Ok one of the things that scares many new comers into the Hobby is building a Superstructure. I got an idea from talking with Curt over in his Pictures of the Yamato and Musashi picture thread. The idea is a thread that will allow each of us to add pictures and describe in detail how we do different things to our ships to make Superstructures and add some detail to them. While myself I struggle with the basics of build them for my ships I will atleast start a how I did the light weight super for my Des Moines and then also a how I plan to redo it and improve upon what I had. so guys and Gals help me out and lets make a great thread about how to build good supers that have some eye appeal or atleast good quality how to do parts. Curt I would love it if you could do a bit on soem of your details you do on yours ships.
Sure no problem. VDT will be the first featured on this thread with more to follow. That will keep this thread going for a long time. Lets hope others will use this thread specifically for Superstructure builds. I can't wait to see what others are doing to make thier structures or just sprucing them up.
Thanks for setting that up. I think this will help newcomers who are starting thier ships or thinking about getting into the hobby.
This is a great idea. Seeing how other builders build their superstructure will be very helpful to myself and other beginners who need a bit of guidence on createing a superstructure for their ship.
People tend to look at the superstructure first and garner first impressions of the model overall. Now as an example my Bismarck looks great but to me the super looks horrible because I can see every bb hole in the structure in facrt there are still bbs lodged and visible in the structure, dents and damage yet when people unfamiliar or even familiar look at it I actually have to point out the damage. The usual double take expression happens when they realize just how much damage the superstructure has sustained. Makes a great talking point at shows or at the pond after I bring the model in from a battle or a cruise. Then I tell them how I effect repairs. Their surprised at how little effort it takes to maintain the look.
Well if my attempts to post images works out I have some examples of the two superstructures I am either building or have built. I will start off with some Images of the Superstructure that is very basic I have my my Des Moines. This is a Frame work super structure. What I did for this was build a woeden box frame for each piece I needed and then added layers to each level I built. She is about 3 frames gluded and Epoxied toughter from from to rear and recently the back section did break off while Handeling it. You see a repaire being made where the blue electrial tape is on it. Ok a few Close ups of this Super are to follow. Here you can see where the thrid frame area is and the fact I had to glue it back to being one piece. For me this is temperory in the design. Also you can see one of the things I did to make the sides of the super a bit more BB proof. I added .98 thick ABS to the aises and epoxied them down and even coated epoxie over them to make it more BB proof. This is just an Overhead shot at the front end of the super. There used to be some smaller guns on this, but I have since got some nicer turrets for those and will be useing them once I have made the new Superstructure. I keept the inside of the whole thing hollow for weight savings and yes so the back of my gun Magazines can tuck up inside her. Now For a different way of building a Superstructure is what I am doing for now with my Konig Class ship. This ship came with some molded Resin pieces of the basic structure. After assymbling these I thought it way to plain and decided to try and start adding bits and pieces to it. Good pictures and a Model where used for reference of a lot of the pieces I decided to add. As you can tell I still have a lot of work to do to this super as the back piece is just the basic things that came from Battlers Connection and the Front is not yet complete. I used Bondo Glazing outty to fill in flaws in the pieces from battlers and that is the red stuff you see. The white lump looking item is two part putty expoy and It was my best attempt at added a piece that was done shapped to the structure. The grey and white items are ABS plastic for the different bridge levels and white Styrene for the rials on each level. Well hope this is a help to folks starting out. I will added to it as I learn more.
This is awesome. Now you got me really started. I am going to get close ups of Bismarck's superstructure and go over how or what was made and why. Then I will move on to Yamato and Roma. Beware the pics are not for the FAINT of Heart.
It's great. Hope to see more here from other members. I went through a batch of my photos and found some good examples of superstructures being built. My GF is going to scan them and I will post them here.
That looks great for the BIG boats. I shall have to post some photos on building the light weight stuff for the small and tiny craft.
That would be very helpful as a lot of new people have issues with the topweight of supers for the smaller ships.
well heres my SS that um working on rite now sorrey for the bad pic.http://rcnavalcombat.com/Portals/0/Users/E-J/EVIL%20JOKER/securedownload.jpg
its Polyurethane Molding and i plained it to 3/4 and 1/2 it looks something like this http://www.burtonmoldings.com/s4s-polyurethane-molding.aspx look at the s4s stock
We just get ours at either Lowes or Home Depot, they have a really nice peice thats 1" x 2" X 120". If you look at my ID build, the rudder mount plate, the white peice is a chunk of it, its waterproof.
