The Ship Model Forum

Time to apply some paint.

I had acquired some scrap strip-wood from a local DIY store for free and thought I had some double-sided tape to stick down and then tack the parts to this, I couldn't find it so ended up sticking some masking tape sticky side-up.



I attached the completed etch and some kit parts to this -







These were then primed with Stynylrez black -



and highlighted with Tamiya Buff -



Once dry, the final colour was applied in a couple of thin coats -







The effect is quite subtle and looks a lot better to the eye than the camera!

Will add some detail to the bulkheads next up.

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Time for some modelling!

The bulkheads of the superstructures below the shelterdeck look a little bare, -



I know that there would have been plenty of cables, pipes, conduits etc decorating the walls so added some with plasticard, strip and stretched sprue -









Theses were then primed together with the underside of the now completed shelterdeck -







These will be highlighted with buff as previously and then finished in 507B

Any questions or comments, fire away.

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

More paint. Time for the 507B from Life-colour, and a warning - don't, and I mean DON'T, try thinning this with IPA, it just goes to a lumpy sludge and cant even be used on a brush, it completely blocked my airbrush and took ages to remove. I googled to find that the best thinner is de-ionised water and I put some retarder in as well.

Once thinned like this it goes on beautifully, here's the blocks finished -







I prepared an oil paint wash with, this time, a quality oil-paint, as I found the cheaper ones do not have the right density or size of pigments, this consisted of lamp black and a small amount of Paynes Grey







I have now added the wooden deck and this did not go smoothly! Has anyone else had an issue with this? It seems to fit at one end or the other, but not both? I have used Pontos wooden decks before and they fitted perfectly. I have now checked the fit of the other ones and they seem a little 'tight?

The painted PE parts are now attached so there will be pictures of that next.

Let me know about that wood deck, as, if it is faulty, I will need to contact Pontos!

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

First, I would like to say how much I have enjoyed this thread and, every time you post I give a little cheer and look forward to seeing your progress...

I am currently building the same kit and with the same Pontos set... and have actually, so far anyway, done pretty much exactly the same upgrades and improvements you have ... (although now you are a little ahead of me as far as the shelter deck is concerned...) but, as usual, I have stalled somewhat, work and real-life having got in the way again.

I have yet fitted the deck, so can't comment on fit... so apologies I can't contribute...

As far as the underside of the shelter deck is concerned... and all the supports, piping, etc... are you sure 507B is the way to go...? I was going to either white... heavily pre-shaded of course... or 507C lightened a bit and then dirtied up a little after... Most of my pictures tend to suggest the 'roof' of the underside of decks as considerably lighter... with a lot of dirtied up pipes, cables, over-painting and so on. The actual supporting beams seem darker and probably are 507B, or close... but the actual top surface of the roof/ceiling...?

The supporting pillars under the shelter deck were white, with the tops and bottoms a darker colour... so a pure white for the whole underside isn't at all likely... and side views show the main beams supporting the shelter deck to be the same as the rest of the upperworks, so 507B again...



Perhaps EJ Foeth could comment... he is always pretty good with this stuff...

Anyway, keep up the excellent work... I'm building this along with you, vicariously, but when I get a chance to restart my own build, this will be a great reference/aide memoir...

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Bill Livingston
Cambridge

Hi Bill, thank you for your comment, I have read and absorbed your thread and will be integrating some of your ideas and tips into this one, fear not!

I have already quizzed EJ in the 'Mighty 'ood' thread in 'Calling all ship fans' and he is pretty categoric quoting a, presumably, copyrighted image, that it is hull coloured, shame really because it would have made a nice contrast, white, or as you suggest 507C.

The pillars are indeed white with black tops and bottoms, so I will do these in a very pale grey and Nato black for contrast. Pure white would, I think, be too stark.

I have now finished the underside and have some pictures to post, but here's a sneak preview -



Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Every so now and then the Hood Associating sends me a photograph so that we can try solving some Hood modeling issues. These pics usually come with the request not to share them; there is no copyright as far as I know but it's best not to disappoint one of my best sources Here it was the image Bill posted I was referring to. It does show that the underside of the shelterdeck is certainly not white and probably hull colour. Not sure if the pillars are black; I went with A/B here as well. This is the best image I know of that shows this area for an early-war Hood. Other pics show no white here, but there are from a different colour scheme...

Thanks EJ... they are good photos - which I will add to my Hood folder!

They are clearly of Hood prior to her major refit... so I would have guessed the hull colour would have been 507C at the time...

I can see that a white 'shelter deck ceiling' wouldn't be correct, but I am not sure whether Hood would have had the underside of the shelter deck roof repainted in 507B later, either... Would it have been worthwhile? I would have thought it wouldn't have been repainted, so therefore still 507C. I just can't see the underside paint being cleaned regularly, with a multitude of piping and stuff hanging from the support beams giving an overall dark look, but not necessarily hull colour. Obviously, everything else, the sidewalls and major fittings like ready lockers and so on would be hull colour... so looking into the underside of the shelter deck would be predominately 507B

But I could easily be wrong!

Plus of course, its unlikely to be seen that much... and painting it all 507B would certainly be easier!

Clearly, the support pillars are a darker colour on the top and bottom, not black - but white in the middle as we all seem to agree. And they would be seen, quite clearly. I just think the tops and bottoms of those pillars are darker than the rest of the interior in the picture supplied. I think that picture suggests a very light grey for the interior of the shelter deck, which is what the hull colour would have been at the time... so as I said, did the ceiling get painted? Or just the parts visible when viewed from alongside the ship?

I think I am going to use a lighter grey for the underside of the roof of the shelter deck and 507B for everything else... and then 'dirty up' that lighter grey underside by preshading and weathering.

