Yo Ho Ho, and A Happy New Year Mates!!!
Just a quick note out to all ye salts, Gary Beebe's Flattops Campaign has officially started! So it's full steam ahead! Please don't forget to post lot's of pics, and keep me posted on yer progress...How about if we just get this ball a rollin with some pic's of our unbuilt kits...you can post them here or in the special gallery thet the Skipper has created for us in the KitMaker Gallery...let's haul anchor, mates and start building! And don't forget, Dreadnoughts is still a very much active campaign, so we have alot of work to do!
Thanks,
Gunny

My crew is still on Holiday :-)

Hi all and happy new year! I'm still working on my first carrier but it is proceeding apace. It probably wasn't the smartest project to begin my shipbuilding career with but I'm having fun and learning alot so that when I start the Kuznetsov I will already have some good experience under my belt. The thing that slowed me down was trying to break the ship down into too many substructures but I've nailed that now and I should have her finished very soon.

While I'm nattering on let me ask you all something, the deck of the Franklin in her Measure 21 scheme is Blue Deck stain but the tie down points are meant to be standard ship grey, could I get away with painting the whole thing the deck stain colour, I'm not sure I have the patience to paint, paint and then repaint each individual tie down strip in this tiny scale :-) Enamels seem to need many more coats than acrylics to achieve a good opacity and don't get me started on the drying time

Phil

p.s. my ship kit collection contines to grow along with my collection of books :-) For those of you interested in the Great War at sea you must read "Castles of Steel" by Robert K Massie, I can't recommend it highly enough!

Happy new year for all too.
Great, we have a gallery.
I already transferred my flattop to the correct place.

It's an excellent work, I read it last summer. Great book to read while working on a naval modeliong campaign.

Phil, do you paint with a brush or an airbrush? I'm trying to figure out why your enamels are taking so long to dry. Even gloss enamels should be surface dry within a few hours. Flats are dry within fifteen minutes (to be on the safe side) If you're using a gloss, for whatever reason, they need to cure for at least a week. The surface may be dried, but underneath will dry slower and takes about a week to gas out and cure.

My ship is still in the box and will probably stay there for a couple of more days.

Erik

Phillip, I don't think anyone here would notice or for that matter care if you didn't paint the tie-downs. I've built 2 big AC's and never once consdered painting mine. They 'ld probably end up a blueish tint anyway after a bit of usage

i'm going to build the airfix ark royal, its still in the box while i consider an etched set from wem (and how to explain spending money on kits to swambo!)

Forget it...That's an impossible task for anyone. You'd have better luck with creating a process for cold fusion.

Happy New Year, look forward to seeing your Ark Royal!

I haven’t started yet. I’m having dental work done Wednesday and I’m going to wait until I’m off the painkillers before I start.
Otherwise we might have a pink Hornet with tank tracks. :-)

I’ll try to get pictures of the kit uploaded 1st but don’t know if I’ll find the time.


Any way I wish all of you luck with your ships.
I’ll meet up with you guys soon.

Steven, I use both a brush and an airbrush. An airbrush for the hull and large areas and a brush for the fine details. I use artists white spirit to thin my WEM enamels. On the tin they state that they take 6 hours to dry but when I tried to brush over it the paint just wiped away with the brushstrokes.

I had a chat with John Snyder of WEM (top bloke!) and he told me that the reason the paint was coming off was because it wasn't fully dried yet and that it took at least 24 hours to cure. I know that some people use cellulose thinners to thin enamels and that they dry much faster but I will never be comfortable spraying a plastic melting liquid at my plastic model!

Either way, yesterday I spread some miliput on the join between the lower and upper hull at the bow because there was a pronounced lip and now it's time to sand. I'm in a hurry to start my campaign entry so it's back to the workbench!

Phil

Hmm that's odd. Well, John would indeeed know regarding the cure time. I hope that you'll not have further problems with your paint.

Have fun with the campaign!

Quick question, Why was the completion date changed, I thought we had a full year? Trying to complete the 350 scale Hornet with 5 sets of WEM P.E. is going to prove quite the challenge. Might have to reconsider and do something a bit simpler, and faster.

