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Author Topic: Black Seas L'Orient build  (Read 12078 times)

Offline Blackwolf

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #30 on: December 26, 2019, 12:48:16 AM »
Excellent thread Ray,your work is brilliant!
Funny you should mention feet,that’s where I start  :)
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Offline Grumpy Gnome

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #31 on: December 26, 2019, 03:04:10 AM »
Gorgeous work mate! Thanks for sharing the step by step process.
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Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #32 on: December 26, 2019, 12:51:54 PM »
@Blackwolf: I also stick my brush in my mouth, but don't tell anybody!  lol

@Rick: Yep, it is a journey. Who knows how it will turn out!

Thanks to both of you for your wonderful comments!

Meanwhile, back to the workbench and I have finished the stern of the L'Orient. The white windows were a huge pain in my backside and left me with bloodshot eyes trying to get right.  o_o They didn't come out so great... but hey, you can read the name of the ship!  :D

Close-up Larboard side:



Close-up directly behind:



And a shot a bit further back, Starboard side:



So not the greatest, yeh.

Next, I need to get the ship's boats done and that should be pretty quick.

I think I will also give another shot at making the water base. This time using the aluminum foil method. Wish me luck!

Cheers

Offline Shahbahraz

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #33 on: December 26, 2019, 01:41:50 PM »
Hi Ray, that is looking magnificent.

For sea bases I use the windsor and newton acrylic gel. I underpaint the base a sea green/blue, then apply the gel in ripple patterns, go back when partly set, and tap to produce peaks, and then very lightly drybrush white on the gel.

This isn't a great example, but you get the impression:

Wargaming since the dark ages...

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Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #34 on: December 26, 2019, 03:22:13 PM »
Thanks, Shah!

Acrylic gel is also an alternative, though I don't have any ATM, so I can't experiment.

This is a total learning experience as I have never really done ships before.

BTW... painting the name of the ship was actually much easier than I expected. I took Nuln Oil and slopped it over the name (which was white from the primer). For those areas which didn't have sufficient definition to turn black, I then painted in the silhouette of the letters. After that it was just pretty straight forward in painting the name in apricot.

Offline Wirelizard

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #35 on: December 26, 2019, 06:21:52 PM »
Also about to start a 1:1200 naval project with zero experience in doing anything in that scale or genre, but thankfully for me I'm doing WW2 coastal small boat stuff so nothing like the complexity of painting you've got here!

Looks amazing so far. Interested to see your seascape experiments as I'll be needing to do the same soon enough.

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #36 on: December 26, 2019, 06:27:21 PM »
Hey thanks for dropping by WireLizard!

The aluminum foil method appears to being coming out well. I need a coating of white glue to dry and then I'll paint it... probably tonight.

Photos soon.

Offline DeRuyter

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #37 on: December 26, 2019, 07:19:27 PM »
Ray:  The hull looks great! Awesome paintwork. I have the HMS Victory model but I am working on frigates first.

Like some others for my 1/1200 scale ships I used a gel medium to make waves for the bases and then highlighted shade of blue and white. Liquitex gel medium mixed with navy blue acrylic.  However for my Black Seas ships I decided to go with clear pill (stadium) bases. Like the those that Carojon used in his recent post with the French 74s.

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #38 on: December 26, 2019, 09:15:54 PM »
Thanks for the motivational comments, DeRuyter!

I agree, for actual wargaming, the clear bases are the way to go. At least, that's would I would do.

The ships I'm doing are going to be for display only... so I need something sea'ish for the base. It is an allusive objective ATM though. However, the aluminum foil thing seems to have some potential. We'll see.

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #39 on: December 26, 2019, 11:40:58 PM »
Okay, so here it is... my aluminum foil water experiment.

Essentially you really crinkle up some aluminum foil, glue (water based) it to the base, cover it in another layer of flat aluminum pressing down to get a bit more smooth shape, apply glue to the top layer and when dry, paint.

So...

1. Apply crinkled up aluminum foil with a water based glue to the base:



Note: I am going (right to left) from a smoothish sea to large swells. The red line indicates where I started putting long roundy bits for bigger swells.

When finished sticking it to the base, cover it in white glue. I think for smaller models this is probably enough.

2. Add a second layer of foil, this one flat not crinkled and cover it in white glue:



The red line is a seam between two pieces of foil. Most folks who use this method do it to the base without the model mounted. They have either a hole or an outline of the ship drawn so they can cover the entire base without seams.

