Revell's 1:700 Colombo Express container ship
I used the ribs on the top inside, as a guide for cutting holes around the bow. Not perfect, but good enough I think. The molded anchor chain was removed and a few holes added, to later add two shorter lengths of metal anchor chain. I had to add some styrene in a few places, with one part broken off in the box, and me having snipped one other off by a mistake as I cut the bit part from the sprue. 🙂
I used bits of styrene to re-create some details that wasn't on the kit. I also re-made the anchor "hole" on each side.
It wasn't necessary, as the bottom wouldn't really be visible, but I couldn't help myself; so I added putty to make the bottom side flat and flush.
Just like with the terrible stand I added guiding pins for each stack of containers. The stand looks nice but is not practical how it was constructed, making it difficult to use unless you glue the stand onto the model, which I don't like doing.
Eyeballing the holes for the pins worked ok. Marking with push pencil and drilling holes first with a small drill bit, and then a larger one, making sure the hole is not too large, as one want the bits of styrene rod to fit snugly in the holes without being loose.
I sanded and added putty to the top of each containers stack, and then re-created the panel lines on top only.
Notice, I have removed the big walkway on each side, which was just two weird looking pieces of plastic. Will be replaced by BigBlueBoy modern ship accomodation ladders, one on each side.
I sanded and added putty to the top of each containers stack, and then re-created the panel lines on top only.
Notice, I have removed the big walkway on each side, which was just two weird looking pieces of plastic. Will be replaced by BigBlueBoy modern ship accomodation ladders, one on each side.
Revell makes this hard to assemble. Several large plastic parts that is supposed to be interlocked with each other. I would have hoped they could do this some other way to create the levels up the structure with the ship's bridge on top.
Well, it looked nicer without the zoom. I can work some more on the drilled out holes and the thinned plastic. The propeller blades were scraped into shape to look more like a real ship's propeller.
Btw, the bow shape was sharpened with a blade and sanding sticks, on two sides and the front. The moulded plastic tend to have smooth edges so I used a blade going over the soft edges on the sides to sharpen the sides to look more like hard edges on the sides. Btw, two of the smaller stacks towards the bow have no vertical spacing between them, I wonder why, this looks at odds compared to two similar smaller stacks further to the left.
An important detail that can be easy to miss, is that, Revell has door detailing on one side of the container, so, you risk gluing on the stacks of containers with the door detailing facing the wrong way. Note: I failed to point out in the photo, that the scribing of the panel lines, is really a re-scribing over existing panel lines, which makes it fairly trivial to make the new panel lines on the very top to indicate an imagined spacing between the containers sideways. No idea if there is any visilbe spacing at all on a real ship.
The plastic parts themselves allows you to precisely glue the container stacks onto the ship deck, but I don't want to simply glue painted parts onto a painted deck, or scrape away the paint, so I added guiding pins.
Uuh, apparently the rear most stack of containers are supposed to be more elevated.
I added an upper walkway of sorts at the rear/aft side. I will add a photo etch railing on top (just below the top side), and drill two holes on the sides. A minor improvement I think. Also, I drilled out all the eh O shaped rings for the trusses all along the side of the ship, by wiggling the drill bit side to side, (not sideways but angled like a fan) making a wider opening.
Shows some of the many PE US modern accomodation ladders from BigBlueBoy.
I won't bother with the two large and two small PE propellers, not worth it I think.
My biggest concern I think is figuring out how to airbrush the many smaller deck areas green. I think I can put on primer, then airbrush on the green deck color, then mask that off, and glue on PE, and then airbrush on white primer, simply omitting any regular paint, just adding white primer.
Cleaning up the stubs is the easy part. My Tamiya Decal Tweezer is now my favorite PE tweezer. 🙂 Nice, big and flat.
So, in order to bend each impossibly tiny stair 45 deg, I first hold it like this. Notice how I have not yet folded the sides (railings).
