HMS Rodney Build Log - 1/200

[Faraway]

@andyelbac

I’ve had very few problems fitting wooden decks.

The 1/700 scale decks were VERY thin and tended to split along the plank lines as I removed the backing sheet. I’ve done two in this scale and that was the only real problem, although one did overhang slightly, but that was easily trimmed. One did suffer from a slight lifting around smaller deck fittings, but that also was easily cured by a tiny spot of CA, which was drawn under the deck by capillary action, I then pressed it down and there it stayed.

The 1/350 decks are much more robust, being thicker and didn’t suffer from splitting and did fit much better. 
Although sometimes, I’ve had to trim wood away from where the superstructure locates, so that the plastic superstructure part can actually touch the plastic deck.
I did wash the plastic deck before painting any of the moulded deck fittings, and I also gave the deck a light coating of the same paint as these fittings, my thinking being, the wooden deck adhesive might stick better to a slightly rougher surface.
 

I always, if possible, paint the hull before fitting the deck. I then mask the hull to stop damage to the paint, but you must give the hull a very good wash and allow to dry for a while, then give it a coat of primer. This, so far, has stopped the paint lifting when the masking tape is removed, which I’ve had happen a couple of times, so now I test the paint adhesion with tape, just to be sure.

 

Sorry, but I can’t remember who made the decks, but they all have fitted well and I’ve not had any lifting to drastically.

Jon

[andyelbac]

I've done a little more work over the last few nights. Here I have filed off the kit watertight doors on the Shelter Deck ad added the Pontos doors. I've  done the same with the deck above:

 I've also started removing the moulded support struts from around the deck shielding that surround the 4.7" AA guns fitted on the Shelter Deck. Naturally, Pontos have you replace these with etched struts:

 That's all for the moment. Last night I gingerly sketched out the dazzle scheme in pencil on the hull. I plan on laying down the first colour over the weekend. It's the first time I've painted with enamel and I've suddenly realised there's a significant drying time compared to acrylics. Sovereign Hobbies state about 6 hours between coats, so this is going to be a lengthy process. I just hope I can do it justice. One more thing......a new tooling of a 1/200 Yamato? Christmas has come early!

[andyelbac]

10 hours ago, Faraway said:

@andyelbac

I’ve had very few problems fitting wooden decks.

The 1/700 scale decks were VERY thin and tended to split along the plank lines as I removed the backing sheet. I’ve done two in this scale and that was the only real problem, although one did overhang slightly, but that was easily trimmed. One did suffer from a slight lifting around smaller deck fittings, but that also was easily cured by a tiny spot of CA, which was drawn under the deck by capillary action, I then pressed it down and there it stayed.

The 1/350 decks are much more robust, being thicker and didn’t suffer from splitting and did fit much better. 
Although sometimes, I’ve had to trim wood away from where the superstructure locates, so that the plastic superstructure part can actually touch the plastic deck.
I did wash the plastic deck before painting any of the moulded deck fittings, and I also gave the deck a light coating of the same paint as these fittings, my thinking being, the wooden deck adhesive might stick better to a slightly rougher surface.
 

I always, if possible, paint the hull before fitting the deck. I then mask the hull to stop damage to the paint, but you must give the hull a very good wash and allow to dry for a while, then give it a coat of primer. This, so far, has stopped the paint lifting when the masking tape is removed, which I’ve had happen a couple of times, so now I test the paint adhesion with tape, just to be sure.

 

Sorry, but I can’t remember who made the decks, but they all have fitted well and I’ve not had any lifting to drastically.

Jon

Jon, you're giving me a lot more confidence in the deck staying stuck. I wonder if the issue of decks lifting may be more around the local environment; humidity etc? Wooden decks staying stuck mat be an unexpected benefit of living in a country where three days of sun in a row, a bit of a gale and two inches of snow constitute extreme weather!😁

[Faraway]

13 hours ago, andyelbac said:

Jon, you're giving me a lot more confidence in the deck staying stuck. I wonder if the issue of decks lifting may be more around the local environment; humidity etc? Wooden decks staying stuck mat be an unexpected benefit of living in a country where three days of sun in a row, a bit of a gale and two inches of snow constitute extreme weather!😁

You could well be right, the weather certainly affects the paint when airbrushing.

One thing I forgot to mention about wooden decks, if you are going to add any fittings, railings etc. to the deck be wary that the wood acts like a sponge when you put CA glue anywhere near it. So much so, I sometimes struggle to get enough glue to stick the part in place before the glue disappears into the wood. I'm thinking that a thicker CA might be the answer.

