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Pegasus Nautilus 1/144


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I reached a major milestone yesterday -- I got all the interior parts (salon, bridge, and lighting) installed and closed up the hull.

 

First, with the windows masked and installed, I airbrushed the window framing. I also took the opportunity to post-shade the hull by highlighting the rivet lines with black. (Is is really post-shading if I do it before assembly?)

 

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I then epoxied the various LEDs in place and ran another lighting test, to confirm everything is still working:

 

43262277922_4321db291b.jpg   43262278222_e7784c2c48.jpg   29441880678_3d8bc1d533.jpg

 

All of the internal wiring made assembling the hull a bit awkward:

 

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There are five separate parts to the basic hull (keel, port & starboard sides, fore deck, and after deck). With a bit of patience and a few curses, I managed to get everything properly glued in place. Some clamping was needed, especially around the bow.

 

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It's beginning to look like a submarine!

 

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Not everything is perfect, however. I marred the paint in a couple of places during assembly and will need to do some touch-up:

 

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But the biggest issue right now is the fit of the "frog eyes" over the bridge. They are not sitting properly (probably due to the surgery I did when installing the bridge), and there are some gaps top & bottom that I need to fix to prevent light leaks:

 

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29441880558_3974592861_z.jpg   43312192071_d411059aca_z.jpg 

 

Also, some putty work is needed at the forward end of the main deck, especially where it meets the bridge section:

 

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More later...

 

 

 

 

Edited by billn53
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Just a quick update... Fixing the "frog eyes" was easier than I had expected. The problem resulted from a misalignment caused by my surgery to open up the bridge area. The frog eyes are keyed to the hull by means of a two-pronged molding, which is matched to an alighment 'pin' on the upper inner surface of the eyes:

 

43319121881_dfded741f4_c.jpg   28449960297_5445b27341_c.jpg

 

Notice how the channel beneath the searchlight isn't vertical. That's what was causing my frog eyes to be a kilter. I simply snipped off the alignment pin and everything fell more or less into place. Here are the "before" and "after" pics:

 

43319121861_4664d62b90_c.jpg   28449960137_0ea670317c_c.jpg 

 

Much better. There are still gaps at the join, which must be corrected less light show through. To help fill these gaps, I used a special CA glue that has powdered rubber mixed in. The resulting product is thick enough to fill in minor gaps, and opaque enough to block light. Any gaps too large for the black CA I will fill in using black Milliput.

 

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Another update! I may or may not have made a major error... read on and see why I say that.

 

I've assembled nearly everything on the sub, except for the PE parts (which I'm delaying until the last minute to avoid damaging them). Enjoy the following pics, they're the last opportunity to see my Nautilus in 'clean' condition!

 

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For weathering, I am trying out this product, which other modelers have used with some success on their submarine projects:

 

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Before committing myself to what would most likely be an irreversible action, I did some experimenting on my painting 'mule'

 

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I wanted to find out the best ratio of iron paint to activator liquid, and if the Metal Effects product would work over an acrylic gloss coat. I was also interested in learning whether a single application would be sufficient, or if more than one would be needed. Finally, I experimented with different means of 'cleaning' the resulting effect (nylon, fiberglass, and brass brushes; alcohol swabs, etc.)  Here are a few pics of my experimental results:

 

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My conclusions were that a single coat, using 1 part iron paint to 2 parts activator, looked best, and that nylon & fiberglass brushes worked best for cleanup.

 

So, I bit the bullet and began rusting up my sub. Here's the result about an hour after painting the upper half of the hull:

 

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What a rust bucket! I sure hope I'll be able to clean up a lot of the excess rust. Check in later with my next progress report to find out.

