Bigasshammm Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So I completely cleaned off my bench/table, had to, it's our dining room table and it was Christmas after all. With just recently finishing up the B-17 I find myself with no current projects. yes I have a couple shelf queens that I started and then lost interest in and now can't get back into so they'll sit for a while. Looking around I wanted something different and easy as I wait for parts for another project I plan to start soon. In one of the Squadron purchases I made a while ago I picked up a HobbyBoss 1/700 Typhoon. I also purchased a 1/350 Dragon USS Ohio I think from someone on here. Living in Ohio that struck me as a must purchase. Anyway I pulled both out and figured I'd dive into submarines for a change. (elbow elbow) The HobbyBoss Typhoon is a nice looking kit and all told there's only about 12 parts that have to go together.Fit was great and it's already got a couple coats of white primer that I'll also use as the white line around the hull as shown on the box top. Will be a difficult mask as to how thin that line is so we'll see. I may end up cutting up some white decal and doing it that way if I can't this way. So then the Dragon Ohio kit is kind of a bear. A lot more parts than I was expecting and the fit is not so good. There will be a huge nasty seam all around the hull where the top and bottom halves go together. Which will mean some re-scribing of lines which I'm terrible at. Plus this beastie is pretty darn big! I've gotten some good inspiration and seen some really nice builds of the kit through google so hopefully I can pull it off. Haven't taken any pics yet so those will follow but now on to some questions. Hulls say a metallic black. Is that really something noticable in these scales or is a flat black with one or two applications of Future to give it a sheen suitable? I'll weather them some, or try my best at least, so that will change the hue of the black as well. Also the red hulls what color is that? For the Typhoon it calls it a Cocoa Brown but the instructions for the Dragon kit are so confusing I don't even know what they call it. No chance they'd be the same? Looks to me as the Russian is more brown and the Ohio should be a more red but not a bright red like insignia or anything. That's about it for now. Hopefully pics soon as I'm progressing along quite quickly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rightwinger26 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I used MM British Chrimson on my Typhoon, and it looks just fine to me Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Been neglecting posting pictures so here's where there at as of right now. Typhoon primered and needs masked. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet. Ohio is together and the LONG horrible seam has been sanded thrice and all of the lines re-scribed. Huge pita. Mock up. Now that the inner missile tubes are painted I can permanently attach the other part of the hull. Assemble and paint all the missile doors and get it all ready for final. Aside from all the sanding these are pretty easy kits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parche Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I'm a fan of using Tamiya's Dull Red for my red below the waterline. Can't wait to see more. Cheers, Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 On a side note question. Why are subs red below the waterline? Obviously it doesn't matter what color they are because nothing is going to be below them looking up at them. So is it just a material and that's it's natural color? My enquiring mind wants to know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rightwinger26 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I would have to assume its for the same anti fowling reasons surface ships have red bottoms. The some kind of stuff (not sure what, not a chemist and never really bothered to look into it) that prevents algae and barnicals from growing. That would my best WAG. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
2qwik4u Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Looking good Kris. I built the Ohio back in college for a guy, and you're right, huge PITA. Your seam looks a heck of a lot better than mine did. When I did mine, I custom mixed MM Insignia Red and MM rust until it looked right to me. Not very scientific, I know. I just used Semi gloss for the black. Not sure why they call out metallic black. I'm pretty sure most if not all modern subs are covered in a rubber-like material. FYI, the Dragon 1/350 Typhoon is just as bad, if not worse, than the Ohio. They actually give you screws to pull the upper and lower hulls together and you still get a nasty seam to fill. -Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 The hobbyboss typhoon is really nice and barely needed any cleanup at all. Ill probably paint them both flat black and then use future to et the desired look Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 (edited) So I glued the missile "covers" in. Not sure if they're covers or if they're supposed to be the actual missile tips but the instructions called for them as a different color than the missiles so Idk. Instructions called for red. Couldn't find anything online so I went with red. Will add a little color to the model if nothing else. Once those were in I could glue on the upper hull. Which leaves me with this horrible step at the front. So I tried sanding it but that wasn't going to work. Decided to mask off some of the detail and putty in the seam. Will sand it smooth with the masking tape on then Will remove and do a quick finish sanding. I'll lose the non slip surface area but oh well. After that it's just a matter of attaching the con and getting it ready for paint. Edited January 7, 2013 by Bigasshammm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Paint applied! Well black at least. As usual my too vigorous sanding has rendered the sides of the Ohio somewhat flat. Oh well. With the Typhoon I tried to mask and leave the white line that goes around the top of the hull. Not sure it's purpose or what it's called. Being that this is 1/700 kit I figured this would be near impossible. I masked the top of the line then sprayed the black above it. Removed the tape and then tried to mask the bottom of the line and paint the lower section black. This ended up with a much too large white line. I'll probably take a fine brush and some black paint and try to freehand it to something a little smaller. Not sure how that will turn out. The white line may get eliminated all together. I'll probably just mix my own custom red paints. Insignia red mixed with some brown or something. I don't really feel like buying an all new paint if I'll only ever use it once. