Ship newbie, blog of Cyberhobby Yorktown + Alfa sub in 1/350

[braxat2000]

Hello,
My name is Eyal, and I'm a 1:72 military modeller for many years. Always wanted to try building ships, but for some reason didn't get to them. Finally I got my hands on a ship model and here is my first ship building log. I hope you'll like, I'll be happy to get comments

I plan to build these models as a trial, to get the feel of how these models get built. So I don't plan to use any PE or aftermarket set for them.
I do have the remains of a PE set for one of Tamiya's old WWII battleships and I have some idea on using the railings from there in my ship (even though it must be not exactly accurate...)

So thanks for taking a look, here goes:





My first thought is how big the parts are. I used suprglue along the seam and some putty before sanding them in various grit sandpaper.







Maybe I didn't build it correctly, but IMHO opinion this model is very bad. The superstructure fits poorly to the deck, and the fit in general is very poor. I need to take new pictures but there is a lot of filler used. The bad fit also prevents me from painting the deck and superstructure separately. So I had to glue everything together.









I don't like the bases, I think I'll get some wood ones instead.



That's it from now, hope that what I posted is ok, I lurked for a lot of time in this forum and still am reading many threads,
Eyal.

[Guest]

Hi,
The models are done, with no PE the main issue is filling. I use magic sculpt to fill, and smooth it with water. I missed some of the spaces so I'll go over them and fill some more.

As I added no PE sets (why are PE sets for ships so expensive... ), but I started to add railing PE bits which I borrowed from Eduard's Tirpits set. ere goes so far:

[gott_cha]

welcome to the forum braxat2000. Ships are a totally different animal for sure.
MY first couple of ships were truly awful ! cant say they are great today. But with each new subject you attempt, skills will improve,..trust me.

Fit and accuracy of kits can be anywhere from fantastic to somewhat vague with older offerings, and even some of the newer $$$ Trumpeter kits.

Its frustrating spending big budgeted bucks on a kit just to find that it leaves much to be desired in accuracy and fit. Aftermarket to the rescue!.. Yes PE is expensive,...some cost way more that the Kit itself. Its hard at times to justify a 100$ PE set for a 65$ kit. But it does make the difference in the outcome.

Again,..welcome. Cant wait to see the final product!

[robertmelvin]

Eyal, welcome to the forum. And congratulations on coming over to the dark art of model ship building. You won't find a better place on the 'net to hang out if you are into ship modeling, particularly warships. Your work looks good.

I understand exactly what you are saying about PE, and you didn't even mention the resin and other after market add ons that are available for most kits. As gott_cha pointed out, sometimes you can end up paying well more for the PE and other add ons than you did for the kit itself. A goo example is the Tamiya U.S.S. Missouri (1/350) kit. I ordered the Lion Roar PE super set and paid well more for it than I did for the kit itself. But, I wanted to this as a major project and try to do as good a job as possible. Same thing with Trumpys 1/350 U.S.S. North Carolina kit. I've visited that ship probably a half dozen times and feel a certain connection with her. As a result, I ended up buying the Yankee ModelWorks resin turret set, brass barrels, brass propellers, and three, yes three, PE sets! I've probably got twice the cost of the kit in after market. If you build a lot of kits, that can end up being a real issue.

I'm finding myself becoming much more selective about what PE I buy. Some ships I just use generic sets for radars and railings to keep the cost down. Several manufacturers do some very nice generic sets that you can use to add the things that PE really does well, like radars and railing, also ladders, but you won't break the bank buying full PE sets.

Bob

[braxat2000]

Thanks guys!
I've just got Academy's warspite, and I will probably get the Pontos detail set, which will be the most I've ever spent on modelling in one go...
But after that I'll move to 1:700, cause I don't have any room for the big ships.

I found some time to start painting.
Basically painted the sub, but I think the light gray is not light enough. I need to learn ship colors, and the colors I've used were Tamiya's. The model was then sprayed in clear as a basis for decals and wash.





The mess you see is the current state of the ship. I don't mind it as the light gray has not been painted yet.
I started with black, masked and painted with Tamiya's hull red + flat red mix. The top decks were sprayed in German gray XF-63.
Now I need to paint the light gray which I plan to use XF-19 sky gray.



Thanks for taking a look.
My next blog and ship model will hopefully be better
Eyal.

[braxat2000]

Hi,
The Alfa is done.
After some details painting using acrylics, I painted the gold parts with gold ink I had laying around, which gives a nice cold gold look.
Next the decals were placed using Mr. sol and Mr. set softening solutions, and some white and gray touches to clean them.
The model was then weathed with minimal amount of raw umber oil color, and then pin washed in black oil color.

Failing to find a cuitable small wood base for it in the local stores around here (which has almost nothing in them for modellers anyway) I built a small base from foam core and wrapped it with black card. I think it turned out ok considering what its made of.

More pictures were posted in the completed models forum.

Thank you for watching, I'll be happy to hear your feedback for next time .
Eyal.

[braxat2000]

Hi,
I'm working on the model and finished painting and added the decals.
I'm not used to taking pictures of such large models, and the pictures turned out bad, here's one that looks better, but I'll figure it out and add more pictures soon.

[braxat2000]

Hi,
Here are pictuers of the model after the first wash.
I used dark gray oil color and pin washed the model.

Some glaring errors such as the railing sorrounding the landing pad, but the build for me is for experimenting and learning ship modelling, so I give myself some artistic license

[johndon]

Looks good Eyal, the wash brings out the detail nicely.

John