Deadman Disciple

A great finish there. The black you painted on has really come out nice, a subtle sheen to it. The blue you drybrushed on the wing sections are a really nice touch too. I had the kenner toy models of the Forever Batmobile, Batwing & Batboat & they were pretty sizable too, the wingspan of the Batwing was almost 700mm IIRC. Well, that was until my wife decided to put the lump hammer to them after we had a massive argument. Ive been looking at getting the AMT re-release of the original 1989 Batwing & the Batmobile, they look a helluva lot better than previous releases. http://round2corp.com/?s=batman&post_type=product

Its finale time on the Lifeboat. After finding out some the decals were useless, especially the white decals (which were very transparent), I painted the white number decals on using a stencil I made using a removeable label cutting out the letters with my Swann-Morton knife. I also had to paint on the red/yellow stripes on aswell & I also made the lifeboat name using the Brother label machine at work, using the smallest font & directly pressed that label onto the superstructure. I had to move over the lifeboats decal over slightly, but it looks great. The black lettering decals, went on a treat though. I got some 1 inch thick foam, cut out the triangular shape for the shape of the lifeboat, with a small channel underneath for the wiring, a small square hole for the switch, fed all the wiring through & finally a rectangular hole for the battery & PVA glued it to a thin wooden base. Once dry, I filled in the square hole for the switch with some normal polyfiller & once dry I glued the switch on top of that. Then came the sea base work. Using a tutorial I found on Youtube to make a sea base using toilet paper (of all things) Following the instruction on the video, I mixed up some PVA & water, then painted the mixture on to the foam & placed one sheet of the toilet paper (at a time) onto the foam. Working my way around the one side of the lifeboat with the first layer, I then painted some more of the mixture & did the same until I had built up 3 layers of the toilet paper. Once finished, whilst the toilet paper was wet, I used the pointed end of my brush & started to manipulate the toilet paper to make waves & the wash around the edges of the hull & various shapes here & there. Letting the first side dry for 24 hours, I then did the same on the other side of the base. After the other side had dried for 24 hours, I then started on the paint. Mixing some Folkart greenscape with a little of the Americana sea glass, some Revell blue 36152, white 36301 & little Humbrol brown 24, to make a greeny blue mixture, I painted that on top of the dried toilet paper & let that dry for 72 hours. Then I painted some Crawford & Black acrylic white on for the waves & wash, letting that dry for another 24 hours & finally dry brushing some of that same white to bring out the tops of the various shapes id made with my brush. Leaving that to dry for another 24-36 hours, I started on the clear gloss. I was really happy with the results I already had, but looking at the video once again, I pondered whether to paint the clear gloss, but after some encouragement from the guys here & over at Scale Model Addict, I decided to paint on the clear gloss. After the first coat of Revell clear gloss dried, I then painted on a layer of neat PVA glue, let that dry & then another 2 coats of the clear gloss & it has come out a treat. I then started work on my crew figures. Going back to the Revell NATO pilot figures I bought, I painted the figures & mounted those to the deck, with a female crew figure along with a black crew figure for some diversity. Once all done with the figures, I then started the last bit of construction on the mast. Glueing all the mast parts together, it leaned backwards on the lower mast assembly, so I had to use once of my paint pots to stabilize that whilst the glue dried. Then once the mast dried, I placed the flag decal onto some tin foil (picking that tip of another user here, sorry I cant remember your name), sealed it with some Revell matt & put a little bit of black cotton thread inside & used pritt-stick to glue to two sides together & then using the glue n glaze, I glued the thread of the flag to the mast. Using another tip from Big Dave, I used some tin foil to make a cover for the mini boat, I glued the tin foil cover onto the boat & sprayed the foil with the Halfords VW brilliant orange. Finally, using the inspiration of mine & the wife’s trip to Zoomarine in Portugal & the scene from Under Siege, where the USS Missouri is sailing back to dock to be retired. I made a little dolphin from plasticine & baked him on a low heat in the oven for 5-7 mins, painted him light grey & a little dark grey dry brushed on & mounted him to a clear piece of sprue, so it looks like he is jumping out of the water just in front of the lifeboat. All-in-all, despite my ups & downs, Im really chuffed how this build has turned out. Cheers, Wayne.

