Fritag Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Very nice Crisp. Don't ya just love cutting Tamiya tape into innumerable tiny strips - and then trying to get them to unstick from the cocktail stick/tweezers/tool of choice and stick onto the model? Probably just my poor technique. Hmm - have to get back to this modelling business myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) I share your pain, Steve. By the end of it my fingers were covered with tiny pieces of yellow tape from trimming round the edges of the bridge: brand new scalpel blade essential! I held the island in a vice & used a tweezer / cocktail stock combo at first, but for the really fiddly bits between PE parts I ended up using the blunt side of a scalpel to detach the tape / press it into place. Not a quick job, but I think it will pay off. Likewise the wipers; they seem to have taken me weeks in my head (not that long, actually; it just feels like it!), because each one has a folded section to give the motor box some thickness. What a bleedin' faff! But under some paint I think they'll add to the whole effect. They are so insignificant that WEM barely mention them in their instructions! Edited October 12, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) Today's hero is a humble pencil - specifically, one of these: If you are in the habit of handling ridiculously small pieces, especially of PE, and you don't have one of these, then you should invest in one immediately. I think it is essentially the same as what we used to call a "chinagraph pencil", used for marking up things on acetate displays in the Ops Room etc. Nowadays, therefore, probably obsolete entirely and replaced by some LED display. But for picking up tiny things and placing them with precision, it is utterly indispensable. Last weekend I pointed out those tiny holes in the bridge. The are to fit a footrail and handrail on the outside of the bridge - there, I assume, to allow some poor matelot to edge along the outside with a bucket of water and wash off the salt. The Eduard PE set has the later version, as fitted to Lusty, which is 4 bars deep and very prominent. Inevitably, my era Ark had a different version - a single bar, and also it went further round the bridge. It is one of those details that you can't really describe as essential, but which definitely adds to the overall look of the thing. I cut down Eduard's effort to a single bar without too many snags, but trying to get it to get any sort of grip on Airfix's plastic was hopeless; breathe on it and the thing fell off. Hence the rows of extremely small holes I pointed out in last week's posts, which were an attempt to give it something more to grip onto. Even with the holes, it was incredibly difficult - where I got it to go into a hole, it stuck well, but moving it around was incredibly hard, and each failure bent the flimsy PE more and more, until it ended up looking like this: The whole point of fitting this is that it has to look dead straight - it's one of those details that your eye is drawn to; looks great in passing if it is there and straight, but you're better off without it altogether if it's bent all over the place. Then I had a brain wave; I have in my possession some 0.2mm Nickel Silver rod from Albion Alloys; the right thickness, but much more durable - within reason it retains its shape, so therefore stays straight. A lot of tiny measurement and some delicate cutting later, along with the most excellent PE-lifting pencil, and the bridge looks like this: Far better - it needs a bit of cleaning up once everything is settled, but that's easy enough, and the (now unused) holes will disappear under primer and paint. (You will note, incidentally, that I have obtained some grey primer since last week, so the bridge roof is now a bit less brassy and a bit more grey.). I have to repeat this for the Admiral's Bridge (which is the lower row of windows - great place for goofers in bad weather, if no Admiral was embarked), which is why I have temporarily removed the forward 909 radar dome; anything getting in the way of access makes it yet more difficult. More soon. Small steps, but each one takes her a bit closer towards what I want. Crisp Edited October 18, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick C Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Fantastic work, I'm going to try the tip about the china graph pencil! Cheers Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Couldn't live without one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) And, just because I always find those close-up photos infinitely depressing, here are a couple of shots of the island at a slightly less unforgiving distance... Oooh - note to self; DF aerial needs some paint clean-up! Crisp Edited October 18, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Things do look better at the proper viewing distance The DF thingy, izzat the coat hanger doodah? That looks like a little refinement will add extra zingalingaling Crisp you have really made this spring to life, 'etch' although spawn of several devils does show up beautifully on these flat surfaces Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 That's some amazing fine detail work there! Carry on like that and you will end up as mad as I am! