White_Wolf
Master at Arms
WOW but that looks good. I really like the staining of the deck. Fantastic work here Lawrence, looking forward to more
James
Thanks James, appreciate it
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Colossus-Building the Bismarck-Trumpeter 1/200th
- Thread starter White_Wolf
- Start date
Thanks James, appreciate it
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
I dig it! Much better than that balsa color we have by default. Really makes it rich looking.
Yep, couldn't agree more MP, it does look rich, so further "treatment" might be required
Laurence
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Wow, sensational work Lawrence! I echo everyone else in saying that the new stained deck looks so much more realistic and enhances this model tremendously. Looking forward to seeing more.
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Still looking great Laurance!
You have it right, the research is really important to do these large ship kits. It is also important as I have found that Trumpy doesn't do the best in their research.
You have it right, the research is really important to do these large ship kits. It is also important as I have found that Trumpy doesn't do the best in their research.
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
Still looking great Laurance!
You have it right, the research is really important to do these large ship kits. It is also important as I have found that Trumpy doesn't do the best in their research.
Thanks Paul,
Research took a long time on this one, and it's far from over. I have tried to find as much info as I could, and managed to find a site where those guys posted hi-res computer generated 3D images of the ship. Helps a lot, that's for sure.
Laurence
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Just a word of warning on the 3D stuff, as I found with the Arizona, it can help clarify some things and it can be way wrong as well. The Kagero book on the Arizona is just computer 3D stuff and while it helped on many things I found a lot of errors in it as well.
Still watching!
Still watching!
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
Just a word of warning on the 3D stuff, as I found with the Arizona, it can help clarify some things and it can be way wrong as well. The Kagero book on the Arizona is just computer 3D stuff and while it helped on many things I found a lot of errors in it as well.
Still watching!
I hear you Paul, I try to corroborate information from multiple sources, where possible. It is often the case that I either can't find any reference at all, and, in the absence of a real historical photo, it's down to imagination / knowledge on how to move forward.
For example, good luck trying to find photographs showing how the wave breakers (3 of them) were secured with rods during a bad storm. All I could find was something that a guy with a 3D printer managed to put together. I have doubts it would have been like that, looks like a very simplistic way of doing it.
The paravanes used to protect against mines, another mess .... more about this one another time.
Cheers,
Laurence
I hear you Paul, I try to corroborate information from multiple sources, where possible. It is often the case that I either can't find any reference at all, and, in the absence of a real historical photo, it's down to imagination / knowledge on how to move forward.
For example, good luck trying to find photographs showing how the wave breakers (3 of them) were secured with rods during a bad storm. All I could find was something that a guy with a 3D printer managed to put together. I have doubts it would have been like that, looks like a very simplistic way of doing it.
The paravanes used to protect against mines, another mess .... more about this one another time.
Cheers,
Laurence
Laurence,
As a new Master's member, maybe you could use some advice from somebody who's been in this game for a very long time! Doing your research is an absolute necessity and I would strongly recommend it to any modeler. However, in the life of any advanced modeler, there comes a point that is like a fork in the road. If you take one direction, you ease up a little and focus a bit more on the art side of modeling. Modeling involves two aspects. Art and technology. Both are necessary. Some modelers are superior technicians, IE: Builders. Others are better artists. Either can be excellent modelers. A few are capable of doing both.
The other path takes you toward A.M.S. (Advanced Modeler's Syndrome). I have watched some really great talent in my life take that path and it leads to oblivion. A modeler's disease that keeps them from ever building again and eventually to leave the hobby itself. When your standards become so absolute and so rigid, you refuse to build any further due to lack of reference on really minor details. Details that you will probably never know for certain because they are lost to time and history, and your reasoning is that critics may discover a scale meter long rod that isn't shaped properly on a goliath project such as The Bismarck you are building, you know that what you love to do has just been made less enjoyable. This malaise is sad for me to watch. It can destroy the very reason you started building models in the first place.
In the end, 99% of those watching you build or looking at the finished model, will never know and never care. And the 1% who do are usually those who either suffer from AMS themselves, (Misery loves company), or those people who like to be critics only, and never really build much themselves, if anything!
Just do your homework, your research, as well as you possibly can. Once you have reached a point such as you have with the wave breakers, either skip it entirely or opt to use gizmology! Shep Paine, a man without which, most of us wouldn't be doing this anyway, said, "When your research hits a stone wall, use gizmology"! And he did. When I had most of his dioramas and shadowboxes in the Miniature World Museum in St. Charles, it was left to me to perform maintenance. Shep was legendary within our community and when I'd notice his "Gizmology", It would always bring a grin to my face. Here was the man who inspired us all and we all aspired to be like him, yet, he had arrived at a point where his research hit a stone wall, so he just, "Punted".
I leave you with this: Punt is an American Football term that has other uses described in the Urban dictionary as follows. "That stuck up hooker over there only sleeps with guys who have at least 10 grand in their pocket and a diamond bed to sleep on" "Hell mate, have a punt, if it don't work out, nothing lost."
Hang in there my Friend!
Bob
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Great words of wisdom Bob! I should follow them more. I know for me it is the paint and finish that is slowing me down. The build stuff is the easy part. I am making some progress on the paint etc., it is just taking a bit.
With me, it's the opposite. Painting and weathering are a breeze. The building and especially PE are a real pain in the you know where!
