Revell HMS Victory

Finally got started with this. Going to prime the largest pieces and so glued these pieces together. It's a challenge now with each model to decide on an order for how to put it together and paint it. I'm still learning what works best for me and for each type of model. With this I'm going to prepare the largest pieces and prime and then spray them, using masking tape for the smaller details. Then for the small parts and the smallest details in general, I'll brush paint. Only once everything is painted will I finally glue the whole thing together. We'll see how that goes! 

Finally an update to this. Cut out, sanded, and glued all the parts that make sense to me to prime and spray 

These parts I'll paint by hand without priming as they're all just small separate details 

Finally got to airbrush again, it's been months. Decided to just prime every part of the model. I was so happy with the results of priming on my Churchill. Used Mig Black One Shot Primer, thinned down a bit with X-20A thinner. Found with the Churchill, not thinning it like it suggests caused my airbrush to clog up. Worked well with some thinner 

 

Sprayed the stand in Revell Black Silk Matt. Had a bit of trouble with this paint clogging my airbrush. Ended up needing to thin it down a lot, to eventually get it to spray nicely 

Sprayed the deck in Tamiya Wooden Deck Tan. Didn't come out perfectly, but due to it being a used wooden deck, I think it'll be okay. There'll be some weathering on this anyway 

Sprayed the sails with Tamiya Dark Yellow. Didn't have the exact paint the manual called for, but this colour seemed suitable and I'm pretty happy with the result. Not sure how accurate it is, but I'm not too concerned with this model. I'm never going to be one to be super concerned with perfect historical accuracy, and also with these smaller, cheaper models I'm even less concerned 

The most interesting result though, is how this turned out. The manual said to spray in Revell Copper Metallic. Which seemed odd to me, for a wooden ship. But I assume when sprayed onto the original brown plastic, it would look correct. But spraying it onto the black primer, it looks exactly like metallic copper. These photos don't do it justice, it's beautiful paint and it looks incredible. But it looks wrong on this ship. Not sure yet whether to leave it or paint it over in brown and then maybe apply a thin layer of the Copper Metallic on top. Any advice is welcome.

Edit: For anyone reading this, as I learned in the comments below - the copper metallic is entirely accurate - should have done my research! 

 

 

Taken the masking tape off. Again, seems far from accurate. But I love this paint, love the way it interacts with light. Will have to find excuses to use this on future models!

Edit: Again, is in fact entirely accurate, although perhaps the shade is off, maybe should be more orange. But I'm happy 

 

Sprayed all of these parts with Revell Anthracite Matt. Had trouble with my airbrush again. Even though the paint mixture was definitely thinned enough, the paint just wouldn't come out. The needle was retracting. Eventually, after a LOT of spraying air, it started to spray paint fine. Starting to happen more frequently. I've looked it up, for potential solutions. But if it comes to it, it might soon be time for an upgrade 

Chose to hand paint the yellow accents on the ship. Maybe a mistake. I always find it difficult to hand paint, and the paint just wasn't going down well, and it was very difficult to keep it neat. I went over any major mistakes with the Anthracite Matt paint again. I thought doing it this way would be easier. But it might have been better to have masked it off and sprayed it. But, although it looks awful in this photo, from even a reasonable distance away, it looks fine. This is a very small model 

Been another long break. But I have been very slowly making progress on this. There's been a lot going on personally that's kept me from modeling - and I also haven't been particularly enjoying this model. As is probably evident from the photos, this is the worst result I'm getting so far. More details in the next photo 

The reasons for such a bad result: 1. Only being able to work on this model in short bursts often with long gaps in between. 2. Probably the worst actual model I've worked with, it is a very small and cheap Revell model, but still. It doesn't want to go together nicely at all. 3. Poor planning on my behalf, from lack of experience and wanting to finish this model quickly (it's actually taking ages!) 4. My brush painting skills are lacking, especially on small details and the Revell paint is really difficult to brush paint with I've found 

But having said all of that, I'm determined to finish it, not too much left now. I still think from a bit of a distance it'll look okay. It's taught me a lot and I'm looking forward to my next batch of models 

Finally made decent progress with this model. Did all of this in one day. Just had the motivation to finally get these two models I've been working on for so long, complete. So I can move on to other things. Everything is painted and glued together. The next step is to clear coat both this ship and the truck I'm working on. 

I feel like now things are all put together, stepping back and looking at it as a whole, it's not as bad as I feared. But looking too closely will quickly reveal the many mistakes I've made. This model has been a lesson for me in many regards and so a half-decent looking model on display, in the end, is a bonus. 

 

 

 

At some point, I need to get a better camera and lighting setup for my models. These photos never do the models justice, and also end up looking a bit dingy to me. Although they do make the models look a lot larger than they are. This ship is pretty small. 

 

Finally had a chance to spray today, so sprayed this and the model behind it with X-22 Clear. I'll wait for it to dry for around 24 hours and then apply decals and add some basic weathering. Finally getting close to completion with these two models now 

Applied decals. Some of them haven't conformed to the surface as well as I'd like, but the Revell decals seem to be quite thick. I have applied multiple layers of MicroSol. Might apply some more later to get better results. On to weathering next. 

 

 

Applied a subtle pin wash with Mig Dark Wash. Didn't want to spend too long weathering this ship, mostly because it has so many small fragile parts. I worry if I tried to get a brush or a cotton bud too far into corners or recesses that something would get snapped off. I'm happy with the result and weathering on this is complete. 

 

Finally completed this model! It feels like forever since I could last say that. This recent burst of model making has been very productive for me, really enjoying it at the moment. I sprayed this with XF-86 Clear Flat and attached the flags. In the end, this turned out to look pretty good now it's complete and as long as you don't look too closely. Although it was good for the cheap price, I will probably try to avoid very cheap models from now on (unless I receive them as gifts). One of my favourite things about this hobby is the attention to detail and accuracy which you just don't really get with the cheapest models 

 

 

My phone camera really letting me down again here!