My BB-62 USS New Jersey 1/350 scale by Tamayia Build-log
 

So when I take breaks from my cold war era submarine simulator me and my team are developing (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show....php?p=2284391) /plug I work on scale models. I used to big into planes but now Naval models are my thing.

I had not built a model in over a year working on my games and programming and building up my online income to work from home, but recently a hobby shop went out of business so I went to go see what he had. Got some great documentation and reference books for the project but he had two Tamiya models way up on the tallest shelf (Tamiya is a company from Japan that builds the most amazingly accurate and detailed models). He had the New Jersey for 99 bucks and the Enterprise for 299. 50% off.

So since the doctor said I need to get away from screens and get back into a pass time if I'm going to keep sane working from home I prompty bought the New Jersey (and im gonna offer him 99 for the Enterprise if its still there on closing day).

Heres my progress so far. I take my time since rushing a model of this quality is a waste of time and money. 20$ revell models I might rush just to have fun. This is an art for me. I do airbrushing, custom brushing, custom styrene addons, kitbashing, use things like jewlers chain for anchor chains, copper filiment for wiring, 1/64 copper pipe with a homemade bender for piping etc.

Heres my progress so far, will update as I get along. This first post is in reverse chronological order sorry.




http://i.imgur.com/qAukgWr.jpg
All the tiny parts needed for finishing step one. Had to use the macro funciton on my camera the turrents are about 3"x2" for comparison. You can just barley make out the amazing detail Tamiya puts into their castings if you look carefully. The ladders and even more carefully, the lines of rivets. Rivets are one of those things that you cant really add yourself to a scale model. It has to be cast in and thats a delicate process when they are only a few thousands of an inch wide and tall.



http://i.imgur.com/q49aFuR.jpg
Nice straight lines for the red part of the hull. I put a little red flake and metalizer (basically a really, really fine mettalic additive to make things look like metal.



http://i.imgur.com/KyTgrfb.jpg
Checking out my masking job from the aft end after glueing the rudders and prop shaft supports into place.



http://i.imgur.com/FuAfWtG.jpg
Peeling off the masking looks pretty straight so far.



http://i.imgur.com/woF11OY.jpg
Getting there. If my camera was better you would see the flake/metalizer



http://i.imgur.com/ByMtkur.jpg

Had to hand fabricate some supports because sitting on the shelf for 2 years; it had developed warping so that the deck wouldnt fit in the groove without glue and pressure. It was sitting perfectly when I sized it but after I glued it (I use solvent cement instead of model glue all the time unless theres some sort of gap that needs the glue for support, aka I weld plastic instead of glue) so when I glued it I didnt compensate for the couple thousands of an inch it would melt so it fits, but its quite tight. Originally the deck wouldnt fit at all though youd get one peice on and then it would snap flying up in the air. I'm considering adding one more beam in the middle upper you can see its still warping there. The beams are 1/8" square stock styrene. You'll see me use it alot in the finishing and modifying stage.



http://i.imgur.com/EMA7exh.jpg
The drill bit I used to drill a hole through the beams so that the cement would flow inside them beams for extra support through capillery action.



http://i.imgur.com/RYvfceS.jpg
First coat of paint, airbrushed. I use an aztek dual action and use gravity feed most of the time. I like aztek because instead of having a huge needle assembly you have to change out you just hand thread in/out nozzles with little needle mechanisms built into them. This way you never have to clean the inside of your airbrush at all, plus you can switch from 1/32" nozzle to 1" in a couple seconds, the downsize nozzles are 15 bucks so if you bend the needle or lose a spring you gotta get a new nozzle in that size. Cleaning the nozzles is easy too just throw them in a glass jar (I use 4oz Tamiya paint jars) filled with laquer thinner and give em a shake and then repeat in another jar filled with mineral spirits. If paint gets dried inside them you take them aprt and clean them with a q-tip which fits into teh nozzle housing perfectly.



http://i.imgur.com/RY3mWt5.jpg
Deciding if I should sand and put another coat down before removing the mask, but unfortunatly I mixed this color by hand so it would be layered.



http://i.imgur.com/WyjWLTj.jpg
The 0.020 inch holes I drilled into the hull to allow glue to flow into the backsize of the prop shaft supports, and if they want to break off in the future, then I can pin them in place with 1/64 or 1/32 stock styrene rod.



http://i.imgur.com/TMCiyZW.jpg
Masked, ready for the firsst coat. The warping isnt so obvious here. You get a sense of the size of this beast though.




http://i.imgur.com/badwNhE.jpg
When I first bought them, goodies. The 1/750 scale I-58 jap fleet sub model ended up being about 1/2 inch tall and 6 inches long.

