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Tamiya Waterline Series 1/700 King George V (1945) Build


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I've posted quite a few of my completed builds on this forum, but this will be my first build log.  I decided this just after painting the decks, so we join our programme already in progress.  The model kit has the usual fit and finish that I've come to expect from Tamiya, and this one was fairly good considering the age of the kit, with just a tiny gap between the foredeck and the hull on the port side adjacent to the anchor chains.  I decided to add the photo etch set from Eduard, which I think adds just enough detail without being cumbersome.  Some of those 1/700 photo etch sets require more magnification than my middle-aged eyes are capable of.  Here are some of the details.

 

Rear superstructure.

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The cranes, which immediately draw the eye.  Enormous improvement over the moulded ones.

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Forward Main Turret.  Accidentally got some putty filler on it and it started to cure before I could get it all off.

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Here's the hull already primed, with the decks painted and the masking started.

 

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I tried to find a decent real wood deck kit for this model, but everywhere I checked had it listed as sold out.  As it was, I had to buy this model kit itself second-hand (brand new) from a dealer nearby.  In the end, I was forced to paint the decks as best I could.  I painted them with Tamiya Buff, then I used three different colours of Games Workshop earth tone shades randomly to bring out the variations in the deck colours.  I then gave it a dusting of Buff overtop to tone it all down a bit.  I wanted it to be subtle, but I think I may have overdone the dusting coat a little.  We shall see once the final reveal is done, I guess.  The photos look a little better than I expected.

 

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Once I had the decks all masked, it was time to prime and "distress" the remainder of the hull and upper surfaces.  I've used this same technique to give that subtle weathered mottling that paint will get on aircraft, so we'll see what it looks like on this beast.

 

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Going through the photo etch set, there are eight of these panels left over, and I'll be darned if I can figure out what they're for.  Any ideas?

 

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And that is where I will have to leave it for today.  Next step will be to paint the vertical surfaces and start on the water base.  Until next time!

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So last night I was able to convince the wife that she needed a nice relaxing bath and some time alone, so I could sneak out to the garage and work on this thing.  I painted the vertical surfaces and most of the guns, rafts, boats, and other accessories.

 

Forward superstructure funnel section:

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Aft superstructure:

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Forward superstructure:

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Another view of the aft superstructure:

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Once the vertical surfaces were painted, I removed the deck masking.  Not too much touch-up; just a small sliver here and there.  Here's amidships with the masking removed.  The mottling on the hull shows up fairly well here:

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The main armament:

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Floats:

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High-angle guns:

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Mainmast:

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Forward decks:

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Aft decks.  The variations in the deck painting show up a little better here::

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I masked the hull and painted the camouflage stripe:

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And here are the major components test-fit together and awaiting final positioning on the base:

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The base usually takes a day or two to fully cure, so I managed to get it moulded last night.  I would prefer a two-part epoxy-type clay, but it is quite expensive, and I find that the regular terracotta works fairly well as long as I don't spread it too thin.  First I moulded in the final position of the ship and flattened out the depression: 

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Next, I built up the wave forms for the wake, and then on to the small sea waves.  For 1/35 scale, a full-size padlock hasp works well, but for 1/700 scale, I found this tiny lock makes a more appropriate-sized small wave.

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Tappity, tappity, tappity...

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Ten minutes of tapping later:

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Now to let it cure for a day or two, and I can get some more done on it.  Hopefully I'll be able to hit this thing some more over the weekend, but that might not happen.  Spring is finally here, and I have a yard to clean up....

 

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That was my thinking as well, since there are eight of them and eight Pom Poms, but the bits are far too large for any part of the gun.  I was thinking that maybe they were meant for a different ship, but I still can't figure it out.  At any rate, it's too late to add them since I'm nearly done the painting aside from some touch-ups and small bits.

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8 hours ago, ErikT said:

Spring is finally here, and I have a yard to clean up....

Gidday Erik, that's the problem with Spring, it eats into modelling time. Your ship is looking very good. Regards, Jeff.

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I do believe you're right!  I'll have to see if they fit when I get back to working on it this weekend.  Thanks a lot; it's been driving me crazy (more than my usual crazy, that is).

I managed to sneak in a few minutes of work yesterday on the base.  I cut the excess hardened clay off the edges and sanded them, and then filled a few gaps and chips with superglue after masking the rest of the base:

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Once the superglue was cured, I primed the whole base.  I just used a rattle can of primer; no point in spending more money and time using the good stuff out of the airbrush when the spray bomb works just as well.

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Just checking that the waveform looks decent:

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Starting to come together!  Still a lot of work ahead, but it gets exciting for me when I can see the tangible results.  It's looking like a ship at sea already.

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So, despite the weekend containing Mother's Day, I was still able to get some work done on this model.  I started with the base painting, which was covered all over in Tamiya gloss Navy Blue.  I followed this with a lighter blue, and then white in a very thin, spattery finish to try and make it look like bubbles.  Not sure if I'll do that again, but we'll see what it looks like once it's all finished.

 

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Added the light blue in the wake:

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Then some white:

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Test-fit in the water, just to see everything together and see if there are any glaring errors to be fixed before moving on:

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I finished painting just about everything, so I was able to start assembly.  Here she is with all the AA guns in place, as well as the floats and the boats.  I was also able to do some shading with panel line wash.  The whole thing was nice and glossy:

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I like how the bow looks with those little tiny 20mm cannons.  And if you look closely enough, you will see that the centre capstan is missing.  Another sacrifice to the carpet monster.  I'll find it with the vacuum later.

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Amidships.  Still a little clean up left to do from the panel line wash.

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Stern.  Not sure how I feel about the "bubbles."  Perhaps they'll grow on me after I get the base completed.  Now that I pretty much know what I'm doing with my airbrush, it was actually a lot of effort to make it spatter.  I used to be able to make it do that without even trying.

