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PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 4:52 am 
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John
Good to see you back at work .I don't see any green glow in your photo so I guess you are OK . :nod_1: The crew figures look great tucked away under the gun tub .Don't forget to give them food and water . :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:31 am 
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Capitão Norbert wrote:
Hi John fantastic trip to Japan.
i know( i saw in the Net) wich have man maritime museums.
do you visit YAMATO 1/10?
about your job is a pleasure to see new images and say you what quality you have to do it.
great modeller.
well about the time is spend to post images is the following:
i post in my work day when i have time.
so when i do it i am working in true :heh:
but weekends i don't appear here cause or i am doing the model or with my family in one park or travelling near
my home. :wave_1: :thumbs_up_1:


Capitão Norbert;

It’s a pleasure as always to hear your comments! Although it would be nice to be able to devote all of our time to our hobbies, one must always set aside time for more important things such as family. And our work, I suppose. :heh: As for my trip to Japan, it was a whirlwind visit, unfortunately. During my 3 weeks in Japan, I had two days off, so I had almost no time to sightsee, other than a trip to see the Mikasa. I hope to go back to Japan next year under different circumstances and have time to see such sights as the 1/10th scale Yamato. I’m crossing my fingers!

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:36 am 
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NorthSea wrote:
Hi John, I like the way you have tucked the crew into corners where they are hard to spot. It draws the eye to the work you have put into these areas. Might have to try it on my own build. :thumbs_up_1:


Northsea:

Thanks for checking in and thanks for the kind words. I’ve been reluctant in the past to put crewmen on my models, mostly because I had no experience painting them! However, every time I took my model of the LSMR-192 to reunions, I was always asked, “When are you going to add the crew?” I fought it for a while because of my unease working with figures, but finally had a change of heart after hearing the question so often. Crew figures really do bring life to a ship model, although it does make the project take a while longer to complete. Good luck with your model of the Pyotr Velikiy; there are fewer crew activities topside on modern ships when they are underway, so without crew figures visible, they look pretty impersonal and cold. That will make it a challenge, but one worth taking on! :nod_1:

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:38 am 
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DrPR wrote:
I like the figures. They show the scale of the ship and add an element of realism. After all, without a crew a ship is just part of the mothball fleet.

I am planning a 1:48 model of the USS Cape MSI-2, a 112 foot inshore minesweeper from the 1960s - the smallest ship in the Navy (really!). It will be 28 inches long and it would be interesting to have the crew preparing to stream the sweep gear.

I don't want to try to find figures from aircraft models so maybe I will use O scale railroad figures.

Phil


Hi Phil,

Thanks again for checking in and posting your comments! I think both you and Northsea have made the case for adding crew figures. :thumbs_up_1: You bring up a great alternative source for figures – I don’t have any model railroad experience, so I wasn’t aware of the possibility of using O scale figures. I’m looking forward to seeing your build of the USS Cape – I hope we’ll see it begin soon!

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:40 am 
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Dave Wooley wrote:
Hello John my apologies for not paying more attention to your superb build. I have just caught up with many more of the details in your build log. This is a genuine labour of love and you can rightly feel very pleased with the results .
Dave Wooley :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :wave_1:


Dave,
Nothing to apologize for – I’m always glad to hear from the old masters like you whenever you get the chance. :thanks:

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:44 am 
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Richard J OMalley wrote:
John
Good to see you back at work .I don't see any green glow in your photo so I guess you are OK . :nod_1: The crew figures look great tucked away under the gun tub .Don't forget to give them food and water . :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:


Hi Richard,

You know, radiation is shielded by water, and that beer I’m holding in the photo is mostly water… :lol_spit_1: Maybe that’s why you can’t see the glow! :cool_2:
Thanks for checking in and thanks for your kind words!

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 2:20 pm 
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Hi everyone!

In today's post, I'm going to give you a brief update on my efforts to weather the model.

I alluded in an earlier post to my strategy for weathering the hull. Essentially, I began by applying lightened camouflage colors to replicate weathered paint. Then I applied a coat of Future wax so that I could apply a wash of Floquil Grimy Black acrylic. The next step is the one that had me trembling in fear: dry brushing. First, I dry brushed the same Grimy black throughout all external hull surfaces. This helped to create a grimy appearance overall. Next, I dry brushed a darker shade of Ocean Green overall. Then, I dry brushed a very light shade of Ocean green on all surfaces. Through these last two steps, I attempted to create the different shades that are found in weathered paint.

