1/350 Kirov (Trumpeter Modified)

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[Neptune]

Actually Bob, I think the black was a finishing coat. In Soviet times they didn't use those finishing coats. That's also why these colours are so different, the Red and Green are primer colours, they aren't colour fixed and are very prone to fading, which is why you have these orange to red shades. Red and Green are always used over each other so you can see where you have done 1 coat of primer and where you have already applied 2 coats.

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[Charles Landrum]

Bob, I toured the Sovremenny destroyer that came to Norfolk, VA in 1989. At the times she had a black non-slip coating applied over the red-orange paint. The coating is a nasty tar-like substance that provides traction. My understanding from subsequent research is that USN style non-slip coatings due not hold up in the extreme cold (and are very expensive). Sand in paint also wears down with use and is less useful in icy conditions. The black "tar" is applied primarily to the high traffic weather decks and that is why you do not see it on the upper decks.

Red-orange is the most prevalent deck color I have seen. The Sovremenny had liberal coats of paint, there was no primer showing. That holds true for the Admiral Cherbenenko when she was in port a few years ago. Based on what I have read and seen, paint colors were/are not very standard in the Russia (and the Soviet Union) after the factory first application. This has to do with availability and local imperatives. I have no insight on green versus red-orange.

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[Charles Landrum]

Bob, there are a lot of variables in play. As I understand it, the tar is used when required. So in warm climes it is not necessarily needed. It is not so thick that looks like asphalt, but it is sticky. It will wear with time and will stain the paint underneath I am sure. My guess is that it comes up with mineral spirits. So the brown could be discolor red-orange from the tar and/or wear. It could also be rust. I have served on ships where the ship is well painted but due to improper preparation the paint flakes up exposing rust. Conscripts do the painting and on the ships I have seen it is heavy handed and obviously not well prepped.

I would say that applying it to you model is a matter of preference. I would probably leave it off for aesthetic reasons.

[Neptune]

Actually Bob, you got it pretty well.

The reason why I'm saying this is based on a witness from a Soviet Navy captain, who served on Frunze as well as the Udaloys (who pretty much stated that they indeed never used anti-skid paints except for the Kiev carriers in those days). And the other reason is that basically on every ship I've been on, the primers are Red and Green (both Sigma as well as Hempel and other marine paint brands, occasionally they were metallic in appearance though). Putting these things together and knowing that Velikiy only appeared with that brownish main deck very recently gives me the "conclusion" that the red and green are just primer coats and that the shade variations can be caused by the fading of the paint as well as just having a different colour of primer/different brand of paint on board (again considering the slight differences in primer between Sigma as well as Hempel etc.).
It is however mainly my belief (and really just that) that they covered entire decks in that primer to give it a better looking appearance rather than patch-painting, which we do (which would result in a green deck with red patches or even a brown deck with green and red patches. That explains (again to me, nobody has to agree to this) why they have several decks green, while others, on the same ship, can be red. I think in the end, a green deck, just meant that it still had to receive its red coat as I've nearly never seen Soviet ships with full green decks.

This could also have been a money-saving practice too, avoiding the top coats and intermediate coats.

My conclusion is the same as Charles' and yours, you can't really be wrong in these colours as at some point probably they looked like that. And your decks are very neatly painted in, exactly, the right shade of red/orange as on certain pictures!

[glue mark]

I remember seeing a photograph of the offset landing deck on the portside of the carrier Kuznetsov painted green while the main flight deck was the typical dark gray color. Most photos show the gray over the complete deck.

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[glue mark]

Excellent Bob. Always interresting to see the areas you find to enhance. Those are readily visible and good sized structures on the ship, and will give those shed areas a much more functional look.

Enjoyed the explanation on the sanding aide. It's so creative I think a patent might be in order on that!

Rusty

[nick]

I am enjoying this! One of the best Kirov models I've seen!!

Excellent job Bob!


Nick

[JevJanson]

After seeing all this work I think I might just pick up a Kirov with the Saratoga I am getting later.

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[navydavesof]

The amazing attention to detail really shows, Bob. Kirov is going to be one beautiful ship when she..."he"...is done. My modernized Iowa will be a good compliment to Kirov.

Really looking forward to more pictures!

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[glue mark]

My modernized Iowa will be a good compliment to Kirov...

That's true! If I remember correctly, the Iowa and others of her class were modernized to answer to the threat of the newer class Russian battlecruisers of that time. Kirov was among them.

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