Trumpeter 1/700 USS Tuscaloosa CA-37

[stillp]

Nice start Dave.

Hope you manage to rescue the keyboard. Did that with a laptop once the day we went on holiday, with a cup of tea.....

I yanked the battery out double quick, turned it upside down and once the worst had drained out, removed the keyboard gave it a rinse and when l went on holiday praying..... VERY fortunately it was as all ok.

ATB

Andrew

If you ever manage to recover from a water incident with anything electronic, it's vital to copy everything you might want onto external media or another device, as some things can appear to be OK for a few days or weeks, then fail. Happened with my wife's phone - seems alright for about a week, then packed up and won't turn on. :sad:
Pete

[Dave Ward]

It's only a keyboard, but you get used to the travel and feel of the keys - this spare one has quite a large travel on the keys, and I find that I've missed letters out typing at my normal speed!
Dave

[adt70hk]

It's only a keyboard, but you get used to the travel and feel of the keys - this spare one has quite a large travel on the keys, and I find that I've missed letters out typing at my normal speed!
Dave

Indeed, completely agree. Now lockdown is over, I work from home two or three days a week and in the office the other two or three and it's taken me a while to get used to the work keyboards.

[Dave Ward]

The base is away drying - I can get on with the construction of the model. After a bit of experimentation, I've sorted the colours for the upper hull. The base colour is Ocean Grey 5-O, with Sea Blue 5-S patches over the top. The deck is painted Deck Blue 20-B. It's only a small model, so it'll be brush painted

I think that the superstructure can largely be assembled in modules, which will make painting much easier
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I seem to have spent quite a lot of time, today, sticking parts together, with not a lot to show for it!

Those main turrets are a real pain, trying to get all the individual barrels to stay parallel....................
I'm doing all this, so I can spray prime all the smaller assemblies, before painting the decks & vertical surfaces on them - has to be brush work, there's no way I could mask for spraying! All bits are fitting well, just minor clean up needed. Tomorrow, I'll finish off the clay work on the base & let that thoroughly dry before beginning the painting of the sea.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

The final clay session on the base.............................
I'll let that dry for another 24hrs, then I'll seal it all in. The final bow wave will be added from Perfect Plastic Putty, when the hull is added.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I sealed the dry clay base with a gloss varnish, then after drying laid down a basecoat...............

Hull is just dry fitted. I looked for a grey-green in my paint box for a base colour. I picked one out - Vallejo German Uniform!
The rest of the deckhouses etc have been detail painted before assembly, to ease access

The instructions show the assembly of the SOC Seagull floatplanes, but there are no colour call outs for them, or even where they are fitted - the boxtop only shows them in flight. Luckily one of the pictures taken in Iceland shows how they sit on the catapults
A bit more digging gives the colours as Blue-Grey over Light Grey.................
Fave

[Dave Ward]

Those aircraft! - I've had more trouble putting them together, than the rest of the model. Tiny parts & the clear plastic that wouldn't stick ( I used CA in the end! ) - I hope they'll be OK when painted up & decals added........

Base is just about finished - although you can always spend more & more time on this, you eventually have to say enough! - A final wash to tone down the white should do it, and maybe the bow wave could do with some more attention......
The superstructure bits are finished & ready to add, The masts & a few other delicate fittings will be fitted at the end.
The next pictures will appear in the 'completed ' section...............
Dave