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1/72 Pontoon Bridge +++ COMPLETED +++


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It's a shame it's not worked out for you at the moment.

 

Sometimes best to leave it and come back to it later I find, as once you're unhappy with it, it can be quite difficult to see past this. A break sometimes allows you to reapproach it with a fresh set of eyes and a clear head.

 

Also I find a break sometimes allows us to come up with a solution we may not otherwise have thought of.

 

Don't be too disappointed about it though.

 

All the best

 

Ben

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Sorry to read this Steve, especially after such great progress. As others have said, the best thing is to leave things alone, go off and start something that you can enjoy and come back to this later. As you said there are still 7 weeks to the end of the group build and should you choose to revisit this in a months time the issue may not seem quite as insurmountable. Whatever you decide to do, remember that you have still achieved three great results which stand out in their own right, and all from some of Airfix's older moulds.

 

In the meantime have you considered using something like this on the clear plastic sheet, Anti-Static Spray and I am sure other options are available.

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Sad to hear it! Maybe you could sleep on it and go with one of your other “waters” for now. And promise yourself to fix it later. That’s how I get models onto my finished shelf all the time! 

 

Alternatively, you could always fill it with mud and put a couple of model bicycles in and say the lock gates have been blown up... :whistle:

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Hey up steve,

 

haven't been on much over the weekend so only really just got caught up with this.

 

You'll overcome it mate!

 

As you (and others) have said - take a break from it for a bit.......👍

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Not a fail in any sense Steve.superb work that has hit a glitch.put it to one side re-charge the batteries on something else and come back to it at a different pace without time constraints.

That,s an order!😁

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  • BIG X changed the title to 1/72 Pontoon Bridge - Canal No5 - the scent of success

HAPPY FRIDAY FOLKS - Well it's been a week since I 'threw my toys out of the pram' and 'took my ball home' and all those other clichés that sum up someone who has given up on something and can't see a way forward.

 

I know we have all been there and I just wanted to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and ideas to get this thread back on the road - or 'over the bridge'...

 

So THANK YOU @Lawzer @Heather Kay @TonyW @badger @Kallisti @Sgt.Squarehead @Ventora3300 @bzn20 @Antb @Gorby @nimrod54 @AdrianMF @stevej60 @dnl42

 

...you guys and gal have really inspired me to try - try and try again...

 

Today I have been to Halfords - as my LMS closed recently - for some new rattle cans - as I saw this as the best way to create the 'water colours'.

 

So can I present - CANAL No5...

 

CANAL_No_5.jpg

 

Does this look more like water...

 

IMG_3302.jpg

 

IMG_3281.jpg

 

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1 minute ago, Gorby said:

That's soooo realistic I feel like throwing and old bike frame in!

 

We need a tutorial on that.

 

:please:

Morning Sir - I was thinking of a supermarket trolley - but I don't think they were around in 1944 :lol:

 

Luckily I did grab a few pictures - but once the lightbulb moment happened it all happened very quickly - I'll sort a few snaps out and 'try' to explain how I did it - it's a bit of an 'odd' solution - but hopefully it works.

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That's superb!! Utterly brilliant!

 

Very realistic finish and the ripples are just right for the scale.

 

Be very interested in learning how you did it.

 

All the best

 

Ben

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Thanks everyone – you are all too kind – but it was just the kind of support I needed to get be back on track – GO TEAM BM :thumbsup:

 

So I’ll try and explain how I did it.  Yesterday morning a ‘certain member’ on here sent me a few pm’s – with some gentle encouragement that pushed me to ‘have a go’ – so to speak.  At lunchtime I nipped out to Halfords for some rattle cans.  My LMS closed a few months back and I had exhausted all the old cans that were in the garage at home.  I scanned the shelves and decided on these 3 colours – that’s another 20 quid I’ll never see again…

 

ponta088.jpg

 

I cut yet another piece of black mountboard to size.  By mountboard I mean 1.4mm card – the stuff that picture framers and artists use to put around the edge of their pictures – to keep the art away from direct contact with the glass in a frame.

 

Now mountboard is very soft – even though it is card – it has to be – so that it cuts cleanly and easily.  But I was about to make it even softer by adding a lot of moisture from the paint.

First up was a full coat of black / followed by splodges of the light leaf green / then more splodges of the darker pine green and finally more black to unify the finish and create some depth...

 

ponta089.jpg

 

ponta090.jpg

 

ponta092.jpg

 

Now I’m no artist, but I was happy with the resulting effect.  When the weather was hotter I had problems with it drying and remaining ‘tacky’.  On reflection I think I had previously put on too many coats – this time it was 4 coats – very thin coats.

 

This time around it was ‘touch dry’ in 10 minutes and ‘bone dry’ in half an hour.  The other problems I had previously were concerning the glossy top coat – to make it look like water.  I tried clear styrene, but had various problems with it ‘cracking’ – then picking up tons of dust and finally I came to the realisation that it was just ‘too smooth’ – almost like a mirror.  Then I tried clear lacquer from Halfords again and it looked brilliant – but as it dried it went all dull and patchy.  Next up was Humbrol clear gloss from the bottle – which for whatever reason just wouldn’t brush flat or set on the surface.

 

I think that was where I ‘lost it’ and decided that everything had beaten me.

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Now a week on - a new solution to the gloss surface and the texture suddenly hit me – this is the bit I need to explain in more detail…

 

For the last 33 years I have been working with ‘mounting and laminating’ films and adhesives.  It has taken me all over the world and it’s all made in Bristol – but that’s a tale for another time – anyway…

 

I cut a piece of 40micron polypropylene gloss film – or ‘sticky back plastic’ to you…

 

I used a laminator to bond it to the top surface and hey-presto I had a glossy surface to my water.  This was still too smooth though – so on to creating the ripples...

 

ponta093.jpg

 

As I mentioned before – mountboard is soft and mine was now even softer with all the moisture added from the paint.  So I used one of these…

 

ponta094.jpg

 

ponta095.jpg

 

...subtle - but hopefully to scale.

 

This is a heated glass vacuum press.  Think of it like a big red glass suitcase - it opens up and you put your work inside.  The top or lid heats up to about 100 degrees c – THAT’S HOT.  The base of the machine is a rubber diaphragm and when you switch the pump on it sucks all the air out of the machine and whatever is trapped between the base and the lid gets ‘squished’ or ‘ironed’ completely flat – with a pressure of 14psi.

 

If your still with me I popped it into the press – ‘face down’ – with the back of the board to the heated glass.  Now glass is ‘hard’ and this is 6mm toughened glass – so very hard and very smooth.

 

The base of the machine is ‘soft’ as it’s a rubber bed and I added a piece of sponge to make it softer.

 

When I pressed it the back of the board became very smooth and the front of the board had all the different densities within the board – ‘pushed out of the front’ into the soft sponge.

 

I hope this is making sense.  Under the normal use of the machine – for mounting pictures down - this is very ‘undesirable’ and the effect is often called ‘orange peel’.  BUT – if you are using the machine properly – you have the picture side face up – so the glass smooths it out.  So by intentionally doing it ‘wrong’ I created the ripple effect.

 

I left it in the press for about 15 minutes and the heat had the extra benefit of evaporating any remaining moisture in the board – so the now ‘compressed’ board was completely dry and very hard – with the very lumpy surface.

 

Now even I'm confused - I'll go and find a youtube video - back shortly...

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If that didn’t make sense – this little video of the machine in action might make more sense than my wild ramblings…

 

 

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