Building 1/700 - 1/350 ships

[DanSez]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

To get back to ships, does anyone have examples of 1/700 ships that they haven't thoroughly painted, just performed a wash to bring out details? I got back into building airplanes a few years ago, but now live in a small condo complex where I can't airbrush without disturbing my neighbors. To my eye, brush-painted planes just don't look right (unless you're depicting the Spitfires delivered by the Wasp to Malta -- they were apparently painted blue by Wasp crew members using floor brooms). But a 1/700 scale subject would seem to be small enough, when viewed from a normal distance, to look "right" without every little item painted, just highlighted for contrast. Just want to get some opinions before spending bucks on a ship then hating how it looked when completed.

Check into getting a compressed air tank, filled with CO2 - you don't get the compressor noise and it works great. Then you just have the whisper of the air brush.

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

They must be more than that. Back when I was in high school in the 80s the RMRA convention came to Pasadena, CA which was very close to home, so my father and I went. On the last day they had a business meeting and as an incentive they gave out door prizes. Everyone got two tickets and doing a mental calculation of what was on the table, there were almost 2 prizes per person, though most of the items were dreck. The two grand prizes were a brass Pensy locomotive in HO and a brass switcher engine in G scale.

As they went through the prizes, I was the only person in the room not winning anything, when the grand prizes came around, I was the only person left with two tickets. I won the Pensy locomotive and missed winning the other one by one digit. When we checked what the Pensy locomotive was worth, it was around $800 then. Something similar would have to be worth a lot more than that now. That was 30 years ago.

You're right - I saw my dad yesterday and asked. He's been seeing them starting at $1,500 in HO. Speaking of Pasadena, he and my brothers used to frequent the Whistle Stop on Colorado Blvd. He remembers seeing G scale (I think) display-only locomotives listing for $20k there and at another shop in eastern LA County in the 80s and 90s (we grew up in Whittier). The owners told him that collectors who worked in the entertainment industry would usually buy them within a few months of the store getting them.

I'm sorry to hear how age and the passing of your mother has affected your dad. Mine has been slowly losing his fine motor skills, so that he can't paint and work with small details like he used to. He seems to accept it as a normal part of the aging process. A few years ago, he purchased a Hasegawa A-3 Skywarrior and we bought him a Hasegawa F4D Skyray, both 1/72 scale. As he was building them, he acknowledged that he had trouble painting the canopy framing and that some details ended up sloppier than he would have liked. But they were icons of his Douglas career and he had always wanted to display them in his living room.

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: DanSez

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

To get back to ships, does anyone have examples of 1/700 ships that they haven't thoroughly painted, just performed a wash to bring out details? I got back into building airplanes a few years ago, but now live in a small condo complex where I can't airbrush without disturbing my neighbors. To my eye, brush-painted planes just don't look right (unless you're depicting the Spitfires delivered by the Wasp to Malta -- they were apparently painted blue by Wasp crew members using floor brooms). But a 1/700 scale subject would seem to be small enough, when viewed from a normal distance, to look "right" without every little item painted, just highlighted for contrast. Just want to get some opinions before spending bucks on a ship then hating how it looked when completed.

Check into getting a compressed air tank, filled with CO2 - you don't get the compressor noise and it works great. Then you just have the whisper of the air brush.

It's not the noise I worry about, but the fumes. Our balconies are only 12 feet apart and my neighbors directly across from me have a lot of plants. I was never able to successfully spray PollyScale acrylics - the paint kept spotting - so I stuck with spraying with enamels, before I moved to my current residence. If I can find an affordable single-family home to rent, I can go back to the airbrush.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy
You're right - I saw my dad yesterday and asked. He's been seeing them starting at $1,500 in HO. Speaking of Pasadena, he and my brothers used to frequent the Whistle Stop on Colorado Blvd. He remembers seeing G scale (I think) display-only locomotives listing for $20k there and at another shop in eastern LA County in the 80s and 90s (we grew up in Whittier). The owners told him that collectors who worked in the entertainment industry would usually buy them within a few months of the store getting them.

I'm sorry to hear how age and the passing of your mother has affected your dad. Mine has been slowly losing his fine motor skills, so that he can't paint and work with small details like he used to. He seems to accept it as a normal part of the aging process. A few years ago, he purchased a Hasegawa A-3 Skywarrior and we bought him a Hasegawa F4D Skyray, both 1/72 scale. As he was building them, he acknowledged that he had trouble painting the canopy framing and that some details ended up sloppier than he would have liked. But they were icons of his Douglas career and he had always wanted to display them in his living room.