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Still to do: Outer railings, high-angle guns (those photo etch panels fit!  Thanks, Foeth!), flat clear coat, then weathering.  Still lots to do on the base as well.  Cheers!

 

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Got to spend a little more time on this last night.  I went over the base with some heavy gel medium to give it a little more depth and texture:

 

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Once it was dry, I followed it up with a coat of clear gloss varnish (one of many to come):

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While the gel medium was drying on the base, I tackled the outer railings.  I usually leave these until the whole thing is nearly complete, as my hands are very large and I often mangle the photo etch details, so the less I have to handle the model afterward, the better.  Which is also why I usually do this after the kids have gone to bed.  They hear enough cursing on TV and at school; they don't need to hear it from me as well.  Photo etch = heavy cursing.

Amidships railings:

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Stern railings.  You can see here that my previous efforts to vary the tones of the deck boards has been completely lost.  After I went over the deck with a brown wash to highlight the lines between the boards, it made the paint variation disappear.  I was able to remove more of the wash in some areas than in others, which ended up showing streaks in the deck that actually looks pretty good.  Lots of subtle variation there, which is what I was after in the first place.  Next time I can save myself some effort, I think:

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Bow railings.  Tiny little dogleg overlap there where the side rails meet the bow rail, but it's so small in real life that I doubt anyone will see it:

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All railings done!  She's starting to look like she's supposed to.  I was able to fit the high-angle guns, which was the last of the assembly that I had to tackle.  A good coat of clear flat, and I'll be ready to weather it.  Probably won't get to it for a few days, though.

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Well, since strep throat decided to pay a visit to the family this weekend, I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted on this build.  Fortunately I haven't contracted it yet, but everyone else has, and those crybabies have kept me busy.  I managed to at least get the whole thing weathered, using Abteilung oils and AK rust streak enamel.  I might have gotten a little heavy-handed, but I still like how it looks.  Like it's been at sea for a while.

First, some dabbing of the various colours:

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Smearing:

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And then magic!

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Then the rust streaks:

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I absolutely LOVE that thumbprint just aft of the anchor.  Took me a while to camouflage that.  

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I also started working on the personnel.  These little figures from Gold Medal Models are TINY.  Like, 2.5 mm tall.  I just primed them on the sprue, so not much to say about it.

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With the bulk of the weathering completed, I was able to epoxy the beast into the water base.  There was a significant bow in the hull - 8 mm over the whole length, so I had to epoxy the front, let it cure overnight, then epoxy and clamp the rear.  I was so afraid I might mangle the whole thing, but I cut a small block of styrene to fit in there between all the railings and other details, and it worked just fine.

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The kit didn't come with any decals, which I should have noticed a long time ago but didn't, and I'm too impatient to wait for some proper 1/700 scale flags, so for now I'm just using an ensign from a 1/350 scale kit.  It'll be big, but it'll look okay until I get a proper one ordered.  I just set the decals onto aluminum foil and then coat the flag in clear flat.

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And that's it for this session.  Hopefully I'll get to work on it some more this week.  Still a lot to do on the water feature.  Cheers!

 

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Gidday Erik, that's great weathering, it looks like the ship has had a hard time at sea. I pity the crew when she gets into harbour - all that chipping and painting.

Regards, Jeff.

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Thanks for the comments so far!  I'm really enjoying this one, and I'm still learning a lot with ships and water.  I was able to get all the bacteria-laden humans fed and into their beds for the night (no strep throat for me yet!), so I managed a couple hours of alone time once again.  My family should get sick more often; I'm having a wonderful time.  And I don't have to arm-wrestle anyone for the television remote!

Anyways, I worked on the water for a while, starting with some clear silicone.  This both seals the gap between the base and the ship, and it adds some better wave details:

 

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The silicone goes on white, then dries clear.  Looking at it after finishing, I think I may have to try just using white silicone next time.  Saves me having to paint the stuff after.

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Here it is once cured.  No gap in the water now, and I was able to tweak the bow waves and make things look a little more natural.

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While that was curing, I decided to start with the rigging.  Just got one length on last night, and I suspect I have a couple more hours of rigging to look forward to, even at this scale.  Thank goodness for the third hand.  trying to keep my hands steady, even for a few seconds at the end of the day, is difficult these days.

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1 hour ago, ErikT said:

My family should get sick more often; I'm having a wonderful time. 

Err, I wouldn't let that get around. 😲 But the ship on the sea base is looking very good, very authentic. Good luck with the rigging. Regards, Jeff.

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Almost complete!  I worked on the foam details, the rigging, and the crew all at the same time to be more efficient.  While waiting for the CA glue to cure on the rigging, I'd place a few crew members or paint some foam.  It didn't take long to get those three pieces of the project finished.

First, the rigging:

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Thank goodness for the third hand; with my shaky grip, I'd never accomplish a decent job on the rigging.

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I worked on the foam details in layers.  Here's the first layer, which is heavily diluted white:

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Then a coat of clear gloss, and a second fine coat of white to pick out some more of the foam:

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With those tasks complete, it was time to peel off the masking from the base and stain the visible wood.  I ended up with a bunch of extra oak drawer fronts after my parents refinished their kitchen, so I have a few of these to turn into bases.  This one will be stained a lot darker:

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I'm on the last stretch of this one.  I just have to wait for the wood stain to cure, attach the ensign and the name plate, and then take some nice final photos with an actual camera instead of my phone.  Hopefully that will happen later this week.  Cheers!

 

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Lovely work,   made me pull my finger out and get back to my Flyhawk  HMS Hood  build  that  about to  become a  Dio as she samk.

 

Erk.

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