1/350 Trumpeter SMS Viribus Unitis

[Sszabi]

Dear reader, let me share with you how much torture today was.

We have a 4-day long weekend because of Easter, so this comes in handy for me, since there are a lot of things. This morning I decided that it was time to put antennas on the masts. On these ships, 3 circular braces held the 4 strands, and 1-1 set was stretched out on the top of the mast. Since this did not seem easy, and I had been thinking about it for a long time, I ordered two of the Ship Yard Works "Cage Antenna". But I was so stupid that when it arrived last year, I didn't check how big it should be . Well, the largest one is half the size it should be

After cursing a lot and scolding myself for another stupidity, I decided to bend such small circles for myself from thin copper wire. I couldn't handle anything thinner than that, because the Uschi wire simply started to dent it...
I first made the first parallels using a Lego stand, and then the last two came on another stand.

Unfortunately, when stretched in place, the circles are no longer completely vertical. I don't know if I didn't notice it when gluing them, or if something got distorted when stretching them, but I can't make anything better than this.

I'll tie them to the deck with 1-1 wires tomorrow. Well, it'll be hard to hide this mistake

[SG1]

Well done, great work!

Unfortunately, when stretched in place, the circles are no longer completely vertical ... Well, it'll be hard to hide this mistake

Absolutely acceptable to me. Hardly noticeable. I understand your disappointment though

[Sszabi]

Thank you SG1!

Today was a successful day, I managed to connect the radio antenna.

Based on the attached picture, I quickly made some similar connection points. I cut the small cones from the frame of the 3D printed figures, the lower part is a bent drawn thread. The spiral cable between the two is plain copper wire. They are connected to the antenna wires with a drawn thread.

As for the rigging, according to the drawing, there are 6 more pairs of ropes hanging from the cable stretched between the two masts. This detail is not visible in the early photos, but in later photos it is. Here too, there is a photo where the ropes were tightened so much that they were completely pulled down, and there is also one where only 1 pair is visible in the photo. I have no idea where the rest of them went. But it comes in handy for me, because I had enough messing with these too...

I also imitated the lights in the picture with small dots of paint: 2 white, 3 red, 2 blue. I tried to translate the German text, if I understand correctly, these are some kind of direction lights.

The cranes are in place. It didn't go smoothly when I took it off their little painting base, I somehow got caught in one and broke the crane arm, and the hook flew off so badly that I had to look for it for 40 minutes before I found it... I'll glue it back on tomorrow, I don't feel like it today...

[MartinJQuinn]

I think the antennas looks great, as do the lights in the rigging. This build just keeps getting better and better. It really is a feast for the eyes.

[marijn van gils]

Great work on the rigging Sszabi!

I wouldn't worry about the antenna spacers being perfectly vertical. I doubt the real ones were...

But for more control on the next model, maybe a non-stretch rigging material would be better suited for spaced antennae? Something like the Shelf Oddity wire maybe: https://shelfoddity.com/index.php?route ... ch=rigging

[Mr. Church]

Lovely job on the spaced antennas. Very nice indeed.

[Sszabi]

Thanks guys!

I'll be brief now: I finally launched the boat

I still have a few days until Friday next week, so I'm fiddling with the little things. The railing is up as far as I can get, I remade the front and rear flagpoles according to the drawings.

I made a buoy, according to the photo the VU is anchored next to number 31.

Here the location of the chains had to be changed while the ships on bouy. The photos clearly show that the anchors were fixed, and the chain was attached directly to the buoy.

Slowly but surely...

[SG1]

Outstanding! Ready for Moson. Will look for her!
PS. i love the buoy

[Gabor]

Congratulation! Excellent work!

[Dan K]

Just fantastic.

[Sszabi]

Thank you guys!
I only have 4 days left and I'm still messing around with the details, painting the figures, trying to get the most out of the project...I had a lot of trouble with the rigging of the boat cranes because I didn't plan on just hanging a few of them in place. I had to cheat because I just can't get as much rope on the pulleys as I should. It's already very crowded. And I know, I should paint them brown, but I think I'll leave them that way.

[wefalck]

Very nice project results!

[Joelle]

A superb piece of work.

[MartinJQuinn]

Bravo! Brilliant work - and very inspiring too!!

I especially like this photo.

[SG1]

Sszabi look what i found strolling around Hungary over the weekend





She looked glorious and splendid. Must confess you I was a bit touched to see her live, after following the WIP remotely

Outstanding!

[Sszabi]

Thank you, then it was recognizable according to these

Well, I managed to finish everything the day before the competition. I added more missing rigging, got a few more sailors, not as many as I originally planned, because there was no time for it, and it started to look very monotonous, despite the fact that I used several sets.

It received a silver grade in the master ship category, as well as a model club recognition, and one from the Master Model, with which I could choose three gift sets at their stand, and they told they liked the end result. Honestly, I don't often receive this kind of recognition outside of the official result, and I was very happy about it

I also talked to the jury members, overall they said it wasn't bad, but they said that they thought the painting of the ship was too flat. I indicated that there was also preshading, oil paint washing, pinwash, and other things, but they didn't think it was successful. A similar problem arose with the deck, but here I also used 4 different colors and a mixture of them.
I only painted the wheels of the small guns black. In the later photos, everything on the guns is a gray, I thought the same applies to the green paint, unfortunately this is how it turned out, next time do the job more carefully.
Regarding the radio antenna, this was the one thing, that I absolutely did not agree that instead of 3-3 spacers, there should be 4-5 pieces per side, because I did not see any trace of this in the photos. I will include this in the small reference materials another time. Or the flag issue was problematic, although I also did this based on photos. In principle, if the ship is at anchor, there should definitely be a flag on the stern. I accept it, I will do it next time.

It didn't turn out bad then, but it's still not good enough, I need to put more energy into painting, it should be much more precise, so there is still room for improvement.

[MartinJQuinn]

It didn't turn out bad then, but it's still not good enough, I need to put more energy into painting, it should be much more precise, so there is still room for improvement.

We are always our hardest on ourselves, and our harshest critics. There is always room for improvement, but this model turned out sensational. Don't sell yourself short and don't let the judges let you ever think your work is anything less than spectacular. I wish my models were 1/2 as good as yours.

[SG1]

I totally agree with Martin.

but they said that they thought the painting of the ship was too flat.

Sszabi I find the subtle shading/weathering in your model to be one of its most beautiful features. Adding more contrast would have meant to overdo things. My humble opinion though

[ModelMonkey]

It's a gorgeous model.

[Mr. Church]

Looks epic.

The paint and shading and detailing are just right. Any more shading would be excessive at 1:350.

I have the same Viribus Unitis kit awaiting building and will be delighted if it turns out anywhere near as nice as yours.