HMAS/m AE2, Scratchbuild

[Bandsaw Steve]

FYI - I tried to post again last night but Britmodeller was temporarily out of action. Have made some good progress though. Am hoping to post tonight.

[Courageous]

...deadlines to keep, don't want you to take your foot off the pedal yet.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Weathering

 

This is what I was going to post last night.

 

No-one wants a brand spanking new submarine. Everyone wants a beaten up old dirty one!

 

Well that's not going to happen and here's why:

• The Royal Australian Navy is well-known for high standards of ship maintenance
• AE2 was less than a year old when she was scuttled
• She had just been in for a refit, at Malta, just before her final mission

So 'light weathering' it shall be for this model - which suits me fine because:

• I'm in a hurry
• I am lazy

Here's a reference picture that I'm going to use a rough guideline. It's not an E-class submarine but it is a RN WW1 unit so the colours are comparable and I'm guessing that the rust and grime traps are indicative of where they would form an any contemporary design.

 

My preferred medium for weathering is oil paint - as I have mentioned before, I love this stuff.

 

Start with a colour that's a pretty close match to the base colour you want to weather and just sort of start layering up some staining.  In this case I'm making most of the stains run straight down the side of the sub as per the reference picture.

 

Might have over-done it a bit with the light grey on the dark grey. But...

 

if you put too much on at any one point, just rub it off with a cotton bud. This is a very forgiving method of weathering.

 

After a while there's a variegated finish on the submarine - differences of sheen and subtle changes of shade all along the vessel. I'm happy with this.

 

 Now let's add a bit of rust and grime. Not too much; Captain Stoker was doubtlessly a diligent Captain and his crew hard working and proud of their vessel. According to my references staining tended to form beneath the flood-vent holes first, so I've concentrated on that area.

 

There we go - how about that? Done.

 

And now I have to spray the whole thing with some flat matt clear coat to protect the oil paint. This is a bit of a shame because it will kill some of that lovely variety in the sheen that I've achieved and really like. Nonetheless, if I don't go too heavy with this stuff some variation should still show through.

 

See - there's still a bit of variety even after top coat has gone on.

 

So now you are bit more up to date, but I must say this thread is still behind the times. I am still working on this project flat-stick and this thread was already behind last night when the dark forces of computer upgrades forbade me from posting.

 

Anyway - still more to go prior to Saturday when this thing has to go into the competition. Might be a late night tonight.

 

Ohhh... Check out all the new emoji's we have to play with! That upgrade might have been worth it after all!

 

Sleepy Steve.

 

[Nigel Heath]

Outstanding work Steve, looks excellent with the topcoats and weathering.

[Courageous]

Brilliant work with the weathering, well done .

Weathering is something I've never been comfortable doing, maybe one day.

 

Stuart

 

[Ray S]

Hello Steve, some fantastic progress with this boat. It is hard to believe it started out as a few lumps of wood!

 

I just wish I could get a kit of E23 as my grandfather served on that one, failing that, locate some plans for that one or its sisters.

 

Great work,

 

Ray

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hi Ray, 

 

the plans I have used are for E29. I think there’s still an electronic copy at work. PM your e-mail address to me and I’ll flick a copy to you. I think any professional printing service should be able to run off copies for you. 

 

I would love love to see this boat made as per the plans because I think the mid-war configuration is better looking. But I don’t think it’ll be me making it! Twice might be once too often! 🙃

[JohnWS]

She looks great Steve.  Can't wait to see her completed.

 

Here's wishing you the best of luck in the competition.

 

John

[robgizlu]

Fab job on the paint and weathering Steve

Looks Cracking!!!

Be sure to take a few pictures of the original wood for the Competition.....and Good luck

Rob

[Nigel Heath]

Yes. the best of luck in the competition Steve. I feel this will score highly.

[Ray S]

21 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Hi Ray, 

 

the plans I have used are for E29. I think there’s still an electronic copy at work. PM your e-mail address to me and I’ll flick a copy to you. I think any professional printing service should be able to run off copies for you. 

 

I would love love to see this boat made as per the plans because I think the mid-war configuration is better looking. But I don’t think it’ll be me making it! Twice might be once too often! 🙃

 

Hello Steve, thanks for the offer. I have sent you an e-mail.

 

Good luck in the competition!

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[Bandsaw Steve]

Done!

 

Well folks, about two hours ago I finished this job. AE2 is done and will be on the tables at WASMEx tomorrow!

 

So where's the photos? Where's the RFI thread? you may well ask. null

 

Well here's the deal.  My intention was to set up an RFI thread right now and post some end of project photos. I would love to do that - but it's at night here now and the lighting in my house is pretty dull. I've taken some photos and tried to edit them to a respectable standard but frankly they still aren't that great. Besides I'm buggered after what's basically been a sprint finish and need some sleep. So - rather than post some photos that I'm not happy with, I'm going to see if I can get some good shots at the model show tomorrow (the lighting is pretty good in the competition hall) and try to post either tomorrow night or Sunday night.

