Typhoon - Hobby Boss - 1/350
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This is my first ever Submarine build, and the first ever Hobby Boss build as well.
Building the kit was straight forward, the plastic is of decent quality, not too brittle, and not too soft, but is on the softer side. Instructions are clear and concise. You have the option of a closed antennae sail (all hatches closed) or a sail for extended antennae, with hatches open. The propellers are PE and are of decent quality as well. Decals are few with some film around them, I did not use any of the decals on mine due to the nature of the build.
Painting an interesting black is one of those things that we modellers are familiar with, I have had my share of dull Blackbirds and F-117's, so I wanted to avoid the same this time around and found some photos of rusting Typhoons and the decision was made.
I first started by priming the entire submarine in White Primer, then covered it in matt black. I focused on the bottom and painted it a mix of Metallic orange and a little orange, so as to give the effect or a rusting red hull that the metal shows through in some places. I lightly spray painted the mix perpendicular to the submarines length, not overlapping the sprays so as to give variety to the surface and let some of the black underneath help with the tonality.
I then shifted my focus to the adding section of exposed, sanded metal. I did this by masking the area edges off, and spraying with a much lighter mix of the previously mentioned metallic orange, adding lots of white. I did this to random places on the hull bottom. I also did a similar effect to the upper hull, but using a metallic version of the black, almost gunmetal, but only in one place.
Now, focusing on the black itself, I created a template of random squares that match the tiles sizes and locations, punched out a few of them out randomly, and sprayed a clear black to add variety. Next, came the leaks. I had a few excellent masks for these from Liang Models, and others from 1/35 armour masks for weathering that served the purpose, and I used different shades of grey, black, browns, and whites all over, reversing the mask on a few occasions, and not using the entire mask, but spraying the top half or the lower bit in some areas.
The area that proved most interesting, most challenging but also most fun was the salinization, from Typhoon pictures that were docked and rusting, two caught my eye and wanted to replicate the effect.
I started by creating the general demarcation line of the salinization along the subs hull, using a along strip of tape, leaving a small gap to create the waters contact general area. I then ripped masking tape in half to create the fluctuations, or differences in the salinization, ensuring not to over spray and create a hard edge. Both of these created a decent effect at the end, and I believe with some practice and perfecting the technique, a much better effect can be reached.
For the salinization effect of pooling water, I sprayed a wet white/yellow using very low pressure, and quite a distance from the model to lightly mist it in specific areas. I then used a slightly watered down matt black (not a wash) to individually paint tiles to create the effect. I think the salinization is my favourite part of the finished model, and for a first try, I am satisfied with the result.
I then proceeded to make the rust, which was painful. Titanium does not rust in the same way that other metals do, and rusting Titanium is essentially the same colour as the metal itself. So I had to resort to creating the effect of other parts rusting mixed with leaks. This was mostly brown and red little red, mixed with metallic orange, made into a wash, and let the liquid free flow as much as I could to create a natural look, or if the wash was not cooperating with gravity, I would use a 0 or 1 brush and do gravity's job for it.
The model is not 100% finished, I still have to:
1. create the wood effect for the plaque (using masks)
2. Decals for the title of the model (I have not decided from the 4 different schemes shown in the pictures)
3. Antennae installation
4. rust effect on the propellers
All in all, this was indeed a nice deviation from what I usually build, and have in my shelf now a few, a Yasen Class, an Akula class, an Alfa, and a Victor, all waiting.
but the winglets mechanism is flimsy, so either rigidly fix them, with super glue, in the extended position or have them closed altogether.
