The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Looks like an interesting exercise in painting masochism but well worth watching.

Feet up, popcorn at the ready

There has been some progress and I have started this now. It is indeed a painting challenge and I haven't really got going yet.

So far everything has been done solely with revell aqua paints.

the deck


this is a replacement aftermarket set of gratings, which I am going to use, and will as you see in later photos, paint over the gratings black to take this. The arched windows go in the stern and you will see those pieces later in this post.


the hull sides contain a fair number of sink holes, but thankfully most of these (all those in these images) are hidden once deck gets fitted. Thankfully there are only two which I have really had to deal with.


gun carriages - having full carriages and open ports is a nice touch.


these gun carriage strip pieces fit in very well, and have locating tabs


The deck has now had some futher work - the existing gratings blackened over and the deck has had some thinned paint washes to bring out the decking and grain. It may not be too easy to see in these images
However, before I added the washes, which have taken a long time to do, the deck was the solid plain beige colour, you can see on the gun carriage parts!




the two pieces of detail on the stern, into which I am fitting the etch windows.




The hull all now glued up, and waiting for some painting.



Before getting to the stage I was in, from the last photo, I spent time trialling painting options for the final paint scheme,


I decided that I am not going to be going for as detailed a colour scheme as the instructions suggest. The detailed figures etc are so small that it is just going to become a massive mess of dobs of different colours.
Instead, I will be using a single gold/bronze mix for all the figures and detail, and will use red where Revell suggest it. (Older kits such as the Airfix one, used blue, but it is only relatively recently that new information came to light on use of red not blue). I will incorporate white for handrails, and a little yellow for a wale on the side.

I plan to use the suggested colours for the various browns that Revell name in the colour guide, and will then add some washes to get a wood effect, such as on the inner bulwarks and outer hull sides when more of it is all together later.

This piece was, then given a liberal coat of dettol to remove the paint, before fixing in the gun carriages and glueing the hull together.

Anyhow ...That is where I am now..... more in a few weeks time!

Looking good Chris, and the deck looks top notch; your washes have worked nicely

Seconded to that. Your paintwork on the deck illustrates that aftermarket wooden decks are superfluous.

Dettol?

Muttzley - Dettol is good for removing paint ... works with some brands just have to try and see. I found it works ok with acrylic when brushed on neat and then left to soak, and brushed again with water to agitate and remove it.

Daz - This deck, had both a good grain on the planking, and has been moulded to show individual lengths of plank which has helped get the definition I have. Some older kits just do not have this level of moulding from the start, and it is imposible to get a realistic effect, and is why on some I would use a wood veneer

Iggie - cheers, glad you like it.

This will be great !
I think you got the deck and washes just right and the hull seems to be coming right along.

I'm in totally agreement, you guys beat me to it.

Morning Chaps
This looks very cool Chris, really love these old sailing ships.

Can I just jump in on a previous comment....
Dettol is an excellent slow paint stripper. I use it to strip car bodies. One bottle of Dettol (1 litre) and the same bottle of water, in an ice cream tub. Place the body in, leave for about a day or two then clean off.Get yourself an old tooth brush and toothpicks to get the bits stuck in the corners etc and once all cleaned off wash in warm water. Will basically strip anything off, ( Ive tried zero, gravity, tamiya rattlecans, automotive rattlecans...), acrylics come off much quicker. It will even remove paint from clear parts without damaging them.
The nice thing is, its re useable. my dettol tub is about 6 months running now.

Mad Steve

Been a while since I made an update on this, but I always knew it was going to be a slow journey .... anyway, let photos speak for me:

Excellent work Chris.

This is turning into something special.

Regards Splash

Well done Chris

That looks great, I'm looking forward to seeing more, thanks for sharing.

Very neat work indeed Chris!

Oh my but that looks good!