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1/700 Battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy.


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After gloss varnish was applied, the hull decals went on and once fully dry given a coat of the satin spray. The forward Kashtan platforms were also fitted.

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The flight deck decals proved to be something of a nightmare - I should have cut the octagonal section into more than two bit; that it ended up looking almost as intended is nothing short of a minor miracle.

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I was going to fit some railings before joining the superstructure segments together, but it's probably best to wait for the lifebelts to arrive before tackling the rails. Instead I got to work on the etch parts for the masts. These included suspended walkways that hang from four points jutting from the sides, and a pair of back-to-back radar dishes which are required to be stuck to a length of .5mm plastic rod on top of the base lattice.

Here they are during assembly:

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And the completed radars on the kit.

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Loads more super-fiddly etch to come, but I'll leave most of it until last so that it doesn't gather dust.

Here's the progress to date dry-fitted.

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Thanks for looking in,

Ross.

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Great progress - smashing detail on those delicate tiny PE radars which look perfectly made.

I noted your mention of the decal snags - but it looks all good to me down the back end

:goodjob:

The snag was that one half of the octagonal decal folded and stuck to itself while the other half was soaking in the bowl. Copious amounts of water allowed it to be untangled, but it was nearly a disaster and I'm fortunate that the decals weren't brittle or it would have been beyond rescue. Next time I'll be sure to divide such a complicated shape into easier to manage sections and tackle it piecemeal, though ironically the troublesome area will be mostly covered by a piece of photo-etch by the end of the build!

Cheers,

Ross.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The lifebelts arrived, and they are absolutely tiny - I lost one straight away and couldn't find it; luckily there are plenty.

I stuck them on by threading one at a time onto a needle, placing a tiny drop of PVA glue on the surface where they are to go, and then carefully sliding them down the needle onto the glue.

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The leftovers will come in handy when I do the Revell 1/700 Titanic.

With the lifebelts out of the way I started on the railings. The WEM sheet provides lengths of stock railings which I'll have to measure myself (with the exception of the bow area) so the stanchions will likely not always be in the perfect location, but it's less noticeable in this scale.

The rails come in two-bar, three-bar and four-bar options; WEM advise to use two-bar for the various platforms, which is what I did first on the funnel assembly.

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The top radar will wait until everything else is in place. Next I will do the railings for the inboard decks and glue the sub-assemblies together; thanks for looking in.

Ross.

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I stuck them on by threading one at a time onto a needle, placing a tiny drop of PVA glue on the surface where they are to go, and then carefully sliding them down the needle onto the glue.

Ooh, top tip; I shall shamelessly nick that when it comes to fitting life belts to Ark

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Cant believe its only that scale, great !!

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I've glued on the main superstructure and added most of the the railings to the forward decks; the fo'c'sle I will leave until last in order to allow easier handling of the ship.

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Next I'll do the aft railings, plus the boats and cranes.

Cheers for looking in,

Ross.

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lordy dordy - this is a real micro detail machine - I don't think I could have got on with those life belt rings - you've done some cracking neat work there.

Cheers bud. The lifebelts were surprisingly hassle-free - when I wasn't dropping them, that is! The needle method literally allows pinpoint precision onto the glue, and with no risk of the dreaded tweezer-ping as a huge bonus.

Ross.

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The WEM set supplies pulley equipment for the cranes, and replacement stabilisers and blades for the KA-27 helicopter. They recommend attaching the two sets of blades using stretched sprue running through the hole in the blades' axis, leaving around 1.5mm between the two sets. The trouble is that the holes are literally the diameter of a hair and I figured that stretched sprue may be too flimsy. After viewing actual pictures of the KA-27 I decided to use some spare two-bar railing to represent the rotor shafts; I cut some to the appropriate length and rolled around a needle before glueing it on top of the lower set of blades.

Here it is before I fit the upper blades:

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It's a bit of a tail-sitter, but that's okay - I might have this copter displayed in mid-landing rather than sitting on the deck.

Ross.

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Good job so far! These ships have got to be one of the best missile carriers ever! I've got the same kit and etch (well it's the Kirov) to do, so far my Russian fleet consists of Kuznetsov, Kiev, Frunze, Vilna Ukraina (will actually be the Varyag), Sovremenny, Udaloy, Zakharov, Krivak I * 2 and a pair of Nanuchka's. I would be happy if they were as good as yours!

thanks

Mike

Edited by Mikemx
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Good job so far! These ships have got to be one of the best missile carriers ever! I've got the same kit and etch (well it's the Kirov) to do, so far my Russian fleet consists of Kuznetsov, Kiev, Frunze, Vilna Ukraina (will actually be the Varyag), Sovremenny, Udaloy, Zakharov, Krivak I * 2 and a pair of Nanuchka's. I would be happy if they were as good as yours!

thanks

Mike

That's quite a fleet; I've got the Admiral Kuznetsov in the stash, but it's the Italeri 1/720 version and it appears that PE is no longer produced for that particular kit and I'm considering listing it in the For Sale section. A Slava Class would make a good companion piece for the Pyotr Velikiy - those rows of launchers give them a unique and interesting appearance.

Cheers,

Ross.

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hold on there Ross - if this continues to get any smaller I'm going to have to take a trip into my opticians to get a stronger prescription for my glasses.... :yikes:

That's not really a 1penny piece next to the helicopter is it... you're using a massive chocolate coin instead !

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Hello Ross

a superb work ,both in terms of added details and paint work!

congrats

cheers

Nicolas

Thanks Nicolas, it has been quite an enjoyable build - even with all the extra strain on the eyeballs!

Ross.

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A few more progress updates.

The aft superstructure has received railings, and the boats, cranes and davits are in place. The whip antennae located on frames amidships were sourced from the thinnest gauge of electric guitar string that I could find; the guitar string is thinner and less malleable than the florist wire that I often use for these kind of jobs.

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The rudders have been glued back on - predictably they broke off halfway though the build, and the propellers are now on; also the KA-27 copter is complete.

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Not far to go now - just the outboard railing, the top radars and one or two other bits and pieces before the neatening-up stage.

Thanks for looking in,

Ross.

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