USS Arizona - 1/350

[DocRob]

21 hours ago, CANicoll said:

Beautiful!!  I hope you display this with a magnifying glass nearby as the detail is amazing.  CN

Thank you Chris, if I ever finish it, there will be only distant shots, not to show the many imperfections, I fabricated. The good thing, living on a remote island is, nobody except me will ever see the thing with the real eye .

One motivating thing with this build, I start to find the PE parts faster, because the five large PE-sheets start to empty up.

Cheers Rob

[CANicoll]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

Thank you Chris, if I ever finish it, there will be only distant shots, not to show the many imperfections, I fabricated. The good thing, living on a remote island is, nobody except me will ever see the thing with the real eye .

One motivating thing with this build, I start to find the PE parts faster, because the five large PE-sheets start to empty up.

Cheers Rob

Ha! Lots of really good work there to look at!

I find the same thing with the sprues.  I cut them up and throw away the parts that are empty which makes finding things so much easier.  Assuming I don't miss something and bin the part I was looking for!

[Peterpools]

Rob

WOW, the second catapult and the stern crane look absolutely perfect, as with boats and their cradles. To my eye, the PE work is just brilliant and will look even better when painted and installed on deck. 

So glad you will be going with 'full' photographs of the Arizona when done, as they certainly will be a joy to see, high lightening the detail and the beauty of the build.

Prior to the completion, I just wanted to thank you for the detailed PE techniques you have shared with us - will certainly become a technique I'll be using down the road.

 

 

[DocRob]

On 2/28/2023 at 2:04 PM, Peterpools said:

WOW, the second catapult and the stern crane look absolutely perfect, as with boats and their cradles. To my eye, the PE work is just brilliant and will look even better when painted and installed on deck. 

So glad you will be going with 'full' photographs of the Arizona when done, as they certainly will be a joy to see, high lightening the detail and the beauty of the build.

Prior to the completion, I just wanted to thank you for the detailed PE techniques you have shared with us - will certainly become a technique I'll be using down the road.

Thank you Peter and I hear you. 'Prior to the completion', that sounds soon, but there are many things to do and my patience with this kit is starting to wear. Too much fighting, compared to the satisfaction it generates. I still have the urge to finish the Arizona, but it feels harder to resist other temptations.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I started with the boats, hoping to find some relaxation, but was soon proved wrong. The flimsy racks didn't help and the last four of the twelve (I hope, I counted right) fought back wherever they could. fragile railings went on along with portholes and covers, which all went airborne on the first attempt and then stuck with the CA in unwanted places. I start to loose my patience with these ever more fiddly sub assemblies. The racks aren't looking too good, but they will have to do.

For my own sanity, only to show how far I've come with the build, most of the assemblies where loosely grouped on the decks for some brass shots.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

As rickety as they look, Rob...   the boats look great.  Massive progress are you making.

[Peterpools]

Rob

I feel your pain but as I follow your progress, the level of work, especially the PE with all its frustrations is amazing as I study the photographs. Patience and skill is the key and as always, you have shown they are some of your most important used tools. 

The boats do look amazing with all the PE details and the four overall photographs of the Arizona shows how far you have come and the level of detail now is amazing as well.

Just stick with it, as you are drawing closer and closer to the paint shop and finish line. Of course, rigging waits at the end and hopefully will not be another adventure.

 

[DocRob]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:32 PM, GazzaS said:

As rickety as they look, Rob...   the boats look great.  Massive progress are you making.

Slowly approaching the finish line with all the PE-laden sub assemblies, thanks Gary.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:52 PM, Peterpools said:

I feel your pain but as I follow your progress, the level of work, especially the PE with all its frustrations is amazing as I study the photographs. Patience and skill is the key and as always, you have shown they are some of your most important used tools. 

The boats do look amazing with all the PE details and the four overall photographs of the Arizona shows how far you have come and the level of detail now is amazing as well.

Just stick with it, as you are drawing closer and closer to the paint shop and finish line. Of course, rigging waits at the end and hopefully will not be another adventure.

 

Thanks for mentioning rigging Peter , I hadn't had a single thought about that until now. Patience indeed is a key for these kind of builds, as well as realizing that some days are not good for progress with this kind of work. 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Today in the morning, I fired up my trusted old compressor with the intent to prime all that glaring PE along the few plastic remains with some Mr. Surfacer. Inspecting the manual showed me that there are several parts better to add now, than later, as I initially intended, like railings on the superstructure and some ladders here and there and parts, where I believed, they had to be glued to the deck, instead they are to glue to the superstructure. Railings are especially painful and the rounded shaped are the worst.

I think the superstructures are finished now, except tiny antennas, AA-guns, searchlights and water pumps, which will be added after painting.

Last for today, where eight of these guns sitting on top of the deck. They are 3D printed and have brass barrels and are superbly detailed. The manual suggests to cut away the railings and substitute them with PE, but I think they look good as they are and handle safer. 

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

WOW, amazing work and can't wait to see these assembly with primer and paint. Agreed that railing on the 3D printed guns look just fine and no need to replace them with PE.

 

[GazzaS]

That gun looks pretty cool.  Nice work.

[KevinM]

Looks great Rob but I think you need more resolution on your photos/Bigger I am looking for flaws

[DocRob]

On 3/4/2023 at 6:59 PM, Peterpools said:

WOW, amazing work and can't wait to see these assembly with primer and paint. Agreed that railing on the 3D printed guns look just fine and no need to replace them with PE.

