1/350 scale CVN-90 USS United States Stealth Aircraft Carrier

[NARSES2]

The answer is "No", it just depends on your personal preference & which you find easier to measure/make. 

Agreed, but my preference would be walls on the outside. Mind you I'm just  by the whole thing 

[seadude]

Option 3.  Rout a rebate around the outside of the base for the acrylic to sit down onto.  This would look most professional as you do away with obtrusive extra woodwork obstructing the view into the case - it'll just run flat all the way to the edge.
If your base is too thin to rout a rebate then add a second layer underneath the one you have now - make it bigger by twice the thickness of the acrylic.

Unfortuneately, Option 3 is not an option. I live in an apartment. I don't own any power tools and don't have access to any. And I don't know of anybody near me like friends, neighbors, etc. that could do what you suggest. So, I'm going to have to build this display base myself and it will probably be as simple and cheap as I can make it. Well, cheap is the wrong word as the acrylic case will probably cost a fortune from the plastics company I plan to get it from.

[seadude]

Continued from Posts 485 and 489 from Page 33 of this model thread.

Got the aircraft tow bars done. They're not the best, but oh well. If I ever need to make more, I've got plenty of styrene square rod.
How many I ultimately use on my carrier is undecided right now. Not every aircraft will need one.

[Old Wombat]

 

[seadude]

Well, it's Memorial Day weekend here in the states. So what do I have planned? Other than relaxing and being lazy,

 I'm currently working on painting some of the flight deck tractors, but only the ones that are to be painted white like the aircraft tow tractors, the fire tractors, and a few others. Originally, I had about 20 or so total tractors that needed to be painted white. But when I took stock of adding the tiny wheels to them, I found out I was short on wheels for all the tractors and now I only have about 10 tractors I can use.     

As for the forklifts, those will have to wait as I need to buy yellow spray paint for them. I'll probably go to the hobby store sometime later next week maybe.

Went to a hardware store and picked up a can of Minwax oil stain and some brushes yesterday. I might stain the wood display base this weekend, but am not sure yet.

Spray painting of the carrier flight deck has been pushed back till June sometime. I was planning on doing it in late May, but it seems the weather here is not cooperating.    We're still getting Fall-like weather here with temps in the 50's and 60's. and with cooler winds, rain, etc. I need better days/weather in the 70's and 80's.

Decals still need to be put on all the aircraft, but I'm not sure when I'll get to that yet.

[seadude]

Is there a wood doctor in the house? I screwed up.     
But first, please don't suggest for me to go and get new wood or sanding supplies, etc., etc. as I do not have a lot of money. Nor do I have access to any sort of power tools.

First pic below: Completed, but unstained, wood base for my carrier model.
Second pic below: Stained wood base, but with the camera flash off.
Third pic below: Stained wood base, but with camera flash on.
Fourth pic below: Stained wood base, but with living room light on.

So today, I stained the wood base for my carrier model. Unfortuneately, the color I chose is not what I expected or wanted.    I bought a can of Minwax Colonial Maple oil stain. After applying only one coat, the color looks orangeish. I'm not keen on that. So the question is: How do I correct this? I don't like the color.

A few options are:
OPTION 1: Stick with what I got and just deal with it.
OPTION 2: Buy a new darker oil stain and apply that over the Colonial Maple stain I used.
OPTION 3: Get a can of regular spray paint (Not sure what color, but I was thinking of black) and repaint the entire wood base thus covering up the stain color.
OPTION 4: If I decide to keep the Colonial Maple color, I already put 1 coat down today. Would another coat be needed? Would a 2nd coat make the base look even more "orangish" and worse?

[Steel Penguin]

for option 4, would you be able to use a small piece of spare wood and try, or if you haven't got any, perhaps try it on the underside of the base ?

not certain on the other 3 myself.

[Old Wombat]

You could try Option 4 on the underside, as Steel Penguin suggested - It can't hurt - But if you don't like the colour why double-down on it?

Option 2 would be my suggestion. Possibly try mahogany, as it was a very popular wood on naval vessels for starters - Just make sure you're getting a darker red/maroon version rather than purplish.

