DocRob

Wow, that's a stunning camo. Nice work on that weird Italian scheme. It hides the contours for sure. Cheers Rob

As Im preparing the first coat of Wipe on Poly, for protection against color bleeding in the next steps, I sanded the bulwarks upper sides level and used tiny files of different shapes to smooth the gunports, upper bulwark ornaments and worked on the openings for the catheads. Then I applied a first coat of Minwax Wipe on Poly with a cloth. It's gloss varnish, but with a very thin coat there is no gloss, luckily. The first plank under the bulwarks show some discoloration and I don't know why. All was sanded, and there was no filler or other stuff used, nor were there residues of CA left. Maybe it's the wood itself, but I haven't noticed before. Tomorrow after drying, I will decide, If I sand again, or if I will leave it as is. The wood got a nice and rich color with the WoP on and the deck looks better too. Slightly irritating is the color discrepancy between the pre fab bulwarks and the planks, which both are made from pear wood. I may give the lighter parts another swipe and with all the color and decoration, it will look good, hopefully. Right in time, I got some urgently needed supplies today. I plan to use flat Tamiya LP colors, white, blue and red and have to try which gold color is usable for spraying and brush painting. Chris recommends Vallejo Liquid Gold colors. I heard, they are not easy to work with but have a nice shine. The brushes are synthetic, which is also recommended for the Vallejo colors. On the right is the formidable Colle 21 CA, which worked very good for my second planking job. Cheers Rob

Count the supplied cylinders (there are three types, if I remember right), if it's the Brassin engine. After one other member here built one, I looked into my box and found some cylinders missing. I contacted Eduard and got spares, luckily. Cheers Rob

Your IAR-81 is a beauty and I'm right with Gaz, the FW-engine is to beautifully rendered to be hidden. Is there no way to only loosely attach the cowlings? I know, it's often a delicate area, but I managed it once with a Hellcat. Cheers Rob

Nice Haul, there is even a classic cocktail named after this gun, the 'French 75' Cheers Rob

Yesterday, I decided, my selfmade filler wasn't good enough, so I slapped on some Ronseal wood filler below the waterline to make her ugly again. This was then sanded smooth with 320 grit. After cleaning of the dust with a vacuum cleaner, I used a damp cloth to have it properly clean for the white paint. Above the waterline, I added decks and bulwarks. The decks needed a slight bit of sanding, but better too large than too small. I very carefully sanded the surface of the decks with 320 grit sandpaper, to get rid off the laser marks. As I didn't want to loose engraved detail, I stopped in the middle, having reached a manageable compromise. The pre-formed inner bulwarks where glued in place and clamped thoroughly to allow a good bond. As an aligning help, there are oval wooden plugs supplied for the cannon ports. That helped, but as it was not too easy to fiddle these in, I managed to break the inner bulwark on one port, while doing so. With a careful applied drop of CA, this was repaired. Gluing the bulwarks, I added the PVA glue with a brush and used a bit more near the deck, as I did with the deck itself. By clamping the bulwarks and weighing the deck down, I achieved a bond there, without stains, which made the bulwark more rigid. It was a bit flexible before, when I roughly handled the hull, while sanding. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gary, it was a pretty delicate affair, to get first the fairings aligned and then a proper lay of the planks with sanding everything to contour at the stern. I already prepared the stern cabin window peace, as I want to now before, how this will fit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Martin, I'm overwhelmed. You are absolutely right about the shape of ships of this age, it's a sensual fun to work on the hull. Working with wood is a pleasure and quite different from our normally used materials. To work for a good wood finish is not so much harder than to finish let's say a plane, but entirely different in approach. It's well worth trying a wooden ship model, given there is some love for the subject. I guess, I'm not lost to the Tamiya Extra Thin sniffers, but my venture into wood modelling will not be the last. Cheers Rob

A mock up pic, after removing the spar ends and sand them flat at deck level. I inserted the decks and the inner bulwarks, to see if everything fits. Afterwards, I soaked the bulwarks in hot water and clamped them into the their place to let them dry overnight. The aft deck needed to make an additional rectangular hole for the steering wheel post, which is marked, but not cut like the others. The sanded hull now looks like this, after some time with 320 grit sand paper. After a final fine sanding, it will be varnished with WOP, along with the bulwarks and decks. The stern area was finally sanded to shape and I have to say, I like the result of this very delicately shaped area, where thinned planks meet the bended and glued in place stern fairings. I also sanded the stern end of the side fairings to fit, ready to accept the stern plate with windows and ornaments later Cheers Rob