Am I mistaken here????

Frank

Hi Frank!
No, your not mistaken, mate..I know that before this campaign was approved there was some shuffling around of dates so that all of the campaigns wouldn't directly run into each other. But I do believe that there has been a FUBAR with this one...Four months is quite a short one...I will attempt to get ahold of The Big A's Campaign Manager (GunTruck) to see if there was a typo.
Thanks,
Gunny

I was under the impression when this was all being initially hashed out, that the length was indeed one year. However, the were multiple concerns that a campaign of one year was too long and that people would lose interest . This was based on a past lengthy campaign and thus, the campaign was to be shortened. In addition, I recall that there were multiple campaign proposals on the floor and it appeared that there were going to be several conflicts of interest within and outside of Warships. Several folks who wanted to participate in Flattops couldn't because it would overlap several non-Warships campaigns. Therefore, I believe that the length decided upon was six months, just as the Dreadnought Campaign. Skipper can check me on this, but I do believe this is what was decided.

Ahoy...
last night i bring down my 1/350 USS Enterprise from the top of the shelves. Open it for the first time in 3 years. Dust all over it..some broken pieces as i'd assembled to island structure back then. the radar had broken into a few pieces which i think can be repaired.
So then i put all pieces togother and make room for it. Such a huge things laying on my shelves....took me a few minutes to stand and stare at the beast. Later when i'm going to sleep, i think about how to display it rather than how to paint and assemble it
well, i wish all members luck in finishing this campaign to honor our late friend, Gary........

Actually it is 5 full months at this point. Jan 1 until 31 May. But I too was under the impression it was June 30 as all the other campaigns start at the end of June. I've gotten to the very opening phase, opened the box and pulled out the aircraft and started trimming the resin off of the Buff's and Vindy's. I assembled one Wildcat and started trimming and cutting on it to see how close to a Buffaloe I can make it appear.

Hi All

Two things:
Another entry for me - appart from the previously mentioned 1/700 USS Essex CV-9 (from Dragon) I have bought the 1/700 USS Lexington CV-2 (Trumpeter) and I must say that reading and reviewing the Osprey Book lead me to it (Oh NO!!!! Another box - Mrs Skipper)
I am really looking forward to start this two beautys

As for the Duration of Flattops, I have checked my "archives" and it was initially set for 8 months - the only Campaign with a full year duration was DDD2 (because of the Garry's passing day dates). I'll see what I can do to put Flattops back to 8 months again (same duration as Dreadnoughts)

Skipper

I have picked up an aircraft carrier kit.
My building/finishing it depends on my micro-modeling skills......
I will see how it progresses, and how much sanity I retain during the process, before placing my name on the campaign list.... to prevent me from having to shamefully withdraw.......

Well, regardless of the completion date, I will work on the 350 scale Hornet, I figure, if this doesn't motivate me to build this model, then nothing else in my lifetime will! I have all of the WEM PE sets and all the planes for the hanger deck and the flight deck (B-25s) I also have a stunning display case, which I purchased at a model show over 7 years ago, meant to diplay the PoW, but it fits the Hornet, water line perfectly!

First though, is my HMS Dreadnought from Combrig.....better get started!

Frank

UPDATE!
If you haven't noticed yet, Mates, the time frame for the duration of this campaign has been newly adjusted by Jim Lewis to where it was originally intended to be, running from 1/1/06 thru 6/30/06, with a possibility of a two month extension if needed. So relax guys, and keep building!
I'm still waiting on two care packages, some PE from Gold Medal and my base color paint to arrive before I will begin...
I've also noticed that the first photo's have been uploaded to the "In Progress" album in the Gallery that Rui has created for us by Gaucho, thank you! So let's see some more, Mates! Snap a quick photo of your unbuilt kit and put her up for all to see!
Gunny

I took a few pictures of the kit today but then the batteries died so I can’t upload them yet.


I’m thinking I’ll try to do a little modeling today so I’ll try to get started on her. I really don’t have any real plan of action for her yet but I’ll see what happens.

Any way I’m glad to be onboard now.