Here is a shot of the bow of the model showing the beginnings of the weathering. Because of the combination of the Future wax, camera flash, and lighting conditions, it appears more subtle than it actually is.
Attachment:
File comment: Taking a perfectly good paint job and trashing it!
Weathering 01.jpg
Weathering 01.jpg [ 146.66 KiB | Viewed 1349 times ]

After weathering the entire hull, I was sitting back admiring my handiwork when I realized I'd forgotten something. :doh_1: The lower hull from the waterline down was painted black on LSMs, rather than the more familiar non-fouling red seen on most US Navy ships. Once an LSM beached, the lower hull was exposed as much as 3 feet towards the bow. This is visible in any photo of an LSM on the beach. In my diorama of the LSM-59 at Iwo Jima, the lower hull will be exposed, so I needed to correct this oversight on the model. :Mad_6:

The first step was to mask off the hull at the waterline. Here's a photo showing the masking applied.
Attachment:
File comment: The LSM-59 in stealth mode
Masked off.jpg
Masked off.jpg [ 137.98 KiB | Viewed 1349 times ]
I'll show you how the painting turned out in my next post.

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2011 11:39 am 
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John,

You can find a tremendous amount of information and tips on weathering on the model railroad sites. Also, there are quite a few products for 1:48 O scale trains that could be useful - people figures (including sailors), tools, small equipment, etc.

As for the USS Cape model, it is years away. I need to finish my 1:96 USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 first, and that is still a few years out. I also want to do a USS Oklahoma City CL-91 model someday. However, I have the blueprints for the Cape from the National Archives and I am accumulating photos ...

Phil

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:19 am 
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Hi everyone!

Before I get into today's post, I want to say thanks to Phil (DrPR) for his recent comment, where he offered this advice:

DrPR wrote:
You can find a tremendous amount of information and tips on weathering on the model railroad sites. Also, there are quite a few products for 1:48 O scale trains that could be useful - people figures (including sailors), tools, small equipment, etc.

I've seen a lot of info about weathering involving model tanks and such, but because of my unfamiliarity with model railroading, I hadn't thought to draw upon that as a resource as well. Thanks for the input; I'll be checking that out! :thanks:

Now for today's post. In my previous posting, I teased you with a photo of the hull masked off in preparation for painting. Today, I'm going to show you how the painting of the lower hull turned out.

I chose to use Model Master's Aircraft Interior Black for the lower hull. As with the camouflage colors I'd applied earlier, I lightened the black with Model Master Flat White to replicate the appearance of a weathered hull.

I want to try to make the model look as realistic as possible, so applying the lightened flat black is only the first step. Next, I airbrushed a very light shading of Floquil Rust. After removing the masking, here's how the hull looks:
Attachment:
File comment: Port side of LSM-59 showing the lower hull after initial painting.
Hull 01.jpg
Hull 01.jpg [ 146.32 KiB | Viewed 1296 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Stbd side of LSM-59 showing the lower hull after initial painting.
Hull 02.jpg
Hull 02.jpg [ 140.51 KiB | Viewed 1296 times ]


The next step will be to re-mask the hull in order to try to replicate the band of verdigris that forms along the waterline. Here's how I plan to do that: after masking off a band of about a scale foot (1/4 inch) I'll dry brush the band area with a very light gray-green that I'll mix up for the task. Then, I'll spray a light misting of Tamiya Flat Base over the band. Once that is completed and the mask is removed for a second time, I'll dry brush the verdigris band and the lower hull to try to achieve the proper appearance. I'll show you that in a future post.

Keep your fingers crossed!

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:21 am 
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Hi John very very good work.
do you pretend add some rust in the hull?
:wave_1: :thumbs_up_1:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:55 am 
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Capitão Norbert wrote:
Hi John very very good work.
do you pretend add some rust in the hull?


Capitão Norbert:

I'm sorry about my tardiness in addressing your question; the Home Fleet Admiral has been sick and I've had to spend time this week taking care of her. So, I have another temporary lull in work on the LSM-59 and posting on this site. However, I hope to get back to it soon as my wife is doing better.

The answer to your question is yes, but the reason you don't see much in the way of rust on the hull at this point is that I am still tinkering with the weathering. I am being very cautious about the weathering because I have limited experience in that area; I don't want to screw things up! I will probably apply rust on the upper hull as one of the last steps in weathering.

:thanks:

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:10 am 
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jcmackay wrote:
Capitão Norbert wrote:
Hi John very very good work.
do you pretend add some rust in the hull?


Capitão Norbert:

I'm sorry about my tardiness in addressing your question; the Home Fleet Admiral has been sick and I've had to spend time this week taking care of her. So, I have another temporary lull in work on the LSM-59 and posting on this site. However, I hope to get back to it soon as my wife is doing better.

The answer to your question is yes, but the reason you don't see much in the way of rust on the hull at this point is that I am still tinkering with the weathering. I am being very cautious about the weathering because I have limited experience in that area; I don't want to screw things up! I will probably apply rust on the upper hull as one of the last steps in weathering.

