USS Washington, Guadalcanal 1942 [Trumpeter]

[LE BOSCO]

HI Greg

As usual a very precise work realy impresive
cheers
nicolas

[blacman]

thanks All..

Just as a possibility, would you like some new Blast bags made for this ship.

The Draping on the Blast bags you have made just doesn't look natural (The Draping is as if they were pointing straight up into a vertical, and not as if they were pointing along a horizontal plane).

I could have them in a couple of days (I have a Washington, but have not yet opened it, to use as a reference for the Blast bags).

MB

Matthew - I was trying to do something like this reference photo:


But it is difficult to simulate something natural which will be visible after 3D print - otherwise you might get just flat surface.. I have had very precise 3D model of bags as on picture above but could not print them. So - I over scaled and exaggerated the bumpiness and shapes in order to achieve something 'similar'

And would be interesting to see your approach for that!

thanks!
Greg

[blacman]

Small update.
First attempt to paint Blue Deck...










And trial to wash it (bright and dark wash) - I must say that i don't know completely how to manage the deck painting. Honestly I don't like this blue. I would like to make some wear off surfaces and also wash the planking, but... I'm lost.






Any suggestion please... ?


In midship's sides also some work done. BB55&56 had very nice surface in this part. 25mm riveted steel sheets. And here my approach to model them: 0.05mm etched bras.



and covering the sides:









on their end there were special "over-riveting" parts




very thin bras allowed to create subtle shape:

[MatthewB]

To paint the deck, first... I'll bet you are using enamels?

Working with Washes and Drybrushes in Enamels is a lot different than working in Acrylics. Most people learn in Acrylic, and then transfer the skill to Enamel, because doing washes in Acrylics tends to be more forgiving than in Enamels.

One of the things that Enamels have a tendency to do is puddle when you was, and then leave a "ring" around the puddle. Some Acrylics do this as well, but a flow-medium will help in either case.

For the Enamels, people often over-thin them. This is the leading cause of puddling and the "Ring-around-the-puddle" look.

So, try less thinner.

Also, JUST a wash is a fool's errand. You need to be putting a dry brush over the wash.

In the case of the deck you showed, the blue looks to be appropriate. It just needs some depth added to it.

Wash it with a MUCH darker blue (or even straight black), and then go over it very lightly with a much lighter dry brush that just catches the edges of the planking, and blends slightly to the middle of the planking, yet leaves most of the darker base-color showing.

This generally is enough of a scale-effect to get the depth you need, plus the lightening.

From looking through the gallery here, people are over-lightening their paints for "Scale Effects." The Lightening for scale effects should come from the shading, and NOT from the base color (unless it is an already fairly light tinted color).

I am about to do the deck on my USS San Francisco (although working in Acrylic), but it is approximately the same base color as you have here. I'll get a photo of it after I have gone over it with a wash and dry-brush.

MB

[blacman]

thanks Matthew....
actually I always use acrylic only. IMHO they give very thin layer. I don't have experience in enamels.
precisely applied drybrush for light up - yes - that looks like good direction! thanks!

[MatthewB]

Darken the wash, first.

Since you are using Acrylics, do you have any Flow-aid?

If you do, put a couple of drops in the wash for the decking to get it to remain in the cracks of the decking.

Then, after the wash is fairly dry, then begin the dry-brush (I usually start a dry-brush while the wash is still slightly wet, so that I can blend the two across the base-color, creating a softer shading effect.

Then, after it is dry, hit just the tips of the edges of the planking (on one side) with the lightest dry-brush highlight.

That will create the appearance of the individual planks more clearly to the eye at a distance, as well as creating the lightening of the scale-effect without actually creating too-light a base-color.

Edit: Use a wet-palette when painting, and you might want to put a few drops of retarder in the paint for the dry-brush, to keep the dry-brush color workable for longer (and to keep it from becoming chalky and cakey).

MB

[blacman]

Happy New Year!

deck washed. It went into dark very much... Too much







then some destructive activity, rubbing off, scraping, and thinnering








Now I have to use dry brush to bright it up again...

first walls of midships done






and spardeck fixed:










everything fits quite OK :



406mm turrets almost ready:




3D printed bags fit nicely ...




and general top view:

[Quincy]

Bob Pink.

[Angeliccypher]

Looking great!

[ArizonaBB39]

Excellent work, looks great

[blacman]

thank you mates...

Spardeck and walls equipment ready









some closeups...







now to mount railings and painting.

Main superstructure started... from navigation deck

[ModelMonkey]

Brilliant!

[MatthewB]

AAAARRGG!

..... Dies....

MB

[Quincy]

Bob Pink.

[Dan K]

[ArizonaBB39]

That looks amazing! Keep up the excellent work.

[zs180]

Looking great! The detailing is just awesome.
I presume that this wonderful PE set will be added to the Shelf Oddity range.

[D. Lindsey]

I love what you are doing with this ship! My grandfather served on her from '41 to .45. He would have enjoyed seeing the treatment you are giving her. Great job!

[Fliger747]

I am amazed at what you guys can do with PE microsurgery in a small scale. That said on my monitor your 20B Deck Blue looks quite brown. Monitors vary.

As to the 40# STS side plating above the external armor belt, This construction appears to be similar to that used on many ships of the vintage, including the Alaska's and Iowa's. The two horizontal plates were as far as I can tell welded and reinforced with a semi flush vertical reinforcing strake at the end butt joints. Except at close range or by running your fingers over the strakes, it is almost impossible to notice the riveting. The strakes are actually quite narrow, perhaps 16" or so in width. Perhaps someone with access to the North Carolina can give exact dimensions.

See attached photo:

[MatthewB]

I have thought that the Deck Blue looks too grey.

It should be both darker and bluer by the colors I have seen on youtube videos, or online stills.

The Deck tended to get darker than the sides, due to it being cleaned regularly of salt, and that the wood itself tended to darken.

But it was also a very blue color. I have noticed most people tend to over-lighten their 5-N for 1/700 scale. Scale effects deal mostly with the highlights and shadows, unless we are talking about an object in the extreme foreground or background.

MB