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 The DF thingy, izzat the coat hanger doodah? Yes, coat hanger = DF. Thanks, everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 That's some amazing fine detail work there! Carry on like that and you will end up as mad as I am! Martin Too late, mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 very nice work I predict you'll be getting a soldering iron before the end of this build..... (they do come in extremely handy!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 very nice work I predict you'll be getting a soldering iron before the end of this build..... (they do come in extremely handy!) Again, too late, mate. I have procured one - just not yet plucked up the courage to use it for real. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Again, too late, mate. I have procured one - just not yet plucked up the courage to use it for real. ahhhh c'mon.... what's the worst that can happen ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 scarily fiddly PE - looks great but definitely rather you than me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Looks fantastic. The humble chinagraph, a vital tool for any ops room matelot who had been convinced that writing backwards on a clear board was a vital skill in future life! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 Admiral's Bridge done as well 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 It looks ever better! Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 (edited) I am still here. Not much modelling getting done, but some progress this weekend. Added: 1 x traffic lights box for 1 & 2 Spots, which is the box on the front edge of Flyco 3 x flight deck spot lights (which look a lot better than this in real life) underneath the inner wing of the Admiral's Bridge WEM's splendidly clear photo etched ARK ROYAL nameplateA missing doorway, taken from WEM's / Mad Pete's Atlantic "RN 1/350 doors and hatches set" (essential) Finally starting to add back some of the detail removed from the bulkheads (walls!) of the island - Airfix had a fair amount moulded on, but some of it (e.g. the wedge-shaped bank of flight deck broadcast speakers, which is the white thing in the centre of the photo) isn't quite right, and a lot of it (a surprising amount) is wrong for 1988 Ark. The platform for the DAPS (deck approach projector sight - the "meatball") is only balanced in place in this picture; still more to be added to it before I stick it on. Painfully slow, I know - real life stuff, alas; the same real life stuff that meant I couldn't make it to Telford this year. But it is still progress. Edited November 8, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 that real life stuff sucks - having to deal with a bit of it myself, and it really gets in the way of modeling progress. You're getting there piece by piece though - nice to see it continuing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Dont worry Crisp, Telford was oh so awfully boring this year OK OK Its only a bad joke, we've had worse on these pages many from yours truly The island is looking quite a lot wow to me Telford next year has to be a cert grindstone nose interface ON please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forlornhope Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Gotta love fiddely bits, looking good though. Lots of effort going into it well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 More excellent work. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 (edited) This week it's been detailing the approach lights set-up beneath Flyco. The trapeze thing on the left is a bracket for the two sets of traffic lights (on the left, steady lights for fixed-wing flying, on the right, flashing lights for rotary). And here the DAPS (deck approach projector sight) dry fitted. I have a PE version, but it goes well beyond fiddly into the realms of almost impossible to get neat, so I am using the kit part and adding some PE detail. Similarly, I used two pieces of plastic strip for the traffic lights. You can actually see a PE one on the left hand edge of the bridge as you look in this photo; that's a folded box, and it took bloody ages to get it looking half-decent - at this size, a pice of plastic properly painted will probably look better in the end. Some pretty annoying sink marks in hard to fix places - thanks, Airfix! Proof that I have got the geometry roughly right; you should be able to see the traffic lights underneath the DAPS gantry from anywhere on the deck, and I reckon you could if you were the right scale height! Away next weekend, so there might not be anything for a couple of weeks. It's slow, but I am getting a lot of satisfaction as the island gradually takes shape. Crisp Edited November 16, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I am loving the level of detail tat is going into the island, its going to really make the model stand out! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 When I remind myself that each part is roughly the size of a water molecule it's even more impressive than my subconscious assumption that this is about 1:32! Keep up the inspirational work. Kirk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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