Revell Queen Mary II Hull Construction

Here is a view of the bow thrusters and cover installed. Unfortunately you can't see the bow thrusters because they do look great when you look inside. My girlfriend Jayme painted them and is pretty disappointed that you have to look pretty hard to see them. When It came to installing the bow thrusters I did it after I put the hull together. The directions say to do it when you put the hulls together but personally I found it much easier afterwards. I also found putting in covers afterwards a lot easier too. I used Zap it glue to put the cover on so I didn't ruin the paint job on the hull. The glue stains will disappear when I dull coat it. I've had to do a little touching up so you'll have to excuse the tape in the photos. I attached the Azi Pods and cemented them all in and won't attach the propellers until last. I do that so I don't break them in the process of building the model and it's a bit of a superstition for me as well. Revell gives you decals for the red on the bottom of the hull and waterline but I highly recommend painting it yourself. Again you want it as real as possible so try to avoid decals where you can. I attached the stabilizers and still noticed a little light through the opening. I used bondo and filled in behind and around because you don't want to see through the ship and you want to give the impression of it being the real thing. I attached the inner cabins to the inside of the hull. I primed the pieces, painted them white and glued them in place. As you can see in the picture the back of the cabin is painted black. I glued clear styrene plastic to the back and painted them black. By doing this it gives the illusion of windows when you look through the spaces in the hull and you won't be able to see inside the ship. I actually used more clothes pins than what you see in the picture to make sure it was secured all the way along. Next on the list was to get the two stern decks ready for painting and securing. The bottom deck was painted grey and the walls white. You won't see it when you install it in the stern but I like to know I did it. Next was to paint the stern deck and the pool area. In order to do this I removed the grain by sand it down flat. I did this because the actual stern deck of the Queen Mary II doesn't appear to be wood, but painted steel. There are also ledges around the stairwell and pool that are not there in real life. I removed them as well by sanding them down and what a difference it makes just in scale alone. The picture of the stern deck you see is only the beginning. I still have touching up and detail to add. There are also a couple decals and photo-etch parts that have to be applied but I'll get into that later.

Construction of the Revell Queen Mary II

Here is the start of my Revell Queen Mary II. I haven't added anything yet such as the bow thrusters, stabilizers and Azi Pods yet. After I put the two halves together I made sure I sanded and filled any imperfections. After that was done I primed the entire hull with Tamiya Surface Primer. By using the grey primer I could see any imperfections I missed along the way. After priming I sprayed the entire hull in Testors Matt Black. I then taped off the entire hull except for the bottom where I used Tremclad's Red Zinc Oxide Paint. This is the closest colour I could find to anti-fouling paint. I bought both the spray and the regular for touching up. With the entire hull still taped up I taped off the bottom and painted the red strip using Testors Flat Red between the anti-fouling and black on the hull. Once that was done I taped off that section and painted the white stripe on the water line and the white on the superstructure using Testors Flat White. As far as spray painting I find Testors a great paint to use. When it comes to brush painting I like to use Humbrol. I find Humbrol very forgiving and easy to use with no clumping and with minimal brush strokes. I do recommend spraying the large sections of this model. Not only does it save a whole lot of time but the finish is so much nicer. The rest of the pictures to come will be more detailed due to the fact I had already come this far before I discovered this whole blog idea (What a Hoot). There is still some touching up to do to the hull. This is the outcome after I had peeled the tape off. Next was to install the Azi Pods and bow thrusters and finish touching up the hull. I installed the inside cabins on the hull by first priming them and painting them white. I applied clear styrene plastic to the back and gave it about three coats of black. Remember, you don't want to be able to see through the hull and you want the illusion of cabins behind all those windows.