WIP � US Standard Type Battleship(s)

[MartinJQuinn]

"Thingys" added to both cranes. Another round of painting next. Then some rigging from the top of the kingpost to the tip of the boom.

Given that I'll probably bump into these while handling, I decided to fix the alignment of the PE hooks right before attaching these to the ship.

[MartinJQuinn]

Before I broke out the airbrush, I spent some time seeing if there was anything else that needed work before painting. Of course, there was.

The small cranes on the quarterdeck needed some attention. I added PE ladders, wire booms, then grafted on the ends of the PE booms that came wit the kit onto the wire with CA. If I could manage to use a soldering iron properly, I would have soldered them, but solder and I are no bueno, as the folks in my office like to say.

I also spent a lot of time going through photos of California, especially Pearl Harbor photos. I noticed details on the funnels that weren't included in the kit.

So, I took out some brass tubing, cut to approximate length, and added those. More wire and "sh*t" need to be added to the forward funnel to finish making them resemble the photos.

[FFG-7]

are you talking about the soldering irons used on circuit boards & not solder guns used by diy? self trained on the use of soldering irons then properly trained while working at Celestica in the late 1990's. used that skill to replace the left switch on 2 computer mice with gaming switch of 80 million clicks. have not used a solder gun in decades, maybe late 70's into early 80's.

[MartinJQuinn]

Plain ole soldering irons. They hate me, and I them,

I spent most of the day looking at archival photos. Realized my initial interpretation of the funnels was wrong, so I redid the forward one. Also added vertical ladders to the aft funnel

[MartinJQuinn]

Broke out the airbrush and gave the funnels, cranes and boat stowage another coat of 5D.

Also airbrushed ION figures white in advance of detail painting.

I'll check those for any additional touch-ups, then figure out next steps.

[Jon C Ryckert]

Nice work as always. Do you lighten your colors? maybe it's my monitor as the 5D looks not as dark as my Colourcoats 5D.

[MartinJQuinn]

Nice work as always. Do you lighten your colors? maybe it's my monitor as the 5D looks not as dark as my Colourcoats 5D.

Thanks! I do not. That's Colourcoats 5D straight out of the tin.

[MartinJQuinn]

Been a busy couple of months since my last post. Started a new job and my son got married. All that's conspired to limit my time at the bench.

Figures (300+, in both 1/700 and 1/350) are painted. Some of them have been put in place, so I can put the superstructure part over top of them.

Among other things I was working on was adding while glue to the opening where the barrels protrude from the turret, to replicate blast bags.

Everything that's been painted got a coat of gloss...

For some reason, the gloss did not self-level on these parts.

That definitely a de-motivator, especially because it happened on some very prominent parts. There were the only three parts that came out like this after glossing. I weathered everything with an oil wash after leaving it all to dry for several days.

Not sure what I'm going to do with these parts, other than say "f*ck it". I've have no interest in trying to strip them and repaint. Nor do I want to buy replacements and start all over again. California might become a "shelf of doom" model until I figure out next steps.

[Timmy C]

No guarantee, but I would just brush the gloss on top and see if that helps. It can't get worse, right?

[MartinJQuinn]

No guarantee, but I would just brush the gloss on top and see if that helps. It can't get worse, right?

lol Famous last words!!

[MartinJQuinn]

I decided to take the "f*ck it" approach, hoping that directors and other deck gear would hide any offending areas. Having thus decided to give no f*cks, I used slow set CA glue to attach the next level of the superstructure in place.

I then used water soluble putty to fill in the seams. After that dried, I used small Q-tips, dipped in water, to smooth down the excess.

I then touched up the paint, then added the highest level of the conning tower and the 3in gun tubs to this level.

I also added a pair of inclined ladders to the back of the superstructure, and filled in a seam around the back of the water soluble putty.

[Dan K]

Looks good. The self leveled area just looks like it sees heavy foot traffic.

[BB62vet]

Martin,

Regarding the splotchy painting photo - I get that when I'm spraying parts and the can is about to go bust on paint, or if the can's spray hole is getting clogged. You didn't say that you sprayed the items, but it looks like it to me.

One thing I'm finding out about Tru-Color enamels (lacquers) is that they don't work well when overpainting with a different color - i.e. touching up haze gray items/areas after painting with deck blue - the colors (in spite of drying overnight) tend to bleed into each other. I don't get this problem with Mr. Color lacquers.

But, your overall superstructure looks OK; I don't think those small areas will be visible once the model is complete.

Hank

[ModelMonkey]

Very nice recovery!

[MartinJQuinn]

Martin,

Regarding the splotchy painting photo - I get that when I'm spraying parts and the can is about to go bust on paint, or if the can's spray hole is getting clogged. You didn't say that you sprayed the items, but it looks like it to me.

One thing I'm finding out about Tru-Color enamels (lacquers) is that they don't work well when overpainting with a different color - i.e. touching up haze gray items/areas after painting with deck blue - the colors (in spite of drying overnight) tend to bleed into each other. I don't get this problem with Mr. Color lacquers.

But, your overall superstructure looks OK; I don't think those small areas will be visible once the model is complete.

Hank

Thanks Hank. Appreciate the comments. I am painting with Colorcoats Enamels. Initial coats are airbrushed, with some touch ups with a hairy stick.

[Joelle]

The paint issue is barely noticeable anymore; it looks more like intentional aging.

So, nice progress!

[JoeP]

Argh, photographs! Why do they insist on hiding details from your eyes until you've already put the parts together?
It is astounding how things will appear in an image you've been reviewing repeatedly after you think it's done.

These are great works, and I'm enjoying your journey.