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Pegasus Nautilus


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Looking amazing so far - I quite fancied this kit also!

Pete

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Looking amazing so far - I quite fancied this kit also!

Pete

Go for it. It does you good to let your imagination run riot once in a while. I usually strive for accuracy in my models and enjoy the research into aircraft, cars. Apollo, or whatever, but now and again it's good to build something free of all constraints, where nobody can tell you it's wrong in any way.

A little further progress over the weekend, starting with masking the searchlights and deck area, then spraying the rest with Mr Metal Color iron, post-shaded with some dark iron along the rivetted seams and joins. At first it looks a little bit of a patchwork...

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But with a bit of buffing, (and if you're trying this at home boys and girls, make sure you use buffable metallic paints or it won't work), it starts to look a bit better. Please excuse the dodgy photography, the light was appalling and flash would have created too much glare from the shiny bits.

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Using a soft cloth and a finger, I could buff up the centres of the larger panels and the rivet detail, but the smaller and more delicate areas needed careful polishing with a cotton bud. Lots of cotton buds actually. The sharp detail on this kit is most pleasing to the eye but it rips cotton buds to bits. Eventually an attractive shine starts to develop and the detail pops out. It's hard to show it in pictures, but the light reflects off the various angled surfaces when you move around the model.

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Carefully removing all the paper masks is a tedious and time-consuming business. A lot of them were ready to drop off, but others were clinging on very firmly, so a lot of care with a knife blade, cocktail stick and tweezers was necessary. Some residue and paint had to be scraped off the clear parts, (makes you realise how good Tamiya tape really is), and there's a way to go yet, but at the moment it looks like this.

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A couple of sub-miniature toggle switches from Maplins were fitted into the wooden base ready for the wiring between the model and the battery holders.

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And a quick dry-fit of the major components was done to see roughly how it's all intended to go together.

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Some detail painting, a careful wash or two and the photo-etch to do next, and then it will start to come together. The Nautilus is meant to rest on the arms of the squid and stay there through gravity alone, but I'm going to have to come up with a more secure fixing to hold it together when I open the box lid to change the batteries. I've got some seams on the squid to fill as well. I thought I'd done them, but maybe it's shrunk back. The squid's an odd sort of vinyl substance, (I think, I'm not a plastics expert), and is quite flexible, so I'm hoping it doesn't settle out of shape with the weight of the model over time. I don't imagine it would deform visibly but it might open up some filled joins between the arms and the body. Ho hum, time will tell.

That was all I managed to get done, too many distractions such as shopping for cotton buds, hoovering and noisy neighbours interrupted my modelling time and concentration.

Cheers,

Paul

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Looking like a solid lump of steel now Paul.

Don't think the squid will deform to much with time,the weights spread out quite well over a few of the tentacles and the Nautilus isn't too heavy.

I used gator glue to fix the squid together and ran some into the gaps after,try it with yours as you can clean it up with water and it drys clear

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I chickened out and went the Alclad route Paul.Not sure how much rust to add, don't want it to be a rust bucket, but some will have to go on there I think.

One thing I didn't do though was paint the large viewing windows before fitting like you, so may have some light bleed around where they attach to the hull :oops: might have to go heavy with the rust there

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Colin

Edit : still not sure whether to do the wooden deck as you have.

It will get a satin coat when it's fully dry ready to do the weathering will decide then, but I feel your right and it would have had one

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That's nice Colin, it's amazing how a metallic finish really brings this model to life. I see you've been braver than me and attached some of the PE already. I thought I'd leave all that till last so I didn't ruin it through clumsiness; it's so delicate and I've been knocking more paint over and dropping things than ever before.

I wasn't sure about whether the deck was meant to represent planking or not, but if Nemo built this thing on some isolated island then he should have had access to some exotic hardwoods. That was my excuse, but I gave it a wooden deck mainly to break up the expanse of metal, and give a little variety in finishes.

Thanks for the tip over Gator glue for the vinyl bits, I've done that and it looks a lot better now.

My feelings on weathering are to keep it light on this one. According to M. Verne the Nautilus surfaced mainly for navigation purposes and sat on the bottom for the sea-bed expeditions, the rest of the time was spent cruising. The upper decks would have been exposed to the elements, and some parts would have been scraped when they came into contact with surface ships. I think that less is more in this case and I'm going to try to keep it as subtle as possible. The only descriptions of the hull in the book refer to it as grey, iron and steel, with copper bands around the windows. The thousand species of fish that are mentioned get more detailed descriptions than the sub does. :shrug:

I'll put a little rust on the anchor chains, and keep it at that. Anyone know how to represent barnacles in 1/144? :)

Cheers,

Paul

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No, you don't want one, you need one. The bad news for my wallet is that this was to be my winter project, but as soon as I opened it up I had to make a start. So as it nears completion I now need to find something else to see me through the long, dark tea-time of the soul.

There's a couple of things I have in mind, and neither can be said to be cheap.

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OK, a little bit of progress has been made. I painted up the kit-supplied anchor chains and decided that they looked almost, but not quite, like chains should. I found a length of suitable real chain surplus and decided to use that instead. Unfortunately it was far too bright and shiny, so first the plating had to be removed with a very hot flame, followed by a coat of Mr Metal Color dark iron and some Mig standard rust.

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These two parts seem to be surplus to requirements as I can find no mention of them in the instructions. Perhaps they were intended to be used as windlasses by people doing what I'm doing.

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So here they are in place with the "real" chain.

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And I'm quite pleased with that effect.

