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 Post subject: 1/48 Fantasy destroyer
PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:04 am 
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Posts: 76
Hi,
yes, a new one from Omaha Beach (Normandy, France) again, alongside the "1/72 Rodney with artistic licence" in progress elsewhere. As you can see I need to have several models in progress, the aim being to avoid boredom and disinterest on the long term (quite a risk with large scale scratchbuilt warships !). Plastic kits are also in progress but that's another story of course.
This time, and in the same spirit as the "fantasy cruiser" I've shown in another post, my latest delirium to date is some kind of modern tribute to the traditional destroyers : fast, heavily weaponed attack ships.
Main "caracteristics" are :
- a fast ship with matching lines
- a wide array of modern weapons, but including traditional automatic guns for close protection
- propulsion is via a separate rear power module, just a rough block here for the time being, to be detailed later on
Again the same philosophy : modern lines and equipment yet with all the intricacy of details that were part of the charm of ships of the past, and a static model, yet this time with full hull (HMS Rodney is waterline).
As you can see on the photos it's fully in progress with many various states of detailing or finishing : I sometimes push a bit further just for the pleasure of seeing something detailed, and almost completed... Some other parts are completely in progress (you can see rough wood blocks in many places) but of course everything will reach the same degree of detail in the end.
Building techniques are always the same, as on the 1/72 HMS Rodney : wood base and structural bits, all surfaces panelled with styrene sheet, many bits duplicated at home with silicon moulds/PU resin from a scratch-built master, and a few bits and accessories from the trade (missiles, ladders, etc.).
The general workshop view is just to show the size, and the 1/48 scale of course allows easy use of a few bits from the trade.
I will post progress in the future but you have understood that it will be in alternance with other projects, HMS Rodney not the least !


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:17 pm 
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Posts: 107
AWESOME!! I was hoping we'd see something to follow your fantasy cruiser. The weapon mount aft looks like a science fiction pulsed laser. A warship needs to look good and look Bad.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:32 am 
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:41 am
Posts: 76
Hi,
a grey, cold and rainy sunday in Normandy is just great news for modelling while listening the radio and end of WW1 celebrations in Paris ! I just can't understand why some people still consider it - 100 years after - as a "victory day" over Germany... For me and hopefully most people it's a day to remember as a "never again" warning ! I'm glad though that it's been down here the opportunity of many souvenir celebrations, including children : 1.350.000 young - and older - French men died, about 500.000 never identified, and in my little village alone, the "Monument aux morts" (one in every French village or city) bears more than 100 names, and more too often up to 6 or 7 of the same family.

Back to modelling then : a small sub-assembly showing a set of exhaust chimneys, let's say for a turbine for auxillary power (remember the main power pack is a separate module at the back, yet the ship needs power even when the power module is separated for maintenance).
It's a little synthesis of what I try to integrate in every sub-assembly for a detailed and realistic result :

- animated surfaces : warships panels (except the very latest stealth ships) are always covered with hatches, reinforcement metal strips, etc.
- bolts, holes, etc. everywhere ("nooks and crannies" as you say in English ?)
- plenty of sensors and add-on apparatus that always seem like afterthoughts : great for bringing visual animation and interesting details
- walkways using micro expanded sheetmetal, as the real thing indeed
- soldered tubular structures giving pleasing 3-dimensional feelings (to my eyes at least)
- wires and cables made out of thin soldering wire, that can be nicely positioned exactly where you want without unwanted spring effects as steel or even brass

Again the end result is pure fantasy, yet I think it looks good and well positioned in the whole volume : my aim is always to achieve the right balance between an overall well defined, lisible and controlled shape (read not a big bulk of haphazardly piled bits without any coherence), and an intricacy of details that you discover when you get closer to the model. It's a theory I developped along my 35 years long career as an industrial designer : bring new levels of interest and discovery as you get closer and closer from any given object. Think about any nice motor car as a good example : nice overall style from a distance, cool alloy wheels styling from 5 meters, incredible level of finish and detail when sitting inside...

Just think of any well-resolved and thought-out industrial product : it works every time !


