The Ship Model Forum

This is going to be my first try into a 1/350 ship, probably the biggest 1/350 kit my current work space can accommodate.
I have only done 1/700 scale before. The biggest issue I have with 1/350 scale is that, because I have to hand paint, it is difficult to achieve a smooth uniform painted surface over a large area, like the side of the hull. Will probably have to leverage some weathering, but not sure how it will turn out.




I started out with the deck PE and the wooden decks as an experiment for painting and weathering. Went through the whole process from priming to weathering. Washed the deck a bit too just to create some unevenness.

Looking good! How do you attach the deck to the hull? What glue do you use?
Can't wait to see more.
John

Based on the box with Pontos on it....their decks are self adhesive.


Land_Shark, did you wash the deck after attaching it? Any problems with the deck lifting? I'm thinking I need to tone my New Jersey deck down, but I've already attached it.....so hopefully you say you washed after!

Nice start, keep it up!

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Brett Matthews

I meant the deck to the hull sides, not the self-adhesive "stick on printed" deck top.
Sorry

My fault, I misinterpreted!

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Brett Matthews

Hey guys thanks. For the deck to hull connection, the middle deck piece would rest on 5 support beams. The fore and aft deck pieces would sit on the ends of the middle deck and some ledges on the hull pieces. Sorry the deck's a mess right now, as I'm drilling the port holes, but I linked the manual pages below.


As for the deck wash, yeah I did the wash after I glue the deck on. There was some deck lifting around small features, but that was before I did the wash. Anyways, I did apply some glue to areas that had lifting. Nothing has happened after the wash so far, although I did not soak the wood. Here are the rest of the deck after wash and weathering.





Painted the anchor chain as well.

I guess I'm not being clear. I was wondering what type of glue do you use to attach the deck to the hull sides. I usually glue the deck to the hull before painting. Do you glue the deck to the hull sides? Or do you merely glue it to the hull cross-members?
Thanks

Nice work on the decking.

Hi thanks Dan.

For glue I just use Loctite 454 gel for setting and 414 for reinforcement. See below picture, I dry fitted the deck pieces with the hull. The fore and aft pieces fit really well with the hull, can't really see a gap. The middle deck piece, as you can see, has clear gaps with the hull on either side. I don't think I'll do anything about it though, since these two sides will be completely covered by a couple more deck pieces (next pic). Anything under these two pieces will be obscured, even if viewed from the side angle, due to the funnels and lifeboats on top of the decks.

And you are right, in most of the threads here, the process I see is usually assembly before painting. For hand painting though, it's easier to paint the deck pieces first since I can orient them in any angle I want to cover the small features. Also I'm trying to get away without using masking tape. A brush doesn't have the same accessibility as an airbrush, so later on with the superstructure, the funnels, and even parts of the hull, I'll likely be building and painting sections at a time.

Thank you Land_shark. Great looking job. I'll try your glue.
John

Great work on those decks.

Scott

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K494 HMCS Arnprior
Royal Canadian Navy

Looking very good!

Aop

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On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

Hi thanks guys.
The past couple of days, I put the hull together and drilled the portholes.
I picked up two accompanying brass pedestals from Pontos, a bit pricey. I did look into brass lamp fittings, but in the end, didn't want to cheap out on the final presentation of the ship. The bottom half of the hull was taped up, primed and painted. The top half will be painted section by section as PE are added.






By now, I kind of got bored with the hull, so I started on the two 12" main guns. It wasn't until I put together both guns that I noticed one of the barrels had a bit of a defect. There is an extra thin ring of brass material that did not get lathed off during machining. This highlighted below. I contacted Pontos, hopefully they'll reply and replace the part. In the event that does not materialize, what are some of the options to remove this extra material? Take a dremel and grind it off?

Great work on the deck and details. The hull is looking awesome!

Shame about the barrel. I think I can see a shadow of that line on the other turret as well. Could it be blended?

Thanks Thom.

Never heard back from Pontos, but I managed to trim away the extra brass material on the barrel, so I guess the problem's solved.
After prime and paint, I don't think any scar is visible. The barrels are weathered and will be mounted to the hull at a later time.

Excellent techniques and methodology.

However, my great uncle was a Master-at-Arms in the RN from before and during WWII. He served on the Hood and various other capital ships. I always remember him saying - 'If it moves - salute it, if it doesn't - paint it.'

Whilst admiring your technique, I firmly believe that NO Ships' Commanding Officer, of any Navy, then or now, would allow their pride and joy to get to the state that you are portraying. The level of wear and tear you are portraying extremely well, is more becoming of a hard worked and neglected tramp steamer, not the Flagship of an important Japanese Admiral.

I have to say, however, that it is your model, and please feel free to complete it as you see fit.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers, Jabb

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On the way - a rusty Liberty with lots of goodies!

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I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

Hey Jabb,
Thanks, I agree with what you said. It does feel like the current weathering is more suited to a ship sitting in a graveyard.
I will try to remove some of the rust spots and see how it looks.

Here is a photo of Mikasa's aft turret after the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Blast damage and cracked armor but no rust in sight.

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"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." H. L. Mencken

Less is more!

Unkempt rather than rusty, salt streaks, mainly on the hull and fore-decks, light streaks on the superstructure, wear on the wooden decks, coal dust around the scuttles, rust and stains around the anchors and chains. That sort of thing.

I keep looking at a post-war Liberty as a cargo ship and plan to give that a good going over with the burnt sienna etc.

I re-iterate tho' that your technique is excellent (and well worth copying )

Cheers, Jabb

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On the way - a rusty Liberty with lots of goodies!

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I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I checked out some of the other pics posted in the main Mikasa thread too. It makes sense that since it took the Russians quite a bit of time to sail their fleet from the Baltic, the ship was probably wholly repainted in the interim. Anyways, I cleaned out much of the rust from the guns.





Some other miscellaneous progress