Trumpeters Sovremenny in 1:350
I finished the Sovremenny in December 2008.
In general I don't like modern warships. I find their angular superstructures ugly and out of proportion.
The russian ones look better though, and since I had won the kit at a contest, I thought I might as well build it. For above mentioned reasons I didn't bother to do any research about the ship. I had read somewhere, that the kit is not true to the real ship, but chose to ignore that.
She looked kool. That was good enough for me.
Instead, I built her straight from the box and used her as a weathering exercise.
I strengthened the hull from the the inside, so that she would stand steadily on her posts and then attacked the waterline joint.
As usual I spent hours filling and sanding it and as usual I was unable to get it perfectly smooth.
Looking at the recent issues from Trumpeter, it looks as they have quit designing their ship kits with this so called "waterline option". No one is happier about that than I am.
I hate waterline joints!
Apart from the waterline joint, the build went on without any problems worth mentioning. The manufacturers PE parts are clearly on the thick side. That is OK on the mast, but makes the radar look rather clumsy.
No railings came with the kit, so I used some from the spare parts box.
If this had been an ambitious build, I would have done something about the gun barrels and the ship's boats, but this being a modern, and therefore less interesting ship, I left them as they were.
The paint job started with the main deck and the foredeck. I painted them grey and "worked" them with bleached tones. Then I painted some spots in the original colour, to represent areas where the deck had been touched up.
The red upper decks received a similar treatment, but at this time I hadn't really got the hang of how to bleach red, so I'm not really happy with the result.
The ships sides also received a similar treatment and were then covered with a layer of Gloss to prepare them for the decals.
The manufacturers decals posed no problems, and once they were dry I toned them down with a thin beige mist.
To make the dirt streaks, I first wetted a part of the ships side with Humbrol thinner.
Then I put a miniscule amount of brown artists oil colour where the streak was to begin and worked the streak downwards with a fine brush.
This method is very forgiving. If you're not happy with the streak, you can just wipe it out and do it over again.
To make the dirt streak along the waterline, I cut a fine slot in a piece of cardboard and held it a few centimetres away from the ship's side. Then I sprayed a thin solution of dirt colour horizontally through the slot and thus I got my nicely diffused streak.
The helicopter is moulded in clear plastic, and was thus pretty hard to build. It's hard to see the joints after you've glued the fuselage parts together and the brittleness of the clear plastic makes it harder to fill and to sand them.
Although this was a quick build and a weathering exercise I' quite happy with my Sovremenny.
Furthermore I think that waterline joints should be prohibited.
Wonderful workmanship as ever Ulf, the Ship Miester .
There's no in general about it, I HATE the looks of modern ships. Like you I will make an exception on this one, it's almost good looking, has a vague Japanese Cruiser rake to it. The main armament is kinda cool too. Also like you I get tired of the "it doensn't look right" or "this or that is wrong" that almost every model gets. Sometimes you just wanna BUILD. Good looking is good enough. I am doing that right now with a Marmon-Herrington armored car, right out of the box, no "research" thank you.
Oh by the way you did your usual great job. The painting excersise was a complete success. Cheers.
I definitely agree with you about this "correctness fad".
On more ambitious builds I do correct things that are wrong, but there is always a limit how far I will go.
If you want to finish a model, which I do, you have to be able to say to yourself:
"This is good enough, now lets get on."
Also, I've always had the impression, that the these fault-finding people don't finish all that many models.
It's much easier to complain about a model, than to build it.
Their ships look like their armor, scary! Purposeful, but scary.
Agree, though, kool looking, nevertheless.
Yet another beautiful (!) job.
Add me to the "modern ships look like c**p" club.
That's certainly the cleanest Soviet ship I have ever seen. Saw a few of them back in the Bad Old Days and they always looked like the paint was the only thing holding the rust together. I remember an old Chief Bo'sun looking at a Soviet DD and saying "They are the enemy?!" in the most disdainful tone.
Nasnny doesn't like "c**p"? Holy dog poop.
I just read an interview with a russian naval officer in Kaliningrad.
The background, of course, was the increased tension in the Baltic on account of the war in the Ukraine.
He pointed at the ships and said:
"We have some great firepower there, The question is just if we'll be able to stay afloat long enough to use it."
