Great work on the boats Jan!

My hairy stick skills are almost non-existent, but yours are crisp and neat!

The RN sure knew how to clutter up their boats, with, well, ahem, more boats, didn't they

You're right calling it an "Armada"

The Northstar pumps look great and all those little details on deck are really popping!

Awesome work that may supply also some inspiration to my rather stalled Hood build.
The boats, gun quads and winches are really a major improvement over the kit parts.
Your way of applying the wooden deck is interesting and shows a lot of skill.

Build is looking good Jan!

I'm not a steady hand either, but you're doing great by the looks of it!

Amazing work Jan

As others have said, my steady hand is not so steady when it comes to the hairy stick, I avoid it as much as I can.

Your "Armada" looks great. Looking forward to seeing them mounted.

Dave

Gentlemen,

thank you all very much for stopping by and especially for your kind comments!!

It's always great to hear that the work is inspiring! Thank you for that!!

And it's particularly interesting to read about your hairy stick and steady hands skills - I thought I was, well, not alone, but not in such good company-! I try to avoid this free-hand painting by all means, and t get those results was quite painful and took me the full weekend...with uncounted corrections and touch ups...

Thank you all again,

Cheers,
Jan

Great update Jan and I'm sorry I didn't look in earlier. I had the same issue on the Shapeways Sopwiths I bought for the stalled HMS NZ. It was quite difficult to get paint to stick the surface even after using primer and certainly masking tape removed any paint it touched. Nothing wrong with the old ways though, hairy sticks and all

cheers
Michael

Hi Jan

The boats do look good with paint on, they will really add depth the shelter deck.

Keep up the great work Mate.

Cheers

Si

Hi Michael and Si,

thank you for your comments!

Michael,

it's good to know that there seems to be a more general problem with paint sticking on those shape ways printed stuff - though the quality and the look of those boats is great! Well, and the old fashioned way did work after all - not as fast and crisp as I had planned, but I'm quite happy with the result. Certainly better than the kit's boats with better paint...

I am looking forward to a weekend that should give me some bench time, so there should be an update on Sunday, or possibly Monday...

As always, thanks for your patience!!

Cheers,
Jan

Hi all,

one of the rare occasions of an update...

So I've be dealing with the aft superstructure parts, those just forward of the PomPom stand. Quite confusing references and information. Assuming that Pontos got it right with the HMS Hood association's help, it's still contradicting the AotS in some details. And it's quite far away from the Trumpi (must be careful, auto correction always wants to make Trumpi into Trumpf...saw that on a different post of mine...) kit's part.
However, not much provided in my after marked, and some changes would require major surgery, so I decided to go with some errors in that part.

The basic structure, first PE doors added and archways opened up.

(Edit: no clue why some of the pics come out that small, must be a setting on my laptop when editing pictures. However, I decided to leave them as they are for now.)





Windows opened and some railing cut away from the upper part.





Some railing and surfacer added below, and a first try for a locker, but wrong size entirely, at least taking the Pontos as a reference, it should not be higher than the railings.



Those locker are better size - even if I know they are wrong...they are ammo lockers from Veteran, 37mm AA ammunition for Kriegsmarine vessels...but I think they look all right.
Some scratch work started on the higher railings.





But the endeavor to build half-railings on the lower platforms was abandoned after severals trials...



So I will go with this:





Painted and installed...



Then I decided it was about time to install some of the pre-build structure parts on the shelter deck, together with some more hatches. The additional - midships - ladder from the shelter deck down, that Trumpi built as a structural part, just got some kind of cover.
And yes, I saw that the support underneath one of lower platforms is completely off-angled, I realized it only when I was uploading the picture. It's straight meanwhile.













So much for today, as always, thank you all for following!!

Cheers,

Jan

Hi Jan

a great little update.

Although progress may seem slow, it's these little steps that all come together in the end so that at a certain point, you suddenly realize you're at the finish line, so as I say: progress is progress!

BTW I'm none too keen myself on doing half railings unless absolutely necessary

Hi Jan,

Nice job on the after superstructure, agree with Russ on the half height railings, they are a pain.

The shelter deck is starting to look nice and busy.

Cheers

Si

Thank you very much,Russ and Si!

I have to say I am quite pleased with the kook, and you're right, it's coming to life. And that is good and motivating. I need to continue on the forward superstructure, there's quite a lot of rather complicated work waiting. And I'd think I should start with the funnel bases and the masts, to get an idea of the fit and how the printed boats will fit in between.Something like that. Lots to do...this one will probably go well into 2018...

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

Sorry I missed your earlier update. I echo what Si and Russ said, amazing work.

