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#181 healey36

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Posted 11 February 2023 - 10:27 AM

A few more German DDs:

 

DDs
 
Top two G7-class are Panzerschiffe castings, above four B109-class (B97 sub-class) 3D prints by WTJ. All with bronze wire masts added, on ODGW bases and homemade labels. As with many DDs of the era, all of these should technically have a mainmast aft, but I left those off to reduce the fiddliness. I believe they were originally intended as support for the radio aerial strung from the foremast. At some point I'm going to go back and add masts to the RN destroyer fleet.


#182 healey36

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Posted 13 February 2023 - 01:52 PM

While I'm waiting for the game group to reconvene, I continue to work on cutting down the "lead" pile. Here's a Panzerschiffe collier (Mercedes L-117) converted to a general bulk-carrier:

 

Collier

 

Cut away the bulk-handling cranes, filed off the bases, then added large hatch-covers and guitar-string "masts" meant to represent folded derricks. Headed to the paint booth along with a few other merchants.

 

Edit :: When you cut the cranes away from L-117, it could pass for a small tanker. You can never have enough tankers (as the Allies learned), but what I needed was a different looking collier or bulk-carrier. Four styrene hatch-covers and a couple guitar string masts/folded-derricks seems to change the look nicely:

 

Collier b

 

Panzerschiffe stuff arrives in a decent neutral gray, but I wanted a slightly different shade. I have a small can of Krylon Matte Deep Gray that I've been using for base-coats, and I gave this thing a shot of that. Hatch and life-boat covers got a coat of Vallejo Green Grey (70971), blacked the top third of the funnel, then a diluted wash of Vallejo black model wash with a drop of matt medium added. Finished up with an overspray of Tamiya clear matte lacquer. A rusty/dirty old ship for the Lerwick-Bergen convoy run.


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#183 Peter M. Skaar

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Posted 19 February 2023 - 08:05 PM

Those German destroyers and the modified collier look great, Healey!



#184 healey36

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 05:30 PM

Thanks, Peter. Painting/basing rusty, dirty merchant ships isn't exactly exciting, but if you're playing convoy games, you need a bunch of them. 



#185 Peter M. Skaar

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 08:16 PM

I painted a few merchants for the GHQ catalog.  I enjoyed painting them and put a bit more rust on them than the warships.  They have a lot of character.



#186 healey36

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Posted 18 March 2023 - 11:12 AM

I needed HMS Shannon for the North Sea battles; all I had in the "lead" pile was Panzerschiffe's version. Here she is along with sister HMS Minotaur by GHQ:

 

Day 2 e
 
This provides a good view of the differences in detail. Shannon has received a few mods in guitar-string masts, WTJ director positions and a motor-launch added to the lifeboat pile. Both sit on ODGW etched bases.
 
This was the deck color I used early on. It's weird, I admit, but for consistency purposes, I replicated Shannon in the same color. The gray, however, is a bit lighter.


#187 healey36

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Posted 20 March 2023 - 02:41 PM

HMS Antrim:

 

52759778342_48798d95d9_o.jpg

 

GHQ 1/2400, Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics, ODGW etched base, homemade label.

 

I struggle to get those masts straight, and keep 'em straight  :lol:



#188 Peter M. Skaar

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Posted 21 March 2023 - 09:40 AM

Very nice work, Healey!  I painted the HMS Minotaur and several of the other WWI British and German cruisers for the GHQ catalog a while back.  The Duke of Edinburgh and the Warrior were also painted by me for GHQ. 

I too try to keep the masts straight as well.



#189 healey36

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Posted 22 March 2023 - 02:11 PM

Thanks Peter...I think I'm gonna settle on that shade of Tamiya Desert Yellow for natural decks going forward. The color, combined with a diluted black wash, seems to provide a believable coloration (at least to me).

 

And I'll say it again, mate...you're work for GHQ was exquisite.



#190 Peter M. Skaar

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Posted 26 March 2023 - 09:14 AM

Thank you very much, Healey!



#191 healey36

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Posted 07 April 2023 - 03:21 PM

You never know what's going to float to the top of the lead-pile. Here's a couple of Soviets from their glory years, Moskva-class Leningrad and Kresta I-class Vladivostok:

 

Soviets

 

These 1/3000-scale castings are quite old, maybe 25-30 years back, Navwar possibly, not sure, likely purchased in the vendor hall at the annual MFCA show in Philadelphia. Finished Leningrad off with a decal by FlightDeck; kind of a garish green that even the wash didn't dull down. Trimming decals painted on white paper can be painful; you tend to get a bit of the underlying white along the cut edge that needs touching up. Dry-brush with off-white made it look worse, so I used a bit of green craft paint instead. The flight-deck had a catwalk that ran around the perimeter, the color of which is unclear, but likely something that contrasted with the green. Got a bit sloppy with the wash, but serviceable.

