ChrisSC

Thank you. When I finished the model I put all the tools in order. It doesn't look that way when I'm using them lol.

Thanks Steve. 1/450 QE2 is as done as I’m gonna make it. It was a quick project, a little over 3 weeks and in some places it shows lol. I’m satisfied with it for a rush job. Biggest issue was I broke off the tiny piece of mast that holds the rigging….after it was rigged. Even though it’s crooked I’m lucky I got the glue to hold it back on at all.

Thanks Bandsaw Steve. I'm adding some more PE to her.

More progress on 1/450 QE2.

Thanks Iceman 29. I did a little more.

Thanks beefy. Noel Smith I think that was a bad choice of films for a crossing lol. This kit is quite a bit bigger than the Airfix version. Glued the first two decks down and started some PE on 1/450 QE2.

Thanks Iceman 29. I painted them a very light grey. I also blackened the portholes on the white are of the hull.

Started painting the hull and some other bits on 1/450 QE2.

Did some more painting and installed the chains.

Nice photos Iceman 29. The last true liner IMO.

Thanks Erk. I did a bunch of ships in a row and took some time off. I decided to get another one going.

Starting a Gunze Sanygo 1/450 QE2.

PF Naughton that's the reason I haven't built a United States, I have heard the kits available all have some issues. Thanks Chewbacca. Avoiding the bulbous bow will save you a lot of trouble. That’s all for 1/600 Queen Mary 2. Out of the box with some railings. The funnel decals had me using curse words I didn’t even know I knew lol. Time for a break. I am going to build a 3D printer from a kit and try to learn how to use it.

Ok then the Glencoe is the one I would stay away from. The Revell is a waterline kit if I'm not mistaken? As long as the proportions are correct I may have to try and find one of those some day. I bought a Glencoe France and didn't care for it and never built it.

Yes, I have heard some bad things about any of the SS United States kits . I would buy one but I keep hearing they are very toy like and are actually modeled after SS America. I think the distance between the stacks is too short or something along those lines. I've never seen one in person though. I hope your luck turns for the better on your project. Chris

Thanks beefy. If you don't mind my asking. which kit do you have? I've seen four versions, 1/400, 1/600, 1/700, and 1/1200. After Titanic I think she comes in second for most kits available. In place of the 50 versions of Titanic and the bunch for QM2 I would love to have just a single 1/350 Aquitania lol!

Thanks Norman. I added most of the PE. Once the davits are installed I’ll add the boat deck railings.

Thanks Knb.1451. The real ship has dark glass on the balconies but the black railings will have to be close enough just to get some color in there. It looks pretty bland being just white everywhere.

Thanks Knb.1451. I said I was gonna build this out of the box but I flip flopped and started doing black PE railings on the balconies of 1/600 QM2. Did the first four blocks on one side. I have some Gold Medal stainless PE which I can never seem to bend correctly so I’ll use it up here since these are straight runs. I’ll use brass for the rest of the railings. I also changed the color of the screw blades from copper to something more towards a steel color.

Thanks holtaa. More progress on 1/600 Queen Mary 2. I’ve decided I’m going to build this straight out of the box with hardly any PE for a change. I think the cost of PE railings to do this kit will be more money than the kit. Just the balconies alone would be expensive. I would rather put that cost into the 1/400 version. Out of the box really makes it a quick build.

Nice photos Iceman29. 1/600 Queen Mary 2 is moving along quickly.

I can answer your question with a little more insight as I have progressed along on the kit. As with most of the kits I've built the bridge area has fitment issues, probably more than most. There are quite a few flimsy parts coming together here and they don't like to play nicely together. Unfortunately some of the connections have more pressure on them than I would prefer in my attempt to narrow the gaps between pieces.. I'm hoping the glue doesn't give way at some point in the future causing the bridge to burst into several pieces lol. I did not find it possible to totally test fit this area without having to first glue some pieces together as it was like trying to balance a house of cards. Hope this helps.

Knb.451 from what I have seen the parts, except for the color of the clear parts and decals are exactly the same. Beefy, I’m really trying to make it a quick build but the kit is not allowing that lol. There is a LOT of masking on the clear parts. Several things to be aware of. The first is the bow section that has to be grafted on. It is a pain to blend in, bad fit. There are raised accent lines of plastic that run most of the length of the hull at the waterline aft of the piece you have to attach. Where the seam is it is smooth so it’s a strange transition. Then as you move more towards the front of the piece if you get too much putty in the horizontal seam it doesn’t look correct as you can’t get in there to sand. I only put the tiniest bit of water-soluble putty there and wiped almost all of it off before it could dry. I would have preferred to have the bow thrusters open but their holes are too close for me to have sanded the putty smooth. I had a feeling I was just going to ruin the open doors while sanding. As a result I glued the two halves of the bulbous bow together without the thruster doors installed and then attached it to the hull and smoothed it out. If done that way the open doors won’t be able to be installed due to not having enough room after assembly to squeeze them in, but the closed door parts will fit. The decals are another conundrum. The window and door decals on all the balconies are tough. There are lots of little raised partitions on the balconies that I just decaled over in one piece. I thought the decal solvent would make them conform flat….it didn’t lol. They didn’t adhere well and look pretty bad. I think the better way to do it is to cut the decals into sections that will fit between the partitions and only be affixed to the flat areas. There are a BUNCH of them! I just didn’t feel like putting in the huge amount of time that would have taken, but a better modeler would have done that. It took quite some time to put all the decals on even the lazy way I did it. They also like to tare being so long so doing them in sections would probably help that issue too. Also cut them really close or they don’t fit correctly in the slots height wise. Finally, there is the question of whether you prefer a flat or gloss finish. I prefer a flat finish which is a real headache for two reasons. The combination of lots of decals and clear parts is tough. If I try to seal the model and decals with flat clear the clear parts will haze over. I sprayed the model in gloss, applied whatever decals I could and then hit it with flat before installing the clear parts. This only works to a certain extent as some decals need to be applied after assembly and some decals actually are affixed to clear parts. On the bridge there is no way I can think of to seal the decal windows without hazing. There are also decals that span two adjoining parts in one piece that can only be applied after assembly. I will have no choice but to apply them over flat paint which is going to make them silver. OK, I feel like I just wrote a novel lol. I hope you gain some helpful tips from my experience.

Thanks. I have both Airfix and Heller, this is the Heller. They look exactly the same except the clear parts are tinted dark in the Heller and the decals are a little different. The hull is two pieces but not in the traditional way. It is not two halves but rather a full hull but with the bulbous bow as a separate piece that does not fit well and requires a whole lot of work to blend in. So far the rest of the fit seems OK but I haven't progressed all that far yet.

I decided to do a quick build of a 1/600 Queen Mary 2. I'm going to try to build all the 1/600 ocean liners available before I move back to the larger scales.