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1/350 HMS Illustrious R06 - Finished!


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Hello all, after a bit of umming and arring I have decided to do a WIP for this kit.It has taken a long while to get to this point so far, the kit was quite seriously marred by warping of the two decks, both hull halves and the two long interior hangar walls. That meant my newly purchased clamps came in for some serious use when I was putting together the side stations that are visible through the hull openings (to get the walls attached to the deck and the rooves to the walls). I have the White Ensign etch set for this and there are plenty of bits to add I must say. The first parts were for the Atlantic/Pacific boats (called both in the WEM instructions) and this was not as complex as the etch for the RHIB's on the Type 45 were. It still added some good detail though.

I also removed the moulded ventilation grilles from the hull sides, chain-drilling small holes then using an etched saw from Airwaves (I think) to join the dots and remove the plastic. WEM suggested fitting some plastic sheet behind the resulting gaps and paint them white, but I felt that even 5thou card might have been a bit thick, so I used some inkjet copy paper cut just oversize and then super-glued that to the hull interior instead, followed by a bead of thinned white glue to give it a bit more 'stickability'. None of the glue soaked into the paper too much and did not discolour the paper when seen from the outside of the hull.

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The hangar deck had a pronounced droop forward when I tried to fit it to the ledges on the interior, and the hull sides also needed coaxing, and finally I needed about another three hands to keep it all in place while to glue set so I had to think of another tack (sorry!). I taped both hull halves and the hangar deck together and ran a thick bead of medium CA along a short section of deck/hull join followed by some accelerator and that seemed to do the trick. I finished one side (after gluing my nail to the hull - I did not think when I was holding the part tightly to ensure alignment!) and left it for a day to harden (having released myself of course), then the following day I got the other half sorted. I was worried the hull might have 'corkscrewed' due to all the pressure and tensions put on it when I was taping up the joints, but when I managed to find a large flat surface, it sat true - thank goodness for that! The stern transom then took three evenings to get right.

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I am not sure if the above shot shows up the issues with warping, but to my eye the hull sides are not true, certainly the hangar wall is wobbly and I cannot imagine that she was built with that kink in the sides. I have dry fitted the flight deck, and this next shot may give an idea of what I have to deal with next. It will not be insurmountable really and in some ways I may have made a big deal out of it.

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Even though the deck is balanced on a sanding pad, there is a pronounced non-straightness. When the deck is in place on the ship, it still goes up and down, and there are large gaps along the sides. So I will be gluing this in stages, which is something I have never even considered doing before in my goodness knows how many years of modelling. I will need plenty of tape and cocktail sticks to ensure the deck does not get damaged by the glue (another thing learnt from the magazines).

I would like to do this one full hull, and the lower hull does seem to join reasonably well except in one area near the bow, but if I feel I cannot get the joint good enough I will have to do another seascape. But where would I put it!

I have never had issues with warps on kits before and was taken aback a bit, but I was not surprised as I had read on BM from a few others that they had the same issue. I have overcome worse problems with models though, especially a short shot part:

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I managed to sort that so:

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I was given Illustrious by a couple I had done a favour for, and I really want to do it justice. I know I have had issues with the warping, but now that is virtually out of the way I think all should be okay now, just needing to remember to add the etchwork in the right places. I spent a very enjoyable evening cross referencing the Airfix and WEM instructions to figure that out. This is going to be a long build I think, so any thoughts and recommendations will be appreciated.

Thanks for reading this, all the best everyone.

Kind regards, Ray

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For a second I actually thought you'd over engineered the repair till I saw the turret. :banghead:

Anyway, looking forward to this Ray after your T45. I have lusty in the stash till I can afford the WEM set, a birthday pressie from my stepdaughters. :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

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Hi Ray,

Welcome to the challenge that is the Airfix Illustrious, a thoroughly rewarding challenge all the same.

I had serious warping issues with my kit and got a new set of hull side sprues from Airfix, I've recently ordered the WEM set, but they're waiting on new stock. I was hoping to get some progress with it while we have the hot summer nights, but it's difficult to find the time when there's a shortly to be 3 year old running you ragged.

Will be following with interest.

Ant

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Will always like these carriers..........came up with this idea.

8e154bdb-4768-475b-baad-6bf399cb5d2c_zps

Oddly I had a similar concept in mind, but mine is in 1/350 using the original warped hull halves from my Airfix kit with a donated hull bottom from 'bootneck'. I thought about lengthening the hull an inch or two, the result wouldn't be much shorter than the Centaurs or Victorious. I do think the island needs to be cropped in length but that's my personal preference.

Looks good though.

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Will always like these carriers,I bought a revell Invincible carrier of ebay 1/700, without reading the details,opps,it came without the bow parts,so instead of putting it all in the spare box,came up with this idea.

8e154bdb-4768-475b-baad-6bf399cb5d2c_zps

Looks really good, I never thought of such an idea, although the Crabbe Seaking on a flightdeck is pushing the realms of make believe a bit too far :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello all, I am stuck.