:thanks:

John :wave_1:

OK i will wait to see it. best :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:20 pm 
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hi john ,im have never weather'd any of my ships,it is not because i do not like the look ,it is because i am afraid of screwing it up :heh: .a very nice build and very well done. :woo_hoo:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:32 am 
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Hi everyone!

I haven't posted for a bit because my focus of late has been in caring for my ailing wife. :frown_2: In the last couple of days, though, I've done some minor work on the model that I wanted to update everyone on. But first, I wanted to thank Russ Clark, who posted:

russclark wrote:
i have never weather'd any of my ships,it is not because i do not like the look ,it is because i am afraid of screwing it up.

Russ, I know exactly what you mean! It seems like so much work to get a nice paint job on a model just to go trash it and maybe do a poor job at that! I've toyed with weathering over the years but I have a lot to learn about it. I just hope I don't do too poor a job on the LSM-59 while I'm learning how to do weathering.

Thanks, Russ, for your post and your kind words.

Now, let me tell you what I've done lately.

I've been expecting one of the sharp-eyed readers of these posts to challenge me about the minimal detail on the bow ramp. The last time I posted about the ramp, I showed you the newly-installed barrier fences. However, if you look at the photo of actual ramp in the photo below, you'll see additional details:
Attachment:
File comment: LSM-320 bow ramp. Photo courtesy of NavSource.org
LSM 320 01.jpg
LSM 320 01.jpg [ 82.22 KiB | Viewed 1210 times ]


Among the details missing are the ribbing below the barrier fences and the attachment hardware for the bow ramp cables. The cables attached with a clevis to a padeye on the side of the ramp, ran forward to a sheave-type arrangement and then went up to the sheaves on the top of the foc's'le.

However, when I decided to add the missing details to the ramp, I realized I wasn't happy with how the ramp looked because the side bulkheads weren't correct. So, I removed the side bulkheads, built new bulkheads and added the missing details. Here's how the ramp looks at this point:
Attachment:
File comment: Bow ramp with additional details.
Bow ramp 01.jpg
Bow ramp 01.jpg [ 143.3 KiB | Viewed 1210 times ]


I still have a bit of work to do on the ramp, including sealing gaps and then applying weathering. More on that later.

John :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:12 am 
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John absolutely amazing this work... :wave_1:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:16 am 
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John
Hope the Admiral is better . :sorry:

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:46 pm 
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Hi everyone and happy Father's Day! :thumbs_up_1:
I've gotten a bit of work done on the 59 and it's time for another update. But first, let me say thank you to Richard O'Malley for his wishes for the Home Fleet Admiral. :thanks: She's getting better every day but she still has a ways to go. But all you married guys out there know that “if momma's not happy, nobody's happy!” :heh:

Let me bring you up to date on the model. I've been tinkering around lately with little details that I've put off working on while I've tried to get the major items completed. Last week, I detailed the bow ramp and this week, I've been working on the fenders that lined the tank well. Heres' a photo of the LSM-466 tank well courtesy of NavSource.org showing the fenders:
Attachment:
File comment: Tank well of LSM-466 courtesy of Scott Ekberg and NavSource.org
LSM 466 01.jpg
LSM 466 01.jpg [ 89.4 KiB | Viewed 1170 times ]

These fenders helped to protect the side walls of the tank well. You may have noticed in some of the earlier photos of the model that these were missing. Just another detail I was putting off until later! :big_grin:

Here is a photo showing part of the framework on which the fender strips will be mounted:
Attachment:
File comment: Fender frames along the port tank well prior to installing the fenders
Fender frames 01.jpg
Fender frames 01.jpg [ 139.83 KiB | Viewed 1170 times ]

The fenders are cut out from .010 inch styrene. Since I was working with styrene in 12-inch lengths, this meant joining the ends of the strips of fenders together. I mated the fender strips together using cellophane tape and applied Model Masters Liquid Cement to the opposite side of the styrene. After the cement had set, I peeled off the tape and applied cement on that side of the joint. Of course, all along the way, I was test-fitting the fender strips to ensure that alignment was satisfactory. Eventually, I wound up with two fender strips approximately 39 inches long and 3/8 inch tall.

Here's a photo of a portion of the fender strips painted and ready to install:
Attachment:
File comment: Fender strips painted and ready to be installed
Fenders 01.jpg
Fenders 01.jpg [ 96.95 KiB | Viewed 1170 times ]

Next, I laid the port side strip onto the framework and using some masking tape, anchored the strip in the correct position. I chose to begin with the port side since it is less visible when the model is viewed and I wanted to make all my mistakes on the side less obvious! :cool_2: Then, it was a matter of slowly gluing the fender strip onto the frame using CA glue, beginning at the center of the fender strip and working forward and aft on the tank well. And here's how it turned out on the port side:
Attachment:
File comment: Port side fender installed
Fenders installed 01.jpg
Fenders installed 01.jpg [ 137.86 KiB | Viewed 1170 times ]

The port side came out very well so next, I'll use the same technique to install the fender strip on the starboard side. I'm not going to show that here since it is only more of the same. :deadhorse:

In my next post, I'm going to show you my progress on the verdigris band along the waterline. See you then!

