Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry - Flower Class Corvette (Part 16)

 

Several years before I was born, my Dad was asked to build a model of HMCS Blairmore, which was to be displayed at the new Blairmore Legion. This is the only picture we have of the model, and it was built using the now vintage Matchbox model, which has been reissued under the Revell brand a few times over the years.

At the time of its release, this Matchbox Snowberry was a big deal, as the ship was used by many commonwealth countries, and a source of pride for places like Blairmore to have a ship named after their town. It was also 1:72nd scale, so it fit in with many modelers collections. Matchbox even showcased this model refitted to be RC. 

When this new 1:144 Snowberry arrived, my Dad was very interested to see what Revell had done differently from Matchbox. And we've had several great conversations discussing these models. In all the years I've heard my Dad talk about building HMCS Blairmore, I'm really proud to have completed this HMCS Snowberry and in a way, build alongside him, just as I used to when he introduced me to this wonderful, life-changing hobby. Thanks, Dad.

In the last post, I had just finished painting the water and gluing the Snowberry into the foam block. Now it's time to add the water effects. 

I've decided to try out Water Gel (Atlantic Blue) from AK Interactives' Diorama Series (AK8003), and see what kind of water this product can produce. This is a gel that you need to paint over the top of the Sea Blue and should give us some realistic looking water.

I placed some of the Water Gel into a small container, and then I added some tap water to the gel and stirred it up thoroughly. I found that this gel works a lot better when it's thinned down a bit, as it will spread more easily and allow a more even coating. 

AK Interactive suggests using an old brush or a crafting spatula to spread the Water Gel around, and I found that a flat brush worked incredibly well.

I started brushing around the ship's hull, and once I had the area covered, I proceeded to paint the rest of the base. It dries quite quickly, from a bright blue to a darker translucent blue in about half an hour. 

I tested the Water Gel before I put it on the base, and on my test sample, I found that it did spread nicely, but that it took longer for the Gel to become firm, and there were a lot of bubbles.

This gel will take a very long time to cure and harden up, so you need to be careful, otherwise you'll leave fingerprints behind. Thinning the Water Gel helped it to dry harder. Also, the bubbles were very difficult to remove, and I saw this as a common complaint amongst the modelers who had used this product. 

When I thinned the Water Gel down, there were bubbles left behind, but because the Gel was thinner, I could easily blow on them and they'd quickly pop.

While the Water Gel was drying, I moved on to finishing the White Ensign flag. 

Revell offers this as a decal, and I wish they had provided it as a cutout. Unfortunately for me, my printer has been having issues with some finer prints, so I decided that I'd use the decal.

I slid the decals onto some Aluminum Tape. This tape is incredibly useful for modeling, and I mainly use it for making seatbelts, but in this case, it's going to create a sturdy yet wavy flag.

To help the decals adhere to the tape, I applied a very generous amount of Tamiya Mark Fit -Super Strong- decal solvent, which reacted really well with these Revell decals.

After the decals had dried, I cut them out and placed the two sides together.  Now I could carefully use my painted tweezers and bend the flag around, giving it the appearance that it was waving. 

I also painted the sides of the flag with AK Interactive White (AK11001) to hide any silver from the tape.

With a bit of super glue, I easily attached the flag to the mast on the back of the ship. I left this part off until I had nearly completed the model, as it's very fragile and I thought I might break it accidentally and possibly damage the flag.

To help enhance the Water Gel, I'm going to use Water Gel Effects also from AK Interactive (AK8007).

This is a white paste that will give the appearance of foam around the disturbed water, like around the hull and peaks of the waves.

I started by applying a generous layer around the baseline on the ship's hull and on the water. This Gel is applied white, but it begins to dry a sort of frosty clear with certain sections remaining white.

The first coating that I applied dried clear, and AK Interactive suggests adding multiple layers. So around the ship's hull, I added about 4 coats of the Gel. 

Next, I applied a very generous amount aft of the ship to replicate the disturbed water. I applied the Gel very randomly, with some sections getting a little bit of the Gel and others having a heavier coat.

