S-boat 55

To be fair it does get pretty hot there

Must say im loving seeing this come together, there's a real beauty to this age of warship and i think your showing that very well with this build as well,

The etch work on the funnels looks really clean mate! They look greet, .... and do you think she had enough torpedo launchers! I'm always surprised when seeing them mounted centrally, I always think they are an accident waiting to happen,

How easy is it to take a standard 'stick on' deck and colour it? Akin to this; I am toying with getting a wood deck for Taiho but hers was stained black shortly before her loss, so if i were to do it I would need to be able to stain it black in a convincing way, Been working on bit and pieces the past few days, some of the painting for the hangar, did Zeppelins lower then joined it to the upper hangar but I'm not sure about the deck colour now that its in place, also noticed there is much more of a joint between the two hangars than I thought would show on the well wall. From looking at that I've decided the brass detail I added to sit either side of the lift/pad will be going, I'm working on sorting something better from thin evergreen sheet. Not a lot I can do about the deck colour now for the lower although I could do different for the upper hangar, would look odd I guess. I don't want to have to try and separate the two hangars again as that's a recipe for disaster but really not sure on the colour at the moment its a very dark blueish grey, wonder if a more neutral grey would have been better, Ive no idea what colour hangar decks were normally, thoughts? So thats parked a minute while I think on it, and went back to my 'thinking project' - I have a few small models that i pull out when i fancy a change from the big tasks as I can see actual progress from an hour or two spent on them. This is the latest - revells 1/350 Type VII uboat with eduards etch, she is now ready to paint and will sit next to Zeppelin in the cabinet one day, And then I figured it was about time I started looking at the airwing for Taiho - I may regret deciding to go whole hog on it but I hope to build Akagi one day so it will be shared between the two should that ever happen, I'm a touch special I think as i need to be able to see something to help me get it done and know that i am making progress, its why I have a spreadsheet measuring my progress through my builds, retentive that may make me, but it works for me, Laid them all out and so it begins; Not much of an update really but still plugging away. Curious on thoughts re the deck staining and colour of the hangar floor? thanks Sam

That mast is great btw

Good golly gosh hasn't she got lovely lines, the bow in profile is akin the tip of katanga sword, the truly overall grey is a godsend in simplifying painting for sure, That base looks right nice

Must say I think your being modest re you skills with PE, you're doing an excellent job so far,

Another great looking build from yourself, well done, I need me a Japanese capital ship to accompany my carrier, one of these would do the trick

Lovely build, very clean and tidy, like how you've got the candy stripes on the foredeck. Think you've got the colours for the red spot on, it's often done too bright but yours looks just right. I've her sister Zara in the stash waiting her turn and I'll be chuffed if she comes out as yours

Great build, seascape and finish 10/10 from me, Ps. I'd dearly love to see her released in 1/350

Great build, midern submarine models leave no housing place for blemishes and you've done a great + clean finish

Thats a stroke of luck for sure

My chair is pulled up, I've been wondering about a japanese escort for Taiho and as Jeff says these were great looking ships,

Good golly gosh you work fast, and with an output that is looking brilliant,

@Ex-FAAWAFU I nearly bought the airfix kit a while back but tried their type 45 and gave up on it for the same week known issues, but i may have to take the punt one day, as you say she's the only one out there @SallysDad thank you that's very kind,

Funny you mention them, I think I've been very much hooked on carriers now and been thinking about doing a modern one,

I'll confess part of me wants to leave her black, wonder if there ever were ships just painted completely black,

Well clement weather = airbrushing, the wife and kids also have covid so keeping outside suits me well atm, Im still getting the hand of this airbrushing malarkay However - went with white for Taihos enclosed bow, i'll do the deck by brush, then, I tried doing the hangar wells white but they were awkward to do as i think all the angles made the paint mainly blow off and I couldn't get into the positions without being close in, so switched to a light grey instead which worked a treat. So the Japanese carrier now has German hellgrau 50 in her hangars but i think it works. Then it was Graf Zeppelins chance to become Stealth Zeppelin: She's almost totally black, the hope is that the very slight difference in 'primer' will show through ever so slightly to the top coat to give it variation. Of course if the camo comes off then it'll be plenty varied but you get the idea. Marked the waterline off by using the trusty pencil as below, putting her on a thin sheet of foam was important as it stopped her rocking otherwise it would have been crooked. According to her stats the draught should be 2.1cm's, this is 1.9, trumpy would have it even less but their painting schemes are as we know kinda fictional, as Carriers went she wasn't a light weight by any means coming in at 33,000t+ Then got the anti fouling on her, had a few issues as you will see in the photo's, im not sure if there was grit in the paint, id doubt it or surely it wouldnt have gone through the airbrush so i guess this is the downside of doing it on a breezy day outside, i'll have to carefully put it right, Chuffed though that the slight raised plating detail has come good, i was worried the paint wasnt thick enough. I dont know if the black paint lifted because it hadnt been left long enough, Its not major though, I just dont want the same thing to happen when I come to the camouflage scheme, As you can see i used Tamiyas masking tape with plastic sheeting attached, i bought rhe 550 wide variant so i could lay it out and hop the bottom off with a blade and used tamiya 18mm tape to make it to the other side of the ship and basically cocoon the upper half. That has the upside of if any photo etch is knocked off its safe inside the cocoon to be re-attached later. Also means i get twice the length of masking for the same price, I did have to use thinner tape to make the line off though as there isnt enough play in the wider type. The hangar's also painted up, need to do the floor by hand but just thinking now about build order, whether to paint the camo up then put the hangar etc in and or vice versa. Hangar first would mean the deck could go on and have the edge gussets etc painted, but it would also mean I'd need to mask of the bays on each side and try and fit the railing etc after. Both are doable but not sure which would be less hassle, Thanks for stopping in

Very very impressive so far, I'm amazed at how you have managed to build the pe so cleanly, not even a hint of glue needing tidying, what is or you use

Sweet moses they are tiny

I believe some capital ships had their decks darkened, not sure re Rodney,

Very impressive remodeling of the helicopter, I'd not have the patience or skill to do that, well done,

I've read in a few places, most recently on build threads by rgl who is a superb modeler, that is helpful to add a clear gloss layer to the plastic deck first as it helps the wooden decks adhesive to stick. If guess that's because it gives a nice smooth surface to key to, I'd personally add the wooden deck after sticking the plastic one to the hull and also after any painting that can be done without it in place, will save a lot of masking and potential heartache if paint leached under masking, Just my thoughts, Bit rubbish the barrels were missing, I hope they've put that right for you

There's a newish book out on duke of York, useful perhaps for generic appearance of the sort of things that would be on the decks but not specifically KGV, Odd as it sounds Pinterest is worth a look, I find that it turns up loads of photos that would otherwise be obscure to find, just need to make sure if it says kgv that it actually is kgv, If its okay to link to another forum this thread might be of use, http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4715&hilit=KGV+fans Hope that helps

Okay, thanks, full black coat it is,