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:06 am 
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:41 am
Posts: 76
Hi, some progress lately, many bits and detailing of the main blocks, plus an UCAV platform at the back.
Not finished though, many details to add everywhere for a reasonably "realistic" look, although this last word can sound a bit weird for a full fantasy ship !
I guess my approach is not to everyone's taste, yet to my eyes it's the most exciting way of scratchbuilding, apart of course modelling something that has not been issued as a plastic or resin kit, as most of you actually do with great skills !
Again, just a hobby, so first of all to be enjoyed by the author...
Cheers from cold and wet Normandy, quite good conditions for modelling indeed !


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:52 am 
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Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 6:01 am
Posts: 409
Location: Ontario Canada
The detailing on your fantasy Destroyer is very impressive.

Scott

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:08 am 
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Thanks K494 ! In this respect I anticipate detailing with pleasure the rear "power unit" that is just a featureless block for the time being... Room for plenty of wiring, tubing, grilles and ancillaries !


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 9:21 am 
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Hi,

it's been a while since I posted something about this one : HMS Rodney and the new LPD/Carrier were in the way, and that's my method not to get bored by endless projects.

Not very far from completion then, although many areas are still in need of more detailing.

Most work lately has been on the main mast and of course the "power pack" at the back.

The angular shapes at the back are generally associated with stealth caracteristics (Northrop B2), yet this ship has none for sure : I just like the visual animation and dynamic effect it gives.

As usual I tried to give some 3-dimensional depth and several plans of vision, hence the quite intricate shapes.

I'm now thinking about the colour scheme, and I quite like the partly black hull (the current state is a result of a previous unsatisfactory scheme - all-black hull - that I recovered in primer).

Two shades of grey will be used to bring some contrast anyway.

The coming summer (not today for sure) allowing painting outside, I think I'm going to bring that one to the end soon.

D-Day 75th birthday (I'm close to Omaha beach) celebrations are almost over now, together with GMCs, Dodge Command-cars and Jeeps traffic-jams ! As one local funnily said on the TV : "I'm pretty sure there are more Jeeps here this week than on D-Day". Quite nice as well to have C-47 Dakotas, Blackhawks, Ospreys, Chinooks, C15 Galaxys and many more flying all day long very low over the house...

Less sure though about the civilian owners of the road vehicles dressed in period gear and behaving as such : war is not a game.


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 5:46 pm 
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I really like the small armed UAV on its landing pad amidships. The deck crew needs to be careful though; the rotors look to be at shin-height!

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 11:02 am 
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Yes Mike !

The really good thing with fantasy scratchbuilding is that you can imagine that there will be the appropriate safety procedures applied when the UAV will be taking off or landing...

Started painting the rear blocks (Tamiya spray cans as usual), light weathering (heavily diluted artist oils), and detailing with colour touches and transfers.

These blocks are almost finished now : maybe a few details to adjust later on, when everything will have been treated to the same level.

For those who may ask, all separate blocks of the model are detachable and precisely held in place with simple wooden pins (all sub-structures are made out of plywood off-cuts bought for close to nothing from DIY shops) : this is essential to allow easy finishing and painting of reasonably sized sub-assemblies, and of course avoid any complicated and boring masking operations.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 1:37 am 
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Finished !

General painting outside with Tamiya spraycans (by far the biggest expense of the whole project), a bit of light weathering with diluted artist oils, safety and warning stickers, bright colour touches here and there for visual animation, and that's it.

I think the base hull was done almost ten years ago, and sub-components were built along the years, of course with many other models alongside, hence the duration !

Just my way of course, but I always come to the end, probably thanks to these long intervals : interest is renewed every time, with new ideas, and some new techniques as well (I had never tried resin castings ten years ago).

I think it's 97% scratchbuilt (you can spot little trade components as ladders or brass guns barrels), and 100% personal for sure... I enjoyed every bit of it.

Come on you fellows fantasy builders, I want to see more from you, that's one - not the only one of course - of the main motivations for scratchbuilding : scratchthinking as well !

More than 40°C here in France these days (exceptional for us)... except just here in the North-West corner of Brittany and Normandy : 18°C.

Maybe the global warming will stop everyone rushing down to the South for holidays or retirement...


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