I also want to note in this picture that the Water Gel Effects were recently brushed on, and that it will dry to more of that frosty/clear I mentioned previously.

Lastly, I applied 2 coats to the tops of the waves to further the effect.

And here is the end result of the dried Water Gel Effects on top of the peaks. I think that it is a nice effect, but too subtle. I think that possibly more layers might need to be applied, but I'll let it dry further before I make a final decision.

I would like to add some final thoughts on these products, which I hope might be useful if you are considering these or others from AK Interactive's Diorama Series.

First, the Water Gel Atlantic Blue. This stuff doesn't match the images on the container. I thought that I was getting a slightly grey water, and this stuff looks like a bright Pacific Blue. It is also tinted quite heavily, so all of that painting I did in the previous post isn't visible anymore. Basically, you just need a nice blue base layer and then apply the Atlantic Blue.

And thinning this gel down with water helps out a lot in producing a nice, even coating. I found this product very easy to use, and I really like the water effect that it created.

The Water Gel Effects I had some mixed results with. Around the ship's hull, it looked really great, but I had to apply a lot of layers, and most of the time it came out frosted instead of semi-white. 

I also found it to be oddly inconsistent, and this can be frustrating as it's just so random in the effect, and I couldn't figure out why it was doing this. 

Even though it didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined it working, I'm glad that I tried it out, and I think the key to it is to add multiple and thicker layers. 

And some final thoughts on this, the Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry. This is a very fun and ambitious model, and I think that Revell did a great job with this subject. 

The biggest hurdle you are going to face with this project is all of the cleanup that needs to be done, and this can be frustrating at times, given how small and fragile some of the parts are.

On its own, straight from the box, I think it's a very fun and entertaining build. However, if you are feeling ambitious, there's a very dedicated aftermarket community for the Flower Class Corvette that creates amazing photo etch parts, and some 3D printed parts that will blow you away with their details.

I'm proud to now say I've built a Flower Class Corvette. It's one of those ships I've always wanted to build and just never thought I'd get around to one. And I'm glad that I went to the extra efforts to place it in water and learn how to create a realistic-looking water base.  

This project has encouraged me to consider building more ships in the future and to tackle the few that I already have in my stash. But if you want something with a lot of detail that's going to be a head turner, then Revell's 1:144 HMCS Snowberry is just the kit for you!

Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry - Flower Class Corvette (Part 15)

 

Nearly a decade ago, I logged onto Facebook, and I was greeted with an amazing image of the new Tamiya 1:350 IJN Yamato sailing on the water. At first glance, the ship itself was spectacular to look at, but the waves were particularly impressive and realistic.

I later learned that this model was built by professional painter Chris Flodberg, who specialized in ship models. And that he was from Calgary, so not that far away from me.  When I attended a local model show in 2015, Chris brought some of his models, including that jaw-dropping Yamato, and the pictures failed to do it justice; it was simply perfection. 

The picture I took is a poor representation. I sadly wasn't there when Chris took off the glass cover (most likely looking at models to buy). But I got to briefly meet him, and he was one of the kindest modelers you've ever met, and more than gracious to explain how he achieved this water effect. A short time later, Chris had his water effects published in several magazines, including Fine Scale Modeler. And when this Snowberry showed up, I immediately thought of his article and that it was finally time for me to try it out for myself.

I'll be using Chris's article as a guide, as well as incorporating many of my own ideas into creating this water effect. 

To start, I'm using a 2-inch-thick piece of insulation foam. I needed this foam to be a bit thicker, as I will have to compensate for the full hull of the Snowberry.

Insulation foam will work best for this project as it's dense enough for carving into, it's also light and quite easy to work with.

I placed the ship onto the foam in the position I wanted the ship to be displayed. Once I had made up my mind, I took a Gundam Marker and slowly traced the ship's outline onto the foam

I intentionally kept the outline smaller than it needed to be, as it would be a lot easier to remove extra foam rather than trying to add to it.

It took some time, but I was able to carve out the extra foam for the Snowberry to rest in. I mainly used an Excel #11 blade to cut away at the foam, and every once in and while I'd place the Snowberry inside of the opening to check the fit. 

