20,000 Leagues Over My Head

[JohnnyO]

No new picture tonight, just a minor screw up on my part.

I had dipped the salon windows in Future earlier in the week, and let them sit for 48 hours to cure. They came out great.

I had installed them earlier today and was getting ready to glue the main body together. As I did, I noticed that I had a fingerprint smudge on the window (I must have touched it while I was dryfitting some pieces). I wiped it off with a Q-Tip dipped in Windex, not realizing that Windex also removes Future. That really screwed it up, so I ended up taking the windows out, giving them a thorough cleaning, and I will redip them in Future in the morning once they are completely dry.

This will likely be the last update for a bit, as I have some travel coming up. I was hoping to have the main body assembled before then, but it looks like it will have to wait.

 

[Primen]

Looks like good progress so far. I'm a big fan of the Nautilus.

Hmm...I may have to invest in this kit someday.

 

[JohnnyO]

I've been on the road the last few weeks, so I wasn't able to progress on this, but I kept thinking about it, and I finally made it back tonight and was able to start making some headway again. I'm working on masking all the windows and getting the main body put together.

As you can see from the picture below, there is a lot of masking to be done on each window. Luckily, the kit comes with printed masks in the box, so that makes it a lot easier than if you had to cut all those by hand. If I had to cut each one by hand, I'd be working on that for weeks.

Below is a picture at 50% progress. You can see the sheet of masks provided, as well as one set of windows done, and one still to go.

 

[Klaus not Santa]

OMG that looks like very tedious work!
I look forward how this develops - seems to be a nice kit.

 

[Grendels]

Very nice that it comes with the mask!

 

[Primen]

That's handy having masks as part of the kit. Particularly when you have so much glazing.

Keep 'em coming!

 

[the Baron]

Cutting 'em out?! Heck, then trying to put them on the correct panes would be a whole other world of frustration! That's great that they're also keyed/numbered. That should make relatively quick work. That's some good kit engineering.

 

[JohnnyO]

Some slow progress, as I've been busy with a lot of family projects and home repair/improvement type projects lately, but the build goes on!

Main body assembly is largely complete, as shown in the pictures below. Assembly went fairly well, with no major glitches. It's nice to work on a model where it feels like the designer spent some time and effort in placing the injection pin marks so they would not interfere with the final model. Each piece just needs a bit of sanding and then usually attaches right on. After the major body assembly, I still need to attach all the photoetch detail that will be the next major step.



I've also begun playing around with possible colors for the squid. Here you can see three sample colors, all from Testors Enamel. I like the bottom color best as a base coat, but worry it will be too bright on the final model. I was thinking about using that as a base coat, then a wash of the middle color over it. I also considered trying to mix something in the middle. Not sure what will work best, so any suggestions here would be welcome.

 

[Jeeves]

There's a pretty sweet write-up on this kit in the June issue of Airfix magazine that goes into nice detail on every aspect of the kit....

You're doing a bang-up job on your end!

 

[JohnnyO]

There's a pretty sweet write-up on this kit in the June issue of Airfix magazine that goes into nice detail on every aspect of the kit....

Very cool, I'll have to see if I can find a copy of this somewhere, I don't if any local newsstands carry that mag.

 

[JohnnyO]

Man, how jealous I am of people who can work on their kits every day. But, nevertheless, I keep pluging away at this one whenever I can.

Final construction is complete. All PE details added and the thing is ready for the paint. The Photoetch wasn't as bad as I originally feared. It went on well, without any major issues, just a lot of patience and focus. I hope to start the paint process this weekend, depending on free time.

Hope you all like it.

 

[Quaralane]

Looking really sharp there

 

[jake]

That looks clean! Cant wait for some oily wet paint!

 

[Grendels]

Well done!

 

[builder101]

Primer looks good but can't wait to see some paint on this! I understand the limited time if only we had three or four days a week just to build models...

 

[JohnnyO]

Another update my fellow seafarers.

I was able to get a base coat down on the sand base, as well as some color on the squid itself. I like the color, but I wonder if its too bright. I'm definitely going to tone it down with some other, darker washes on top, but I'm not sure if its too cartoony in this color. On the other hand, its a sci-fi model, maybe cartoony is OK. What do you guys think?

Also, the burnt iron color on the placard is the planned color for the ship. I like the sheen, but I want to put down some preshading on all the rivets before I spray the iron color over it.

 

[Quaralane]

A wash on the squid should help it nicely. Same goes for the base.

 

[Ozzman78]

Looking good! Dr.Faust (The Painting Clinic) on youtube just did the same model and used an iron oxide self rusting paint on his. You might want to check that out, very cool effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lJ17qCyNo&list=UUbJCFAtGMXQZm6WfSMMLzvw

 

[JohnnyO]

Thanks for the link Ozzman.

I like what he did, but it looks a little too rusty for me. I'd like it to be a little neater. I'm going to try and preshade the panel lines (like in this video) then I'm going to add Model Master Burnt Iron overtop everything. Hopefully that will end up looking good. I hope to get to it in the next couple of days.

 

[JohnnyO]

20,000 Leagues Over My Head - COMPLETE

She's finally done!

Had some free time this week, so I was able to complete the base, squid and the main ship. You can see the pictures below. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but there is still some more I might do. I may add some rust stains to a few of the exhaust/ballast ports to break up the main body a bit. I might also redo the base, I'm not a huge fan of how that turned out.