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1/350 HMS Kent County Class Cruiser 1941


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About 20 hours of masking, painting, masking, and then some more masking gets us to this...

 

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Still no etch deck plate :owww:

Thanks for looking and thanks again to Jamie and Richard for their considerable input into the colour scheme.  Hope I've done it justice 

Rob

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Only 20 hours, eh?  Hope you stopped in between for refreshment & food.  :giggle:

 

Seriously, she looks great.  The time spent was worth it.  It's amazing how adding a little colour changes the look of the ship.

 

John

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3 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Hope I've done it justice

Well I think you have top job there Rob 👍

 

1 hour ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

somehow feel invested

You off to to the Abbey then Jamie  :whistle:

 

Stay Safe

beefy

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15 hours ago, robgizlu said:

About 20 hours of masking, painting, masking, and then some more masking gets us to this...

 

That's looking superb Rob.  I must master the art of masking warships as I can see it will be essential when I get to this stage in KENT.  I usually just spray the main hull/superstructure base colour and hand paint everything else.

 

On 15/06/2020 at 15:07, robgizlu said:

I remain as delighted with Simon's work as I am underwhelmed by the Shapeways offerings.

 

The detail is just utterly joyful :yahoo:

 

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And MS4 Colourcoats.  And what a pleasure it is to use Colourcoats after acrylics for MS Midnatsol.  One aspect that we never really stress is how much quicker it is to clean the airbrush, the enamels are considerably kinder than acrylics.

 

I read this in the last 10 days.  It's in A5 format and at 205 pages is an easy read.

 

I have no background in things naval or indeed naval history.  This is a good primer - it moves along at a fair lick and given the size, the subjects are covered in broad brush strokes with insufficient time for great detail.  However it's provided me with a time line of RN history through out the war years that's been really useful.  Others have criticised Redford's denigration of the RAF, though I thought he was very reasoned.  I hadn't realised how under-resourced Coastal Command had been and how crucial this was for the Battle of the Atlantic.  The other thing that came home to me was the sheer scale that the Navy had to encompass fighting on so many fronts and geographies, truly  a "World" war for the RN.  The final reminder was just how Many ships were lost - utterly shocking really, both military and merchant vessels.  Thoroughly recommended if you are a relative newcomer to naval hstory (like me).  I bought mine 2nd habd from Amazon for a few pounds.

 

And intrigued by a recent on the site - I bought this from Amazon - once again for a few pounds.

 

Colour film!!!  Washed out and aged but Colour!!  Loved it.  One half is original wartime footage and the remaining hour is of a gunnery exercise from HMS Birmingham that @Chewbacca recently mentioned in a thread.  I found it fascinating with Birmingham using 2 Seafires as spotters.  I'll be getting more from this series.

 

Thanks for looking more soon

Rob

 

Agree with what everyone else has said about the quality of the Micromaster.  Those boats in particular could easily pass for 1/72.

 

I was surprised by your comment about enamels being easier to to clean through the airbrush.  That's the main reason why I shifted to acrylic 8/9 years ago because I couldn't face the 5 minutes of spraying followed by 30 minutes of cleaning every time I got the airbrush out.  Is that your experience with all enamels or just Colourcoats?

 

I'm not familiar with Redford's book but anything that denigrates the RAF gets my vote 😀.  If you want a book that really shows the damage done to the Royal Navy by the emergent "Independent Air Force" in the years immediately after WW1, I would commend Hobbs "The Royal Navy's Air Service in the Great War" and "The Dawn of Carrier Strike: The World of Lieutenant W P Lucy DSO RN".  It was the section in the latter that really amused me when after explaining why the RAF had made the case for the Fleet Air Arm not needing capable land strike aircraft because they would never be asked to operate over land, when the RAF were invited to deploy to Norway in April 1940, thy had to ask the Fleet Air Arm for some Observers to help them navigate over the sea to get there because they had no-one trained to do so.

 

The DVD is great, but way too expensive on Amazon.  Someone on here recommended going direct to the publisher's site where you can get the entire 7 DVD box set for £13.99; some of the individual discs are £20 each on Amazon.  Some good coverage of KENT in there though my wife was watching it with me and started to feel queasy during the scenes filmed on board IVANHOE as she was crossing the Bay of Biscay!  

 

Edited by Chewbacca
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18 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

I was surprised by your comment about enamels being easier to to clean through the airbrush.  That's the main reason why I shifted to acrylic 8/9 years ago because I couldn't face the 5 minutes of spraying followed by 30 minutes of cleaning every time I got the airbrush out.  Is that your experience with all enamels or just Colourcoats?