Looks like a great start! :yep:

I don't know how large the rivets are or how visible they would be in such a small scale, but one of the tricks I picked up many years ago is the pounce wheel. They're made for marking sewing patterns into cloth, but they do make very credible rivets. You can find them at any fabric store or online. :sunny:

I loved Tamiya tanks with electric motors. I had an awesome 1/750th waterline model of Scharnhorst once also.

A 1/350th scale battleship would be amazeballs! :D It's a real word. lol

P.S. Nice Pjs :D

Haha its saturday at 4 am what do you expect!

I mean rivits that are convex though, that are bumps on the surface instead of indents into the surface.

I know, but in that scale?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

You need to add this to your book collection. I'll even autograph my picture in it for you. :D

Yeah its impossible to do cleanly. Lots of good uses for those rollers though. When I need real small holes too I'lll take a 5 thou drill bit and outside dial calipers... but I rarley get that exact and it never works out perfect anyway.

Test fit the props. 12 hours and my gold leaf still hasnt cured. Gonna pin the shaft so they spin.

Theres 2 more props, they have holes for shafts so I'm going to build shafts out of 1/8 rod. WHy not?

http://i.imgur.com/R9sSFtz.jpg

Sure just mail me a copy for more "Research and development"

Those look like more fun than LCMs. :D

Have build the same model-Tamiya No RC

The result wasn't good, had some problems

I remember I had to stall the build-Couldn't get the hand on the colour for my hull and deck-After lots of searching I found a model shop in England from where I could order the Tamiya colour.



Markus

Your last sentance is broken english and doesnt make sense sorry, you want to see pics of my aircraft models?

There are charts online that list compatible colors ie XF-56 Tamiya enamel flat metallic grey = 10483 Testors Steel or something.

I usually mix my own colors.

Sorry about the lack or order here again,

http://i.imgur.com/Tj1ka9z.png
My hand mixed Tamiya metallic flat grey by using 1 part gloss grey 1/2 part steel and 1/8 part thinner to make it flat



http://i.imgur.com/jP6fHTD.png
Test fit the side props, they spin nicely with a friction fit, dont need pins.



http://i.imgur.com/l8PKLJl.png
Drilling holes for the inboard props so that I can add shafts and allow them to spin




http://i.imgur.com/WGafV1s.png
Tried for a friction fit but didnt have the right size rod or drill bit and didnt want to use old sprue.


http://i.imgur.com/ytsF61C.png
Glued in.

http://i.imgur.com/HX5b9hi.png



Test fit




http://i.imgur.com/P7Rw7cC.png


Mix some putty for castings for the holes



http://i.imgur.com/B1tZVxl.png http://i.imgur.com/7422iIp.png
Get it in there with a dental pick a often forgotten essential tool for model building is a nice collection of basic dental tools and then cut off the excess with a razer for a clean edge.



http://i.imgur.com/iqTvwFd.png http://i.imgur.com/FPjryne.png
Push the shafts in and wait for it to cure


http://i.imgur.com/NQf9Cuw.png
Looks good


http://i.imgur.com/SXapkJq.png
Used the Testors color rubber instead of flat black since im all out of black for the welded part inside part. Looks alright a little on the brown side works for now.

Sweet! :sunny:

Last update for the weekend. More game work during the week.

http://i.imgur.com/sSGOZPD.png
Dry fit parts of the superstructure that are unmistakable (i still mark them on the underside just incase)



http://i.imgur.com/SBTLMKm.png
THe sharpness (quality) of a Tamiya casting (the ack ack gun)



http://i.imgur.com/uVvi85R.png
Versus the one I kitbased from an extra I had from my 1954 Missouri casting from Revell. The guns dont elevate on this model unfortunatly and I couldnt see an easy way to accomplist that (on the 1954 revell missouri they just fit in a slot and elevate with friction. I could've cut out the slots and made some sort of mechanism, but it would've took days for each of the 3 turrets. You can see the stretched sprue I added to the little doodads that stick off the turrets. I dont even know what they are supposed to do in real life but I love small details and practicing sprue stretching is always good cause its an art.

Doesnt that Testors matt steel look awesome? Straight paint no custom additives. Im gonna start mixing it in any metal parts, I used to mix in aluminium for that but it just gave it a flake look versus this sheen. I need to drill out the 5" guns too make it look better,

I might glue the deck together as one whole peice and leave it seperate, this model is designed so you can extend the outboard screws to spin and if you were really inclined... make the rudder turn with a servo. I have lots of tiny servos laying around from mini chinese helis I buy when they are 50% off so I might make it move.

Kitbashed the little dome peice on the #2 turret because I saw lots of them all over the model.