Mrs Plastix's Airfix 1/400 Mary Rose - Finished and in the Gallery

[PlaStix]

Hi all. I have set this thread up for Mrs PlaStix.........

Hi, Mrs PlaStix here, I've somewhat rashly agreed to take part in the starter set GB... I haven't built any kits for a very long time and they were vinyl Star Trek figures 'Odo' and 'Quark'... I vaguely remember building some Airfix kits when I was a kid, but after doing some cursory research one seems to have been produced later, so I'm possibly imagining that I made 'Henry VIII'.

Anyway, having perused the list of starter kits I settled on the Mary Rose, I was quite tempted to try the Cromwell tank, but Mr P had already snaffled it! I'm a closet Archaeology nerd and also had memories of sitting in our first home together, a little one bed flat, watching the raising of the Mary Rose in 1982 - heart in mouth as the ropes slipped... So it really appealed to me, also if it all goes pear shaped I can always claim that it's the contemporary version! Another reason for my choice was the sage advice of Mr PlaStix: "It will be easier to do than trying a car or plane" Time will tell.

Here is the kit, it arrived on Friday:

I was relieved to discover that it has only 25 parts!:

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These are the tools that Mr P has let me borrow for the event:

The decals are so bright and colourful and the flags are a nice touch:

I hope I can work out how to put it together, I think the instructions, though sparse, seem straightforward...

The hull detail is really crisp and good considering it's 1:400

I washed everything as per instructions and once dry had a go at painting, figuring that the cannon would be a safe place to start, as only the ends are visible when the kit's built. I was advised to thin the paint and was a bit nonplussed by the mottled effect it produced, but Mr P reassured me that this was okay and that it was better to build up thin layers... also this paint dries really quickly. It was metallic grey and that might have explained the patchiness. Painting the deck seemed a little easier, it was just tricky not to 'drown' the area with the watered down paint though:

As Mr PlaStix always says - comments and suggestions welcome.

Edited April 17, 2016 by PlaStix

[Black Knight]

A most excellent choice.

I see your kit has either damage or mis-moulding, just as mine did. Its missing some cannon from the aft castle on the starboard side.

I found that the transom needs very careful aligning to the hull sides.

Once you have the cannon deck into the hull, handle it all carefully as its easy to break off the protruding cannon barrels.

Have you been to see the real one?

The new museum is a great place.

I've been following this ship's story since it was re-discovered in 1969.

That was a breath-holding moment during the raising. Fixed with a blow using a 15lb sledge hammer.

[Mjwomack]

Something very different! my first thought on seeing the box art was, 'You'll never do that heraldry with that choice of paints and brush, very relived to see decals included.

[dazdot]

Wow welcome Mrs stix excellent choice and the first ship kit. And a great start too

[Dazzio]

This will be an interesting one to watch Mrs Stix. Oh and Welcome to the GB Unfortunately I wasnt around in 1982 (I was born '83) but I will have to see if the video is on youtube. Sounds rather interesting

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[Stosh65]

I have the Victory in even teenier scale in the stash which may get built for this as well depending on time. I'll be keeping an eye for any tips.

[Rob G]

Welcome along missus! Hope you enjoy the build, and if so, feel free to make an account and join up all proper-like. If you do, Mr Stix will have to give you the combination to the secret stash vault (it's in the fine print, honest), and then you can go wild building all sorts of things.

Have fun!

[PlaStix]

A most excellent choice.

I see your kit has either damage or mis-moulding, just as mine did. Its missing some cannon from the aft castle on the starboard side.

I found that the transom needs very careful aligning to the hull sides.

Once you have the cannon deck into the hull, handle it all carefully as its easy to break off the protruding cannon barrels.

Have you been to see the real one?

The new museum is a great place.

I've been following this ship's story since it was re-discovered in 1969.

That was a breath-holding moment during the raising. Fixed with a blow using a 15lb sledge hammer.

Black Knight: Many thanks for your reply and advice, which I'm sure will be very helpful when I get to that stage - I've not had chance to check the kit yet. We haven't had chance to see the museum yet, but the website is very interesting, the building looks amazing too.

