Disaster Strikes!

I sprayed the superstructure color on and waited 24 hours to remove the masking.

Well the moment of truth arrived and I removed the masking. The decks went very well and looked great. Then I pulled the liquid mask from the hull sides. And virtually every last spec of the white hull paint came up too! !@#$%^&*! I hate it when that happens.

I then faced the moment every modeler faces... box it up and put it back in the stack until I had the nerve to face all that ruined work or try again. I went upstairs to watch TV and to avoid thinking about all the work I'd just ruined.

The next day, I took the hull, placed it in a one quart plastic baggie and hosed it down with easy off oven cleaner. I let that sit for 24 hours to thoroughly loosen all of the paint. It's important because you don't want to obscure that beautiful detail with too much paint.

After 24, I used a tooth brush to scrub off the paint. It should come off pretty well and I didn't cause any damage to the resin hull.

I queried some folks on the internet and they recommended priming the hull with Tamiya Surface Primer L (Gray) . I bought some at the local hobby shop and remounted the hull to my building slip with Rubber cement. (I found that the PVA kept drying too much and the hull became loose)

After a quick spray of the primer, I'm back to square one.

Hull Masking

 

After the Hull had dried for 24 hours, I masked the hull sides with the same techniques used for the deck. Note the masking tape near the barbette and at the bow and stern. Once the liquid mask has dried for 24 hours, the superstructure color can be laid on.

Deck and Hull Painting

Once the hull was firmly mounted to the slipway, I sprayed the deck with an acrylic paint available from Walmart. It was "Plaid" brand and was #953 Camel. Any "deck looking" color will suffice because there's a lot more that's going to be done to the deck before finishing. It's best to think of the color as a base coat.

Once the deck is painted, the real tedium begins. I lay a strip of masking tape down on a sheet of 1/4 glass that I use as a cutting base. I then cut off a thin strip from both sides with a single edge razor blade held against a ruler to ensure a straight line. I also cut the ends square. I then cut a long single strip from the tape that's as thin as I can get it and still get a good gluing surface on the underside. (The pics illustrate the width)

Using a pair of sharp tweezers and an exacto knife I begin to cover all the edges of the deck. I will try to do all the edges parallel to the keel of the ship.

Covering the entire deck can take more than a week. I also try to work in short sessions so that I don't get frustrated and hurl the damn thing into the wall (haha). I find that using an optivisor for this work invaluable. It may seem like an expensive luxury but in order to do fine detail work at this small scale it is a must.

Apply liquid mask to all the open areas and cover up to the tape edges. This allows you to get crisp edges and still cover the whole deck in a timely manner.

Once the liquid mask has dried for 24 hours, I sprayed the hull white. Again this was done using a generic acrylic color obtained from the Walmart crafts section. Don't forget to apply the photoetch to the hull sides. I had to keep making a mental note of this to make sure I didn't forget.

The next step is to start masking the trim line between the superstructure and hull side in order to paint the superstructure a "buff" color.

First things first

My first step in building the Maine is to mount her to a building slip. Just as in building the real thing, my slip will allow me to work on the kit in a way that prevents damage to the kit. I mounted the model to a chunk of 1x1 pine scrap that I had in the garage. I used Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA) cement to glue the Maine down. PVA is a fancy name for good old Elmers white glue. When the time comes to remove the model from the slip, a little water and gentle prying should do the trick! In the mean time I now have an excellent "handle" for working on the kit.

If you are so inclined, before mounting the hull, you might want to wash it to remove any lingering mold release agent (a substance that helps remove the resin from its' mold). I find Combrigs kits to be usually pretty clean in this respect so I usually just give it a quick wipe with a cotton swab dipped in window cleaner.

Some people prefer to wash their parts religiously before beginning work. It's like always putting you pads on the same way before a football game...everyone has their own voodoo rituals.

History

The USS Maine is one of a handful of US Naval vessels that have reached an iconic status. Much like the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, she is remembered not for her deeds in life but for the manner of her death.

The USS Maine was dispatched to Havana, Cuba in an early example of US Gunboat diplomacy. It was hoped that her presence would help quell the Cuban unrest directed at Spanish authorities that threatened to spill over and endanger the lives and property of US citizens in Cuba. She sailed into Havana Harbor on January 25th, 1898.



On the evening of February 15th, 1898, an explosion ripped through the forward portion of the vessel. An actual photo of the explosion is possibly recorded below. You can read more about that photo here.



Regardless of whether she was sunk by Spanish or rebel action or simply through a coal fire, 266 American sailors dies aboard her.



Her loss was thought to have been at the hands of Spanish treachery and so the rallying cry,"Remember the Maine." helped start the Spanish American War.

In 1910 her hulk was raised, the bodies removed and interred at Arlington, and she was towed out of Havana.



She was scuttled at sea.