leighivansmith

Hi folks, a little progress but not much. Been travelling lots with work over the last couple of weeks. Enjoy.

Hi all, I have been given this kit for my birthday and wondered if there was any PE kits that people were aware of? http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234928776-rms-titanic-1700-revell/ I have done some searching and found a set for the Academy 1/700 Titanic - not sure if they are compatible... any thoughts? thanks, Leigh.

Hi Pete, Recently came back to this hobby myself and have been trying various glues / fillers / paints / tools... I have found that the liquid poly is fantastic with a small brush as suggested above. I use it for contacts that are free of paint and may need some work to close small gaps. Another purchase I made in this area are a few kitchen clips (from the local Dunelm I think). I use these as they have a great grip and wide application area, as yet, they have not damaged any parts I have used. I also use thick and medium CA that I apply via a toothpick that I frequently sharpen. I have not yet had any issues with the end becoming blocked as it is always stored correct way up with the lid secure (I apply a small amount to bit of dead plastic and use the toothpick off that). I did have an issue when I had left the glue for sometime (a few weeks) but this only required a small amount of work with the toothpick and it soon came free. I use the thick CA for PE attachment when I need a great deal of control of the glue, I use the medium for slightly larger connections where the glue may need to run. Just started to look at PA Glue as it dries clear - I have a few kits in the stash that this will prove very useful with. regarding the tools of the trade - I purchased no end of different fine nose tweezers and clamps looking for the way to hold very small bits and I found the accuracy and strength an issue...it was my wife who put me onto looking at products that she used - I have found a pair of needle nose tweezers (Boots No7) that are slightly magnetic - not enough to hold parts under any stress but fantasic for those very small bits of PE that you want to hold on the end of a tweezers for placement. As soon as the PE hits plastic, it is free from the end of the tweezers. Thanks, Leigh.

Here are yet more pictures of the build - all up to date now so will need to work on it for a week or two before sharing more photos :-) Enjoy. Before PE - I was quite impressed with the level of moulding detail on the parts with the Revell kit... After PE (with some still outstanding!) - this one part contained: 6 lifeboat stands, 3 deck stands (with 3 supports), 5 decks, 2 handrails and 1 ladder! This part of the kit was a true joy to build. Neverbefore have I sat at the table and spent 30 minutes just planning how to approach a build...total time for the stack was about 4 hours (modification, prep, PE, prime, colour, gloss and mig oil wash. Still needs to be Matt coating and final dry brush detailing - that is easier to do on the body of the kit.

Hi folks, This was a build I did for my mother-in-law who always wanted a purple VW but never had the chance to own one... The kit was ok but I found the quality of some of the mouldings very poor. There was lots of repair work done to one of the doors (no pictures as I was not totally happy with it) and the fit of some of the key pieces was off but overall, a very fun project. First time trying to paint Gloss finish on a kit as well - Enjoy. And just a few pictures of the build: one of the many many coats of Purple used to build colour depth.

Thank you all for the comments. No - I purchased this from Modelzone in MK a few months ago (buy 2 Revell and get 1 free) and spent some time researching the ship, some of the details and then looking at different options. The base Revell kit is one of the best I have ever worked on, everything fits very well with little work required but the PE really adds a new dimension to it. I will fetch some of the more recent pictures off the camera later today. Some cool before and after shots with PE detail added. I did really enjoy the paint work. The transfers look great in the box but I really wanted to try and paint everything using mask building up layers. I am planning on sinking the kit into some insulation foam for a base (rather than using the stand) hence the propellers are not attached - neither are the rudders. One thing I will say - the PE adds a massive amount of time to the project. I did a couple of hours last night and a single kit piece needed 30 minutes of prep (removing pieces, sanding and prep) then spent the rest of the time attaching some 19 bits of PE. Some very small and very very detailed. There are another 5 bits to go :-)

looks like a great build. What paints are you using on the figures?

thanks folks..I have done some more to it since these pictures were taken - more decks, lifeboats etc...more pics to follow when I can get them off the camera. Since starting back - I have been using Vallejo paint. I start with a prime (grey) then cover with Ocre yellow (several coats until very bright). Gave it a coat of varnish then used Mig oils thinned for different effects. Mig shadow brown (very thin to fill deck gaps) - then again to take the edge off the yellow. Dark rust to add some colour depth and finally finished off with black on some of the detail areas...It was a lot of fun to do - colour matching between some of the decks has been a challenge though :-) More pics as I did not notice they had gone to page two on photobucket: those keen eyes may spot the lifeboat with the missing bit of PE...no idea what happened to it and they are very small (each square in the picture is 1cm) painted and finished: I did not apply any matt to the deck until I had completed assembly together so it all looked a little glossy here. I was also not very happy with the unbroken grey look so I used more Mig oils but this time selected a light german grey colour - this was dry brushed into a few areas to highlight some of the detail and break up the grey. hull, main and second deck pretty much finished in terms of paint. lots of detailing to go though. just used paint on the hull - the transfers looked a little tough to get right so I used them as templates for masking...overall, very pleased with the effect.

Hi all, Spent some time reading the various projects on the site and it is really quite fantastic to see what people are building. I am returning to the hobby after many years off with several projects already completed (more practice runs at the various skills I see used here). The first proper run at a kit I am making is the Bismarck 1/350 from Revell. I also have the Big Ed PE set as well as replacement barrels from various vendors - all in, it is proving a very exciting project. I have put some pictures up of the build so far and as always - could use feedback and some encouragement to continue to the end. Enjoy the pics before paint: Deck side PE attached (including some turret detail). Colour and washing in progress. Some extra colour for the main deck. here you can see some detail and the hull is started Lots of sub-builds to complete - the PE turns a few bits into lots but the detail is fantastic. Some more on the decks before: After: