That looks very good Paul. I think a little Weldbond or PVA glue, applied with a toothpick where there is gaps, will fill in any voids. And it can be sanded and painted. So don’t be afraid to use glue as a filler.
Large amounts of La Couronne were scratch built. The entire lower cannon deck, transom decorations, and side gallery structures were redone to add detail, and internal lighting. There are many parts of any kit that you can improve on. Your problem is a bit hard because you really want to do your best to salvage those detailed metal castings and not start from the beginning with making all the carvings yourself... unless you like tedium. The thing that keeps it fun is scratch building portions of the model kit without throwing out items that have satisfactory detail and design, and adding features. Wasa, being a ship that still exists, is unique in that you can make a very close representation of each detail without huge amounts of guesswork. Judging from your latest pictures, the decorations castings don't have large gaps, and some careful filing is all you need to make them work. I was envisioning twisted castings that didn't even come close to fitting the wood of the hull, but those castings look quite workable. You just have to spend lots of time filing and test fitting to get them perfect, fill in and sand seams between the casting parts, and glue pieces of wood to the inside of the casting assemblies to act as mounting points so you can peg or just glue the assemblies to the hull once you figure out their final position. You painting skills are top notch, so painting the castings will be something you are quite familiar with, and the end result will look spectacular.
This is NOT bumbling. This is careful consideration and application of various techniques and methods at your disposal, including forum advice, followed by intelligent selection of the methods to apply, then execution. If you want to see a real example of bumbling, had your pet cat try to build the model.
THAT is clever.Paul, one thing I forgot to mention, is on the edge of your cast pieces, you can put down painters tape first. Then put wood filler or caulk, then smooth with a wet q-tip, then pull up the tape while it’s still wet and you will have a nice straight edge where they join the hull.
Thank you! When I put wood stairs in my house, I stained the treads, but painted the risers white and the side boards white (forget what you call them). So when I put caulk on the edge of the stairs treads I stained, that is how I did it and it worked great! I put down the tape, then caulked and as soon as I smoothed it (using water on my finger tip), I pulled up the tape. It left a perfectly straight and clean caulk line on the edge of the treads!THAT is clever.
The scallops were painted on the original ship. The castings present them in relief - I suppose to aid the modeler in painting. I considered adding shingles over the scallops but that just makes things complicated when it comes to fitting the decorations. I also thought about filing them down a bit...This is NOT bumbling. This is careful consideration and application of various techniques and methods at your disposal, including forum advice, followed by intelligent selection of the methods to apply, then execution. If you want to see a real example of bumbling, had your pet cat try to build the model.
(I'd pay real money to see that.)
And what I said before about looking at landmarks when positioning things on the hull... that includes the wales and planking and their angle.
Also, now that I compare the actual ship photo and the cast decorations, I am wondering whether or not to scratch building might still be an option just to get rid of those scallops on the planking between the statue figures and on the turret tops. They are not on the real ship, so why are they on the model on display next to it?
What to keep and what to throw away? The decisions get frustrating sometimes...
Ah... that makes sense. Filing them down a wee bit sounds like a good move, leaving just enough to paint the scallop lines. It may be possible to file all the scallops off and lay thin strips of wood in a clinker fashion over the metal between the turrets, and then paint the scallops, but only of the added thickness of the wood does not distort the overall shape of the gallery and make the turrets appear too short. You may even use paper instead of wood. It depends on if the details are too small to work with or not. Paper might wrinkle, unlike wood. Lots to consider...
I think the castings lend themselves to dry brushing. So that may work in your favor. Just paint your base color on the scallops and dry brush a slightly lighter color to hit the raised edges.
Tried to go in on another device - same result.
I just tried their website and had no problems. I guess you need one of the “experts” to chime in.
It's sufficient to "like" one of those kits prohibited by Passaro on CPW or elsewhere.
CPW? Sorry, I'm new to this...
Paul, I really don't want to waste your wonderful build log on this. What used to be MSW, now I call CPW (Chuck Passaro World). I got banned for mentioning quality of rigging blocks sold by ZHL. But, that's his website. Can't wait to see your next update. Sorry for the confusion.
Got it. But I'm still confused. I have never 'liked' or posted EVER on MSW. Could I have been banned for 'liking' my friends work on the SOS forum? I only went to the MSW forum to admire the work I saw there. Feeling kind of bummed.
