OLIVER HAZARD PERRY TYPES

The reason? That is the nameplate Academy gives you in the box. The molded bosses on the back of the nameplate makes that more than just flipping the nameplate and it falls under the "modification and correction" of the kit; which we are NOT allowed to do for a review build. We build them as they come from the box, warts and all, but it's built from the same box with the same parts you would get at the local hobby shop.

The ship is also capable of being built as any of nine ships of the Lamps III group with the kit decals so the nameplate is technically correct for the class of ships but no single ship. I went with Reuben James only because that's how it is marketed.

When I get the review ship back I will be correcting it as there are a few other minor things that could be changed or corrected. Every ship I've built has been modified when I get it back, some more than others. The Reuben James isn't going to take much at all. A few warning stripes around the high power antennas and maybe some Bushmasters. The nameplate doesn't really bother me that much.

I'm glad you liked the review. And it is a fantastic kit. I said everything was right, in the right place, and in scale and it is. It's nice to have a ship that doesn't fight me every inch of the way. The single biggest error is the too low navigation dome I mentioned. WHOOPIE! Oh, and the missing anchor chains. I have a set waiting for the ship to return.

The hardest part was the photo etched radar. Lovely but a pain to bend and glue. I glued it to my fingers twice, to the bench once, and soaked it in Acetone about a dozen times to start over. Not my favorite way to spend the afternoon!

Oh, and thanks for the compliments! How rude of me to forget! 

You are to be commended for your courtesy in that reply . I had completely forgotten the way the stand plate is made . I just yesterday went to a " BEAD and JEWELRY" show and picked up some ANCHOR chain in three sizes! The nice part , it was already black ! You did a bang up job , plain and simple ! Please allow me to say ,I would be glad to meet you on the contest table !      tankerbuilder

And let me thank you for a reasonable question and a polite response! I'd be glad to meet you too and spend time talking. 

As for the contest table? i gave up doing contest models years and years ago. I have a few armor awards and several for model railroading, mostly structures, but contests bored me. I built for pleasure and for my own needs, contests didn't interest me and after a couple of years I just quit participating.

There isn't much to review builds but I enjoy them. Mostly because I get review ships generally long before they hit the shelves in the US. I get to be the human guinea pig. Apparently I'm OK at building them since I've been doing it for over two years now with no end in sight. I get a free model and a small stipend for building it and writing a review. I'll never get rich, and the check usually barely pays for the photo etch sheets I might use after I get the kit back into my hands, but it's fun and somewhat of an ego boost to see my stuff in print. However the best "feel good" part is getting good comments on the builds from fellow modelers like you. 

You have to remember that FSM has some strict rules about the review builds. We can correct parts that don't fit properly. We can sand and fill seams. We CAN NOT modify the kit parts or add parts or much else. It's OOB IPMS rules and then some. It's, in my opinion, the only fair way to review a kit. What little leeway I have in a review build is in the painting and weathering. I'm getting better at that too. Practice makes perfect I guess?

For a 62 year old modeler with a bad right arm I guess I do OK. At least I have a hobby room full of nice looking ships, some of which would be far too expensive for me to buy for myself. I also have a good collection of aircraft, armor, guns, subs, and cars. I actually need to think about adding even more shelves to the walls. 

I feel the entire staff and reviewers are doing a good job of presenting the new kits in an honest and clear manner. Most of the reviewers are true professionals and award winning builders. I'm just a somewhat talented hack. But getting better.  I can honestly say that I work with some of the best in the business and they are all true gentlemen and sometimes a lot of fun. Maybe some of that talent will rub off on me? I can hope. 

Bruno,

A good review of what appears to be a good kit. I'm interested that Pacific ships were (are?) in a darker scheme than Atlantic ones. I thought this on seeing Valley Forge in the 1990's in San Diego -  darker gray overall with toned down number and lighter grey gun turret, SPY-1 antennas etc.. How widespread was this practice and is it still in place?

Regards

Chris

OK, here's a quote from my Navy expert on modern ships (I was a soon to be Bubble head Nuke tech when my broken back closed the doors forever in 1972). Mr. Murphy said:

"The majority of the Soviet's Cold War navy was in the Atlantic/Med. And it's color was close to that worn by the Pacific fleet ships. So the Atlantic fleet ships were painted in a lighter color so as not to confuse European and American units operating in the European areas. The darker Pac Fleet colors would more than likely have been due to older paint stocks. The bulk of the U.S. Navy prior to the Cold War was based in the Pacific. When everything shifted to Norfolk, I guess they left the paint and other stuff where it was. So the new stuff coming off the assembly lines would have gone straight to Norfolk to be sent elsewhere. Obviously East Coast stocks would be replenished before West Coast, etc."

