ChrisSC Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 I decided to do a quick build of a 1/600 Queen Mary 2. I'm going to try to build all the 1/600 ocean liners available before I move back to the larger scales. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knb.1451 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Is this the Heller kit? How well does the kit fit together? And your work is very clean I'm glad to see more ocean liners lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Knb.1451 said: Is this the Heller kit? How well does the kit fit together? And your work is very clean I'm glad to see more ocean liners lately. Thanks. I have both Airfix and Heller, this is the Heller. They look exactly the same except the clear parts are tinted dark in the Heller and the decals are a little different. The hull is two pieces but not in the traditional way. It is not two halves but rather a full hull but with the bulbous bow as a separate piece that does not fit well and requires a whole lot of work to blend in. So far the rest of the fit seems OK but I haven't progressed all that far yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knb.1451 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Ok, it's good to know the kits are pretty much the same, I've got a whole slew of liners in 600 so I'd like the newest and last proper ocean liner. I'm excited for more updates, QM2 is probably the most beautiful ship in service currently. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Will be following along I have the Airfix version so will be taking lots of notes. Stay Safe beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 Knb.451 from what I have seen the parts, except for the color of the clear parts and decals are exactly the same. Beefy, I’m really trying to make it a quick build but the kit is not allowing that lol. There is a LOT of masking on the clear parts. Several things to be aware of. The first is the bow section that has to be grafted on. It is a pain to blend in, bad fit. There are raised accent lines of plastic that run most of the length of the hull at the waterline aft of the piece you have to attach. Where the seam is it is smooth so it’s a strange transition. Then as you move more towards the front of the piece if you get too much putty in the horizontal seam it doesn’t look correct as you can’t get in there to sand. I only put the tiniest bit of water-soluble putty there and wiped almost all of it off before it could dry. I would have preferred to have the bow thrusters open but their holes are too close for me to have sanded the putty smooth. I had a feeling I was just going to ruin the open doors while sanding. As a result I glued the two halves of the bulbous bow together without the thruster doors installed and then attached it to the hull and smoothed it out. If done that way the open doors won’t be able to be installed due to not having enough room after assembly to squeeze them in, but the closed door parts will fit. The decals are another conundrum. The window and door decals on all the balconies are tough. There are lots of little raised partitions on the balconies that I just decaled over in one piece. I thought the decal solvent would make them conform flat….it didn’t lol. They didn’t adhere well and look pretty bad. I think the better way to do it is to cut the decals into sections that will fit between the partitions and only be affixed to the flat areas. There are a BUNCH of them! I just didn’t feel like putting in the huge amount of time that would have taken, but a better modeler would have done that. It took quite some time to put all the decals on even the lazy way I did it. They also like to tare being so long so doing them in sections would probably help that issue too. Also cut them really close or they don’t fit correctly in the slots height wise. Finally, there is the question of whether you prefer a flat or gloss finish. I prefer a flat finish which is a real headache for two reasons. The combination of lots of decals and clear parts is tough. If I try to seal the model and decals with flat clear the clear parts will haze over. I sprayed the model in gloss, applied whatever decals I could and then hit it with flat before installing the clear parts. This only works to a certain extent as some decals need to be applied after assembly and some decals actually are affixed to clear parts. On the bridge there is no way I can think of to seal the decal windows without hazing. There are also decals that span two adjoining parts in one piece that can only be applied after assembly. I will have no choice but to apply them over flat paint which is going to make them silver. OK, I feel like I just wrote a novel lol. I hope you gain some helpful tips from my experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman 29 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 We met the QM2 in 2005 at sea. It must have been in the Bay of Biscay, if I remember correctly. We were sailing to Falmouth for bunkering and then to Norway. Very impressive! Good continuation Chris! Personal pictures. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 On 3/25/2021 at 11:43 PM, Knb.1451 said: Is this the Heller kit? How well does the kit fit together? And your work is very clean I'm glad to see more ocean liners lately. I can answer your question with a little more insight as I have progressed along on the kit. As with most of the kits I've built the bridge area has fitment issues, probably more than most. There are quite a few flimsy parts coming together here and they don't like to play nicely together. Unfortunately some of the connections have more pressure on them than I would prefer in my attempt to narrow the gaps between pieces.. I'm hoping the glue doesn't give way at some point in the future causing the bridge to burst into several pieces lol. I did not find it possible to totally test fit this area without having to first glue some pieces together as it was like trying to balance a house of cards. Hope this helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knb.1451 Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 That sounds similar to what I experienced with the big Revell QM2, but it's not something we ship modelers aren't used to doing lol. Keep up the good work, you're doing great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 Nice photos Iceman29. 1/600 Queen Mary 2 is moving along quickly. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holtaa Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Very nice work. It looks great from here. All your effort is paying off. It is nice to see a new liner in the works. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 Thanks holtaa. More progress on 1/600 Queen Mary 2. I’ve decided I’m going to build this straight out of the box with hardly any PE for a change. I think the cost of PE railings to do this kit will be more money than the kit. Just the balconies alone would be expensive. I would rather put that cost into the 1/400 version. Out of the box really makes it a quick build. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knb.1451 Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Very clean! I'm loving your build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 Thanks Knb.1451. I said I was gonna build this out of the box but I flip flopped and started doing black PE railings on the balconies of 1/600 QM2. Did the first four blocks on one side. I have some Gold Medal stainless PE which I can never seem to bend correctly so I’ll use it up here since these are straight runs. I’ll use brass for the rest of the railings. I also changed the color of the screw blades from copper to something more towards a steel color. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knb.1451 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 If you weren't looking closely you'd think this was the big revell kit, I'm impressed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 4 hours ago, Knb.1451 said: If you weren't looking closely you'd think this was the big revell kit, I'm impressed! Thanks Knb.1451. The real ship has dark glass on the balconies but the black railings will have to be close enough just to get some color in there. It looks pretty bland being just white everywhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Dunno where you live but shes in Weymouth bay atm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Looking very nice ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18422913.queen-mary-2-arrives-weymouth-bay/ I was there today ....wish I had taken some phots if Id known 😕 😃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 On 4/3/2021 at 4:40 PM, Norman said: Looking very nice ! Thanks Norman. I added most of the PE. Once the davits are installed I’ll add the boat deck railings. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 All looking very neat looks like a much better kit than the one I am working on. Stay Safe beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 5 hours ago, beefy66 said: All looking very neat looks like a much better kit than the one I am working on. Stay Safe beefy Thanks beefy. If you don't mind my asking. which kit do you have? I've seen four versions, 1/400, 1/600, 1/700, and 1/1200. After Titanic I think she comes in second for most kits available. In place of the 50 versions of Titanic and the bunch for QM2 I would love to have just a single 1/350 Aquitania lol! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 3 hours ago, ChrisSC said: Thanks beefy. If you don't mind my asking. which kit do you have? I've seen four versions, 1/400, 1/600, 1/700, and 1/1200. Hi Chris I meant to say the United States kit I am working on Revell 1/600 but I also have the Airfix 1/600 of Queen Mary hope that goes better than the US. Stay Safe beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSC Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 17 minutes ago, beefy66 said: Hi Chris I meant to say the United States kit I am working on Revell 1/600 but I also have the Airfix 1/600 of Queen Mary hope that goes better than the US. Stay Safe beefy Yes, I have heard some bad things about any of the SS United States kits . I would buy one but I keep hearing they are very toy like and are actually modeled after SS America. I think the distance between the stacks is too short or something along those lines. I've never seen one in person though. I hope your luck turns for the better on your project. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgizlu Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Super clean work, as we've come to expect and that etch really does take it to another level Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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