We're from the same stomping grounds. I grew up in Monterey Park right on the edge of East LA (two blocks from East LA city college). We went out to Chino several times a year, that was much better than Disneyland.

I remember the Whistle Stop, I was in there a number of times with my father. There was another big hobby store on Colorado Blvd, but I forget its name. We used to go to a hobby shop in Alhambra that was also a Schwinn bicycle shop and there was a smaller shop on Garvey in Monterey Park. Back when my father was serious about model railroading, he used to hang out at a shop called Troxles near downtown Los Angeles. That was before he got married and moved to the suburbs.

My father's scale in aircraft was 1/32. He has a bunch of them that are mostly finished in his layout room that I will probably take and finish when he's gone. I'm also going to try and take apart the layout and move it. That might proove too tricky though.

Bill

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy
You're right - I saw my dad yesterday and asked. He's been seeing them starting at $1,500 in HO. Speaking of Pasadena, he and my brothers used to frequent the Whistle Stop on Colorado Blvd. He remembers seeing G scale (I think) display-only locomotives listing for $20k there and at another shop in eastern LA County in the 80s and 90s (we grew up in Whittier). The owners told him that collectors who worked in the entertainment industry would usually buy them within a few months of the store getting them.

I'm sorry to hear how age and the passing of your mother has affected your dad. Mine has been slowly losing his fine motor skills, so that he can't paint and work with small details like he used to. He seems to accept it as a normal part of the aging process. A few years ago, he purchased a Hasegawa A-3 Skywarrior and we bought him a Hasegawa F4D Skyray, both 1/72 scale. As he was building them, he acknowledged that he had trouble painting the canopy framing and that some details ended up sloppier than he would have liked. But they were icons of his Douglas career and he had always wanted to display them in his living room.

We're from the same stomping grounds. I grew up in Monterey Park right on the edge of East LA (two blocks from East LA city college). We went out to Chino several times a year, that was much better than Disneyland.

I remember the Whistle Stop, I was in there a number of times with my father. There was another big hobby store on Colorado Blvd, but I forget its name. We used to go to a hobby shop in Alhambra that was also a Schwinn bicycle shop and there was a smaller shop on Garvey in Monterey Park. Back when my father was serious about model railroading, he used to hang out at a shop called Troxles near downtown Los Angeles. That was before he got married and moved to the suburbs.

My father's scale in aircraft was 1/32. He has a bunch of them that are mostly finished in his layout room that I will probably take and finish when he's gone. I'm also going to try and take apart the layout and move it. That might proove too tricky though.

Bill

I've lived in Southern California for 50 of my 52 years and haven't been out to Chino yet. As kids, my dad would drive us past there and continue up to Cajon Pass -- where we could have sat for hours as he photographed trains, if my mom hadn't objected. As an adult, I've been too busy with work to find a day to go out to Chino. I've always wanted to see the P-26 or A6M5 flying, although I understand they're too valuable to operate more than once a year, if that.

The Whistle Stop is still open. Since my dad stopped driving a few years ago (his peculiar diabetes results in huge and very rapid swings in his blood sugar with little notice) he rarely gets out there anymore, but orders most all of his items online. I don't remember if it was the Whistle Stop or another shop, but the late actor Gary Coleman used to frequent the shop so often in the 90s that he would sometimes ring up customer purchases. Since my dad didn't watch much TV besides crime dramas or movies, he didn't know who Gary was, until my brothers told him.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

I've lived in Southern California for 50 of my 52 years and haven't been out to Chino yet. As kids, my dad would drive us past there and continue up to Cajon Pass -- where we could have sat for hours as he photographed trains, if my mom hadn't objected. As an adult, I've been too busy with work to find a day to go out to Chino. I've always wanted to see the P-26 or A6M5 flying, although I understand they're too valuable to operate more than once a year, if that.

The Whistle Stop is still open. Since my dad stopped driving a few years ago (his peculiar diabetes results in huge and very rapid swings in his blood sugar with little notice) he rarely gets out there anymore, but orders most all of his items online. I don't remember if it was the Whistle Stop or another shop, but the late actor Gary Coleman used to frequent the shop so often in the 90s that he would sometimes ring up customer purchases. Since my dad didn't watch much TV besides crime dramas or movies, he didn't know who Gary was, until my brothers told him.

