Airfix 1/600 HMS Ark Royal + PE + crew - Finished

[Ray S]

Adrian, I like your ocean effect - I may well steal borrow the idea sometime.

 

Ray

[81-er]

That base is really good, Adrian. It's nice to see it progressing to see the difference each step makes

 

James

[AdrianMF]

Doing the base is really fun - although I'm starting to worry about getting the ship done. I'm planning to take a couple of days off work later this week and I will hopefully do some catching up as we enter the last month of the GB.

 

Looking at Alex's build makes me realise how little progress I've made and how much there is still to do.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Old Man]

That's a great base, Adrian!

 

The foil is a good idea. I think the reflectivity might have some useful effects.

[AdrianMF]

Finally, made some time for modelling! 

I modified the stern windows and the small sections of rod are my poor attempt a 1/600 paravanes:

 

All the boats have painted and mounted in the recesses:

 

I may paint some of the boat tops wood colour and draw in some windows to make them a bit more interesting. I don't have any idea what colour they would have been!

[Mr T]

The base is pretty amazing, and the ship is coming together. I am also beginning to realise that the click os ticking on my build 

[AdrianMF]

Just to show progress is being made:

 

Adding the weld lines highlights how approximate the Airfix detail is compared to the real thing (and how difficult it is to stick stretched sprue where you want it to go), but I'm going with a policy of "look busy"!

 

Why am I posting at 3:20am? Just been on the phone finding out that one of my US colleagues has had a stroke today - she is stable but they don't know how much damage has been done. Bad news.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Why am I posting at 3:20am? Just been on the phone finding out that one of my US colleagues has had a stroke today - she is stable but they don't know how much damage has been done. Bad news.

Gidday Adrian, I think that time is irrelevant when it comes to modeling. I didn't think I could 'like' your last post, considering the news of your friend, although we can certainly like what you're doing to the model. I hope things turn out OK for her. Regards, Jeff.

[AdrianMF]

Well, it's been a week to remember. Or rather try to forget.
 

My company has a US office with a support engineer, a full time admin and a part-time HR consultant. We have all worked together for over a decade and know each other like family. I've had to close down the office because US business has been slow, and the last day was meant to be yesterday. We had all been working hard to get  it done.

 

The HR consultant had a second stroke on Sunday and died in hospital on Tuesday. Her family got there in time to be with her. 

The support engineer, who is a sweet and gentle man from a complex and dysfunctional family, received a call from the police about an incident at his brother's house 800 miles away. He let me know by email at 2am when he got the call, and flew out the next day. It turns out that his brother (in mid divorce) had shot and killed his eight-year-old daughter and then tried to commit suicide. The first item on the agenda when he got to the hospital was being asked for permission to take his brother off life support (given).

 

The admin rang me, very upset, to tell me what was going on and I told her to go home to concentrate on her mental health. One of her ex-boyfriends committed suicide some years back.

 

Yay, guns.

 

So I'm trying to support my US colleagues and friends from a rather awkward position, work out what's left to do to close the office in compliance with US and state regulations, deal with a cashflow squeeze at work (many customers late with payments as the recession starts to really bite) and negotiate a deal with my largest customer which is squeezing all its suppliers for 50% reduction in costs. And I've just started a five day intensive course of steroids for my spinal condition, and the randomly selected side effects this time around seem to be inability to sleep and visual hallucinations (crawling effects like you get looking at Bridget Riley op art paintings at random in my peripheral vision or when I look at something intricately patterned, like a photoetch brass sheet) (good job I'm not doing a build wi.... oh).

You wanted to hear about the build? Ah, back to the thread...

Despite being extensively weighted down at the corners when first constructed, the base had started warping to the extent that each of the corners is about 5mm off the table. I guess the cardboard top has been slowly shrinking as (a lot of) PVA glue dries. And because there is a big diagonal slot, the warping has a diagonal component as well as a longitudinal one.

 

So the only solution (apart from starting again and doing it properly) is to shrink the lower part of the base to match. Out with the razor saw and make a series of lateral cuts from the bottom of the base up to the cardboard layer, spacing them proportionally to the local curvature:

 

The collection of razor saw kerfs gave enough leeway to straighten the sides without having to enlarge the slots to a wedge shape. I glued it all back together with copious amounts of thick superglue in the saw cuts and held if firmly down on the table whilst the glue set. Yes, it did stick down a little...

 

When it was dry, I could then sand down the superglue blobs and give it a quick coat of black to check for blemishes. I seem to have got away with it. No rocking:

 

The ship fits into its recess with almost no gaps at all now and will also help to stabilise and brace the base because it will be superglued in place.

 

I have finished doing welds and actually stuck some more pieces on. Crazy, I know,

 

The upper portion of the hull should have welds too but I have only done them at the ends, on the grounds that there's so much going on on the upper hull sides with boats, floats, walkways and other sticky out bits that it will look busy enough without them (and time is pressing).

 

Some railings in the recesses, etched brass detailing and some hull painting tomorrow. Then I can make some interior detail, and finish and glue in the kit insert parts. I also want to add some crew into the inset  bow and stern sections to get an idea of how they work.

