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1/350 HMS Ark Royal, 1987 - sailing back from the Shelf of Doom


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HMS Paintbitch successfully achieves her first mission; Tamiya X-22 Clear does not have any nasty interaction with Vallejo paints, so we now have a nice shiny flight deck:

E1B90A7C-EC3B-4834-9DA9-735692BAF2FE_zps

More of a point, it is now sealed, which means I can relax a little bit - the Vallejo paint sprays beautifully, but it is quite fragile until it has cured for a v-e-r-r-r-y long time, which means I have been paranoid about touching it, even accidentally, in case it scars the deck. Less of a problem now, at last. In my experience the Tamiya Clear dries to a really hard finish, and as it happens I am away tomorrow so this won't be touched for well over 24 hours.

You can also see in the background that I have added a couple of random transfers; a deck spot (7 spot), Invincible's deck ID letter N and a red dotted line (which I screwed up; hence the visible white bit where the transfer turned over as I dried it, and muggins here didn't notice until after sealing it... Not that it matters for these purposes, but it emphasises how long it is since I did much work with transfers). These too have been sealed in place, in preparation for the weathering trials to come. They might even get a second coat of Clear first.

The other pleasing thing is that the patches already look much better under a layer of sealant; if you look by the after lift, you can see the patches quite clearly now, and they look kind of deliberate (which of course they are) rather than just some sloppy painting.

All in all, coming along happily.

As I say, there is likely to be a gap tomorrow, so more on Thursday.

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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This is what I mean about the patches looking more as I want them:

B264659D-2906-4EDE-9438-95234C34C1E1_zps

There are a lot of transfers to do on this deck (I am trying to wean myself back to the language of my youth but refusing to call them "decals"), so I think this is a process best done in little bits.

So here are the first completed markings.

a. The weapons park in front of the island:

357BB477-25FD-4F4C-9FFC-019A5DEA7874_zps

b. We're committed now; she has to be Ark Royal:

EF686E3F-D78F-42CE-8B14-D1758CABF0E2_zps

More soon

C

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The deck spot numbers. Because Lusty has a weird numbering system (7 spot replaced by 'K' spot, for some reason, for instance), I am not using Airfix transfers for this bit. Instead I am using a set of Xtradecal 1/48 numbers, because a) they come out exactly the right size, give or take an insignificant smidge, and B) they are the right font (Xtradecal even give you options for rounded or squared off 2, 3, 5, 8 & 9 - these are squared off).

So here they are ready to go:

F4A45036-F074-4F14-9227-0738BAE58C3F_zps

...and here they are in place, firstly at the stern (the section that gave me so much trouble a year ago):

4F41B50F-C731-4E01-B9E4-01B9C74D7D12_zps

...and then the whole deck:

47026AE1-5E7E-4893-826B-9067DF8D479A_zps

You can see in that last shot that I am preparing to do the runway distance to run markers, using Airfix's transfers to give me distance reference.

And here are the teeny numbers ready to go (lots of 0s and 5s, since the marks are every 50 yards): [Edit: complete rubbish - it was every 50 FEET; otherwise the ship would have been about a quarter of a mile long]

04C5F80C-DA02-4753-8A91-7463BA9C93DA_zps

That is a task for later, because this is delicate work (I had two 7s & a 4 disintegrate on me), and that was with the big numbers...

None the less, I am really pleased with how this is turning out; I love it when a plan comes together!

More later

Crisp

[P.S. the grey splurge next to the R is the result of some Microsol; it seems too soften the Clear a little (or maybe I haven't waited long enough to do this). I am now going to leave it for several days to harden completely, before seeing if it can be moved. Not a huge problem if it can't, because that part of the deck is a) going to be filthy and B) almost certainly have an FRS1 sitting on it.]

[P.P.S. I am much to old to use Emoticons, or whatever we are calling them this week. Wherever you see an idiotic sun wearing sunglasses, you should infer the letter b followed by a bracket. Modern life, eh? G

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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The flight deck...

IS DONE!

8BCCD315-CBC9-47E9-8B4D-1F1DA6EAC378_zps

06F5C6EC-B50D-44FF-A2B6-B643DE6AE146_zps

Leaving it to settle down and the transfers to dry completely, then I will seal it - eventually, of course, it will have a matt finish once again. Weathering will not be for a long time yet; still lots of experimentation to do, for a start.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has only taken me 2 years, but we have a flight deck!

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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two years !! I could almost have finished an entire Wessex in that time.

True, but then you didn't 1. Melt the entire nose of your Wessex by being a solvent-wielding half-wit or 2. Paint the entire thing a convincing but entirely wrong scheme and have to start all over again...

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True, but then you didn't 1. Melt the entire nose of your Wessex by being a solvent-wielding half-wit or 2. Paint the entire thing a convincing but entirely wrong scheme and have to start all over again...

And you just know that if you had not redone the deck marking paint job and simply ignored the fact that you knew it was wrong, then someone would have noticed it, that's what makes this build along with Hendie's Wessex such supreme examples of perseverance and not a little modelling skill.

I can't believe its 2 years since you started it, seems like only a few weeks ago lol.

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Looking well good 'n proper! Love the Paintbitch, a most apt name!

Two years???Time to crack on, I've seen Pinkies vacate a crew room quicker than this build has progressed :winkgrin: (Radio trade for those that don't know!)

Keep up the monumental work!

Bob

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And you just know that if you had not redone the deck marking paint job and simply ignored the fact that you knew it was wrong, then someone would have noticed it...

Even if no-one else had ever noticed it, from the moment I spotted the mistake it was doomed. It would always have bugged the crap out of me!

