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Xenol

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    Basingstoke
  • Interests
    Aviation and photography.

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  1. I'm glad you pointed that out, I'd somehow got it into my head that it was Valiant that missed out the battle - never mind.
  2. After my (fairly successful) first foray into nautical modelling with my HMS Dreadnought last year, I have finally got round to starting a new kit (hopefully learning from my previous experiences). The WWI British battleship is a sadly under-represented category of mainstream kits, I have decided to go with Trumpeter's HMS Queen Elizabeth alongside Artist Hobby's PE upgrade set. My intention is to get the new Flyhawk Iron Duke afterwards and combine them both into a diorama perhaps. First port of all was the turrets (including the nicely turned brass barrels from the AH set) I elected against using the replacement photoetch turret top since the moulded details were sufficient for my tastes. I also folded up the brass aft superstructure Next was the mast construction - the PE replacement foretop was very fiddly, including separate pieces for the windows and stays. The supplied topmast was very brittle and not fine enough for my liking so I made my own out of thin polystyrene plastic sanded to create the tapers initial rigging done, I shall do the halyards for the signal flags at a later date. Dry fit as she stands currently.
  3. Had a play around and designed up a bunch of F35s in historical RAF and FAA liveries. What do you think? I have an F35 in the stash which may be getting one of these treatments some day. F35 alternate liveries by Xenol, on Flickr
  4. A little WIP shot of the mast fully rigged before I promptly dropped it and broke it. I did actually fully re-rig it, but while setting up my lights to photograph one fell over and squashed it again! I couldn't be ars🀬d reglueing all the halyards a third time so made do with the minimum.
  5. My first ever foray into ship modelling! Lots of mistakes made, and a few disasters both major and minor, but overall I am happy with how this turned out. The base is obviously a but rough, but I very much consider this build a prototype for the future! I may come back some day in the future to flesh out the rigging and clean up the base but for now (for my own sanity and due to time commitments with work) It's staying how it is! Build thread Lifeboats hung from derricks using Caenis line –– bloody fiddly!
  6. Thanks for putting up with my melodrama chaps, after sleeping on it I'm a lot more optimistic.
  7. Well guys I'm back... As tempted with the brass-rod method as I was, I am on a rapidly diminishing deadline and decided to have a go salvaging the original - which worked! The snapped portion visible but not distracting to my eyes. I decided to do one last push and get her finished for good - which was going swimmingly - tried my hand at a sea-base which came out very well if I do say so myself - started adding more of her boats and 'canvas' spray guards. I was gearing up for the final reveal later today!! Until... my modelling lamp got nudged, the clamp slipped off the edge of the table and it came crashing down. Rear mast has been completely decimated Starting to think I'm being rewarded for my hubris!! Here's a couple of photos I took a week ago so you get an idea how she was progressing - this is before I finished the sea and hadn't yet done any weathering. I'll do what I can to save her - but the bin under my desk is getting more tempting by the day!
  8. Thanks for the kind words chaps! Was my own stupid fault, dropped it, caught it reflexively before it hit the table and broke the tip! I've got it sat in a small vice at the moment with a touch of glue, hopefully that might salvage it – luckily the PE latter kept it in one piece. If that doesn't work, brass rod it is!
  9. Well... b*llocks. Not sure what I can do about this really, so close to the finish line as well
  10. More progress, nearing the finishing line now! I weighed up the kind advice offered by you gentlemen regarding the railings, but spurred by the hubris of youth decided to stick most of the railings in place first then paint. I figured a couple coats of primer and sea-grey would hide my excessive glue application! First mistake was using an old rattle-can of Humbrol primer, which left a very strange texture, luckily it was mostly hidden by the subsequent coats. After priming, I airbrushed a few coats of sand for the deck teak, put a strip of masking tape on the rails and painted the main hull in grey. I painted the superstructure and raised details by brush - fiddly! To keep things interesting, I also had my first attempt at rigging! Following the advice by Mr David Griffith in his edition of the Holy Bible – 'Ship Models from Kits' – I used caenis thread and lots of patience, think it's respectable for a first go! (Excuse oily hands, was doing this as relaxation between trying to fix the car) She's really coming together now, although I'm at the annoying stage where the things left to do are very small and fiddly – namely about a gazillion searchlights and ships-boats to paint and somehow stick on. I have started experimenting with making a sea base, trying the polystyrene+lighter technique to get rolling waves. However I'm not sure I'll get a chance to finish it before I have to pack off to start RAF basic at the end of next month. We shall see! ~Sam
  11. Apologies for the long delay! Progress has been made, mainly from a photoetch front. The mast I'm especially proud of. Working on the levels of superstructure is my main task now, alongside gluing on the railing ready to start priming for painting. quick dryfit of my progress so far for you to see how she's shaping up: So far pretty pleased with my progress, sadly I've been called back to work from Furlough starting Friday, so I feel my progress will slow down considerably.
  12. Well now marks the second attempt at Trumpeter's Dreadnought - the first one was progressing fairly well until the cat sat on it... after about a year's hiatus I've bought myself a new kit and started again. In hindsight I made a lot of mistakes with my last kit which I hope to avoid with this one, but as my first real foray into ships don't expect this to be fantastically polished! I picked up the Big Ed set very cheap on ebay, which will serve as a good induction to complex photo-etch. I expect this ship won't end up perfect as my first real try, but I'm sure it'll be a good learning experience. So, first job was to start applying various etch details - including replacement deck hatches - and more impressively began work on the turrets. I also began the somewhat more fiddly work of constructing the bridge. Pleased with how this came out, has given me some much needed confidence! Now I'm presented with a dilemma - I turn to you seasoned chaps to maybe give me some advice. I had hoped to paint the two parts of the deck separately then simply slot together, however on test fit the fact some filling will be required is evident. I had intended on gluing all the railings on before painting (to hide the gluemarks mainly) Is this advisable? Or would it be better to paint it, add the railings then paint those via hairy-stick afterwards? (Note the fact I made the elementary error of gluing the deck into the hull pre-emptively! kicking myself since I should've painted it first πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ) All that aside, happy with the progress so far! Hope some of you come along for the ride ~Sam
  13. Not sure where else to put this, but I did a mockup of how the F-35 could look in some old-school inspired RN liveries. What's your favourite? (yes i know the pic show's F-35As not Bs, I could only find good basic art of the A model) F-35 Royal Navy by Xenol, on Flickr
  14. Good call! There's some nice high-res photos online i can use as reference. Thanks!
  15. Thanks for the insights WIP – the book doesn't really go into great details of the voyage or preparation. The expedition was a ruse to cover up their real goal, so I'd imagine that any paint job they did would be on the cheap as it were. Book was set in the same year as published; 1949 I believe.
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