Here comes the USS San Francisco, CA38 New Orleans class heavy cruiser as she appeared in November 1942 at Guadalcanal.
The Trumpeter 1/350 kit; the only game in town at that scale.
Text Part 1:
Here are the details I thought would improve the model.
On
the hull I shaved off the prop guards and the hawse hole collars.
Replaced the collars with a dollop of white glue. Did not replace the
guards, maybe one day. Filled all the portholes from the base of #1
forward- wartime shots show them closed and it looks nice.
On the
main deck I carved off the chains- maybe not worth the trouble as their
replacements are just mediocre. Replaced the 1.1 guns at the stern with
L’arsenal resin bits. The lifelines are one of my favorite parts of the
model. A careful look at photos shows that, like most warship main
decks, they are a system of folding stanchions that get rigged with
line when set up. So I took TMW (Tom’s Modelworks) PE pipe rails and
painted them Gull Gray, then painted the bottom bar hull blue to
replicate the flange along the edge of the deck. Then, I took a # 11
and using it like a fountain pen, lined the verticals blue as well.
Main
battery was left as is, except that the seals around the 8” barrels
were a mess. A combination of sink marks on the sides and sprue
attachment points in lousy locations. After scraping them a little, I
built up three or four layers of white glue, in a folded kind of look.
I popped the turrets on with white glue, as I may replace the barrels
one day with turned brass.
I added PE ladders to the right side of each turret.
The
5”guns are also L’arsenal resin, and I like them very much, a real
improvement over the kit ones. All the little PE seats, parts and
pieces were somewhat beyond my abilities, but they build up well.
Text Part 2:
The aircraft crane booms, catapults, ladders Mk. gun director and SC radar arrays are all TMW PE.
I used the kit 20mm’s but they could be improved or replaced.
The
searchlight tower was scratchbuilt. I used the platform but cut off the
solid rails that are meant to replicate canvas dodgers, and replaced
with open rail. The kit tower is really poorly looking, as are the
catapults.
On the catapult towers, I used a saw to open the
panoramic operators view window and framed it with scrap PE. This
really improved the look.
I added ladders to the front of the stacks and scratched up a little platform for the siren and whistle at the forward stack.
The
whip antennas are paintbrush bristles that have a nice taper on the
ends. I rigged the stack guys with 270 denier mono, which looks so-so.
Then I rigged the masts with 20 denier mono that is much better
looking. Did insulators with CA mixed with black paint.
I replaced
all of the struts on the Seagulls with PE or just bits of wire. Built
up little gearbox covers with sanded sprue and replaced the props with
PE.
The whole was painted, mostly before assembly, in Measure 21. I
used WEM (White Ensign Models) paints for Navy Blue and Deck Blue,
which are almost the same color. The lower hull is Tamiya Hull red. I
cannot successfully airbrush Tamiya acrylics, so I brushpainted the
color. The props are Testors “Brass. “
No weathering except that the decks were washed with superdiluted black enamel in thinner.
Future for the decals, followed by a good coat of Dulcote. Then I filled all the bridge glass with Krystal Klear.
A
piece of oak from the scrap bin at the lumberyard, with a routered
detail around the top, clear acrylic coat, some brass standards and we
are set to sail for Guadalcanal.
I hope you like her. It’s by far the best ship model kit I have ever built. The Treaty Cruisers are a beautiful era of design.
Here are my main resources:
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CA38/GuadalcanalDamageRpt.html
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=37034&start=135
http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/038/04038.htm
Mods: I apologize for the repeat post, but i don't know if folks look at the GB's much.
Bill