Then I use a sharp tipped blade, where I get the tip just inside the spacing between each stair, and then I very gently push in and up, until the stair flips up. Usually, by having the blade at this 45 deg angle, you get an ok angle for each stair. Afterwards I gently bent the sides (railings), making sure I don't squish the already bent stairs. Obviously, it is important to do this near the tweezer, not at the top end, like in the crude drawing.
Looks ok, but I don't have proper magnifying equipment. I could buy some to make final adjustments.
Oh, this was a strain. At 1:700 scale, this looks impossibly small for individually bending the tiny, tiny stairs. 😠 Hrm, some of the stubs are still visible. I will use water based glue and try that out and not cyanoacrylate glue to avoid stressing with the placement of the PE stuff using fast acting cyanoacrylate. I can then maybe add some cyanoacrylate once I am happy with the placement of individual PE parts I think.
I thought, putting all this together was not easy, just too fiddly and with too many seams.
Not bad I think, but I would have to add a layer of primer to see if the structure looks flush around each corner. The top part was just glued on and hasn't had putty added to the seams. The top bridge will be glued on separately after all the paint work, to more easily paint the top deck green.
Caution: If you cut out the vent openings like this, you would be wise to also remove some plastic on the inside, on the upper edge. Because, after gluing on the PE, when gently bending the PE vent blades inwards, on my model, the PE bumped into the plastic even though that shouldn't happen. Luckily I could just force the PE vent part inwards, but I was concerned that I couldn't flip the PE vent part inwards as much as I wanted.
Why!? Does this door look like this? All the photo etch doors look like this. Any ideas?
Maybe an edge for protection against rain on top?
Maybe an edge for some kind of rail system, but I am sure I've seen the doors swing open outwards as usual on photos.
Maybe an edge for protection against rain on top?
Maybe an edge for some kind of rail system, but I am sure I've seen the doors swing open outwards as usual on photos.
I am trying out what I think is some kind of water based glue, to avoid stressing with placing the photo etch parts. I will have to add cyanoacrylate afterwards with a glue loop. Works ok so far, hopefully the PE parts won't simply fall off before I get around to add the cyanoacrylate later.
An additional PE frame is to be added here, and also, each vent opening is to be folded inwards but I have to wait until I added the cyanoacrylate before I can get a little rough with the PE.
Using this non-instant sticky glue, made it a joy to use. I wonder, for the doors, if I could maybe rely on only using this glue, and not having to also add cyanoacrylate for the flat doors.
An additional PE frame is to be added here, and also, each vent opening is to be folded inwards but I have to wait until I added the cyanoacrylate before I can get a little rough with the PE.
Using this non-instant sticky glue, made it a joy to use. I wonder, for the doors, if I could maybe rely on only using this glue, and not having to also add cyanoacrylate for the flat doors.
This PE work turned out to be fun, now that I got it started and can safely glue on the tiny PE parts, without making a mess out of it.
I added some liquified Valleo putty around the dual layered PE for the 4x vent openings on the smoke stack. Looks better than I had expected.
For the doors with a view port, I made sure to drill a hole in the plastic behind. In the background, my jam jar with lots of silica bags, for avoiding having the cyanoacrylate tube dry up (cyanoacrylate glue reacts to moisture in the air and goes hard).
I added some liquified Valleo putty around the dual layered PE for the 4x vent openings on the smoke stack. Looks better than I had expected.
For the doors with a view port, I made sure to drill a hole in the plastic behind. In the background, my jam jar with lots of silica bags, for avoiding having the cyanoacrylate tube dry up (cyanoacrylate glue reacts to moisture in the air and goes hard).
Water based gel glue didn't work well here. So, best to just gently place the PE onto the plastic, then use a glue loop to dip tiny amounts of cyanoacrylate onto the joints, without bumping the photo etch part. Works nicely.
Not a pretty sight, but it should look a lot better with another layer of primer and after removing remaining flaky primer and sanding flush anything that sticks out. And, I will have to airbrush on white color after all. My initial layer of primer was too thin, and didn't cover well enough, to look "white" on its own.
