USS Luzon, 1/700 scale **COMPLETED**

[Devin]

I'm on to the wash stage and started painting the water. For the wash I'm using Mig Pigment's pre-mixed wash. I'm still not sure how I feel about using pre-mixed washes -- seems kind of lazy to me -- but they do work well. They dry fast and are much more even than my hand-made variety. For the gloss coat I used the Tamiya gloss lacquer in the rattle can, decanted and airbrushed.

I've also stippled in the bow wave and the wake on the water base and started painted it with acrylics through the airbrush.

[Devin]

Just a quick photo of the wash results in the windows. As I stated before, I used the Panavise to put the ship first on her starboard side, then on the port side, then to stand her on her bow, so that the wash would pool in the windows. I'm happy with the results. After that I set her upright and did the regular wash on deck details, guns, etc. The dark gray wash is a little starker than I wanted, but with the naked eye in this scale, anything lighter was simply lost.

A little more cleanup today and then I'll dullcoat her for drybrushing and rigging.

[Quincy]

Thats top notch work Devin!




Bob Pink.

[moomoon]

Very nice indeed, like it!

[DanCinSD]

Devin, the windows look great, nice build and review all in one.

[Dan K]

She's coming along very nicely now.

[Devin]

Thanks, guys. I'm really happy with the windows, too. I wish I'd thought of this before I drilled out the portholes on the hull and done this instead with PE add-ons. I've never liked the look of drilled-out portholes -- it's the most out-of-scale thing you can do on a ship model, in my opinion -- and I think this will work well for them in 1/700th, and maybe even in 1/350th. Too bad I already drilled out three-dozen of them for the pre-war USS Wichita, or I'd have given this a shot on her.

Today is dullcoating Luzon and a dark green translucent glaze for the base/water.

[Devin]

Flat coat applied. I tried the Mr. Color brand Mr. Super Clear Flat with UV protection on this model. I decanted it from the rattle can. Even though decanted, it was a bit thick still and needed some Mr. Color thinner added. It went on fine, but it appears to have chalked a bit on the dark gray areas. I'll decide if I want to keep using it. I still have yet to find any dullcoat that works as well as the old-school Testors dullcoat.

Rigging underway. Using UNI-Caenis 20 den black thread. I attempted David Griffith's method of using mucilage glue to attach it, but I think I'm too ham-handed and it just wasn't sticking for me. Gator Glue, thinned with water, works perfectly. I'll be sticking to that method.

[Devin]

Just realized that this has to be done a week from today at the latest (early flight to the NATS next Thursday). Rigging is done, very light weathering applied in the form of grime and rust streaks (not really visible in the photos). I have some figures and flags on the way from Freetime Hobbies and those will be applied sparingly, but otherwise I'm calling the ship DONE.

I've put her in the water. Today I'll be filling any gaps between the hull and the water surface with thinned Gator Glue. Once that dries, I can then do the white paint for the wake effect.

[sgtryan13]

Wow, what an awesome and interesting subject! I like it a lot, well done! That "water" looks like a good reason to make sure you are up to date on vaccines! the work is great, but I just can't get over how different and unique that ship is. If there were a prize at nats for most unique ship model, this would take the cake for sure! Looking forward to checking it our in person in...holy cow, a WEEK from today??? Yikes!

[Devin]

Thanks. I went with a Mississippi River water color. Every time I see that river I'm amazed at how brown it is. After looking at a few color photos of the China gunboats on station, their rivers in that time frame were a bit cleaner and bluer, but I'll just say this is post rainstorm or something.

The uniqueness of the subject and it's cool profile is why I chose it. I like the odd, hence my obsession with Civil War ironclads.

Yes. A week from now I'll be explaining to some TSA dolt at JFK "Yes, it's a resin model, not plastic explosives" (I've read where sometimes resin shows up as a suspicious substance during screenings)

[sgtryan13]

Make sure you explain to them that 1/700 gins pose no threat to the plane or passengers. And remember, you're dealing with TSA, so individual experiences may vary, so you may want to brig some flip charts and crayons in case you have to further explain your case...

[Roscoe]

That looks just amazing Devin! Very cool and unique "little" ship, it should definitely be an eye turner at the NATS.

Good luck, and really nice work,
Dean

[Dan K]

Yes, it will do very nicely, I think.

[Devin]

Thanks, guys. Getting to what I hope is the home stretch.

[sgtryan13]

It's ok Devin, your deck crew's bigger 1/350 brothers will be gracing the deck of the Bush. I respect the hell out of anyone that can effectively paint a full deck of sailors in multi colors, but it's just not for me!

[Devin]

Okay, I feel a little better now! I'm sure I won't have near the number you do, either. I'm probably only going to put a half-dozen or so of these little squids on board.

[Devin]

I need to do some sort of name plate, but otherwise I'm calling this one DONE.

My first-ever 1/700 scale ship build. While I enjoyed most of it, I'm still not happy with PE crewmen and other details that are too flat for my liking. It was fun, but now I need to build something BIG!

[sgtryan13]

I like it! A lot. I think you are beign too hard on your poor crew! they are hardly noticable at this scale, maybe the rations are a little slim where they are, or they are suffering from a bit of malaria or montezuma's revenge is all! Looking forward to checking her out at nats.

Ryan

[MartinJQuinn]

Great looking build, Devin. Good luck at the Nats - sorry I won't be there to check her out in person.