Here’s some pics of the finished build!
Here’s a pic of it in my cabinet!
First finished build this year, and I’m quite happy with how it turned out considering ships are not my forte! 🙂
USSR carrier Kiev – Trumpeter 1/550 – finished!
Kiev – last stretch!
I did some weathering using oil colours and white spirit. At first mainly streaks on the side of the hull from portholes and whatnot. Then I used white on the deck to make it look a bit more worn.
Putting decals on all the planes took a while and was done in a few sessions. First the wings got their stars.
Then the helicopters and fins got stars.
I used some black oil colour to create landing wear and tracks from driving around on the deck generally.
Then I tried a little plane configuration.
I decided to modify one plane and one helicopter a bit.
After some touching up and gluing back the gun barrels, I consider it finished!
I started working on a pair of small yellow tractors that I’ll add if they turn out looking good.
Pics on the finished build will be posted asap.
Kiev, almost done!
Some more details was added, and the helicopters got their rotor blades.
Then it was time for some decals.
I still need to put decals on the planes, which will take some time.
A mock up of the almost finished build.
I’ll do the rest of the decals and then seal everything before I do any weathering.
Kiev carrier build update.
I did some detail painting on deck with white and light gull grey.
The planes was also painted.
Propellars and helicopters also got some paint!
Then it was time to sort the landing gears.
The first plane done!
Then the other 11.
Lastly details are getting in place on the deck!
A few more details to put on the deck and some painting before I can do a clear cote, and then decals.
Kiev carrier update
With the Scooter done, I could continue with this build!
Masking the helicopter pads wasn’t easy.
Then all tape was removed.
I did some touching up and painted the numbers by hand.
I need to do some minor touching up, then it’s time for masking again so I can paint the hull and some details on deck.
More painted on Kiev’s deck
After masking a lot more tedious masking of landing strip lines, I gave it a cote of grey.
After it had dried, I painted it white, and shortly after I removed the tape.
I think I might do some touch ups, but other than that next will be masking for the heli pads.
Fast delivery and painted boats.
I ordered some colours and a stencil last tuesday, and today I got the parcel. Which is quite fast considering it’s delivered by DHL.
As I failed to show the hole in the deck that I had to sort, I’m doing that now.
I painted black on the bottom of the boats and added some blue windows.
Not easy to paint the windows by hand, and perhaps I could have masked, but this will suffice I think.
Kiev, build update.
Sometime I do bits here and there, and here the boats got some white paint.
Then radar masts and whatnot got some black colour.
On the deck there’s a hole, which I think is for the switch for the engine. For some reason I’ve missed that, and have to deal with it now instead. I cut a piece of plastic and fitted it in the hole. Lost one piece in the process, but the second one got where it should.
I then turned the ship over and glued the propeller shaft holders and rudders.
I decided to glue one of the top parts to the bottom building.
I then painted all the buildings with grey “primer”.
The top of the hull and the deck also got primer.
There’s a few things to sort were the most visible is the seam on the rear deck.
USSR Aircraft Carrier Kiev – Trumpeter 1/550
This kit have been laying in my stash for several years, and now I got an opportunity to build it in a Soviet themed group build.
This kit can be motorized and supplied are 2 shafts, rubber hosing, propellars and clips for the batteries. As I got this kit 2nd hand, I’m not sure if engines also was supplied or if they’re supposed to be bought separately. There are nothing in the instructions telling how to install the engines or wiring and switch.
Anyway, I’m not doing it motorized as I only will have it sitting on my shelf. Luckily there are plastic shafts and scale propellars included in the kit. As I don’t want to risk breaking them while handling the model in the early stages of the construction, I skipped that step in the instructions for now.
Instead I started with the radar and whatever it is that sits on top of the main structure.
Then I started with the two topmost buildings.
Assembled!
Parts to the bottom part of the structure.
The stand also needed some attention!
Some filler was needed to sort minor gaps and other cavaties on the structure buildings.
More radar parts to assemble that needed some touches of putty.
To continue I needed to assemble more small parts. I also test fitted the building parts.
The underside of the hull had a seam that needed to be taken care of.
I test fitted the main deck which contains of three parts, here the aft.
And the front.
I also did a test fit of the main building.
A dozen small Yak-38 planes took a while to clean up.
I still need to figure what colours to paint them in as well as the helicopters that I haven’t started on yet.
Radar and search lights assembled.
Sometimes clamps are useful, like when holding parts to the hull while the glue dries.
Once the internal parts like bays for the boats was in place, I could glue the deck parts.
The instructions says the mid sections should be last, which I think is due to the motorized version where this part needs to be removable. But as there was a bit of a gap between the mid and rear section, I glued the rear section last, and will push the rear part of the hull forward to close that gap as much as possible instead.
One of the reasons for this is the raised detail on the deck, which makes using filler a bit harder without destroying the details. Not sure I can avoid that entirely, and I would have prepared decals for the helicopter pads and landing/start strip.
Some plastic and filler was needed to sort some seams and gaps. I’ll see how the rear seam turns out. In the front I have a slight step that needs to be taken care of as well.
Soon I can start painting. I just need to figure what paints to use, as I don’t use or have Gunze colours.
Shelf queens – Corsair progress.
I’ve glued the landing gears and covers in place.
I then continued with the topside. Removing tape that had been sitting there for years wasn’t fun. I also had to remove the front glass in order to glue the sight parts in place.
The pilot was also seated. Thought it could look nice!
After that I started the weathering process by giving all the panel lines on the topside an oil wash in grey. A tad bit on the tick side for being a wash.
As it’s oil colours it’s quite easy to remove the excess with cotton buds and perhaps some white spirit and paper cloth. I’ll show the result later.