Topic: HMS Zulu build

[radio joe]

just adding some more to the bridge module, very satisfying building the small control rooms putting them in place to see how she is progressing, the hull is about ready for spray priming, but I think I wait till all the deck modules have a bit more detailing on them and prime the whole lot. joe

[radio joe]

Progressing slowly, built a couple more items for midships module, and have decided to use brass etch railings instead of the white metal stanchions , I my opinion they look quite a bit over scale the knuckles at just over 1/16 th would amount to around 6 inches, the brass etch looks much finer, just me being fussy, I've also been spending a bit of time on a new part of the hobby for me, moulding my own fittings, I first made a 5ft square louvre engine room vent plug mould and then a silicon mould I now have no shortage of vents, wt doors, life rafts, lockers, either made from scratch or find a really "good" fitting and reproduce it, it's also enjoyable.

[ship's doctor]

Looking very good as ever Joe-

What sort of silicon and resin are you using to make your fittings? Would be interesting to try the technique!

James

[mikearace]

Nice Joe. I did get a kit last Christmas to try moulding my own fittings but haven't had a build to use it on yet as my last two builds have been straight out of the box kits.  Hopefully will get the chance to try it in the new year and seeing your pics gives me a level to try and get somewhere close to.     

[radio joe]

Hi James ,  it's CS2 condensation cure silicon and fast cast polyurethane resin I got it from, www.easycomposits.co.uk , you can buy a kit as photo or as I did separately to save a few quid, the silicon rubber was half the size of the one in the kit, with the moulds being so small it go's a long way. Hope this helps.  Joe.

[radio joe]

Made the stacks from vacuform and rough sanded them to remove bumps etc. and then smoothed them with 600 grit and added some detail, I particularly  enjoy this part of the build, the detail is not necessarily as built just my interpretation.

[Tanzy]

Looking good Joe

[mikearace]

Very nice Joe

[radio joe]

A bit more detail added,  With all the deck modules now in place I marked the water line as per plan, and put her in the wet dock to get an idea of how much ballast she would need, the answer to that is not very much, she sits just above and parallel the line with a very slight list to strbrd. so with quite a lot of fittings to do, it will only need a small amount of trimming, I have to say well done to Deans again the do get the water lines spot on.  Joe

[ship's doctor]

Looking very good Joe- thank you for the details of the moulding kit!

[radio joe]

Your welcome James, it's a very interesting addition to the hobby, I've just made a mould of a Gemini rib using a rib out of the Zulu kit, after a bit of filling a sanding to make it "good" as an experiment to see what I can do, I filled it with resin this afternoon so I'll let you know if it was a success or not. Joe.

[radio joe]

The moulding of the Gemini was successful and I'm quite pleased with it, so I thought I would experiment a bit further and try to reproduce the outboard motor for the Gemini from the white metal one, so tiny I didn't think it would work and the first attempt didn't fill correctly, but by splitting the mould and applying the resin with a cocktail stick and then closing the mould it comes out fairly good.

[swiftdoc]

Hi Joe,

the result looks really great to me. I follow your build with great interest. It is amazing as always. Maybe I will try to buy a similar resin set in Germany - the shop you bought it from does not ship overseas.

Kind regards - Arno

[radio joe]

Thanks Arno, I'm sure you should be able to get it in Germany, thinking about German technology they probably invented it, LOL.

[radio joe]

Did a bit more to the hanger module, the top of the hanger is one area not mentioned in the instruction sheets, so I just did what I thought looked right, not sure if the 81s had lowering net railings, I know some of the helicopter carrying ships did so this one has also.