German U-boat Type VIIB Conning Tower Gun Deck

[ogrejohn]

Fine looking work Steve! 

[Steve Ski]

Jeff, Joe, John, thanks Amigos. More to follow..........................soon, HA!

[Dukemaddog]

Wow, that is getting more realistic looking each time you do this. Your work was well worth the wait!

[Steve Ski]

Thanks Duke! I'll try to be more consistent. Like my ol job Sup use to say, "Don't be a try baby, just do it!"

[Dukemaddog]

I like that comment. Cool!

[JED]

The shadows and highlighting are working really well Ski

[Steve Ski]

Thx Mr. Jed!

[Steve Ski]

A Whale of an Update!

In an attempt to get this dio finished before the summer work hits I kept working without updates, only taking photos when I remembered to do so. I backed off the Watch officer figure due to immediate burn out and began to work the gun deck. Now that was a fun change of pace.

First I had to decide how I wanted to mount the gun, up down, or just plain locked down flat. I decided on
extending the elevation shaft to give the figures a bit more room on the deck.



I needed to add details that had be lost during the resin process such as bolt heads, etc. Now it was time to paint both the gun and mount, constantly looking for any missed imperfections from the resin process.




Now it was time for the cables to be made and fitted to the deck. I had to scratch build turn buckles and solder the wire so it wouldn't become an issue later down the road. I don't remember the exact gage of wire, but it's close to 12 gage, braided. The thinner wire for stabilizing the main cable is close to an 8 gage, but I don't recall. At any rate, I've got plenty of wire in the scrap bin for just such an occasion.





The turn buckle was made from scrap balsa wood and sheet pewter covering, simple enough. Once the cable were cut to fit the entire set up was installed and adjusted as needed.

Next up, clean up those ribs from under that deck. I believe they were added for stability in the 3D process, but they aren't in any photos I've ever seen of any Type VIIB sub anywhere. So, I just did a simple, HA!, simple scrape with the flat Xacto knife and sanded, filled, sanded again, and painted. Ah, looks much better, eh? You may notice during this process I had to remove the railing to get into those tight spaces and to avoid destroying all that prior work, lol. That was a real hoot, leme tell yaz.





Since this mini-dio/vignette will have a cut off point in the rear I had to fill the void. I used blue construction foam for the edge of the void and placed a piece of sheet styrene on top trying to make it as flush as possible. The I primed it and painted it black. The cables and deck were painted and ready for theweathering process.



Time to get that deck and gun weathered for battle, right? I used the standard chipping method, sponge and brush, then went back over these areas and added a dark rust tone. Then, with a damp brush I drew that tone in a downward motion to create the streaks. After the entire deck was done I went back to key areas and added a lighter tone of rust and continued the process. The deck itself was said to be wood coated in a water proof type dark colored paint, so I did what other sub modelers have done and attempted to show ware on the deck due to foot traffic, etc.




When I was satified with the general overall weathering process I mounted the gun and mount in place using pins, as always.




Lastly the flag and rope were added and touched up where needed. It was a bit of a pain to get the rope installed with my sausage fingers at hand, HA! I'm not sure I'll be rigging any sail ships any time soon.



Ok, now the really fun part, making waves. Since I've already done four trial runs I will only show the beginning stages so yall know where I am in the process. This ain't as easy as the videos make it out to be. Reason being, I have such a small area to work with and it's in such a large scale, so I can't get away with a half hearted effort or the whole shebang will look rather pathetic. I have already gone back to painting the Watch Officer to clear my head a bit. I credit these many mistakes to breaking my golden rule, never be in rush, and the Mrs. has made it clear I need to slow down, HA!






All the standard methods for making realistic waves can be found on the inet, so I won't go over them right now, but if I'm successful, I will, lol, later. It's been a challenge to get this just right, so I'll get back to this before it's all said and done. After all, this is all that is needed to complete this dio.

More to follow soon and thanks for watchin! Cheers, Ski.

[/p]

P.S.

[BUCKY]

Gorgeous looking work, Steve! The weathering is spot on!!

[JCON]

Looks amazing my brother!!!

[Steve Ski]

Thanks Gents, sorry for not posting earlier, time is running short.

Ha! Speaking of short...................63 days!

[BUCKY]

Hahaha......when do ya start counting days, hours, minutes??

[JCON]

He already is!!!

[Steve Ski]

No Brother, the clock in my locker does it for me, modern technology, HA!

P.S. As per usual, as per expected, the Uncle is trying to jack me right now, so it may be 35 days, we'll see. At any rate, it's been one heck of a hootin ditty Rugby Match from the get go, and that ain't so bad! Why??,...................... cause everyone knows football is for wimps!  Bahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa................................, lol.

[Dukemaddog]

Brilliant update and a thrill to read about. You are one amazing modeler! So, 63 and a wake up eh? Rock on man!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

WOW!

[MARCO]

Apr 18, 2019 9:49:16 GMT -6 dogfish7 (R.I.P.) said:

WOW!

x10

[JED]

Superb work Steve, fully enjoyed catching up

[ogrejohn]

That is some sweet work Steve! 

[Steve Ski]

Tanks greatly Guys, you are too kind. I've been fighting the waves for the past week, so this may take a bit.  I thought I had it set two days ago and boofed it up, Bahahahaaaaaaaa..............waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Ah, more practice I recon, lol. It's proving to be one heck of a learning curve for me.