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Though I said to myself that I would set the flight deck aside and carry on with some other aspect of the build, I find myself going round and round on how to achieve this - so some experimentation has been going on.

First of all, this is what I am trying to reproduce:

Ark%20Royal%205%20Malta%201990_zpshw374v

You can see that the deck is very stained and streaked with salt, hydraulic fluid, exhaust gas and other general muck - and that the overall effect is to tone everything down, but (because of the salt) make it much paler than the original deck paint colour. You can also clearly see that it is nothing like uniform; there are areas which are relatively clean (and/or recently painted), and others where the original markings are almost illegible. You have to look quite hard, for instance, to see 7 spot (just to the right of the tail of the right hand AEW Sea King) and 5 spot (just to the right of the tail of the second Sea King from the right).

Anyway, that is where I am heading with this. Over to the Paintbitch.

A3D460AA-504C-424C-ACA9-4360E5A2D0B9_zps

This shows two methods. The top left (paler) section had some light grey misted from the airbrush in a very random and incomplete manner, and then some oil dotting added on top of it. The right hand section is just oil dotting on its own. This photo shows the deck after the oil dot only section had been done, and with the dots applied but not yet spread on the airbrushed area. The dots here are deliberately bigger than the first attempt.

777739CE-08DC-4996-831F-F70F60861391_zps

More soon. I think I overdid the initial airbrush stuff - though paler, it looks much too uniformly faded, which gives the oils too much work to do. So I think the way ahead is a much less uniform airbrush session, which will leave the deck with contrast that looks overdone & OTT on its own, but then faded and made more blotchy and streaked with oils. The dots need to be smaller, and I have to have the courage to add more colours; this test only uses Payne's Grey, White & a little Burnt Umber.

More experiments to follow, but I am happy with where this is going.

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I completely agree with your findings - just a tad less on the grey and less uniform - and with those oils on top I think you'll have a masterpiece on your hands!

.. but little bit by little bit with the oils - even down to taking a 24 hour break between sessions so you have time to look at it and determine if it really does need more. I always get caught up in the euphoria of the moment and tend to overdo things

(note to self... take your own advice sometimes)

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Please Sir, stupid question: What are dot filters?

Lots of little dots of oil paint (similar to the picture above, though preferably smaller dots), which are then worked into a thin filters using a flat brush dampened with thinners. It is a technique used a lot by armour modellers to add variation to a single colour camouflage scheme. Hendie's advice is good, though; it takes a fair amount of nerve to puts dots of odd colours all over your (ahem) masterpiece, and it is easy to overdo it or generally get it wrong. Slow and steady is the plan.

I have, in fact, already broken up the deck colour with a VERY light mist of pale grey, randomly applied in streaks. So light, in fact, that I am not going to put a photo up, because with the gloss it is very hard to show in a photo. But it is there!

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Ooh, my eyes hurt. Time to stop!

While the oil paints dry fully, I have turned back to the island, and am gradually working my way aft from the bridge (which is now essentially finished bar the painting and one pair of sights on the roof).

This is about the only place where my references have really let me down - apart, that is, from the epic Jecobin 1/192 plans, which I would put into the 100% essential category for anyone contemplating anything daft like converting one CVS to another. They are utterly superb, and without them I would already have made a number of irrecoverable howlers. Anyway, I have now reached something that used to sit between the back of the bridge "tower" and the front of the for'd funnel. It was something to do with ?HF radio communications, because the large cage aerials fed from it, but beyond that I am pretty clueless. More of a point, I have not been able to find a single clear photograph of it anywhere, despite extensive searching - by the time the pictures of that area of Ark Royal 5 start to be digital and clear, the thing had been removed.

So Jecobin and blurred pictures are all I have - meaning a certain amount of imagination (aka making it up). I am talking about this:

20E77AD2-D862-46B2-AD88-F1A40D5C637B_zps

...which seems to be some sort of pillar thing inside a cage, with a locker on the near side and handrails on the for'd end of a supporting platform.

A bit of measuring on my 55% size copies (which makes them 1/350) and the design of the cage comes out thus:

18D7E63C-DCFB-4058-BFD8-40725D61D1D2_zps

The pillar was built from a bit of spare plastic (the unused support of one of her lifts, since you ask), and detailed with 0.2mm lead wire to give it a kind of ribbed appearance (which you can see on the real thing in some pictures).

In order to give the "cage" a bit of structural strength, I decided to solder the top rectangular section, and thus got to try my new toy. I cannot recall who, but some BM person recommended solder paint as being really good for soldering PE. This made perfect sense to me, so an order was immediately placed and my pot arrived just before Xmas. Here is the result of my first use of it, in the foreground - slightly out of focus!:

FC42BB10-8D82-4B55-8A94-565871C91507_zps

The paint takes just the merest touch of the soldering iron, but the result seems to be pretty strong (that's 0.2mm nickel silver rod, which I use quite a lot).

Then some micro drilling (including the statutory broken drill bit) to give the verticals something to grip, and as I stop this evening we have:

9BE3C46E-EA09-47FC-A3E3-7D4B44CA29BA_zps

645D107A-6108-4BAE-877D-00CF8D8CAC12_zps

Once the verticals are dry I will add the other two legs (which are at an angle so won't add anything by way of rigidity) and the soldered frame.

In due course two cage aerials are going to come down from the foremast to this thing, so it is important - but scratch building on this tiny scale is not something you can do for very long at a sitting without going completely nuts! Once it is complete I do not intend to fit the thingy onto the island until Iater in the build, because this thing is not exactly going to be able to withstand very much handling!

I am off up to Notts to see my ageing Mum tomorrow, so more later in the week (I am not back to work until 4 January).

Crisp

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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