1/700 Big "E" (First ship model)

[plasticman1]

Hello

Dont beat me up too much as this was my first ship model. It is the Tamiya 1/700 Enterprise water line series. Used no PE, just straight OOB
I know the colors and decals are wrong on this as is depicts the "early" years of this ship. And the planes are also wrong for this time period. Planes are not glued down, so if and when I change it to the correct colors, I can remove the planes. I believe the ship had solid yellow markings down her deck and also vertical yellow stripes as well. Built this ship without doing much research, but it was a fun build and she still looks good. I also know that the "island" is a bit to thin for this model, but I did not bother widening it........ hope you enjoy it

[MartinJQuinn]

Pretty good for a first attempt!

[plasticman1]

Thanks pal, I think I got lucky on the first attempt, especially the water. It didn't turn out that bad...

[kylewoody]

Very nice. Love the weathering effect on the sides of the hull/island too!

Kyle

[plasticman1]

Hey Kyle, thank you so much my friend for the kind reply. The models can only get better from here, I posted my finished 1/700 Bismarck. Not sure if you saw it but check it out and let me know what you think? I stopped attempting PE on 1/700 ships, Im strictly OOB....Hope all is well

[Dan K]

Nice job. It looks pretty good to me. Did you have fun?

[plasticman1]

Hey Dan! Thank you, yes it was a fun build. Believe it or not I enjoyed making the water the most......
Its an older kit from Tamiya, so it is lacking some detail OOB, but Im ok with that, she still came out pretty good

[marijn van gils]

It may be your first ship model, but I'm very sure this wasn't your first scale model!
Good job!

Marijn

[plasticman1]

Hey Marijn, yes you are right. I have been building models for a few years (off and on) mainly armor and planes. I ventured into scale modeling ships because I thought it was different and it looked challenging. I simply love it now and look forward to improving my skills. Since with 1/700, my eyes get a little tired with working on small pieces, so I jump back and forth with armor and planes. It breaks it up for me

Thanks for the kind reply

[Dadeo911]

It looks very good! How did you do the water? I'm thinking about taking the plunge and trying a water line model. (Sorry couldn't resist the really bad pun.)

Chris

[plasticman1]

Hey Chris! The water was very easy, here's how I did it
1) Made a wooden base for the ship
2) FIRST -Painted the base with a acrylic dark blue made by CRAFT SMART (Picked it up at Michael's craft store)
- also grabbed a bottle of a lighter blue (pool blue) for different shades of the water. However I did not use it on this dio.
3) Bought a tube of CLEAR ACRYLIC PAINTABLE caulk (sorry I cant remember the make)
4) Squirt the base with the caulk and then take a Popsicle stick to smooth it out (Caulk comes out white, but will clear in about 12 hours)
You may then want to put the ship in the caulk and get it in position.
5) Soon as you put the ship on the base, take a plastic spoon and use the bottom portion of the spoon and start wacking away at the caulk. It will pull up the caulk and make "waves" (its hard to explain) Keep hitting it until you get the desire look you want, then stop and let it dry.
6) The next day you will see the color of the blue that you painted first coming thru the caulk! Cool!! LOL
7) Take white paint and start dry brushing to get the desire look you want

Thats it!