The photo etch stairs, required additional filing of the plastic, I should have planned that better, but I think it will work nicely when I am finished. The stairs should all be angled 45 deg.
Photo show how the upper holes for the stairs was made longer, compared to the two holes at the bottom, which has to be cut with a blade to lengthen.
The photo etch stairs, required additional filing of the plastic, I should have planned that better, but I think it will work nicely when I am finished. The stairs should all be angled 45 deg.
Photo show how the upper holes for the stairs was made longer, compared to the two holes at the bottom, which has to be cut with a blade to lengthen.
Although working on the container stacks isn't trivial, every time I add putty or airbrush on primer, I have to wait hours, or a whole day to avoid the primer becoming flaky. I made sure to wipe the container stacks with rubbing alcohol, so the primer went on nicely, and I could sand it nicely as well afterwards, having let it try for 24 hours. I did not wipe the whole bridge structure, and I thought the primer layer of paint was flaky there when disturbing it with a metal file.
How to get all the many, many, pieces of photo etch railings for the two large ship sides to look ok? I think, I will have to cut each piece off, sand off the stubs, then place them in sequence along a metal ruler, and see if they all align properly, before and after additional adjustments with a PE file. :|
The rear side, is problematic I suspect, I worry that the placement of the PE railings there, doesn't have a flat surface at the bottom for the PE. I'll have to look at that.
The rear side, is problematic I suspect, I worry that the placement of the PE railings there, doesn't have a flat surface at the bottom for the PE. I'll have to look at that.
I had to figure out to create some stand-off material, to place in between the plastic and the PE railings. I also used a piece of copy paper to get the stand off parts to be thin enough. One has to be careful to not let liquid cyanoacrylate seep onto the stand off parts, else they would be glued onto the model.
The starting point. Bent photo etch. I managed to squish it flat by simply putting masking tape at the center pressing the center down, then add cyanoacrylate on both ends, then center with some more masking tape added. This additional PE railing is from some aftermarket set of PE railings.
At least for the bottom PE, this works ok, vertical masking tape. So, add some thin tape, place the PE parts and align them, then add cyanoacrylate where you can, remove the tape, and finish adding more superglue where you can. Maybe finish by gentrly going over with sanding spongs to knock down any overly obviosu trace of cyanoacrylate. This is an earlier photo, and I only need to add 4 more bits of railings to finish the work on the rear side.
Before placing the photo etch railings on the model, it is important to make sure the bottom part is fairly flat and I can check this by pressing a ruler up against the bottom part of the PE railing.
Lots of swearing. No really. Lots of it. Can't use masking tape to hold the PE railing in place, isn't accurate enough, not flat enough surfaces. So I had to create two stand off parts, one on the inside, and one on the outside. Then, making sure the stand off parts are away from the left side of the railing, I can add cyanoacrylate glue without worrying the glue will also end up gluing the stand off parts to the model. Then remove the stand off parts and glue the other side. I don't bother adding glue to the center bottom, just too messy imo. Holyfuckingshitthiswastedious, but at least now I know how to do it, without much stress. 🙂
I am not going to do this in one sitting. I should cut out all the parts, put them on a numbered piece of paper, then add them to the model, to try better streamline the process and lessen the sense of tediousness of it all. Cutting off the photo etch is difficult, but I am no expert.
I am not going to do this in one sitting. I should cut out all the parts, put them on a numbered piece of paper, then add them to the model, to try better streamline the process and lessen the sense of tediousness of it all. Cutting off the photo etch is difficult, but I am no expert.
Edit: Hrm. Ok, so I think I learned now that I have to glue on the PE railings BEFORE adding the structures on top of the deck, at least for me using guides for adding the PE railings. I think this will work ok, if I first dry-fit all the parts, then casually glue them on after having added all the PE railings. 🙂
In the beginning I probably sanded some of the plastic pins on the sides too short, so I had to buy some 0,75 x 0,75 mm styrene strips and recreate them. Easy enough.
