aircraft carrier deck 1:144

[hugogo]

after almost getting crazy about painting 30+ figures, I managed to finish all highlights and washes yesterday. Final step is a coat of flat varnish overall al then reapply gloss on the helmets and goggles. This is how they turned out so far:

in 1:144 scale

but also in 1:72 scale:

and 1:32

I feel the urgent need to start building something like a carrier deck or simple, straightforward navy jet!

[hugogo]

Last weekend i had the time to paint the Hawkeye crew. I decided to give them a desert uniform in order to have some contrast with the vest. This is how it turned out. Next is a gloss varnish and some shadows/highlights:

[hugogo]

today I completed the carrier deck crews I have been working on. From back to front 1:32, 1:48, 1:72 and 1:144.

I have had my dose of figure paiting for this year. Next will be some progress on the Hawkeye!

[phildagreek]

Brilliant work.

[John_W]

Y M C A!

[NontasB]

Amazing!!! So small and so detailed painting!!

[TheBaron]

I've been following your work here quietly for a while and have to agree about the pioneering nature of what you're up to. I think the combination of digital means with traditional modelling skills is a really exciting one, in the same way the PE and resin after market elements, along with scratch building, lets us extend and adapt what we can do to manufacturers' kits.

As 3D printers become as cheap and ubiquitous as photo printing has done in the last decade I can see such devices becoming integrated into many modeller's workbench inventory. I use Maya for film work and am already considering the potential of outputting .stl's of items on some future builds. (I wasn't aware of Shapeways until reading your thread-thanks!).

I don't see the introduction of these techniques as a threat to traditional approaches - I think we'll always continue to build in ways that we find exciting and satisfying.

Best wishes for continued success,

Tony

[Team Aer Lingus]

I'm Lost for words this is simply stunning work & a real lesson for all modellers at what can be achieved nowadays. You have taken it to another level

Thanks for sharing

regards

Eamonn

[hugogo]

thanks eamonn, Phil, MontasB for the encouragement, I needed exactly this bit of stimulation to pick the project up where I left it and painted the Jet Blast Deflector screens and some other stuff, more pictures to follow!

Yes Tony I agree with you, if you consider resin parts and photo-etch an enrichment for the hobby, so is 3D printed parts (btw a lot of resin part manufacturers make their masters from a 3D printed part nowadays). On top of that there will be a time where everyone can make or customize designs to their own liking, instead of buying only the things that manufacturers offer to you. And until parts are printed in color, there is still lots of paint and assembly work to be done, which is good for the hobby!

Updates will follow!

[Flying Badger]

I agree... I make my resin masters using 3D design and 3D printing at the moment and its a great way to produce accurate parts - no longer having to carve and then sand masters then check sand a bit more then re-check size until you get the correct dimensions...

however, I don't put all my detailing on the 3D print - panel lines etc. I prefer to work on a first resin cast master: I use the 3D print to get the sizes etc. then make a mould and cast from it, then use this as my ultimate master, engraving panel lines and removing any 3D printing anomalies (layer lines etc), sometimes adding very fine surface details with small home made PE inserts if needed and also getting the surface finish I want before re-moulding the "edited" resin cast to get my production master mould....

So far I have about 65% of the aircraft kit I'm designing ready this way. It's slow but the quality of the results is really good.

I love the 3D printed figures you have done. I assume they are printed by SLA?

FB

[hugogo]

I agree... I make my resin masters using 3D design and 3D printing at the moment and its a great way to produce accurate parts - no longer having to carve and then sand masters then check sand a bit more then re-check size until you get the correct dimensions...

however, I don't put all my detailing on the 3D print - panel lines etc. I prefer to work on a first resin cast master: I use the 3D print to get the sizes etc. then make a mould and cast from it, then use this as my ultimate master, engraving panel lines and removing any 3D printing anomalies (layer lines etc), sometimes adding very fine surface details with small home made PE inserts if needed and also getting the surface finish I want before re-moulding the "edited" resin cast to get my production master mould....

So far I have about 65% of the aircraft kit I'm designing ready this way. It's slow but the quality of the results is really good.

I love the 3D printed figures you have done. I assume they are printed by SLA?

FB

indeed it is SLA, layer by layer resin 'jet' printing with wax 'jet' printing as support structures, followed by UV hardening of the resin layer.

