USS Cushing DD-985 1:350

 Your builders are doing ships now? Or I haven't been paying attention...

  Looks pretty good.

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tankerbuilder wrote:

MODEL -MANIAC  ----- That,s one nice looking model . The weathering is subtl and realistic so that it seems like your looking at the real thing , of course that,s what modeling is about , right ???   tankerbuilder

Many thanks for your kind compliments, tankerbuilder! I haven't seen the real thing so I don't know whether this model looks realistic or not, but I believe you. Now "Toom" is working on an older but larger warship - the USS North Carolina 1:350. Allow a month or two for this one.

m60a3 wrote:

Your builders are doing ships now? Or I haven't been paying attention...   Looks pretty good.                                    60

Well, apart from armors and dioramas, my builders have been building warplanes and warships for so many years. You have to see this menu:

http://www.geocities.com/~falconbbs/modelcnt.htm

All in all, I have four permanent modelers and one visiting modeler. The first and most important is "Art Instructor" (AI) who builds most armors and dioramas. The second one is "Niphon" who builds warplanes and warships (latest works were F/A-18D 1:32 and Elco 80' Torpedo Boat 1:35), the third one is "Joh" who builds figure-based vignettes, and the fourth one is "Toom" (AI's big brother) who builds this Cushing 1:350 and warplanes and other items - copter, submarines and armor - seen on the same page of mine. As for the visiting modeler whose name is "Tazmanian", he builds mainly for another collector but also builds for me from time to time. I got a call from him yesterday that my Tu-160 1:72 is near finish now, and that it's so big that the only way to show is hanging on the ceiling, otherwise I'll need a 1m x 1m display case. He's capable of building all types of models but specializes in warplanes and warships. 

Model Maniac wrote:

tankerbuilder wrote:   MODEL -MANIAC  ----- That,s one nice looking model . The weathering is subtl and realistic so that it seems like your looking at the real thing , of course that,s what modeling is about , right ???   tankerbuilder Many thanks for your kind compliments, tankerbuilder! I haven't seen the real thing so I don't know whether this model looks realistic or not, but I believe you. Now "Toom" is working on an older but larger warship - the USS North Carolina 1:350. Allow a month or two for this one.

 I built the USS N. Carolina last year. I actually had the funds after leaving my Fire Department job...  It was a good build, but I have yet to paint her. She is a beauty. Hope you get what you pay for, MM!!

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It's an exquisite build, and the painting is superb in technique.

Just does not look like any of the Spru-cans I've been aboard.  And a lot of that is subtle things, like the Deck divisions can and do paint any thing they can reach while under way.  So the hull paint can look beat, but deck items, superstructure not needing scaffolding, and the like tends to look good.  Anchor chain on deck ought to be in very good shape.  Decks also have non-skid on them.

But, that's nit-picking.  Only real thing to fix is to square up that jackstaff.

CapnMac82 wrote:

It's an exquisite build, and the painting is superb in technique. Just does not look like any of the Spru-cans I've been aboard.  And a lot of that is subtle things, like the Deck divisions can and do paint any thing they can reach while under way.  So the hull paint can look beat, but deck items, superstructure not needing scaffolding, and the like tends to look good.  Anchor chain on deck ought to be in very good shape.  Decks also have non-skid on them. But, that's nit-picking.  Only real thing to fix is to square up that jackstaff.

Ill piggy back on your comment, as I finish the USS Kidd (Dragon, 1:350). Shouldn't most of the antennae/sensor masts be black?

The Captain's gig should have a thin red waterline.

How do you mimic non-skid? Does the helo deck be "darker" than the rest of the deck? (ie, closer to black than deck grey?).

The weathering is really nice on this one, was going to try a variation of dot filtering on mine.

Thanks for any/all your info, my whole Navy career has been landlubber ;) (MSC).

cheers

Many thanks for more comments and discussions since my last reply. I don't know about the Anti-Fouling and other items on the ship mentioned here, they sound like technical terms to me.

m60a3, it's good that you built but haven't painted it. I remember that the USS North Carolina did not provide any PE railings. A very big warship like this will look plain and barren without the thing. So I think you need to get some PE upgrade, railings at the least, before painting it. In my case I use a local made PE rails. ;-)

 It's true, MM. But I can't afford AM things..