I have to keep the deck parts separate, until I am finished gluding on the side railings, otherwise I can't use my custom guide parts for gluing on the railings nicely.
I have to keep the deck parts separate, until I am finished gluding on the side railings, otherwise I can't use my custom guide parts for gluing on the railings nicely.
Comments
38 2 July 2022, 09:17
Dash RendarVery nice! Interesting detailing so far. Nice idea with the pins in the container stacks. I tried magnets but that unfortunately didn't work, haha.
2 July 2022, 21:47
Martin OostromI was this >< close to buying this kit as well at WME. Having second thoughts now 🙁
I've been on quite a few containervessels, and here are some thoughts, do with them as you please.
- The containerdoors should always face aft.
- The top of rows of the containers doesn't need to be flat. Containers can vary in height, and the individual stacks in a row can vary as well.
- The two rows of 20' containers at the bow are probably in a 40' bay, that's why they're snug together, instead of seperated. The two other rows are probably in a 45'foot bay.
- Containerships are rarely fully loaded, so it would be more realistic to take away some containers on the top rows, if possible. google.nl/search?q=c..bih=977&biw=1812
I love what you're doing with this ship. Besides of the 1/200 giants, there is relatively little love for ships here.
4 July 2022, 11:05
TreehuggerInteresting. The rear stack of containers certainly have their doors facing backwards. I guess I should reverse the other containers to match. I can do that, so that they all go to the rear, I had no idea.
The container stacks are symmetric, so you can flip them forwards or backwards. Could be that the guild guide states the doors to be facing backwards, but I didn't notice it. Anyway, not an issue really, one can just flip each stack any way as desired, forward or back. I thought maybe containers had doors on both sides, but I guess now that they typically don't, given your input.
Some of the containers do seem to vary in height, which I thought was odd but thought, might be realistic.
A reviewer complained that Revell filled the entire ship with containers, which he thought was not realistic, but I don't know anything about that. He spent some time apparently, in his build, varying the stacks by cutting them apart, I can't be assed to do that myself. 🙂
I wish kit makers made more 20th century ships and other non-military ships in some sensible scale. I think ships in general, tend to look beautiful.
I think this kit, although probably flawed, has nice plastic overall, so recommended.
Me adding guiding pins, sort made the container stacks look non vertical here and there, but once pressed onto the deck, the container stacks should align and be perfectly vertical.
I think I've seen photos, showing how there is also "rigging" wire on the ship as well, especially around each container stack.
4 July 2022, 12:15
Martin OostromThat rigging are lashing rods weighing 17kg each. They tend to be used from deck level (or raised catwalk) into the lower corners of the 3rd row: google.nl/search?q=l..biw=1680&bih=947
They're always used crosswise.
Keep up the good work, hugger of trees 😄
4 July 2022, 12:40
TreehuggerI will try to be precise with the placement of the PE but I do not have the experience (to do "perfect" PE work). I will definitely use masking tape to hold the PE part in place, instead of my routine of just gently position the PE part with my finger tips, with superglue added first. I will use a glue loop tool to add a tiny amount of cyanoacrylate after first having taped and aligned the PE part in place first. Tricky part is aligning several railings, so that they all look horizontal. 🙂
9 July 2022, 18:44
TreehuggerI think I will airbrush the white structure (gluing on the PE doors first) and the deck green (easy masking)then airbrush the PE ladders separately, and maybe the PE railings, all white, then glue on the PE, then airbrush some more white on it all then remove the masking tape for the green decks. :| Hrm, no wait, that means I can't glue the PE ladders onto the masking tape. I guess for this project, I can just paint the PE stuff separately, and then glue the PE stuff onto a white/green model, then go over with a tiny brush to hide traces of glue.
