Faraway

Most excellent. Jon

I’ll email Black Cat and point out this error, which I’m sure they will be only too happy to correct. Jon

Apart from the guns, anchors and chain, this part of the deck is done. This 3D printing has some insane detail, bulbs in the search lights, And just when you think the bits can't get any smaller........

You’re back. Happy New Year. Work on the intakes is very neat. Jon

And so I'm back on the slipway. The deck has received its coat of paint and the model is mounted on its stand, so let the building commence. I'm starting at the bows and will slowly work towards the stern, as you can see there are a few little bits added along with the first part of the bridge structure and the 'hedgehog'. Then the last bit today is the ships number.

White ? Why did it have to be white ? (apologises to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and something about snakes) Jon

Root filling, of which I’ve had a couple, not so bad but they do take a while. Jon I thought so too, makes a nice change from grey Jon

Fairly early start today, as I only have a morning free, dentist this afternoon. I've now finished the hull. Came out ok. Also painted a bit of the superstructure. Going to have a planning meeting now. Once the hull is completely dry, I'll have to mask it and then spray the deck. But I've yet to decide, do I fix the hull to the base before or after the deck is done ? I also have two propeller shafts to fit and I think it'll be easier to fit these on a upturned hull, rather than fiddle around trying to fit them with there hull on the base. We will see. Jon

These things happen, white is NOT my favourite colour, but luckily it was just the hull, so no detail lost due to the excessive paint coverage. Jon

I see nothing to be disappointed about, a lovely finish. Jon

Almost ready for the next colour.

That's better, a proper white hull. Just need to sort out the masks and apply the light blue. Jon

Sorry, got muddled up. I meant the Tamiya 'pibber' Jon

I did the ‘pibber’ by Revell a while ago, nice little kit. So I guess this will be too. Jon

A minor setback has reared its ugly head. As usual, I didn’t prime the parts before I applied the paint, mainly because the extra layer from the primer causes some of the finer detail of the parts to be reduced to a blob, when the actual colour is applied. Also, I’ve found that using Colourcoats, which are enamel paints, primer is generally unnecessary. But, what I didn’t take into account was the colour of the parts, the 3D parts are as usual, grey. However, the hull is a sort of creamy off white. So, when I sprayed the white on them, once dry, the 3D parts are a different shade of white to to the hull, enough to be very obvious when the parts are together. So I’ve had to give the hull a fine coat of grey primer, over the white, in the hope that this should help make all the parts look the same, once the new coat of white is sprayed on the hull Bit of a bother, I really should have realised this would happen, but as the saying goes, “you live and learn” Hey Ho. Jon

Bit of a slow day today, as always when I paint the hull. Red antifoul applied. Can't do much more today, as now I've painted the hull white, I have to wait for it to dry. I've given the superstructure its white coat also. I've added a thin wash of burnt umber to the bridge planks. And the name plate arrived today. So, that's me done for the day, tomorrow I'll me masking the hull and then applying the light blue camo pattern. Jon

Your question has intrigued me, so I’ve had a wander around the internet. Obviously, the photos of the ship are black and white, which doesn’t really help, I found this video, which although interesting, doesn’t really help although towards the end, there are some pictures of her which could hint at the light placement. If it was me, I’d reckon the lights would be at the ends of the open bridge. Also, one of the photos here do show the green light, but it’s not your ship. But it maybe gives a clue. https://www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article/the-late-victorian-navy-part-two/8710 Jon

That’s a sensible approach. Good luck. Jon

If I remember, you are going to use wooden deck ? When I painted onto the wooden deck, of my Bismarck build, I tried various paints on some spare wood deck, I found some of the paint ‘bled’ under the mask, as the mask didn’t go into all the little cracks etc. So you need to do the same, I would say. I used acrylic paints, but using Colour Coats might be easier as it’s thicker. Lots of experimentation ahead ? Jon

And off we jolly well go. I've made my usual base, it will have a name plate later. @Bertie McBoatface I think I've been a bit more accurate with me measuring this time. No scuttles to drill out this time, but there are Fairleads and Scuppers, I drilled through them and then used the drill as a file, and I only broke one 0.3mm drilfile in the process. Forceps are to make them stand out a bit. Boottopping black painted on and masked ready for the red antifoul And there we have todays offering, back tomorrow. Jon

I like that, very neat. Jon

Ah, well, sorry about that, I do seem to have got a slight reputation for building a bit.........quick. But it was very small and with VERY few parts. I too, keep lots of unused bits & bobs, but like you, I haven’t a clue where half of them are. I’m thinking of getting something to store them in properly, AND cataloguing them, one day, one day. Jon

Hah, I tried that on my USS England ! It did not end well, the build did, but some of the PE did end up ‘elsewhere’ Your build though, is looking very impressive. Jon

Even this early in the build, it is unmistakably a Flower. Jon