 

 

 

 

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As promised, here is the result of my rusting effort. Pics below are before rusting, and after rusting & cleanup of excess rust:

 

41565370740_8eb571b9cd_c.jpg   41584918110_e3640ea05c_c.jpg 

 

42657204694_77f3deb47c_z.jpg  43345158532_3668e2a5ee_z.jpg

 

28504635647_56a5262a3e_z.jpg   42488979795_c48d42981e_z.jpg 

 

43325363452_739f28f325_z.jpg   42488979835_d180b330e8_z.jpg 

 

41565370990_8221262c48_z.jpg   42488979775_126ef1005d_z.jpg 

 

42657204554_243897690f_z.jpg   42676328134_f023f09d66_z.jpg

 

Overall, I'm satisfied. It's not exactly what I was shooting for, but at least it's not over the top like I had feared when I first saw the iron paint turning to rust. And, I still have more weathering to do, so the pics above are not the final, final result.

 

(The base color in the 'after' shots looks darker than the 'before' because I had applied a gloss coat before doing the rust process. I expect the color to lighten up later when I do a final flat coat).

 

What do you guys think?

 

-Bill

Edited by billn53
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Absolutely wonderful.

 

The rust effect and surface colouring is spot on, and your use of the terrarium matting is ingenious (I had a quick look for it on Amazon – Added to basket!:lol:).

 

Crack on mate, crack on.:thumbsup2:

 

Mart

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My sub is very nearly done, but not without a bit of last-minute panic!

 

I've finished most of the weathering, and added the PE (except for the railing around the upper deck, which I plan to install only after the sub is affixed to the base):

 

Bow ram:

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Anchor:

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Anchor chain. The kit provides a combination chain-windlass part , but I decided to replace it with a separate chain. This one is 3D printed (!) and includes crossbars in the links, which IMO is more interesting. Also note the weathering (streaking) effects on the vertical plates:

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Bridge viewport, a.k.a. "Frog's eye". I intentionally left out the kit's clear windows so the interior would be visible. Others have used liquid window-making products, but even that I feared would seriously reduce visibility into the bridge area:

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Upper deck. PE railings have not yet been added, but I did drill out the mounting holes to make assembly easier later on:

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Steps to the upper deck:

42705736104_5177780e00_c.jpgUntitled by billn1953, on Flickr

 

Stern PE:

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The PE we on pretty much without incident. That's the good news. The bad news is what I found when I removed the masking from the side windows:

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Aaarrrrggghhhhhhh!!!!!!

 

Glue from the Aztek Dummy vinyl masks adhered to all of my clear surfaces. Others have raved about how good these masks are, so at first I thought it might have been something to do with the vacuform plastic I used to make the salon windows. But the same thing happened when I removed the circular masks from the kit's side spotlights. What to do?

 

Fortunately, I found a bottle of this stuff which is recommended for removing sticker glue. There are a number of products like this, but it's important to find one that is safe on plastics. As it turned out, "Goo Gone" is also friendly to acrylic paint, so my window framing pretty much stayed in place when I started using it.

 

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After many hours of clean, rinse, clean, rinse, and a final coat of clear gloss acrylic, the salon windows are at least serviceable, although not as transparent as I would have liked:

 

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But at arms' distance, and with the lighting on, things are looking pretty good:

 

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Next up: tidy up / repaint the window frames, then start finishing up the base (install battery, switch, & wiring; decide where to put the green "ambient" lights; add miscellaneous detail items (shells, seaweed, etc.). Once that's done, I'll be ready to install the sub, and Bob's your uncle!

 

 

 

 

 

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Oh Captain My Captain.....

 

Your effort is a journey in creative will that's most inspirational and impressive! I go to school with every post!

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6 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Very effective weathering and good Save on the Glue/clean-up transparencies.  Worth a coat of Klear ?

Rob

Yes, after cleaning best I could, I brushed on a generous coat of Klear (Future). Here's what it looked like afterwards:

 

29554373798_36651e357a_z.jpg 

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Well, she's all done and well ahead of my goal of being ready for the local model show in late August. Here are a few pics, I'll be posting a formal RFI later:

 

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The diver figures are actually 1/144 astronauts from 2001 Space Odyssey, which I found on Shapeways. They are amazingly close in appearance to the divers from Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"

 

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I'll have more pics later when I post an RFI.

 

This was fun!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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