This is my latest update. I’m embarrassed to look at what now appears to me to be really sloppy work when I view my own build close up [:$]. C’est la vie. I have tried to the best of my abilities to get things as neat as I possibly can but I’m just not up to doing the kind of work Bill has done on his model.
Non-the-less, I’m enjoying working on her again and, coming up this week, were going to have some rain - finally - here in western Oregon. That means that I’ll be able to concentrate more on my model building instead of hiking and photographing.
The three images I’m posting now are actually stacked images. There’s no way I could have gotten the whole ship (or super deck) sharp in one shot so I took as many as 23 shots for each of the three images you see here with each one focused on a slightly different plane and combined them in Photoshop. There are some blurry slices in some of them but, in general, it worked out well.
I’ve broken some parts as I cut them from the sprues but I’ve tried to glue them together again as best I can. Those broken parts will be coming up to be attached this week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll not break when I attempt to glue them to the super deck and that they’ll fit OK.
We are our own worst critics Mike, don’t knock your work though, it’s looking good! The key is that you’re enjoying the project! I hear you on the troubles with photographing the hull and details, always tough with something of this size. Keep plugging away! [B]
If you call that sloppy then I wear a girdle ! Mike you’re doing fine .Own worst critic and all .See , you are getting in the spirit of it .I have folks here at home tell me ." Why are you being so fussy , it looks great !" " Yeah , I’ve heard that before " is the under-breath reply .
You do know what all that means don’t you? Even the trouble with taking pictures ? Why , You have arrived ! Welcome aboard the most frustrating , and satisfying hobby in existence ! Love your work . T.B.
Your Dreadnought is looking great! I know about comparing your work to other modelers, I have done it myself but I try and remember that every time I build, I try and do better than what I did last time. Which can be tough considering that I work on numerous models at the same time! So, there is nothing to it but to do it.
One of the things I have learned working in 1/350 scale for the first time, is to cut delicate parts on a piece of balsa wood, it has a little bit of give but is still is stiff enough to handle the cut. Another trick, which you probably already know is when cutting delicate parts, i always cut the major sprue around it and then cut the part off.
A small update is in order. First a mea culpa. Here is a short list of some of my mistakes, bad luck, and poor skills:
I’m having a devil of a time with the forming of the PE. I’m doing it but not to my satisfaction and not to close up inspection.
I’ve lost (first to the carpet monster and then - since I hadn’t realized it was lost - to my vacuum cleaner [:$]) parts G17 and one of D17. I don’t feel I have the skill to scratch build G17 but I may try to substitute some wire for D17.
I made a mess of several lengths of railing on the compass platform so I ripped it off and substituted the canvas covered railing instead. Still not great work but, for me, it’ll do.
I decided (at a stage that’s a little late in the build process since I’ve already painted the hull about 3 times!) to add the re-enforcement ribs on the hull that Bill did with his model. In 1915 there were fewer of these ribs as far as I can tell from the pictures so I added six per side where I saw them in the John Roberts book.
Because I won’t be spending any more $ on kits for the next few years (while I whittle away at my stash) I decided to buy another Dreadnought 1915 just for spare parts.
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Steve,
Thank you - as always - for the encouragement and tips.
I’ve been doing more hiking than model building lately but in a few weeks the weather is probably going to dictate more bench time.
Thanks for lightening up what seemed to me to be more of a dirge than a WIP [:)].
I must say that, at my age and with my limited - but growing (I hope) skills and confidence, comes a sense of satisfaction even if I’m not in the same ballpark as many who post here. One of the abilities I lack is being able to form and attach the very delicate PE that is supplied with the Trumpeter kit. I refer to the stack gratings specifically. I bought a second kit for spare parts as I mentioned above and, just to see if I could manage those stacks a second time around, gave it a go. Total failure. I guess my fingers/hand/eye coordination is just not up to that task. However, not to worry, I’m trudging on with my build.
ALWAYS read ahead and try to anticipate problems with the build - [:$] - well, next time [:D]. I’ve discovered that it’s necessary to place the 12 lb. cannon that project from the interior of the “super deck” exactly as the instructions show. Otherwise - as in my case - you’ll be SOL when it comes to placing the PE parts that act as shields in the proper places. The picture I’m attaching in this regard still has lots of little clean up issues - always shows up with close up images [:$] - so, disregarding the clean up work to be done, look at where the cannon are placed in their openings.
