Howdy mates! Day one progress report on the Atlantic build. This morning I sanded down the seams of the pre-joined hull halves of my Heller 1/400 DKM Lutzow. Then got the upper hull painted. Next, tonight I hope, I will paint the lower hull its red color below the waterline. The kit comes with boottop decals, but they look kind of flaky so I will mask and paint the line on as normal. (comes out better also) This will be done tomorrow after the paint dries. Anyone else have reports to post out there? Be good to here from you!

Cheers,

Garry

One more final to get out of the way this week at ITT, then its time to settle down and start work on the Peter Strasser. Anyone have any leads on who stocks White Ensign 1/700 aircraft? I can order direct from 'Blighty if I have to, but that might take a while getting in. SkyWave/ Pit Road also has some packs with 1/700 German aircraft, but my 2 local shops can't get them in.

Doohhh!!!! I am going to change ship builds while on the ways!

Electric Boat was ready to start the USS Tennessee, so I am switching to building the 1/700 USS Nashville, LPD-13. :-)

Actually, I going to save the sub for the Unsung Sisters Campaign and build the Nashville for the Atlantic Group Build. The Nashville recently was the flagship for the evacuation ofUS citizens from Albania (I know its the MED), but it also has been involved in evacs from numerous African countries and has carried Marines all over the Atlantic.

My command barge is coming along side now to transfer my flag to the Nashville. Bosun - please pipe me aboard!

Hopefully I'll be able to start soon, so many projects...and a busy scheduel to boot! I'm sure that I'll begin soon

Sean

Howdy garry,

I would show you a pic (albeit a bad one) of my Bismark hull, but it is presently obscured by the three heavy books I've got lying on top of it to aid in the gluing of my grey waterline portion of the hulland the lower hull (my lower hull comes in one (1) piece).

This brings up a question. I was going to next glue the deck plates down on top of the hull, and from there start building the superstructure from the bottom up. Is there a preferred method of assembly that I might be missing?
Meaning, do some build the superstructure seperately and then attach to the deck later or?

Tread.

For the record I have an elevated turntable that I can use to bring the ship up to where I need it.

My Tamiya 1/350 Prince of Wales and GMM Photo Etched set are on order, so I've begun with the King George V hull and will replace it with the POW hull when it arrives. The hull's been painted and the deck installed and painted as well. I added this fact to the unsung sisters campain file by mistake! I'll do the gun turrets next as they're interchangeable between kits as well.

Tread, That would probably be the best way, so you can spray the wood deck. Get the hull and maindeck done, the deck and barbette fittings painted, and then work on the superstructure. You should be able to assemble the fore and aft superstructures and the stack as if they were seperate models before mounting them. Leave the masts off until the superstructure is mounted so you can get them plumbed vertical and horizontal.
Figure out what paint scheme you're going to put on him first, in case it carrys up onto the superstructure ie Baltic camouflage during work-ups.

I guess I'll throw in a question -- I am close to this stage the the Bismarck i am working on, its not for either campaign though. I was planning on spraying it with a white primer, over the hull and main deck once I had it to the stage that modelguy has his POW. Does anybody prime their ship? If so..with what? Would it be better to use a wood/tan color of the base coat/primer coat on the deck instead of white?

Treadhead- I plan on building the superstructures totally seperate, like they are a different kit altogether then adding them later. I also plan on doing this with the four main turrets...this way I can work freely on the deck and just add the pieces on later so they dont get in the way. But this brings up another question I have.
Should there bee a line/seem where the superstructure meets the deck? If not that means I cannot paint the superstructure until it is fitted, filled, and sanded to the deck. If this is so I was gonna paint the deck...mask around the grey parts, attach the super and then carefully spray them the proper color. Any thoughts?

Sean
P.S. sorry for the long question.

Howdy fellas,

Thx for the input bluebear & Son. That's kinda what I was thinking, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some kind of 'insiders' secret!
But in repayment of sorts for your help I'll give ya a chuckle....what in tarnation is a barbette? Wasn't that the name of a movie Jane Fonda starred in?

Also, to add to Son's question. Because I'm not used to working with this particular scale, would a darker coloured primer work better on the deck? And then maybe mist a couple of coats of tan or whatever over it leaving the darker prime in the crevices?
Just a thought.

Tread.
Tread.

A good question Tread...this is the first ship (Bismarck) that I have approached seriously, so I am curious myself and have plenty of questions too.

Sean

I am building the very same ship Son', and I'm at the very same stage as you as well
So, I'm very interesting in the response to your question. Obviously it would be easier to paint the deck before I start gluing it down.

The 'scale' thing is throwing me a wee bit.

Tread.

modelguy2, is your deck painted in your pic? It looks....odd. Not sure if these old eyes of mine or not.

Tread.

The deck was sprayed tan then streaked with hues to simulate planking in this instance. Then the fittings were picked out with a brush. I'll start the superstructures when the POW kit arrives and build them as sub-assemblies all the way to adding PE rails and whatever then attach them to the deck.

