Treehugger Hah, I haven't seen that kit in sale in a good while. I guess that is the kit with a normal looking hull, and not some cut away concept.
13 April 2020, 11:07
Treehugger I suggest you take your time making the hull pieces flush. I would recommend some larger sanding sticks, and some putty if you need it. Vallejo has some non-toxic white putty as an alternative to obnoxious Tamiya putty, or you could try use sprue goo (melted plastic parts in a bottle of near empty Tamiya Extra Thin Cement).
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy By the way, I noticed that the Vallejo putty doesn't stick too well to plastic and I use it mainly in places where I can cut off rather than sand off the surplus. Tamiya's putty is better for flat surfaces.
Treehugger Btw, I have started using sprue-goo for filling holes and such. But, I tend to now, carve out a cavity, making it larger, before filling with sprue goo to make sure the filling fills the cavity. Presumably, it takes longer for sprue-goo to dry and harden.
17 April 2020, 13:47
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy Well, except for the piece the needed to be cut and filled with a triangle (very first step in the instructions) I didn't have anything to fill. Matches quite well actually!
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy There are two places where the parts hang over (negative gaps), so I'll need to file away some plastic. Otherwise, perfect fit!
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy Actually, the fit wasn't as perfect as stated earlier: the two hull halves did fit very well, but the two parts that make the top floor gave me some troubles... Vallejo Putty to the rescue!
24 April 2020, 20:54
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy Just to say, I am currently very far from my comfort zone (what, I have a comfort zone? Me?! ) as this is quite simply my very first sea-going vessel. I'm more of a middling figurine painter and old biplane / WW1 gear builder...
Doing my best but perfection will be very far away.😉
15 September 2020, 20:27
Treehugger If you ever considered drilling out holes in the side (presumably there are some), what I would do, is to drill a circular hole on each end, and then remove the plastic between the two holes, instead of trying to shape the two ends of the elongated hole in other ways. Ofc, the two holes would then have to be centered properly. I like using a pointy knife blade and make a tiny indentation at the center and adjust if necessary, then drill a small hole using the indentation as a guide, and then re-evaluate if the hole is in fact centered, then use a larger drill bit. 🙂 I often use this Tamiya round file for holes. Crap, I really need more drill bits of larger sizes and some quick to use chuck or something for my various tools.
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy @Treehugger I didn't need to drill any hole in this kit (just had to cut off two parts and plug the resulting holes with a part), but whenever I need to do so, I tend to use the same procedure you suggested... 🙂
Project is going slowly but nicely, expect new pics during the weekend.
I'm absolutely not used to varnish large surfaces and apparently overdid it "slightly" while coating the submarine with my Vallejo gloss varnish (can't seem to find any Klear/Future here in Belgium).
The result is that I have three or four pools (drops) of cured varnish that have formed on the external part of the top side.
Only one thing to do: sanding followed by polishing those pools before continuing.
René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Treehugger
