Mirage Hobby 1/350 HMS Spiraea - Flower Class Corvette

[Dave Ward]

Painting the hull, before attaching to the base is the correct way to go the camo lines are straight & need masking to get right....................

You can just about see the difference between the two lighter colours, on the bow, but there's not a lot of difference between Admitalty MS 4 & MS 4a! I'm going to give this a gloss varnish coat & add the hull decals, it's just easier to handle. I'm going to add as many deck fittings, like bollards, as possible & paint the deck dark grey, before adding any deckhouses, funnel, armament etc. The camo continues upwards onto the superstructure, following the straight lines from the hull - looks like fun.............
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Bit of a setback.......................went to put the decals on the hull.................. I put one in my decal tray ( water only ) & turned to pick up the decal solutions................ when I turned back the decal had gone! A few stray black bits floating on the surface! I couldn't believe it - I put the second decal in & watched it carefully - in about 30 seconds, it disintegrated! These were the two main pennant numbers either side of the bow. I put a spot of varnish on the stern number & when that had dried I tried to apply it - it hung together long enough to get it on the stern.
An exhaustive search of my spare decals has produced 2 x '08' about the right size, but the 'K' is a bit more elusive. I'll have to look in the stash, to see if I can steal something suitable............................I may be some time..........
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

And so it begins - the sea. I scratched the base surface with a scriber to give a bit of key, for the clay to hang onto. I wet the surface lightly & started to press the DAS in, trying to avoid leaving holes. This is only a first application, to get the bulk of clay laid down.

I used a wet paintbrush handle to get the clay into difficult to reach places. Obviously the edges will need a lot more attention, and the wave needs smoothing out, but I'll be able to do that with a 'slurry' coat.
Now all I have to do, is put this into a cool place, and let dry slowly, to minimise cracking ( a day or two ).
It's just hit 20C here, and it was noticeable that the clay was beginning to dry as I was working it.............
Dave

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Dave.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Dave Ward]

2nd pass at the sea - the obvious ridges & dimples filled in & smoothed over with a wet coarse brush

After another day or so drying, I'll use a knife/rasp to remove any bad lumps, then seal the whole base with a coat of diluted PVA, otherwise any acrylic paint just sinks in & won't cover! I reckon most of the 'sea' surface effects will be done with paint - a deep grey/green base suitable for an Atlantic scene.
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

After sealing the surface, laid down a coat of Vallejo Olive Grey.........

I haven't carried the colour right to the hull, I'll give that special attention later - I'll some greys & greens to the basecoat - not to any particular pattern, but to my fancy!
Dave

 

[boatman]

HI Dave whats happening on this build ?
chris

 

[Dave Ward]

Chris,
stalled on this at the moment, but I will return to it. If I lose the interest in making a model, I find it better to put it aside for a while, rather than make a hurried botch of it! - which is why I have a load of shelf queens!
Dave

 

[boatman]

OK Dave im lookin forward to when you do return to it as this looks to be a nice dio ps dint know if you had the same trouble has i have got lol
chris

 

[Dave Ward]

OK Dave im lookin forward to when you do return to it as this looks to be a nice dio ps dint know if you had the same trouble has i have got lol
chris

Luckily I have a big varied stash, so I can usually find something to catch my eye, and I don't have any qualms about leaving a model unfinished - I've stopped feeling any pressure if any blog is uncompleted!
Dave