Massimodels

What do you usually thin it with for airbrush use? Also @Siggi, have any of your models with XDFF developed any discolouration? I've heard of some yellowing. And is it still your cream of the crop matt varnish?

The semester is almost over, but I was able to sneak in some building last night because I had some free time. I painted up and attached the lifeboats, with the intention of attaching the last two to the davits at the end of the build (too fragile for right now). The building is surprisingly almost over, with the mast, some deck bits and bobs, and then the turrets left. Stay tuned for more frequent updates in the next month or so.

Small progress: added a wash to the decks using thinned brown oil paint. Added the PE stairs to the superstructure, and built the masts (always hate that part). Hopefully I'll be able to do a sufficient amount of meaningful progress from now on.

School has started, so I do not see updates coming as frequently as I'd like. Nevertheless, I was able to do some more work to the superstructure, and start some of the PE. Attached the lifeboat cranes (davits??), as well as the funnel areas of the superstructure. All painted in the same hull grey – I think it's coming along nicely. I now also have a question: does anyone have a technique for doing the funnel smoke residue? Would it even look good in this scale? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (Have not glued down the superstructure parts for this reason). Next is more PE stairs, lifeboats, and then masts. Lots more fun to look forward to...

In trying to stick to my initial idea, I painted the hull piece separately, and attached it after. It worked quite well, the fit was very ideal, and saved the effort of masking it. There is a subtle amount of pre-shading on the hull if you look close enough; did not want to overdo it because I'd like to do some more weathering on top at the end. There's nothing like that classic red, grey, and deck tan colour combination that comes with these ships. So elegant. Also, the turrets were added and brush painted with black on top as per the reference material. Next I think I will continue building the next deck sections, but do a wash on the decks before they get too crowded.

Hi @Micha_Pol, it is full hull, and I have thought about this. Now that you mention it, I think I ought to do this. Was originally just going to paint them separately and put them together afterwards. The fit of both regions is pretty good, so I didn’t think I would need to fill anything. That will be my next step then.

@ArnoldAmbrose, I think you might be correct. When I get to that part of the build, I will be sure to give it significant notice. Thanks for pointing it out. Moving on, today I finished up painting the first pieces of superstructure with XF-83. Applied it with airbrush and freehand for the smaller bits. Lastly, I attached one of the hull strips and dry-fit the rest of the superstructure – the ship has a very nice preliminary silhouette.

To start this off, I began attaching the torpedo net booms *carefully*. Broke the first one in half and almost lost another – now I remember why I love this hobby. Next, they were painted with Tamiya XF-75 and 1 (black stripe). Plan to do the superstructure in XF-83 since there should be some variation between hull and superstructure grey. Finally, the deck areas were painted with XF-57, as the 78 I used before was a little too dark. I very much like the panel detail on these kits – it will make putting washes on them very satisfying. Stay tuned for many more updates.

After much inactivity, I have decided to get posting again. Now with an introductory kit into 1:700 ships, I picked up this Derfflinger kit at the hobby shop, with the intention of getting into the Flyhawk 1:700 scene. This is the full hull version of the kit, because I favour them greatly from the waterline ones – especially from Tamiya. Getting started I wanted to share some beautiful renders I have found that will serve as a guide, as well as some first stages of the model to follow.

Hello, I’ve been making ship models for some time but have never perfected a method of painting the deck while also taking into account the raised deck detail. With an airbrush, what’s the best way to paint the deck while also being able to achieve clean looking painted raised deck detail? Thanks!

Hi sorry for the even later reply, thanks for your response. I'll be sure to keep all that in mind, especially the weathering (still cant get over that effect!) I have the deluxe edition with the added PE brass railings, although I doubt I'll use them because I plan to get a proper PE set for the kit, the one it includes is pretty limited. Not sure if that is the same one as yours, but I did see some included anchors so I'm not sure. Also as a followup, what paint did you use for the deck? I used Tamiya's XF-76 for my 1/400, and it was a little darker than I liked. Yours seemed pretty nice, but maybe I'll just get a lighter colour that'll look just right after a wash.

Hi, I just had a couple questions about your technique. I’m about to start the same kit and was curious about some things you did. The first being your decks. I know you said it was the same technique as the Revell one, but I couldn’t find that. Was it just a wash on top of the plastic, or did you paint it? Also, the bit of hull weathering, what did you do to get that white tone on the black hull? Last just wondering what PE kit you used! Sorry for the trouble, I’m just wondering how you got such great results!

For the most part this model is not complete. As for the ship-length rigging, it was causing a plethora of issues for me, and was unendingly frustrating so I left it out. Other than that, mostly everything is complete, with the uncompleted items left out at my own favour. It's far from perfect, but with the time that I have spent, and with the effort that I was willing to spend, it turned out quite nice. (FYI the hull is not as shiny as the pictures make it out to be) After 2 months of work, I present RMS Titanic. My next project will likely be a 1/48 Stuka or Spitfire depending on what I feel like starting, hope to start on it soon!