Ok, After putting the first coat of Revell Aquacolor gloss, it has brought it out a little better. So ive let it dry & I have now put the PVA coat on. Im now going to give the PVA until Friday night to dry before I put another coat of gloss on. *Fingers Crossed* Cheers, Wayne.

Ive made a sea base for my RNLI Severn Class Lifeboat & I have used the following youtube video to make my sea base. Using his toilet paper method has worked a treat, I have painted on the sea color & dry brushed on some white to bring the waves out. But he used a wooden base to put the toilet paper on, where as I used 1 inch think foam mounted on thin wood for my base. Its the glossing part that I have a question about. He paints on a clear gloss layer, then a layer of what looks like PVA, the a couple of more layers of clear gloss. I will be using Revell Aquaclolor gloss, if I did gloss it. Does it have to be glossed to make it more realistic? Because i'm really happy with the result I have got. Cheers, Wayne.

Thanks Dave, Its the problems that you were so kind to share, that has helped me a lot, so expect some more in the next updates. Ive already noticed the white registry numbers on the hull are very transparent & the red/yellow stripe decals below the deck lip are also crap, so those im now going to have to paint them all on now. Wayne.

Work continues on the lifeboat, starting with the wiring. I drilled 2 holes into the bottom of the hull to allow the red & black wires through from the switch/battery wire. The second LED, I decided to not to glue the clear window part into the engine room hatch & glued the LED through the open hatch window, to allow some extra light into the rear cabin & to add to the front led, as I was worried that as I painted the front cabin area in black it would overpower the front led not to shine as bright. Then (also losing my soldering virginity) I soldered all the loose ends together, then wrapped the soldered ends in electrical tape & also glueing the wires into the underneath of the deck to tidy it all up a bit. Relieved to see that both LEDs were working, I then glued the deck/superstructure to the hull. The hull wouldnt allow a flush fit of the deck, so I had to stretch open the hull slightly & pop the deck into place on the small lip around the inner edges of the hull & I couldnt clamp the deck down, so I had to put my trust in my tape to hold the deck down whilst the glue dried. Once all dry, I then removed all the tape & I noticed that the rear part of the deck had popped out slightly, but as the glue had dried, I couldnt so nothing about it, so I left it be. I then sanded down the excess dried glue & topped up with black & grey paint around the edges. Then came the delicate work on the railings. I bought myself a Swann Morton knife from work, as my cutters were to big too cut the railings off the sprue without snapping the railing, I worked my way around the upper railings first. The upper section, I started on the mast supports first. Using my knife to carefully remove any excess sprue from the railings & slowly started to glue them onto the deck. Working my way along the upper deck, I had to widen some of the holes only drilling slightly into the deck (not all the way through) so my Dremel took care of those. Putting a drop of glue into each of my widened holes, I slowly started to lay the rails down & nudging the odd one back straight & let those dry. Once all done, I started on the lower deck railing. Id already pre-sprayed the front railings in black on the sprue & they mounted very well into the V shape holes that are already on the deck, but the railings on the centre, the holes had again had to be widened. Glueing those 2 forward parts to get them to meet in the centre was quite difficult to line up & one is slightly higher than the other (but thats ok), so I let them dry getting ready for the rear railings. Spraying the rear railing again on the sprue in white, again trimming excess sprue much like the front railing, but this time there was square notches on the deck, but I had to widen those using my knife & slowly glued all those into place. The rear deck railing section had a extra rail that needed glueing on & once dry I glued that completed section into place, but it was slightly higher than all the side railing, but its not too bad. I then glued the life-rings onto the railing, not trusting the glue alone, I used some white cotton thread to tie those on, feeding the thread through the bracket holes & tieing those down & used a drop of glue for extra security, ive noticed I glued one of the life-rings on backwards (Dozy Twonk) Once all dry, I then started on the deck itself. Glueing all the various bits & bobs into place, I was warned by Big Dave that there should be a second capstan head so I got in contact with Airfix & they sent me a second capstan straight away & glued all those parts into place. Last but not least, I have also glued the upper deck safety screens into place, I painted those by hand with my Revell Orange & glued the front screen at an angle with the glue n glaze, let that dry & glued the 2 side clear parts into place. So now, its time for decals. Cheers, Wayne.

Cheers for that Dave. I was going to feed the thread through the holes on the bracket to hold it into place. Did you spray the foil both sides? Wayne.

