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Digs · Posted: Sun 02 Mar 2008 13:18 pm Post subject:

Some pics of progress:

(not very good pics though - sorry)

Ratch · Posted: Sun 02 Mar 2008 13:32 pm Post subject:

Good work Paul

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and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

chippy · Posted: Mon 03 Mar 2008 08:55 am Post subject:

Looking good Paul!!

feanor · Posted: Mon 03 Mar 2008 09:40 am Post subject:

Ayup Paul...

Nice progress. all looking very good.

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Airfix Member 022... Jolly Boy.

Remember: 'The Dude Abides'...

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Digs · Posted: Fri 07 Mar 2008 19:28 pm Post subject:

One step forward, one step back...

Last Sunday I drilled out the hull portholes. I started assembling the PE catapult. I also painted and part assembled the main blocks of the aft superstructure.

Tuesday evening (I think), while unplugging a charged-up light battery, i must have knocked over a bottle of superglue which fell on part of the above superstructure. The lid was on, but not tightly enough.

This evening I found bottle, superstructure and my cutting mat irrevocably glued into one useless lump

Just as well I had a spare Belfast kit in the stash eh?

Ratch · Posted: Fri 07 Mar 2008 21:08 pm Post subject:

Nasty

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Digs · Posted: Sun 16 Mar 2008 18:22 pm Post subject:

More progress to report. I managed to clear a path to my workbench so I could spend a wet Sunday in peace!

Here's a rather cruel shot of the aft superstructure, showing a lot of imperfections! Like others, I found this area a bit of a struggle because of poor fit.

Midships, I built and fitted the catapult. Following on from Ratch's and Chippy's comments about the invisible bracing detail, I only added the outside ones, as these at least can be seen from the right angle. The same strategy as Airfix followed. I also filled some holes in this area of the deck where plastic parts will be replaced by PE.

And then this is a shot of the boat deck in place with the torpedo screens fitted. They need touching up because dry fitting showed they were about 1 mm too deep to fit between the decks. I cut this off by placing them on my cutting mat (with a backstop), carefully aligning a new Stanley knife blade along the edge and giving it a tap with a hammer.

Slow but steady progress!

Paul

Ratch · Posted: Sun 16 Mar 2008 19:49 pm Post subject:

Good work Paul

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

feanor · Posted: Sun 16 Mar 2008 21:43 pm Post subject:

Ayup Chippy...

A Belfast Masterclass ! Well Done....
_________________
Airfix Member 022... Jolly Boy.

Remember: 'The Dude Abides'...

'It's GOOD to be the King !'

chippy · Posted: Mon 17 Mar 2008 14:08 pm Post subject:

Paul, love the detail on the boats, looks great. Agree about the general fit of the aft superstructure probably tired moulds, mine were very distorted.
looking good though

Geoff

Digs · Posted: Sun 23 Mar 2008 11:59 am Post subject:

I spent some time on the Walruses - as well as paint & glue, they got the following upgrades:

I scanned in a sheet of Matchbox Walrus decals that were to hand, scaled them down in the ratio of 72/600 then printed them onto clear decal sheet. Applied using Klear! I used the top roundels, side roundels and tail flashes. The tops ones worked rather better than the flash makes them appear. Looking at the paint job, I should have broken out the airbrush!

Recycled some of the spare PE bracing from the catapult as struts for the wings (unused ones visible on the right). OK, they're not really the right shape, but it's a little bit of extra detail (and now I look at the photo, one's on the wrong way round...).

Drilled out the gun positions at front and middle.

Still needs a propellor.

The ship itself is progressing slowly too. Currently working on the main superstructure.

Ratch · Posted: Sun 23 Mar 2008 12:40 pm Post subject:

You know she'd lost the Walruses by the time she'd been painted in camo Silence

Good work though

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Digs · Posted: Sun 23 Mar 2008 13:11 pm Post subject:

Ratch · Posted: Sun 23 Mar 2008 13:24 pm Post subject:

Digs · Posted: Thu 27 Mar 2008 11:08 am Post subject:

Ah well, another end date missed!

The state of play right now is that all the main superstructure is done, most other bits are painted (funnels, turrets etc.) but not stuck in place and I've made a start on the PE stairs and so on. No photos I'm afraid and I'm now off for a week so no more progress for a while!

Paul

chippy · Posted: Fri 28 Mar 2008 18:36 pm Post subject:

Looking good Paul!!

chippy · Posted: Wed 02 Apr 2008 08:20 am Post subject:

How's it going Paul?

Love the Walruss mate, am going to have a go at doing it just for the hell of it, but will need to see how steady my hand is, your paint job looks brilliant on something so small. Keep at it mate, nearly there.

Geoff

Digs · Posted: Mon 07 Apr 2008 20:50 pm Post subject:

Another update:

Main and secondary armament now in place.

Yesterday I spent what seemed like a LONG time painting the ship's boats. Most are now in place.

A bit more PE in situ too.

Sooner rather than later I'm going to have to make a start on the railings

Paul

PS - edited because I've just discovered you can't have an ampersand in your picture file name - MYFF image handling has a fit and expires it immediately after uploading!

farmroad38 · Posted: Mon 07 Apr 2008 22:07 pm Post subject:

Looks excellent Paul - the detail you've put in is amazing!
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Cheers,

Adrian

Digs · Posted: Sat 12 Apr 2008 17:49 pm Post subject:

Another update.

The builders have departed. leaving a new bathroom, downstairs bog, conservatory guttering, repaired plasterwork in the living room and a nice new window in my workshop. All very good except for the vaguely post-apocalyptic levels of brick and plaster dust that (three days later) are still settling out onto every surface in house and workshop...

Anyway, having cleaned the workshop and restored things to their rightful places, back to HMS Belfast. It seemed like the end is in sight - sticking the last bits of plastic on and making serious inroads into the PE, but oh my god those pompoms

One down, one still to go but I'm having to recoup with a beer in front of the fire

Photos below

Paul