Maly Modelarz 1:300 Vittorio Veneto

[eibwarrior]

Hello all,

Today is Memorial Day and I thought it an appropriate day of rememberance to start a new ship build. :grin: Not that I needed an excuse to start a ship-build.

The next model in my skills grooming process is the 1983 Maly Modelarz RN Vittorio Veneto. I've always loved the lines of this ship. So elegant, and so well armed too. Anyway, here's a few shots of the booklet and diagrams. I've begun cutting out the hull sub-structure in preparation for laminating to 3 mil card. I'll get some of those photos up soon.









Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

 

[Amazyah]

Beautiful subject you got there eibwarrior!

My question is, where did you get 3 mil card? Did you laminate it yourself?

Russell

 

[eibwarrior]

Russell

Thanks, yeah she's a beaut!

After a couple models, the best material I've found for superstructure laminating is the card sheet that is used in frame matting. You can pick it up at any art supply that does picture frame work. I've gotten it at both Michael's and Hobby Lobby. It's inexpensive and comes in various thickness and color. I find it real easy to score and cut too.

Give it a try sometime, I'm sure you'll like the results.

Thanks

 

[Amazyah]

I have both of these stores near me and they are right down the road from each other. I'll give it a shot.
Thanks

 

[eibwarrior]

Laminated

Hey guys,

Here's some shots of the hull superstructure. I've cut out and laminated all parts to the card stock board. This is the frame matting material I referred to. The parts are actually laminated to the back of the material, it's a bit rougher texture than the front. The back surface makes a good bond with the glue and the parts.

Time to cut 'em out all over again...

 

[barry]

Looking forward to this one

regards

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks Barry, me too... I've had this model for about a year and I've been eager to get to it...

Starting to take shape now. Cut out both the upper and lower hull sections as well as the septum between them. No pictures yet, but I'm gluing the upper section of the hull superstructure to the septum tonight. Letting it set under heavy books. I'll do the lower half tomorrow night. Should have some pictures of a fairly complete egg-crate by Friday. There will be some small pieces and parts to add, but fairly close.





Thanks for checking in...

 

[eibwarrior]

Basic egg crate is now assembled. I have a few more minor parts to add along both port and starboard sides, but this is the basic hull structure.

I'm getting ready to head out on vacation, so no updates for a little while. I need a break anyway... :grin:

 

[eibwarrior]

Back up and running again after the vacation break. Just attached the deck pieces. I'm pleased with their fit and look, but each section has a different shade (color) than the other. Could have something to do with the age of the model or printing. It shows up under the work light terribly, but in normal room-lighting it doesn't look too bad...

None-the-less I'm pleased with how things are going thus-far. Now the fun stuff starts. Hull attachment to commence tomorrow, and I hope the fit is good...:roll:

 

[barry]

Hi Elb

Coming along well mate I have always had an amiration for the design of this ship. The other interest is my Dad spent an interesting day in a rather unequal contest with this beast his only comment God it looked big from the deck of a destroyer on a dummy torpedo run (Hunt class). I will have to build it one day hmmm...along with all the other one dayers.

beast regards

barry

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks Barry. Yeah, I'd like to be coming along faster but I'm still building dozens of 1/700 aircraft for my CV-13 at the moment... Almost finished though, and then I'll pour all my time into Vittorio Veneto.

So your Father had a sortie against the Vittorio Veneto. Did he serve in the Med during WWII? That's very interesting. If so, I wouldn't have envied his position either...

 

[eibwarrior]

Some hull plating done...

Well, I've been sidetracked with other projects for a while so Vittorio Veneto has slowed to a crawl. I've got the bottom hull pieces attached. A couple pieces were either defecient in fit-up or it was user error. :roll:

I'm going to rework the seams and clean it up some with supplemental pieces, then paint hull red instead of this circus clown red that the card was printed in...

Things should speed up from here.

 

[eibwarrior]

Ready to Paint!

Finished attaching the supplemental pieces and cleaning up the seams... I'm very pleased with how clean it is right now. I've got good smooth lines to work with, so now it's time to get out the paint.

I only hope the upper hull plating above the water line goes as smoothly. Although I think it will be more difficult than most due to the recessed hull lines along both sides just above the water line. This recess looks a bit tricky.

 

[eibwarrior]

First coats finished

Completed painting two coats of acrylic yesterday... Good slick finish, but still a faint show-through of the lighter red beneath.

I'm going to attach upper hull plates next and then mask and go back to coat one and maybe two more coats of acrylic. The upper hull plates contain a small portion of the hull below the waterline, so I thought this would be the best procedure to deal with that. I should get a good shade match of the hull red on both parts...

 

[eibwarrior]

Got some upper hull plating done above the water line. Turned out fairly well. I had to reinforce the deck with some balsa wood pieces. The deck is just too thin and it became a little wavy...

The stern was a disaster. The MM models just don't fit right or I'm doing something wrong. The stern plating was a scratch-build jigsaw puzzle. Came out ok though. Now for the hull plating in both recesses. This is where the fun begins. :roll: I can tell that there's more scratch building ahead.

More pictures when I wrap up the hull plating.

 

[eibwarrior]

Hull plating finished!

Now we're out of the starter's blocks... Hull plating is finished. The recess was not as bad as I thought. I had to do a little scratch crafting, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Now on to the props, shafts, and rudders. Just getting started here. Once finished, the underside will get a couple more good coats of acrylic to tie it all together...

Then the real fun starts. Superstructure building. First up, funnels... That's when we'll really start to see some progress.

Thanks for looking in.

 

[barry]

Ship hull

looks good as ever I can't see anything wrong with the stern, so it must have been good scratch building. Are you going to use the roll of masking tape for the paint jobs.

best regards

barry

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks Barry...

Yeah the stern came out ok, only I used different card than the model, so the gray is a shade off. I'm not sure how I'm going to remedy that later on, but I'll have to think of something.

As for the paiting, yes blue painters' tape is my best friend. It works well and releases well too. I'm going to 2-coat below the water line, and then brush in the black water line at the end. This should make it look very uniform.

Right now I'm piddling with the rudder and prop assemblies. Shouldn't be but a couple more days before I can move into the garage and break out the airbrush.

Take it easy Barry.

 

[Jim Krauzlis]

I agree with Barry, it looks great to me too, eibwarrior!

That's a fairly large model, you have going on here.:grin:

She's coming out great, you did a great job of the underside area.

I am looking forward to more on this build.

Cheers!
Jim

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks Jim. Words of encouragement from you mean a lot.

Should have some more pictures up in a couple days. Stay tuned...