(My initial thoughts on a white ceiling comes from ships like HMS Belfast where white was used on the underside of pom pom decks and other platforms... as well as the inside of gun shields, blast shields etc. But as I said, following this discussion and the addition of those new photos, I was probably wrong to think it may have been the same for Hood...

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Bill Livingston
Cambridge

Note that for a while the colour of Hood was not a uniform gray but showed some variation; this was gradually painted out.



http://ontheslipway.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Gallery_07_08.jpg

This second pic shows contrast differences in the spotting top, HACS, 4" guns, some areas on the hull. I always try to be careful interpreting these B&W shots.

About that ceiling: no idea, really, if it were lighter. I think go with overal 507B. Also not to get too much attention to the roof of my shelderdeck that is not according to the plans

Great info from you guys! It always makes me wonder when I see pictures like these how many important images are out there that the current owner/custodian has absolutely no idea what they have been entrusted with and will probably end up in a skip somewhere, criminal!

I plan to finish this model in the three grey scheme, immediately after returning from Iceland and before any repainting was carried out, giving a bit of free licence for a modicum of weathering. From what I can ascertain it would seem to be about three months between coats as it were!

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

That is an excellent choice of scheme...!!!

Certainly a point of conversation when displayed, too... and it will set it apart from all the other Hoods out there.

Brilliant decision

And you are right about all the photos that are probably out there, never to be seen... There is probably a massive amount in the archive which haven't been catalogued or have been 'misfiled'...

In the meantime, EJ seems to come up trumps over and over again... Thank you EJ... but you ARE our repository for all great Hood stuff..!

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Bill Livingston
Cambridge

Regarding colour schemes, has anyone noticed the similarity between Jabb's cat and the one aboard Hood?.
Must be a good omen for Jabb's project !!. Will enjoy watching your build and will compare with my own experience.
Tim.

Hi Tim, they do look similar, but Harry is quite hairy and, (I think his name was Fishcakes), the ships cat looks quite smooth (and shiny)!

What was your experience with that under shelterdeck wooden deck? As I said before, my previous Pontos decks were perfect! It fits in one place only, if the rear is lined-up it seems fine for a couple of inches and then goes out of sync and I ended up having to cut 2-3mm to allow the bulkheads to contact the deck to allow gluing, and vice-versa, line-up the front and the rear was out.

Oh, and fitting it this time, after sanding the deck down a bit, I applied soapy water with a brush to allow for adjustments (good job I did, eh!)

Let me know.

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

As promised, progress on the shelter deck enclosure, just a few pics -

















The shelter deck is not cemented down yet but it fits beautifully. I may do a bit of weathering under there but not too much, maybe tone the deck down, will carry out some tests and then do some glazing. I didn't want to go too overboard with adding pipes and other things hanging from the ceiling, less is more as they say and I want the enhancements to match, as Paul Budzik says in one of his videos that details should match.

A PE construction tip next!

Any comments, you know what to do.

Cheers Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

As Larry so rightly put it



Quite!

The following is a snippet from the Pontos instructions to fabricate the 4" ready lockers -



and even though you can zoom right in, there is no real direction as to what to do.

This is what I did!

The basic box is easy enough, but attaching the doors takes some thinking. Because the, eventual, locking latches are in the way, it appears that there is no easy way to attach the door.



The door hinges have to fit under the latches somehow. If you look at the edges and top of the box you can see the latches sitting proud of the surface, four on each side and two at the top.

Here's my method. Slide the door hinges into the latches on the left side, the door is then held in position at an angle, but the right side ones then interfere, using a pair of square nosed tweezers, simply turn the lower 3 latches on the other side of the box to the outside at about 45-60 degrees. this then allows the door to lie flush to the box.





The hinges can then be pushed down to the edge of the box



and the latches turned inwards to lock the door in position



Once all the latches are holding the door in place



the door hinges can then be pushed down into their rightful place on both sides.





The doors are actually held in place by the latches and are not glued in place at all! It sounds complicated but in reality it probably takes around a minute per box to attach the door.

I hope the above makes sense, and, as usual, any questions or comments are always welcome.

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Hi Jabb. I must say that i did not experience a problem with ANY of the wood deck sections. Can't explain your problem.
Looking good so far, but i did find the lockers very fiddly and had a hard time trying to line up the latches with the very
small holes in the doors. I had to use the finest drill bit to slightly enlarge the holes. This did help and when painted you
would not notice the procedure.

Thanks Tim.

I have measured the other decks against where they should fit and they all seem a bit long, I emailed Mr Kim at Pontos to see if there were any other concerns over the fit and if he could replace them. Bit late for the one already fitted but I have 'adjusted' that one to fit.

We will see what happens.

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Jabb, with all my projects, i try and purchase two sets of detail sets. This is to cover myself for the many cockups, mistakes, breakages etc.
I have my second set (almost) complete, together with the unused wood decks. I would be willing to let you have these if you would like them. At the
moment they are taking up "cupboard" space and would be more than happy for you to have them "gratis". Better to have them used rather
than wasting away collecting dust. PM me if you would like to have them. Having finished my build, i have no further need.
Tim.

!!! PM sent !!!

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Forging ahead!

Deck fittings for the rear shelter deck.

The following images represent a mornings work, examine instructions, identify part, remove from fret, clean up the edges, re-examine the instructions for folding details, examine the part to check the folding sequence, fold, glue, attach other parts if required.

Its all good fun!











Thats all for now

Cheers, Jabb

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HMS Hood, the big one!

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

Jabb, PM received. Will try and get it away this coming week.
Regards, Tim.