19 July 2022, 10:55
Spanjaardabout the location pins, it could have been easy to assembly the container blocks, strap them with masking tape in the correct places on the deck and drill the holes from underneath, before gluing the deck to the hull sides. Of course. i know it is too late to propose the idea, but it may be useful for others doing this kit.
19 July 2022, 10:56
TreehuggerI have a better idea (imo). 🙂 Just glue the container stacks on, then drill the holes.. then rip the container stacks off, assuming you didn't use too much glue in the first place. 🙂 Hopefully, it would be little clean up if anything.
19 July 2022, 11:02
Dash RendarYeah, that bridge section also gave me major headaches. You are doing fine so far. Keep it up!
21 July 2022, 12:57
TreehuggerThank you. 🙂 I do really like fiddling with just the plastic, but this is really a lot of work imo if you like me, like having flush seams. In photo 23 I finished fixing the bridge windows. I used a sharp blade to gently carving the window openings larger and making them square/rectangular and with thinner frames. I initially wanted to replace the plastic with strip styrene, but it just would be too troublesome I think. I will keep the top side of the bridge separate and glue on after painting the structure white and the deck green.
21 July 2022, 13:23
TreehuggerQ: Any idea why the doors in photo 28 have this edge on top? I don't understand. I think I should maybe just remove the top edge and the two connecting pieces, because the two tiny connecting lines looks bad inbetween the door and the edge on top I think.
27 July 2022, 10:55
Dash RendarStellar work so far! The rails above the doors are indeed a bit weird, if I look at them up close. When I built my Colombo Express I thought those rails are supposed to be the little fluorescent light tubes above the doors. If you check reference photos you can see them. But looking at it now.... not sure.
Great idea with the other glue, I really have to try that out for myself. Also good idea to bend the vents after the glue is setting. I didn't even use that part, hah.
27 July 2022, 12:26
TreehuggerSo it turns out, I have accidentally glued on two of the larger side parts for the whole structure upside down. I don't think anyone will notice. After removing the moulded stairs, I got confused.
29 July 2022, 11:41
Bruce HuxtableHmmm.... You've got me puzzling about the doors.... What is shown in the PE instructions? They look like a deliberate extra, on the fret, and I'm wondering if they are to be used if you were to pose the door open? i.e. glue it down one side of the open doorway, so that when the door is then glued to the straight bar, the bar acts as a 'stand-off' from the 'wall'. The alternative is that it could be a gutter above the doorway, but again to be installed as a separate piece. I'm enjoying your build, and looking forward to the transformation when paints are added 🙂
29 July 2022, 12:33
TreehuggerHeh, the instructions for the Mk1 stuff is very much mediocre. I swear, some of the PE, aren't even in the PE build guide, like doors and some stuff on the very top iirc. Obviously, the PE doors are meant to replace the existing moulded doors, so that is fairly trivial to work with, if one remembers or takes photo before removing the plastic doors.
Looking at photos, the exhaust pipes on top (shown in some other photo), is steel colored on the outside. I think I might try just some metallic varnish powder or something instead of airbrushing on steel metal color.
I am very happy with the use of this water based gel glue I found in my generic supermarket store. It probably won't prevent things being knocked, off, but seems very much suitable for placing PE onto the plastic, and if you add primer paint, color and a gloss coat, I think that is good enough, assuming you don't bump the model into things (which will probably never happen anyway). 🙂
29 July 2022, 12:43
Dash RendarOh my god, Treehugger. Did you accidentally glue the sides of the super structure the wrong way? ME TOO. I think this is kind of a design flaw or at least the manual should take extra care to point that out. I also had to fix this mistake, haha.
Other than that, really great work! This will look absolutely beautiful.
29 July 2022, 14:48
TreehuggerSo, heh, the visual clue for spotting the mistake in my case, is that the two windows on each side, is now on the lower level, instead of the upper level. The larger plastic parts, for the side, covers two stories/levels.