 

On 3/4/2023 at 8:31 PM, GazzaS said:

hat gun looks pretty cool.  Nice work

Thank you amigos, these 3D-printed parts add a lot of detail to the build. There will be more, searchlights, AA-guns, winches and fire extinguish guns along the Kingfishers and hopefully the bollards, which still need to be sent from Eduard, as some where missing in the kit.

On 3/4/2023 at 9:53 PM, KevinM said:

Looks great Rob but I think you need more resolution on your photos/Bigger I am looking for flaws

Thanks Kevin, I always reduce the resolution of my pics, normally only to not use so much resources and have fast opening pages, but in this case, it's also to hide the imperfections .

Cheers Rob

[PanzerWomble]

Still 110%  in admiration of your perseverance. 😃

[DocRob]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, PanzerWomble said:

Still 110%  in admiration of your perseverance. 😃

Thank you PW, my perseverance is wearing and not because of hundreds of tiny PE parts, but because I suck at filling and sanding. I tried to get rid of the parting line of the hull with putty and after priming it looked not good enough to me. So out with the putty again, only to discover after priming, it was worse than before. Now I puttied and sanded a third time, and now I will leave it in it's suboptimal state. The whole model is primed and ready for painting, pics will follow.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Don't drive yourself nuts with the filling and sanding. One thing I discovered over the years when doing a third and maybe fourth filler in the same area, is to thin out the filler. I use Tamiya White Putty filler and thin it with a few drops of extra thin of self leveling thinners. 

Seems to level out easier and makes the final sanding a lot easier. I also wet sand most of the time at this stage.

Of course, following all your work these years, you would never know as the sanding, filler and paint work always looks perfect to me.

 

[CANicoll]

Wow Rob, are you sure you want to paint this?  The boat racks look terrific in the photos and to the naked eye they will be even more amazing.  I'm still amazed you did all of those port holes on the boats. "Fiddly"?  You have the patience of a saint to do this detail work.  I'm still amazed at how tiny these details are, but also how much they add to the kit.  All of that superstructure just looks fantastic.

[DocRob]

21 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Don't drive yourself nuts with the filling and sanding. One thing I discovered over the years when doing a third and maybe fourth filler in the same area, is to thin out the filler. I use Tamiya White Putty filler and thin it with a few drops of extra thin of self leveling thinners. 

Seems to level out easier and makes the final sanding a lot easier. I also wet sand most of the time at this stage.

Of course, following all your work these years, you would never know as the sanding, filler and paint work always looks perfect to me.

Hehe, got you Peter, I'm really bad at filling especially. Sanding abilities are not so bad, but I generally try to build as precise as possible to avoid filling where I can. If there is only the tiniest gap, I normally glue the parts and sand down the surrounding surfaces a tiny bit, until it looks good. I know,  have to proper learn these things and I will use your advices as a guideline. 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

10 hours ago, CANicoll said:

Wow Rob, are you sure you want to paint this?  The boat racks look terrific in the photos and to the naked eye they will be even more amazing.  I'm still amazed you did all of those port holes on the boats. "Fiddly"?  You have the patience of a saint to do this detail work.  I'm still amazed at how tiny these details are, but also how much they add to the kit.  All of that superstructure just looks fantastic.

I already did Chris or at least primed the ship, but I'm with you, all the shiny brass looks interesting, but if you look closely, there are residues of CA or coloring from annealing, and there are some ugly plastic parts left as well .
You not only need patience, but you have the whole bench cluttered with dozens of tools, which all need to be at hand, so this stage of work is a bit chaotic. Like you, I'm still fascinated, how much the PE and printed parts elevate the quality the kit.

Prim (er) Time - I used Mr. Surfacer 1200 for the job and used a bit more pressure than usual for the superstructures, to get the primer in the tiniest hidden spots. Next will be painting the hull, but before, I mark the waterline with my waterline tool, easy, because the bottom of the hull is completely flat.

Cheers Rob

[CANicoll]

Rob,  That looks awesome under the primer.  I hear you about the tools you need keep on hand.  But it is really handy, necessary actually, to have the right tools available.  All of that PE really does pop on the ship.  Nice work!

[Peterpools]

Rob

Looking so good under a smooth coat of primer. A milestone in the build for sure. Can't wait to see the color coats going on. Please include a few pics of your waterline tool.

Side note: Rob, I also found that sometimes I'll tape off the area I need to use filler to keep it from spreading out way too far and apply it is a few thin layers making sanding easier and less collateral damage. I think the hardest part of filler and sanding is figuring out how to use the right amount of filler and keeping it in a tight space, nice a neat.

[HubertB]

WOW ! Tell us the truth : it’s not the HB AZ that you photographed in the last pics, is it Rob ?

Hubert

[GazzaS]

Rob,

     Arizona looks so impressive under paint.  Well done!

[DocRob]

19 hours ago, CANicoll said:

Rob,  That looks awesome under the primer.  I hear you about the tools you need keep on hand.  But it is really handy, necessary actually, to have the right tools available.  All of that PE really does pop on the ship.  Nice work!

Now, entering the painting stage, I have to clean up my bench and remove all the sanding dust, PE snips, and 3D-print supports. The weather is so nice at the moment, that there will be slow progress for some days, as we have lots of sun, no wind and a beautiful vista of the sea and surrounding islands. So it's time for outdoor sports, work in the garden and having a cocktail on the terrace before a barbecue. I will try to continue, with painting the hull and decks, to be able to install the wooden deck planking.

Cheers Rob