1/700 BRP Apolinario Mabini (PN Navy Jacinto Class)

[orb]

Hi all,

I thought I'd have a go at scratchbuilding an entire ship for the first time - something small for starters. I decided that it will be one of the smaller Corvettes of the Jacinto Class (former Peacock Class) currently in use by the Philippine Navy. It won't be the most accurate ship model since I'm building without a blueprint or plan and without too many good high resolution pictures.

It is, however, a breath of fresh air working on something small where progress is made quickly compared to my other project which is still not completely finished.

The idea is to depict the Apolinario Mabini (PS 36) since it is one of the ships that took part in the Balikatan 2010, an annual joint US-PN naval exercise.

Here are a few pictures of the progress so far.















The bridge windows will be fitted after the hull has been painted, a method I experimented with on my USS Bataan, where I thought it worked nicely.

More updates to come!

[nick]

Nindot kaayu Heiko!!!

Can't wait to see this done. This could be a reference for my 350 Mabini too! So rarely do I see PN ships made, especially the scratchbuilt ones!

Nick

[orb]

Hi Nick and thanks, salamat!

I know what you mean, I was also trying to find models of PN ships but wasn't really successful. However, scratchbuilding this has been real fun so far and I'm sure this won't be my last PN ship.

More progress today.

I've only gotten back to building models two years ago, but building this mast has been the toughest job so far. I think I definitely found my limits and don't think I can build any smaller masts in 1/700 without losing my nerves (and eyes). I'm just glad I made it through to the end without breaking anything.

First, a size comparison of the different kind... Meet the (potential) destroyer of ships: Shadow



I worked on the superstructures, adding the bridge wings including the two spaces for the position lights.



First details were added









And the construction of the already mentioned mast













So much for today, more updates coming soon!

[orb]

Some more progress pics.

The first of the two aft cranes



Crane number two



After work on the superstructure, I worked on the hull and forward and aft deck









Final details to the superstructure







And another final pic for today

[reigels]

Very nice work. Will almost be a shame to put paint on it.

[moomoon]

Uber nice! Lovely kitty too

[Neptune]

Nice job. Love the solution to the bow sheer! I've tried sanding plating off to get a good sheer, I tried to cut them like that, also didn't work. But your method is very good in solving this problem. I've also noticed from my builds that milliput offers the possibility to get a sharper bow as you can carve it sharped than styrene and sand it sharper too.
Great job overall, nice to see a little scratchbuild project again

[MichelB]

That's sharp scratchbuilding there! I like the cat as well!

[Rob]

This is great, well done!

Cheers,

Rob

[orb]

Thank you gentlemen, I really appreciate it!

Neptune, I was also experimenting with how to get the right bow sheer and at this scale, this seemed to be the best solution. Although I do recommend filling all of the spaces up with styrene pieces for additional support. I didn't really do that and had two slight bends in the deck that I had to fix later on. Since I just used 0.5mm sheet for the deck, you can even see the spaces almost 'lit' up as the light shimmers through the deck in one of the close up bow pictures above.

Since the ship is nearing completion, the cat will unfortunately not get anywhere near it anymore

Today's progress: Paint.

If you look closely you will see the reflection of the 76mm gun in the "windows". I first tried out this method on my USS Bataan and thought it worked well so I gave it another go on this smaller ship. Each window is a separately cut out piece of clear plastic sheet with painted backside to simulate the smooth reflecting surface of a real window.



Difficult to align all windows at this scale



I decided to use US haze gray for the vertical and deck gray for the horizontal ones since the PN navy is heavily influenced by the USN but right when I started painting I thought that the Royal Navy gray might actually be more accurate, since the three ships of the class were originally in service with the RN Hong Kong squadron... Too late now, but it shouldn't make too much of a difference in the end.













So much for today. Only the decals, rigging, antennas and a few smaller details are missing. More updates coming soon!

[orb]

Hi everyone,

construction and painting is now finished and here's the end product. This was a real fun and quick build and I'm happy with the outcome. Unfortunately, there are a few decals that are still missing such as the big yellow "36" pennant number on top of the bridge as well as yellow warning circles, but they will just have to wait until I find decals that I can use. The black stripe for the lower hull will be added after I finish the sea scape in case I mess up the paint on the hull.

Apart from the various copper wires and scrap PE that I used, the only other things that were not scratchbuilt are the 76mm gun, the 25mm Bushmaster (modified) and the two RHIBs which were all taken from a Pitroad set. The two 20 mm Oerlikon guns are from GMM, but also modified. The sailors are of course from Eduard's naval figures set.

Some photos:



















The Mabini will be displayed in a diorama with another ship. Once I finished the water base and the other ship I will post a few more pictures of the entire diorama - but that could take a little while.

Until then - thanks for reading and cheers!

[moomoon]

Looks very good; I like the window, what color did you use backside, black?

[orb]

Thanks moomoon! For the backside I used a dark gray shade, which does seem a little too dark when I look at it now. Lesson learned for next time.

[nick]

Have I been missing alot of your progress?!



I can't wait to see the rest of the PN fleet!!

Nick

[orb]

Hi Nick,

I was surprised myself just how fast progress was on this little ship! She's all done and already steaming through the water...





As for the rest of the PN fleet... In the second picture, you can already see the upcoming ship. I'm glad I don't need to scratch build this one. Well, apart from the usual smaller modifications. Here's a small preview of the Rajah Humabon:

[nick]

Very fast indeed Heiko!! The Humabon really is another eye-candy!!


If I may ask, what did you use for the water?

Nick

[orb]

Hi Nick,

I don't have as much time as I had the past few weeks, so progress on PF 11 is slow, but I'm working on it

As for the water... it's glass. But any other smooth surface should also work. I just use this because I use a picture frame as a base, as I found these nice rectangular frames which are the perfect size! I've experimented with various methods including silicone and plaster but this one works best for me, even though it may not be the most realistic one in terms of wave movements etc. But since I don't want to permanently attach the ships to the water, this is an easy and fast method. I use 3D gel, apply it to the surface with different brushes (sparing the spot for the hull of course), form the wake and waves, wait for it to dry, and then it's just a matter of painting it with various shades of blue and white. Here I tried to depict the deep pacific blue of the Philippine Sea. Final step is to spray one or more coats of clear varnish and it's done. Of course you can't simulate waves or heavy seas with this method, but it should be ok if you want to depict ships piercing through a calm sea.

Here's how I made the sea for one of my other ships:





Hope that helps!

[nick]

Wow! speechless!!


My method is almost close to yours. But I substitute glass with wood and 3D gel with Glue


Nick