The Ship Model Forum

And Merry Christmas everyone!

Here's a little Christmas treat

So bow deck finished. So firstly a dark wash was given. Then some streaking with light grays. After this I drybrushed with black to get those different "compartments" on the deck.
After this a very light mix of thinner and dust pigments brushed on the whole deck. After this some burnt sienna oil washes on specific places for rust. Lastly some more streaking made with a brush dippened in thinner.

Some things to notice. There is no build up of rust or dirt in the bottom of the superstructure front. Most likely because the sea will actually clean it by itself when the waves crash to the deck, or the crew actually takes care of this area.
This is evident from all the photos you can find of this class. But the decks above in the front are always in a dirty condition. You can see this in the photos below aswell.

The railing were also added to the superstructure front. I cut the bottom run off aswell as the ending stanchions as the rails actually start and end from the superstructure.
The decks actually have edges so you could use the railing to produce that, but at this stage to get them seamless might be a bit too hard. So I just got rid of them.
The railing were cleaned and the airbrushed light grey. I didn't use any primer, and even handling with tweezers didn't scrape off the paint. I guess the leveling thinner really does make it more "harder".
After the rails were glued a couple of filters of blue and gray were given to make the rails fit in to the rest of the model.

A couple of shots how the real thing looked in Kiel.




And mine.








And overall again.

Finally onto the starboard side!

What do we have here?



Well, not sure but it would be wrong not to do it!

First, the pattern is brushed with some light gray enamel lightened with white oil.



Next flat brush with a bit of white spirit to blend and create softer effects and layers.



Then after a bit of drying a very carefull blue filter on top of it.



The starboard side is a lot cleaner than the port side. There is no photos of James coming to shore from the starboard side so no idea if it's already been cleaned up a bit or not.
There is rust streaks running along the hull but they are really small and fine. Anyway, I finished the rust streaks and kept them to minimum as per photos in dock suggests.

I think it is a good thing that not every side looks the same, as this creates much more visual interest. If the paintwork would look too symmetric, it would look less natural too.

Merry Christmas!

Marijn

marijn van gils wrote:
I think it is a good thing that not every side looks the same, as this creates much more visual interest. If the paintwork would look too symmetric, it would look less natural too.

Well that is true!

Been working at finishing the last weathering bits on the superstructure! So all the basic painting and weathering should be finished now.

Also lots of detailing bits added and that's pretty much what's left to do! And the mast ofcourse!

Enjoy the photos!

Unbelievable.

I think you raised your own personal bar with this one.

I will be stealing almost everything for an upcoming build...

Cheers!

I'm really glad so far how this build is coming along.
Lots of new products, or atleast for me in a long time.
Prolly most surprised how well the tamiya paints work with the leveling thinner.
I do ask a lot of the paints I use as I have a really own way of painting and I use a lot of shading so the paints need to be fine in quality.

Already started on the mast yesterday and all I can say it is damn nice.
Though it will test your patience with getting everything aligned.
Pontos instructions have 2 pages out of 10 for only the mast so that says a lot of the detail. Plus the couple hundred parts!

I'm starting to repeat myself, but: fantastic!!!

I hope you'll publish an article on this model when it is finished? I'm sure several publishers would be interested�

Just an idea: since the photo doesn't show how far back the white streaking on the starboard side continues, maybe it would look good on the model if you would repeat it (but to a lesser degree) one or more times further to the rear?

Cheers,

Marijn

Very often "too much" weathering looks just like that... too much.

This one is a piece of art however, it's so visually fascinating! I don't know how you do it Koppalakki.

marijn van gils wrote:I'm starting to repeat myself, but: fantastic!!!

I hope you'll publish an article on this model when it is finished? I'm sure several publishers would be interested�

Just an idea: since the photo doesn't show how far back the white streaking on the starboard side continues, maybe it would look good on the model if you would repeat it (but to a lesser degree) one or more times further to the rear?

Cheers,

Marijn

Well I sure wouldn't mind publishing but I don't know how that works at all!

If people contact me about it and give some hints and guidelines I'd most likely be instrested.

About the whitis thing on the starboard side.

Here you can see it end before the 2nd prairie system pipe.



So I guess I need to stick with my plan on keeping true to my reference!

Channell wrote:Very often "too much" weathering looks just like that... too much.

Keep in mind that all this is basicly done by using reference of the actual ship returning from BALTOPS 2017. And the sections that can't really be seen have been done using photos of her sisters.
So it's like delivering from both worlds. Keeping the authentic look as possible AND visually intresting!

Koppalakki wrote: Keep in mind that all this is basicly done by using reference of the actual ship returning from BALTOPS 2017. And the sections that can't really be seen have been done using photos of her sisters.
So it's like delivering from both worlds. Keeping the authentic look as possible AND visually intresting!

Please don't take this as "poo-pooing" your work as this is a superb build and you are modeling on a level I couldn't hope to match but if I may offer my opinion, the general impression I get is of a model ship that looks far more run-down than the real life version... perhaps more than is realistic for an active USN warship and maybe too much contrast for the scale.

That said, every model is an artist's impression of a real life-size object no matter how close it attempts to mimic reality and a model's first job is to be interesting to look at... this build is winning here.

While the weathering appears heavy to my eyes, it still looks extremely good and artistically executed... though there is such as thing as too much of a good thing.

It may just come down to personal taste too... some like heavy weathering, some don't.