 

The Soviet Navy always looked sharp, but one wonders how effective they'd have been had the balloon ever gone up. That said, the ships certainly had lovely lines. That blue-green sea...must be the Med.



#192 healey36

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Posted 11 April 2023 - 04:39 PM

Okay, some of the 3D-prints I've purchased recently have supports printed under gun-barrels, catapults, and other overhanging bits. Anyone have a technique for trimming those away? At 1/2400, it's a bit fiddly and the material can be brittle. 



#193 Kenny Noe

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Posted 12 April 2023 - 05:13 AM

I use a sprue cutter.  The sharper the better.   With resin prints and really thin barrels I go very slow when cutting.  This helps me  YMMV.

 

 

d081a3f8-caa8-48a2-b287-bf0bd921c45c_1.8

Good luck



#194 healey36

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Posted 12 April 2023 - 09:18 AM

Thanks, Kenny...I'll find me a pair!

 

Paul



#195 healey36

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Posted 14 April 2023 - 06:22 PM

Despite a vow not to buy anymore ships until the lead/resin pile has been whittled down significantly, a few more trickled in this week. These are 3D-prints from an eBay vendor (varulf.games); they look rather good, although they have quite a bit of flash and the very annoying supports under the larger gun-barrels. Nice masts and other details, though.

 

sml_gallery_4922_48_312536.jpg

 

Back-to-front, that's a Roon-class cruiser, a Moltke-class battlecruiser, and an M-class destroyer. I ordered a sprue-cutter similar to the one Kenny recommended; supposed to arrive here later this evening.

 

I've also been working on detailing a Panzerschiffe merchant ship set purchased recently. The freeboard on these is way too tall, so it would be ideal to drastically file them down to a height more reasonable. The castings are epoxy, which is a very hard material. Even using a coarse flat-file, it's difficult and tedious. Might get out the Dremel next.

 

Edit :: The travails of ordering online...the sprue-cutter, despite being listed as "In-Stock", has delivery delayed a week...ugh. I attended the NoVa IPMS show yesterday and could have just bought a pair at one of the tool-vendors.



#196 healey36

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Posted 17 April 2023 - 03:31 PM

Okay, trying to generate some momentum on the lead/resin pile. Here's that 1/100-scale 3D-printed BMP-2 from a while back, some paint on it at last:

 

BMP-2
 
BMP 2 b
 
BMP-2 c
 
Nothing extraordinary here, for sure, but one thing interesting. About three or four months after I got this print, I noticed an oily sheen beginning to ooze out of the back behind the left rear sprocket. I couldn't find any noticeable cracks or fissures in the print. I'd scrub it off and then a few days later it was back. After I cleaned it off again, I gave it an overspray of olive-drab enamel. Sure enough, a few days after that, the oily sheen started to reappear. After a couple months I noticed the paint was flaking off where this mysterious material was appearing. What is this, some sort of uncured print-resin leaking from inside? Haven't seen this before.
 
Another thing; I picked up some Vallejo olive green model wash (76.519) to try out. Used it for the first time here. Definitely more subtle than straight black, but I'm not sure I like it...not enough contrast, I think. More experimentation required.
 
 
 
 

 


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#197 Kenny Noe

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Posted 18 April 2023 - 06:16 AM

Looks great.   I'd set the model out in bright sunlight.   It's possible the resin hasn't "cured" in that spot.   A UV light or UV from the sun might "dry" up the oily residue.  Worth a shot.



#198 healey36

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Posted 18 April 2023 - 04:31 PM

Okay, Kenny, thanks for that. I'll put it out in the sun first thing tomorrow. Hopefully the squirrels don't run off with it!



#199 Peter M. Skaar

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Posted 19 April 2023 - 05:12 PM

Nice work on the BMP-2, Healey!  I hope you solve the oil mystery. 



#200 healey36

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Posted 19 April 2023 - 06:24 PM

Nice work on the BMP-2, Healey!  I hope you solve the oil mystery. 

Thanks, Peter.

 

After all of these years, I finally struck oil, lol. Per Kenny's recommendation, I set it out on the table on the back porch today and let it bake a bit in the sun. Same tomorrow. Maybe we'll see the "leak" dry up.

 

The "flush" cutter finally arrived yesterday, so I can get started cleaning up some of those 3-D prints, and a trip to a "local" hobby shop restocked me with #78 micro drill bits. I seemed to have developed a penchant for breaking those off. I bought ten, so that should assure I never break another.






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