Aoshima 1/700 HMS Ark Royal

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Here's my GB entry - Aoshima's 1/700 HMS Ark Royal. When this kit came out a few years ago, it was instantly the best smallish scale Ark Royal kit in plastic and cheaper than resin kits (it cost me less than £15), so I bought it as soon as I could! Trumpeter recently released their kit of the Ark Royal but it's over twice the price that I paid for this kit, although in some respects it looks better. The drawbacks of the Aoshima kit are that the bow looks a little too upright but I won't fix that and all the guns are badly done and are very chunky and basic. I have chosen to fix that buy getting some 3D printed replacements and to enhance the model in general, I have the matching etch set. I have started the kit, as the pics show but even though it looks like a lot of construction has taken place, that represents about 1 - 2 hours work, the real work comes in fitting the etch and painting. I did ask permission before entering the GB, just to be on the safe side.

 

thanks

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

welcome aboard Mike, for some reason I though you already had a build going here? Anyway forget about me.

 

That does look like a nice model and what you've done so far is nothing compared to what you have to do! Your eyes are going to be toast after this build. I see some Swordfish wings on the PE sheet....please tell me you don't have to build up the Swordfish from PE!   

 

Well good luck with the build and your eyesight, will be another build to follow closely.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

13 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

welcome aboard Mike, for some reason I though you already had a build going here? Anyway forget about me.

 

That does look like a nice model and what you've done so far is nothing compared to what you have to do! Your eyes are going to be toast after this build. I see some Swordfish wings on the PE sheet....please tell me you don't have to build up the Swordfish from PE!   

 

Well good luck with the build and your eyesight, will be another build to follow closely.

Don't worry, there will be no PE Swordfish! I might be tempted to make a 1/72 carrier aircraft as well. If you want to check out my latest ship completion, have a look in the naval RFI section for my HMS Campbeltown...

 

thanks

Mike

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Time for a progress report! As you can see, the island was not glued on! The first job I tackled was removing the mounting points for the 4 aerials on either side of the hull (they were solid mouldings) and put the etch replacements on. I decided the best thing would then be to paint the hull and flight deck and prepare for the deck decals, as it would be easier to put them on before I start adding anything that could be broken off easily. So as I write this, the pics show a glossy aircraft carrier hull and flight deck, ready for decals. Once the decals are on, I'll let them dry and seal them with a light gloss coat before using Matt varnish. After that parts will be painted and stuck in place in a so far undetermined order! The Hull was painted in Lifecolor's APC507A Dark Grey and the Flight Deck in the Colourcoats Enamel Bronze Grey. I had issues getting the enamel paint to go on smoothly, even when slightly thinned, I neatened it up with a similar Lifecolor paint. I've use some Black ink for the portholes and for shading and drybrushed the whole thing in Medium Grey. I painted the hull recesses in a slightly darker Grey as well.

 

thanks

Mike   

 

 

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Time for this week's progress report. The main job was to get the flight deck markings done, as once they were on, dried and sealed, work can continue on assembling and painting, the last thing you want to do is try and put deck decals on with various appendages sticking up from everywhere, just waiting to be knocked off! I got the decals done early in the week and have been a few little bits on it each evening. I've painted the ship's boats and put the smallest ones in the recesses, the larger ones will be added later on. The Carley floats have been glued in place, HACS fitted, etch wind deflector thing either side of the catapults. I've also fitted the aftermarket pom-poms and 4.5 inch guns. Although they are loads better than the kit parts, they (the 4.5 inch guns mainly) are too big, which makes me wonder if the kit is a little underscale or the aftermarket bits are overscale. In addition, to all that, I've been working on the island (which isn't glued down as yet), making sure all the main parts are in place and the a couple of coats of paint have been applied. I'll be doing the shading and highlighting next and painting the funnel cap and then I can get the small bits stuck on and the island glued in place. After that it'll be a case of adding the smaller parts and embellishments around the hull.

 

thanks

Mike

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

she is looking good now, I didn't realize how narrow she was (unless that's just the way the photo makes her look).

 

I've love to see some detailed shots of her.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

I don't seem to be able to post any pics right now. I'm trying to paste them in as I've done before but nothing seems to work. Is something up with BM today?

 

When it comes to pics, I suffer from not being very good at it, having a 15 year old (ish) digital camera, poor lighting (no matter what I try). Every time I try to do a close in detailed pic, it's just blurred.

 

Since last week I've painted the 4.5 inch guns and pom-poms. I've completed the island now and that's glued in place and the etch catwalk has been installed round the stern end of the flight deck and painted. Next up will be the heavy machine guns, ship's boats and cranes.... Will post pics when and if possible.