Howdy Guys! My we have been busy here! About your questions. Mike pretty well nailed your questions. I'll add my 2 clams worth. First off this will be different, you see I am and old brush painter, only use air on planes. I just prefer brushing.
About Primer, never used it. It would not hirt, you would get better coverage with your main paint. These are the steps I take.

1. I paint the hull first completly, upper, lower and boot topping strip. Here's a tip, after I paint the hull I go back with a small brush and useing flat black paint and paint in the port holes. Then after they dry I use the hull color and dry brush lightly over the port holes covering up any black on the hull, but leaving the port holes black inside, This high lights them and lets them stand out. this works on any superstructure windows also.

2. Next I install the deck and paint it. Coming back later and painting all the deck fixtures the hull color.

3. I build the superstructure seperate and paint them, attaching them to the deck when they are complete. I save any small delicate parts for last, so they eith wont get knocked off or broken.

Now, I could be wrong here , But I beleave the Barbettes are the structures that the Turrets set on.

Hope this all makes sents guys!

Garry

Thanks for the input guys. I dont know about you Tread, but my deck does not fit perfectly with the hull, there are some gaps that i must fill around the edges. Also, the main deck comes in 3 pieces, so there are 2 huge line that cut across the deck as well, again more filling and rescribing/sanding. I must do all this before I can paint the deck. BTW- what colors/brand of paints you using on your Bis Tread?

Sean

Imagine a tank minus its turret thrown through a black hole and you get the idea of a barbette :-) Warships are built with their magazines far underwater, so that the water will act as additional armor. The shell and powder hoists, along with the hydraulics and servos for training and elevating the guns and turrets are enclosed in the barbettes. They are steel drums built into the ships main structure, raising from the magazines up to and including the turret races that the turrets rotate on. In most cases, they were designed to be proof against incoming fire of like caliber to the ships own main guns.
As far as priming goes, when I do do it, I use a gray close to the base ships paint. For deck planking effect, I paint my wood decking and then after its dry,take a curved x-acto blade and lightly rake it over the raised plank detail on the deck, exposeing the gray beneath.
Some ships have a metal strip that lays over the decking where it and the superstructure meets, but does any one want to try masking off 3 or4 scale inches in 1/350 or better yet, 1/700? Paint the superstructure first, and then sand the bottom to be sure that it is flat all the way around, that should insure that the joint that will pass inspection.
Us swabbies, especially the black shoe variety, are creatures of habit and drilled routine, beaten into us by our Company Commanders back in Boot Camp. The motto could be, "paint was invented for a reason, now use it!" Unless a ship has been in hard action, the deck division will be trying to keep, if not fresh then a full coat of gray on all steel that can be safely reached while at sea. Once corrosion starts, it can eat under the paint, and then its time to break out the paint chisels and chippers

Good day mates! Just about have the Lutzow's Hull all painted . Added the prop shaft housings, shafts and struts yesterday, will wait and add the props later as they are easely broken off. Then painted the lower hull its red color. I will paint on the boot strip today, and also start painting the deck. Sorry, but I cant show progress pic's to often. I use an old 35 mm camera , and have to develope the film first and put on a CD. Did I mention I'm still in the stoneage? #:-) Hope all's going well on your builds! Any more progress reports?



Garry

Can I make a suggestion here? We might want to start additional threads for the ships wer'e building. This thread is getting huge, 12 pages now, and some people don't read past a couple pages.

I agree Halfyank, its a very large post to try and handle

Sean

Well I have broke my kit out of the tube.


The kit is by JAG and is a beauty. It contains parts to build all 15 ships in the class and to build the last three that have an extra deck to act as a flagship.

Jeff

Well crap, the dreaded RED X. Please go to my rather small gallery to see my kit before I start to mangle it!!

Dang thats a nice looking kit Jeff ! You know I'm not a modern ship builder, but that kit looks like fun ! Hmmm? counting my stash.

Cheers and oinks,

Garry (++)

Thanks GB. I took a good look at the hull. There is absolutely no extra resin to remove! JAG does good work!!

Howdy Son',

Don't you have the Tamiya Bismark? I have the Hobby Craft version and it sounds identical to yours, except I'm sure my plastic (and mouldings) are a tad 'softer'.
I have the very same problems you have. Which makes me want to scream "Who the hell designed this deck!!!" The division lines between the three separate deck pieces is like a big neon sign for crying out loud!
My moulded in (?) deck board lines are irregular to say the least.........but hey!
As far as which manufacturer of paint I'm going to use, I'll probably go with either Tamiya or Floquil for both familiarity and quality. I'm leaning towards a 'tighter' pigment strain because of the smaller 'scale'. When I do armour I use quite a bit of 'craft' paint.

Tread,

garry and modelguy2, many thx for the input on procedure! between Mike's pics and garry's sequence, I should be quite prepared to get myself in deeeeeeep trouble....

Tread.

Tread,
I have the same kit as you, the MiniHobby Model verison, not the tamiya, so we are in the same boat--literally

Sean