The Good Old Lady's cruel conversion

[Chewbacca]

5 hours ago, thekz said:

It's just that in my city there is no 3D printing from custom files with sufficient quality yet. 

Mine are printed on an Elegoo Mars which I think retails for around £200.  It's not perfect, certainly nowhere near as good as some of the stuff that people like the designers on Shapeways can create but as I showed in a recent post in 

 

 

the printing capability is better than my ability to paint them!  I think I could improve the quality of the print further if I used a program like Blender which more suited to the complex curves of the human body rather than Fusion 360 which is an engineering CAD toolset.  But I take your point about not wanting to work on a computer at home of you're doing it all day for work. 

[thekz]

2 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Mine are printed on an Elegoo Mars which I think retails for around £200.

I agree with you that sooner or later I will come to that.
I'm not sure I'm happy about that prospect. 

[thekz]

Hello,
My Malaya's hangar continues to grow in detail. The 16 ammo boxes have taken their places.

 

 

 

It's all down to the funnel.

 

 

 

 

Malaya definitely got lucky with the funnel. There's only one funnel, but it's outstanding! There may have been bigger funnels in the history of shipbuilding (Lady Lex and Sarah come to mind), but there certainly weren't many! 
The funnel conversion is presented as a quick timelapse and is self-explanatory:

 

 

The parts used were funnels parts from the kit, pieces of plastic, needles from syringes, and copper wire. The details inside the funnel would be pretty hard to see on the finished model (everything is black there!), so I limited myself to the rather conventionally made ladders and internal grate. Especially, to be honest, I didn't have any historical photos of the inside of the funnel (unfortunately HMS Malaya is not Hood or Rodney) and so the whole interior is a product of my imagination.

Also the Admiral's barge is 90% finished. So to boost the morale of a builder bored with heat, work for money and (last but not least) his own laziness, let's dry-clean all the available parts, pour a pint of cool ale, play Dame Vera Lynn and choke down a man's stingy tear:

 

 

 

 

How beautiful you are HMS Malaya! How could I have lived so long without you?

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Thekz, beautifully detailed work there. Those boats in particular look exquisite. And Malaya's funnel must be in the running for the largest on a RN warship. Regards, Jeff.

[S-boat 55]

She's looking really great keep it up

[thekz]

Hello!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular readers can notice some progress in the superstructures and detailing.
You can also see that although something is already done, more is yet to come.

And that's a good thing.

[Jerry L]

Really like the detail work you are doing.

[Courageous]

Are there figurines in those last pics?

 

Stuart

[thekz]

28 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Are there figurines in those last pics?

 

Stuart

Yes.
it's a makeshift AA director's crew. 
believe me, they will look much better after painting)
for example:

 

[thekz]

Hello guys
The september storms slowed down work on HMS Malaya, but didn't stop it!
Especially the work was not easy. Probably the most difficult part of the superstructure - the signal bridge, supported by 3 points and connecting the front superstructure with the hangar - was being installed in its place. And so it was installed somehow, askew, but in its place.

 

 

 

 

I like, gentlemen, the technical aesthetics of battleships of the interwar period! Even in my unseemly version...

 

 

I would also like to share another unexpected success in fishing information out of the murky waters of the internet. Again the anachronistic channel Armoured Carriers amazed me:

 

 

 

 

The film about Operation Catapult caught footage of Malaya, tentatively January-April 1941. God be their judge. It's good for us.

[S-boat 55]

She's really coming on, I still think it's a great project your undertaking here, 

[Courageous]

An impressive structure you've done there, how you managed to make holes that align with the tripod legs .

 

Stuart

[thekz]

8 hours ago, Courageous said:

how you managed to make holes that align with the tripod legs

How did I do that? I wasn't trying to do it!

I used an oriental trick: the masts are glued together from separate pieces.

The inevitable kinks in the joint are not very noticeable now, and will be even more hidden later by railings, crew figures, halyards with signal flags and other details.😜

[robgizlu]

Absolutely marvellous modelling - she is looking terrific

Rob

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Thekz, Those tripod legs line up very well, I thought each was a single length at first. I don't think I could have lined up so many into a straight line. Well done. Regards, Jeff.

[thekz]

Hello Gentlemen
I decided to take a little break from the main superstructure and get busy making another large and important part - the stand. This time I have photographed the process in some detail. I would like to share my method of making coasters, primarily because of the cheapness and availability of the materials used.  I hope this story will inspire someone (like me 5 years ago) to create their first marine coaster.
Let's start with the formulation of the task. Here's the scheme:

 

As in my last work, I will be making a ship walking on a wave - in my opinion she is prettier that way. The wave height of 5m and the wave length of 120m were taken from the reference books and corresponds to a fairly decent storm in the Mediterranean Sea.
Let's begin.

 

 

 

The base material was foam plastic, with a hole made in it for the hull. 

 

Then a wave "skeleton" is created using scraps. Next, we come to the subject of available materials. In my opinion any building plaster or putty is suitable for the next stage. Just whatever was left over from the last renovation. In my case, I had some tile adhesive.

 

 

 Its colour is disgusting! But it doesn't matter. Shape the waves with maschitin or (if it's not here) with suitable cutlery.

 

A good plasterer would probably do it in one layer. I had to add some more. In short - here's the result after finishing the ends.