I'm toying with the idea of giving the PE a light blast of Mr Halfords' finest rattle can grey primer before I start using it. What does the team think?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[ArnoldAmbrose]

3 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

actually stuck some more pieces on. Crazy, I know,

Yeah, we do that from time to time, with models. 😁 That sea base looks very good to me. It seems you've overcome the warping issues.

Regards, Jeff.

[Ray S]

5 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I'm toying with the idea of giving the PE a light blast of Mr Halfords' finest rattle can grey primer before I start using it. What does the team think?

 

I think that is a good idea, it is what I do. Be prepared for some to flake off though when you bend the stuff. It will be your friend when you put the proper paint on.

 

I am sorry to hear about your US office and all the problems the team have been having, my thoughts are with them and you,

 

Ray

[RichieW]

Oh Adrian that sounds like a shocking week. Model making seems insignificant in comparison. What I do know is that when my mother fell seriously ill in January and passed away the only thing that kept me going was my BE2c project. I hope you and your team are as OK as can be expected. 

 

Keep up the good work on your Ark Royal, it looks mightily impressive.

 

Richie

 

 

 

 

[81-er]

Bloody hell, Adrian, that's really been a terrible week. My sympathies are with you and everyone in the US affected by the events that have unfolded.

 

I'm amazed you've managed to fit any modelling in whilst dealing with all of that, but it's progressing well.

 

James

[AdrianMF]

Just realised the etch set doesn't include enough degaussing cable to go all around the ship, just the front end . It has seven lengths, and I reckon you would need ten to get all the way round. I'll be using some card strip where it disappears into the shadows!

 

However, some of the set is working out fine:

 

...and all four corners of the sea base are still flat on the bench

[Mr T]

I am very sorry to hear about what sounds like a very difficult and distressing situation at work. It must be awful for all involved, including you. 

Your own health problems cannot be helping, Mrs T says the sleep problem is common with steroids but it is the first time she has heard of visual hallucinations, and you might want to check it out if it something you have not been warned about. Steroids can have very complex effects on the body, which is something I am sure you are aware of. 

It amazes me that you have managed to do some modelling in the current circumstances. Take care and look after yourself. 

Regards, Martin. 

[TonyW]

That real world out there can be a cruel place. I'm sorry to hear about your current work and health situation and hope things sort themselves into the best possible outcome.

 

I'm a firm believer in this hobby of ours being a first class form of therapy in its own right. The calming effect of a few shed hours beats all the white coats and pills into a cocked hat for me.

 

The Ark is looking better and better each time you post.

 

Tony.

[81-er]

Those anchor chains look very fine (in all senses) to me, Adrian

 

James

[AdrianMF]

5 hours ago, 81-er said:

anchor chains look very fine

They go into the front hull, a bit under the main deck. Then you put the main deck on and you have four tiny windows to try to see them through! A bit like your average Elsan detail in the back of a Wellington - you know it's there...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[AdrianMF]

Well, after being disappointed that there wasn't enough degaussing cable to get round the whole ship, I decided to tackle it. Three strips down each side starting at the bow got me to under the "boat shelf" and through all the interesting curves:

 

Then at the back I just ran a 10x30 thou (0.5x1.5mm) strip all the way around:

 

I only had one out of the seven strips left, so not enough to do anything interesting with it. I will try out some sort of paint effect on the plain strip, but mostly rely on it being at the back! I suspect from "normal viewing distance" it won't be that noticeable, but we are Modellers so it bugs us!

[Old Man]

So sorry to learn of this. Horrible.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @AdrianMF, you're doing very well with the detailing of this. As others have said, you're not having a very good time right now. I hope that modeling helps you cope, and that things improve for you soon. Regards, Jeff.

[The Spadgent]

Hells bells. What a situation. Thoughts are with your American colleagues and of course with your good self. As I caught up with the thread the story just got worse. I do hope the Ark helps you through and the struggles with your back.  For what it’s worth I think that base you have created is amazing and I’ll definitely be poaching ideas for when the time comes. The Royal herself looks like she’s coming along great guns too. 🙌🙌👏👏  Excellent modelling as always. 😇

 

 Johnny

[AdrianMF]

Slowly getting back on an even keel (for me at least) so I decided to take a leaf out of the @ArnoldAmbrose playbook and play WWJD (what would Jeff do), to make some  fairleads:

 

I've got a lot to do, but I am hoping to take tomorrow off and a few days next week, so I might still get this puppy done! 

[Ray S]

10 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Slowly getting back on an even keel (for me at least) so it decided to take a leaf out of the @ArnoldAmbrose playbook and play play WWJD (what would Jeff do), to make some  fairleads:

 

I've got a lot to do, but I am hoping to take tomorrow off and a few days next week, so I might still get this puppy done! 

 

That looks like you took inspiration from the Aleutians Archipelago Adrian! They are very neat though, good job done there.

 

It is good to hear you are getting back on the even keel,

 

Ray

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ray S
corrected spelling

[81-er]

That's impressive work, Adrian, those things are tiny!

 

Funnily enough, it was apparently aircraft carrier month at my club meeting this week, as we had three of them. All Ark Royal, in different scales and stages of her life. One was this kit (which has brought about more admiration for your skills as I now know exactly how small it is), there was a 1/700 kit in a small diorama of her sinking, and finally a stunning 1/350 build in a diorama with two other ships. That one's destined for Telford

 

James