The Ship Model Forum

Supplies have been obtained and the build progresses. Laying styrene sheet over a balsa hull form is definitely a better way to go than what I was doing previously. I can see that I won't have anywhere near the amount of filling and sanding I was looking at before. I have done some initial filling with Mr Hobby white putty but is proving to be a bit harder than the styrene so I might have a look at what Bondo, or similar, products I can get here and give them a try. I have been super gluing the styrene sheets to the balsa and then gluing them along the sheet join lines with styrene glue to try and knit them together and make them a bit more homogeneous. Seems to have worked well so far. Also the hull skinning process seems to be pulling out the curve in the hull effectively, pretty happy about that.

The flight deck is only resting on the hull as I ponder how and when I'm going to install the hull skin between the flight deck and the lower hull and what detail needs to be built on the hanger deck first, and how and when to cut the openings on that deck.

Hull = 5-10% of the work! I think I'm going to go and cry now .

Hull is starting to look good. I think it is time to start adding detail now but don't overdo it. It will not be very visible behind the cutouts and the ships' boats. My '700 Victorious has a very nicely detailed and planked (Evergreen 2020) quarter deck which no one will ever see anymore. But I know it is there...

Bondo hardens rock hard. Squadron white and green putties are softer.

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Bondo sets hard but sands (especially wet sanding) very easily. For minor surface imperfections Bondo makes a Glazing Putty, which is red. Similar in application to model puttys. Don't use the "professional" as it's more like the can stuff in a tube and uses a cream hardener.

So I have a confession. When the world turned to poop in a handbag I decided to go shopping and buy the Eduard PE kit for my Oliver Hazard Perry frigate and got a bit carried away and bought the USS Intrepid and USS Iwo Jima LHD, both in 1/350. Now there was some logic to the Intrepid purchase as I need an airwing of A-4 Skyhawks and S-2 Trackers and since I couldn't find any in the market except 3D printed ones with limited detail and realism I thought I'd buy the Intrepid and reverse engineer the A-4's from that kit. The S-1's will have to suffice until I work out what to do there. The Iwo Jima was a "just because" purchase. The end result is that I have been working on those two kits for the last couple of weeks and have only really gotten back into the Melbourne over the last few days, oh and I had to go back to work for a couple of weeks.

So recent progress has been - Fabrication of deck 2 from bow to stern to help provide additional support for the final section of hull skin especially at the bow with its compound curves and the forecastle in particular because there are openings along the bow on that deck. Installation of bulkheads on deck 2 which form the boundaries of each "open" area on that deck. And some minor structures on deck 3 at the stern.

Next I will start building the detail in the deck 3 open spaces and will try and decide whether to scratchbuild the doors or purchase a RN doors and hatches PE kit from White Ensign. There is temptation to purchase the winch kit as well but I think Pieter may be right in that it will be a lot of work for something that is probably not going to be seen. So I may just end up cutting out some styrene shapes that look door and hatch-ish. I have found the Evergreen sheets to be very flexible as you can probably tell from the waves in the hanger walls. I do however have a plan for straightening these out and for the most part much like the doors and hatches they will be hidden from view. I am not looking forward to the island May just make that with a balsa core.

A tremendous learning experience! Much of the "fun" of modeling is to work out how to do these things. Often there are many acceptable solutions. Keep banging away at it!

Thanks for the advice and words of support guys.

Well I've made a little bit of progress today. I cut the openings in the bulkheads on deck 3 . And cleaned up the deck 2 sections which will go on top. I did make the decision not to get carried away with the detail in the deck 3 open areas but I have ordered a set of RN doors and hatches from Infini Models. Figured that with some scratch built bollards, fairleads, and winches will be adequate. But until the doors arrive I think progress is going to come to a halt and I may have to o back to working on the Intrepid or Iwo Jima.

Oh, and a little note of success I found out that the E-1 Tracer (yeah I know I called it an S-1) is a derivative of the S-2. So I have all the aircraft samples I need from the Intrepid kit to reverse engineer my airwing, except the Sea King helicopter of which I know Trumpeter makes in 1/350 it's just a matter of finding some in Australia who has them in stock.

Great progress and perseverance, just imagine how much easier your next scratch build will be! Have always had an interest in Melbourne and Venticinco de Mayo, can’t decide if it’s the Skyhawks or the fact it’s a non-US operated carrier and something different. Looking forward to your next update.

