The Ship Model Forum

Gentlemen,
I'd like to share my latest build for comments. This is my fourth ship model and I'm very much a learner so I'd appreciate any comments. I'm building HMS Nelson with WEM's PE set. The basic idea is to have her turning to port in a fairly rough wintery sea and bringing her main battery to bear. Now, most of the PE is on the superstructure and I've been working on the hull so I can get that onto the base. I just finished the deck and next I'll focus on painting the deck fittings and turret bases.

Hi... not much in the way of constructive criticism... hard to believe this is your fourth model ship though

Your building looks exceptionally neat and tidy which is really nice to see and I am impressed with your weathering on the hull. Your deck looks very good too... obviously airbrush, but how did you 'streak' the deck...? Just flicked a brush with a variety of colours, almost drybrushing but not quite?... It looks very effective indeed and will look great once all the deck details are painted and its washed a little. Very nicely done and I will be following this build closely as there will be quite a lot to learn from this I would think.

Very impressive start of a great subject...

Thanks Bill!
Yes, the deck was airbrushed and then streaked with various shades of Tamiya acrylics thinned with water so they went on like watercolours but they're a lot more resilient. A long way still to go, so back to the workbench...

Blackbrazen,

very well done so far. No criticisms at all, just congratulations on working on scales ten times smaller than I do.
Looking at your model in situ., could I suggest a slight list to starboard, just to accentuate the notional turn to port? (I suggest this never having built a diorama, but being a 2D artist and matelot for 25 years).
As has been said before, the weathering on the hull is excellent and the planking effect on the upper deck is very effective too. Bravo Zulu!

After a bit of work, the PE is mostly in place on the superstructure, so after a quick check, I primed it and gave it a base coat of Tamiya XF-19. The crane is also coming along well, but it will need cables attached after it's painted. The Base also received a base coat of dark blue. Still a long way to go, but it's starting to take shape...

Bill Livingston wrote:Hi... not much in the way of constructive criticism... hard to believe this is your fourth model ship though

I know Right!!! I guess this will be a winner!

Thanks! Destroyerman, I will certainly take your advice about the list...should be a noticable lean to starboard I think.

I love how you weathered the hull. Very effective!



Bob Pink.

Thank you Bob! I streaked it using thinned acrylics and then used "extremely sharpened" colored pencils for the rust details. On to the deck fittings and a lot of detailed painting tonight...

Coming along really nice, wasn't there a problem with the bridge from the real thing to that of the model (1-700) no I don't know what it was, but apparently it wasn't the right shape or something,
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/439 ... ae48_b.jpg
Just a question or 2 if you don't mind, the year you've set this in, the decking, I normally wack a load of paint on then fine tune everything else afterward, obviously you've still got to paint all those small parts, have you decided on grey paint, weathered gun-metal or whatever takes your fancy, and finally, please, can we have some close up's, ----------- oh one more, what are you using to attach your PE with ? Yep that will do for now.

Thanks! Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some issues with the tower...it's an old kit, but I'm not all that bothered really. I think it still looks the part. I don't really have a particular year in mind, but I guess late war based on the camo pattern...I sprayed the deck with a basic brown and then brush-streaked with various shades of acrylic paint thinned with water to try to build up a wood effect. For the deck fittings, I'm going to go with a base coat of the same shade as the superstructure and then weather it down a bit. The PE was attached with cyanoacrylate which mostly seems to be holding up fine, but for the railings and the structures on the side of the bridge, I reinforced it with piano wire set in drilled holes. I learned this technique from a fantastic Japanese website, J-Model Works, which has been a real help for many things:
http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~mokei/e-frame-tips.htm
The guy's a genius!
Thanks for looking and I'll try to get some close up shots on here soon!

The hull is now attached to the base and I'm starting work on the wake with Tamiya putty. The superstructure is weathered also...having seen some photos of Nellie looking the worse for wear, I decided on a medium level of weathering to simulate having been at sea for some time. Long way to go yet...

Can't wait fr the outcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wake has now been added using Tamiya putty. It's mostly done, so I'll move onto painting it next and then add spray and finish the bow wave.

Awesome Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bit heavy on the white, especially towards the middle and aft (often more "water colour" is coming through there as the air bubbles created by the bow are fading there), but otherwise the wake pattern and finish is looking pretty impressive! Wish my 4th model looked that good (which it very much didn't!)

Keep up the good work.

I am anxiously looking forward to the next instalment in this build.... Love your weathering

You must have been an armour modeller before building ships. I used to build aircraft... specifically Luftwaffe late war when everything was a bit crude and paint schemes and condition was nothing like as controlled as it was early in the war... so I got used to weathering and faded paint... but I always admired the armour modellers because the best of them could manage weathering which was always streets ahead of everyone else... So... my guess is you were a pretty decent armour modeller in an earlier life

Very, very impressed so far...

Thanks guys!

Neptune > Yes, I agree about the water color...I took those pics just after I finished putting on the putty, so it is all still unpainted white putty. I'll get onto the painting tonight. I was surprised at how white the Tamiya putty turned out this time...hope it's OK!

Bill > Yep, I'm an enlightened ex-armour modeller, so I'm not quite so keen on doing nice clean modern ships...I prefer weather beaten, slightly rusty old battleships.

Thanks again for your feedback. Next update to follow...

I think that the last posts (by neptune and BlackBrazen) have not appeared. Probably the page is not turning and we are indeed on page 2.
see what happens with this one.............................................................