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1/350 USS England + Tom's PE


Guest PetrolGator

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Guest PetrolGator

Whelp, Nagato is done. I'm 90% happy with her. However, it's time to move on to a bigger, easier scale.

 

Queue up the USS England. This little DE put six Japanese submarines on the bottom in TWELVE days. Yes. Twelve days.

 

I've got the Tom's set but I'm not 100% sure if she'll be in dazzle or in her late war blues. Sadly, pictures only exist for her pattern on the port side.

 

Here's all the bits:

 

IMG_0664.jpg

Edited by PetrolGator
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Guest PetrolGator

Small update:

 

Man, I heard great things about this kit. I don't know if I just got a bad mold, but I'm spending more time on sanding/filling than I have on any build I've done. I don't know, perhaps this is due to moving up to 1/350? Jeez.

 

Example:

IMG_0665.jpg

 

Nice gaps, Trumpeter. I've filled this and gotten the deckhouses looking nice, but wow. Beyond that, there's a ton of flash and the injection marks are sometimes in annoying places, like the open bridge. More filling, yep.

 

Sigh. Anyway, I've added the PE grating/support to the gun tubs. I'll hand paint the 20-B and then mask it over. Once all the grating is in place and I've placed anything I need to on the flush deck/deckhouse, I'll hit it all with a 20-B air brush and then mask it all. Possibly dazzle next.

 

 

IMG_0669.jpg

 

....this is all assuming I can finish filling the hull seam in a satisfactory way. Jesus.

 

 

 

IMG_0666.jpg

 

Well, it's... getting there. Note the insane amount of sanding I've been doing.

 

IMG_0667.jpg

 

I had this illusion that this would be a quick and easy build, being that I'm used to working in 1/700. Well, it won't be.

 

That's all for now. I'll be doing more sanding/puttying/sanding/repeat on the deck seams, hull seams, deckhouse seams, <insert> seams.

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More progress....

 

There has been a lot of sanding, puttying, priming, repeat. I'm finally satisfied with the results. You may see the lines, but thankfully, that's the color contrast of my putty in the seam. Applying Mr Surfacer shows a smooth surface. The screw supports need to be sanded and blended into the hull.

 

Next: I'm going to build her AA and main guns. I'm torn on the mast. Perhaps I'll scratch it?

 

I'm still 50/50 on doing her in dazzle or not. I'm also exploring some techniques to LIGHTLY show some hull plating. It'll mainly help when I weather her.

 

IMG_0670.jpg

 

IMG_0671.jpg

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It will be a while (if ever) until this build is updated. Mods, delete if desirable. Burnout with local IPMS chapter plus desire to move on from the hobby is strong. Who knows.

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Hi, Chris,

 

My reaction to your "burnout" description is prompting this response.

 

Your incredible rate of progress from start to finish on your Nagato may have much to do with this feeling. I know how I feel when I set goals for myself that somehow become tied to the perceived expectations of others that I must complete what I start. I have a very large assortment of incomplete projects because I have learned over my 60 years in this hobby that what I want to do and when I want to do it are the two most important considerations. I can choose to engage in a flurry of building activity when the desire to build something, old or new, becomes overwhelming. That's when I prioritize my time to advance model building to the top of my to-do list. On the other hand, I can avoid my work table for months at a time and allow everything on it to collect dust, all because my priority for model building has become very low.

 

Enjoy your burnout time away from your model projects. You do high quality work, and you must set a pace that meets your family's needs and your own. No person here expects you to spend time that you do not either have or enjoy to producing this ship (USS England) or any other model. Come back to the table when you feel the flaming desire to build anything.

 

Your friends in your IPMS Chapter, if they are anything like those in mine, will enjoy your company and any expertise you choose to share without judging you harshly for slowing down or even taking time out from building. I was one of the young guys in my chapter; now I'm one of the old ones. Many of them are on hiatus from building (some for years), yet they still offer friendship and encouragement to those who are presently in the mood for building. Please do not walk away from your friends because you do not feel you are meeting their expectations for you.

 

Stick around here on the Forum also. You have many more eFriends and supporters than you may realize. Kick in comments whenever you want to join the conversations.

 

From an eFriend,

 

Ed

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Guest PetrolGator

Thanks. Really.

 

I used to be a work out fiend and was going full speed until I managed a spiral fracture in a rib during a pyramid set in November. I ended up puncturing my pleural cavity and... yeah. I used the time to build these. I'm back at it now.

 

I love the IPMS and the boards. I think I got a massive second wind when I won my first award at a show and yeah.. went nuts. I don't do anything half assed and it tends to torch me badly. lol.

 

I'll much with some 20 mm mounts tonight and see how I feel. I really want to get this done and move on to My Big Project.

