I sanded the main deck on Tirpitz yesterday. I gathered up the McFadden Superstructure to take hom and trim the excess flash off it.
Okay, I just have to ask, what/who has this McFadden SS ? What's it made of? How's the detailing? and can anyone get one? Thank you sir
Greg McFadden was building his Tirpitz and he made molds for superstructure and fabricated a very dense foam, heavier than the kind used by Strike Model's. I think he only made a few of which I know 2 sets went to Canada for sure. It's very accurate and BB proof.
Under the warship picture gallery here on the forum his Tirpitz is in a picture where it shows the bow section looking down and it's at the building stage where he is planking the deck with strips of wood.
Unfortunatly due to the birth of my son and a move to Utah (from whence there are no near by clubs nor space for me to work on boat stuff) all my equipment is in storage. The Tirpitz superstructure molds went to Tugboat and may have made it to Strikemodels, I do not recall. The foam is Smothon FlexIT 25lb/cu ft foam molded with proper backpressure (requires experimentation). With the right backpressure, you get a nice surface, high density foam, and if you do get a BB penetration, it is almost self healing as the hole closes up nicely. I have used scrap parts as rifle targets and they last quite a while even in that use.
I have superstructure temporarily reassembled here at the house where the assembly will take place. I found a beautiful drawing of the Tirpitz both sides and overhead with the camo from the Tamiya 1/350 kit. I am getting it blown up to 1/144 scale so I can use it for placement of the details.
I applied a very thin coat of Bondo putty over the main deck . This needs to be sanded. Once done I can begin marking out the hatches and barbettes.
I applied the water line to the hull and masked off the hull to paint below the waterline. I used a Kyrlon reddish brown on the hull and I like it.It dried very nicely and coated pretty good. I like the color for a below the waterline.
I peeled off the masking tape and checked the below water line paint. It dried on nicely. Just need to do the upper hull but that will wait as I will be drilling out the port holes on both the bow and stern sections. I started sanding the main deck. Almost done there. The palm sander is not quick . Once I get that sanded I will be marking out the hatches then cut them out. I ordered 8 of the LC 33s AA 105 mm from Strike.
For those wondering about the McFadden Tirpitz SS molds... they are in the hands of Grey Wolf Squadron, purveyors of fine scale molded things They are working on getting the molds converted to a more durable production material, which was the recommendation from Greg; they were made in wax which is great for prototyping but not so awesome for making 50 copies. I do not represent GWS, but I would ask for patience, as there are more than a few molds involved. Greg did an astounding job replicating the superstructure, and that doesn't get done in 1 or 2 (or 2, 3, nor 5) molds. I will ask for an update when I see Pete D next. Separate note: Those little fancy AAs from Strike are the Bee's Knees! Very, very detailed, and good castings. Highly recommended.