Jon

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

13 hours ago, andyelbac said:

 It's the first time I've painted with enamel and I've suddenly realised there's a significant drying time compared to acrylics. Sovereign Hobbies state about 6 hours between coats, so this is going to be a lengthy process. I just hope I can do it justice. 

 

That guidance is for brush painters who are worst case scenario really. The matt colours dry much faster than satins do and if using an airbrush with any more finesse than a fire hose you can mask and overcoat much faster than that

[Faraway]

7 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The matt colours dry much faster

Sometimes I've had them dry within the hour, but I always leave them overnight just in case, I guess it also depends how thick a coat you spray.

Jon

[andyelbac]

I've started apply the NARN22. I have to say @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies the Colourcoat goes on a treat. It's my first time using enamels, but I'm very impressed with your paints. I mixed it about 60/40 paint/thinner and sprayed at about 18psi and it went on a treat. I put down two coats, giving the first plenty of time to dry. I know this looks haphazard, but at this stage I'm just trying to make sure I cover the entire area where this colour needs to go. Next up will be masking the Narn22 areas ready for the next colour:

 

 I've brightened the photo to hopefully show up the Narn22 better.

[S-boat 55]

Always exciting to get paint on, and ditto colourcoats - they're excellent, 

[andyelbac]

21 hours ago, Faraway said:

You could well be right, the weather certainly affects the paint when airbrushing.

One thing I forgot to mention about wooden decks, if you are going to add any fittings, railings etc. to the deck be wary that the wood acts like a sponge when you put CA glue anywhere near it. So much so, I sometimes struggle to get enough glue to stick the part in place before the glue disappears into the wood. I'm thinking that a thicker CA might be the answer.

Jon

Thanks for the tip Jon. I will experiment on some of the cut outs from the wood deck before I start gluing pieces on. I have a few different viscosity of CA available, but it sounds like Gorilla CA Gel might be most appropriate.

11 hours ago, S-boat 55 said:

Always exciting to get paint on, and ditto colourcoats - they're excellent, 

I was starting to think I would never get there!

[andyelbac]

As I am now in the process of painting the hull, does anyone have any idea of the depth of the boot toppings, so I can make the necessary scale adjustment?

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, andyelbac said:

As I am now in the process of painting the hull, does anyone have any idea of the depth of the boot toppings, so I can make the necessary scale adjustment?

I have asked the same and got this reply

 

[johndon]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:51 PM, andyelbac said:

One more thing......a new tooling of a 1/200 Yamato? Christmas has come early!

 

I'm desperately trying, and failing, to think of a reason not to buy one right now even though I have three other 1/200 scale ships to build...

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, johndon said:

 

I'm desperately trying, and failing, to think of a reason not to buy one right now even though I have three other 1/200 scale ships to build...

Who is producing this one ?

Jon

[johndon]

23 minutes ago, Faraway said:

Who is producing this one ?

Jon

 

Depending on where in the world you are, take your pick from Trumpeter/Gallery Models/Glow2B/MRC/Monochrome/Modellbau.

 

The boxings are all slightly different with some not even mentioning Yamato on the front of the box at all, example here: https://www.1001hobbies.co.uk/1200-scale-ship-models/525918-glow2b-modellbau-5058052000-yamato-battleship-premium-4250580520009.html

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by johndon

[Faraway]

8 minutes ago, johndon said:

 

Depending on where in the world you are, take your pick from Trumpeter/Gallery Models/Glow2B/MRC/Monochrome/Modellbau.

 

The boxings are all slightly different with some not even mentioning Yamato on the front of the box at all, example here: https://www.1001hobbies.co.uk/1200-scale-ship-models/525918-glow2b-modellbau-5058052000-yamato-battleship-premium-4250580520009.html

 

 

Thanks.

I’d love to see one built, but it won’t be by me. Far too expensive and bigger than my work bench.

Jon

 

[johndon]

56 minutes ago, Faraway said:

Thanks.

I’d love to see one built, but it won’t be by me. Far too expensive and bigger than my work bench.

Jon

 

 

Definitely not cheap although not as expensive as I'd feared in might be, my local model shop has the Trumpeter 1/200 Hood for example at 349.99 these days and the Yamato is a much larger ship in terms of volume.

[Adm Lord De Univers]

1 hour ago, Faraway said:

Thanks.

I’d love to see one built, but it won’t be by me. Far too expensive and bigger than my work bench.

Jon

 

Copy, paste, slight change:

 

I’d love to see one built, but it won’t be by me. Far too expensive and bigger than my 'house'.

