He's coming along, Si! It will seem a shame to paint those pretty brass barrels, but the blast bags look great - are they hard plastic or flexible like the stuff Dragon uses?

Thanks Tim,

It will be a pity to cover that brass. The blast bags are resin, came with the Pontos set.

Cheers

Si

Painting the main armament.

Base colour on the turrets and the blast bags.





10.5 cm mounts painted and fitted.



forward guns fitted.



An overview, really coming together.



Cheers

Si

Excellent progress Si!

Michael

Thanks Michael,

Hope to commission him within time.

Boats all in place and lashed, and railings around the after superstructure.



empty boat cradles and davits.



Signal platform in place, mainmast test fitted, just to make sure it is straight.



More soon.

Cheers

Si

Bit more progress,

The mainmast under construction.



Cheers

Si

Absolutely great work, Si!!

You're really on the way to finish her in time, and she's looking splendid, as is all your detail work!!

Cheers,
Jan

And, finally...slowly catching up again, and a quick update on HMS Hood.

More small stuff, need to start installing some parts soon...









Trying to pick the correct boats from a collection of Shapeway 3D prints. Those boats look great, however, some sanding and prepping required before painting. We'll see how they look under a coat of paint, hopefully soon...





Cheers,
Jan

Great stuff Jan,

looking forward to seeing paint on the shapeways boats.

Cheers

Si

Jan,

It's great that these types of upgrades are now available, but the "stacked lego" look of some of the parts can be a challenge. Your boats look super so far - I too look forward to seeing just how they look under paint!

Having “finished” the little Ark Royal with an out-of-the-box unpainted build, I liked the kit so much I went and bought the new Airfix “Sink the Bismarck” set to get the 1/1200 Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Hood, Suffolk, and destroyers to go with it.

Upon opening the box I was surprised to find a flight deck stripe decal for the Ark – a nice plus that was not in the original 1976 release I had built! This was so cool I went ahead and shot the Ark with a coat of Model Master Acryl 4755 Dark Gull Gray (approximate for 507B) and again with a darker mix of Dark Gull Gray and 4752 Gunship Gray to highlight the catapults and lifts.



Can’t wait to get that stripe on!

Hi Steve:

I got the Profile Morskie Plans and that helped a lot, also Stevens international was helpful too as I got some extra sprues for the 1/200 Rodney to back date it to 1941. I am painting a color similar to yours, it's Testors Rattle Can Grey Primer. I am painting the turret tops Testors Model Master 507A dark grey, the rest will all be rattle canned unless I can find a suitable match in the bottle. I am not participating in this campaign as I started late and I know the deadline is probablyi up, but it is neat to see what folks are doing. Keep up the good work.

I got some detail parts from 3Dmodelparts.com WOW These are great. Please go buy their stuff, so they keep making things.

These are 4in AA and quad Vickers in 1/700. Their figures are also great. No flash, and a slightly bendable plastic so the tiny arms/kegs won't snap off while handling them.



Here they are on the Rodney



And kind of a problem... the mast is SO high. If I take a quarter to a half inch off, it might fit in the display case. DO you think it's noticeable if I make it that much shorter than it is now? I know the Rodney/Nelson had a high mast, but it's borderline ridiculously high, right?

Si and Jan - Looking good, guys!!

the blast bags on the Bis. are really convincing, and I love the detail of the green pads on the davits!

Steve,

I concur, those 3D Model parts look fantastic! I bought some for my 1/720 Ark Royal but have yet to try them out. Glad to gear the plastic has a little flex - that will definitely help in working with those miniscule pieces.

As for the Rodney's mast, well, my take is that it would actually look more convincing a little shortened, so go for it!

Hi Steve:

I agree with Tim, the mast is way too tall. Check your references and cut accordingly. Pre-war and as built it was quite tall, but during the battle of the Denmark Strait it had been shortened almost by half. The 3D stuff is neat, I wish he made stuff for 1/200 scale. The 8 gun pompom mount 3D rpinted in 1/200 would certainly reduce the stress factor vice PE.

After coat of Future to gloss the surface, the Ark's new flight deck stripe went down with no problem. Even the clear decal film within the circle aft disappeared completely under a second coat. Sweet.

I love it when companies add value to re-releases with little upgrades like this. Go Airfix!

Nice work Tim,

Decals look great down.

Cheers

Si

Thanks, Si!

After the gloss coat was dry I reinstalled the masts and gave the ship a thin wash of Grumbacher Raw Umber artist’s oil with a bit of Titanium White & Ivory Black added to grey it down. The mixture was also applied to weather the hull sides (unfortunately, I may have gone a little too subtle earlier with the catapult and lift color contrasts, since they almost disappear under the gloss coat, oil wash, and flat coat...)

Although Airfix had provided faint depressions to represent the bridge windows, I added a decal to make them more visible. This was a cut down set of victory markings from a 1/72 German fighter aircraft - you never know when those odds and ends you keep in the scrap box will come in handy!

Next up: the Fairey Fulmar aircraft

You're welcome Tim,

Very tidy job on a simple basic kit, looking forward to seeing some aircraft on deck.

Cheers

Si

Quick update of today's progress.

Masts in completed, in place and rigging under way.



The spider's web growing.



The Pontos flak 30s and their trailers in place.



Just noticed, the deck needs refixing.

Cheers

Si.

Looking good, Si, even with the uncooperative deck! What are you using to keep those stubborn areas down? I hear a drop of cyanoacrylate works well to keep them in line.

Balky as they can be, though, those real wood decks do look awesome!

Thanks Tim,

Will win with that deck, just annoyed with myself that I didn't notice it when I was fixing the guns down,

Agree the decks do look good, and add texture to the model, but they can be a pain sometimes

Cheers

Si

Airfix’s 1/1200 Ark Royal came with six nicely molded Fairey Fulmar aircraft which I planned to paint with a camouflage pattern of Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) and XF-77 IJN Grey (Sasebo Arsenal). Unfortunately, the contrast between these colors was so subtle that it completely disappeared in this small scale; I replaced the Dark Green 2 with a less correct, but lighter, XF-22 RLM Grey to make the schemes more visible. Canopies were painted Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey.

The markings are from a Gold Medal Models international naval aircraft insignia decal set in 1/700 scale.

Even though oversized for 1/1200, the markings are still pretty small; I figure they look reasonable on the little Fulmars.

Nice work on the Fulmars Tim.

The colour scheme looks pretty good, and I think being a little lighter looks right for such a small scale. I use XF77 or TS67 for extra dark sea grey in 1/48th scale.

Cheers

Si