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HMS Astute in 1/350 (Trumpeter)


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As I watched the TV series "Vigil" recently, (which I really enjoyed, btw) I felt the sudden urge to build, exactly, a submarine - something I haven't done for, well, I think - never! But, hey, someone has to start somewhere, and in my case I started on the website of a modellers shop and ordered the Bronco Vanguard and - not the Hobby Boss, but the Trumpeter - Astute. As they come from the same molds, I thought they are the same kit, more or less - but I was rather surprised, and, in the first moment, quite dissappointed, that it was prepainted. Rather a toy than a kit for a serious modeller, like I consider myself. (you might have a laugh here). 

 

But then I thought I give it a try and as I haven't build a modern submarine before, I start with this one. 

 

In brief, I was rather happy, and it turned out to be a beautiful model. 

 

As this was more a side-build to my current Walrus, there's no WIP, but at least here's the result.

 

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I'm ok with it, given it's more a first testbed for some new techniques to me.  It did, though, start a new passion in building some more submarines in the near future, as it is such a pleasing subject. Rather interesting, s the topic as such was always of some interest to me, I just never thought of building some. 

 

So,  guess there's more to come soon in this direction... 

 

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5 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Trumpeter paintjob or did you re-do it?

The Trumpeter finish was just plain black plastic, with a few dots on the deck and on the antennas, as well as the golden propeller.

 

I painted the bow and side sections of the hull grey, and the flank areas  red-brown, the latter achieved a copper dry-brushing. This covered by a hue of dilluted black to tone it down, followed by a clear coat for the decals. Then came some light oil streaks, as well as some light dry-brushing to accentuate the edges, then came the decals, and another two layers of clear with a drop of dark grey to give it a final finish. I thinks it's about seven or eight layers here.

 

Honestly it looks better in real, the 25mm lens of my camera is somewhat unforgiving in close details. 

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I am working up to some larger Royal Navy builds and it's awesome to see an example of an HMS Astute kit as I have my eye on this one for my fleet.  I think the weathering looks really good and it really gives the surface some depth and realism. I am working on a sub that is matte black and I am going to emulate your weathering techniques but I think I am going to use light grey, dark grey, rust and dark green below the waterline to represent algae growth.  Thanks for the post!

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7 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

but you didn’t mention painting it so I thought that was how it came.

Sorry, my bad - I thought mind-reading is a wider used capacity in this forum 😉 . I should have mentioned it right in the beginning. But the existing colouring truly is a good point to start from, but of course  there's some more to be done (which was rather fun). 

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8 hours ago, Brian Wilkins said:

I am going to use light grey, dark grey, rust and dark green

That's a good approach, I guess; I used light brown for some light streaks (salt and rust), and some light green for the biological aspect of it. Simply because I had it at hand, but some darker colours surely would have suited it better.

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