USS Enterprise CVN-65 (Revell Platinum Edition)

....so far, so good. Now the final challenge: 66 bits to come on the top row 🙂 

Meanwhile, for having a little rest from PE-parts, a simple paintjob comes in handy...
Parts are held in place with Green Stuff World's Airbrush Masking Putty  

First attempt, still room for improvement. 

Since the first coat of white primer wasn´t good enough, I applied a second layer.  

....it is getting better  

...fresh from the tooth-pick 

...painting the squadron 🙂 

...ready for the USS Enterprise CVN-65
(base is Italeri/ 1:72) 

22 planes and 2 helicopters later.... 🙂 

Tiny.  

....meanwhile 

Prepared for glueing with transparent silicone.  

A "teaspooned" surface of transparent acrylic sealant....hopefully transparent in the end 🙂 

The bow wave- rested to dry on a cling film-covered tube...we will see 

This upper ring of small bits meant a real challenge to me. But I guess, it is a bit difficult from nature, so I am happy to having accomplished this veeery "small" task.  

...only a few steps to the finish  

The Big E....finished  

The final place for it.
 

My first ocean-dio for the "Big E"
I ordered the cover (960 x 290 x 290 mm) at www.sora.de. It comes in pieces and is to be screwed together. I ordererd the inner frame and the dio-plate from www.expresszuschnitt.de.  

That's how I got the waves going:
After cutting out the base plate for the hull with the Dremel, I placed the plate on the 92 mm high frame glued with acetone. I shimmed the hull until it had the right waterline and closed the gaps all around with paint-friendly masking tape. I glued the hull and the panel together with silicone, and smoothed the silicone off the surface. To be able to create the waves, I spread transparent acrylic sealant generously over the plate with a food knife because it can be painted over. Using a teaspoon, which I constantly dipped in water, the sea surface was formed by gently tapping on the surface. I was able to build up waves by adding more acrylic sealant and shaping them with wet fingers. To support the bow wave until it dried, I wrapped a thin tube with cling film and built the wave on top. A week's drying time was necessary until the acrylic sealant was completely clear and hardened. I filled in any gaps with Vallejo Water Texture transparent. With Vallejo Water Texture Foam Effect I first covered the transition from the hull to the plate and finally the wave crowns with a horizontal brush stroke. I added watercolor accents with Vallejo 70.972 Light Green Blue. As a finish I painted the surface 2 times with Vallejo Mecha Gloss Varnish, what made the appearance "waterish". To give the “sea” its basic color, I painted the base plate in the frame with oil paint mixed from dark green and Prussian blue. I painted the surrounding frame parts semi-transparent with Tamiya Clear Green X25 and Smoke X19 50:50. I'm pleased that my sea diorama turned out quite well and can only recommend this technique - it's a bit archaic but a lot of fun! Thank you for your interest and best regards from Düsseldorf!  

Have a nice SUNday!!! 🙂 

Now that the final place for ‘The Big E’ is in front of the window and also the heating, I had to come up with something for the background. Sky, so far so good - but where can I get it in my dimensions? I found what I was looking for at ‘www.myredro.de’, hundreds of templates as stickers - and at what I think is a reasonable price. Of course, it's not so easy to take photos through the plastic cover, but I think you can see the end result quite well. Have a nice weekend and best wishes from Düsseldorf!!!!