 

 

Speaking purely for myself, I was the polar opposite and from long before I ever knew Colourcoats existed. My airbrush wasn't so much stripped to its component parts at the end of every acrylic paint job but usually half way through as well.  It used to drive me up the wall especially since I had been a fairly happy early 1990s Humbrol enamel user prior to being told by some berks at a local model club that I really needed to get up to date and change to acrylics which, having lost a child's confidence but had not yet realised my own milage was worth a million times more to me than anyone elses' for my own purposes, I sheepishly did.

 

White spirit is of limited use for airbrush cleaning as it's too long an average molecule length really. That's also why it takes a geological age to evaporate off and let the paint dry.

 

I'm convinced it's white spirit use which has gained enamels the bad smell/slow drying/generally inconvenient reputation it has.

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Hi again Rob,

 

On reflection I think my illustration is perhaps unclear on one aspect and could have benefited from an isometric view - the MS1 on the starboard bow should join up from hull across the decks to superstructure in one continuous demarcation like so in red hatching:

 

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Thanks Guys - always appreciate the nice things you say :blush:

 

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

That's looking superb Rob.  I must master the art of masking warships as I can see it will be essential when I get to this stage in KENT.  I usually just spray the main hull/superstructure base colour and hand paint everything else.

 

 

Agree with what everyone else has said about the quality of the Micromaster.  Those boats in particular could easily pass for 1/72.

 

I was surprised by your comment about enamels being easier to to clean through the airbrush.  That's the main reason why I shifted to acrylic 8/9 years ago because I couldn't face the 5 minutes of spraying followed by 30 minutes of cleaning every time I got the airbrush out.  Is that your experience with all enamels or just Colourcoats?

 

I'm not familiar with Redford's book but anything that denigrates the RAF gets my vote 😀.  If you want a book that really shows the damage done to the Royal Navy by the emergent "Independent Air Force" in the years immediately after WW1, I would commend Hobbs "The Royal Navy's Air Service in the Great War" and "The Dawn of Carrier Strike: The World of Lieutenant W P Lucy DSO RN".  It was the section in the latter that really amused me when after explaining why the RAF had made the case for the Fleet Air Arm not needing capable land strike aircraft because they would never be asked to operate over land, when the RAF were invited to deploy to Norway in April 1940, thy had to ask the Fleet Air Arm for some Observers to help them navigate over the sea to get there because they had no-one trained to do so.

 

The DVD is great, but way too expensive on Amazon.  Someone on here recommended going direct to the publisher's site where you can get the entire 7 DVD box set for £13.99; some of the individual discs are £20 each on Amazon.  Some good coverage of KENT in there though my wife was watching it with me and started to feel queasy during the scenes filmed on board IVANHOE as she was crossing the Bay of Biscay!  

 

Thanks Chewbacca.  Jamie mentioned producing masks and I had half an idea to send him my Tamyia masking tape "originals".  This was an idea however, that failed to survive first contact. I had to redo several sections and what began as order turned into pragmatic chaos :lol:  The trick if there is one is to gauge where the lines begin and end and transfer by guestimation from imperfect source material.  Do it - judge it doesn't look right and then redo it :phew:  One more plug for Jamie's paints is that the opacity allows for single oversprays to "redo".

 

As to enamels and cleaning airbrushes, After spraying I squirt a little bit of white spirit into the cup and use a cotton bud at both ends to "clean" off all the dried paint and firm residue.  Then put soome kitchen roll over the nozzle and "blow-back" - empty that "dirty" white spirit into a kitchen platic tub of cat-litter sitting below my desk (I spray exxcess paint into this with minimal fumes).  Put some more white spirit into the cup and blow threw onto kitchen roll until clear.  I occasionally spray some Liquid reamer threw and take the needle out altogether to wipe and draw some reamer threw the "bare" nozzle onto kitchen roll.  I do all the same with acrylics but need to use three times as much reamer and airbrush cleaner and take 3 times as long.  I'm then still surprised by how much gunk I still get out if I "tamp" the needles threw the nozzle against a kitchen towel using reamer.  Because the acrylic dries so quicly and sludges, this is why it's such a chore.

As to enamel drying time - I can mask and recoat within 3 hours if I'm careful, using Colourcoats naptha thinner.  The only thing I miss using Colourcoats are dropper bottles.  As it is I stir the paint with a stirrer - use that to "drop" globs into a little plastic cup that we get at the end of Braun Thermometer Thermoscan "probe covers" and drop naptha in using a glass pipette dropper (few pence from EBay).  Mixing different colours is slightly less precise than with dropper bottles because it's harder to regulate "Glob" size - if that all makes sense.

 

And BTW - you mentioned previously about doing Kent in an earlier version - there's a wood deck here going begging that I don't need that's yours - PM your address if you're interested.

 

I bought the DVD for £1.71 plus postage as a trial.  I've just bought the set :winkgrin:.