A well finished finale there Dave. Liking what you have done there, especially the modifications you made in the WIP & leaving the rear cabin door open. A couple of questions for you. 1. How did you do the nameplates? What size font did you use? 2. Did you glue the 2 life-rings on? Im thinking about tying them on with some white thread to the railings. 3. What material did you use for covering the life raft? Cheers, Wayne.

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-500ml-expanding-foam/262489_BQ.prd I bought some of this stuff from B & Q too fill a hole in my skirting board & it works, you only need a little bit. Can be sanded & its really easy to cut once dry, also make sure you get a tin with a nozzle, as I had to look at the back of the bin location to find a can with a nozzle. But great progess so far, liking your modifications. Hope this helps. Wayne.

Going back to the lifeboat, starting with glueing the lifeboat crew figures into their respective seats. Once they dried, I lowered the completed dashboard with some Screens I printed on my sons computer & also doing a North Wales & Holyhead map to fill in the empty space on the dashboard. So that means I will be building the lifeboat to Holyhead, as I went there when I was a kid. I then started on the superstructure. Using the interior walls as a guide, I glued the walls into the upper front windows section & the rear wall with the hatch & taped them all together whilst the glue dried. Once dry, I was able to simply lift off the partially completed superstructure & glue in the panel underneath the front windows section. Once all that was done, I noticed a critical error. Part No 43, the plans call for you to glue it to the deck (which I did), but this should be glued into the superstructure first. Anyways, undeterred I started installing the lighting kit I bought from America. Drilling a hole & glueing the 3mm led into the roof & testing it with my 9v battery the cabin lighted up. Then I went into a little bit of a panic, wondering where to hide the the black resistors (as they were quite thick), but I then saw the plans would save my bacon. The upper command deck console hid the resistor once all glued in & a panic was averted. Feeding the wire down into the inside of the roof & drilling away the top in the interior wall upright, the wires will then be fed through below the deck. I glued in the roof & the rear bulkhead pieces into the side of the superstructure. I then masked off the interior & got it ready for primer. Spraying primer, then white & the Halfords VW Brilliant Orange to the outside of the superstructure, it came out a treat once dried. Then I took the tape out of the interior & got to work painting all the interior walls. Black for the forward cabin & light grey for the rear of the cabin & a little silver around the led to help reflect the light around the cabin. Painting the window frames on the outside of the superstructure in silver & those small block above the windows in white, then came the windows. After being warned by Big Dave about the windows not being very clear, I got some thin clear plastic sheeting from the recycling at work & using the glue n glaze, I had to hold them in whilst wearing white cotton gloves for 15 mins, whilst the glue dried. But once dry, the sheeting is a helluva lot better & the clarity is perfect. I then glued the completed superstructure onto the deck, using my clamps to hold it down & then masked it off to finally spray that No .43 part & the hatch lid. Now its almost ready to be glued into the hull. Cheers, Wayne.

Cheers for that Dave, Ive done the same as you by painting the deck & hull separately, the rear shouldn't be that much of a problem, as on the underside of the rear hull is quite flat & the clamp should be able to hold that down. Ive already installed the thin clear sheeting (I got from work's plastic recycling) on the window holes & the clarity is bob-on & when the led bulb is on its come out a real treat. Wayne.

Yet another great update there Dave. How did you find clamping & glueing the deck into the hull? Ive test fitted mine & while the deck is a tight fit & will go down, it keeps popping out of the edges of the hull & I don't think tape alone will hold the deck down & I haven't a clue how im gonna clamp the deck down? Also, did you drill any holes for the rails when you glued them into the deck? Any luck with the replacement windows? Nice work so far. Wayne.

Another great update there Dave. What kind of wire & thickness did you use to cover the shortfall? I got my missing No.30 Capstan Head through the post yesterday, you were right a quick service indeed. Wayne

I have filled in the "Spare Parts" on the contact us page. Did they charge you for the missing No.30? Even though you explained there was no second No.30 section of the sprue tree.

Just a thought about the windows. Looking at the non-transparency of the kit windows myself. I got some thin clear plastic sheeting from the plastic recycling at work, if you were to try something like that, couldnt you cut a rectangular piece out & glue over the inside of the where the window hole is. Would it matter if it didnt go all the way through the hole & go flush with the outer wall like the kit part does? As long as it covers the window holes & they are way more transparent than the kit ones. Maybe there are some aftermarket windows? Im pretty sure I saw some photoetch for the lifeboat the other day. Wayne.