I have not had the experience of dealing with half railings but they look to be extremely frustrating. Great work.

Dave

Hi Dave,

no worries, great to have you following along the long and slow ride...

And a little work done - started with the bridge. Rather complicated structure, and the fit isn't really all that good:









This little step causing the gap should not be there. Well, some sanding gets that out of the way.

But checking references, I decided that some major surgery is required as well, and that took me almost a full day to figure out how best to go about ist.

This area around the inclined ladder opening needed to go.





Reconstruction:







And some paint on the decks before fitting the parts. That will require some masking later on.





Looking at those parts I can't believe that this is all I managed to do, but such is life. Glacier speed. But after all I am quite happy with my modifications.

Thank you all for your ongoing patience!

Cheers,
Jan

Nothing wrong with glacial Jan,

Nice work sorting out the issues with the those decks on the bridge superstructure.

That complex superstructure will look tops when you have finished with it.
Cheers

Si

Nice scratch building there Jan!

It looks like Trumpy have endowed this kit with the same 'challenges' as they did on the Prinz!

Don't worry though mate, keep going and you'll catch the glacier eventually! I've nearly caught mine

Thank you very much, Russ and Si!!

Well, I think that one glacier is just disappearing on the horizon - or ist it all about global warming?? But I'll catch the next one...

Another small update, hampered by weather - partly just too nice to sit inside at the bench, than to warm to do some decent work with sweaty hands...well, excuses over excuses. Fact is, I'll be getting even slower over the next months or so, I don't see me picking up speed here before November, since I'll be moving soon and that starts eating up time already. So should I disappear occasionally, no worries, work will continue and HMS Hood will be commissioned on the site, but it will simply take more time...

But, here's what I did anyway:

Masking the bridge





Painting individual parts



test assembling, to find out how to best approach it.





In order to be able to do required touch ups after installation, it seemed best to install the lower part permanently





to be able to add the inclined ladders (some of them quite far inside of the structure) and to apply some surfacer at some nasty joints:



- sanding and re-painting to follow.

Test fitting once more





and more surfacer and sanding, probably several layers required - those two parts should look like one eventually.



So much for now, and again, this here may half-hibernate for a while, but will go on eventually!!

Thanks all for looking in, commenting and for your patience!

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,
She is really starting to take shape. Very nice work you have accomplished so far.

Marcus

Hi Jan!

great progress here on a very difficult kit. Keep plugging away at it mate, when you can and we'll still be here checking on those glaciers

Summer and real life can really take an awful lot of time away from the bench, and given the challenges of this kit its understandable.

Hi Mark and Russ,

thank you very much for your kind comments!!

Regrettably no news from my shipyard these days, next update may take a while. I'm trying to get a few minutes here and there, but not with much success during the last days.

Thanks for looking in!

Cheers,
Jan

There's an incredible amount of extra work going into this, shows a great knowledge of the subject, well done mate, I know I don't have the skills or knowledge to try something like this.

Hi Ken!

Great to have you in and thank you for your kind comment!!

I really like the work you are doing with those big sailing ships, I could not do the rigging... and I very much like your creative way of approaching things, your dios and lately your bad(t) corvette - I am certainly lacking that creativity!

Thanks mate!

Cheers,
Jan

Hi all,

a small update. Actually had some time, more than the update shows, but unfortunately it was one of those days when things simply don't work as you want...fortunately I stopped before I caused any mishap or broke anything.

Two railings installed, one around the port .50 cal on the lower bridge (actually that was towards the end, after I dropped it a couple of times I decided to not do the starboard...it's turned out ok, but not really good...), one in the aft part of the forward superstructure, quite fiddly, and built a platform for the foremast.







The railing around the admirals platform is not at all a railing in the Ponton 1/200 set according to their pictures, some sources show it as a canvas covered railing. I decided to go for a closed version. Taking measure it should be 3mm high, that fits the frame of one of the PE frets...



Bending two pieces in shape



I hope I got them close enough that I can glue them with only a little tension remaining, so that they will stick. But first they need to be painted, to be able to reach the inner surface, and later some touch ups in place.









I hope I get everything smoothed out in the end. Railings need touch up, too, but that's for later on.

So much for today, I can't promise when I have have something more to post...

Cheers,
Jan

Little steps lead to big things Jan. Keep chipping away at it mate, and you'll chase that glacier down

Nice solution to the admirals bridge railing, using the PE fret.

She's coming along nicely and all those little details you're adding now will pay off in the long run

Thanks Russ!!

Very small steps indeed, but anything is better than nothing. I hope I get that PE fret in place as desired...

Cheers,
Jan