It didn't take too much work to trim out the sides of the foam to have a good fit for the ship. It should be a close fit; not necessarily an exact fit, so a little wiggle room is acceptable.

I didn't have the exact same wire brush tool that Chris used in his magazine demonstration. So I pulled out a few bits that were similar that I could use in my Dremel. 

Though all of the bits did work, they weren't giving me the results that I wanted. I went back and looked through the bits and I found this sanding ball that I had somehow missed. I decided to test it out, and it quickly proved to be the best tool for creating the waves.

I carved out the foam, made trenches, and focused on creating ovals and Y and U shapes. I'd go back on some of these trenches and deepen them to help create the impression that the waves were rolling.

At this stage, I'm just concerned about the direction of the waves as the ship passes through. I'll focus on the wake produced by the ship later on.

The flat surfaces of the foam were now going to be carved into the peaks of the waves. I would start on one side of the peaks, slowly sanding away the foam until I had a narrow bit of the line left.

Then I'd flip the foam around and repeat this process on the opposite side. This would eventually form a nice-looking peak in the waves. And the rounded sander helped to create a nice flowing pattern that added to the effect of the water.

Here is the completed wave effect, all carved out. It was a very fun process to sit and carve all of this out and gradually see these waves take shape. I'm very pleased with how these look, and I'm eager to see how much better they will appear once they have been painted. 

Now I needed to cover the foam for painting. A lot of paints can eat away and dissolve the foam, so it's important at this stage to protect all of that work we've just put in. Chris uses Liquitex Glazing Medium, but I looked all over and I couldn't find any.

So I decided to use Modpodge, but I either couldn't find it, or I could buy a giant $118 bucket of it. I decided to use regular PVA Glue (white glue) thinned with some water to help it flow better. 

I applied a few coats of the PVA glue, and it was doing a nice job creating a thin layer over the foam. It was taking a while to build up the glue, and I mentioned to my sister that I wish I had something else that would speed up the work.

When I told her about the Glazing Medium I couldn't find, she informed me that she had a bottle and that there might be enough left for the project. 

I applied 3 thin coats of the Glazing Medium to the foam. Just a little bit of this stuff goes a long way, and before I knew it, I had a nice smooth surface that was ready for paint. Thanks Sarah.

To paint my ocean, I started with a base layer of Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue. This is a very dark color, but very nice as it has a blue-green color to it.

Next, I painted the peaks of the waves with a 50-50 mixture of Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue and XF-2 Flat White.  This was painted on with a lower pressure so that it would create softer lines.

The final color I used was Tamiya XF-8 Flat Blue. This was again sprayed on with a lower pressure and painted over sections of the Sea Blue, with some overspray landing on the brightened peaks. 

This both blended the colors together and helped to lighten up sections of the dark Sea Blue. I sprayed this on rather quickly so that the Flat blue would appear more random and uneven. 

This is where we'll end for this week. In the next post, we'll be testing out some new water products, and with that, I think this project will be completed. I'm very happy with how the water looks so far, and with the Snowberry placed inside, it's looking right at home out on the ocean.

I am saddened to report that Chis is no longer modeling and that he hasn't been for a while now. The good news is that he is still active in painting, but most of his models were all sold off a few years ago. Thankfully, there are images around online if you search for them.

I remember when he posted that he was selling that gorgeous Yamato, and how desperately I wanted to buy it. But at the time, funds were tight, and there was no way I could justify a purchase like that, no matter how much I wanted it. However, this could also be a good reason to build more ships in the future, so that one day, perhaps, I could build something like that for myself.  This Snowberry has me already feeling ambitious, so we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds. 

For now, let's focus back on the HMCS Snowberry, in what will be the final conclusion to this very fun build.

To be concluded...

Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry - Flower Class Corvette (Part 14)

 

I'm very excited about this stage of the build, and in this post, I'm going to be weathering the Snowberry. All of that chipped paint is about to get dirtied up with grime and rust.

