Small section of carrier deck in 1/48 scale.

[Jfgred1]

Hello All. 

 

Following the project that I am working on, here is the phase 2 of the same, which is to make the small section of the carrier deck to place the F/A-18E finished recently. The final idea is to make a composition of the parked and chained plane on the carrier deck section, including some accessories (i.e. tow bar) and figures. 

 

For quite some time I have been looking for the proper deck to start, trying to avoid to do as much scratch as possible  so I could concentrate in the painting and others... Other than the master pieces that Mario Catania does, I checked on what is for offering in the market. The ones printed in boards or "Photo-printed" didn't appeal to me much due to the 2D nature of the same. And yes, I could do some scratching and get to where I want to, but... Then, looked at the Kinetic ones. Very nice ones, but checking on the pictorial references, the surface of these are akin to a sand paper, while the anti-slippery on the Nimitz class is more like a "wavy" type shape. My search brought me to the Phoenix set HQ48001. It has the wavy texture, as well as the welds of the metal planks that is visible too and (at least in the picture) has the tie downs needed to chain the plane. 

 

So, here is what I got...

 

Unfortunately, the condition of the box was not that good (to say the least...)...

 

As you could imagine, the content of the box was not in that good condition either...

To be honest, the cracking on the pieces was not that critical, since it only happened on the sides. Instead, the worst thing was the bend on the deck sections themselves... 

 

So, after closer inspection, I felt somehow a bit "cheated". So...

1- The surface of the deck has the wavy texture that I was looking for...

2- It also has the welds that can be seen in the decks too (look at the bottom left of the picture)...

3- But the cross weld that the deck should have is not there..., even though it was allegedly supposed to be there as per the painting instructions at the back of the box...

4- The two sections in the box are identical, so also, what is shown in the painting instructions is also misleading...

5- The tie downs rather than been a proper 3D feature, are just dimples simulating what is supposed to be there... So, in order for me to be able to chain the plane, these will have to be drilled, the star shaped anchoring bars done, as well as the little well/dimple. 

6- And as mentioned, the decks are not flat... 

 

And here a view of the accessories...

Unfortunately and after close check, the Flightpath is more a 1/32nd scale set than 1/48th, despite what says in the package...

Notice how much bigger are the aluminum bits (Flightpath), compared with the cooper ones (INFINI) or grey ones (REEDOAK). And no, the INFINI and REEDOAK are not in 1/72nd scale....... Even, have a look at the chain size, comparing the REEDOAK one with the Flightpath (above the REEDOAK)...

 

Anyway, will put the Flightpath for sale since I don't work with 1/32nd... Or maybe used to scratch something for tanks....

 

Back to the matter... The first thing I did was to join the two sections that came in the set together... And then will use the middle joint to simulate the welding between the metal plates. As such, will have the cross welding section that I wanted to have. I think that the metal plates will be a bit too big, but so far, I haven't been able to find the real dimensions of each plate, so unless I get my hands on the information, that will be it...

 

I cut the edge on one side of each one of the sections and then glued them together. The cooper square profiles are going to be used to help me to straight the sections. Either that, or will use the wood frames or both... 

And this is how they look together...

 

Next step, to get rid of the bending and then after, start to drill the holes... 

 

Thanks for looking, stay safe and have a good one.

 

[Jfgred1]

Hello All.

 

Well, finally some progress. Not as much as I would like it, but nevertheless some progress.

 

So, the first thing to do after joining the two sections was to try to get rid of the bent sections. For it, I used a combination of K&S copper square profiles and a left over I had from an aluminum edge that is used by carpet layers...

 

 

At the top, you can see the aluminum profile. I would had done all the rest with it, but unfortunately, the height of it was taller than the base, hence I have to grind it, which was kind of a messy stuff...... instead of keeping using it, decided to use the K&S copper bars as intended originally. Further below is the explanation of the white dots...

 

 

Then, was on with the "simulated welding" of the two pieces. My original plan was to add a middle strip with some plastic rod to simulate the "hump" in the weld and then with a welding rod to do some kind of zimmerit to simulate the perpendicular welds... But as they say, one thing is what the donkey thinks and another is what the rider thinks......

