Rickpadwick1801

Evening everyone, No new photos today but I have got the remainder of the components for the upper deck painted. So as soon as I have painted the lower hull and installed it, I will be good to go with final fitting out. I've also pretty much worked out how I did the black boot topping line on the Daring so will mirror it for the Dragon. Look for photos most likely on Sunday.

Hi Everyone, Here is a link to my ready for inspection post for this kit in its finished form. Space Shuttle Enterprise - Ready for Inspection All the best, Rick

Thanks very much. I'm happy with how it's come out. My wife is as well as she bought it for me. Considering this is the first kit I've built in almost 10 years, I'm happy with it.

Hello Everyone, While parts for my Type 45 destroyer build we're drying, I decided to make a start on another kit from my stash. At my wife's insistence, I started work on an Airfix 1:72 scale Red Arrows Gnat which has been sitting in the stash for a while. I will post sprue photos later along with the 1st construction photos. I'm working on simple builds while my destroyer is drying etc. All the best, Rick

Hello Everyone, Here is my ready for inspection thread for my Academy models, 1:288 scale Space Shuttle Orbiter, Solid Rocket Boosters and External Fuel Tank which I have built as the Space Shuttle Enterprise. In reality, the Enteprise never actually launched into space but at one time I believed was setup in a launch stack. I picked the Enterprise out of the 5 decal schemes available because of the link to Star Trek but also the Dale Brown book Silver Tower is one of my favourite books. It features a refitted space shuttle Enterprise which NASA and the US military have been launching into space following the Challenger disaster in 1986. This build has been one of multiple firsts for me : 1st Academy model build, 1st use of MiG paint for the external fuel tank and 1st model in 1:288 scale. I'm really happy with the quality of this kit based on the low price of it (£9). Anyway here are the finished build photos. I hope you like this build as much I enjoyed building it especially as this is my 1st finished build in almost 10 years. All the best, Rick

Hello Everyone, I've now finished this build and am very happy with how it came out. Here are the final photos of this build which show me adding the decals and the engines to the orbiter before gluing it to the tank / booster combination. My ready for inspection post will be posted shortly.

Hello Everyone, Here is the 1st progress update for this kit. Considering that it was a very cheap model, it has come out very well. I've got the shuttle orbiter assembled all except the engines and have painted the boosters and external tank. The paint I bought for the external tank is a perfect match for the colour of the original tank. I'm very impressed with it having never used that particular brand of paint before. It is also an amazingly economical paint. I managed to get 2 full coats of paint for the tank halves plus touch up after painting the boosters out of a very small amount of paint. Here are the photos. Stage 1 : Orbiter assembled and painted. Stage 2 : Display stand decal applied. Stage 3 : External tank and solid rocket boosters painted and ready for assembly. I am building this as the Space Shuttle Enterprise which I know didn't launch into space, but I am doing it because in one of my favourite books involves a refitted Enterprise being launched into space. I'm hoping to get this one finished tomorrow with decals and assembly of the various parts. Have a good evening. All the best, Rick

Evening everyone, Here is today's update for the progress on this kit. I've completed the assembly of the superstructure now and am ready for the hull sides and other components to be applied once they are all painted. I'm planning on doing all the other components first before I join the hull sections together as that will save me a lot of work afterwards. Stage 1 : Vertical launch cells superstructure added (deck paint touch up required). Stage 2 : Air Search Radar assembled but not installed. Stage 3 : Deck gun superstructure assembled but not installed This has now been installed but I have not got a photograph of it. Stage 4 : Bridge assembled and installed. Stage 5 : Air Search Radar installed and painted. Stage 6 : Stack painted. Stage 7 : Forward radar mast paint touched up. I will have another update in a day or two. All the best, Rick

No problem Jeff, thanks for the suggestion but the boot topping is done on the grey upper hull which can only be determined once its glued together as the lower hull panel is actually the thinnest part of the hull overall. I have got my HMS Daring build to use a reference. Luckily for me I'm not at that stage yet 😂😂 I am about to post another update as quite a bit of progress today. Rick

