John's Whatever Bench Returns ...

[Lone Modeller]

Super Clyde puffer - a worthy tribute to Splash.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, the hobby bench is cleaned up, the hobby room needs more effort.

However, I have looked back at the SMW threads and with my 10-week break and only 10 weeks to go until my mailing deadline, I better get cracking.

First thing is that I have prioritized the 3 1/700 ships as I think they are sparse on the display; the Helldivers will come after that. Anything else will wait on them.

Here are the 3 ships as I left them a couple months ago.



KMS Kipling, in the forefront, is done except for some representative aerials & rigging. I'll do that when I get to the same spot on San Diego.

USS San Diego, in the middle, is mostly done. Needs masts, radars, 20 & 40mm AA, a couple other details - much of which will be PE, and representative aerials, etc. I have a punch list, I have everything out, and I have most of the pre-painting done. My first thing is a test fold of each PE gun - 20mm, 40mm-twin, 40mm-quad - and a test fit into the kit mounts, which I did not thin down or replace. The 20mm will fit but if there is a fit problem on either 40mm, I'll probably just use kit plastic.

HMS Duke of York, in the back, is lagging behind. That's a lot of painting and a lot of touch-up, back & forth. It'll be OOB so I can pick away at the painting while working SD & K. Very little A/M (PE) for DoY.

[Clashcityrocker]

I haven't built many ship models, but they never fail to impress.

Nigel

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, been a couple weeks, but it's the usual problems. White cells, red cells arguing w/each other. Settled, sorta, by another transfusion. May be heading back to Duke for a second 2nd opinion. So not much has happened. My son & his wife (with soon to be grandchild !!) are due in for a short week the end of next week, that's the good news.

San Diego is done, save for a flat coat. I gave up on the 40mm but did add simple 20mm. You can see a few simple radars, but most the PE has been left off. I went down in the spray room, cleaned up the booth, changed filters, ran it for a few hours to get the animals out, etc - been a couple years. Last thing on the model were the hull #'s and they seem to be drying nicely, so tomorrow I will try the flat coat - after my morning lab & shot.

That means Kipling & San Diego will be at same stage, "done" save aerials, rigging, & railings and I am pretty sure I am not doing any of that. I've had too many problems with my work already.





I am still not sure DoY will proceed further, I am down to 5 "work" weeks at best.

[wokka]

The nice thing about this hobby is that we only need to please ourselves. The San Diego looks good as it is.

[iggie]

Kipling & San Diego are both looking very neat and tidy, and I'm sure will be much admired on the SMW table in due course. The rest? Well there's always next year if needed, look after yourself first and foremost!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Yesterday, I flat-coated the San Diego -- MM Acryl, my favorite -- all went well and it looks nice, I am much happier. The flat coat did even out the colors, etc.





So, here are San Diego and Kipling at the "finished stage" -- as mentioned before I am holding off, or skipping, railings, aerials, rigging. I have not decided on a base, I do have some Coastal Scenery water, or they might just come as is - depends on what we want for the display. I understand we'll have "range color" bases to set them on.



So, following this, I tidied up, put DoY away, put SD & Kipling out of harms way and got out some aeroplanes.



The two P-12's need rigging (PE) & a couple minor things. The SBC's are further behind but I have a nice punch list to work from.

[Lone Modeller]

Super looking ships John. And now some real aeroplanes have come out too - things cannot be that bad!

[gnomemeansgnome]

The nice thing about this hobby is that we only need to please ourselves. The San Diego looks good as it is.

Agreed 150%. The San Diego looks very smart!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Back again ... again ... again ...

First health seems to be stable, if not improving. I had another bone marrow biopsy and we should get final analysis in a couple weeks, but so far, so good - what little I understand of it. I had a transfusion, after 22 days this past week, which is shorter than desired but we wanted to get me tanked up before next week as Annette is going up to Norfolk for some cancer surgery on her lip and I need to be supporting - Lord knows how much she has done to support me. With luck, it'll all come out Monday AND the surgeon will be able to do any/all of the cosmetic stuff at the same time.

