Back from Hols and back in the workshop, some great work done whilst I have been off.

I am having moments of sanity when I regret finding those pics of the Duke in Raven & Roberts, the deflection rails for the forward 20mm tubs under construction from copper wire.



and fitted to the front three tubs.



The rear two tubs fitted out and the guns, sans barrels, fitted port and starboard of the front three.



All the five fo'c's'le 20mmin place.





starboard sire 20mm added to fitted to the lower bridge deck.



The etched flag lockers under construction, the only issue is that you have to be careful handling the etched grid on the front as if you take any paint off it, touching up is tricky.



Flag lockers in place.



The derricks fitted to the lower bridge. the rigging for the stowed position is provided on the pontos set.



Si

Hi Simon,
Those 20mm look great and that little extra bit of detailing makes a big difference. It's all coming together nicely.

cheers
Michael

Si,
Great detail with the Oerlikons, never thought about this deflecting rails, but it makes perfectly sense...fantastic build!

Jan

Si,

everything looks like it is coming together great. I painted the Musashi this weekend but added a little bit too much thinner to the paint so the primer has bled through a little too much. Going to try and paint another coating sometime this week.

hopefully I will have some pictures to provide an update later this week.

Thanks Michael,

they are a bit tricky, but they somewhat simpler than Master models ones, and they are worth it.

Thanks Jan,

I must admit they didn't occur to me until I saw the photos in Raven & Roberts. Too much information sometimes



Thanks Dave,

Good luck with the second coat, should work out ok, done that before myself, as long as you give the paint that is on there a bit of extra time to cure, in case it has softened the primer you should be ok.

Si

Well moving along finally, a ship builds very differently then either a tank or a plane. Its assemble and paint as you go. The hull was primed then painted black. I will mask the boot top and hull paint the red then mask that and paint the grays. remove the masking and I should(fingers crossed have a good looking hull.



turrets added for effect.

Tom

Looking good Tom,

Good luck with the masking.

Si

Tom - looking good, cant wait to see how she progresses

Si - thanks for the advice regarding the primer, didnt think of that. Now that you mentioned it it would explain why I can see some brass on peices I know I primed black.

Guess ill give the entire week since any work i tried to do now would be rushing it.

thanks

Dave

Welcome Dave,

I have that problem with etch too, whichever primer I use & however long I leave it, any serious handling and I get "bald patches".

Any advise from the rest of you guys?

Si

hey all,

hope everyones build is moving along smoothly..I will have some updates tomorrow after I repaint the Musashi..

I am going to take the opportunity to throw a plug in for the campaign I just started..the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

It's open to any ship and aircraft that was involved in the battle... The start date is 23 October 2014 through 26 October 2015..

Hope to see ya'll participating

Dave

hey all,

well the Musashi has been repainted and I believe this time I had the right thinner consistency to prevent bleed through.

I will post some pictures either this afternoon or tomorrow

Couple of questions for the more experienced folks..

when using a dull coat or gloss coat will I have issue using acrylic paint over a laquer based dull / gloss coat? I am about to start working on the wooden deck and I want to coat it before I weather it with a wash, just wanted to make sure that I it wont "reject" the wash.

Also for an acrylic clear coat, do I need to thin it to use in an airbrush? I have Tamiya clear coat.

Also other than using a candle, what methods do ya'll use for annealing your PE parts?

thanks for the advice and guidance.

Dave

hey all

well as promised earlier here are some updated photos of the Musashi in all her monochromatic glory:

















The main assemblies are just placed and not glued. I will begin washing them here in a couple of days once the paint cures.

Right now I am working on the massive antennae assembly and the catapults. The catapults are proving to be a little difficult to shape but since I splurged on a new PE bending kit it is a little easier.

I am also looking to begin working on the wooden deck so I should have that on in about a week.

Looking forward to your comments and advice as I continue to move forward.

Hope all your builds are going well.

Dave

Looking great Dave,

very nice even coat. Looking forward to seeing the deck down.