BW

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Brandon S. Wood

So there's been a little hiatus as I had to return to work. Gotta pay for this hobby somehow . A couple of weeks ago my order for WWII RN doors and hatches arrived and got busy applying these where they would be visible from outside the ship. This was my first time using PE on styrene and things got a bit messy with the CA glue. I craped a lot off with the hobby knife but am contemplating whether to buy some debonder to try and clean it up or leave it and hope it will be masked by the paint. Next up, building some bollards and winches.

Oh. thanks for the words of encouragement BW.

You are getting to the point where it feels more like you are building and outfitting a real ship. Keep up the good work!

Regards: Tom

So over the last day and a bit I've been adding balsa into voids where there is no exposed detail to give me more support to the hull skin. Just got a few little things left to do with the hull and then I'll really be in the fitout stage. I hadn't really thought about it like until you mention it Tom. I must admit I am dreading the island and various sponsons .

When you get around to painting her, she was in BS381C 631 Light Grey. Some people think she was in Storm Grey but that colour did not exist until Sept 1985. Storm Grey is similar to Light Grey but darker and more green.

Hull looking good. About painting, those galleries are now still easy to reach. Maybe you should start painting them now.

Thanks for the paint info. You wouldn't happen to know what that equates to in Humbrol enamel? I do intend to paint the galleries next. Just waiting for time to do so. Time which I have had but have spent working on my 1/350 HMS Illustrious . Truth is I've also been working on some detail on the stern deck. I've got some homemade bollards in and something approximating a capstan, just a few other small details to go and then I can prime and paint.

Unfortunately no Humbrol colour matches 631.

I used my last bottles of Model Master acrylic light grey primer as this looked like a lighter version of 507C (scale effect in 1/700) on the vertical surfaces and various dark greys for the horizontal surfaces. Carriers have well used horizontal surfaces so painting them in a pristine color of the right formula is never going to be realistic. Don't forget that the quarter deck had teak planking and was kept in a pristine condition as it was officer country. A well maintained teak deck has a white-ish grey color and not the brown-yellow wood color you see in many wooden deck sets. I was building a 1964 version, the RAN was still using Royal Navy colors at the time. The RAN changed to a darker grey and possibly more blue/greenish grey after 1970. There is a discussion of later RAN greys in the build threads by forlornhope on this site.

That is unfortunate Medway. What about something closely approximating 631 like Humbrol 64? I do plan to weather the ship so hopefully that will distract the eye away from the grey.

Hey Pieter I know what you mean about the quarter deck. I found the photo below and was surprised at how "comfortable" the space looked with its park seat etc.

Sorry Pieter, the RN did not use 631. The RAN stopped using the same colour for their hulls as the RN in 1954 under CNO 596 1954 when BS381C 631 was adopted after a series of trials. The RN switched from 507C to BS381C 697 Light Admiralty Grey. The RAF used 631 for its marine craft from 1947 as the superstructure and deck fittings colour.

In 1985, 631 was replaced by AS2700 N42 Storm Grey which is derived from 631. Both colours use the same base and pigments. However, Storm Grey uses twice the amount of these pigments than 631 does.

The RAN did continue to use the same deck colours as the RN though and like the RN introduced a "Manual of Painting” titled BR19. ABR19 in the case of the RAN which listed all colours to be used and where they were to be used.

Bonobo, not sure where you are but the British Model Railway paint company called Phoenix Paints used to do Humbrol sized tinlets of BS381C colours.

The “park seats” look to me to be the boxes used over bollards when in port to stop people tripping over them especially on open days.

Interesting. It looks greener than the lightened 507C that I used. Will see what I will do if i ever return to doing RAN ships . Probably match to the most similar vallejo color and lighten it. Repainting a finished carrier in 1/700 is not a good idea I think. I do hope that Bonobo will lighten his color a bit on this build. In NL you can can get most BS colors as a spray can for outside use such as car bodies and machinery. This is not how they would look like (scale effect) and car body paint on a model is a very bad idea but it can serve a s a starting point for matching your model colors.

Firstly I'd like to tip my hat to all of you on this forum who do so much research on their subjects and are willing to share that with others. The information you are providing me is invaluable and has helped me learn so much about the little things people normally don't think about when they look at these machines. So thank you.

So we have established that since Melbourne only served up until 1982 she was painted BS381C 631. I had a look at Pheonix Precision Paints website and wow what an offering of products but unfortunately a search for BS381C 631 returned no results. Probably wouldn't be able to get it anyway as I'm also in Australia. But if 631 has half the pigments as N42 Storm Grey I could then go to Dulux (Bunnings) and ask for N42 with half the pigments........of course I'll then be stuck with a 500ml can of the stuff , which may not be so bad as I would like to build this ship again in 1/72.

Oh, and I was looking at the park bench under the coat of arms. Luxurious lounging