Something very different! my first thought on seeing the box art was, 'You'll never do that heraldry with that choice of paints and brush, very relived to see decals included.

I agree I was terrified that I might be expected to try and paint all that detail, so seeing the decals was indeed a great relief!

Wow welcome Mrs stix excellent choice and the first ship kit. And a great start too

Thanks for the welcome, I just hope it all goes well, and that people are forgiving if I make any faux pas! Don't want to let Mr P down...

This will be an interesting one to watch Mrs Stix. Oh and Welcome to the GB Unfortunately I wasnt around in 1982 (I was born '83) but I will have to see if the video is on youtube. Sounds rather interesting

Kind Regards,

Dazz

Many thanks for your welcome, I've had a quick look on You Tube and there are lots of documentaries, etc. about her raising and conservation.

I have the Victory in even teenier scale in the stash which may get built for this as well depending on time. I'll be keeping an eye for any tips.

The Victory is awesome, bit beyond my capabilities though! Unfortunately there will be few, if any, tips for an experienced modeler like you...

Welcome along missus! Hope you enjoy the build, and if so, feel free to make an account and join up all proper-like. If you do, Mr Stix will have to give you the combination to the secret stash vault (it's in the fine print, honest), and then you can go wild building all sorts of things.

Have fun!

Thanks for the kind welcome, Rob. It's early days and I'm not sure Mr P will be able to cope with all my questions! The key to the stash is hidden deep in the castle vaults so I think I'll have to improve my skills considerably before I'm allowed to plunder any goodies!

Thank you to everyone for your welcomes and comments.

Edited March 22, 2016 by PlaStix

[Stosh65]

My Starter set Victory is not so awesome. Can't find the scale but its measures 105 x 30 mm and is 19 parts. It will also represent my first ship so I'm sure I can pick up something useful.

[dieselweasel]

Welcome Mrs Stix, you have made a good start, we are a friendly bunch here and will help anyone who needs it. I'm sure Mr P will help you no end, it will be good to have a husband and wife modelling team on Britmodeller, look forward to seeing more progress when you are ready.

All the best

Jim

[PlaStix]

My Starter set Victory is not so awesome. Can't find the scale but its measures 105 x 30 mm and is 19 parts. It will also represent my first ship so I'm sure I can pick up something useful.

Just had a look at the Victory - only 19 parts, mine's got 25... now tempted, but I'll see how I get on with my Mary Rose. Hopefully we can trade tips?

Welcome Mrs Stix, you have made a good start, we are a friendly bunch here and will help anyone who needs it. I'm sure Mr P will help you no end, it will be good to have a husband and wife modelling team on Britmodeller, look forward to seeing more progress when you are ready.

All the best

Jim

Thanks for the kind welcome, Jim. Mr P is always a great source of help and information, but it's always interesting to see other points of view, it's been very educational perusing the various posts and I'm picking up some great ideas!

Thank you.

[John_W]

Looks like a nice little kit.

I remember some of the older Airfix sailing ships with horrible vac formed sails. Is this a modern mould?

[PlaStix]

Looks like a nice little kit.

I remember some of the older Airfix sailing ships with horrible vac formed sails. Is this a modern mould?

Thanks John, I've had a look online and think it's a newish kit from 2014, apparently re-boxed - probably to coincide with the opening of the Mary Rose museum. Thanks

[PlaStix]

Mrs Plastix here - I am getting slightly frustrated with my 'starter kit' - how anyone who has never built anything before can be expected to understand the 'instructions' is totally beyond me - If I hadn't got Mr P's advice and guidance I may have binned the thing by now and I'm only at the painting stage where the instructions are really just the diagram on the back of the box. It's quite difficult to work out what is white paint and what is going to be decals.

