Astrakhan Buyan Class Corvette Project 21630

Łukasz Gliński
Looks interesting

Sven Schönyan
Yes, it does! Ship models are quite rare here and even more rare when it is a subject like this. I´ll keep watching it!

Bart Goesaert
Thx, but pls, don't expect Lode-level modeling... it's my second ship so far.

Scott Dutton
Looks very cool,, never built a Kombrig kit so will be interested in following

Bart Goesaert
hmm, first problem with the hulls... some serious cutting and sanding will be needed to correct this... According to accompagnied drawing (luckily in scale), upper hull seems correct, so lower hull is too long and narrow at the front... so filling and sanding ahead...

Łukasz Gliński
What if you cut it in half and sand a bit there, where the sides are straight (or almost straight)?

Bart Goesaert
That's what I've thought to, but some clever cutting won't do the trick I fear, not in this case. As I see it, I can only fix the length, width will need some filler. I hope the vanes at the sides will still fit then...

Treehugger
Having switched to an airbrush, only recently, ship models with railings seems tricky. I think I have come to an agreement with myself to try the following: glue on PE railings onto main deck and leave higher structures unglued, then prime it all, then (!) paint the deck color, then (!) mask off the newly painted deck, and airbrush the railings on in-/outside + hull. Then, glue on other painted pieces that goes on top of the deck. It is important that the other parts fit snugly onto the painted main deck, or there might be gaps. 🙂 Presumably, it should be fairly easy to mask off the main deck, even with PE railings glued on, assuming ofc one is gentle and careful. I like adding more superglue where strong support is required, making sure things don't easily break off when touching them.

Bart Goesaert
Thx Treehugger.
With these kits, the upper hull comes as 1 part, and with regards to the painting stage, it will need to plan ahead. Now I want to get the main parts to fit and sand, then weapons will be pre-assembled, antenna mast to. With regards to the railings, I've seen several methods, from painting prior to installing them, to handpaint, to the process you've described... So it will be choosing from one of these when that moment comes, because I presume all will depend on the situation... but first: making the hull smooth and try not to break the front borders, because these are very thin...

Bart Goesaert
filler added, ready to check for areas that need more work

Sven Schönyan
Very good result so far Bart!

I agree with Treehugger in the case of placing railings before painting. You have to take a little more care handling the model while painting but the result is more convincing and sometimes more comfortable while builing. Attaching the railings after painting can leave some ugly CA glue spots.So I decided for myself to do it before and better take the task of masking the deck carefully then.
Only in some cases this technique won´t work out, e.g. when there are undecuts which will be closed partly by PE later.

Bart Goesaert
almost finished smoothing out the hull. For some reason, I sand it smooth, nothing to feel, and a few days later, glue is again protruding from between the halves... then it restarts by cutting the glue, sanding and checking... been busy for a week now...

Sven Schönyan
I know what you mean! Sometimes it feels that it doesn´t matter how many plaster or superglue you apply and it doesn´t matter how long it can cure and shrink, after sanding you can start from the beginning again 🙁

Bart Goesaert
Tell me about it, scraped the seams a bit deeper to remove the glue and refilled these with putty, hope it works out.

Bart Goesaert
Seemed to work out in the end... on to the next details and restoring some damages from the continuous handling...

Bart Goesaert
Started adding the small details... some very small details...