Orange Hobby Graf Zeppelin: First Resin Kit

[Apophysis]

Here is a very interesting link with information on the GZ and a photo where you can very well see the wooden planking of the flight deck!

http://blacksurface.ucoz.ru/publ/istori ... 31-1-0-632



Cheers!
Dirk

[PetrolGator]

That link is REALLY useful. Thank you.

I've made some actual progress today. I've never, ever painted a deck. I've always cheated my way out of it with real wood.

This was.. interesting.

1) The aft and forward well decks were painted and weathered with a mixture of brown/black oil paints. I've found conflicting sources/models on the composition of these decks. Some said they were intended to be wood, others steel. I decided to go with steel, as it simplified painting and made more sense.


2) The forward and rear platforms were a REAL pain to attach. The planking didn't match up. The depth of the planking didn't match up. I glued them in place and did my best to scribe some degree of continuity. Thankfully, the aft platform appears to be grey in a lot of models. I'll do the same to better hide the line.

Process of painting the deck was as follows:
a) Painted the base with Tamiya Deck Tan. I then Futured the deck. (No picture, sadly)
b) Used colored pencils to mark some of the planking. I think I'll do this with more frequency on the next try. Dunno.
(Also forgot picture)
c) Used a 90% thinner and 10% Deck Tan to blend the deck.

d) Did it again.

e) Finally, hit it with a brown oil wash, once a Future layer protected the layers.


With some refinement, I think this will be superior to any wood deck in scale. I'm already seeing ways I can improve the idea. I still will need to paint the yellow guide lines. I'm not sure how I'll mask them.... may see if I can get a friend to make vinyl masks or I may try to see if I can make something like that myself. I'll hit the deck with another layer of grimy wash before final painting. I also need to paint the catapult tracks and other deck steel grey. This will probably be the longest portion of my painting, but it'll be fun.

Next: More deck work. I want this mostly painted before I mask it over for the main hull. Once that's done, I'll more on to the bridge, where vertical surfaces will be painted with my air brush and deck with thinned paint. Once that's done and some other small parts are added, she'll be placed on the water base.

This is sort of my plan for the dazzle:



Main paint: Tamiya Sky Grey
Dark camo: German Grey
Bow/Stern lighter portions: Modelmaster 5-P or something. Not sure here.

I'll blend the whole thing with a base paint filter, hit it with a wash, and may rust her up a bit, with scale considered.

Opinions welcome.

[Goodwood]

Nice job on the deck, Chris! If it were me I'd probably have cheated and filled the gaps with bits of styrene strip in a T shape, calling it an "expansion joint" just to avoid the scribing (never was any good at that, but never really tried it that hard either).

Can't wait to see the finished splinter paintjob!

[Quincy]

Looking good Chris! I like your building tenacity!!



Bob Pink.

[PetrolGator]

More work to the deck. Grey has been added where either (a) The large Swastikas would be or (b) mechanical parts would be located.





I'm not going to add massive deck markings. It turned out bad for the Japanese at Midway, and I'm not fond of the symbol.

[Goodwood]

Actually the Japanese continued to use the red dot motif on their carriers for some time to come. Of course, the Italians had to add brightly-coloured deck markings to their ships, but for entirely different reasons!

Good progress on the Zeppy.

[PetrolGator]

So, I'm fairly incensed with this model. It's not beyond repair, or anywhere near, but I'm beginning to not like whatever Orange Hobby used as model ejector. I BATHED this thing in about three different cleaning solutions and took every precaution I could to ensure that nothing remained on the resin to potentially affect the paint.

I've completed:
- Main deck painting
- Well decks (with touch ups)

HOWEVER... I'm unsure if I'll pull off the dazzle I've been planning. I masked off some of the catwalks along the flight deck and pulled paint. Feeling dread and not wanting to REALLY mess this up, I took some Tamiya tape, ran it along the hull and, predictably, pulled paint. Mind you, I cleaned the **** out of this thing, used a resin primer, and did everything I thought I could to keep this from happening. I also felt my blood run cold imagining the paint getting pulled as I pull the tape off the flight deck. I would seriously throw this thing in a fire if that happened. Thankfully, it didn't. I painted the whole hull the base grey for the dazzle and sit at an impasse.

