SPA Modeler

I've got several ships/subs...so I made the bases for them out of oak...



I started with drilling out the hull...



I'll epoxy to nuts in the hull, so I can run the bolts in at the end. The brass pieces are compression fittings.



This stuff is tiny!
The 3 big guns were easy enough, just 5 parts(also drilled out the guns)
The guns got a bit fiddly, with 8 pieces each...then those 2 mounts of some sort are 2 PE pieces plus the dinky plastic. Then there's the other 8 small guns with 9 pieces each! 7 hours in, and I aint even half way through step 1!

Yup... "Large Scale Ships" is a bit of an oxymoron. Lots of small work involved. Especially once PE comes into play. This will be nice to watch.

Looking forward to seeing more on this. Yeah, you think this is bad, try 1/700. That's what scale I build my ships in. Keep plugging man, you are doing fantastic!

Stikpusher wrote:Yup... "Large Scale Ships" is a bit of an oxymoron. Lots of small work involved. Especially once PE comes into play. This will be nice to watch.

JUMBO shrimp!!!
What amazes me the most about this whole thing...some of these parts are molded so fine and non-clunky looking, and this is at 1/350...but yet we get parts for 1/32 aircraft that are oversized and clunky as all get out. It does not make sense to me!

Duke Maddog wrote:Looking forward to seeing more on this. Yeah, you think this is bad, try 1/700. That's what scale I build my ships in. Keep plugging man, you are doing fantastic!

I've got a Fujimi Ryujyo in 1/700 that I'll be doing at some point...when, I don't know, but that should be fun!

Step one is done! Woohoo!!!

I have a PE set of radars, rails and some other bits from Toms Modelworks. It's kind of a "generic" set for US Detroyers. I was able to use parts of that for the MK4 radar, but there was nothing for the little radar (don't know what its technical name is), so I used some sheet plastic and finely stretched sprue to scratch that one...the solid kit part looked dumb.





I sectioned off some slots, to keep things straight.



Also did some work on the big parts.
Main deck is glued to upper hull, as well as the first level of structures.
Nuts are epoxied in place...



The main deck, upper hull, and lower hull parts do not line up at all. With all three lined up, from stern to mid-deck, the bow sections were going in three different directions...with the main deck being most central. Upper hull veered off to starboard, while the lower hull veered off to port. Like my nautical terms???!!! I'm so out of my element here! Anyway, I got the deck and upper hull to cooperate, although they fought the whole way. This is what I'm still up against between the upper/lower hull sections...



With a lot of tape though, things will be just fine...

It's amazing how much PE there are for such a small scale ship. No way I could do it. Not with these eyes. Looking great, Fermis!

Looking very interesting & good!

Also very intrigued to build a ship... But not sure if my eyes either would co-operate...

- Kari

I will admit...this is pushing the limits of even my amazing eyes. Takes a second to focus in...once I'm going though, no problem...until I get away from the bench, I can't see anything beyond about 3 feet! I couldn't make a habit out of these things!

I'll save all the expletives, and just show what I have gotten done in the last 12 hours of bench time.



Between these two masts, I believe there are more pieces than the average aircraft kit.



One scratched radar wasn't enough, I had to go and do it again. (square one was already shown), kit parts are below the penny.



Some other bits...



Exhaust stacks, again...




I have to say....If you do these types of ships/kits on a regular basis...for fun...there is something about you that is "off"!!!!

Holy malony, that is tiny!

- Kari

tiny is almost an overstatement! My goodness...Great work.