 

David

[andyelbac]

13 hours ago, johndon said:

 

Definitely not cheap although not as expensive as I'd feared in might be, my local model shop has the Trumpeter 1/200 Hood for example at 349.99 these days and the Yamato is a much larger ship in terms of volume.

There is something though in just 'having' a thing. I am currently sitting on over 70 unbuilt armour kits. I know more will be added before I join the great modelling community in the sky. I know I will never build them all, so why do I keep adding to them? There will also be modellers out there thinking  "only 70?;  this guy lacks commitment!". Sometimes the collection is the driver, not necessarily the act of building them. I am tempted by the Yamato. At the beginning of this build I said that my credit card took a hammering in buying four big ship kits. But I also sold off a good dozen armour kits to fund one of the purchases. The new Yamato might prompt another clear out, even if I know that deep down, the closest I'm ever likely to come to building it is to open it up every now and again and fantasise what it would be like to start the process!😁

[andyelbac]

Over the weekend, in between masking the hull for the dazzle scheme, I broke up the boredom by doing a little more PE. The forward part of the Shelter Deck has a steel deck. Here you can see the Pontos PE decking applied:

In between masking the hull for the dazzle scheme, I broke up the boredom by doing a little more PE. The forward part of the Shelter Deck has a steel deck. Here you can see the Pontos PE decking applied:

This section is home to 4 x 4.7" guns (two a side). Trumpeter moulded on the bracing struts for the shielding that sits around these gun emplacements. Pontos have you shave these off and replace them with 30 etch braces.
I found the easiest way to remove the moulded braces was to carve them away using a Swann Morton surgical scalpel #9 and a pcb glass eraser for the point between deck and shielding. The glass eraser uses glass filaments held together in a small tube. It helps getting into spaces too tight for wet and dry. The downside is that the glass fibers can be very irritating to skin, so gloves are a necessity and care must be taken when disposing of the fibres:

 Here's a shot of the upper deck sitting on top of the Shelter Deck:

 ...and here's three photos of the Pontos etched support struts added:

 

 

 I then reverted back to masking off the hull. I've pretty much finished it now, ready for the next colour, which I hope to apply tonight. Obviously, additional masking will be required before the entire dazzle scheme is complete.

[andyelbac]

A little more PE work that I completed over the weekend. There are numerous lockers and skylights that populate the Shelter Deck and elsewhere. I decided to start building these ready for the day when I can start assembling the above deck areas. Here's a photo of the Pontos instructions covering these areas:

 Here we are with all the lockers and skylights assembled. I'm going to leave the skylights closed when I add them to the deck. I'm not sure if some would naturally have access ladders running down from them but there are no holes in the deck to accommodate that and I'm certainly not going to try and cut holes in the PE decking. I still haven't decided whether to place acetate behind the scuttles in the skylights or use MicroKlear; a decision for another day:

 abd a few close ups (apologies for the poor lighting):

 

 

The lockers with the mesh faces are flag lockers. Pontos kindly print some multi-coloured squares that you cut from the instructions and place inside to replicate the flags. Next up is an enclosure of some kind that sits on stilts at the base of the Foremast.  It comprises three pieces of etch. An access ladder will be added later:

Finally, the Bow Rigging Supporter (that's what Pontos call it). It's a ladder frame with a pulley on the end. It sits behind the first breakwater and I presume it's used to raise and lower the small mast which sits just behind it. Or perhaps not. It seems over engineered for that?  Here's a picture of the Pontos instructions. It looks reasonably simple. A few folds on the big piece, then fold it over like a sandwich and add the little pieces. Which is bit like seeing a simplified diagram of open heart surgery and thinking 'that doesn't look to difficult, let's give it a bash'. Needless to say, it was a wee bit tricky. Here's the Pontos instructions:

Trumpeter have you assemble it from three pieces of plastic and three of etch. Pontos have you assemble it from fifty three pieces of etch, fifty of which are support braces, the smallest of which, 28 in number you can see here:

 Here's the support braces on the sprue. At this size it's all but impossible to get any burrs off with a diamond file:

 Next the folded frame ready for the first of the braces:

 

Here's the completed ladder frame:

 

 Hopefully my next post will be pictures of the evolving dazzle scheme.

[Faraway]

My hat is off. 

I think I’d have quietly become a jibbering wreck trying to assemble that.

Jon

[johndon]

Very nice work on the ladder frame.  I will admit to missing some of the smallest PE parts of on my 1/200 Iowa a couple of which I found pretty much impossible to pick up with tweezers.

[psdavidson]

 Your patience must be the stuff of legends

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, that PE stuff is waaaay out of my league. You're doing a superb job of this. Regards, Jeff.

[foeth]

(posted before checking properly)