Morning Jeff, I see what you mean. I should have clarified that a bit better. 😂😂 But to be honest there are not many guns to actually install on this kit : The bow turret gun, 2 Phalanx close in weapon mounts and 2 machine gun mounts. It is mainly a missile based armament as I've chosen to install the 2 4 round Harpoon missile launching tubes that are supplied with the kit. The rest of the components I've got to install after I've done the bridge and other forward superstructure parts are the deck fittings (lifeboats etc) along with the other parts for the masts. After that, it's a matter of finishing off the lower hull (and installing it) before I attempt the black boot topping line (my worst nightmare if I remember right last time around) and then the decals. I hope to have it looking like a ship before I go back to work rather than half a ship 😂😂😂 All the best, Rick

Evening everyone, Another good amount of progress today in a very short space of time. I've got the aft superstructure components all installed working from the helicopter hanger forward to the main radar mast. I've also installed the forward radar (Sampson ?) antenna as it helped keep the forward mast panels in the correct position. I remembered that I had to do this with my build of the Daring as well. I've got the forward superstructure components to install plus the bridge to assemble and install before I can call the superstructure assembly finished. I've then got all the miscellaneous components including guns etc to sort out before I can start work on joining the Upper and lower hulls together. There is some paint touchup that will be needed but that can wait for the moment. Rick

Hello Everyone, I haven't actually made a start on this build yet as I've been trying to work out the paint for the External Fuel Tank. With the help of a very knowledgeable gentleman at my local model shop, I've got the paint for it nailed down. It's called Medium Rust is a MiG / Ammo paint from spain. I've never used this paint before, but the bottle even contains a stirring ball when you shake it up. I will be starting work with this kit at some point over the week. Rick

Hello Everyone, Here is today's progress. Once again not quite as much as I wanted to get done, but enough that I'm happy to take a break from the building process for tonight. 1st up shows the various stages of assembly for the ship's helicopter hanger which I am going to display with the hanger door open. Stage 1 : door attached to hanger wall Stage 2 : Decal applied to door frame and door itself. Stage 3 : Hanger rear wall and door glued into place on flight deck along with hanger/boat garage roof installed. Vertical launch modules installed on forward deck section. Rearward facing mast section installed and exhaust (?) installed in panel. Exhaust cover (?) painted and assembled. Boats and boat cranes installed. Forward rear mast panel installed. Boarding ladder door covers installed into main hull sides and painted in Humbrol US Ghost Grey acrylic paint (no. 127) Bridge construction started. Radar assembly 1. Lower hull assembly started (not complete / not painted). Display stand painted (Humbrol Matt Black Acrylic paint (no.33)) and stern facing side decal (Type 45 destroyer) applied. Display stand painted (Humbrol Matt Black Acrylic paint (no.33)) and bow facing side decal (ship's name) applied. Again these parts have all been hand painted. I have got a large number of other components painted including the ship's aircraft (for both Dragon and Daring as I never finished the aircraft for Daring), plus weapons and the other components of the superstructure which needs to be assembled before attaching the hull sides and then gluing the assembled superstructure / hull sides into the lower hull. I will get another progress update posted as soon as I get some more work done on the kit which may not be until Wednesday / Thursday. I'm on holiday from work this week but am trying to do other stuff at the same time as building this kit. Just for fun...what do you listen to while building / painting kits ? I've been listening to audio books, namely the USS Cunningham Quintet by James H. Cobb. These are some of my favourite physical naval thriller books and now they are becoming my favourite audio books. So I'm listening to audio books about a stealth warship whilst building a stealth warship 😂 Hope you like the progress.... Have a good evening. Rick

Hello Everyone, Here is the first update for this project which is from 2 days ago as I've spent quite a bit of time painting yesterday and beginning construction today. Here are the Saturday updates. The first step I did on Saturday which was actually well and truly ahead of time as it is stage 44 and 45 of the instructions. I built and installed the bow sonar onto the lower hull of the ship. I have tidied up the edge of the bow sonar since this picture was taken . The next thing I did was to paint the full deck of the ship in Humbrol acrylic paint no 27 (Sea Grey). I then built up the display stand ready for it to be painted on Sunday so that when I eventually built up the lower hull I would have somewhere to rest it. The last bit I did on Saturday was to insert the helicopter hanger/boat garage walls onto the rear hull and adding the 1st of the decals on the flight deck inside the hanger. I'm quite happy with how this project has been going so far and as I have made so much progress in the last few days, I'm taking this evening off the build process so that I can make my progress updates. I'm hand painting all of the components as I don't own an airbrush and I actually prefer the work of painting all of the parts by hand even if it does take a long time. Rick

Evening everyone, I've not got much of a progress update on this kit but I have got some stuff done. I've managed to paint the whole deck structure and have the helicopter hanger including decal on the deck completed yesterday. I also constructed the display stand for the ship yesterday and painted it today. So it's ready for the decals. I will have some photos to share tomorrow (I can't share what I got done yesterday as imgur doesn't seem to like me trying to get links to the photos on my phone). I have painted all of the main Hull components today and will be trying to assemble it tomorrow. Hope you've had a good weekend. Rick

Thanks, I've been on that site in the past. That will be really useful.

