The Ship Model Forum

Well, first round of deck tractors done; the fire fighting equipment. Eduard figures in the driver's seat, painted chrome silver with black visor, Starfighter decals on the tractors.

Little bit to clean up after seeing the macro-lens photos, but pretty happy thus far.

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

Outstanding job Blake, reminds me of my days work crash!!!

_________________
Jim Varnell
ABH2 USN/RET.
89-00
Eastern NC Modelworks

Up coming projects:
1/700 scale rebuild of diorama project 960 square feet.
(Table 1 underway)Feb.2017
1/350 USS ALASKA CB-1(started Aug. 2017) 70% completed

Jim,
I was looking over this thread and giggling last night, telling my wife over a cold beer this quote you made sometime back:



"and a few completed builds somehow ended up in the bathtub"...I about lost it spewing beer through my nose. Truly sig-worthy

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

aren't they a blast to make!!

_________________
God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.
~ Chester W. Nimitz ~
My Builds ~ http://ussnorthcaroilna.shutterfly.com/

Blake
for the scale is really superbly detailed outstanding job
cheers
Nicolas

_________________
https://ladiagonaledubosco.blogspot.fr/

Hey Blake!

When you were painting the tractors I hope you painted the distributor caps black, not grey
NICE JOB! looking forward to building them myself... NOT!

Keep it up!!!

Laci

_________________
_________________
James

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/James-Guard/user-index.html

Couldn't find a resin can of Copehagen in 1/350 or a pine tree air freshener, so I may have to improvise.

Got all of the yellow tractors painted and washed, just need to do the gloss coat, decals and a final dry brush.

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

Couple of things to fix, but here they are minus drivers. Although you can't see them in the photo, the headlights were picked out with Chrome Silver which make them really pop and red tail lights.

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

First coat of FGG is drying on the Tomcats and the PE from WEM for the Cats is enroute; opened an additional three canopies on the Tomcats too.

Now...built this AIM-54 Phoenix from Evergreen and Plastruct Rod and strip. Missile rail is separate. Got to find a way to cast these in resin or it's going to be a TEDIOUS process. Can anyone recommend a good, simple, resin casting tutorial?

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

Holy McKales Navy Blake,
everythings looking great, as far as the resin casting what about "Alumlite", you can pick it up at Hobbylobby if you have one near you..
Keep up the great work!!!!

_________________
Jim Varnell
ABH2 USN/RET.
89-00
Eastern NC Modelworks

Up coming projects:
1/700 scale rebuild of diorama project 960 square feet.
(Table 1 underway)Feb.2017
1/350 USS ALASKA CB-1(started Aug. 2017) 70% completed

HI Blake

Amazing Phoenix saw the scale ,it is superb
before the resin casting ,your master, present too much "draft angles". at the time of completion of the elastomer mold,and when you want to get out the master ,you are going snatch a lot of things...... that which indicate,that production will be difficult .
a front view ,would allow me to tell you more.
but in all cases ,given the size of the piece, vacuum molding, is recommeded
I hope I was clear(with my poor vocabulary) in my explanations
cheers
Nicolas

_________________
https://ladiagonaledubosco.blogspot.fr/

You would probably have to mold pieces separately. The fuselage of the missile then the fins. My guess.

_________________
_________________
James

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/James-Guard/user-index.html

SERIOUSLY?! MOLDING MISSILES?! Damn, people! You guys are a new level of crazy! Blake, You are officially hired to build an airwing for my ship. I don't even care if don't put any armament on them, but I will pay you an extra $ 1.5 million, if you do! I can't wait to see these birdies done!
And all the sudden I don't want put any planes on my ship. Maybe one of each type...I'll just say I am modelling "fleet-week" and this is how the deck is awaiting the crowd: with 6 planes on deck....

hats off Blake! I am not even putting my hat back on because I will just get tired of lifting it...

Keep it up, and keep it sane

Laci

LOL! Thanks Laci!!!!

Well, the first Phoenix was a little too large, so I'm going to build another. Luckily, I built two rails and they look pretty good. Just need to build a couple new missles in order to be able to cast 20+ missles and rails.

So it begins...Cat Painting. No wash or PE yet and I've got fill in the gaps with white glue. This one gets the PE flaps, nose gear lowered into launch position, etc. Slats are simulated with a thin line of red paint (looks weird in this photo due to it being glossy, but it's straight as an arrow). The wings near the root will get the "dirty swing area" with pastels like I did on my big 1:18 Tomcat. PE should arrive this week.

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

Blake, the cat looks great, and the missle- WOW!

As for casting it, I am not an expert, but I have done enough casting now to at least offer an informed opinion (assuming you are new to it):

Getting a quality mold and cast of that thing is gonna be really hard. The undercuts and complexity of the fins, combined with the very small size are going to present a lot of issues.

First, it will have to be at least a 2 part mold, so you will have seams to clean up IF you even get good casts.

Second, Due to the small size and it's overall shape, you will have to use a thin easy flowing resin, and HAVE to use a pressure pot to get the resin into those tiny fins.

It CAN be done, but it aint gonna be easy. It might not be worth the hassle and frustration of casting depending on how many you want, so you may want to just bite the bullet and keep on scratchin em!

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Ryan,
That's exactly what I was thinking. The ROI just isn't worth it. Sigh...well, it's okay, I want to do them "right". It's just going to take a little longer than expected

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

Again,
Glad I checked my reference photos before I got too far down the rabbit hole. Look at the photo below and check out the weapon load outs on the Cats....

That's right Double side-winders and Sparrows on the bellies. No AIM-54's to be found and no rails either.

This should be fun as I can utilize the GHQ stuff with a little reworking due to size

_________________
~Blake
Completed:
1:350 Trumpeter CVN-68 Nimitz, "Eagle Claw"

Planned: Nimitz fixes and sprucing up

For your first build you sure are demonstrating an advanced level of skill and psychosis.

_________________
-Shane

Dallas, Tx

Working on: Revell 1/426 USS Arizona BB-39

In the Stash: USS Arizona 1/700 Dragon Premium, DKM Bismarck 1/700 Dragon Premium, Admiral Graf Spee 1/700 Trumpeter, & Prinz Eugen 1/700 Trumpeter

great work man!