I know all about reading twice and cussing far more than that… I also know about how the close up on film really bring out the defects that are glaring to us the modeler but are usually never noticed by the lay person. Just look at my last Dreadnought post, I had Gator Glue all over the turret mounts, but one of the things I have Really like about Gator Glue is that it is VERY forgiving. Just wet it down with water and let it sit a bit and then you can reposition the PE and clean up the excess with a dry brush. Unfortunately that does not help with the positioning of the guns.
Although I really appreciate the heads up on the positioning of the guns, but I think I might be able to make a suggestion on a work around. If you position the shields open, (dropped down) it is still accurate and a whole lot easier! I was planning on doing that on my build anyway because this is only the second time I have ever used PE on a model so I am learning just like you.
The the work you have done so far is looking good and I know how frustrating working with the rails and funnel grills is, heck I am so ham fisted that I have to do just a bit at a time or I’ll end up with no railing left! I am starting to look at PE work as I do rigging work, I can only do about 15 to 30 minutes at a time or else I start making dumb mistakes and end up having to do it over again. So take it slow and juggle some of the other building needs or painting with the PE work. Just a suggestion but as my Dad used to say, free advice is worth exactly what it cost…nothing. Figure out what works for you and build on that.
Sorry I haven’t been posting lately, I have dealing with some serious health issues that have not been conductive with modeling so everything is at a standstill at this point. This si the first time I have been able to even check out the Forum.
Thanks for chiming in. I’m really sorry about your health issues. I sincerely hope you’ll be back to 100% in the near future.
As to Gator Glue - I do use it. I reserve it for PE and will use CA instead of Gator Glue if I feel a more secure join is in order - that may be faulty thinking though. I really do like the stuff (Gator’s Grip glue that is).
Shields down is what I’m planning on doing at this point.
I’m not happy with some fit problems that I had. My fault for not dry fitting the parts more carefully and taking care of the problem(s) prior to attaching. I DO dry fit many parts before attachment since it has saved me headaches in the past but in these cases I don’t know why I missed them.
My clumsy, shaking fingers do not lend themselves to attaching tiny PE or styrene parts very well. However, I’m doing the best I can thus far. It’s still fun to work on even if it’s not pretty.
I’m a little concerned about rigging (when I get there). I thought about substituting brass rod for the styrene mast and yards (I have brass rod and some silver bearing solder paste and a soldering iron) similar to the work that Bill did on his model but I don’t have the confidence to do that just yet. We’ll see when the rigging calls me [:)].
Making good progress on this one Mike! Looks like everything is coming together as it should. As for the soldering and brass mast option, I’m by no means a soldering expert but I found it fairly easy to pull off. Give it a whirl if you’re inclined to do the rigging, you’ll be happy you did. The styrene masts just aren’t strong enough on their own to stand up to any kind of complex handling or tension strain IMHO without bowing or even breaking. Keep up the good work on your 1915 Dreadnought! [B]
Attempting to do what I’ve never tried before. Bill said “…I found it fairly easy to pull off.” That means, to me, that the level of difficulty might just be within the compass of my abilities [:D].
So, after tearing apart the searchlight platform (and breaking off the lower yard), I’m trying to do the mast/yards in brass rod. Here’s the result so far.
Mike
The last image shows that I’ve redone the railing on the compass platform. I used generic PE from the WEM PE I bought for this build. A little better than my first couple of attempts. I also added the ladder and platform to the forward stack.
She is coming along just fine. I am in the process of rebuilding the bridge on my dreadnought, drop a bottle of thinner on it while reaching without looking for a new bottle of glue. Also decided not to add the brass rod as I already assembled the platform before realizing that the yardarms would not support any weight. I did not want the hassle of disassembling and reassembling, most likely would break something.
Next model I will check the yardarms before assembly.
I understand about not wanting to disassemble any bunch of components that have been carefully put together. I was at a point where it didn’t seem like it would be too difficult so I went ahead with it. I’m real sorry about the dropped bottle!
I’m posting what seems like a small update but it’s taken me many hours to get to this point. I just don’t understand how other modelers work so quickly and deftly. I will no longer bemoan my shortcomings since I enjoy the building process whether or not it’s neat and tidy. I do, however, have a LOT more respect for those modelers who post close up pictures of their work. Each time I try to do that I see so many things that I wish I’d done better or should do over that I think I’ll avoid that kind of image in my future posts.
I don’t know how they do it either as I am also moving along at a snail’s pace. Installed the new bridge last night and only have on boat left to paint. The launches and boats were a pain to clean up and maintain the bumper rail along the sides. A seam scrapper helped a lot.