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parche Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 So I glued the missile "covers" in. Not sure if they're covers or if they're supposed to be the actual missile tips but the instructions called for them as a different color than the missiles so Idk. The things you see when the hatches are open are actually diapraghms over the missile itself. The missile is ejected through it during the launch sequence. I believe it is actually wood based on discussions with a co-worker. He also talked about them being various colors... with one boat that he saw having a billiard ball paint job for a very short period of time. Cheers, Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 The things you see when the hatches are open are actually diapraghms over the missile itself. The missile is ejected through it during the launch sequence. I believe it is actually wood based on discussions with a co-worker. He also talked about them being various colors... with one boat that he saw having a billiard ball paint job for a very short period of time. Cheers, Dave I figured they were some kind of cover. That would have been cool to do the billiard thing but man that would have taken some time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 (edited) So being the modeler that I am I decided to do my best with what I had available. So that said I painted the red with Tamiya TS-85 Mica Red straight from the can. Your brain may not be able to handle information of that magnitude but back up because... It turned out pretty darn close to what it was supposed to look like. I gave it many light passes which allows the black underneath to come through as almost a pre-shading and I'm quite happy with it. I'm even happy with the straightness of the lines down the hull since I eyeballed everything. Turns out the line across the bow is angled a little bit but oh well I'm fine to live with it. Still need to Future the black then I can put some decals on and go about weathering it a little. edit: Ok so the bow looks really bad in the picture. But the amount of work to fix it I think would ruin the look of everything else. Edited January 9, 2013 by Bigasshammm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
2qwik4u Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Looks pretty good from the side, which is how it will sit in your display case anyway, right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Looks pretty good from the side, which is how it will sit in your display case anyway, right? Display case? Who has one of those? Well anyway I wasn't happy so I remasked the nose and part of the starboard side. Reapplied paint and all would have been fine but I used frog tape instead of the tamiya tape and it didn't hold so now my line is crap. Will have to sand it and touch up with black. At least black is a forgiving color. And yes wherever it gets put when done the port side will be facing be viewer. Lol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 16, 2013 Author Share Posted January 16, 2013 Still trudging along. Work's been slow since I'm currently turning the basement into a new model/man cave/place to get away from my kids area! Got most of the decals on the Ohio. I've got to start working on the torpedoes and missiles and also begin work on the silo doors. Typhoon is on hold till I get some paint for the lower hull. Or decide to mix something but I've been concentrating on the Ohio. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 24 silo doors, 3 parts each, 72 total parts. Remind me never to do this again. Still have to finish painting them and then install. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
2qwik4u Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 See I cheated when I did mine and glued them all closed, that way I didn't have to do all the number decals! Looking good! -Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 The decals were a synch. The decals for the periscope masts and whatnots not so good. In hindsight I should have painted them but oh well it looks ok from a distance. Painting touchups on all the doors. Hope to get them installed soon. I don't think I'll have to glue them which will allow adjustments to make sure they all line up. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Doors installed. Still need to Future them to match the hull. Pleased with the look and none of them needed glued which is an added bonus. Still need to finish the masts and put the last decal on the tallest one. Not sure what I'll do as far as weathering goes if anything at all. I kind of like it somewhat shiny and clean. Also need to figure out what I'm going to do with the missiles. Almost done though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Well the Ohio is basically finished. Not sure what I'm going to do about a stand. The included kit stand is really crude. I like these wooden ones I've seen when Googling images of this model from other sites. May research into how to build one of those but that's a ways off so the generic stand will do for now. Had no idea on the Trident missiles so I just added a couple stripes and said the heck with it. There's also torpedoes but I'm going to wait and add those to whatever base I decide to build. Also I can't seem to take a decent pic of this so until I figure that out these couple will have to do. Not weathering it at all. I like it the way it looks. Still need to get paint for the Typhoon so it's on the backburner for now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Blackwell Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 (edited) Nice job on making it look good- I was on the commissioning crew of the USS Florida back in '83. Just a few notes for realism, though- the red paint had a copper component that made the sea growth less likely to stay attached, but it did grow over time. The drag of the growth would cause excessive stress on the propeller shaft, so we would go into drydock periodically to get it removed by pressure washing. They also cleaned the hull waterborne, but the growth didn't come off as well. Here is the tidbit for the submarine modelers out there- we painted the ship using buckets of paint and rollers, so the paint never looked that good once the ship was in service. The shipyard would usually give the boat a good coat, but after that it was strictly rollers for the black paint above the waterline. The anti-skid paint on the horizontal surfaces was basically sand in the black paint, so you needn't spend a lot of time making it look nice. And the boats in service NEVER had the hatch markings or hull numbers painted on them. The hatch markings were there for the DSRVs in case we needed rescue, so they were put on during sea trials. The hull numbers (after commissioning) were magnetic numbers we would put up on the sail during port visits only. There were welded "benchmarks" for positioning the hull numbers, and the older boats had the ship's name welded into the side toward the rear of the hull so it could be painted on if desired. Anyway- nice model, and I need to get busy on mine. Edited January 27, 2013 by David Blackwell Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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