Regarding to Phil, I have to correct myself. Sometimes a little bravery is needed with DoK. Today I applied my self made filler generously by brush onto the hull, where gaps were visible. I hope this sands away like I had it planned when dry. I had a tiny drawback yesterday, sanding the connection between the pre fabricated bulwark and the first plank. from above, there was always a little step to be seen, so I sanded a bit more without success. Later, I looked a bit closer and found that the first plank came loose somehow at this place and therefore bulged a bit. I sanded it paper thin by accident, not seeing this in time. I applied a tiny bit of PVA with a thin CA applicator and hope the prob is solved. Check thoroughly if something unexpected happens was the lesson to learn with this. Cheers Rob

Thank you, the Duchess of Kingston should look like a beautiful shaped Yacht in the end, a very elegant and decorated small shiüp. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil, no bravery involved, just a good sense for exploring new grounds. The kit is so well designed, that it's the perfect canvas to have an interesting build and hopefully a nice result, even as a relative novice. Cheers Rob

Absolutely superb Gary, the best dios look like a snapshot or like a still from a movie, which is definitely the case with your Panther, figures and surrounding. Cheers Rob

I collected the sanding dust and mixed it with PVA and a drop of water and brushed it onto small gaps and used a sheet of plastic to smooth over. For testing I did that under the waterline, because I want to now, if there are stains after sanding and If I can varnish onto the treated wood without problems. Small gap Filled with my self made filler Brushed on and smoothed out. Test area for Minwax Wipe on Poly. Lets wait and see. Cheers Rob

I took the measurement for the waterline from the supplied 1:1 plan, which amounts to 4,7cm plus 1 cm for the stand. I marked that off on a glas plate with my improvised marking tool . This is preliminary, as I will sand more, but I wanted to get the idea, where the waterline is. Interestingly I measured on the plan from the top of the bulwark on a certain place and found a discrepancy to my marking. Weird, as the measurement from the bottom is correct. I have to determine, where the differences source. Cheers Rob

Respirator mask on, first thing in the morning and using a variety of sanding tools for a coarse (180 grit) preliminary sanding of the hull. The Duchess starts to look like one, slowly. I'm closing to the final appearance of the stern area very slowly, with still some millimeters to sand. Cheers Rob

Thank you and glad to have you on board. I thought about joining Modelshipworld and WIP there, but there are so many build logs even for the DoK, I think to present something different here is not a bad idea. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Hombres, it's great fun to work with wood for a change and I can see more wooden ship builds for me, but I will not abandon the plastic. Albeit it felt a bit wrong, to work with CA for the second planking and I think the result is a sufficient base for a beginners job. Cheers Rob

After laying the last planks, there was some jigsaw puzzle to solve for the last remaining pieces. My disc sander proved to be very handy, for producing the long curved shapes out of plank residues. Luckily enough planking material was supplied with only two full length planks spare. I broke one and separated three, because they were planed to thin (There are many plank cuts left though). And finally, it's done!!!!! Cheers Rob

Test decal solutions first, when using Future. I had some frosting effects, when using Micro Sol onto Future. Micro Set caused no problems and after discovering the Sol effect, I brush on Micro Sol more carefully. The good news, I oversprayed the frosting with Future and the problem was gone, but there are hotter decal melters out there than Sol. Cheers Rob

Very nice painting result Carl and the masks have worked very well. I really want to start mine soon, but there is still some wood to chuck first. Actually, I will add the Special Hobby 48 scale in Spanish livery to my stash, as I like the Cobra in dark blue with Spanish insignia. Cheers Rob

Only six more planks to lay, I hope, I will finish the hull planking tomorrow, it's about time to do something else . I inserted some plank rests into the bigger gaps on the finished side and gave it a preliminary sanding, to check the plank picture and to collect some dust for my self made filler. Cheers Rob

Impressive 'Tamiya' stash Carl, as I couldn't bring myself to so much repetitive builds, my favorite on your pic is a single kit from Ukraine, which I have built recently and enjoyed it mucho. Cheers Rob

Thanks Phil, I helped myself to a cocktail to relax. A combo of rye whiskey, Aquavit, a bit of rich sugar and some drops of Angostura. It's funny somehow, every step before and after planking is shown in the manual to greatest detail, but the planking is just some pics and description. That's no critique, as it's enough to get it done, but shows exactly that, it has to be done, somehow. There are many possibilities and techniques to realize the planking, but in the end, you have to go through it. Today, I managed only some planks on the other side, due to my sore fingers and delicate area around bow an stern, where the preparation, mental and physical is a challenge. Cheers Rob Muchas gracias señhor. Cheers Rob

Phew, one side is almost ready with second planking. The geometry wasn't so simple and I had to use some filler planks, to let the full length planks 'flow' better. There are some places, where I will insert some tiny parts of planking material, to have a smooth base. I don't know why the result of my work looks always more stained than to the real eye, maybe my camera likes landscapes better, or I have to incorporate a softener, a la David Hamilton, tempting curves in the fog . Anyway, I'm sure, after a proper sanding all will look fine and above the waterline, there are no filler planks used. Cheers Rob