I’ve been at work on the lifeboats and overall finishing steps. I have completed the lifeboats, attached the propellers, and built the stand. More pictures to follow in the next update.

Hello there! It's been awhile. After a series of events that prevented me from modelling, I am back and have some progress to share. I have finished the forward and aft. mast rigging, finished PE rails for the stern deck endings, added stairs, and added the cranes (bow cranes were added after the photo was taken). I have also painted some rails and deck sides brown and sides of funnels black to add authenticity. I have started on the lifeboats, and hope to get another update out soon....

When I left off, I had only fitted in B deck. Throughout the process of attempting to fit in A and the Boat Deck, I worked very little on the model. This was predominantly because of the majority of the building process was clamping, gluing, and waiting. Because of this, I didn't not see it fit to make an update as frequently as I usually do. I now present all of the decks in place with the tops of the smokestacks complete. The overall building process was not as gruelling as others who have built this model have described. It was just a matter of getting all the deck parts in the groves of the hull wall. After that is done, clamping is required to glue in the side of the deck where the lifeboats go. It has no groves to guide it in the correct orientation. After that was complete I started on the black tops of the smokestacks. They were not fitting properly, so I cut off the connector grove and just made sure that they were in the correct orientation by eye. I have started on the forward rigging and mast. Updates on that will follow....

This is a very eventful update, I have been hard at work completing the rest of the boat deck and starting on deck and hull wall assembly into the hull. First order of business was to tackle the yellow stipe. It was actually a great deal easier than I had originally thought. I masked it off with Tamiya's 10mm and airbrushed Tamiya XF-3 and it came out very nicely. I am very happy with my results! Next I easily installed the main hull wall and cut off the plastic rails which were moulded to the bow and stern raised sections. I also used a thin black marker to line the insides of the portholes. Don't know if I'm going to do the same for the middle section. To ensure an easy insertion into the hull wall, the boat deck required a slight dip in the middle. Hopefully this will help with it. I have also started to glue in B Deck into the hull. It won't be long till this build is complete!

Finished the PE rails and have started on the rigging. Leaving the 4th funnel for tomorrow because I have not completed all of the PE stair railings (third picture) in that area. The rigging is just some simple thin thread I purchased at the craft store, I will give more details about it next update. The included rigging is too thick and not to scale. Also painted the lifeboat davits. Instead of using the rigging method advised in the plans, (tie one end to a cylindrical piece of sprue and tie the other onto a cylindrical piece underneath the deck) I opted to glue one end of the rigging into the first hole. After it had dried, weave the thread through the smokestacks and the deck. Then take the excess thread and tie it to the work surface after gluing the end of the thread to the deck hole to ensure a tight and sharp drying result.

A rather uneventful update, just some etch added in the forward section of the boat deck. Similar updates will follow....

Got to work on the latter half of the boat deck superstructure. I added the smokestacks as well. In this process it was clear that the raised sections of A Deck needed to be fit exactly to the boat deck parts. Therefore, I partially glued the decks together and left area in the front and back to allow for easy access for rigging. This is the final product from today's work on the boat deck. Looking ahead, I also added the base rigging for the forecastle and aft well deck. Labeling (as per the plans) and connecting them with tape. Tomorrow is going to be exciting, the PE rails are next! It will be my first time using PE rails....

Painted the smokestacks with Tamiya white primer and a mixture of XF-2,15, and 78. Got it as close as I could to what I think is "White Star Buff". Dry-fit it to give some context and perspective. Started work on other deck segments and the PE navigation tower. (Still wet, not glossy)

Continued to work on the forward boat deck superstructure. The painting went okay accept for the wheel house roof, I needed to hand paint it. Most likely going to redo it. I used an undetermined mix of Tamiya XF-1 and 2 to get the grey for the roofs of the deck houses. I also tried a technique on the staircase dome. I covered the whole thing with a black dry-erase marker and let it dry for a minute or so, then gently wiped the excess off. It stuck to the raised areas. Finished building the bottom section of the smokestacks, and will prime and paint them next. Time to figure out how to get White Star Buff out of my Tamiya paints...

Back from my break and building has resumed. On my trip back, I picked up some white primer from Tamiya due to the difference between painted and plastic white. Here is the before and after on the hull wall. I also noticed that it looks more crisp and realistic, which was a nice bonus! Before: After: Also started on the boat deck and will continue to clean up and improve the paint job. Plan to do some major airbrush painting tomorrow, maybe even start the funnels... Hope you are still enjoying my build! Expect more updates in the coming days!

Well the area that I was attempting had parts attached to it so , in addition, my hobby knife is not the best and needs replacing.

Off to the cottage for the next week and thought I would leave you with this glimpse of what’s to come... I’ve dry fit the decks on top of the hull and it is starting to look promising. Should start posting again around next weekend, hope to see you there!