 

Now for the big secret. What you need next is PVA and cheap toilet paper. I took a picture of it.  I hope this product is not only sold in Russia. And it's not about saving money. I have tried different paper tissues. The conclusion - the cheaper, the more interesting the texture.

 

We apply 3-4 layers of paper, soaking it with diluted PVA.

 

 

This is what happened after drying.

 

 

I repeat - the texture came out so itself, I do not have it specially shaped. 

 

Next, let's work with faces. I used the same tiling mortar as putty, but I added PVA.

 

Let's take out the body. That's all - you can paint. But that's another story.
Thanks to all who have finished.

Edited October 21, 2022 by thekz

[robgizlu]

Nice job

Rob

[SallysDad]

This is a very interesting build.

Thank you for sharing your work and knowledge with us.

[thekz]

Hello!
Let's continue with the sea. I primed it and painted it. I won't describe this process in detail - most of my readers certainly know how to use an airbrush. And I can't give you catalogue numbers of paints, because, as usual, I picked colours by eye. And, to be honest, it's been over a year since I painted anything. So, any of you could paint this part as well as me. Anyway, it went like this:

 

Next, I started to imitate the foam around the hull. The basic technique is to glue small pieces of synthetic wool to PVA. You could probably use cotton wool as well. First we glue in a few points and then soak in PVA.

 

 

This effect is done in many layers and creates quite a believable foam. Now we glue the lowest layer.

Let's coat it with clear acrylic glue. It should become transparent once it dries.

 

 

Here it should be noted that a layer thicker than 3-4 mm risks never becoming transparent. So, on the one hand we want to give the surface a proper texture (I used a teaspoon and a stiff bristle brush for this), and on the other hand we want to avoid too thick a layer. Here's what happened.

 

 

 

It will take about a week to dry, so let's be patient.

While the sea is being leisurely made, I worked on the back. Anchorages in battleship are more convincing than in any cruiser, there is a place to turn around:

 

 

We used chains from the Ukrainian company NorthStar. I got the hang of the chain with a 0.8mm link rather quickly. Only a couple of links became prey for a carpet monster. But 0.6 mm, which I used for stoppers, was a different kind of sport 

Some days the losses were as high as 30%! But the Russians don't give up!

I didn't take advice from my experienced comrades on drinking before the fight, which is probably why it wasn't as cool as with @foeth 

 

And also. Since I haven't painted anything for a year, I wanted to paint something more interesting than a coaster. The stringbag and a couple of boats got their share of paint:

 

 

patience and a dash of luck to all!

[Alan P]

Very impressed with your build so far, plenty of detailing and adaptation. The sea base also looks very convincing.

[El Búho de Sevilla]

The last picture makes me wonder: when a warship is at sea, her lifeboats are normally covered (to prevent the water from getting in) or uncovered (to let the hands to get in faster if suddenly needed)? Have you seen any photos proofing either?

[thekz]

15 minutes ago, El Búho de Sevilla said:

The last picture makes me wonder: when a warship is at sea, her lifeboats are normally covered (to prevent the water from getting in) or uncovered (to let the hands to get in faster if suddenly needed)? Have you seen any photos proofing either?

Usually in real photos the lifeboats are covered. Yes and there is nothing for a plane to do on a catapult in fresh weather.

I have always been aware that many things on my models are surreal. And I even sometimes apologise to readers for that 

On this site people have told me : don't worry, we do it too 

It is likely that the reaction on karopka.ru would have been less friendly 

Edited November 28, 2022 by thekz

[Chewbacca]

On 28/11/2022 at 12:10, El Búho de Sevilla said:

The last picture makes me wonder: when a warship is at sea, her lifeboats are normally covered (to prevent the water from getting in) or uncovered (to let the hands to get in faster if suddenly needed)? Have you seen any photos proofing either?

Warships don't carry lifeboats,  Their boats are working boats and each will have its own functions.  The only boat used for lifesaving is known as the seaboat which in WW2 would usually be a 27 ft Montagu whaler in anything Destroyer sized or above.  Later during the Cold War that was phased out and replaced with a 27 ft motor whaler and more recently a 7 or 8 m RIB.  The seaboat is always left uncovered at sea and available for immediate use; all other boats would usually be covered at sea.

 

The other thing to note about the seaboat is that when rigged for use, there will be a long rope known as the boatrope  that is rigged from its bow to a position well forward on the mother ship.  Its purpose is to hold the bow close in to the ship to prevent broaching until the crew have released the falls and are ready to pull away.  It's always the last connection to be released and the first to be made when the boat returns. 

 

Some seriously good conversion/detailing work going on here.  Love the way that you've done the seascape.  I do not know how you managed to make the anchor cable and only lose 1 or 2 of the 8mm shackles.  I would have had them pinging all over the place and I don't think I would even have tried with the 6mm!

[thekz]

7 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

The seaboat is always left uncovered at sea and available for immediate use; all other boats would usually be covered at sea.

Does it depend on the weather as well?
With winds of 6 or 7, you must have already shrouded all the boats?

[Terry1954]

I don't know how I missed this superb thread, but have just had a good catch up.

 

Your modelling skills are awesome, and this is a fascinating project to watch.

 

So much of the additional detail is excellent to watch but I especially loved seeing these....

 

On 4/26/2022 at 6:09 AM, thekz said:

 

........oh, and your Swordfish rendition is exquisite!

 

Will enjoy and watch this one for sure!

 

Terry