Sal82

You're welcome. And thanks Not much progress I'm afraind. But there are some minor details to add, like boat oars, and various other minor bits and bobs.

Very nice PE work indeed. I gave it some thought over the holidays and I think I might have come up with a solution for the movable blast bag. Haven't tested it, but it just might work. Basically you want to cast it in rubber, but there's a bit more to it than that. First off you need to produce a master blast bag for the mould. Sculpt it at about half way elevation so the material can flex either way. Then make a mould from a material that will not react chemically with the rubber. Blue Stuff might do the trick and is fairly easy to work with. Next step is to make the bag itself. There's a brand of silicone rubber that you can brush on (not the two part stuff for resin casting moulds) which reacts and dries in air. I believe it is normally used for plaster casts. Brush a thin layer on the inside of your mould and leave it to dry. You might want to do a couple of layers for increased strength. But once dry you SHOULD have a hollow blast bag that you can draw over your gunbarrel like the real deal. The final problem is of course painting, as you will need to use a flexible paint that doesn't crack when the rubber stretches. Over time the silicone rubber will dry out and crack, but depending a bit on conditions it might take 5-10 years before that happens. I have no idea if this actually works, but I would be very interested to see the results if it does

Thanks A few better photos and a bit more work on the rigging

Some more progress this weekend. Added various small details like cable reels and life bouys and also added the last railings. Also fixed the super structure into place and started the rigging, so the model is really starting to come together. One challenge was the diamond shaped wire antenna structure above the radio station. I am a bit lazy so I mostly use EZ-wire for the rigging, but because of the pull of the antenna I had to do this part the old fashioned way, using stretched plastic sprue. Not the best picture, but you get the gereneral idea Yet to do is finishing the boats, boat tiedowns, a bit more rigging, flags and those final touches that really brings the model to life.

Well, with a long summer there has't been much progress on this, but yesterday I finally pulled the ship out of storage and did some more work. First up I added the screws. I decided to use the cast brass screws from the Lionroar set, but thought they lokked weird, being polished brass on a weathered ship model. So after doing a bit of reading, I found a way to artificially age the brass using a mix of salt and vinegar and a hot oven. I am quite pleased with the result! Also worked on the boats. Technically all boats would be covered in grey canvas at the time of the sinking, but it would make for a visually less interesting model - and also a bit silly after spending ££ for the correctly shaped Shapeways ones. I am not completely happy with the look of the open boats, so I might have to go back and rework those with the correct white paint job on the inside.

An older model that I finally got around to photographing properly after learning a few tips on how to use composite photography and software to get large models properly into focus. This is the Trumpeter 1/700 USS Nimitz with the Eduard PE set, Starfighter deck decals and extra aircraft from Pit Road. I'd probably do a bunch of things differently if I were to build the ship today, but this was an interesting learning process. Although the aircraft turned out quite nice overall, I kind of regret using the supplied decals from Trumpeter and Pit Road instead of getting the correct airwing decals for Nimitz circa anno 1980-1982 so the model cannot be said to be historically accurate. This was also my first attempt at lighting a model and I made a bunch of mistakes, like connecting the diodes in series instead of parallel. Still I am pretty happy with the overall result. Enjoy!

Oooh. Looking forward to following this one!

Still not an actual build update (sorry about that! ), but I noticed that Eduard has just released a PE upgrade set for the Trumpeter HMS Belfast kit. As mentioned elsewhere, I have mixed feelings about the Eduard Hood set - mainly that some parts are just too fragile. However in terms of detail some of these newer Eudard sets are truly top quality and fairly reasonably priced as well. After some deliberation I've decided to purchase the set as it contains a number of useful parts. Nost noticably the surface radar lantern, but I have also come to the conclusion that I will need to rebuild the characteristic bridge wind baffle, and the Eduard set will provice a nice source for all those little triangular supports. Furthermore the kit provides me with a bunch of other useful bits like flag lockers and extremely detailed cranes. Well: At least that's what I keep telling myself, since I've already spent much more money on this kit than I normally would! ...But hopefully the result will be well worth it! https://www.eduard.com/store/eduard/hms-belfast-1-350.html?lang=1&cur=1

Ooh. Hadn't seen those before, but they look excellent. And definitely at a more competitive price than Shapeways! Great work on that LST btw!

