Might have to take a heap of them when I am finished just to make sure I am actually.. finished...
On another subject what do you all use for rigging 1/350 ships? Ezyline is handy, but my batch is all over the place in diameter. Most fishing line I have seen is way too thick (as I think Ezyline is as well). What diameter does most rigging come out at in 1/350?
More news as it comes to hand!!

Third update for today!!
Much of the day was spent painting small things Light Grey, not Pale Grey... Including the 40mm mounts and 20mm Oerlikons. First lot of paint was a little thin but it seems to spread out nicely, Second lot was a little thick so I am still to get the exact thinner/paint ration I need for the Lifecolor paints. Saying it should have the consistency of milk is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Then I got into some PE bending. I almost lost it when I realised I had bent one of the boarding ladders the wrong way, and when I tried to bend it back it broke apart.. grrrr.. Hasegawa PE no where near as tough as Eduard.

This is the one I successfully bent.. I might be able to hide the rebuilt one somewhere on the ship.
So after a few hours of PEing I ended up with this lot..

Lots of ladders, toe holds and a few aerials.
Now if you every get in the mood to build the GBay with the Hasegawa super detail set you will get eight of these on the fret.

They go around the tubs for the 40mm mounts. And you see all those little tabs, yes, you have to bend them. Now let me give you some very useful advice, unlike 99% of other PE stuff that you bend after removing it from the fret, bend those tabs BEFORE you remove the rings. The first one I did I tried to do it after removal as usual but it came out a little bent as you can see in photo 2. If you bend them before removing them you will have no troubles with bending the part as it is well supported on the fret.
And with that bombshell I am putting the GBay aside for at least 12 hours.. Have to give the old Mk1 eyeballs a bit of a rest after all that PEing.
Good evening..

Warren, great progress! I'm still watching with interest. It's kind of depressing to see you're already far ahead of my Indy even though you started almost a year later...

Cheers!
Stefan

Don't worry about it Stefan. You will finish it one day.

Very quick update, I am in the middle of the tiny island and it is all PE.. Very well engineered though.. Painting may be fun but... gulp
Pictures later...

Lovely work, Warren. I'm begining to believe you live to make the rest of us mortals feel inadequate! LOL. I see you use the same technique as I do, paint as much as you can on the sprue and the fret, then touch up as needed. I've always found that easier than trying to assemble, then paint. Great work, my friend.

Bob

Thanks Bob.
I will take some pictures this evening.
And here they are!! Well two anyway..
This is what I have been working on for the past few days. It is not that difficult, just fiddly.


There are still quite a few pieces to attach so please treat this as a progress shot. I think this one area of the ship will take longer than any other. Painting is going to be ... interesting...
Will have to find a way to mask the searchlight lenses... Or maybe I will end up just painting them silver..
You never can tell.. (Oops! I just have to race back and straighten up that llight!! See ya!!)

Warren, your PE work is truly amazing. What do you use as glue, CA or white glue? I can't come anywhere near getting my PE to come out as clean as you do. Congratulations on some really great work. I'm watching this one very closely since I have Gambier Bay in my stash. She's not going to look anywhere near as good as yours, but I'm getting some great tips from watching your work here.

Keep those updates coming.

Bob

Hello again Bob.

I use a mix of glues depending on how fast I want the glue to cure. If it is going to be easy to clamp, or will stand free with no clamping I will normally use Gator Glue. But if I have to sit and hold a part for a while or until it cures I will use THIN CA glue, not thick, and run it onto the joint using a pipette attachment on the container. Then I will hit it with accelerator to cure it instantly, well mostly instantly.. I find the thin CA is great for railings as youu can apply it at one end and it flows along the whole length of the railing. Just have to make sure you don't glue your fingers to the part as well..

It also helps to have something like the Small Shop's 'The Bug' to help with folding the PE. You can't beat the nice clean flds you get using one of those tools. I am on the lookout for one of their 5-speed ones to do larger items.

I also have a wide range of tweezers etc which I collected in a former life as an Instrument Fitter repairing aircraft instruments, gyros etc. If you buy good quality tweezers first up they will last you a lifetime.

Went to the PostOffice on the way to work and my 1/350 Fujimi Fuso was there waiting for me.. Just love that pagoda..

More pictures later!

Nice work on the etch - aside from good tools, it helps a lot working with high-quality etch.

I like your work on this kit - its going to be very impressive when done!

Cheers/Jan

Thanks for dropping by Jan.
I have used many companies PE over the years, Eduard, GMM, Tom's Modelworks, Dragon, Hasegawa, LionRoar and Griffon too name a few.
The only negative I have for this set is that the etching for the folds is not always on the side you expect it to be. Mostly with Eduard PE the lines are on the side you bend toward, but with this set it is just all on the same side no matter which way you ae supposed to bend it.
Cheers
Warren

Very clean work with the etch Warren, especially as it sounds a bit troubesome

Si

Hello everyone.
Here are some pictures of the finished , I suppose you would call it a mast.. But it is a large mast with lots of platforms..
Keep in mind it needs a little more bending here and there but that can wait until I have finished the rest of the ship. This piece is going on last.. There are so many tiny bits I don't want to knock it again. It fell over once while I was photographing it and two pieces fell off..
Anyway, here are the piccies




My Wife came in while I was attaching one of the side bits and she asked what the hell I was doing, and I said without thinking 'making some jewellery darling'. I got to thinking later there are so many hours invested in this one part, and it is gold in colour, that it may be worth more than some jewellery she has! But I wouldn't tell her that.
I was very tempted to finish the kit parts off and put the mast on a little stand as a stand alone assembly, but I thought again a bit later what a stoopid idea that was!!
Anyway, I am putting my eyes away for a while for a rest, and considering how I am going to paint the mast without destroying it.

I think I have found a mistake in the Hasegawa instructions.. (shock horror!!)
I was looking for pictures of the bridge hoping to find a picture or two, which I did, and it would appear that the PE parts for the bridge are not right.
From what I can see the part of the island I am talking about had no cover on it, yet the PE parts have a cover attached. Should be easy to whip it off and leave the Cap'n etc exposed to the elements.

beautiful work Warren, top notch sir!
Julian

Hey Warren! Looking good so far!

Might be worthwhile airbrushing that beautiful mast stucture you've created

Russ

Fantastic job so far Warren. Looking forward to seeing her finished.....Cheers Mark

Thanks Julian, Russell and Mark.
Well this has been a productive weekend but after I worked in my yard this afternoon I came inside and had a few beers. Beer and delicate POE does not mix so I have downed tools for a bit .
I like the way Eduard does its railing more than Hasegawa. It is a bit of a pain having to bend every single leg of each railing. Although having a folding jig does help.

Looks like I missed painting these railings before I installed them. Oh well.

As you can see still a fair bit of touching up to do.

Here is a close up of one of the nets the GBay had instead of railings in some spots. I haven't attached the 27 life-rafts as yet.

I don't remember no painting that ladder...

And finally the island. I that cover over the top of the bridge must have been moveable as I have seen a picture with the cover missing completely, but yet another with it in position... I couldn't make out what it was made of though. Anyone got any ideas?
Well that is it for the weekend as far as updates go. I am going away on holidays next week and won't be back here for 2 weeks. Have to put up with a apartment at Coolangatta for a week.. SIgh, such a hard chore!
Thanks for looking.