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My First Build Completed... Should I Give Up?


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Eventually finished my first build, 1/700 Titanic, not perfect but Happy enough for my first foray into model building for 60+yrs. One or two mishaps along the way, some fiddly bits and a couple of things sent on a magical trip jumping out of the tweezers and sent on a journey to another dimension🤔 never to be found again.

 

Decals were a bit of a nightmare, the gold coloured lines I decided to do without, they were a bit reluctant to come off the decals sheet, the one that did come off easy went everywhere except where it was meant to.

 The Titanic decal for the bow of the ship is so tiny as is the stern you can hardly see it but they are there. The main decal RMS Titanic for the base stand went on ok but idiot me when I went to move the finished ship somewhere safe my clumpy fingers touched the wet decal by accident and ruined the decal.🤬

 

If anyone knows where I can get a new Decals sheet or even the RMS Titanic one for the base plate it would be much appreciated. I have been using Humbrol DecalFix for the decals, is this ok?

Images below, feel free to critique, I'm, still learning and I have thick skin.

 

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Hey Frank never give up just think of the build you have just completed is another practice session the next one will be always better than the last and I have been saying that to myself for the last 20 or so years keep at it and never be to hard on your self 

cracking build for your first in a while 👍

 

beefy 

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Absolutely agree with @beefy66 and @brianthemodeller. Definitely do not give up! If this is what you can achieve after a 60 year break, I'm envious!

 

As Beefy says, each model gives us more learning and experience for the next. 

 

Carry on modelling Frank, you must!

 

Terry

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Wow thats a helluva first build in two generations. Good work on the rigging especially.

 

Decals are fiddly - I spent hours this afternoon fiddling with some and kept moving them by accident.

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And well you should be happy with this result, particularly after 60 years. Seriously.

 

Most of us make mistakes on every build. I would usually write I try not to repeat mistakes, but that's merely an aspiration.

 

As for the name, I've had excellent results making base plates for models by creating images in some graphics software, I use GIMP, taking it to a photo processor to print, and then attaching to a base.  The best part is you're not limited to lettering--you can put anything you want on the image. Here is the image used for this model. Here is the image used for this model.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

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Looks great to me.

I've got a 1/1000 version sat on the shelf, made the mistake of opening the box - seen the size and it went straight back LOL. It even says "Starter Set" on the box hmm.

I may get around to it one day.

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Good stuff Frank. The more you do, the better you get at things like painting (try more muted colours), delicate washes (don't overdo it on subjects like Titanic though), and the dreaded rigging. Stretchy thread (Ezyline and equivalents) is best in many ways but there are pitfalls. Have a look at the http://www.modelwarships.com  site for excellent techniques and information on ship models. Don't give up.

Edited by GrahamB
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Give up ??? You just started,that's a fine job.Hand painting gloss paint isn't easy, you did a little rigging.It will come along each build will get better, as will your satisfaction and vomfort level.

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14 hours ago, brianthemodeller said:

I’ve invested in a magnifying visor and some decent tweezers - made the world of difference. 

Brian, I bought a set of Revell Tweezers from Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y5xxnmq4 probably el cheapo, if there are better types could you suggest a set please. I have a decent sized magnifying lamp which I used from my old fly tying days.

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Done a cracking job, she's looking grand.  I can't offer much advice as I'm still in the early stages of my first maritime build myself (the same beast no less), but my one noticeable critique would be to probably matt top coat the hull.  Other than that, crack on with more models good sir :) 

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14 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Wow thats a helluva first build in two generations. Good work on the rigging especially.

 

Decals are fiddly - I spent hours this afternoon fiddling with some and kept moving them by accident.

Tim, for the rigging I bought superfine aero black rigging but I found it just too fine, it was like handling silk from a spiders web, I raided my fly fishing bag and had a reel of 6lb breaking strain fishing line, someone suggested that paint would adhere to it, it was a lot easier to handle.

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10 hours ago, Tojo72 said:

Give up ??? You just started,that's a fine job.Hand painting gloss paint isn't easy, you did a little rigging.It will come along each build will get better, as will your satisfaction and vomfort level.

Tojo, I'll let you imto a secret, the whole ship was indeed hand painted in acrylic matt. I have two tins of acrylic spray varnish, one acrylic matt & one acrylic gloss (for next job), I picked up the gloss varnish and sprayed the ship with two coats. It wasn't until I came to put the cap back on the tin I noticed I had used gloss instead of matt. I'll put that down to a age thing. 😁🧐😱
 

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Gidday Frank, as the others have said above, don't give it up. You said yourself you're happy with it, and that's all that matters. And you've done something on your first ship build that I haven't tried yet after about forty - rigging. Well done.

     I paint with the hairy stick, enamels in my case. Might I suggest matt paint with ships, particularly the warship you're planning. And regarding the name-plate decal, does it really need to be a decal? Would any "RMS Titanic" label, suitably styled to your taste on a computer then glued on, work? Just a thought.

     All in all, well done, and I look forward to your next foray into maritime modeling.     Regards, Jeff.

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What the others have said. Trust me, you will never ever finish a model and be 100% happy with it. 95% maybe after much practice but you will always see where you made wee mistakes or could improve. Bit like golf there is never a perfect round. 
I like your Titanic and you should too. Reading your posts you have already learned from the build experience and won’t make the same mistakes on the next one. That’s how we all have progressed 

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Mighty fine effort, don't listen to those niggling doubts, just get out there and buy another kit. Build and enjoy that's all there is to it. We are all artists!

Bob

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