3. Apply another layer or two of glue:



I put 2 layers, but I don't think that is necessary. One layer and then when dry hit any spots that the glue didn't stick to.

4. Paint (ahhh... the really hard part):



I painted the entire surface a light green (Vallejo pastel green), washed in a darker green (Foundry Storm Green Light) and then gave it a couple really heavy washes of a GW Cantor Blue. Once that was all dried, I then painted along the side of the ship the darker green and dry brushed the entire base. I next took the lighter green, put touches along the ship and dry brushed the entire base with it but not so strongly. Then I did the same with white, but with even less paint and very little dry brushing.

The overall outcome... well, I like the back third of the base. As the sea gets rougher moving forward, it looks worse. Of course, it is my first whack at it, but generally I like it.

Comments welcome, of course!

On to the masts!

Offline Eric the Shed

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #40 on: December 29, 2019, 08:28:35 AM »
what a fabulous thread  - thank you

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #41 on: December 29, 2019, 01:25:05 PM »
Thank you, Eric!

That is quite a complement. I love your Shed Wars reports and scratch building.

At the present I am now working on the base using the aluminum foil water technique and also the masts. I expect to finish the base soon and will have a step by step photo report up when it is finished.

Offline ErikB

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #42 on: December 29, 2019, 03:01:59 PM »
Wow, amazing job!

I saw those ships on Warlord's websebsite and started salivating but I was too intimidated, especially by the rigging.

I can't wait to see how you approach that.

Fantastic job this far!

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #43 on: December 29, 2019, 03:23:52 PM »
Cheers, Eric! Appreciate the comment! Yep, won't be long now before I get to the rigging.

At the moment, I am working on the sea base and the masts. Expect poorish quality photos as these are taken right at my workbench with a light in one hand and my camera in the other.

I have finished the ships boats and they are in place (red circle). I apply one crinkled up layer of aluminum foil. I have decided that one layer will be sufficient for the ship, so this will be it. Notice how I have pressed the aluminum around the base edge. That was to help ease cutting off the excess.



At the same time I am working on the masts as I have time to work between coats of white glue drying. In this photo you can see that the aluminum is almost completely coated, but I will continue to put more on the areas where the glue hasn't taken.

I have also replaced the aft spars which are circled in red. I wanted to reduce the size of the metal connection as it is huge. The final product is in green, but I think when I move to the Victory I will reduce the size even more. The spars that are provided are perfectly fine, I just saw an opportunity to tune them a bit better and went for it.



At this point I have primed the masts and begun painting them. I wanted to use Meridan sails, but they don't fit very well. You would need 2 packs of 1st rate sails to do one model and even then it would require lots of cutting to get everything correct. So I have decided to go with the paper sails from the box.

The problem with the paper sails is trying to match their color when you paint up the furled sails cast on the masts. My sails are the lighter ones and though it doesn't seem as such, they have a greenish tint to them. I think Warlord's intent was to give it a "canvas" color. The best match I could come up with was a 50/50 mix of Foundry Moss Light and Vallejo light flesh, washed with Foundry Moss. Haven't done that yet so we'll see how it comes out.

Main effort will now focus on finishing the base, as the white glue as been totally applied and the base is awaiting paint. I'll have more photos as that comes along.

Ta!

Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Black Seas L'Orient build
« Reply #44 on: December 30, 2019, 01:16:07 AM »
With the white glue now all dry I used sandpaper to smooth the edges of the base:



Then I applied my base coat Vallejo Pastel Green. I needed this to be a very strong color. So I applied one coat without any thinning of the paint. When that was dry I hit the base again with un-thinned paint to fill in gaps and holes, and to try to reduce the edges of some of the waves so that they would look smoother. When that was dry, a third coat, starting with paint straight from the bottle in the remaining trouble areas and then a thinner coat to the rest of the base. So 3 coats in the end. Looked kinda like this but in the photo the color is a bit more pale then the real thing:



With that totally dry, I then took Foundry Storm Green and gave the entire base a heavy wash. It looked liked this... still wet:



Unfortunately, but also predictably, I washed paint onto the hull (blue circle). The other side is much worse. I intend to do a rework of the hull where necessary (especially at the water line and below the lower gun deck) when I have finished the base.

Let's see if I can finish the base tomorrow.