Hello all! I'm back and have nearly finished the larger Arcadia. Last year I met a girl and we moved in together and I took some time off, but I resumed building back in October, and worked on her for the last three months solid, and she's almost finished!
I'll kinda breeze through the steps and pics here and if anybody has any questions, feel free to ask!
When I left off the hull was pretty much done and so were all of the deckhouses and I needed to start the details and assembly work. I started with the main deck, outfitting the bulkheads with lockers, panels, conduits and of course, those dreaded cylinders! I made up about 500 of them, that was like 2 weeks work, and then I attached them to .010 plastic strip to make them in gangs of like 10-20. I painted them green and orange (Looks red in the pics) and black and of course gray.
Here are some main deck shots:
Started small:
And worked my way up:
Next I glued all of the deckhouses together in the main superstructure and sanded and primed them:
And I made the aft smokestacks for the diesel generators and incinerator room:
Here is the starboard side all adorned:
I added the top 04 level and the stack:
Next the front of the superstructure:
Some top deck details:
Scuppers:
Next I shot the decks with WEM "US Navy Modern Deck Grey":
Next I had to fix a boo boo. I was using micro drill bits to drill pilot holes for the portholes, and they got stuck in, and broke off it, the vertical supports that were in earlier pics. So I had to drill them out and re-fill them and re-drill them. That was on ordeal!:
After, with the decks masked:
Now with the masking tape off and starting to install the ladders:
Finished front Superstructure face:
And the aft section:
Next I glued the 01 deck and up onto the ship itself:
A look from up top:
Next I had to go back and put scuppers on the main hull and aft decks. I had thought about it before, but had ruled it out. But then when I was doing the superstructure, it didn't look right without it, and also it would aid to glue the PE in place. So I went back and re did all of that!
Looking pretty close to the plan!
Some attention to the fo'c'sle and the gun deck:
More details:
Next, the PE went on: (I left the 01 deck off to ease installing the PE)
Next was time for the cargo deck and superstructure to get glued down. Now I want you all to know that I measured and measured, and cut and sanded to the plans, but when it came time to glue it down, the deck was off. So I had to add an extension, sand it all down again, and repaint it:
Next was time to do the "Sculptures" as I call them, the little flares on the gun decks:
And start drilling the holes for the kingpins:
And re-shoot the deck:
And now time for the cranes:
Next was a chore that I had been dreading! Making the cradles for the boats:
But they came out good I think?
Next was to attach the forward aux gun plats:
My Uncle said he used to sunbathe on the starboard one, which has a railing. Whereas the port side had a solid splinter shield.
Next was time to clean up all the glue spots. They cleaned up very easily with drybrushing Deck grey over them. Can't see any mistakes now!
After that was to tackle the Booms:
I made up a Jig that I used to drill the holes so they would all be the same as according to the plans:
I used Plastruct angle trusses, but they needed to be thinned out a lot! And I had to drill the top hole part several times in order to get it to look right:
And here they are all painted:
So that's where she is as of today! I still have about a couple of weeks left of work to do. Deck details and rigging for one. Also, I ran out of PE railings, so I had to order another fret from Bluejacket Shipcrafters. I got the number decals from them too, but the letter I got from BECC Model Accessories in the UK, along with cloth ensign and signal flags. I also have a bunch of deck reels to make up and a few more ladders and my Uncle says I missed a couple of hatches.
But she's almost there! My Uncle is a master woodworker and when I told him about it, I told him he could make the base since that's what he does. He said gladly he would, and that he had a "Special" board that he'd been stashing for a special project. It's birdseye Maple and it looks beautiful! I will post pics of the finished ship as soon as She's done.
Thanks to all who have been following my project! My next one I think is going to be a 1/350 scale USS America, scratchbuilt of course, since I served on her!
Note to Mods: Please delete the previous post where I did not login. Thanks!