29 July 2022, 15:02
TreehuggerI recently think I've learned that I should stop adding Vallejo thinner for no good reason, and so it seems I avoid a lot of tip drying not adding thinner, and instead relying on mixing Vallejo primer with just a little bit of flow enhancer. Wiping the plastic with rubbing alcohol seems like it maybe helps the primer stick better as well was my impression, but maybe only an issue if I have plastic with non-trivial amounts of greasy stains on it from my finger tips.
Adding too much flow enhancer and the airbrush paint becomes runny right away, and even if applied ok, the paint becomes sticky to the touch.
12 August 2022, 11:20
Dash RendarRegarding the PE railings: I did have little "stubs" on the lower side of them. I dipped them in a bit of superglue and placed them very carefully on the ship. The little bit of superglue on the feet did indeed hold everything in place. I am pretty sure if you use your other glue method it will be fine. I did have slow drying CA. They can look wonky in parts, yes, but it's not very noticeable imho.
Good luck! 😄
13 August 2022, 16:56
TreehuggerThank you all. 🙂
So I play too much Squad these days and there are aspects with this build that I find tedious, but it is moving along.
I was thinking, I could also use masking tape to tape the railings onto the side, at perfect placement, and then add super glue at the bottom, then remove the tape and add more superglue on the sides of the railings.
I keep being surprised at how noticeable tiny scratches and pits become visible in the plastic if you just look at it closely, and in the sunlight. So I spend some extra time going over and fixing such flaws.
13 August 2022, 19:13
Łukasz GlińskiI procrastinate my 1/400 - 1/500 ships because of the damn railings and you do it in 1/700! Hats off, very clean and precise 👍
31 August 2022, 07:56
TreehuggerThank you. 🙂
I think I can make are really nice model, but I often get in trouble by overthinking things, and growing impatient, so this build is greatly delayed. I have to find the time to glue on the many, many side PE railings, and start the basic airbrushing work, then I can just plop down the whole bridge structure later, and also the containers. Anyway, fiddling with the plastic if what I think is the most fun, so I am having fun, just going a bit slow. I am also fiddling with a 1:32 resin/3D printed Viggen, just basic stuff. Hopefully, the next time I do some airbrushing, I will get better results than ever. Hopefully I have recently learned from some old mistakes like needlessly having added thinner, causing tip dry and other issues perhaps.
31 August 2022, 08:06
Bruce HuxtableWell, by the end of this, you will not only be the railings expert, but will have created a very neat and tidy ship that you can be proud of. I for one, am learning lots from your shared experiences and novel solutions 🙂 Slow but steady wins the race.......
31 August 2022, 09:42
Album info
Note:
The photo etch stairs, require removal of plastic, in order to rise at an angle of 45 deg. The top most stairs, has to be shortened, gently, with a PE file, to rise at an angle of 45 deg.
Note2:
Kit box individual container decals = 130
Kit box individual containers = 342
Additional aftermarket container decals (White Ensign Models) = 120
130+120=250 decals for 342 containers, leaving 92 containers without decals
Note3: If you want to use guides for attaching the many PE railings at the side of the ship, you REALLY have to add the PE railings, before adding the stuff on top of the deck, because that stuff overarches the PE railings, preventing using guides there if you glued on the stuff already on top of the deck.
Eventually I managed to buy this kit at a nice price, having waited a couple of years and also having bought the photo etch set for this Revell kit, a long time ago.
Although Revell, the molding of the plastic looked nice and clean and all the container stacks were fun to build and glue together.
I also have an extra decal sheet for container logos to mix things up a little.
When adding the photo etch railings, I must remember to use a strip of masking tape, to fix the railings and align the PE parts properly, before adding glue, else the PE might look not straight alongside the ship.
Having all the added pins for placing the stacks of containers on the ship, isn't necessary, but I prefer making them, to avoid having the parts just fall off the deck too easily, also, makes it easier I think to eventually glue on the painted containers to the painted ship. Also, best to number the container stacks with a marker pen before proceeding with the build.