For what it's worth anyway. Keep up the inspirational work!

None taken mate, everyone has their own likes and dislikes! The more varied models we see the better in my opinion.

One of the things I thrive for in modeling is that when someone sees my ship they can straight away tell that is mine. So the way you do everything becomes your signature and just by looking at the model reveals the modeler behind them.
After all it's a hobby for us (most of us???) so doing what YOU like is the biggest factor in my opinion. If others apreciate it it's just a big

Enough of rambling I'll try to get some more photos up of the almost finished mast and some other neat tricks!

So, small update time!

So when placing separate build superstructures etc. they tend to stick out!

Here's an example.



When placed there's a obvious seam running and the piece feels out of place.

So to remedy that, after gluing the piece in place, I run thinned krystal klear to remove the seam and tie it down to the deck. After the glue has dried I take small brush and get some light gray pigments on it and start dapping the seam.
After this it looks that's it in place and belongs there. This is a good method when you already finished both pieces so you don't want to ruin any of the finished surfaces. Using white glue is good because you can easily control it with water and get it off while it's drying.

Here's the small funnel hut in the aft after these steps. It had quite a big seam running around it before aplication.





Even better if you use a brand that dries matte!

And some shots of the mast! Not completly finished yet.
I did deviate some of the Pontos instructions and just kept using the reference as a guide on what parts to use and how to attach them. Also small wires added and other details.
Takes a lot of patience to get everything aligned and you need to test fit both the aft legs carefully and then the whole thing to the bridge superstructure.
The aft legs needed quite a lot of twisting to get them align properly. Take care, there's a lot of PE parts attached to them and watch so they don't snap off!
Also the main leg needed some filing to get it sit in a proper angle with the rest of the platforms and they can be quite tricky when attaching them on so you need to play by their rules.
I think I got them pretty well aligned in the end and it's been already test fitted to the ship aswell and should look fine with some more twisting of the aft legs when gluing it down.

But yea here's the photos of the mast for now!

Mast finished with basic painting aswell!

Need to wait for tomorrow to finish weathering and then I can glue it into the ship and start rigging!






And test fitted !





Also some bow railing done. After cutting them off the fret once again bottom run removed. After this painted straight with Tamiyas FX-24 dark gray.
Then picked the stanchions etc. with light gray with a brush. Glued down with medium CA and then couple of blue and gray filters.

I've been following along and taking notes for use on my current build (USS New Jersey). Your work is really inspiring ... and I'm jealous at how quickly you are able to move. How did you attach the metal main deck parts? Zap CA? I was considering the best way to do this and thinking that artist gel medium might work well. Super glue seems like it would be really unforgiving if you don't position the deck perfectly the first time around.

And a question for you and others following your build. Would the oil canning approach you used here apply to a heavily armored ship like the USS New Jersey? I really think it adds a lot of visual appeal to the model ... but I don't want to do it if it really only applies to thinner skinned ships.

Bill - the Iowa's were not immune to the oil canning effect. Remember, the main armor belt is an internal feature of the design, the outer hull that you see was plate and frame like other ships. On the Iowas the vertical frame spacing was every 4'. The oil canning was subtle on the bows, sparse amidships, and more pronounced at the stern. Let pictures be your guide.

I'd also say if you want it to be more authentic then take a look at pictures to see how it appears.
I'd definetly say that there is some!


Decks were glued down with Zap CA medium. Most of them have cutouts like the forward missile pad, so it kinda aligns it for you.
I only use like 6 to 8 major drops of glue to get it set first, after that I run thin CA on the edges and other cutouts to fill the seams.
So if you manage to misplace the deck you can just put a hobby knife under the edge and the deck just pops off if you don't coat the whole deck in glue.
And ofcourse I dryfit the part coulple of times to see how it sits before gluing.

InchHigh wrote:Bill - the Iowa's were not immune to the oil canning effect. Remember, the main armor belt is an internal feature of the design, the outer hull that you see was plate and frame like other ships. On the Iowas the vertical frame spacing was every 4'. The oil canning was subtle on the bows, sparse amidships, and more pronounced at the stern. Let pictures be your guide.

On hindsight concerning this build, the bow of the DDG class has very pronounced oil canning effect. Also some other parts aswell, oh well , maybe next time!

That mast is amazing along with the rest of the build! You are really cranking these things out!

And happy new year!

Here's the finished mast mounted on the ship and rigged!

Attaching the mast was a bit difficult as the support legs wants to push it in the wrong way!
I remedied as much as possible by gluing the supports first then moving the main leg to compensate.
This means it won't sit properly in its place but some white glue hid the seams. It's still a bit towards the starboard side but nothing more could have been done without risking breaking anything.






Also the funnels were glued in using the above mentioned white glue tactic with pigments.



And details and railings on the port side moving towards the aft.




And overview of the port side so far!

That looks sharp. I too like to display my models weathered yet on pedestals so this is definitely inspirational. In fact, I'll be borrowing a few of the techniques you laid out here, so I appreciate your step-by-step examples. With this one approaching completion what's next?

Bill Gormley wrote:That looks sharp. I too like to display my models weathered yet on pedestals so this is definitely inspirational. In fact, I'll be borrowing a few of the techniques you laid out here, so I appreciate your step-by-step examples. With this one approaching completion what's next?

Cheers, glad it's helping!

I'll prolly take a break and after that we'll just have to see what I come with!