Simon,

That Artwox deck looks NICE! Love the lines of the Varyag, she's gonna be a beautiful model. Keep up the good work!

Tim

Thanks Tim

Appreicate you looking in. Hope to get some more work done on her over the weekend.

Si

Keep at it Simon.

I just found this build and will be watching with interest.

Cheers
Warren

Great to see you back on this build Si

Thanks Warren, Russell, hope to get some more done soon.

Si

Am enjoying this one Simon. Looking forward to seeing more.....Cheers Mark

A Bit more progress,

The after superstructure, the skylights have been dtailed, the wood deck fitted and etched doors fitted to the Bulkhead.



These were fitted, a few minor issues, the bottom of the bulkead had to be sanded a thinner and the vents on the outside needed the bottoms trimming off to fitt the wood decking. Also the sides bowed inwards slightly, so i taped the deck in place a bit forward of where it should fit and the dropped the bulkhead in quite neatly.



The funnel casin decks were prepared next, again minor issue, the four vent supports on the smaller forward section, they need to be carefully placed so they do not foul the after section and the walkway / boat rack.



with the walway / boat rack test fitted.




A few minor issues, but nothing a bit of care and fettling did not get round.

More soon

Si

Looking good Simon, the wooden deck does wonders for the build.
Julian

Ditto. Lovely work so far Simon.....Cheers mark

Julian,

Thanks, my 1st use of a wooden deck, but I do like the look of it, and it is quite straight forward to work with, gives me confidence for bigger builds with one, like Warspite & Dreadnought.

Mark

Thanks, appreciate your comment, a few bits of tidying up to do though.

Si

The wood looks very good Simon, I love the trimming they printed on around superstructure, skylights etc.. Only thing that really puts me off the wooden deck in general is the "step down, raised deck"effect you get at bollards and fair leads.
Julian

Hi Jullian,

I do understand what you mean, however, it is a small price to pay to for the effect. Swings and roundabouts as they say.

A bit more progress.

Work has started on the ladders, the steps are bent up whilst still attahced to the fret.



The sides are bent up using a simple folding tool.



and the ladders from the aft superstructure to the maindeck have been fitted.



More soon (I Hope)

Si

Really nice work so far Simon.....Cheers Mark

Thanks Mark,

Appreciate your interest

Si

I am with you on the deck Simon. And this problem is not always so as many kist in my stash have the deck parts as separate pieces.
The other good thing re the deck is you can paint all the bits and bobs before you install the deck without having to use five kilometres of masking tape to mask everything up when painting.

Keep up the good work SImon. I ordered the Sevastopol and Borodino from the UK yesterday as I found they were the cheapest by a fair margin. I saw the Sevatopol in my LHS and was thinking of adding it to the stash until I saw the AUD100 price... Got it for about 50 pounds including postage and labout 19 for the Borodino. But I also saw it listed for more than AUD100 in various places as well..

Thanks Warren,

I was dubious about using a wood deck for some time, but now I have one under way I am a convert.

Good luck with the Seveastapol & Borodino, I am certainly after at least one of that class, they are such a unique design.

Si

More progress.

The ladders up to the fo'c's'le the winch drums & bell have been fitted.



Painting the first of a multitude of vents has started, yellow can be a swine to brush, but Citadel colours to the rescue, golden yellow went on over the Skull white primer out of a rattle can very well.



Next job replacing the barrels on the 75mm secondary guns.

The gun as suplied.



The barrel removed. (a file has been run over the cut to make sure it is square)



Drilling out for the brass barrel.



and the end result.



All eight done.



Finally, the vents fitted, citadel blood red for the vent interiors, also the etched guard rails for the stair wells have also been added.



More soon

Si

Looks fantastic Simon, beautiful ship.
Julian

After all the brick-red anti-fouling I have used over the years the green is a pleasant change!
You are doing a great job Simon and I am watching with interest.

Thanks Guys, appreciate your comments.

I like the green too Warren, that and the hull shape were the driving force in going against my usual format and building this one full hull.

Have made some more progress today, but photobucket is being very slow, so will add the pics in the week.

Si

For the vents and stacks you could use "Napels yellow" oil, a paler tint but it coats like you wouldn't believe. I'll be using it on Borodino's stacks.Your yellow is immaculate though Simon, looks very dockyard fresh
Julian

I agree the yellow is a bit on the vivid side Julian, but I am going for an unweathered look, for a working ship look Naples Yellow sounds pretty good.

Sunday's progress:-

First a fit issue, and the only one to date. I followed the instructions and assemled the conning tower and test fitted it... OOPS.



Plan B, I fiited the rear piece th bottom of the tower, let it dry and filled to fit.



Whilst the glue was drying I painted & finished the secondary guns, Some spare handwheels were fiited as a bit of "creative gizmology" to add a bit of depth.



The secondary guns were fitted, along with the rest of the conning tower and it's ladders.



The boat rack / walkway had the then supports fitted to it's underside and then test fitted, even with the wooden deck it fitted well apart from a slight warp, a jar of tamiya paint held the front end down whilst the glue dried.



The large forward cradles / davits were cut down to take the etched davit sections.



There were some minor fit issues between the davits and the walkways which will not be too difficult to sort out with some offcuts of plastic strip.



More soon

Si

You are doing an awesome job on her Simon.....Cheers Mark

Thanks mark,

Apart from the couple of minor issues above the kit is a real joy to put together.

I am also impressed with the way the Artworks deck does not interfere (so far) with the fit of the other components.

Si

More progress

Ventilators and funnels. The 11 2 parts vents, 6 short / fat and 5 taller and thinner were painted red on the inside and once dry glued together.



Whilst the glue was drying I fitted the walkway railings, took some fiddling as they were long and fragile, but got there in the end.



The funnels and vents were then painted, yellow first.



Masked and then painted black.



The funnels had there ladders attached, I pre painted these on the etched fret, then they and vents were fitted.



Ths kit really is a joy, and now she is starting to look the part.

More soon

Si