--Originally Posted 7/19/08--

Interrupted for (more than) a month by the Great Concrete Dust Disaster of '08, I was finally able to get back to the bench and the deck painting on this build:


Click on Image to EnlargeStarting with this white base coat (the bridge is just dry-fitted here), preparatory to a "dissolving wash" paint job of simulated wood planking.

The color balance of these pics is so strange; both the bridge and the bow - which, you will note, is masked to protect detail on the delicate anchor chains (right) - are painted gray, and not avocado green, as it appears (on my screen, anyway).

The bridge looks a little grayer in this closeup:


Click on Image to EnlargeThis pic provides a decent look at my bridge "forehead" construction, including bracing over the view ports as well as under the wind deflector shielding, at the top. This deceptively simple-looking construction was just fiendishly difficult in this tiny 1/607 scale. Thus, even though the ports are a little irregular, and the shield sticks out forward 'way too far, etc., they will probably all have to stay that way. Even so, I think I've achieved a foundation for this bridge assembly which is looking quite "Sydney-esque".

In any case, after letting the above base coat cure for a week I completed the "Dissolving Wash" on her decks:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe two pigmentation colors (left) are Testors ModelMaster® Dark Tan (FS30219) and Afrika Mustard (FS30266), and the blending wash (right) was just some more Dark Tan, thinned extensively with mineral spirits.

The streaking to depict the planking is perhaps not my best ever. And I don't know why but I was surprised it all came out so light - I guess that's what happens when you use pure white (Duh!) for the undercoat. Also, the Dark Tan is not as dark (nor as reddish) as the ModelMaster® Light Earth (FS30140) which I have often used before, for both the wash and pigment streaks.

But on contemplating further the above result, I decided after all that it wasn't half bad:


Click on Image to EnlargeIt definitely looks like wood, IMHO - and the decks will simply be lighter than the lightest of the two camouflage tones (as on the bridge here); instead of midway between them. With any luck, they will appear to glow, next to all the darker grays.

OK at this point all the resin upgrade parts development is being additionally held up by delays in getting more RTV (mold) rubber - so look for the next work to be on the bridge, other superstructure and/or some more large-area painting which could be started anytime now.

Cheers,

-Matty