Orange Hobby Graf Zeppelin: First Resin Kit

[PetrolGator]

Tiny update. Still working.

I've added all her life boats and put the base down on the water base. All the hull PE has been added. I need to do some hand painting to touch up the railings according to the camo (which will be done tonight, ideally.)

Once all the "stuff" on the hull sides are added and touched up, I'll glue her down to the water base and finish that.

The island will be the last part finished aside from her aircraft. I'm also waiting on some KM Eduard figures and Orange Hobby aircraft from FreeTime.





I've noted one small flaw with the kit: The railing along the launches is wishful thinking. Perhaps I was sloppy, but there doesn't seem any way to fit them.

Expect a final update tonight.

[Goodwood]

Very nice, Chris. Have you decided yet what Zeppy's air wing will be?

[PetrolGator]

Final update tonight.

I want the Graf Zeppelin to feel alive and used. I've got additional aircraft coming in as well as Eduard's 1/700 KM crew members. Once she's glued to the base, I'll start working on the water base, building up her bow wave, wake, and disturbances along the hull.

Done: I've finished installing her life boats and launches, finished up the railing and PE along the sides, and done some rusting/weathering with oil paint. These little boats were a PAIN to install. The PE davits slid up on to these guides without much tolerance. Installation took forever.

...to be honest, building her port and starboard sort of felt like building an armed cruise ship with the boat configuration and numerous port holes...

Building wise, I'll move up the hull, installing anything needed and then finally attacking the island. I'll probably build up most of the island before gluing it in place. As you can see, the fit is excellent and seams won't be an issue.

Her air wing will consist of:
6x Bf-109t
6x Ju-87D
4x Fi-167









As always, opinions and criticisms are welcome.

[Apophysis]

Hi Chris!

Very beautiful rust! However, I would still make a couple of rust marks by the stern anchor!

Dirk

[PetrolGator]

First off, I want to thank Chris Flodberg for being a great help in getting a better water base done. I think it would be unfair to claim credit for something that I'm trying to imitate.

For those of you also wanting to emulate his method, this is what I've discovered:

1) Cotton CAN be pulled thin where it looks good in 1/700. Use Tweezers.
2) Don't panic when your gel medium + cotton looks like a giant mess. Remember that that stuff dries clear. It'll tone down.
3) Don't be nearly as shy as I was spraying the lighter aqua color under where the water is disturbed. My water looks dark and uninspired, compared to his. I guess we'll just say the Zeppy was sailing either very early in the morning or at night.

I still have to add an epoxy resin "cap" to submerge and cover most of the cotton. Being that I'm going to see family on Thanksgiving, this won't get done until Sunday at the earliest. Overall, I deem this a "mostly" successful experiment, though I really, really like the method. I'm going to play more with getting the base to look more "wavy" in future builds.

I'll post pictures as I further my attempts to make this look good.

[PetrolGator]

Water base has effectively been ruined by air bubbles. This model will not be completed in the near future, if ever.

It sucks, but I just can't bring myself to do anything with it after ruining the water base. It's sloppy and unconvincing.

[Goodwood]

My condolences, Chris. That's gotta be a heavy blow.

But don't throw the model itself away, please. Set it aside and work on some less-involved projects, let the steam out slowly and gradually. Then, one day you'll look back at Zeppy and think "Hey, maybe it's time for another go..."

[Timmy C]

Are the bubbles under the surface? If so, just paint with an opaque paint and treat it as an opaque layer - it'll still be convincing, as Jim Baumann's stuff shows.

If the bubbles are on the surface (as in there are craters throughout), then fill them in with more gel or putty and paint with opaque paints.

[Cliffy B]

Take some photos and show us please for two reasons. One, as a cautionary tale for others and two, so that we can figure out a solution. I'm sure this lot can come up with something that will help you salvage her. That's why we're here man

[PetrolGator]

Sequence of events:

1) Mixed up the 8 hour resin, let sit for several hours, then attempted to shape, as per tutorials. It continually just... leveled. I put it under a box to protect it from dust and left it.
2) Zep's water was still pliable and remained so almost 24 hours after application. I decided to try a thin layer of 30 minute epoxy to act as a seal. This was an abysmal failure and was full of air bubbles. It set before I could really get rid of most of them.

This is where I stand: The old layer of epoxy is still not hard after 24 hours. Furthermore, heat actually melts the garbage. Leaving it be will allow it to gel, but I seem to have reached an asymptotic gelation that doesn't seem to want to harden. The good news is heating it allowed me to remove the bad layer of 30 minute epoxy. The bad news is that it still has not hardened. I put it in the over @ 150 F in hopes that may help accelerate the chemical reaction.

Theories:
1) I may not have mixed enough hardener into the resin. I measured it, but who knows.
2) The resin is garbage. I'm going to let a sample sit overnight and see what happens.
3) Weather conditions and impatience.

Going Forward:

I've let this thing sit. I'll let it sit a little longer. I have AA guns, a bridge, planes, and other bits that need to be completed. When/if the damn resin sets, I'll have most of the fiddy bits done. The wood base itself will be interesting.... will have to sand it like a mad man to get it nice.

If this doesn't set and remains a nasty gel, well, I don't know what I'll do. I could cut the Zeppelin free, though I risk serious damage to the model. I use a combination of screws and Gorilla Glue to attach models to bases, and frankly, it works VERY well.