 

As I've said before, the WIP thread is now miles behind the actual project so once the RFI is posted I intend to sit down and finish the WIP thread over the course of a few evenings, just so the whole project is recorded start-to-finish.

 

Sorry to make you wait but I don't want to post sub-standard RFI photos and think that if I post what I have right now I'll just disappoint myself and everyone else who's been following along. I'll be back with some decent photos very soon.

 

In the meantime - here's some nostalgia, it's been a long road this one! It's good to look back sometimes! Hope you enjoy this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just for Norman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where did that come from?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's about it for now. I will get that RFI up very soon.

 

Very best regards and thanks for all the support along the way.

Bandsaw Steve

 

[Courageous]

Glad you've made it to the end. Looking forward to RFI and see some 'pucker' photos. 

All the best in the competition.

 

Stuart

[Ted]

Congratulations.

 

Looking forward to seeing some photos of the model at the show.

[kpnuts]

Looks amazing 

[bar side]

In the words of Montgomery Burns ‘Excellent, excellent!’

[Martian]

Did you finish it? Is it done yet? How did it do at the show?

 

Impatient of Mars

[Bandsaw Steve]

Yes, it’s done and got to WASMEx. Is on the tables now. It was judged last night (Sat evening) and I’m off now (Sunday morning) to find out how It’s all gone.

Am aiming to have an update tonight.

[Bandsaw Steve]

AE2 - Ready for Inspection 

 

Hello - after a slight delay I have now posted the AE2 RFI which can be found here.

 

Hopefully this will slake the thirst of our impatient Martian friend...null

 

Very Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

 

[Nigel Heath]

Great result and good use of, well a band saw.

[Vanroon]

This it? 

Deserved better but competition was stiff. 

Thanks Steve.n

[Barry Marchant]

Hi Steve, 

Congrats on completing a very nice model. With your skills I am glad that you do not model trams!

I have just joined Britmodeller so will feature 1 of my models shortly.

Barry

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hello Barry - Great to have you on board mate! 👍 Thanks for the comments.

There’s a shocking - yes shocking! shortage of tram modelling in these pages that I have been thinking I might need to redress one day, so I really look forward to seeing some of your work here. 

Post your stuff Barry - this a very friendly crowd and they love something out of the ordinary. 

 

By by the way, there is a railway modelling section in Britmodeller but it’s fairly well hidden away towards the bottom of all of the forums and doesn’t seem to get much visibility. I would suggest posting in the ‘Vehicles (non-military)’ section instead.

Best Regards,

Steve

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Mopping Up.

 

Way back on the 27th of April I wrote the following:  'Once the RFI is posted I intend to sit down and finish the WIP thread over the course of a few evenings, just so the whole project is recorded start-to-finish.' Well, for better or for worse I guess I should make good on that promise, over the next week or so I'll complete the mop up on this thread. Just documenting the final work that was done to finish AE2.

 

Firstly let's drill out the exhaust pipes.  These pipes generated lots of comment, way back when, about how to make them look hollow. Some of you might recall they are actually soft-steel knitting needles.  Let's see how they go when under the drill.

 

First use a braddle or other sharp instrument to mark a small dent in the dead centre of the exhaust then fit the correct size drill and carefully drill out a few mm. 

 

Nothing to it really - no real trick, just do it! I was surprised how well it worked, and once the drilled out section was painted black it looked very convincing.

 

Next, let's make an anchor.  Here I have just cut out a laminated image of the anchor from the plans and stuck it onto a brass rod using some araldite. 

 

Here I've added a few details and painted it rusty brown (maybe black would have been a better colour?).

 

And now it slots into the anchor locker - basically never to be seen again unless someone peers very hard in there. It's not even glued into the locker it just sort of wedged into place and seemed happy to sit there for ever more.

 

And now to the dodging screen on the conning tower. When I made this - out of masking tape - I thought it would be good to put a 'hem' around the top to make it less likely that the tape would detach. That was probably a good idea but now the hem is very visible and looks totally out of scale. The red arrow indicates the visible edge of the hem and the rest of the screen. I was not happy with this.

 

So, after smearing 'Ezy-Kote' clear resin over the screen to give it some strength I smothered the thing in 'perfect plastic putty'.

 

And then I sanded the 'ppp' nice and smooth as shown. I must say that the masking tape was surprisingly strong when used like this. Initially I was hesitant to use tape in this way but it worked well and I will do it again if I ever need to. 

 

With a coat of paint or two the screen will look nice and smooth.

 

There are a few more bits and pieces to write up on this project. I'll try to finish it all in the next week or so.  Meanwhile, the Avro continues...

 

Best Regards,

Steve

 

 

[Ray S]

Hi Steve, thanks for continuing with these updates! All extra information is gladly received...

 

Ray