We all just have to keep on keeping on! Laurence has real potential, and I just wanted to let him know, there are limits on research. I've never seen a perfect model in my life and I've seen a bunch of them!
Bob
phantom II
Master at Arms
Maybe a few Minions to help along might be helpful
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
Bob, thanks for the perspective on things. As a person with little experience in this world of modeling (I have only started doing it seriously in 2012), I do appreciate everything that comes from experience, all the skill on display here and all the comments that I read, on my threads and everyone else's.
In my case, it is sometimes frustration more than anything. I have never felt like abandoning a build because of lack of reference, lack of materials or spare parts or anything like that. There are a few models that I screwed up monumentally, but that was when all I knew about modeling was the work of four men - Bob, Francois, Lewis and Shep, in alphabetical order that is. I keep those models right next to the ones that I got awards for, to remind me of my mistakes and the lessons that I learned since.
As for the Bismarck build ..... it's a huge mountain to climb, it will take a while, but I will get there. And yes, PE is a pain in the posterior, but in the end, it's all worth it.
For me, personally, the part I enjoy the most is also painting and especially the weathering. That's when it all comes alive, everything else is profoundly important, but, in so many cases, much of it might not even be seen in the finished model.
Bit of a progress :
I am adding the vertical parts to the superstructure (most of them are vents),then the PE parts (lots of them) then I will prime them and paint them and weather them, while the superstructure is not glued to the deck.
The rods I mentioned before can be seen in these photos, and one of them has a tiny piece of styrene inserted, for me to see what it would look like.
Thank you all for your points of view and advice, please keep it coming, this is a great way to learn
Cheers,
Laurence
In my case, it is sometimes frustration more than anything. I have never felt like abandoning a build because of lack of reference, lack of materials or spare parts or anything like that. There are a few models that I screwed up monumentally, but that was when all I knew about modeling was the work of four men - Bob, Francois, Lewis and Shep, in alphabetical order that is. I keep those models right next to the ones that I got awards for, to remind me of my mistakes and the lessons that I learned since.
As for the Bismarck build ..... it's a huge mountain to climb, it will take a while, but I will get there. And yes, PE is a pain in the posterior, but in the end, it's all worth it.
For me, personally, the part I enjoy the most is also painting and especially the weathering. That's when it all comes alive, everything else is profoundly important, but, in so many cases, much of it might not even be seen in the finished model.
Bit of a progress :
I am adding the vertical parts to the superstructure (most of them are vents),then the PE parts (lots of them) then I will prime them and paint them and weather them, while the superstructure is not glued to the deck.
The rods I mentioned before can be seen in these photos, and one of them has a tiny piece of styrene inserted, for me to see what it would look like.
Thank you all for your points of view and advice, please keep it coming, this is a great way to learn
Cheers,
Laurence
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
Looking pretty awesome. Just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.
Or like eating a mountain of peanuts using chopsticks, only one at a time.
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
As we say here in Oz - YOU BLOODY BEAUTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's an awesome collection my friend, fantastic stuff - thank you so much !!! :drinks :drinks :drinks
This is now solved
Laurence
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
How about the paravanes?
What is missing from the kit are the supports holding these things in place and the straps that secured them. The original kit - just some plastic glued to the wall, the after market, all PE and a nightmare to put together.
More about these things a little bit later on.
Piet, my friend, that site is a gold mine. I'm loving it !!!
Laurence
What is missing from the kit are the supports holding these things in place and the straps that secured them. The original kit - just some plastic glued to the wall, the after market, all PE and a nightmare to put together.
More about these things a little bit later on.
Piet, my friend, that site is a gold mine. I'm loving it !!!
Laurence
Hey Laurence,
If I'm not mistaken, I think that is your largest project by far to date. I admire your tenacity and my motives were to encourage you. When I saw the job you did on the water on your Predator diorama, I was blown away! For a first time doing something, that was absolutely incredible! Anybody who thinks creating water is easy should try it. I was just making sure you don't burn out on this one due to the enormity!
I looked at the images Piet posted! Fantastic! I think they will give you what you need! He mentioned you can't paste pics, but maybe you could do some screen captures instead! Problem solved!!!! I'm no expert on the Bismarck, but it looks like everything you need is there!
Hang in there Buddy!
Bob
If I'm not mistaken, I think that is your largest project by far to date. I admire your tenacity and my motives were to encourage you. When I saw the job you did on the water on your Predator diorama, I was blown away! For a first time doing something, that was absolutely incredible! Anybody who thinks creating water is easy should try it. I was just making sure you don't burn out on this one due to the enormity!
I looked at the images Piet posted! Fantastic! I think they will give you what you need! He mentioned you can't paste pics, but maybe you could do some screen captures instead! Problem solved!!!! I'm no expert on the Bismarck, but it looks like everything you need is there!
Hang in there Buddy!
Bob
White_Wolf
Master at Arms
Yep, largest project ever by far.
I am preparing the Predator for the first expo of the year, strange mixture of IPMS rules and "who the heck understands the judges" rules ....and you know, looking at that water, I still find things that could have been done better and get more ideas in my head - enter the Colossus
True, that site is awesome, I could save images from there directly. I could very easily take screenshots too, so we are safe - will spend some time looking at those photos, that's for sure.
As for me burning out - not a chance. I don't know how to, pretty sure there are many others here who don't have that "skill" B)
Cheers,
Laurence