10 hours ago, RGL said:

So can you give me a steer on which product you used for the focsle metal plate?

Hi RGL

I cheated - I used the HMS Cornwall deck which perversely has the plated Foc'sle.  I bought my diamond plate that you've seen cut out above from Fretcetera https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product-category/frets/anti-skid-any-scale/ abd I'm pateintly waiting for Northstar to send me a better anti-skid represenation (2 months to date!!!!!).  I now have 2 County class kits so I'm building Berwick alongside which will be waterline.

 

45 minutes ago, mick b said:

For those who missed my previous post here is the link to the excellent DVD series by Roland Smith.

 

https://www.simplyhe.com/products/a-sailors-view-complete-collection

 

I have no link with this company.

 

Mike

Thanks Mike

Just bought the set :D

 

Rob

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4 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Hi again Rob,

 

On reflection I think my illustration is perhaps unclear on one aspect and could have benefited from an isometric view - the MS1 on the starboard bow should join up from hull across the decks to superstructure in one continuous demarcation like so in red hatching:

 

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Thanks Jamie - I should have thought of this - main concern was the hull sides and I prematurely painted the decks just wanting to see what it looked like - child at Xmas sort of thing :nerd:

Dick's pointed out a revision aft which makes sense and the Port side middle funnel needs attention

I think the scheme itself looks tremendous.

Rob

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On 6/19/2020 at 5:19 PM, Gisbod said:

That sure is pretty Rob. I love it.

 

Guy

Thanks Guy - Good luck with the (?ongoing) house move

 

36 minutes ago, Kris B said:

Rob, that is superb. 

Thanks Kris - appreciate that

Rob

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She's looking fantastic there Rob, the paint scheme really looks the part. (Although if the missus has a go at me for buying yet another DVD on the RN I'm blaming you!)

 

You've most definitely done her justice so far, and it's only going to get better I feel.

 

Geoff 

 

 

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On 6/25/2020 at 7:57 AM, Courageous said:

A fabulous job Rob, with the paint corrections made by others, she'll be tip-top.

 

Stuart

Are you getting some one else to do your painting now. :shrug:

 

No point Staying Safe Now the Morons have been let out on licence. :badmood:

 

beefy 

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16 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Are you getting some one else to do your painting now. :shrug:

beefy 

:lol: I can only wish and dream!

 

9 weeks and no North Star delivery and no response to 2 emails.

I went back to https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/ to check to see if bigger "diamonds" might look better and noticed that the pic "showcasing" their anti skid products was RN type anti skid and yet it DIDIN'T appear in the listed offerings :suicide:

I searched on the site and it comes up separate as https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product/sl32f31/ :phew:  And it's close enough that I'm past caring.

 

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And Don't forget there's Berwick in the wings

 

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I've found this book fascinating - a truly remarkable dedicated modeller who had first hand experience of the ships he modelled living aboard some. 

 

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He produced multiple models for Lord Mountbatten.  It's a real primer for someone ignorant in the ways of the Royal Navy as to what pieces are and how they are used - booms etc.  He has some really interesting obervations, as for ships boats for instance, "The builder's models of warships show the woodwork of the boats as if it were of some dark wood like mahogany which they make darker still with varnish.  This is quite out of character since in the real boats it is of elm or ash and this requires a light coloured wood such as lime or American whitewood to represent it.  They also give the decks of their models a polish like the floor of a ballroom which, in real life would cause a good many casualties".

 

So mindful that I've always painted them darker - here's some done "a la Ough"...

 

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The 42 footer is Micromaster.nz and the 32 ft cutter is Micromaster Shapeways (despite the tedium of clean up, this turned out far better than expected)

This hot week has been spent doing the boot-topping and antifouling - despite careful masking tere was overspray which necessitated some camo respraying!

 

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I opted for a 2mm depth boot topping but in hindsight I think it should have been 3mm.  I searched for specific advice but to little avail.

 

Thallasophiles - What do you think  - Stick with 2mm topping or go for 3mm (with lots more yummy masking:shrug:)??

Thanks

Rob

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Looking splendid Rob. Although I am indeed a Thallasophile, I'm afraid I am no expert on boot topping thickness!

 

Yours looks fine, but if that's 2mm, then I imagine 3mm would look quite different being half as big again. I guess it depends on what looks closer to the original, and who might know that? 

 

Must seek out Norman Pugh's book. I have many on ship modelling but not that one (yet).

 

Terry

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1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Thallasophiles - What do you think  - Stick with 2mm topping or go for 3mm (with lots more yummy masking:shrug:)??

With you planning on using pedestals I would go for the 3mm boot top to let it stand out more but that is just me  :idea:

those cutters have come out great showing a lot more of the detail with the lighter wood colour  👍

 

beefy

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