I don't know. We'll see. I'm pretty pissed off at this stage... thought I had this method down. I think I'll make some sea scapes for giggles and experiment before I attempt something as dangerous as resin again.

[Dan K]

Wow, that sucks, to have that kind of trouble after producing such a great model.

Ok, here's an off-the wall suggestion to save the ship. If there is enough clearance, use a jigsaw to cut around the GZ with 1/2' -1" of the base left around the ship. You'd have to take your time, also, the uncured resin would mean cleaning the jigsaw frequently. Or, use a hand jigsaw. It's slow going no matter what.

My thinking is you could then drop the ship and its reduced base onto another base and build up a new seascape around it. Just a thought.

[PetrolGator]

Possibly. It's something I was considering as a final "bail out" measure. I'm going to check the resin when I get home and see if there are signs that it may cure. Cutting the Zeppelin off is an option that rather unnerves me. Note that I built up the seascape around the base of the hull, as well. Removing it entirely will result in the loss of about 1-2 mm of hull. Now, I COULD cover that up with some fancy new seascape, but what a pain in the ass it will be....

I'm leaning toward building up a thin, new layer of resin I trust. Worst case, I'll paint it over and use a Jim Baumann-like approach to making it look semi-real. I do NOT want to waste this expensive resin kit.

[PetrolGator]

Old base aborted, but I think I saved the ship. Pictures later.

[PetrolGator]

I saved the ship, mostly. There was significant damage to about the first millimeter or two due to the resin, so she'll be in a nice, stormy sea!

New base is as follows:

1) Zeppy has been glued down.
2) Plaster of Paris was used to provide the larger swells. I used marked toothpicks to show high/low of about 15' foot seas and swells. It worked wonderfully. Plaster did not extend all the way to the hull.
3) Heavy gloss medium gel was used to fill in between the ship, plaster, and form the outline of the bow wave. I also coated the plaster to smooth and brush strokes not taken care of by sanding. A brush was used to stipple the water. My goal was to make it look choppy without appearing too overscale.

--INTERMISSION--

I will not complete the ship. All PE, figures, and planes will be added, with the exception of certain aspects of the rigging that could be destroyed by an errant finger.

--/INTERMISSION--

4) Base paint will be a black/grey/blue to make the ocean look dark, angry, and foreboding. I'll add some variation via thinned colors (sort of like Jim Baumann does) to break up the uniformity. Some wave crests will be lightly colored.
5) Lighten along the bow wave and hull as per sargentx's suggestion to add depth. I will then add some cotton saturated with gloss gel to simulate the mixing of the wave underwater, along the hull, and wake.
6) Resin, properly mixed this time. Mild stippling to add some variation to the surface.
7) Mixture of tissue (Again, as per Mr. Baumann) along the bow and cotton (as per sargentx) at the wake to try to add scale water effects. This will be held in place via gloss gel.

The Zeppelin will be passing through heavy seas, so her deck aircraft will be mostly tied down. I want to get the ship done and dull coated before messing with the sea. Hopefully, it would end up horribly.

I've finally made a little bit of progress on the island. I'm adding railing. Once that's done, she'll get a platform on the funnel and her range finders. I'll then add masts and hand paint where necessary. I also have to finish her light AA which I am NOT looking forward to... Pictures of her in the setting base:

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Chris

for me , the diagonal is always more dynamic it's better,OK,it takes up more space, but it's better
cheers
Nicolas

[PetrolGator]

I've finally restarted work on the Zeppy. 90% of the island has been completed. I need to add some PE to the aft(?) mast and must add the foremast. Most PE is done. I've dry fitted her heavy AA for giggles.

I'm placing a few layers of heavy gel to fill in and smooth out the sea. I've got the in laws in town, so I'm not sure a lot will get done.

To do:
- Most PE railing
- Light and medium AA
- Sea
- Rigging
- Masts (50% done)
- Crew
- Aircraft

I MIGHT have this ready by January. Maybe.







Comments are welcome, especially criticism.

[Goodwood]

I'm glad you're plowing ahead with this, Chris. It's all starting to come together quite nicely.

[PetrolGator]

Goodwood: "Plowing" is a good way to put it.....

It looks the same, eh? No progress? That's how I feel.

Railing. So. Much. Railing. There's some temporary railing along the flight deck that I haven't done... not looking forward to that. I've also avoided a few ladders, the foremast, and finishing off the angled "mast" at the aft of the island...

...and figures, light AA guns (PE nightmare.....)

AIRCRAFT.

At least she'll have a good airwing. I'll just have less hair.

Anyway. Pictures. I've added all the railing that I can. I'm going to use Gatorglue to provide a seal along the base of the railings (seam elimination) and then touch up the PE to match the camouflage color that at point of the hull. It'll be gloriously tedious.

On the bright side, it's getting done.





Can you see the little steps? Let's call them kitchen step stools, like Mom used to use. They're like that, only in 700 scale. I'm fairly certain Orange Hobby included them just to raise my blood pressure!

[Timmy C]

...at least the GZ doesn't have windshield wipers like the Hermes.

/nope,notputtingthemon

[PetrolGator]

...at least the GZ doesn't have windshield wipers like the Hermes.

/nope,notputtingthemon

Slacker.