I have got the deck on, that went a lot better than I was expecting, but I have issues with the lower hull. I want to do this one full hull for a few reasons:

Firstly, I think the Illustrious looks great in full hull version

Second, I think I would struggle to find a flat space big enough if I did a sea-scape and

Thirdly there is very little gluing area to fit it to a board anyway and I think it might be tricky to fit a 'plate' to the base of her.

The problem I have is that the lower hull and the main hull contours appear to be quite different towards to bow. There is a thin lip on the inside of the lower part which clips into the upper part. This does not seem to give much area for gluing. I don't think that CA would be a good idea due to the size of the hull joint and the difficulty of getting it into the joint without ruining the surface. I have tried dry fitting it and using masking tape to pull in the sides to match the contours but there is still quite a gap. I am not sure if the hull sides are strong enough to withstand clamping.

Do any of you have any ideas that may help? I have been tackling this for about two weeks now and I am in limbo. I am even going to take it to our club meeting on Tuesday for advice!

If I have to do a sea-scape I will but I would rather not.

Thanks for reading this, and in advance for any advice given.

All the best, kind regards, Ray

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Hi Ray, you could try using lengths of the really thick sprue in the kit to act as internal supports going from left to right etc., this could help to stiffen and strengthen the upper and lower hulls. I haven't started my lusty yet but I've used this method on other ship and aircraft models.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello all, well after consultation at my model club, waterline it is. Jockster, thanks for your idea but it did not work. The main problem I had was that the upper hull was bowed out from the lower, and when I got to the club, a few of the gang could not even force the sides to fit the lower hull. I think the idea would have worked if the upper hull was warped inside if you know what I mean. I thinks it may have been something to do with the internal structure not allowing me to press the sides in fully. I was really having to force the sides in to get anywhere near the right alignment.

Anyway, I had fun and games attaching the flight deck, and used another new (to me) idea where I used cocktail sticks to lift the tape up from the seams to prevent glue leakage.

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The deck went on better than I had expected considering its wavy nature, but I think here the flimsiness of it helped. I had some gaps around the sides, but Perfect Plastic putty and a wet cocktail stick soon sorted most of that out.

Next up was a marathon masking session, I knew Sky TV flyers came in handy for something, they saved an awful lot of tape (I used nearly two flyers). I have got some wide 'low tack' masking tape which would have done the job but I found when I removed it from the hull sides and flight deck after attaching the latter, it left a horrid sticky gunk. It came off with a dab of white spirit on a tissue, but I would rather it did not need to be used after I have rattle-can sprayed the deck. Anyway, out came Halfords grey primer and on with the job.

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Last week I even found some foam (from the packing an AppleMac Mouse comes in) and used it as masking for the first time too. Old dogs, new tricks hey?

Hope it works!

The deck has some strange flow marks on it in three or four places, I tried sanding them out with sandpaper and micromesh cloths but they would not go away, any ideas for next time?

I read somewhere that the main flight deck for Illustrious was an overall dark grey (H27 was suggested I think) rather than the Airfix suggestion of mainly H64 but H27 for the ramp, and the main illustriousation (illustration) on the box seems to back that up, so that is next up after some drying time.

I am glad I have got over my block on this, I did a couple of quick builds (and made a boo-boo by doing a Red Cross German motorcycle and side car with a machine gun!). This time I think I am going to build the ship in her entirety before attaching her to the base, I just know what would happen if I was moving that lot around trying to fit delicate parts.

Thanks for looking, and hope to have more progress soon.

All the best, Ray

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I have the Lusty Ray and I've been gathering bits before I build it but this is the first ship kit I'm not looking forward to starting as everyone that's built it has had a problem with the hull fit. I always build full hull too.

I think I may have to put the hull together early and leave it in the stash for a while strapped up till its time to do the build proper and hope it straightens everything out. Waterline version wouldn't be an option for me.

Enjoying your build despite the problems though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I pulled mine out of the stash Ray to look for warpage. only a little warped along the portside and nothing that rubber bands weren't pulling straight to I can rest easy..... or can I?

Ok, I have to admit to cleaning up a few bits, and glueing the hull together and the hangar deck and the airwing and the island and painted the props and filled the elevators and reworked the anchor capstans and added fine chain for them and........

Bugger! I've started another kit! :banghead:

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I pulled mine out of the stash Ray to look for warpage.......Ok, I have to admit to cleaning up a few bits, and glueing the hull together and the hangar deck and the airwing and the island and painted the props and filled the elevators and reworked the anchor capstans and added fine chain for them and........

Bugger! I've started another kit! :banghead:

I think more than a few of us fall into that trap, I currently have a Frog HMS Trafalgar, an Airfix Illustrious, Daring & Trafalgar submarine on the go, all with the exception of the Trafalgar sub were pretty much started by accident.

Ant

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I pulled mine out of the stash Ray to look for warpage. only a little warped along the portside and nothing that rubber bands weren't pulling straight to I can rest easy..... or can I?