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The nameplate was sprayed with Tamiya gold leaf, and then black oil paint thinned with white spirit was run into the hollows in the letters. I stuck it onto the lid of the box with double-sided tape, as the part had a slight curve to it and no amount of glueing and clamping would hold it down flat.

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The base, now a more sandy colour, was fixed to the box lid with a hot-melt glue gun.

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Then Sid the squid was stuck onto the base. I covered the eye with a couple of layers of Micro Kristal Klear to try and achieve a more lensed effect.

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He was also reinforced with a self-tapping screw through the box lid, as I don't want him becoming displaced when I open the lid to change batteries.

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I don't think anyone will be playing backgammon with this again, but its noble sacrifice should be worth it in the end. The glue gun was used to fix a terminal block to the inside of the box.

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And I cut out a piece of packing foam to make a retainer for the battery packs to stop them sliding around inside. The one at the bottom of the picture holds two AA cells to power the ELF and the one at the top holds a 9v battery for the LEDs. It's not very elegant in there but it will never normally be seen.

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Once the wiring between the power supplies and switches was connected to the terminal block it looked like this. The hole in the lid is for the wiring from the model to pass through, on its way to the terminal block. Doing it this way means I can easily isolate any element of the completed set-up and replace any power supply or switch if it should go faulty in future. The first two switches I bought did just that, so it's not all that unlikely. Of course, if anything goes faulty inside the Nautilus itself, it will be inaccessible and will have to stay broken. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it never happens.

I also added a piece of chain between the base of the box and the lid, to stop it opening too far and mashing the finished model against the table behind it when I open it to fit batteries. I'll tidy up the wiring when the rest of it goes in. I don't suppose I've got any lacing twine left from my GPO days. I might have to go back to the old trick of drawing a piece of thread through a candle to make it nice and waxy so it holds itself together.

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So the next step is attaching the PE parts to the Nautilus, and the Nautilus to the squid, although not necessarily in that order.

Cheers for now,

Paul

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Looking good Paul, watch the top rails, front/back managed to glue mine on the wrong way.And that's the way there going to have to stay as I don't think I'll get them off without wrecking them.

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Some weight inside the box might well be useful, but it wouldn't stop me knocking the Nautilus off the squid as I did at the weekend. :banghead: It's such an odd shape that a hard punch at either end can separate it from the squid's arms no matter what glue has been used.

Having rescued it as much as possible, this is now finished and awaiting a box to protect it from clumsy modellers like me and from the inevitable dust. My dear old mum could have destroyed this in seconds with her trusty duster.

Photo-etch is extremely fine, delicate and a pain to fix.

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So I'm calling this one done. Apart from a hint of rust on the anchors and chains I've avoided any obvious weathering. I'm sure Captain Nemo ran a tight ship and would never allow his crew to let any of his prized vessel go rusty for very long.

The wiring has been glued to one of the squid's arms at the back and painted to match, which hides it as much as possible. I had considered fitting a piece of hollow tube for the wires, but I thought it would stand out too much and be hard to disguise. Carving out one of the arms to hide the wires was another idea I discounted in case it weakened the support for the model. It's as concealed as I can get it and the rear of the model is unlikely to be seen anyway, as that side will be against the wall.

Overall I'm quite pleased with it.

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Happily the LEDs still work. although very little can be seen within the "bug-eyes" of the bridge area...

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...except a dull red glow.

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The electroluminescent tape gives a subtle light in the saloon.

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Fortunately this can be switched independently of the LEDs, which tend to overpower it.

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Maybe the internal lighting is too subtle? Too late now anyway.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable build with some challenges as far as the lighting went. It benefits from internal lighting but it's probably not worth going overboard with internal detail as very little can be seen anyway. It's a good kit to let your imagination loose on; Colin has lit his very differently from mine, by opening up other ports, and I dare say that no two modellers will build theirs exactly the same way. There might be scope for motorising the propeller which would look good turning slowly, but by the time I thought of that I'd closed up the hull and it was too late.

There were mistakes along the way, all my own incompetence. There's a couple of fingerprints I couldn't sand away without destroying the rivet detail, where the glue had crept out under my thumb where I was holding it together. With some odd angles between the parts it's very hard to get clamps to stay put, so some assemblies have to be hand-held while they dry, and on these occasions capillary action isn't necessarily your friend. Cotton-wool buds are very good for shining up buffable metallic paints in tight corners, but they tend to catch on some of the sharply detailed areas and leave hairy bits behind. I'm still finding bits of fluff everywhere. and not in an enjoyable way.

If you're looking for a slightly different subject that builds into an eye-catching display, (literally, so watch out for the spiky bits), I highly recommend this. It's not necessary to go over the top with extra detailing and lighting either, I'm sure that a coat of paint and a subtle wash to pop the detail will give a satisfying result. And I managed to resist all comments about painting my tentacles.

Cheers,

Paul

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Looking very impressive Paul

That Gunze buffable paint looks the business, hate to think how long and how many cotton buds that took to do

I like the wooden deck stands out really well and breaks up the metal as you said, wish I'd done mine the same now.

Know what you mean about knocking it due to the sticky out bit, knocked the zip kicker over the worktop while spinning it around doing the photoetch and catching the bottle with the ram

Don't know if you've have the same problem but when it's on the squid stand, it tends to droop down at the rear more and more overtime,left mine alone now and checking to see how far it will go. there's a paint pot under the tail to stop it going right over at the moment.

Let's see it on the ready for inspection page now

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

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