If you're into anything WW II, Chino is a must see. There are two massive air museums there. I haven't lived in LA since 1984, but I went back for a conference in Ontario in 2010 and made sure to make a side trip to see Chino. The Yanks museum which was fairly small when I left is now as big or bigger than Planes of Fame. I took over 400 pictures that day.

My sister moved to Bakersfield when I was in high school and we went out to the Tehachapi Loop a few times to see trains. We were out there once when the 4449 came through. My father stationed us at spots all along the track with cameras so we could catch it from many angles. I could see why people are so gaga over steam engines, the way the ground shook when that thing went past was primal.

If your father went to any model railroading events in the LA area he might have crossed paths with my father. My father was a professional photographer and has a huge collection of pictures from the 50s. Some of his pictures have been published in train books. He was also involved in the preservation society that had a number of locomotives at the LA County Fairgrounds.

Bill

[Mundy]

I had this in my AAR but I'll add it here.

Both of these are 1/350. Chikuma and a USN YMS. I guess you can understand the "Ship Obliterated" messages you get during a surface battle. The YMS is getting a Ms. 14 scheme (Ocean Gray). The Cruiser's sorta on hold until I get my replacement airbrush part. The minesweeper's handy when I need a break from the other.

[HansBolter]

Is that a Tamiya sdkfz. 232 kit box in the background?

I've built that kit. [:)]

[Mundy]

Yeah, I still have the box from over 20 years ago.  I use it for decal storage.

[Mundy]

I've recommenced work on the 1/350 Chikuma. Mainly guns, boats and main deck railings left. I'm replacing the kit 8" guns with turned brass barrels. That'll take some surgery and re-crafting the blast bags. I was going to use putty, but will probably use tissue and white glue for that. I put one of the Alfs together to see how that will go. Not too bad. Two more of those and three Daves will round out the air group.

[Lokasenna]

Looks great so far.

[nashvillen]

I use a CO2 tank for my compressed air. The paint comes out "dry" and doesn't blotch from water spots, also, very evenly.

[John 3rd]

Wish I had that ability! The boys and I use BRUSHES for our paint work on the 1/700s.

How much does a 'decent' air brush cost?

[dave sindel]

I would say the cost of a "decent" air brush depends on your intended use. A Paasche single action basic airbrush would be around $60.00. A double action would be $120 or so. Check out the site Micromark for some examples. www.micromark.com

[Mundy]

I use an Iwata for mine, and I'm happy with it. I think I paid about $190 for the airbrush/compressor combo.

I didn't use it on the plane. My tips aren't that fine. The linoleum on the deck was from a Tamiya spray can, touched up with their brush paint. The main bridge assembly and stack were airbrushed, but most everything else on deck was brush painted. Hull airbrushed. This paint is nice to use with a brush.

The main color is Model Master enamel Kure gray. This kit supposedly has a 1943 loadout, and she spent part of late 1942 at Kure, so that's my guess for the correct shade. The also offer Maizuru gray and Sasebo gray. I think Sasebo is significantly darker, but I have trouble distinguishing Kure from Maizuru.

I did a lot of work on the torpedo tubes, just to have them barely seen stowed.

For 1/700, I'd probably only use the airbrush for basecoats.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: dave sindel

I would say the cost of a "decent" air brush depends on your intended use. A Paasche single action basic airbrush would be around $60.00. A double action would be $120 or so. Check out the site Micromark for some examples. www.micromark.com

mmmmmn.......micromark........the modelers ultimate candy store!

better not hit that link or I won't get any work done this afternoon......

[Mundy]

I put the chrysanthemum on.

[Mundy]

This went up for pre-order last week.

Wolverine

Got mine reserved. I don't think this ship or Sable have been in model form before, aside from some scratchbuilders.

Considering I live about 45 miles from Lake Michigan, I feel a mild personal link to these ships. They did train thousands.

[Lokasenna]

Dunno if folks are still building, but I've finally begun building a model for my coffee table project and I needed to look up paints. I prefer Vallejo because they come in nice bottles with "eyedropper" tops, making mixing paints really easy. I found this today for reference, in case others want it:

http://www.ipmsswamp.com/files/VallejoW ... alents.pdf

Super useful.

[Lokasenna]

Alright, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm in need of an Atlanta-class CL in 1/700 scale, but refuse to pay $40 for one, which is the lowest price I've found on Amazon or eBay. Any recommendations for other places to look?