Path forward:
Option 1: Future the heck out of the whole hull, once some touch ups have been done. Once this has dried and provided a potentially effective shell around the ship, I'll mask and paint the geometric dazzle on to the hull. I'll do this piecemeal, instead of one giant mask. It'll take longer, but minimize any damage caused by masking. My only concern here is having the paint appear "raised" above the rest of the ship. I may be able to minimize this with thin layers and liberal use of clear coats. The white grey bow and stern colors, while really making the cammo look "German" may not be added. The filter will be added via paint brush (opposed to air brush due to danger of masking) to help blend the dazzle.

Option 2: Leave her grey. This is the safe route. It's rather boring, but will look a lot better with some nice oil washes.

Opinions and advice are welcome.

Goodwood: One may note the Japanese also thought painting their carriers up to look like floating villages in the middle of the Pacific was a swell idea. I didn't know that they never removed the giant targets from the deck. I MAY include a swastika. I just don't know.

[Goodwood]

Sorry to hear about your paint-pulling troubles, Chris. Unfortunately I'm really not one to offer any advice in that regard.

Insofar as the Japanese carrier markings, IIRC that deck dazzling was actually meant to make a flattop appear to be a cruiser or battleship from the air, and thus less likely to be targeted immediately. Unfortunately someone forgot to inform the person who came up with these schemes that shadows are indeed visible at altitude (well, the altitude typical of Pacific War air operations, which was rarely more than a couple miles up). As for the giant meatballs, they were eventually phased out, just not for about a year or so.

[Timmy C]

I feel your pain - same thing's happening with my Hermes, though not entire chunks, thankfully, just where colours meet and would be covered by decals. But I am having a devil of a time getting paint to stick to the surface of the superstructure instead of bubbling. It's like they covered the damn thing with rain repellent for car windshields, since I'm using acrylics...

[PetrolGator]

It mostly worked. Now it's time to correct over spray.






Oh... and paint the bow/stern in a lighter grey because it looks cool.

Note: Island is being masked right now.

[MartinJQuinn]

That looks sharp.

[PetrolGator]

Well, after a semi disastrous airbrushing incident with the island, I decided to go with a good ol' hand painting job.

Well, it went mostly OK. I'm going to have to let the port side paint dry so I can sand down the glomp of paint that formed over an accidental thumb print. Truth be told, while annoying, it's an easy fix. I'll start painting the island deck surfaces and catwalks tomorrow. This will be.. tedious.

You can see the big smudge on the funnel. Whoops.




This side is much prettier.


Once the paint is dry and I'm satisfied, I'll unwrap the wood (heh), trace the ship, then start forming waves with the hull wrapped in saran wrap. I'll also Future the main hull and install her casemate guns along with other hull bits.

Sometime later I'll start working on the insane amount of (stiff) railing in the kit. The island will be mostly constructed before final installation. Fun times.

[Goodwood]

Really awesome job on the paintwork there, Chris! As for the stuff-up with the thumbprint, those tend to happen with alarming frequency for me so I'm used to it too.

Zeppy's island has got to be one of the stranger structures of that type, particularly for her era.

[Forlornhope]

Been watching this come together and damm, you are doing a brilliant job on it. That PE work is fantasic
I missed the bit on masking and paint lifting though sorry as it was suggested to me to use post it notes you get at newsagents, they aren't as sticky as tape, dunno if that helps in the future.
Keep up the great work
Cheers Callum

[Stein Gildberg]

I think you have done a great job with your hand-painting. At least it looks great from the pictures. As you say � a light sanding � followed by some matt coating will remove any sharp �edges� from the darker pattern.
Also the deck looks great and realistic!

Stein

[Apophysis]

Hi Chris!

I can only join the others and say that I find your work great! Your PE work is totally clean and the painting is wonderful!

Love your GZ!

Dirk

[PetrolGator]

Paint update.

First oil wash and remaining major hull painting done.

Sorry for the odd angles.

[Forlornhope]

Brilliant job on the yellow deck lines, she is looking awesome

[Goodwood]

Oh bloody hell yeah, this is awesome work Chris. You got the camouflage spot on.

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Chris

very original work! nice paint
cheers
nicolas