WAOUH ! a great building !
congratulations
I like the round shape of the gun turrets. She looks very nice Ulf. Well done!
Yes, those turrets do look kool!
I knew that had to be one of your builds before I even saw the poster's name. Well done, my friend.
Maybe it doesn't have the lines of your other builds, Ulf, but it's still a good looking ship. Your subtle weathering technique is very convincing, and the helicopter is a nice touch.
Ulf that's one stunning build, I'm just waiting for trumpy's 1/200 Nelson that's going to be my next purchase. I'm working on the 200th Bismark at the moment with the full MK1 detail set ( just little involved),
I've notice Trumpeter does quite a few 350 scale aircraft in clear plastic. I can now see why. When looking at it the effect is way better than simply painting on the windows!
Hats off for Trumpeter, for issuing those aircraft, and for issuing a lot of interesting ship kits.
The reason to mould small aircraft in clear plastic is of course, that you can mould the canopy in one piece with the fuselage.
Then you can just mask the canopy and paint the rest of the aircraft.
The problem with many of those kits is however, that they often design them in such a way, that the advantage of moulding them i clear plastic is nullified. Many of their small aircraft kits have a joint running through the canopy.
Thus the poor builder is faced with the problem of solving the canopy problem AND to deal with all the other the difficulties of working with clear plastic.
The designers at Trumpeter are clearly not modellers themselves.
I agree with Tom. Most soviet ships look like they've been abandoned in some old Baltic port for years.
I'm always surprised at the variety of ship models available, pretty or otherwise, and I'm one of those modellers who are always casting around looking for something different rather than just building yet another Spitfire or Tiger.
Ships I've kept away from generally (with a notable recent exception) but I find myself looking over Ulf's shoulder from time to time, weighing up a possible future project.
Nice looking model.
Thanks Rob.
Do have a go at a ship model.
Don't start with a battleship or an aircraft carrier in 1:350 with heaps of PE to go with it though. They are very demanding builds.
Luckily, today there are many smaller ship kits in a number of different scales. Try one of them.
Very nice looking model. I like the line of the main gun armament - not straight for an' aft. I have the 1/700 Trumpeter Sovremenny and I tend to build mine also the broadside way!
Thanks!
Yes, training the guns to an angle, rather then having them pointing straight fore and aft is a simple and effective trick to make a ship model come alive.
Despite of being a built of lesser importance as you say, it really has a very exciting aura and presence. When I first took the usual Sunday evening look into iModeler to see Ulf's latest ship, it was not my impression at all that it could be a stopgap.
PS: It worked with Cato, the Older, so why not here.
Fantastic job. Love ships. Dint really do many, but they are wonderful to see.
I'm going to be controversial here and say that I think modern ships look cool! Not that I don't like older ships though, they are fantastic pieces of engineering! I do prefer building modern vehicles though, probably because I was born in the eighties!
I was surprised when everyone commented on the Mig 25 being an ugly aircraft, I've always thought they looked fantastic! I suppose though you will get a certain sense of nostalgia when you see something from your childhood.
Whatever you are in to though, that is still a fantastic model! The weathering is superb! What technique did you use for the streaking down the sides of the boat, if you don't mind me asking?
Thanks Richard.
It would be terribly boring if we all had the same taste, wouldn't it.
Differences of opinion are much more fun.
As for the dirt steaks, I wetted a section of the ships side with Humrol thinner, put a minimal amount of brown artist oil colour at the start of the streak and worked it downwards with a fine brush.
Thinner... makes sense! Thanks Ulf, I'll give that a go.
As always a great finish.. what are you working on now?
At the moment I'm building Combrig's Le Terrible in 1:350
It's my first resin kit. I'm building it to get some experience with working with resin before I tackle Combrig's SMS Seydlitz, a german battlecruiser of WW1.
Another "gem". I'm not a big fan of modern day war ships but the Ruskies have so much armament on their ships it gives them a certain "coolness" and makes models of their ships interesting to build. Great job!
Hi Ulf, another stunning build, your oob build is really impressive. I agree with the strange look of modern warships, the russians have some great looking ships on inventory, a Trumpy Kirov class (battle) cruiser is waiting in 1/700 on me
Ulf,
Being late with my pride all I can add is that this is gorgeous