[royabulgaf]

Okay first.   You live in Wisconsin.   You can get a detail sander at Menard's for around 20 or to put it in our native language less than two six packs of Spotted Cow at the Kwik Trip.  It will come with a few sheets of sandpaper which should be adequate,,   While you're there get one of those sanding blocks that look like a sponge with about 300 grit to follow up.  Get all the Minwax off and smooth the surface down.   Go back to Menard's and save big money by buying a small jar of Minwax in the appropriate color.  If you're uncomfortable with tha go to Farm and Fleet or to a hardware store with a proper name in front of the brand and talk with someone there about what you are trying to achieve.  Know if the wood is pine or hardwood.  Then, put a thick even coat of the minwax down and rub it in thoroughly.  Even better, get an old washcloth and put the stain on the washcloth and rub it in using maybe two or three coats until you get the color you want.  If it still doesn't please you paint it.  Personally I would go with Navy Blue rather than black, but it's just me. 

Remember, you put hundreds of hours and no little funds into what will be an outstanding model.  Please don't go cheap on the base.

[seadude]

Okay first.   You live in Wisconsin.   You can get a detail sander at Menard's for around 20 or to put it in our native language less than two six packs of Spotted Cow at the Kwik Trip.  It will come with a few sheets of sandpaper which should be adequate,,   While you're there get one of those sanding blocks that look like a sponge with about 300 grit to follow up.  Get all the Minwax off and smooth the surface down.   Go back to Menard's and save big money by buying a small jar of Minwax in the appropriate color.  If you're uncomfortable with tha go to Farm and Fleet or to a hardware store with a proper name in front of the brand and talk with someone there about what you are trying to achieve.  Know if the wood is pine or hardwood.  Then, put a thick even coat of the minwax down and rub it in thoroughly.  Even better, get an old washcloth and put the stain on the washcloth and rub it in using maybe two or three coats until you get the color you want.  If it still doesn't please you paint it.  Personally I would go with Navy Blue rather than black, but it's just me. 

Remember, you put hundreds of hours and no little funds into what will be an outstanding model.  Please don't go cheap on the base.

Ok, let me clear the air here on a few things.
First, I'm on a budget. I'm not rich and don't have a lot of money. So buying new wood and/or power tools and/or other sanding supplies and/or more stain or other solvents is going to be out of the question.
Second, I live in an apartment. And a small one too. So there's not much room to work in and I can't have a lot of noise if I were to use power tools and/or any foul smelling solvents as that would stink up the building.
So I'm limited on options.
The only other thing is Option # 5 which is of last resort. Give the base to a fellow model club member who occasionally works with wood and have him correct everything. Only problem is that I'd be waiting maybe 3-4 months to get it back from him.

No matter what I do or whatever advice anybody offers, one thing is for certain: I totally screwed myself on this project.
I have a confession to make. I don't know a hill of beans when it comes to staining. It wasn't something they taught back in my Carpentry class back in high school. I figured I could just brush it on like paint and that would be that. I was wrong and I was stupid.
I'm almost afraid to sand it for fear of screwing up the wood base even more.
I'm thinking of maybe just cutting my losses and biting the bullet so to speak and just using what I got right now.
But whether I leave the base with just one coat as is or put a second coat of the same color stain on, I don't know yet. I've blown about $50-55 on this wood base plus the stain and any other supplies. I can't afford to throw away another $50+ or more on more wood, sanding supplies, etc.

[seadude]

Moving right along.............

I had hoped to build and paint at least 15-20 flight deck tractors, but I was only able to do 10.   Somehow, I either used or lost a bunch of wheels that I could have used to make 10 more vehicles. Only thing I can think of is that I used a bunch of wheels to make flight deck vehicles for my USS Solace LHD hospital ship in the past.
Anyway, I'll have to settle for what I got as shown below for my carrier. Next to do either later this week or next week will be building and painting the forklifts which are also from the same packaging as shown below. I will not be using the aircraft crash crane from the packaging.

[kerick]

I've done a lot of woodworking and one thing I know is the same stain will react differently on different species and if the wood has been sanded a little or a lot. In particular maple and actual pine will act quite differently than other woods. Roughly sanded wood will absorb much more stain than wood sanded almost to a polish. That said, I think the picture under the camera flash looks pretty good. Maybe another coat if you want it darker. Or you could go with something darker with some red in it. Either way this is not a total loss and can be made to look very nice.