For the most part, I'm going to be using Tamiya Enamel products, but there are dozens and dozens of weathering products out there on the market, just waiting for your imagination. I also don't want to go too overboard with the weathering, I'll keep it a bit simpler for this scale.

Sometimes, too much weathering is bad as it can overwhelm the subject, and my plan and hope is to find that just right balance to give the effect that the Snowberry has been out at sea for a while now.

Before I started weathering, I decided to address an issue from the previous post, and that was the oddly elevated main gun platform.

I very, very carefully pryed it off from the base, and to my relief, everything remained intact. I then took a cutting tool into my Dremel and carefully carved out the plastic around the square peg for the platform.  

The platform was then glued back into place with some Mr. Just Super Glue.  It's still sitting forward for some reason, but it's a lot better than before. At this point, I can't tell if this is an error of mine or a fault with the kit. But I feel I've done all that I can without risking potential damage to this kit.

I want to tackle the weathering process in 3 stages, and the first stage is to weather the deck. This would be subject to a lot of water and the crew walking all over it.

I first airbrushed a clear coat over the entire model, and I used the new AK Interactive Gloss Varnish (RC803). This gloss was pretty impressive, just 2 light coats, and I had an amazing reflective gloss finish, perfect for weathering.

Using a wide brush (specifically the Tamiya Modeling Brush 87047), I stippled Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color -Dark Grey- all over the deck surface. A few drops of the Dark Grey were placed into a Mr. Hobby Paint Tray. These panel washes are already pretty thin, but I wanted it to be a bit thinner so that the enamel wash would flow easier around the model.

So I added 2 drops of Tamiya Enamel Thinner to the wash, and I began the process of stippling the paint all over the deck. Unfortunately, in this picture, it isn't as noticeable, and it blends in quite a bit with the darker grey deck, but this is just the first layer.

The next colour I added was Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color -Dark Brown- and this was stippled over top of the Dark Grey, nicely blending the two colors together.

After the paints had dried for a while (about 1-2 hours), I took my Tamiya Brush and dipped it into some Tamiya Enamel Thinner. I then stippled the entire deck, removing some of the excess wash and further blending the colors together. 

I didn't want the wooden deck sections to be weathered the same way that I had with the grey deck. I added a few dabs of the Dark Grey paint, just to dirty it a bit. And then I stippled on Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color -Brown- and this did a nice job at highlighting the panels of the deck.

The nice thing about enamel paints is that you can basically use any color and turn it into a specific wash for weathering. Here I'm using some Tamiya XF-50 Field Blue, and I've thinned it with some X-20 Enamel Thinner. 

When you are doing an Enamel wash, it's best to have a good base coat to work from. If you are using Enamel Paints for your model, then the thinned enamels will remove your paint. I've even had some acrylics react poorly to enamels.

Your best bet is a good gloss coat. I like to use Lacquer Clears, like AK Interactive Gloss Varnish (RC 803), or Tamiya LP-9 Clear, and Mr. Color 46 Clear. But you can use Acrylic Paints as well. The benefit of lacquers is that they dry harder, and this protects the underlying paint.

The Gloss paint also dried much smoother on a microscopic level. This will allow you to easily use the paint and remove the excess. It will also prevent staining, which could occur. 

I used the XF-50 Field Blue around some of the edges of the bridge floor to help highlight those details.

I wanted to add one more color to the edges all over the ship, and for this, I used some XF-13 J.A. Green. The green was painted all around the bottoms of the railings and the structures, and it provided a very contrast to the rest of the decks' weathering.

Now that I'm happy with the deck, I'm moving onto Stage 2 of the weathering, and that is to paint all of the Sky Grey structures.

I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color -Dark Grey- and I brushed a very liberal amount of the paint all over the Sky Grey.  This wash is simply meant to highlight the various details that are hidden around the chipped paint and Sky Grey.

I cleaned the excess wash with a cotton bud lightly dipped in Tamiya Enamel Thinner. And for the more difficult places, I used a dedicated paint brush with slightly stiff bristles that does an excellent job at removing the paint.