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20 mm guns done. Under normal circumstances, I'd be a detail nazi and toss these buggers. Heck, even Tom's PE bits seem a bit out of scale. I think it's just the damned guns, though. I, however, promised myself I wasn't going overboard on this build. THAT craziness will be reserved for a venerable 1/350 Bismarck. :)

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The 3 most important lessons I've learned which help me avoid burnout:

 

1) IT'S A HOBBY! Build to suit your own expectations and time

2) 99.9%of everything we build ends up collecting dust on our shelves so....see #1!

3) Even those dazzling efforts that we post on the internet or get published in magazines for their brief time in the limelight end up with those under #2!

 

That said, burnout is a MENTAL condition. I've found that the biggest barrier to making progress is simply a willingness to step through the door and sit down at the bench. Once I do, I almost always feel great about doing it. I only feel burnt out before I get to the bench! But that may just be me!

 

The bottom line is do it when you enjoy it, otherwise you're wasting your own time! Best of luck, and by all means, I hope to see you here regardless of what you bulld!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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New images and updates to follow. I've been at the in-laws and celebrating my 30th. I'll be replacing the 1.1 with PE from WEM and possibly the 20 mm guns as well. Kenny's mailing me some masking strips for her dazzle pattern and I'm hoping to get some plating simulated and her hull primed shortly.

 

 

 

Edited due to birthday intoxication.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest PetrolGator

Well, I'm getting back to work on this with the King George V waiting on her new pom poms.

 

I've gotten the Master Models 1/350 20mm AA guns with bases. These are, by far, the best offerings I've seen in 1/350. I'll also be using WEM's 1/350 1.1 gun on her stern. Finally, I'll be using Kenny's gator mask to paint her in MS32d.

 

If anyone has any good pictures of the hull plating pattern on the Buckley class, let me know. I'm going to try to give her a little more three dimensionality with hull plates built up with either masking tape or some Mr Surfacer... haven't decided.

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Be careful with adding that hull plating. Even adding a .005 sheet plastic over the existing hull plate would simulate a inch and three quarters difference and not too many ships have that kind of difference in hull plate thickness. You might be better off with what the aircraft guys do with pre and/or post shading to "suggest" the plate lines. I've even seen the lines drawn in with pencil that look convincing.

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Guest PetrolGator

Ron, here's what I'm doing:

 

1) Mask off the plate lines

2) Use primer as a liquid mask

3) Scribe into the plastic, adding the plating

4) Sand down, adding the barest hint of plating

5) Prime hull

 

I'll take pictures tonight when I'm done. Hopefully, I won't lose the plating totally.

 

Edit: See the following. Ignore the bands of color. I'm sanding that off.

 

 

IMG_0787.jpg

Edited by PetrolGator
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I started England but converted to a Captain Class, HMS Ekins, using WEM & GMM photoetch. The project stalled when I got bogged in detail and moved on to other things -- it still stares at me from a rack next to my workbench and will come out someday.

 

I don't remember fit issues that bad, but did have a few places where trimming off a couple locator tabs for the superstructure made all the difference. Where I drew the line was trying to sand off all the DC arbors and replace them with PE ....

 

All the filler on deck you see if from taking off the molded on details no longer needed ...

 

17_ekins_structures_0076.jpg

 

Carry on ....

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I'm currently bogged down in smaller-than-sane photoetch hell. It is a real place, I swear. I've made two of these and still have eight to go. I'm also debating tossing my WEM 1.1 and making another. It's OK, but I'm just not 100% happy with it.

 

Question for the experienced ship guys:

I work almost 100% in 1/700. I've found that correcting breaks and/or mating parts that require hand brushing is easily to mask. Case in point: my Monssen has a really unique dazzle cammo that has to be corrected here and there as I added addition photo etch to the ship. With the England, there is a really ugly seam between the forward superstructure and the covered walkway amidships. You can see this in the picture I took above.

 

Now, I can:

  • Airbrush the decks, mask, fit the superstructure, fill the seam, then proceed with painting vertical surfaces
  • Airbrush the decks, mask, airbrush the subassembles separately, then fill/sand/hand correct around the seam
  • Something different.

Any advice would be helpful. Seam filling is still an area that I'm REALLY trying to lock down. I don't mind sanding away molded on details to remove seams, but replacing them with PE gets expensive.

 

The only picture I really have right now is one of the TINY little 20mm guns. These things, though fragile, are amazing. For about six bucks, you get the PE for the gun housing and shield, plug a brass barrel and metal base. I won't build a 1/350 ship without them.

 

20mm.jpg

 

John - I don't know what it is with some of these Trumpeter kits. My USS SoDak was awesome. I heard the England was a great kit and have had hell with the fit. I think it just has to be related to the batch you get. Either way, would love to see you complete that little thing, though I do get the burnout from being bogged down by detail.

 

I'm REALLY tempted to start building aircraft just to have an alternative to ship overdetail burnout.