Ive had this kit for a year now & now its finally time to build this kit. Bought it for a bargain price of £10 from the same tabletop seller that I bought both The Munsters kits from, so he did me a deal to reduce the price from £20. Starting on the hull, glueing the 2 sides & the rear plate to the keel along with the small bow thrusters assembly, I had to use tape to keep the 2 sides in place & let the glue dry. Once I took the tape off after the glue dried, I noticed a small gap all the way down the sides, so I had to fill those in & once dried they sanded down a treat. Being warned here that the lighter color decals are quite transparent, I decided to primer in the grey & then spray white on top of that & leave white lines for the decals & the bottom white for the red paint. Painting 5 coast of paint on the sides & keel, TBH I should have bought a can of red spray paint, but once I mount it into my sea base, not much of the red bottom will be that visible. Then came the Midnight Blue of the upper hull, that took 2 coats, but once I took the strip masking tape off for the white, there was hardly any paint bleed, which I was really chuffed to see. I then started the upper deck lip by painting that in the black & once dry I peeled the 2nd strip masking tape off & again hardly no paint bleed. Now the hull is all done bar decals, its now time to start the deck work. I started with the parting walls from the forward control/command area to the rear cabin & painting those in light grey, then the rear cabin bench in light grey & black for the seat & back rest. The fire extinguishers are actually built into the wall, so I painted those red, then all the many seats mounted into place & painting those in black. Then I mounted in the sidewalls & painted the inner square walls in orange, getting ready for the dashboard. Ive also bought some 1/72 Revell Nato Pilots to act as crew, with some slight modification & painted those ready to be mounted into the seats. Cheers, Wayne.

Nice work after your little SMW hiatus. Looks like you have been filling & sanding on the superstructure too, looks great. Thanks for the warning about the clear parts. Cheers, Wayne.

What a fantastic finish, that Subaru paint you sprayed on this has brought this out a treat. Im sure Richard Burns RIP would be really proud. The interior looks great, especially using the fabric seatbelts, are those V-Rally plate decals aftermarket? Or do they come with the kit? Ive been pondering getting one of these, but my efforts would pale in comparison to yours. Nice work there. Cheers, Wayne.

Wow, Im sure Frank would be dead proud. Your scratchbuilding of the armour is bob-on & the tombstone looks fantastic, did you do any interior work at all. Also did you scratchbuild the guns /w mounts too. An awesome job there, Wayne.

The completed super structure looks good all built up, looks like its gonna need filling in around the front edges. What was the fit like when manoeuvring it over the completed interior? As im at work reading this on me lunch, I cant remember if the plans call for it to be assembled on the deck itself, or built up like you've done & place on top later. As im going to attempt to light the interior cabin on mine (lighting virgin), it looks like im going the way you have, maybe? Nice work so far, Wayne.

I used the sharpening bit on my dremel & its worked a treat. I still gotta sharpen a little smidgen more on the tips, but when I do have to buy a new pair, I will certainly use your suggestions for buying a new set. TYVM guys for all your help. Cheers, Wayne.

Ive mostly used them for sprues, but have occasionally used them for cutting other things, as the tool I may have used wasnt strong enough. The other day I used them to cut through a pc tower plastic front cover plate to go around the sd card reader on my new pc. I have a couple of grinding bits that I can use on my dremel, so I might try that, its a shame to throw them away. Cheers, Wayne.

Ive had these sprue cutters since last year. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modelcraft-Sprue-and-Plastic-Cutter/dp/B0041NYDJG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477750788&sr=8-1&keywords=sprue+cutters Whilst they have served me very well, they are starting to get a little blunt now. I went to my local cobbler's & they are too small to put on their sharpening machine, do any of you guys use some kind of sharpening stick or tool to sharpen yours? Cheers, Wayne.

Ive been having trouble finding some suitable figures to put on mine, but I have found this set. http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2184 They would need some slight modification though. After seeing some dolphins whilst on holiday, I wouldnt mind putting some of those on my sea base, but no luck so far. Cheers, Wayne.

Great progress so far Dave. Tell me, do you plan on putting crew figures on yours & also maybe lighting up the interior cabin? Ive got one of these & plan on starting it this weekend. Cheers, Wayne.