 

 

 

Then after, I reduced the height of the glued rod by shaving it a bit with a wide blade, and did the bed for the perpendicular welds by grinding it with a jeweler bit at low rpm to avoid melting the plastic...

 

Here you can see the difference one between the shaved one and the yet to be shaved...

 

Building the bed for the perpendicular welds...

 

 

Then, smoothed the bed with a very diluted Humbrol filler paste with Tamiya extra thin cement..

Then, "fate" struck when trying to do the perpendicular welds...

I have a welding rod which I could control the temperature, but unfortunately, didn't have flat tip wide enough to do the zimmerit. The weld rod which had the wide enough flat blade, couldn't have the temperature adjusted. Nevertheless, went ahead and used it, but due to the higher than desirable temperature, the results were far from good. Here the picture above shows the results after the marks were covered with the Tamiya thin cement/Humbrol filler concoction......

 

As I wasn't happy with, kept thinking how to "improve" on the appearance and while redoing the tie down points, came to my mind to use stretched sprue and cut it in the wide enough pieces and then glue them with the Tamiya thin cement. Then, repeated "baths" on the same cement melted a bit the pieces of sprue making them blend better into the surface.

 

Here is the initial test...

And here is when I finished gluing these... The next step will be to paint it with the Tamiya thin cement/Humbrol filler concoction or maybe with some Gunze 500 Primer Surfacer....

 

In the last part of this update, will talk about the tie down. As you could see from the pictures, the original tie downs that came molded in the plastic base were not good enough. As such, the plan was to drill them out and replace them using the excellent Infinity set. But (there is always a but, isn't it...), the Infinity set has only 47 tie down points and the whole base has 70 of these. To buy another set would be a bit expensive, so what I did was to use the Unimat Lathe and a 4.8mm diameter plastic rod and manufacture my own tie down wells...

 

Here they are, 70 of them in their whole glory... To be honest, was kind of "relaxing" time, while listening/watching the National Geographic's "The Right Stuff" new series (bit disappointing IMHO.... The series not the tie down wells...). 

And here they are all 70 glued in all their glory... Also, notice the wood frame that I fabricated using a quarter circle stained wood section that they sell at Home Depot to do floor trimmings......

Then, a bit of Humbrol enamel HG4 Dark Grey...

For the tie down point start type, I will be using a Bregun set, excellent by the way as you can see... The reason I didn't use the Infinity set is because it only has 47 of these, but the Bregun set comes with 110 of these. More than enough.... 

 

And that is where I am now... so hopefully, life and SWMBO and kids would give me enough time to keep going... 

 

As always, thanks for looking, keep safe and have a good one.

 

 

 

 

[Jfgred1]

Hello All.

 

Wow, time flies.... Anyway, here we are again. 

 

Work on the carrier deck and accessories had progressed, even though at a snail pace....

 

Part of the issue has been a down in the mojo due to the fact that my plan to simulate the welding hasn't gone as planned (and when it does???...), and I re-did the work about three times. Still not happy with it, but have decided to leave it as is, otherwise, I will never end. As a famous modeler philosopher once said: "Life is too short and so many models to do"... (or something along the lines...).

 

So, here we go with the update...

 

After finishing the second attempt with the stretched sprue, applied colors to the deck section liberally... Dark Gray, Black, Light Grey, Dark Brown and then more Dark grey... not an specific pattern... and good to use as a canvas to practice with the airbrush...

The idea is to place the plane at an angle and the blackened section that you see at the bottom left would be the edge of the landing strip in the carrier... Of course, 

 

Once the color was on, gave another look to the simulated welding and was not happy at all...As such, decided to go for a third try and simulate it using Milliput. Now, I must say that I had never worked with Milliput or a two paste compound like it. As such, the learning curve has been a stepped one . Had no idea that it will be so "sticky" while mixing it, and that water, rather than help with the stickiness only, will dissolve the paste to the extend that it did. Recently, I read in an article in a modelling magazine that the user used talcum powder to minimize the "stickiness". Guess will try that in another time... 

 

Here it is shown the almost end result of the work with the Milliput... Due to the learning pains, forgot to take any picture of the progress. After this, I trimmed a bit the line, filled the tall points, used the concoction of Humbrol grey filler and Tamiya thin glue, then another small filing then cover it again with Gunze Surfacer 500 and then paint it again... Notice that the previous color mélange had been subdue by the application of more Dark Grey... The white around the start hook points is an attempt to smooth out/blend the edges using Gunze Dissolved Putty. 