Si

Still going upward on the bridge, etched lower bridge front and fwd upper bridge section folded to shape.



In place along with the port section of the wind deflector, stbd section folded to shape & awaiting fitting.



With the exeption of the upper surround the wind deflector in place, still needs a little tweak.



Liferafts around the forward superstructure getting their lashings attached, good old copper wire again.



And fitted in place.



railing origami time, the first of the raised 5.25" decks being done. Without custom length sections supplied in the set this would have been a damn site harder.



Work started on the 5.25" turret production line. All barrels fitted to their trunion. one gunhouse has been removed from the sprue to check fit. all good.



Guns mounted in the gunhouse, the etched retaining piece is folded to shape next to it.



Retainer in place, the guns still elevate, but won't sit horizontal.



The basic turret assembled, all the etched external detail to be added.



General overview of the project as it stands.





Si

si, she looks awesome. Your PE work is phenominal.

Dave

Nice work. Do you use commercial bending too? If so, which one, just out of curiosity.

I had just purchased what I guess would be considered a 'beginners' tool from Paragafix.

Looking good, Dave.

Do you know what the major differences are between the Yamato and Musashi? Are there any?

Thanks Dave,

the bridge wind deflectors were a bit of a test, but not as bad as I thought they would be. Still not quite happy with them, need a bit more of a tweak to hide some small gaps.

Hi Michael,

The only proper bending tool I have is this little thing.



picked it up from "Little Cars" a good few yeas ago for £10.00 or thereabouts, have never felt the need to spend out on a big fancy hold & fold or similar... So far.

Good luck with your folding tool, hope it works for you as well as mine does for me.

Si

Thanks, Si.

Very similar to Paragrafix's tool which was about £17 for me.

Michael, thanks From what I can tell the only major difference is that the Yamato has more triple 25mm on both the port and starboard side. That's one of the reasons I am selling my Yamato. I want to get something else in it's place.

As far as bending tools, I broke down and bought the 8 inch bender from small shop tools and the rolling from the same company.

Im not very good with OE so I need all the help I can get.

Si what is your trick for annealing the brass? Do you use a candle? Michael what about you?

As an update, I weathered the Musashi deck with a wash of black, came out a little darker than what I wanted but after trying to clean it up a bit I think it will work. The catapults are done as is the antennae mast. I am working on the crane now which scares me as I don't want to screw it up. Keeping fingers crossed.

I am looking to do a wash of the entire ship this Friday with a dry brush on Saturday. Will have some more picture updates this weekend.

Dave

Great work guys, I need to get moving, stalled with an injury and work. And sometimes video games. Rots your brain but less fumes and no sanding. I wish someone made a Yamato as built in 1/350. I like the look of the complete secondary battery before all the AA guns were added.

Tom

Tom I agree. I thinking at some point in the future I might kit bash a Yamato and build it with the original 155mm guns instead of the AA guns on the sides.

Great progress Dave and Si.

Si, how do you find working with the Pontos set compared to other photo-etch you've used in the past?

Dave, you are certainly motoring along. You'll have time to build another BB at the rate you are going.

I keep forgetting I'm in this campaign however I have followed along and been watching these great builds. I now need to get a detail set or two then I can dive in, I do however need to clear the bench of minnows (subs, DD's and DE's) first.

What I have waiting is as follows with detail sets indicated:
HMS Dreadnought 1907 - no detail set
HMS KG V, to be built as Anson or Howe, ref needed and no detail sets
RM Roma - DX detail set including deck and barrels
KM Scharnhorst - Brass barrels
IJN Kongo - no detail set
Admiral Ushakov ex-Kirov (Battlecrusier - does this count?) - PE set

I feel that a HMS Warspite and USS North Carolina will both be sailing into my stash sometime soon.

Can I have your votes please on what you want me to tackle from the above list.

While I clear the bench it will give me time to get any detail/wood deck sets I need.

Luciano,

I vote the IJN Kongo

Joe thanks, I doubt I will start another as I am in a few campaigns. I think I have four new campaigns starting over the next two months.

Dave