Definitely, it's only tiny but definitely made me happy.

I love the amount of detail you are putting into this project (as well as the length of time). Can I ask what colour you are going to use for the painting of the External Fuel Tank for the shuttle ? Look forward to seeing more of this project. I really need to make time to go through all of the previous pages.

Evening everyone, I came home from work tonight to find that my wife has surprised me with a very small present of something that I have wanted for a while. She knew I wanted a space shuttle in launch configuration, but that I didn't have room for a much larger kit. She found an Academy kit in 1:288 scale in our local Hobbycraft shop and went to get it for me. It's a very basic kit but does have decal options for all of the space shuttle orbiters (Enterprise, Columbia, Atlantis, Challenger, Discovery and Endeavour. I always wished that after the Challenger accident, NASA had refitted the Enterprise into a spaceworthy shuttle as they did in Dale Brown's amazing novel Silver Tower (which is one of my favourite books). I am therefore considering building this one as the Enterprise, but will be doing it with an orange external fuel tank rather than the white that it specifies the tank should be painted in the instructions. I just wish it was easy to find out what shade of orange to paint it. The painting instructions from Revell's instructions call for the tank to be painted in a Wood brown colour mixed with 10% white. Here are photos of the box art and sprues. I will be making a start on this one at the weekend and will probably have it finished quite quickly as I'm off work for a week after tomorrow. Look for updates as I start the building and painting process, All the best, Rick

Thanks Jeff, I've also got an Airfix HMS Belfast to build and a Dragon 1:700 HMS Arizona to build in the future. All the best, Rick

Hi Everyone, Here are the sprue and component photos along with the construction that I've done at the moment (the cockpit and adding components to the fuselage sides). Weapons sprue : Rotor sprue Fuselage sides and other body components sprue : Cockpit assembly (noticed that left hand pilot needs his face painted as he doesn't have a closed helmet visor) : I will be continuing with this kit while components of the Type 45 destroyer kit I'm working are drying once painted or bonding in place once glued. Look for the next update soon. All the best, Rick

Hi Everyone, Here are the box art and sprue photos of this kit. I didn't get to start it over the Easter weekend as I wanted to. I might not get to start it until this coming weekend. Box Art Sprue 1 - Superstructure and lower hull Sprues 2 & 3 - Hull Sides, display stand and deck bulkheads Sprues 4 & 5 - Aircraft and other components This kit comes with 1 Lynx helicopter and 1 EH101 Merlin helicopter. I'm trying to decide whether to build this kit with the helicopter hangar and boat docks open or closed. The 1st 38 construction steps (out of a possible 90) are for construction of the superstructure and armament details (see below). The kit contains components for the following weapon systems : Vertical Launch System for Aster missiles 8 harpoon missile launch tubes 1 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun 2 30 mm guns 2 20 mm Phalanx CIWS According to wikipedia, these ships are being refitted to accept other weapons from 2024 onwards including Naval Strike Missiles replacing the Harpoons from 2024, changes to the small guns in 2023 and changes to the VLS cells in 2026 to allow for Aster 30 missiles to be carried. The Aster 30 missiles will also be upgraded with a ballistic missile defence capability called Sea Viper Evolution. Sometimes, I do think these ships are underarmed for their size and think they should have Vertical Launch capability for Tomahawk missiles like the American Arleigh Burke class destroyers. Anyway, I will post another update once I begin painting and building the kit. All the best, Rick

Hi Jeff, I'm also a warship modeller along with a few other genre's. In fact, I will be working on a 2nd Type 45 destroyer along with this. I'll also be taking photos of all my finished models at some point in the future to post here, on Facebook and also on my instagram. Hope you like how I get on 😀 Rick

I will have some pictures of the progress to date tomorrow and hopefully get some more work done.