I finally got cashed in on the Covid thing and had to spend the last two weeks in isolation. In the meantime, I started this kit.
When I was building the HMS Warspite, I ordered from some ebay store a wooden deck kit, since I had never tried one before. Well, they sent me a deck for the Dreadnought instead and then told me no more Warspites. So, what the heck, I bought a Dreadnought kit.
I now have the lower hull painted and am working on a lot of very small sub-assemblies. I have been painting my ships with a flat black basecoat.
I have to ask a Stupid Question. I have been building ship models for more years than I care to admit. How in the heck is it cool to have wood grain patterns in a 1/700 deck? At that scale they shouldn’t be visible!
Now I do scale wood decks in 1/48-1/96 and 1/87 and 1/160. But 1/700? I dunno.I have to reserve my actual opinion of the product and I will gladly admit,You, did a great job making it look like it came that way!
P.S. I will have you in my Prayers for future good health if you don’t mind. I have tested negative twice now! Question though; What brand is that well fitting deck?
I suppose looking at a 1/700 scale ship from seven inchs away would be about the same as 400 feet and, as TB suggested, ya can’t see wood grain from 400 feet away… BUT…
It sure looks good even if not seeable in reality.
Although I don’t display much, the few that I do get much of the attention because of the wood.
Besides, the modelers here tend to make a 1/700 ship look like she’s a 1/350!
Thanks for the well wishes folks, it means a lot. Yup, I was exposed sometime three weeks ago and after a negative test, was tested again a week later and popped positive. All I had was a stuffed up nose and sinus headache, which is common for me in the Fall. No fever or other symtoms, in fact, my gastratic issues and tendanitis seemed to have gone away. Might have been from eating healthy home cooked meals and taking it easy on the old arm. I am gratefull that I must have strong anti-bodies, because I am sure these little nasties of a virus were trying to make themselves at home in my pulminary system. I tested negative yesterday and was cleared to return to work today. Boy it feels good to be out again, but it was worth sheltering down and staying away from all life forms in order not to affect anyone else.
As far as the wood grain, ya, its pretty fictional, but I thought what the heck, I got it as an experiment and kinda like it. I may sand the deck down a bit, apply a sealer, and try to tone down the planks with some washes, then again, I might not. Who know’s, this my “as I feel like it” model. Overall, this is a nice kit. Tanker, you mentioned who made the deck? I cannot tell, everything was in Chinese and the ebay seller was CY-China Yang Times Modelworks, who now seems to be gone, no surprise there. The deck was only $7.99 shipped from China, and was supposed to be for the Warspite, so if anything went wrong, I wouldn’t be too upset. I got an excuse to buy the Dreadnought. BTW, the deck also came with some PE watertight doors for what looks to be a modern ship and some anchor chain in 1/350 scale.
Scott,
That looks great so far. The paper header on your woden deck says Hunter - that is one of the couple major companies that produce those.
It looks like you had to punch out holes for some of the furniture on the upper decks - that seems like a real pain in the neck to me. I guess I will have to try one once, just to see. And of course, they are tailored for a particular kit, like your Trumpeter kit. Probably next to useless on my Combrig Dreadnaught.
TB - yeah, maybe a bit small to see. But everything we do is understood to be just a representation. We are artists, not engineers. Very, very few modelers make 1/700 models where everything is the correct thickness. They are just the best that we want to work with. I think that folks who are OK with PE railings will generally be OK with planked deck treatments in 1/700. To date, on a bunch of pre-dreadnaughts and WWI models, I have done my best with painiting the planked effect. And the final touch was a wash to tone everything way down.
Scott, I’m really glad to hear you beat the covid cooties - I find the whole thing to be pretty scary and I have not gotten out of the house but a few times in the past several months. Best wishes to you!
In regards to the deck cutouts, I did not have to punch anything out. There are a few tabs that get cut that hold the deck within the sheet and that was it. The main deck comes as one part and I did cut it into three seperate parts to make it more managable. The adhesive backer is very tacky and you only get one chance to put the deck in place.
I agree that this deck was make to fit the Trumpeter kit to a “T”. I doubt it would fit on the Kombrig kit. The deck had printed on it that is was for the 1915 period fit. I do not know what period the Kombrig kit represents.
I have been working on this little kit for some time, and it still seems that not a lot has been accomplished and by the looks of my photos, some re-working of the stacks are still in order. Its amazing what a digital photo will pick up that my eye, even through a magnifyer, cannot see. Part fit was like that of the Warspite, in that is seems the 1/700 version was scaled down from the 1/350 to the point none of the plugs will fit into the holes or flanges won’t mate. Everything has to be test fitted and the trimmed until it fits. It really is a game of fit with stacked superstructures. These stacks have been a real experience. If I was to do this again, I would shave off all the plugs and flanges.
I wish I could say I hate you, but you know that’s not true. You can crank out models faster than I can even get everything set up on the workbench! She look fabulous. Great rigging and PE work. What color did you use for the hull? I know it’s the Home Fleet Dark Gray but what exactly did you use?
I’m glad to hear that you’re doing better. I’ve had 5 family members test positive and we lost one just before Christmas. Not stuff you waant to fool around with.
Thank you for all the nice comments. Its appreciated. This is my second model that I practiced using Uschi thread for the rigging. I am still trying to work out the technique of keeping the stress of the line off the masts.
The color is made from Tamiya Kure Grey with a touch of Flat Blue based off a discussion on another site of Royal Navy fleet colors of 1915.
I do have to say, I was surprised by how well the deck looks. My Bad. It isn’t as glaring as I thought it would be. I do have a question though, The forward stack seems to be leaning forward at the top. Is it my old eyes or is it on in reverse? Even so, who cares? You did an overall impressive job!
The rigging is the icing on the cake as well. Did you know I still use stretched sprue on my ships? No, I guess not, But you know now.