This week I have been playing with resin. I made moulds of various length and gauge of bass and guitar strings for the various cable reels on the ship These first casts come complete with all the dirt and grit from the original strings, that got stuck in the mould As mentioned earlier I made the mistake of buying the North Star Models version (the parts in dark resin) - what was I thinking?

This week I recieved the replacement parts from Iron Shipwrights. I think it is safe to assume that the kit I got was an old one, as the resins used and quality of the casts are considerably better. Quality control still isn't the best, as there were some issues with uncured resin on the replacement funnels and some weird miscasts due to insufficiently cleaned moulds (Parts with bits of miscast parts in them). Still there were plenty of extras, so I think I have what I need to proceed with the build. Interestingly it seems ISW themselves have improved some parts of the kit over the years, as the replacement torpedo launchers I recieved look different - and better - than the originals. Thanks to the generous offer of Salmo G there should also be some spare parts from the Trumpeter HMS Belfast en route, which will definitely be an improvement over the resin originals. I still haven't solved the issue with the bollards and fairleads. As much as I like Micro Master's stuff on Shapeways, it does seem a bit too expensive for such a simple part, so I think I will end up designing my own and 3D printing them myself. Hopefully Shapeways will have some kind of special offer during spring, to cut down the cost a bit. Befire I really begin the build I better stock up on sand paper and dust masks! Resin can be nasty to work with!

More detailing work this weekend. This time Pompoms. I ended up using the Lionroar PR parts for these. The Eduard ones were slightly better detailed, but unfortunately also so delicate, that some parts had been damage while still on the fret. I decided to opt for a bit more robustness, as my painting technique with involves drybrushing is a bit rough on finer details. Since the Lionroar set does not include brass barrels for the Pompoms, I had purchased Master brass barrels for these. However it turned out that they were all of equal length, where the middle four is supposed to be slightly longer. In the end I decided to solve this by adding a bit of plasticard. It may not be 100% accurate, but I felt that it was more important to have the overall contour of the gun looking right. One nice addition with the lionroar set is the very fine ammunition belts. I decided to add those after painting the rest of the pompom, and leave them as pure brass, so they would really stand out. The bottom pic shows the scratch built boom. Although most (if not all) booms were probably painted grey, I've decided to keep mine in wood and brass to add more visual interest to the model. I still haven't quite decided where to add the spare carley floats. Most were supposedly moved aft, but I think I might add a few on the funnel housing. If I was to go really overboard, I should probably add some Denton rafts as well, as Hood would have been carrying a bunch of those. However I have found no reliable sources showing where those would be placed. I suppose that will remain one of those late additions I might add when everything else is close to being finished.

Thank you very much. And agreed: The Hood as built was an extremely beautiful ship! The 1941 version is a bit of a mess aesthetically with all those refits and resulting more or less randomly distributed platforms, openings and splinter shields. A hypothetical 1942/43 refit along the lines of Renown would be an interesting project as well.

Another small update. Over the week I've been adding various small details, like binoculars and other bridge equipment from North Star. I found the smaller binoculars a bt too fiddly to do a full assembly, so I did a simplified version and ditched some of the add on PE bits. Also added boat stands, a few ladders, raillings, and deck winches - again from North Star. These are excellent and really adds some nice and intricate detail to the model. The only downside is, that they don't quite fit the cutouts in the wooden deck. But that is a minor inconvenience I can live with. I also added a pair of scratch built booms made from brass rod with some copper wire to represent the various brass brackets (I'll get an image next time) On the to do list, is painting the various boats and launches. I also need to assemble the Pom Poms and the various cable reels. Generally speaking I really like the North Star stuff, but for the latter i purchased their cable reel drum set, and that was a real dissapointment. I am sure the various diameters are correct, but really there is nothing in that set, that cannot be replaced with regular plastic tubing for a fraction of the cost. For my own cable reels I think I am going to do some moulds of small length of guitar and bass strings. These should give me a nice selection of decently looking cable drums. Finally I think I will revisit the starfish platform and add a few extra details.

A small update (quite litterally). Finished the secondary armament, main mast and ship's cranes. I am particularly impressed with the detail level on the Eduard Vickers guns. A bit fiddly, and the splinter shield isn't 100% correct, but overall I think they very nice! Next up: Either doing the rigging for the funnels, building the Pom Poms or start on the boats - oh: Or possibly detailing the bridge.