You can see how the was really brings out the smaller details, especially on the smoke screen chargers on top of the depth charge racks.

Stage 3 is to add on all of the rust streaking to the ship. I'm going to use Tamiya Accent Color -Orange Brown- for this effect.  This paint was designed by Tamiya to be used as a quick wash for faces. Simply paint a figure a flesh tone and then apply the Orange Brown to bring out the details. Tamiya also suggests using it for rust.

I used my very thin, pointed brush (Tamiya 87048) and lightly painted the streaks running down various sections of the ship. Starting from the top and quickly pulling the paint downwards so that it would taper to a point. After the paint had dried for a few minutes, I could go back and paint over the Orange, and a second or third layer would help darken the streaks and create a nice variety in the color tones.

I have to admit that I had some difficulty at times getting the brush at the right angle to paint on the effect, as there were a lot of parts in the way, so I had to be careful not to damage any of them.

Moving onto the hull now, I was able to rest my hand more, and I therefore had more control of the brush for painting on the streaking. 

I mainly focused on exposed sections where the paint was chipped, as well as on the edges of the deck. This became a very fun process and within no time I had developed a rhythm and before I knew it the hull was all painted. 

I looked at several sources online for reference, and I saw a few modern military ships that had very noticeable rust, and on other ships, the rust was all over the place. I thought that this would look dynamic to the project, but once I had finished adding streaks to the model, I wondered if it was accurate. 

With the ship sailing, I imagine a lot of the constant water might wash away any rust, especially on the hull. Not to mention that all of the pictures I saw had the ships docked in place, standing still for a long period, and that this much rust might be an exaggeration. I'll leave this accuracy to those of you who have been around ships and have more experience with this than me. But even if it is inaccurate, I still just think it looks pretty great.

I picked up this brush specifically for this project, it's a very nice soft rounded brush (AK Interactive AK579) that was just right for pulling down and thinning some of the streaks.

I dipped this brush into the Tamiya Enamel Thinner, and I wiped off most of the thinner onto a tissue. I left just enough thinner so that the brush was basically damp.  

Then I could take the brush and pull down the streaks, which helps to feather the paint a bit more, as well as create slightly longer, tapered streaks. 

I thought about adding other colors to create different types of streaking. But once I had finished the rust, I thought that it was enough. I'll think on this decision a bit more, but I might go back later on and add some Dark Grey and White streaks, but for now, I think it's busy enough.

Before I wrap up this post, I thought I'd show you some of the brushes that I used for this project, as well as weathering in general. Most of these brushes are easily available on the Sunward Hobbies website, but they also have an impressive range of other brands' brushes that you can select from.

 Starting from the right and moving left.

Tamiya Modeling Brush HF (87048) is an inexpensive, pointed brush that is very reliable, and I end up using this brush on most of my projects.

AK Synthetic Brush 2/0 (AK Interactive AKB006). This is a good brush for painting on and removing the Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors. It can hold quite a bit of paint, and the nice pointed tip allows me to get into tighter, difficult spaces.

Tamiya Modeling Brush HF (87047). This brush started out as a nice, wide brush, but I've repurposed it for stippling on the Enamel Washes. It does an excellent job of pulling the paints all over the subject and creating a nice weathered and dirty surface texture.

Tamiya Modeling Brush No.0 (87015). These bare wooden handle brushes from Tamiya are a much cheaper alternative to their more advanced line. In a way, these are temporary brushes for a limited use, but the bristles on this particular brush are stiffer, and this allowed me to stipple the washes into the tighter sections of the model. 

AK Rounded Weathering Brush (Ak Interactive AK579). A great brush for pulling down and feathering the washes. It also does a good job of allowing you to slowly apply layers of paint to create gradual and varied tones in the colors.

Make-up Blush Brush. I found this for stippling on various enamel washes without applying a lot of pressure to the underlying enamels.  I purchased this for weathering an F-14D Tomcat, the bristles on this brush are very soft, and with that, it creates a very unique texture with the enamels.