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My usual effort on seams like you showed is to try and fix them beforehand such that when I put the superstructure pieces on, they fit smoothly, hardly a crack. I do that with a mix of card stock and filler. Then maybe you're down to a thin bad of Mr Surfacer and a coat of paint. Or if it's really nasty, once you've taken out what you can, glue the two offending structures together and beat 'em into shape before putting them on the deck.

 

I did get a bit wistful looking at Ekins again, even considered taking those arbors off ....

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Guest PetrolGator

John, thanks. I'm going with the first choice mainly for that exact reason. While masking with be a pain, it'll be worth it when I unwrap the final product.

 

For what it's worth, I'd love to see your Ekins. This is still my first year in the hobby and I love seeing what you all can do with the experience you have.

 

The wife's sick with some mystery flu, so I've been taking care of her as well as hitting the gym to keep up my own immunity. Progress is slow, but I'm moving along. I've made 5/10 of the 20 mm Oerlikons. Anyway. I hate seams and holes for stock parts. Hate them. I've spent all day sealing up deck openings that would take the ungainly plastic parts I'm replacing. That... and 20 mm guns.

 

One day, it'll be done.

 

IMG_0792.jpg

 

IMG_0790.jpg

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Chris I forgot to say last night that you can use stretched spru to fill holes too. Just stick it in and clip off after glue, then sand smooth. Save you some sink holes and lots of putty.


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That... is an excellent idea. I think I may do that if the seam looks ugly enough.

 

On the bright side, all I really need to do is get these seams fully filled and build five more 20 mm guns before I can start painting subassemblies.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been following this with interest. I would love to get an England in 1/700 scale.

 

If you are still considering the camo pattern on this ship, I'd recommend getting some masks from Gators Masks. He's at gatorsmasks.com He has a complete set to paint both sides of the ship.

 

Keep pluggin' along man, you're doing awesome!

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Mark,

 

Thanks dude. On the dazzle: I already have one of Kenny's sets. Frankly, his stuff is indispensable for a well executed, clean, and accurate paint job. Kenny's also a stand up guy and I love helping to support his own hobby.

 

England's going to the sideline while I hurriedly try to finish up my King George V for the Baton Rouge show. If anyone shows, I'll be the dude in the Gator shirt, because I like to cause trouble.

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Back to the England/Buckley class.

 

The King George was... a disappointment. Overall, I was told it was a good build, but a lot of stupid, stupid flaws kept it from even placing. 1st was taken by a ship that utterly deserved it (1/200 'Zona) and I took 2nd and 3rd with the Harusame and Nagato. I'm happy I won, but damn, thought I did a better job on the KGV. I'm going to spend some time going over the ship and correcting what two of the judges told me I should do, post show.

 

Anyway, to the England:

 

I decided to cut off all the detail I could and replace it with brass. I used hatches from GMM's 1/350 set and brass wire I got from the hobby store. Fire hoses were added based on photographs I found on the net. I also hollowed out the life rafts, replacing the molded netting with substitutes from Tom's set. This left some ugly attachment points I've cut/filled in or simply filled:

 

IMG_0849.jpg

I was debating waiting under post-camo for the fire hoses, but read that most of these were painted in colors typical of those around them. Nothing "shiny" was left evident.

 

IMG_0848.jpg

 

If I recall, the actual 'stepladder" to the upper works were actually small bars welded into the superstructre. I'm... not quite confident in my abilities to go that far. I did add two small hand rails on the forward part of the gun tub to see if I could pull it off. It worked but with MUCH frustration.

 

IMG_0847.jpg

 

I've finished the thicker forward rafts in this picture. All are done at this point.

 

IMG_0854.jpg

 

You can see the two smaller hand holds above the ladder, on the forward part of the gun tub better in this picture.

 

IMG_0852.jpg

 

Full hull shot. Tomorrow, I'm going to focus on the bow, remove the anchor chains, and sand down the seam between the deck and hull. I'll check the remaining seams, and set to priming it. Due to the cammo pattern and two very ugly seams amidships, I'll prime/paint the decks, mask them, then set the superstructure on the hull. After filling, painting on the verticals can begin.

 

THANKFULLY, all 20mm guns are done. I've also added PE to the main armament and built her Chicago piano out of WEM's photo etch.

 

More to come in the next few days. Comments are welcome and appreciated.

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Sweet build going on here - don't stop taking pix!

 

Am a big Buckley DE fan, cuz' Dad sailed aboard one in WWII. Am still genning up the courage to do one with PE. Duke - Note that Skywave/Pitroad did a two-ship set of 1/700 Buckleys that RUMINT says was recently re-issued. That's your England in 1/700.

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Guest PetrolGator

Bob/Duke,

 

I have that little Pit Road Buckley. FWIW, it's a good little kit, though waterline only. It'll make a good build OOB, but I'd get at least Tom's PE set for it... but I'm a wee bit obsessive.

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