The Ship Model Forum

[quote]but she'll go back in her box for now[/quote]

Oh, noooooooooooo..... Not after all that :smallsmile:

Huh. The new paint worked out pretty well. Once given a wash, you'll never see the difference in the decks.

CDG: The gift that keeps on giving.

Before getting to work on the little peeps (which have been primed), I worked on filling in the remaining gaps between the ship and foam base. That took two applications of acrylic gel medium, but I think, at this point, it's "good enough". Letting that dry, then I'll start adding wave and wake effects.
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I also did some work on the California, masking off the casement deck in preparation for a new coat of paint. Thanks to Dan Kaplan, who mixed up an acrylic match for the original deck color, I was able to airbrush two coats onto the casement deck for an almost perfect match.
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There is touch up work to be done, but she'll go back in her box for now, as, meanwhile, I have to finish grappling with a commission I took on (will I never learn?!?), which has become the bane of my existence: a 1/350 GAGA models Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. It is, hands down, the worst designed, printed and fitting kit I've ever had the misfortune to have on my workbench. A total PoS. A pox on whoever printed and designed it!!
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Once Oklahoma is 100% finished, CDG (and an 1/48 F4F Wildcat that I've started), will be next up on the workbench.

Looking great Martin! :thumbs_up_1:
I'm looking forward to the little guys!

I think she looks really good, M.

Thanks Matt :big_grin:

With the ship - other than some touch up - done, I started working on the base. I used something called “magic sculpt” to fill in the widest gaps between the hull and the "seascape". I first tried some apoxie sculpt that Devin gave me two years ago but, even though it was sealed, was dried up (apparently, I was supposed to refrigerate it, but didn't :doh_1: ).

Not entirely happy with it, it only came out "ok". Next, I'll start filling in the rest of the gaps with acrylic gel medium, which will take several passes, as it usually shrinks as it dries.
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I also need to start working on the little peeps to populate the ship.

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That is all... :eyebrows:

Matt

[quote="Yuth"]That's inspiring !

Regarding the flat coat, it's not shocking from my point of view :)[/quote]
Thank you!

I’ve done all I’m going to do with the horizontal rigging, and have moved onto the davits and boat booms, starting with the starboard side. I’ve also started rigging the jackstaff and flagstaff. The pics are a bit bright because I used a flash in these photos to pick up the rigging, which is from Infini.
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After I trim the rigging on the starboard side booms and davits, and finish the jack/flag staff rigging, I'll start the port side. After that, it's onto the figures.

That's inspiring !

Regarding the flat coat, it's not shocking from my point of view :)

Work, multiple trips to tour the BBNJ in drydock, a trip to the Naval Academy Museum to drop off one of the late, great Gary Kingzett's models for donation, as well as watching NY Rangers playoff hockey, have conspired to keep me away from the workbench.

After my last post, a replacement jackstaff was installed. The flag gaff (which I had forgotten) was installed on the back of the searchlight platform on the aft tripod.
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A day or so after that, I realized I had forgotten to add the range clock brace for the aft tripod. Luckily I hadn’t misplaced it, so that was attached. Then I saw I hadn’t put down any anchor chain either, so that was added as well. :doh_1:
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When that was finished, I started rigging. I hate rigging. One thing I noticed, which I had never noticed before, was that Kraken actually printed the superstructure with four small holes in each of the inboard sides of the port and starboard flag bags, to accommodate the rigging. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have twisted the line together, slipped that into those holes, then glued and trimmed them.

I was not thinking clearly, and that idea popped in my head AFTER I had already glued one end of the rigging into all of the starboard side flag bags. To get the return run to stay in place, I cut a length of .10 brass rod and put that over the rigging in the outer flag bag, then glued it in place. Of course, when trimming the excess, my knife blade accident cut a line it shouldn’t have, so I had to make repairs.
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The halyards are all done. On to the rest of the rigging, then figures. Some of these photos really show the issue with the gloss and flat coat that I had - there’s just too many layers on the model, which ruins the finish, IMO. Though it's more pronounced in photos, and not to the naked eye.

She looks great, M.

Great job !

It gives me ideas for my California ;)

Very nice Martin. Bravo.

Still a few things to do (touch up, replacement jackstaff, rigging, etc), but overall, construction on Oklahoma is finished.
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I want focus on the aforementioned jackstaff, and then rigging, next.

After this build is 100% done, I am going to build a Tamiya 1/48 F4F-4 Wildcat, to cleanse the palette, before working on the next ship.

Into the home stretch...............

Looking great.

[quote="FFG-7"]are the fighting control tops sitting on top of the tripods' struts or are there holes in the fighting control tops base plates for the struts to insert into?[/quote]
The spotting tops are printed with holes. The main, center leg of the tripod extends up into the spotting top, but the part sits on the aft support legs, as I wasn't 100% sure I'd be able to line everything up.

are the fighting control tops sitting on top of the tripods' struts or are there holes in the fighting control tops base plates for the struts to insert into?

After leaving those repairs to dry, I went back and touched everything up with 5D. When that was dry, I started adding the secondary weapons and main battery turrets. I also added the Kingfisher to the catapult on #3 turret and the aircraft handling crane. I did have to remove the cart for the Kingfisher off the aft catapult, as the aircraft wouldn't have fit where I originally spotted it. In doing all this, I managed to pop off the jackstaff, which disappeared into a wormhole, never to be seen again. Which means somewhere, in someone else's workshop, a long-lost part has suddenly reappeared.
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When everything dried, I added the spotting top to the mainmast. This was a bit tricky, as I discovered the port leg is shorter than the starboard leg, but I think I got it on straight. I then set everything off to dry and went and watched some playoff hockey. I'll let things sit for a few days before I get back to it.
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Among the other things I need to do is punch out a disk of plastic to fill the small gap between the tripod and the spotting top, do any other touch up that's needed, add the Kingfisher to the aft catapult, replace the jackstaff, and start rigging. Finishing the seascape and adding figures will come last.

[quote="marijn van gils"]Great to see the details being installed! She wil be coming alive now. :thumbs_up_1:[/quote]
Thank you!

So, after deciding that making, painting and adding straps to the nested boats was going to be too time consuming and not worth it, I made, painted and added straps to the nested boats. :doh_1:
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With the boats secured and in place, I added the cranes, which were custom 3D printed for me. The platforms the crane posts fit through on the original kit parts were "pre-broken", so once the cranes were in place, I had to do some repairs. In retrospect, I should not have added the 3" AA guns and the boats on the quarterdeck until after this step was done, as their being there complicated things. But, why do things the easy way?!?
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While the repairs were drying, I continued masking the California.
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Great to see the details being installed! She wil be coming alive now. :thumbs_up_1:

Some more glacial progress, mostly working on the nested boats aft of the stack. There should be straps holding them in place, but as my enthusiasm for this build is fading fast, I may forgo them. Also added the 24" signal lamps, the .50cal MG to the foremast platform and the 3" AA guns.
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