Bugger! I've started another kit! :banghead:

Hello Jockster, you've started so you've gotta finish! (now I have to follow my own advice too...)

I have been fiddling with this kit for a while now, I had said I would have painted the deck an over all dark grey and sprayed it all-over H27, but I have looked at a number of web photographs and it is difficult to see conclusively what the colours were. Some shots show the ramp to be darker than the main deck so yesterday I masked up the ramp and re-sprayed the rest of the deck H64. I am glad I am decisive (I think). The way the transfers are coloured I feel it would be wrong to have been all over dark grey.

Today I should hopefully start fitting some of the etch ventilator grilles on the hull sides then can get on with brush painting the H127 sides (after remembering to fit a plastic base plate to the underside of the hull to give it more attachment points for when I fit it to the sea base.

I will post some pics soon to show progress (or lack thereof)

All the best everyone, Ray

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Hi Ray, I've gone for the full hull on mine. There is a beautiful build of it in Tamiya model mag July issue 213. Well. Worth buying it as a back issue. Stunning build and stunning paintwork!

Jocko

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Hello Jockster, the Tamiya mag was where I had seen about the all-one-colour flightdeck I think (it was brought into our Model Club meeting) a short while back. You are spot on with the quality of that build, it was brilliant. Mine will not be up to that mark by a long shot. I really hope you have better luck fitting the lower hull than I did.

This is what I have ended up with so far:

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It needs a bit of retouching and it is a bit stark at the moment but I am going to try to tone it down a bit. I used Humbrol spray cans for the flight deck colours, it is a shame they do not do a can in H127 especially as both Lusty and the Type 45 need it on fairly large hulls. Maybe in the future? I use a wide flat brush (from Hobbycraft) - it is a Winsor and Newton 'Cotman' 666 1/2" and is really soft and does a good enough job for my needs. It is not as good as an airbrush though. Ithink it is going to be fun lining up all the deck transfers, there are rather a lot to say the least.

I have also just fitted the 'baseplate' to the hull. There is only a very tiny lip along the edge of the hull to glue it to, so I fitted some supports athwartships (is that a term?) for the plate to rest on and hopefully stop it from bowing inwards. I used Revell Contacta cement and some liquid glue to fit that. It is now drying, with a couple of books resting on the flight deck to press it down solidly.

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I had to do the baseplate in two parts as my plastic sheet was too short, just like the bookcase shelves where I display my finished models. I am still trying to figure out where I am going to put this. A very kind chap at my Model Club said I could have a Revell 1/350 Bismarck for nothing, but I declined it for that reason too (although I would have had great difficulty in accepting a gratis offer like that anyway).

Hopefully now I have got over the awkward bit, I can progress a bit better. Where have I heard that before...?

All the best, kind regards, Ray

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I'm not convinced about the double colour deck. I can't remember seeing any of the three carriers with two-tone decks. It might be a slightly different shade due to it being in shadow or damp or something, but completely different seems doubtful. Perhaps Airfix did their referencing whilst Illustrious was in dry dock. I vaguely remember that she had her ski jump replaced at one point.

Also, you can get decals for all three carriers from WEM. There is the missing deck 'L' available too.

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Really depends on your references and is no different to saying whether a tarmac road is all one colour or has light/dark if it's been patched for repairs. It's not unusual to see the ramp get a whole new coating above and beyond the rest of the flight deck. If the ship had been subject to a full on maintenance period then the whole deck would have been redone. This also applies for harrier hover jet blast scorching - depends on amount of ops and time since deck redone so, as I've said, just trust your references and go with your gut feeling. Benbow (served on all 3!!)

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Ray, athwartships is correct and I'm sorry to say that I have a seamless join twixt upper and lower hulls, but I assembled mine differently, so that I have the complete hull shell with the hangar and flight decks to fit later, I only used them as internal supports while lining up, taping and glueing the hull pieces.

Rich, I haven't spotted a missing 'L' yet, where should I be looking? Please don't say starboard! :-)

Benbow, all three? You cool dude!

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The three carriers, indeed all RN flight deck equipped ships, have an identifier. Illustrious has an 'L', Ark Royal had an 'R' and Invincible had an 'N' on the rear of the flight deck. Quite prominent actually! The Airfix decals omitted it. Hawk Graphics do a small but handy sheet to rectify this and to provide the other two ships for variety.

See here towards the rear of the Chinook. https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1024&bih=672&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=BJYsUrawBIOWhQek9oGwAQ&q=hms+illustrious+rear+flight+deck&oq=hms+illustrious+rear+flight+deck&gs_l=img.3...57112.57796.0.58268.5.5.0.0.0.0.115.412.3j2.5.0....0...1c.1.26.img..5.0.0.Tn4S4qbMLKk#biv=i%7C32%3Bd%7Ce0F9trrSUR3sOM%3A

https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/Hawk+Graphics+1350+HMS+Invincible+R05+HGD3530/19055/#.UiyV2su9KSM

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