Lindberg Minesweeper

Floating Drydock has a plan book on CD of the Admirable Class Minesweepers:

 http://floatingdrydock.com/

Scroll down the page and you should see it.

Typically, these publications contain lots of drawings and photographs and cover the subject very thoroughly. If you really want to go all out on this model I would recommend this as a good place to start.

Hey George

 I built this "gem" in 1977 and I did the following. Sand the hull smooth and get rid of that oversized plating lines. The same with the smoke stack, Lindberg has that "plated" too. This step alone will improve the ship's appearence. If you are skilled at soldering, make up the lifelines and stanctions. If not stretch some sprue for the stanctions and use thread(or finely streched sprue). Actually, evergreen plastics makes small diameter solid rod, that could be useful too. I'd replace the 3" gun barrel with some brass tubing or brass rod. As the other helpful folk suggest, there is quite a bit of good info out there to aid you in building a "better" model. A lot depends on how much you wish to invest in time and money. And of course a nice wood display stand adds to it's appearence.  Good luck!  

Hello Thunder1,

The ship I am trying to put together Is the Admiral Class USS Density which has the Measure 32 & Camo design 21D.

Did you follow the actual Navy colors like Light gray 5-L ,Dull black bk, and Deck Blue 20-B and if so what paints did you use?

Thanks, George

thunder1 wrote:

Hey George  I built this "gem" in 1977 and I did the following. Sand the hull smooth and get rid of that oversized plating lines. The same with the smoke stack, Lindberg has that "plated" too. This step alone will improve the ship's appearence. If you are skilled at soldering, make up the lifelines and stanctions. If not stretch some sprue for the stanctions and use thread(or finely streched sprue). Actually, evergreen plastics makes small diameter solid rod, that could be useful too. I'd replace the 3" gun barrel with some brass tubing or brass rod. As the other helpful folk suggest, there is quite a bit of good info out there to aid you in building a "better" model. A lot depends on how much you wish to invest in time and money. And of course a nice wood display stand adds to it's appearence.  Good luck!

Photos of the preserved USS Hazard (at Freedom Park, Omaha) might also be useful for reference - you can see some here:

http://www.modelwarships.com/features/museums/freedompark.html

http://www.taskforce1.org/freedompark.htm

Hi George

 I believe I used Measure 21 navy blue hull, gray band, I based it on a B/W photo of the same type as Lindberg's  minesweeper. In 1977 there wasn't a heck of a lot of reference of the different camo measures so I opted to keep it simple. As for the paint I mixed my own, applied it with an airbrush(no White Ensign paint line in the "Good ol days"). I'm going to purchase another minesweeper but go with a different paint scheme.

Warm regards

Mike M.

After finally getting started on this kit I am finding the quaility is terrible. Any part that has a seam line if offset to the point that you can not sand it down to make both sides line up. What does one do in a case like this? I wonder if all of their kits are like that or could it be that I just got a bad kit?

George

Hey there,

I myself just built one of these. We had the USS Inaugural down on our waterfront here in St.Louis, until the great flood of `93 dragged it away and sank it. So I wanted to build one from my fond memories of touring that ship. I found the ship really neat to assemble. I am going to replace the 40's in the aft section with replacement cast metal ones from 'HR products. They make very nice dual and quad 40` bofors mounts for the 125th "Blue devil" kit of Lindbergs. Also, tom's modelworks produces a 125th brass photo etch set for the same kit. I intend in using some of it also to finish my little minesweeper. Also, I will be pairing it up with a Revell U-99 boat, as it's in the same scale, a nice size comparison too. I'll be modifiying the 20mm mounts and 50`s as well. Overall, I really liked mine.Good luck and happy modeling your Minesweeper, as I'll be finishing my "Augie"

Regards,

Steve

 Hello,

Are a lot the sprue seams offset on your kit?

Could you post some pics?

Thanks, George

nicodemus wrote:

Hey there, I myself just built one of these. We had the USS Inaugural down on our waterfront here in St.Louis, until the great flood of `93 dragged it away and sank it. So I wanted to build one from my fond memories of touring that ship. I found the ship really neat to assemble. I am going to replace the 40's in the aft section with replacement cast metal ones from 'HR products. They make very nice dual and quad 40` bofors mounts for the 125th "Blue devil" kit of Lindbergs. Also, tom's modelworks produces a 125th brass photo etch set for the same kit. I intend in using some of it also to finish my little minesweeper. Also, I will be pairing it up with a Revell U-99 boat, as it's in the same scale, a nice size comparison too. I'll be modifiying the 20mm mounts and 50`s as well. Overall, I really liked mine.Good luck and happy modeling your Minesweeper, as I'll be finishing my "Augie" Regards, Steve

George,

 I imagine there were quite a few sprue seams offset on mine too. Sure, I'll try to work up some photos for ya`, be patient, I haven't posted pics here in years. Then you can get a gander at what I'm up too, deal?

regards,

Steve,

In my habit of disturbing the tomb of long-dead threads, I do usually try to be helpful and constructive. There is an online resource that has photos of the Lindberg Minesweeper.

A longtime favorite it seems, this kit, called a "gem" (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) can be improved with a little work and I believe that is the real value here. The hull lines are accurate enough as are the basic shapes. Some of the armament is shared with that of the Blue Devil (40mm's) and some are not; the 20mm are noticeably better rendered than on the BD although that is not saying much. Overall, I like this kit and how accurate it turns out is a reflection of one's modeling skills. It is not a mere "assembler's kit", this one will test your resolve.

Anyway, Edward Pinniger has had this site up for some time. Not sure if his photos do the 'sweeper justice or rather injustice in this case as it may not show the defects you speak of:

www.users.globalnet.co.uk/.../lindberg_minesweeper.html

The best reference for the Admirable class minesweepers represented by the kit is the Floating Drydock's e-book.  Tons of drawings and photographs.  There is one preserved ship, the USS Hazard, located in Omaha, NE.  They have a facebook page (Freedom Park-Omaha) and there is a posting of several pics of that ship on Photobucket or one of the other websites by Carl M who lives nearby.   http://s264.photobucket.com/user/carlomaha/library/USS%20Hazard%20AM-240?sort=3&page=1

That was the first ship model I ever built using paint and doing some rigging.( raided Mom's sewing box for threads of various colours and gauges) I was very young and thought I did a great job..still do. LOL Assembling and wiring the armature for the electric motor ..not done. Way too complicated for me.which it would still be today.

However the copper wire provided was useful on other projects for years afterwords. Well I remember the "good old daze" when "parts" were found anywhere around the house.

in those daze "paint thinner and brush cleaner" was called "Zippo Lighter Fuel" Tools ..raid the kitchen drawers and Dad's tool bench.

Some pics would be kinda nice...