 

thanks

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Mikemx

[trickyrich]

do you have a camera in your phone? A lot of members just use that and can produce really nice photos.

 

I had to ditch my old digital camera last year as it just wasn't up to it any more, it struggled with lighting and focus as well, plus it started to have colour issues.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

22 hours ago, trickyrich said:

do you have a camera in your phone? A lot of members just use that and can produce really nice photos.

 

I had to ditch my old digital camera last year as it just wasn't up to it any more, it struggled with lighting and focus as well, plus it started to have colour issues.

 

No, I can't stand gadget smartphone things, mines very basic. Managed to figure out the alternative way to post pics now that the normal way appears to be dead. Have added the pics I took yesterday, to the last post.

 

thanks

Mike

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Time for this week's update. The ship's boats and cranes (etch) are in place, as are the quad 50cals and I've put all the railings in the side openings down the portside. I've taken a series of new pics, which are much clearer. Next week I'll be adding the railings to the openings on the Starboard side.

 

thanks

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

gee she looks nice on that base! Plus the fine detail on that model looks lovely.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

6 hours ago, trickyrich said:

gee she looks nice on that base! Plus the fine detail on that model looks lovely.

thanks!

 

It's getting there. I'm onto the most boring part of ship modelling, ie putting the railings on! Still, a model ship without railings just looks incomplete to me, so I best crack on with it. I'll be adding further railings than you get in the etch set as for some reason it's missing the ones from some of the walkways around the flight deck and I believe there should be some on the flight deck edge around the island and the pom-poms to the front and rear of the island. I decided to try taking pics on my windowsill, which is less than ideal but the lighting is better, so I can get clearer pics.

 

thanks

Mike 

[stevej60]

Look's superb Mike,and love that base too!

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 11:49 PM, stevej60 said:

Look's superb Mike,and love that base too!

It's from Coastal kits, they do lots of shows, so they might be at the Northern Model show or possibly Scale Scotland (they did that last year).

 

 

Not much to report on the Ark Royal build. I've painted the railings that I put on last time and the quad MG barrels. I've also started to paint the aircraft that came with the kit. I've still got to finish adding more railings, it really is the thing that drags ship builds out for me!

 

thanks

Mike

[stevej60]

15 minutes ago, Mikemx said:

It's from Coastal kits, they do lots of shows, so they might be at the Northern Model show or possibly Scale Scotland (they did that last year).

Thank's Mike ,hope they are there after seeing this and a couple of Tamiya waterline build's I snuck a look inside the boxes of Tamiya's Hornet

and Enterprise at my LMS and was very impressed despite their age and I wouldn't mind a goat one.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

2 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Thank's Mike ,hope they are there after seeing this and a couple of Tamiya waterline build's I snuck a look inside the boxes of Tamiya's Hornet

and Enterprise at my LMS and was very impressed despite their age and I wouldn't mind a goat one.

Don't bother with the old Tamiya Hornet and Enterprise. Both kits are underscale and Enterprise in particular is horribly inaccurate, they have mixed and matched fixtures and fittings from different periods in the same model. The hull is 1942 but the AA fit is 1944. The island is 1942 with some radars added but not all. Enterprise had prominent bulges fitted to her hull after 1942, which are missing from the kit (huge error!) and the front face of the island was modified after 1942. You're best bet is to go for the Academy Enterprise, which represents her in 1942 and is reasonably accurate and a better kit to start with. Trumpeter's USS Yorktown is also much better than the Tamiya kits and Yorktown and Enterprise were almost identical (until Yorktown was sunk!). Trumpeter are also releasing the Enterprise, which I've not seen but I bet it'll be in 1942 fit, as it means they won't have to change a lot from the Yorktown kit.  Tamiya are far from the best in 1/700 ships these days.

 

thanks

Mike 

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

This build isn't done yet! I've done all the railings on the starboard side recesses now and started adding railings on the bits they missed with the etch. My most hated part of ship building and guaranteed to stall any build! I'll just have to get on with it! I'll post pics when there's something that's obviously changed from the last pics!

 

thanks

Mike

[trickyrich]

I'm going to have the bookmaker this build as I have acquired the old (I think it's the second boxing) Airfix 1/600th model of this one, complete with really wrapped hull. I think some wrapped parts were pretty much a standard feature back then, I remember a lot of builds had issues.

[zebra]

On 6/15/2018 at 8:58 AM, trickyrich said:

going to have the bookmaker this build

some people will bet on anything!

[trickyrich]

arr bugger..I meant bookmark! 

[zebra]

On 6/18/2018 at 1:59 PM, trickyrich said:

arr bugger..I meant bookmark! 

Sorry, couldn’t resist!