S-boat 55

I use a pin, stick the head in an old Cork and use the point at the applicator, Can also use a needle but stuck point end into the Cork, Both then easy to clean off with a flame, Im gonna follow your build with great intetrst, Sam

It would appear not, I've wondered if they got bought out, either way if they're around it's generally good news

Looking good

Jon, she's a beauty, an elegant ship as you say, you've done her proud as well, hope you're pleased with her, you should be, I thoight the 1:200 Hood was stunning, and the diorama based on war of the worlds was good fun,

Looks great Jon,

Well I start a lot but finishing is taking longer,..... Thanks for the link, I need to order the pontos set for Prince of Wales so need to put an order in there anyway Daft question, has yours stayed stuck down? the first ship I built coming back to the hobby was my dreadnought, I used an artwox deck for that but it kept lifting so I painted in the end, I'm wondering if that was more down to user error than anything

Hi All, So yes I know you may or may not be thinking "he's got two carriers on the go what is he doing starting something else!". Well truth be told is because of a recent purchase I made which builds into a grand (well I think its grand) plan. More on the purchase below and you can see it in the photo's. Some time ago @ArnoldAmbrose made a suggestion on my 1/350 Dunkerque build that I could do one of each of the treaty battleships as a collection. Im not sure how serious it was but Jeff - the idea took hold well and truly! So I've been gathering kits and extras as a result, still much to get but enough now to make a start. The one frustration is no available injection kit of Nelson or Rodney in 1/350 but we can hope. I think when we think of naval arms races we often think of WW1 but it was well and truly underway before WW2 as well, just not in the numbers as twenty five years before. The plan is this thread will be the first in the series that I'm hoping to do over the next few.....um .....years. So far i've got hold of the following in the stash; Admiral Graf Spee Strasbourg (having built Dunkerque0 Littorio Scharnhorst 1940 Richelieu Prince of Wales To add North Carolina and Alabama/Massachusetts (although i have some detail bits for them). In some ways Nelson and Rodney sit outside of this as they were outside of this build up towards the second world war, existing almost in isolation. Im pretty sure this lot will take quite some time as I juggle life and hobby, not to mention the other things i have to build as well! I wanted to make a start though. I picked up Strasbourg for a steal the other day (£40) and want to build her desperately as i love the French ships but the first in the line of treaty battleships was Admiral Graf Spee (AGS). Not that she was a battleship at all of course, the word pocket always added to any introduction of her and her class was later reclassified as heavy cruisers. I've been doing little bits and pieces on the kit over the past 12 months or so, pulling it out when I wanted to stick bits of plastic together/first try colourcoats paints by brush. This is the Academy version, and imho it's not great, its not terrible but its a real mixed bag. I chose it over the trumpeter as I thought it had better lines but its certainly not great in terms of engineering. It has some parts that are nicely detailed, others that are bland and it doesn't go together seamlessly shall we say! A few photo's of where I'm at and what I have to use: Whilst watching the very disappointing rugby yesterday I began drilling out scuttles, id previously started then changed my mind, filled and then changed my mind again hence the filler smear at the bow. Seams - seams everywhere! Luckily the detail sets will correct lots of the very soft detail. Im surprised really each time i think about this one. Academys Warspite is great, clean and crisp moulding - AGS by comparison is just a bit messy. Sets from Eduard, MK.1 and Master barrels for her; I still need a deck for her - the plastic one is alright but has a noticeable join so I'll try a wooden one, and her AA guns are woeful so need replacing! So that's where I'm at. My carriers will continue to be the main focus whilst I get them over the line but my hobby evenings are normally Tues, Thurs and a bit on the weekend and AGS will take one of those slots. Thanks for stopping in, S-boat

Hi All, So small update again, pretty happy with how the radars have turned out, The island is busying up, I do find the rails around the funnel a real pain, i was tempted to leave them off as they were a faff on Graf Zeppelin - they were worse on Taiho but they're on, one is crooked but I'm calling it artistic licence,! This is where its now at; There's a bit of railing to go on and some stairs/ladders, the awkward part is the gussets to go under that small fore platform - I may simplify them, The goal this week is to get the island finished ready to paint. It'll need doing in two parts so the upper most part still comes off. Then its back to the hull, I really want to get some Kure grey on her but there's no point doing just part of her as she's al the same colour, I may as well just have a mammoth airbrush session at some point. Maybe see some of you at Telford, thanks Sam

Happy Birthday Jon, hope you have a great day celebrating. Dunkerque is forming up really nicely, she'll be a great addition to your fleet.

The copper looks fantastic, seems to be going than expected as well which is always good

The breakwater looks great, the joins look very clean, what did you use?

That would be very helpful for anyone looking to scratch build, I'd certainly be interested

Hi All, Hoping the hive mind can help on this one. Does anyone have any experience with Shipyard photoetch detail sets? I'm looking at their set for Hobbyboss's 1/350 Strasbourg but can find very little info on it. On the face of it the set appears very good value, but without seeing instructions or close up photos you can't really be sure. Any steer on previous experience with them or where I could find copies of instructions/close up photos would be very much appreciated Thanks Sam

Ditto the above, thays beautiful paintwork

Thanks, I'll have a look,