Finally, I sprayed a flat coat over the entire model to seal in the enamels and to protect the rest of the paint. I decided to try out AK Interactive Flat Varnish (RC801). But this flat came out really glossy for some reason, and I was left with a splotchy ship. So I went back and resprayed everything with Mr. Color 182 Flat Clear.

Now that the flat clear is added, this model is basically done, aside from the flag at the back. Sometimes adding a flat coat can diminish the weathering of enamels and pastels as some flat coats can be too overpowering. I had this concern when I applied the Mr. Color over the AK Interactive, but I think everything has stayed more or less the same color.

The next step is going to be creating the water effect, and finally putting the Snowberry out to sea. This has been one long project, and I'm very excited to see it posed in the Atlantic Ocean.

To be continued...

Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry - Flower Class Corvette (Part 13)

 

I've had a bit of an unusual yet fascinating moment this week, which seems to occur with every long project I undertake. And that is when I reach a part in the build where I suddenly realize that I'm all out of parts, nearly completed the kit, and I can finally toss out the sprues. 

It's just an odd realization that I'm close to finishing a project. And it's a feeling that I really find satisfying. As I cut out the last of the spare parts and threw away the empty sprues, I suddenly got more space on my desk, and I'll sort of miss searching through each of the runners looking for the little parts.

It's a sort of bittersweet moment, as I'm enjoying the project and I don't want it to end. And at the same time, I can't help but get excited thinking about what I can build next. But I'm not going to get too ahead of myself; we've still got things to do, and in this post, we're going to rig up this ship!

Staring with the main mast, I cut out and cleaned the crowsnest, and I wasn't as pleased with this part as the side walls are incredibly thick and overscaled. So I took my dremel tool and I tried to thin down the plastic, but I ended up damaging the part. I think this was for the best as I decided, instead of fixing the kit part, I'd instead try scratch building a new one.

I cut an oval out of some thicker Evergreen Styrene, and glued this to the bottom of the mast. This was going to be my new base for the crowsnest. 

I then took some thinner styrene and glued it to one side of the mast with Mr. Cement SP. After the glue had fully fused the styrenes together, I carefully wrapped the thin styrene around the base and added more Mr. Cement SP as I went along to ensure a tight bond.

There was a bit of resistance from the styrene, and I was concerned that it could open up and ruin all of that work. I took a lighter and carefully, and very slightly heated the plastic, and this helped it keep its new shape.

Once the glue had dried, all that was left to do was carefully trim away the excess plastic, and I now had a much nicer and more accurate crowsnest.

While researching the crowsnest on HMCS Sackville, I noticed that there was a metal hoop above and around the crowsnest. I think that this is a railing to help sailors climb in and out of the nest and onto the ladder behind the mast.

It's a nice little detail, and using Mr. Just superglue, I carefully added five thin wires around the bucket. I used the same 0.20mm wire as I had with the railings in the previous post. I kept them longer as it would be easier to trim away any excess wire rather than trying to deal with it being too short.

 

I then crafted a small hoop and glued this to the mast. After it was in place and had dried, I could take the longer wires and carefully bend them around the hoop. I added some more super glue to each of the points on the hoop, and I then carefully trimmed away the excess wire.

I'm very pleased with this extra detail, as I think it looks a lot nicer than the kit part.  I coated the wire with Mr. Metal Primer, and the mast was now completed.

For the masts yardarm, there are small squares at the bottom. These are to represent pulleys, and since the rigging would run through them, I carefully drilled out each section prior to painting.  The reasons for this will be made clearer later on in this post.

I would also like to note that once the yardarm was painted, I came back and handbrushed each of the pulleys with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black.

Moving back to the ship for a moment, I've got a few details to add that I missed from the previous post entry. I painted the chains for the anchors with Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey. 

I'm still a bit undecided, but I'm thinking of adding on a wash to darken the chains up a bit, but I sort of like how the Metallic Grey contrasts with the winch and the grey deck.

The anchors on either side of the bow took a bit of extra effort to fit accurately. Pictures from HMCS Sackville confirmed that the anchors fit quite snugly next to the hull.

