GHQ Models Forums

Looks great. Need to send a sub and some dive bombers to sink it.

Great looking ship Bill! Please tell me that's a desk decal and that you didn't paint the flight deck by hand!

Thanks a lot everyone!

Red, that is absolutely a fantastic decal from FDDs, I have nowhere near the abilities to do that. Matching the colors was a bit tricky, the hull still came out a bit darker, but I’m going with the deck is a little sun bleached. I have another decal for Shokaku in teak, and as luck would have it, that was one of the ships I got for Christmas, so she’ll be getting painted early war. I went camo with Zuikaku because the casting was untypically pretty bad for GHQ, there was a ton of flash, it looked like the molds weren’t lined up, and the deck didn’t fit good at all, it took a lot of scraping and cleaning with a rat tail, so I figured I had a better shot at covering blemishes with darker colors. Fortunately the new one I got looks much better, so it must have been a one off bad casting.

Nice work Bill. Your carrier looks amazing. Hope my LHD USS Wasps turn out as good when I am done with them.

The last couple of purchases, from GHQ, have had a lot of flash. As you pointed out, it does appear that the molds are not properly lined up. Took me a while to clean up some of the ships that got in that batch. I use and exacto Knife and alot of sanding to clean up my stuff. Not sure the knife is the right way to go.. but it works enough to make lines stick out less.

Thanks a lot Hoth!
So it really depends on the ship and how bad chunkiness (word?) is, as to how I clean it up. Sometimes, a really old, dull, number 11 blade scraping blade back does the trick on light stuff. On Zuikaku, I actually had to use sprue cutters to get some big stuff off, then use a rat tail jewelers file tip so I didn’t destroy the curve of the bow and fantail. I had the same issue a while back when I built the Lexington, but it was a misalignment on a flat part of the port side of the hull, so my only choice was to deal with a lip, or sand off some detail. In the end the loss of detail was the better choice. On some of my Casablanca’s I’ve had to loose some anchors.

Great job on the Zuikaku! I always enjoy your work.

Thanks a lot RM!

Excellent work on both the American infantry and the Zuikaku, Bill!

I can tell that you used some of the older GHQ weapons teams for your Bazooka teams. I have some of the American weapons teams myself and have used the 81mm mortar and the .30 cal MG for my American infantry.

It sure is nice having deck decals for the carriers. I cannot imagine trying to actually paint the pattern on the Zuikaku by hand. Yours looks great.

Been a little while since I've post some ACW. Here's another stand of zouaves to round out the 72nd Pennsylvania.

Nice looking Zouaves.

Thanks a lot Chris!

The Boys look great Bill! Can't get enough of your ACW work!

Thanks a lot Red. I took a little break, but I’m going to see if I can finish off the II Corps and Picketts division.

Those are some really nice looking Zouaves, Bill! It is amazing how many different Zouave uniforms there are for the Civil War. I know GHQ makes at least 3 types and I think I have all of them.

Thanks a lot Pete! You are right about that, Zouave options are endless. I actually find GHQs offerings kinda bland, the only real option is headgear. But since I model in brigade level, I don’t have a need for tons of Zouaves, just a few stands here and there, they fill they need. Cracker Line makes some really nice Zouaves, and one of these days I have every intention of getting a regiment or brigade pack to make a diorama with them, maybe Fredericksburg, Antietam, or a battle of the Seven Days.