Saturday 6 December 2014

Battleship Row (Part Three) Second Mary Rose Sails Away

The second Mary Rose has now sailed away to a berth in a 'Tudor-themed' classroom. My eldest son's ship was constructed in much the same manner as my daughter's except it benefited from the additional use of Humbrol "Decalfix" in an attempt to keep the blessed things in place once they have dried out and avoid the dreaded 'flaking effect'. Interestingly the instructions imply you immerse the decal in the "Decalfix"liquid to, in order to help it release from the attached paper (rather than the traditional water) as well as coating the 'target' surface prior to decal application and then again in the 'smoothing down' post-application tidy up (see below):


Meanwhile the holding the detail of the stern of HMS Victory are fixed in place. Although I have heard people complain about this, I think it works well. Also note, for once I did follow the Airfix forum advice and gloss varnished the target area beforehand (something I didn't do for the Mary Rose which perhaps in hindsight I should have done to make a smoother surface) and again used my newly acquired "Decalfix". The stern went smoothly, perhaps too smoothly. I got myself in a bit of a fix when I tried to slide off the simple "HMS Victory" name plaque on to the stand and I got myself into a right old tangle. I was a second away from a perfect slip on but botched it and spent a good ten minutes in 'panic recovery' mode, but I think I saved it (see below):  


I carried on with Tudor Rose number three and applied a watered down Vellojo "Black Wash" over the hull planking joints and grills that adorn the ship (see below):


By no means finished, but it did have an immediate positive effect that I liked. Yes I will have to go back and highlight, perhaps re-wash with the Vallejo "Brown Wash" and stain the sails with wash and ink, but it's there simply to be experimented on (see below):


I must admit I had much more fun than I expected to with these old Airfix kits. I will have to wait around and hope Airfix releases the Santa Maria again and build up a Spanish Fleet!

3 comments:

Paul Foster said...

I envy you patience with these sailing ship kits Geordie.

They look a nightmare to build to me.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Hello Paul,

Given my experience with the Navwar 1/1200 Napoleonic ships in metals (and the nightmare rigging required) the Airfix starter kits are a "lite relief" (by comparison)

I quickly ditched all notion of attempting to put any rigging on them whatsoever

Working with plastic was so much better and my expectations of what I can do with them "are so much lower"

What I need is some opposition, here is hoping that next year (2015) Airfix release the Santa Maria!

PS Great (and I mean great) work with your Cold War stuff, it is epic .. everybody should check out The Plastic Warrior blog!

Paul Foster said...

Too kind Geordie. Its just more fun than painting German Grey on everything at the moment!