John :wave_1:


Last edited by jcmackay on Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:04 am 
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Its all in the detailes ! :worship_1: Glad to hear the Admiral is better . :big_grin: Looking forward to my continuing education on LSM's :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:53 am 
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Hi everyone!
Thanks, Richard, for your comments and thanks to everyone for checking in. :thanks:

Today, I’m going to show you what I referred to in my last post as the ‘verdigris band’ along the waterline.

While perusing photos of LSMs during my research for this model, I came across the photo below:
Attachment:
File comment: Photo of LSM 84 courtesy of USS LSM/LSMR Association and NavSource.org
LSM 84 02.jpg
LSM 84 02.jpg [ 73.48 KiB | Viewed 1110 times ]

This photo (Courtesy of USS LSM/LSMR Association and NavSource.org) shows a couple of crewmembers standing by the bow of the beached LSM-84. What I found interesting was the amount of crud that had built up in a pretty clear band along the waterline. I referred to this as verdigris in my previous post, but more accurately, it is marine growth that has dried out when exposed to air, such as during beaching. When I looked at photos of other beached LSMs, I found that although the band of sea growth wasn’t evident on every ship, it was present on many. Obviously, the presence or lack of a band of sea growth was affected by a couple of factors, such as the age of the ship, the operational use, and most recent drydocking with hull cleaning.

Initially, I was hesitant to include the 'verdigris band' on the 59. :scratch: The photos of the LSM-59 aren’t clear enough to discern whether she had this band of sea growth, but it is a safe bet she did. After all, she operated in a region of the Pacific where the environmental conditions were conducive, and in all of the photos, she looks pretty weatherbeaten and worn. As time went by, it made less sense to leave the band out; the model will be displayed with the lower hull out of the water on the beach and the rest of the hull will be heavily weathered. It didn't make sense to display the model with a pristine lower hull exposed!

It is pretty common to see a band of sea growth on ships if they've been drydocked or they're riding higher in the water due to a change in loading. However, I don't recall having seen ship models with this kind of band replicated. That's understandable, though; most ship models are way too small to bother with this kind of detail and many ship models are built as waterline models on a simulated ocean base. It is kinda rare to come across any aspect of modeling that hasn't been tackled by someone else before, but I'd never heard how anyone else had done this, so I figured I was on my own. :thinking: I began by using the photo of the 84 as my guide.

My first step was to mask off the hull approximately ¼ inch above and below the waterline, emulating the band shown in the photo of the LSM-84. Then, I had to figure out how to simulate the dried sea growth. When sea growth and crud along the waterline dries, it turns a very light green or almost white. I decided the way to simulate this was to add a large amount of white to some leftover Ocean Green. To replicate the splotchiness of the sea growth, I dry-brushed this pale green mixture in an irregular pattern along the waterline. Next, to fill in the voids in the splotchy pattern, I airbrushed a light coat of Tamiya Flat Base acrylic along the whole band. The Flat Base goes on like very thin flat white which basically 'fogs' the entire exposed band. Before the Flat Base was completely dry, I used a soft brush to disrupt the appearance of the band. Then, I removed the masking tape. Here’s a couple of photos of the model at this point:
Attachment:
File comment: Stbd side of hull showing simulated sea growth band
sea growth 01.jpg
sea growth 01.jpg [ 147.51 KiB | Viewed 1110 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Port side of hull showing simulated sea growth band
sea growth 02.jpg
sea growth 02.jpg [ 143.08 KiB | Viewed 1110 times ]


Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. :smallsmile: I still have some weathering that I intend to do to the hull, plus adding some rust effects, but the band of sea growth was a significant task that I needed to tackle before I went much further. When I'm finally completed with painting/weathering the hull, I'll be applying a coat of clear flat overall. To prevent the clear flat from adversely affecting the Flat Base, I applied a coat of Future Wax over the completed sea growth band.

Now that I’m nearing the end of the work on the hull and tank well, I’m getting to the exciting part: adding the topside details. I’ll show you how that is going in my next post.

John :wave_1:


Attachments:
File comment: Bow-on view of hull showing simulated sea growth band
sea growth 03.jpg
sea growth 03.jpg [ 142.59 KiB | Viewed 1110 times ]
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:05 pm 
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More More :cool_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

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