USS Sacramento (AOE-1) Kit

I did a couple of fleet oilers in 1/350 and used lead solder for the UNREP hoses and they came out OK...in 1/700 I did the Cimarron/Willamette and also used solder - one can get very small diameter stuff from fishing lure/flytying supply houses.

The lack of UNREP hoses is annoying since they are about the single most visible thing on the ship. I just finished a review build of the kit and plan on making the hoses out of .010 solder painted black with scrap photo etch bits for the boom sliders when I get her back. Solder seems like the ideal medium since it's easy to work with, can be looped and sagged realistically and takes paint fairly well. 

While not perfect the kit is very good. Oddly I had no upper to lower hull fitment problems.

I too would love to see a later version kitted but it might not be that difficult to update the Trumpeter version. At least for those of you with more modern junk in your parts boxes. Mine is mostly filled with WWII stuff.

For those doing her, supposedly the props are one blade short, they should be 6 bladed I guess. Not a big deal to me, not that I could correct it anyway. The other minor thing is the towed array boxes at the stern starboard. Those were added in the 90s. Again, a minor thing and easy enough to fix if you want to. 

The helicopter deck bothers me but it is what it is.

She is going to look great in the display case with the USS Long Beach and a couple other 1/700 ships I have that fit that era. Maybe it's time for me to finish up my scratch built USS Truxtan? She would be perfect for a small 60's diorama. 

Generals win battles, Logisticians win wars.  I have no idea who said that but they were correct.

"Amateurs talk tactics, professionals study logistics",  quote attributed to General Omar Bradley.

ALL of my 1/700 ships have been auxiliaries, except for the one Perry frigate I built for a friend. Oh, and the Big E for another friend. I prefer the little gray lumps that labor in obscurity, but without them, nothing happens.

Another idea for the hoses is to use the "D" string for a banjo.  (Extra light gauge, you need only buy the one string for about $1.50) It is wound which gives the effect of texture and if you anneal it (Heat it to glowing red with a torch and let it cool slowly not quenching it) it will bend very easily and stay in the shape you bend it. (Being a bluegrass musician comes in handy from time to time.)  Make sure you use a steel wound string not a phosphor bronze string.  (Unless of course you are buying it for a banjo in which the PB variety is better, but I digress) Guitar strings would be too thick in the wound variety.  It has worked well for me on the Trumpeter Jeremiah O'Brien.  

I agree with you all, we need more auxiliary ship kits and more merchant ships that are not the Titanic. (Not that she is not a great ship, I'm doing one in 1/200 for R/C)  The 1/700 Colombo Express is a step in the right direction.  Wouldn't a 1/350 ULCC be a great project?

The PE for the Cimmaron kit looks interesting, even if it is flat. When doing a back suction/blow down at the end of an UNREP, those hoses got pretty flat, although the rest of the hardware did not. Updating the AOE-1 kit to USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) would be quite a project. It is a whole new class from keel up. I am hoping Trumpeter releases another AOE-1 class kit as configured from the '80's on. I am sorry about your colleague's death. "Sac" was special to me, also. She was my first ship (1982-85) and we also lost a young Sailor in a preventable accident.

what he said thats what i use.

Ron

Instead of wire I would suggest very small diameter solder - wayyyyyyy easier to bend to shape than wire, takes paint better and if you're doing an UNREP diorama it would be a lot easier to get realistic-looking sag. It also avoides the "flat" look of PE. I got some at a specialty electronics store.

Holy crap there are no hoses ! What a crappy kit now. I was going to update the kit to USNS Supply and have it UNREPing a 1/700 carrier. I worked on the ship a few years back upgrading the stack and various other systems at Detyen's Shipyards. That ship has a bit of a special meaning to me because I had a fellow contractor die onboard her in the MSD space, he was 19 years old. My only thought for the hoses would be the JAG collective PE for the USNS Cimmaron or small wire of some sort ?

McSquid

I just started Trumpeter's 1/700 USS Sacramento kit. It sure is packaged well. The fit between the upper and lower hull halves is poor. It is taking alot of work to fix the problem. There are no refueling hoses! That is like a battleship kit with no gun barrels. Does anyone have any ideas for fitting out UNREP rigs? Overall, I like the kit and hope it sells well enough for a follow-on in a more recent configuration (CIWS, NSSMS, electric winches, etc.) A 1/350 AOE is on my dream list.

 Cool you should bring it in on the Shiver Me Timbers Ship Group build.  It would be awsome to see.

There was another recent thread on this very kit, but he didn't mention there not being any hoses. The only thing that comes readily to mind is solder - really thin solder. I found some nice skinny solder at a specialty electronics store. It takes paint well and can be bent into any shape you want.