The paint, well that's a part of the problem too. Mr P says to thin it down and use several coats... that seems to work okay for the matt paint, but the white turns out to be gloss and it's a pig to use, pooling everywhere or just not covering at all:

The first coat on the sails has turned out slightly better, I've worked out that I can use slightly less water and still get a reasonable coating:

The deck has had a second coat of brown and will just need a bit of a touch up here and there:

I'm on holiday for the next 2 weeks so may manage to get it finished before the deadline, but the way the painting is going, that remains to be seen...Still it is giving me an insight into Mr P's wonderful, if occasionally frustrating, hobby.

More tomorrow!

[dazdot]

Good work Mrs p it's coming together well

[Rob G]

Looking good, but I must agree with your assessment of the paint - my past experience with it has been similar. Why Hornby didn't do it properly and use something of quality is beyond me, surely they're trying to attract people to the hobby, not frustrate them and make them quit? Let's not even mention the itty-bitty-teeny-tiny brushes... And if it had been me, I would've written some more comprehensive instructions, with an actual 'how to do it proper' section.

Oh well.

Keep on going, when you're done you can start on another, bigger one.

[Hawker's Hound]

"Starter" and "Beginner" seem to be synonymous with "Cheap", in my experience no matter what the hobby, which makes some sense. It's sad to see that "Cheap" also usually means a reduction in quality to a point so as to provide frustration and disappointment, which as RobG said, isn't helping anyone. I always found model-building to be more like a problem-solving game than an exercise of simply assembling parts. I don't know if others would agree, but I think it's closer to a Rubik's Cube or a game of Sudoku than, say, Lego.

A good mentor helps, which you have it seems. Try not to get frustrated - There's lots of little tricks.

[dazdot]

You're doing just fine. Mr p and the quality of his work will steer you in the right direction. It's a shame airfix feel they have to behave in this way.

[Hawker's Hound]

There's been a lack of poop deck jokes so far in this thread.

[sean]

Nice going Mrs P, I'm sure with hubby's advice this will be pretty good,

Sean

[PlaStix]

Many thanks for all your kind comments and encouragement. I actually quite like the 'teeny - weeny' brush Rob, but including another bigger one would have been useful!

The instructions are definitely not user friendly and without Mr P's advice and guidance (and patience) I would have probably have given up - just getting the lid off the paint pots is a major challenge!

Regarding the "Poop Deck" jokes, strangely enough 'Carry on Jack' was on TV as I was touching up that area... and that joke came to mind!

I've spent a couple of mornings sat with Mr P painting away in companionable silence, punctuated by the odd muttered curse from Mr P when the decals he was applying proved recalcitrant...

Following his advice I've continued building up the paint thinly, but I've 'cheated' slightly in that the gloss white doesn't dilute well and I was getting fed up with it... so I have used it almost straight from the pot - much to Mr P's displeasure. The decals don't seem shiny so can't quite understand why they've provided gloss anyway?

I'm really happy with the way the sails have turned out, Building up the layers has finally paid off and I think it still looks quite 'textured'. Mr P gave me a really good tip for painting the yard arms by holding the brush flat with the tip over lapping the edge so it doesn't catch the sail.

Finally getting a coat of paint on the hull was really satisfying, further progress was postponed as domestic matters demanded my attention.

Some photos -

[sean]

Those sails have turned out very nice indeed, and I'd say another coat of paint on the hull

should finish that of nicely as well.

" further progress was postponed as domestic matters demanded my attention."

Mr P's Sunday dinner perhaps?....

Sean

[Rob G]

'getting the lids off the paint pots...' Oh good, I thought it was just me.

And if you're going to keep going with this modelling thing, you'll have to learn that some things are much, much more important than mere domesticity, such as painting. And gluing. And decaling, and...

[dazdot]

That's really nice Mrs p please keep going the sails look great and you've done a great job on the hull

[Black Knight]

Coming on nicely there.

...
Following his advice I've continued building up the paint thinly, but I've 'cheated' slightly in that the gloss white doesn't dilute well and I was getting fed up with it... so I have used it almost straight from the pot - much to Mr P's displeasure. The decals don't seem shiny so can't quite understand why they've provided gloss anyway?
...

Decals stick better to gloss surfaces