1/72 scale German light cruiser Munich

The body filler always looks rough and nasty at first.

Got to go buy a new can.

I have the port side pasted in pretty good.

I allways go s bit heavy.

I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the center shaft skeg.

I started grinding it and it's starting to shape out.

pretty rough but its just th first pass.

A 1/350 scale model idea i was toying with of a Montana class battle ship except with a dual bridge design.

A closer look at the bridge. These ships would have been to wide to navigate the Panama canal.

got most of the filler on the aft and mid hull, now I can rough grind and start working the shape and filling in small amounts for teh smoother sanding.

Good morning Horatio,

Now the hull is really shaping up. Sand very carefully and note that you have to refill the front hull section as well as you have sanded a bit too much.

Keep it up Horatio, you are doing a fine job. Come on mate, lets have the ship ready - we have lost a lot of opportunities and many convoys slipped by.

yea, I wasnt quite done with the bow and had a little diping going on between the ribs. The aft is doing it a bit also but I wanted to conect teh sections and get the whole thing going. I actually use a 4 inch metal grinder and tease the filler to close to the shape, then a electric sander with 80 grit sandpaper, but when I start smooth sanding it for the end result I'll use 120 grit as that works real well on body filler.

Good morning Horatio,

When I sanded the hull, I organised a 12" x 2" piece of flat wood, fitted a 150grade sand paper - and very carefully started to sand along the lines of the hull. Just bear in mind, that the electric tolls will not and never have the feeling you will have in your hands. Your hands will move along the lines of the hull and feel the smoothness or roughness.. Believe me Horation, your hands are the only power tools you need to gest the finish you need for the hull.

Come on mate, I want to see the hull ready.

I cut out the center Screw shft Skeg at I can shape the aft better without it in the way, and I think I will be better able to make the Skeg guide separate from the hull also.

Not a good pic, mostley the saw table.

Thats better, looks like My 1/72 Gato got out of th box and put a torpedo in the cruiser last night.

Adding in more filler, still got to set her on her sides to get the filler into the 2 deminsions.

finally geting to mix small batches to fill in the craters and low spots. I might get some Micro Balloon puty as its better suited for this and drys faster but its only good for small holes.

adding in the under curves to build them out and straighten the hull shape where it curves.

still have divets on the aft that I will fill when she is on her sides.

finally shes geting where I want it, so I can rough sand the mid and tail again and look for imperfections and start on teh finishing process.

I think on the next project I am going to use more wood and shaping and less filler. I dont mind the weight but I probably could have made this a little easier on myself. Note the port mid section and aft where I havent fliped the ship to starboard yet to address the low areas on the curve of the hull. I do like where she is coming out to, and cant wait to cast the concrete molds, and start working on the details and superstructure. I hope I'm not being to redundant with the process, and I'm sorry that it is taking so long to finish. I wanted someone who was viewing this that has never done anyting like this to get a good idea, of how it could be done, but I do note that thier are easier ways to do it.