Jump to content

1/350 HMCS Regina (Halifax Class Frigate) 2021


JohnWS

Recommended Posts

  • 3 weeks later...

Our hazy, lazy days of summer continue.  Despite the heat & humidity, I've been able to get a little more competed on Regina.

 

I decided to paint the resin hull & superstructure first, as shown below.

 

52264630702_69912bbaf8_c.jpg

 

I've included a comparison photo showing how the paint colour looks outdoors.

 

Next, I focused on spraying the dark grey decks.  This meant a lot of fiddly masking to protect the hull, superstructure bulkheads, and the little cast raised details on the deck surfaces.  After spending a few hours masking over five days, I was finally able to paint the decks, as shown below.

 

52308958971_f14b476e2f_c.jpg

 

I'm currently removing some of the masking tape to do a quality check of the paint coverage & do touchups as needed.  The above photo shows the tape removed from the front of the bridge & the forward deck details.  So far, so good! 🤞

 

Next up, I'll complete the deck paint quality checks & then lay out & mask the North Atlantic camo scheme. :yahoo: I want to get all the making work done before adding any scratch built details.

 

Still a ways to go, but it looks like the end may be coming into view.  

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Stay safe ... and cool!

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, longshanks said:

... Oh My, that's patience....

The way this kit has been cast certainly creates a lot of painting challenges.  It's too bad the main superstructures - bridge, funnel & hanger - weren't cast separately.  Masking & painting both the little spaces in between the structures & the cast details does require patience & trial & error,  i.e.  :rant: <- Patience.  The Tamiya tape people must love me.

John

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, JohnWS said:

It's too bad the main superstructures - bridge, funnel & hanger - weren't cast separately.  Masking & painting both the little spaces in between the structures & the cast details does require patience & trial & error,  i.e.  :rant: <- Patience. 

Gidday, I found the same with the bridge structure of Airfix's Prinz Eugen. Good luck with this. Regards, Jeff.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi again!

 

I'm in the process of making templates for spraying the North Atlantic 'dazzle' scheme on Regina.  

 

First, some background on the development of the North Atlantic paint scheme.  The scheme was introduced to commemorate 75 years since the end of the Battle of the Atlantic (3 May 2020).  Canada's contribution in the 6-year battle included warships and aircraft hunting U-boats, as well as escorting supply convoys to Britain.  In all, the RCN lost 22 ships, including the original HMCS Regina, a corvette.  59 merchant ships were also lost during the battle.  More than 70,000 Allied sailors, merchant seamen and aviators perished, including 4,600 Canadians.   

 

After reviewing paint schemes applied to WWII ships, it was decided that the dazzle paint scheme used on HMCS Ottawa (H31) during the Second World War would be used as the basis for Regina's commemorative scheme.

 

52313374825_e27d86d57c_c.jpg

 

Regina's final commemorative paint scheme was introduced in October, 2019 with a plan to retain it until year end 2020.

 

Now, back to the model.  I decided to use scaled down photographs of Regina to develop paint masks for the model.  Unfortunately, I needed to tweak the images to fit the model since the model's 3D hull shape is slightly different than the actual ship's shown in 2D photos.  I wanted to make the shape of the templates as close to the actual paint scheme as possible.   Here's a photo showing the final tweaked paper template taped to the starboard side of the model compared to a photo of the actual ship.

 

52312610101_4feb25efb3_c.jpg

 

Next, I'll trace the template shapes on masking tape.  Then cut them out & apply the masking tape shapes to the hull sides as paint masks for spray painting.

 

Thanks again for following along.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Well done John - the templates are a grea idea

Rob

Thanks Rob.  I like using templates to transfer curvy shapes to the tape paint masks.  They save a lot of guesswork when drawing & positioning the masks.

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's hard to believe, but Regina's dazzle paint scheme is complete. :yahoo:

 

Like pretty well everything on this build, I ran into a lot of extra work.  This time trying to determine the proper paint colours for the paint scheme.  Colour photos show a wide range of colours for the paint scheme.  Everything from turquoise to navy blue, and many colour shades in between.  To select colours for the model's scheme,  I chose the the scheme shown in the following photo.  I feel the photo closely replicates the RCN grey on the hull.  Having the hull colour in the photo closely resembling an actual RCN ship, I thought the paint scheme colours should be close, as well.

 

52354760612_3a8f10d7fd_c.jpg

 

Now having the blue colour in the photo for reference, I ended up mixing a matching colour, since I couldn't find a pre-mixed paint.  I started with a bottle of Tamiya white acrylic paint & added blues & greens until I got a blue shade that closely matched the blue in the reference photo ... at least to my eyes :giggle:

 

Finally, I was able to paint using the templates discussed in a earlier post ... plus lots of Tamiya masking tape.

 

And here's the final result;

 

52355706746_67e09cfeba_c.jpg

 

52356132465_f9b70e3c19_c.jpg

 

There's still some touchups to do, but overall I'm happy with the end result.   My wife commented that it was nice to see one of my model warships that isn't grey. :laugh:

 

Next up, I'll be painting all the little details & then start adding all the scratch built bits & pieces.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

  • Like 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

16 hours ago, longshanks said:

Looking awesome John, well worth all your efforts

 

14 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Great job there John especially on a tricky scheme like that.  👍

 

6 hours ago, Silenoz said:

Very beautiful result... very striking to. .

Thanks for the 'likes' & comments, everyone. 

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13/09/2022 at 18:28, JohnWS said:

... Next up, I'll be painting all the little details & then start adding all the scratch built bits & pieces. ...

I'm in the process of sorting Regina's scratch built bits & pieces accumulated over the past year & a half+ in an effort to identify the sequence for adding these parts, plus the PE handrails & landing pad netting to the model.

 

Here's an overhead shot of the parts in their metal biscuit storage box.  (BTW, those shortbread scottie dogs that came in the box were yummy. :))

 

52367239179_959fc256e1_c.jpg

 

First up, I'll be painting the cast details on the model, e.g. bollards, fire hoses, exhaust ports, sliding padeyes, etc.

 

John

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Detailing & painting continues ...

 

I'm still experimenting, as I'm entering more uncharted territory (for me) on this build in 1/350 scale.

 

For example, detailing the Multi Ammunition Soft-Kill System (MASS) parts.  Each MASS dispenser has 16 visible rectangular openings covered in some sort of black material (8 on top & 8 on the forward surface).  Even though these openings are very small at 1/350 scale, they would still be visible on the model.  Masking & painting the black covered openings was going to be difficult, if not almost impossible, so I needed to find an alternative.  You might recall on my 1/72 Brave Borderer build, I made Inkjet printed decals to add detail to Borderer's  deck vents.  So I decided to try making decals for the MASS parts, not knowing if my inkjet printer could print the decals for the smaller 1/350 scale parts.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the MASS decals turned out looking pretty good.:yahoo:  Once the decals were applied, I sealed them with a light coat of clear flat lacquer.

 

Here's a photo showing the sequence of making the MASS assemblies from initial scratch building to test fitting the completed parts on the Regina model.

 

52399863759_2a89bdd977_c.jpg

 

One small hurdle overcome, & now it's full speed ahead to assemble & paint details on the model.

 

Thanks for following along.

 

Stay safe!

 

John

 

 

 

 

Edited by JohnWS
  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...