Hi, all,
This is a small collection of 1/1200 kits, that I built for fun, and for our club's monthly theme last July, "Discontinued", that is, kits by companies that had gone out of business. Current issues of those kits by current manufacturers were allowed. I immediately thought of the Pyro and Eaglewall ship kits that I had in my stash. However, I decided to make it an exercise in making sea bases using artist's acrylic gel, and I kept adding more kits, and I wound up missing the deadline. I finished them by our Christmas meeting. So here they are...
The Shinano, originally by Casadio, re-issued by ESCI (which this kit is), and today, in Revell's catalog:
Pyro's Musashi, from their old "Table-Top Navy" series, and re-issued today by Lindberg:
The kit was also boxed as the Yamato. It is not as nice a kit as the Casadio kit now sold by Revell. There's an interesting detail, though: There is a single small turret mounted admidships starboard. I read somewhere--possibly here in FSM--that the Japanese originally intended to install these turrets but later abandoned the idea, and that Pyro got hold either of plans or a photo that showed the single starboard turret, and included it in their mold.
Pyro's Zuikaku/Shokaku:
I'm calling mine the Zuikaku, but I didn't really finish it with any specific markings either way. Lindberg has re-issued this kit with the Yamato/Musashi kit in a dual boxing.
RM Vittorio Veneto, by ESCI:
Originally by Casadio, I think, and re-issued by ESCI. I don't think anyone ever issued it again. It was also boxed as the Roma. Not a bad little kit, but with it, I learned that masking a tiny ship model for airbrushing is trickier than you may think. Low-tack Tamiya tape tended to lift over the molded-on details on the deck, and when run up the side of the gun tubs and the superstructure. I had to touch up by hand.
DKM Scharnhorst, also originally by Casadio, I think, re-issued by ESCI (which is this kit), and also sold by Revell-Europe in the "Mini-Ship Serie", and today, in Revell's catalog:
This kit was also issued as the Gneisenau. This was one of the last ones I started, so I skimped on painting her, leaving off the aerial recognition markings. But this was another kit with relatively crisp details, for the size and scale.
The Royal Navy is represented by HMS Essex, by Eaglewall:
These Eaglewall kits might be simple and softly detailed, compared to today's kits in larger scale. But I challenge anyone to work with the tiny, tiny parts they contain, like life rafts that are 3mm long, ship's boats that aren't much larger, and masts that are molded in separate parts. Very fiddly work to do the normal cleanup of things like sprue gates or seams. Takes more care than one might think.
Along with the Essex, I have HMS Cossack and Hotspur:
Tiny, tiny ships! They're both about four inches long.
And now, the US Navy, starting with Pyro's USS North Carolina:
This kit goes together well and relatively quickly, and it's a decent-enough wargaming model of the Showboat. What I found particularly interesting about this kit, is that Pyro boxed it not only as the North Carolina and her sister, the Washington, but also as two members of the next class, the South Dakota and Massachusetts. Pyro labeled them all as "American Battleship" and then printed the relevant ship's name on the sides and on the instruction sheet. They either didn't know or ignored the visual differences between the two classes, particularly the shorter length, wider beam and single stack of the South Dakotas.
Here's the same kit, finished as the Washington:
This kit is available today as a re-issue from Lindberg, in a dual boxing with the Pyro Essex kit. I have another one, and I'm wondering if I can bash it into a reasonable model of the South Dakota. Or I may just get the Superior kit, I haven't decided how much trouble I want to make for myself.
USS Iowa, in a boxing from Revell/Europe's "Mini-Ship Serie":
I think this one also originated with Casadio, and then Revell-Europe issued it, as did MPC, and it's available today from Revell, as each of the four Iowas. This boxing included the fanciful decals for camoflaging the main hull, as the MPC boxing. Interesting, too, that it includes a pair of Curtiss Seahawk scout planes and a pair of helicopters, with a helipad engraved on her deck aft.
Here's Pyro's USS Essex:
This kit has some accuracy problems, but again, for a small kit and quick build, it was adequate. My only complaint with this kit is that Pyro didn't include any aircraft (they didn't include any in the Japanese carrier kit, either). I know I can get some from Alnavco, but I thought it was odd. Casadio included them, in their aircraft carrier kits (Shinano and the Yorktowns). If you're so included, though, you can finish this kit as pretty much any of the Essexes, if you overlook the difference in length between the "long-hull" and "short-hull" ships.
I built a second one as the Yorktown (CV-10), and tried my hand at her Measure 10A dazzle camo:
I have one or two more of these, and when I do another in dazzle, I'll mask and airbrush the scheme. I hand-painted this one, and the borders between colors are rough.
In each case, the build took only a couple of hours, with the Eaglewall kits taking the most time. And the Musashi had a bit of a warp at her stern, on the starboard half of the hull, that needed soaking in hot water.
Making the bases was more instructive. For the bases themselves, I used two different materials. For the smaller bases, like the one for the American battleships, I salvaged old name plates at work, when people left our company. They're of a nice thickness and needed no trimming, just the right size. For the carriers, I used a "For Sale" sign from the hardware store. I ripped it down to 2-inch-wide strips and cut them in half. Then I laminated two strips for each base, with regular old Testor's tube glue.
For the water, I used Golden's artist's heavy acrylic gloss gel. It was the first time I ever worked with the product, and it worked really well. I used an old plastic butter knife, with most of the teeth filed off, to apply the gel to the bases and shape it. I shaped random waves, the bow waves and the wakes. I need to refine my technique, because I think I made the bow waves and the wakes a little too stark. For the colors, I mixed tube acrylic blue and green for the basic color, and white for the foam. There, too, I need to refine the technique. But this was a good exercise. I have a 1/700 kit of the Pennsylvania in progress, and I want to use this technique to make a sea base for her.
I have more 1/1200 kits in the stash, and one on the bench--MPC's boxing of the Enterprise, which I am finishing as the Yorktown as she appeared at her commissioning, with her airwing in yellow wings livery.
These can be good kits when you need a quick build to finish and get yourself over a block with a bigger, more serious kit.
Best regards, and thanks for looking!
Brad