Anyway, I thought I'd reopen the Workbench, not for a full kit, but at least for the 1/35 HRH driver figure in the Gecko Austin 'Katy'.

I have done some research but have some questions.

Here is the color/assembly guide, plus front/back of the parts tree. Quality is my usual :(



Here is the wartime (IWM) photo of her with vehicle, which is the whole purpose.



So, in general the Gecko figure has mild flash on most parts and some seams, IMO not same quality as the vehicle kit itself.
Skirt (B4,B5): note clunky sprue attachment to surface to avoid seam; will take work.
Legs (B2,B3): good shoes & laces.
Tunic (B1): weak buttons, rank - I may need to flatten them a bit then figure out paint stipple or something to fake detail. It is the correct male (L over R) button. Two ribbons are shown but I cannot determine what they are and how I should try to paint them - seeking help, please.
Head/Cap (B7,B8): ATS badge weak, no comment on likeness but seems OK.
Right Arm (B6): Holding a glove. I cannot see one in the IWM photo. I noticed this because in my world, one didn't hold anything in the right hand to be able to render/return a salute. The gloves may go.
Left Arm (B9,B10): I think B10 is a coverall arm (from the wrinkly fabric) and appears to be leaning on a vehicle, perhaps the picture with the Tilly? B9 doesn't quite match the IWM photo pose as it is not behind her back but maybe fixable.

I want to try the new AK 3G paints but will have to play with them first. The color selection is more for camo smocks.

I found an ATS Uniform Buyers Guide on line which provides a bunch of info about an ATS Officer uniform.
Tie: should be khaki-green.
Stockings: would she (IWM photo) be wearing beige (OR) or perhaps officer skin-tone rayon? I think latter ?
2 ribbons on tunic: Unable to distinguish what they are. Can someone tell me their names, point at an image, etc, so I can make an appropriate splash of color.

Here are two other pix of her in ATS uniform that show some of the key detail.





I guess I could ask if anyone knows any 1/35 ATS decal sets that might help with buttons, badges, etc ???

Thanks in advance !

[skypirate]

This figure model will be quite a fitting tribute now, John.
The pressure will be on! But don't sweat it!
Hope you and Annette are both in good shape after all the recent attention.

Take care,

David

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, Monday was a long day, but the cancer was removed from Annette's lip. Stitches come out next week but until that time she's pretty much on a liquid diet. Fortunately a Tropical Smoothie here opened this year.

Been doing some research on the ambulance. I did find other photos of "the driver" which are closer to the pose provided in the kit, to include the gloves in the right hand. What I am focusing on is looking for interior photos of the ambulance box - seems to me there should be a few bins or drawers or bags with some amount of medical gear for patient care. There are a couple underseat boxes in the driver's compartment but I assume they would be mostly BII for the vehicle. There appear to be two boxes attached to the roof in the rear of the box, so maybe those are them. I really don't need to detail them, load them with bandages & such, but I am curious and that's a dangerous thing.

[SJPONeill]

Had the same interest in the 'box' but everything seems quite minimalist apart from a rear bin above each door that holds a 1st aid kit. I suspect that medical stock carried from probably quite limited with drugs etc being carried on the person of the medic/dr as they moved from patient to patient...

[JohnRatzenberger]

Agree, I was thinking more of bandages & such. I just get curious about these things. Would be great aftermarket, maybe I can get Tony & his 3D printer involved

[JohnRatzenberger]

Today Annette is teaching us about skirts.

Part B4 is the back (B4 goes behind) and B5 is the front. Wider part of the assembled skirt is the hem, narrower the waist.
There are no tabs, pins, holes so assembly of the skirt isn't fun.
The 2 legs, assembled, do not slide into the skirt, assembled, without splitting the carefully glued skirt join.

And, the legs have no knees, but by ATS regs the hem should be at the knee or just below so we agreed that I should sand off about 1mm of the top of the legs - see black line in photo.



Letting skirt glue dry well ... and trying to remove the side seams ... again ...