A likely reason for no figures being commercially available in cast resin is probably the delicacy of the thin shapes like arms and legs.

Even though for most parts a single 3D print is (for now) much more expensive than a resin cast, I think that in this area of tiny, highly detailed shapes, a 3D printed product can earn a good place in the modeling market.

[hugogo]

I got some work done tonight, painted the catapult track and the manholes in the deck:

next step for this one will be a different shade of grey for the JBD and then a layer of varnish and thereafter the lines on the deck.

Also made progress on the hawkeye: Put the pilots in!

But then I noticed that they are sitting quite far forward...

and with the canopy on, it really stands out

DISAPPOINTMENT! What to do now? I did not manage to pry open the nose and take the hole cockpit floor out. Then I decided to remove the pilots, simply break the back rests off of the chairs, then glue the back rest against the back of each pilot and glue the pilot in the right position. It is not pretty but it got the pilots looking out of the side window again.And except for the pilots you won't be able to see anything inside anyway. As a bonus I decided to rearrange the dashboard to its right location too:

The rest of the wings and parts fit quite well, just a smear of putty in some corners:

and a bit more on the upper wing. Notice the flaps that I cut out to be repositioned for take off:

that's it for now!

[phildagreek]

[snapper_city]

Wow. Only just seen this. Watching with interest.

[John_W]

I thought that was 1/48 until I saw the shot with the finger.

[hugogo]

this week I found some time to start with the deck lines, First I put a few varnish layers on the deck to protect the color that I already applied. After a light sanding with 2000 grit sanding paper, I decided to paint the parking lines first. Made 0.8 mm wide lines by sticking tamya tape on either sides, then created 10 mm spaces for the red-white colors:

applied white paint first. In this case I used Revell aqua color because it dries fast, enabling to do the red immediately after:

removed the tape covering the to-be red parts, moved them over the white lines:

put some red paint on:

and then, ever so slowly, removed the tape. A wonderful red-white line appeared!

and there we have the parking lines done!

:

[hugogo]

during the last few days I managed to complete the lines on the deck. After the parking lines I masked all the yellow-red lines. it cost me a whole evening to put all 250+ pieces of tape in the right location!

then first a coat of yellow:

and then red. Finally the white lines around the hatches. I also discovered that the Eisenhower has the parking lines a bit longer than any of its sister ships, so I masked these again:

and then we have a brand new carrier deck!!

Next thing is to put a layer of gloss varnish on top to protect the paint, and then I will make a start with dirtying things up a little. Because there is no such thing as a clean carrier deck!

[James G]

Excellent work mate!

[Simon382]

Your work is simply stunning! Anyone that is this good in such a small scale has my unreserved admiration

[jimbob22]

this.is.awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[GMK]

this.is.awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Concur.

[hugogo]

thanks for all your encouragement, especially since I have decided to enlarge this project slightly. I'll let you know what happened.

last week I still had the intention to dirty up the flight deck or to put my Hawkeye in some base coat, but in the mean time I have been distracted with something different: one of the edges of my diorama is also he edge of the carrier deck. What I always found impressive is that the aircraft are sometimes parked with the tail sticking over the edge of the deck. Because it seemed odd to me to just put my aircraft over the edge of the diorama, I started to get the idea to add a piece of catwalk.

In order to see what this part looks like I have visited the carrierbuilders.net homepage and there I found a wonderful photo of Harry S/ Truman:

http://carrierbuilders.net/articles/20060216_CVN-75_WA_Pt_2/160.jpg

That would be a nice addition to my diorama, and not impossible to build too!

To the DIY shop I went to get some wood, put something together and glued it to the base plate:

so now my dio also has an overhanging deck!

With pieces of PS sheet and strip I will add other features, not sure yet how to do the railing (wonder whether these are sold in PE?). My project just grew with a couple of months!

[phildagreek]

[hugogo]

here is a short update: My initial idea of making the catwalk from PS strips started with a quick set-up in CAD of the main features, but ended in a plan to have the whole catwalk 3D printed.

And after a few evenings of drawing, this is the result. The containers with life rafts have not been shaped exactly but at least I have an idea of size and position:

This piece of catwalk forward of elevator 1 will be printed as 1 part and will measure 20 cm long x 2 cm high, smallest feature is the railing of 0.3mm diameter. Only the side and underside of the ship's extension will become PS.

Will be continued!

[helios16v]

Nice!