'Bringing you the very best in the world of small scale ship modelling'
HMS Illustrious & HMS Manchester
by Frank Spahr

HMS Illustrious and HMS Manchester by Frank Spahr, 1:700


I used the Revell Illustrious in her mid 90ies fit and the Dragon Manchester. The appropriate WEM PE was used, plus the WEM resin upgrade, WEM deck vehicles, and WEM Sea Kings. Figures are Lion Roar.

Illustrious had to be waterlined. Her deck markings were masked and sprayed. All paints are acrylics, from Vallejo, JPS and Revell.

The base was made in my usual way. The models were placed and screwed to a Trumpeter Display Box, raised features of the seascape were sculpted using plastic putty. Wall paint was added and served as a filler, it was
structured using a broad brush in a stippling motion. The base was then sprayed with various acrylics. After thorough curing, the base received several coats of clear gloss lacquer from a can. Finally, white artist´s oil paint was drybrushed for effects.

The ships are still detachable at this point, so final blending in with acrylic gel will still happen.

Frank