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Well, the price for GMM PE detail-up parts is only $45 plus $2.50 shipping, and that's about half of the ship's price. If you can afford the ship then why not the PE set?

http://goldmm.com/ships/gms350-34.htm 

JMart wrote:

How do you mimic non-skid? Does the helo deck be "darker" than the rest of the deck? (ie, closer to black than deck grey?).

At 1/350, probably best to just shade the paint slightly one way or another.  may be interesting to see is more AM walkway decals come out.

I think that a hair darker helo deck probably works for scale effect.

Here's a whole battery of Kidd photos:  http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/993.htm

Note DN SC 83 10812, it shows how the hull rust is different than the superstructure.  Wish it was a better shot of the helo deck, though.

 I had a decent retirement check to play with, but I am not retired. 45 dollars won't fill my gas tank. Some people are not rich. You might not understand. The $2.50? That's ONE GALLON of gas. If I could, I would. That simple, MM. Good for you that you don't understand. You have done better than me.

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The model looks good, but I have to admit that I have rarely if ever seen a U.S. warship that had that much weathering effect. I admit that could be wrong.

Your model has inspired me to get into modern destroyers for a change. can anyone advise me as to the best Arleigh Burke kit . . . the one by Panda or Dragon/DML in 1/350 scale?

Bill Morrison

m60a3 wrote:

I had a decent retirement check to play with, but I am not retired. 45 dollars won't fill my gas tank. Some people are not rich. You might not understand. The $2.50? That's ONE GALLON of gas. If I could, I would. That simple, MM. Good for you that you don't understand. You have done better than me.                                                     60

In terms of gas usage I surely done better than most of you guys. I use much less gas and use it more effeciently. While 45 dollars won't fill your gas tank, it fills mine many times over. In fact, it's good for 3 months straight. I don't own a car and my dirt bike can do 29km/litre or about 69 MPG. If you use less gas you can have the PE detail-up kit. ;-) 

warshipguy wrote:

The model looks good, but I have to admit that I have rarely if ever seen a U.S. warship that had that much weathering effect. I admit that could be wrong. Your model has inspired me to get into modern destroyers for a change. can anyone advise me as to the best Arleigh Burke kit . . . the one by Panda or Dragon/DML in 1/350 scale? Bill Morrison

Thanks so much, Bill, for your kind comments. As for the best Arleigh Burke kit, I think this Dragon kit is the one. It comes with PE rails and this ship was built OOTB. I haven't seen new kits from Panda for some time now, don't know whether they're still in business or not. 

Model Maniac wrote:

m60a3 wrote:    I had a decent retirement check to play with, but I am not retired. 45 dollars won't fill my gas tank. Some people are not rich. You might not understand. The $2.50? That's ONE GALLON of gas. If I could, I would. That simple, MM. Good for you that you don't understand. You have done better than me.                                                     60   In terms of gas usage I surely done better than most of you guys. I use much less gas and use it more effeciently. While 45 dollars won't fill your gas tank, it fills mine many times over. In fact, it's good for 3 months straight. I don't own a car and my dirt bike can do 29km/litre or about 69 MPG. If you use less gas you can have the PE detail-up kit. ;-)

I would really like to see you riding your dirt bike on an interstate highway with a semi-truck on your butt, blasting his airhorns.

But getting back to weathering, your upperworks are weathered way more than the hull, it should be the other way around.  You never see this in the real world. But other than that, she is looking pretty good.

Well, there's no reason to ride dirt bike on interstate highway when you can use the bus or train or plane. Dirt bike is best in city traffic - the environment where I live. You'll need a big bike for interstate highway. In that case, no 18-wheelers will be able to chase you, and if they're able, chances are that you'll be chased even you're in a car.

I have no idea about what parts of the ship should wear more than the others. Thanks for your comments on the build. 

็Hi tankerbuilder,

I don't know the anti fouling part, what is it and where is it on the ship? I agree with you about the underwater areas that some modelers forget to weather.

Model Maniac wrote:

็Hi tankerbuilder, I don't know the anti fouling part, what is it and where is it on the ship? I agree with you about the underwater areas that some modelers forget to weather.

"Anti-fouling" is the red paint (there are other colors as well)  used on the ship's bottom to reduce "fouling" caused by seagrowth such as barnacles and worms. This stuff wears off and is discolored the longer it has been exposed to the sea.