 

And then, applied more Dark Grey and here is how it looks....

 

Must say, that so far is the best of the three attempts, but still far from what I wanted. The edges are not as "blended" as in the original and the middle hump is not as constant as it should. But that's it, will not mess anymore with it... Will try to "camouflage" it with some more paint, an besides, the model will sit practically on top of it......

 

Another thing that I worked on, while waiting for the Milliput to arrive, was the tow bar that is used to move the planes around... For it, I used a Bregun set.

I been me () decided to reinforce/improve some of the parts by reinforcing with some left over etched copper... Drill the holes and used a 0.5mm copper wire to attach the pieces...

 

Also, folded and welded the photoetched ends of the bars (finally getting to master the dark arts of soldering with a hot rod... ) and used the same 0.5mm copper wire to do the axels of the small wheels. By the way, when trying to detach one of the wheels from the casting blocks, the miniature thing jumped out of sight and had to do a replacement with plastic rod...

Here, you can see the ends welded and the white "pill" you see at the top of the picture is the replacement wheel... 

 

Then, using my hexagonal punch and die set, proceeded to make the bolt heads and nuts that hold the bars in place...

The bar at the bottom swivels (as it does in real life) to adjust to the wide of the plane nose gear to tow... 

 

Then, after priming with some Gunze Surfacer 1000 decanted 50/50 with the same Gunze Mr Color Leveling Thinner and letting it dry for 24 hours, decided to test the recently acquired Tamiya Lacquer Paints. And must say that so far so good. Using the same Tamiya Lacquer Thinner to a ratio of 50/50, painted the white. Then some tricking masking and painted the red, again in a 50/50 ratio. 

The red look very dark here because has a wash of Tamiya Panel Line accent color black on it... I have also added some "scratches" using Humbrol 11 and 56 metallics. 

 

For the markings (yes it does have markings... ), used the superlative excellent (recently found) Figthertown decal set 48088...

Highly recommended for anybody doing the Kinetic or any other brand deck sets, including figures. 

 

To finish the bars, I didn't used the photoetched chain in the Bregun set and instead cut two small pieces of the small chain that comes in the Infini set IMP-48003R1. 

And there you have it in all its glory...

 

Then, decided to fill the back of the hollow deck with foam. 

After letting it dry for a day, removed the excess with a saw blade. The plan is to then get a piece of hardwood of the dimensions of the whole deck, including the edges, in order to give the deck a more solid ground. 

 

And finally, and to give me some mojo boosting....

This is more or less how the setting will be. The masking you see on the deck is to paint the white/red demarcation lines used to give some orientation to the deck crews where to park the planes, depending on the operations been carried out...

 

And this is where I am today. 

 

As always, thanks for looking, stay safe and have a good one. And taking in consideration that perhaps will not publish any other progress before next year, I am taking the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas (or happy holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas) and a Happy and Very Prosperous New Year. 

 

 

 

[Dadeo911]

Hey JF,

 

You have made some great progress on your carrier deck.  Looking at the work you have put into it I think you have probably done as much as if you had scratch built the base. 🙂

 

I love the tow bar.  👍

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well,

 

Chris

[dnl42]

How did I miss this? Extremely well done! 

[Jfgred1]

On 12/19/2020 at 7:54 PM, Dadeo911 said:

Hey JF,

 

You have made some great progress on your carrier deck.  Looking at the work you have put into it I think you have probably done as much as if you had scratch built the base. 🙂

 

I love the tow bar.  👍

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well,

 

Chris

 

Thanks Dadeo911.

 

And yes, very short from had scratched it. To be honest, the only thing that stopped me from a full scratch was that I was not sure how to tackle the rugged surface... Having said this, I have been reading here and there about surfacing and effects, so I think next time may go full scratch. 

 

The tow bar is a really nice kit. I whish that there were more attention to those accessories by the manufacturers.

 

On 12/19/2020 at 8:14 PM, dnl42 said:

How did I miss this? Extremely well done! 

 

Thanks a lot dnl42, very much appreciated. Hopefully will have an update soon.