I had to trim the arm of the anchors to be the correct size and then carefully trim out the plastic around the oval opening, which would allow a more flush fit.

Moving to the back of the ship, I was test fitting the flag pole prior to painting, and I remembered the opened area and how I was considering adding some doors to cover the exposed area.

I fashioned the doors from some thin Evergreen styrene, scribed a line down the middle and then added 2 small bits of styrene as door handles. The part was then painted with Tamiya XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan, and then a coat of X-26 Clear Orange was applied.

I don't know why that exposed doorway was bothering me, but I'm glad that I took the extra time to add in this door.

The last of the parts were painted as before with a base coat of Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron. Then, a light layer of X-6 was applied to create rusting.  Once the paint had thoroughly dried, I sponged on Mr. Masking Sol Neo and painted the parts XF-19 Sky Grey.

Now that the parts were all painted, I was ready to add them to the ship.

The mast was added first, and then the ladder was added behind it. To my annoyance, when I returned to the model, I noticed that the mast had shifted while drying and was now slightly crooked. 

I decided to leave it as it was, as both the mast and ladder are quite fragile, and I didn't want to risk breaking them. The yardarm was added last, and I now needed to leave the parts to fully dry overnight as I was going to apply a bit of pressure to the parts with the rigging.

The flag pole was added to the top of the engine room, and just bellow the light on the pole I drilled out a hole for the rigging to fit into.

I think that the flag will be one of the last things that I add to this model, as it could be the most fragile while I'm working and most likely to be damaged.

For the rigging, you can easily use the string that comes with the kit or even use thin wire.

But what if you are a bit of a clumsy modeler like me, whose big thumbs tend to get in the way?

Well, then you are going to want to use some elastic thread!

For this build, I'm going to use EZ Line as it's the thickest thread I've got on hand. But there are a lot of other threads out there, including an excellent lineup from AK Interactive in their Elastic Rigging Bobbins series. 

This stuff takes a bit of patience to get going, but it's very nice to use and very forgiving.

I'm starting at the railing on the back of the bridge. I carefully drilled out 4 small holes (2 on either side of the radar tower). And I've cut 2 long strips of the EZ Line.

I added a small drop of super glue into the hole, and then I placed the 2 strands of thread into the opening. 

I do want to add that this elastic thread reacts very quickly to super glue and tends to stiffen up right away, so be careful that you don't get glue anywhere else on the line.

Also, super glue is the best for this product. Styrene Cements and white/canopy glues won't work with this product as we're going to apply a bit of tension to the wires later on, and they need to be very secured.

After the super glue had dried, I threaded the EZ Line through the openings I drilled out on the yardarm. I found these small clothespins were just enough weight to pull on the line, creating just enough tension to keep the line straight. 

I then applied a small drop of glue to the top of the pulleys and, using my Tamiya Sprue Cutters, clipped off the excess line. 

This is more or less the process I used to add on all of the lines. Secure the EZ Line to one side, and then pull the line tighter and add more glue to the other side. 

It's a slow process, but thankfully, there isn't a lot to rig on this kit.

Here, I'm demonstrating how easily the elastic thread can flex.  Even with this fragile mast, this much tension on the lines didn't move the mast around.

From what I can recall, this elastic thread was developed for railroad modelers on their power lines so that when they leaned over the layout, they didn't damage their model.

I hope that this small demonstration with the elastic thread will give you enough to go on for your next project. It does have a bit of a learning curve to it, but once you figure out how the material works, you'll soon be finding all sorts of places to add it to your models.

I first used it on a Wingnut Wings biplane, and it was such a relief to not have to worry about breaking the wire or threads as I had done in the past. Now, I mainly use it on my aircraft as antenna lines. I can easily handle the model, and the line will simply be pressed against the fuselage and then naturally return to its original shape.

Well, this is a sight. The HMCS Snowberry is, at long last, completed! In the next post, we'll begin the process of weathering the ship, and I'm looking forward to that, though in hindsight, it might have been a bit easier if I didn't add on all of the small details. Well, that's just part of the challenge. Until next time.

To be continued...