So there you have it. It was so our ships looked different than "their" ships as a safety measure. Most newer ships are built on the East Coast and Haze Gray has taken over as the "standard" Navy color for the most part. I'm sure there will always be variations, which is why research is always necessary. 

cjwalker

Bruno,

A good review of what appears to be a good kit. I'm interested that Pacific ships were (are?) in a darker scheme than Atlantic ones. I thought this on seeing Valley Forge in the 1990's in San Diego -  darker gray overall with toned down number and lighter grey gun turret, SPY-1 antennas etc.. How widespread was this practice and is it still in place?

 

Regards

Chris

 

The practice still apears to be in place. I travel by Seal Beach Weapons Station fairly often when there are ships there loading or unoading munitions. The toned down scheme you describe is what I see on them nowadays. The hull numbers are hard to read until you are fairly close. It also blends in very well with anything but the clearest visability. I know in these days of radar and FLIR that does not help much but for the MK.I eyeballit works very nicely for concealment.

I used to do the same for , believe it or not , S.S.KRESGE or KRESGES now K-MART .The nice woman who ran the store about five blocks from where I lived pre-highschool years , saw me drooling one day over the new REVELL -VICTORY at SEA set and asked me (of course ,if she could help) I told her I would like that kit , BUT , it was a buck -fifty more than I had . Back then that kit (the MISSOURI , a CARRIER , DESTROYER ,CRUISER ) was a whole $ 4.95 plus tax .She asked me if I could really build them nice .Of course all I said was I could try .She asked for g,mas phone number and then went to the office .She came back , took the kit down , gave me the kit , some eight bottle kit of TESTORS in the tiny bottles and two watercolor brushes .The rest is history .I got my own VICTORY AT SEA when I took them back and she put them in a new display case at the end of the aisle .Talk about proud .Whatta feeling !! So you see , we have a lot of parallels .(I don,t know if you started that way) I would very much like to meet you .Are you going to come to the ALAMO SQUADRON / IPMS show in NEW BRAUNFELS ,TEXAS or is that to far away from where you live ? ? Some very good and fair vendors show up with really neat stuff at least what I am interested in . It,s been a pleasure .Get my E-MAIL from the forum director and give me a shout .       tankerbuilder

Many thanks for the replies - and confirmation that I wasn't going mad when I saw that ship. It's hard to check these things from over here in London! The only US ships that I have been on have been Atlantic-based. I haven't seen this difference discussed before but a look around the net found a camouflage document from 1953 that discusses Measure 17 and Measure 27 schemes, namely Ocean Gray (17% reflectance) and Haze Gray (27% reflectance). I think that the difference was that one would be better concealment against submarines and the other against aircraft. That's simplifying the issue a lot but could be a basis for the reasoning behind the split.

I don't even remember my first model but I'm sure it was an airplane about the age of 8 or so. My father was a tail gunner on a B-17 in WWII. I had uncles at Normandy and in Italy. Another uncle flew jets in Korea and then became a test pilot at Edwards AFB. He finally retired from PanAm about 15 years ago. He was my favorite uncle. Tall, blond, dimpled chin and he flew airplanes! Basically I learned by myself by practicing because my folks were working and no one I knew built models. By high school I had airplanes hanging from the ceiling and shelves of cars everywhere in my room. I think I had every one of the early Monogram aircraft kits hanging. 

There have been long periods of inactivity, high school sports and girls, marriage, kids, a new house. About 1978 or so I got back into armor and model railroading. A good sized 5' by 30' multilayer layout of the Wisconsin Road, 1940-1950 era. I joined a local railroader club and earned a few awards for some brass engines and a lot of structures. I also did a lot of armor in that time and won a few local contests. That lasted about 7 years before we bought a new house and everything got packed up, never to be seen again. 

After the divorce I had one girlfriend that built models so I started again. It's been on and off since then but I got back into it full force about 10 years ago. Now I build anything. One of these days the basement in my new home is going to have a layout in it, but I have other priorities these days. 

I'm in Wisconsin, on the lake just south of Milwaukee, so Texas will have to wait until I can travel more and have the time and money. My second wife is from that area and she keeps threatening to take me down there to show me what real normal people are like! Right now travel is out until I get some surgery on my right shoulder. That won't happen until I can start getting Disability. I'm on Early Retirement now since few people want to hire an old one armed electronics tech or electrician. The Disability could take another year or so to come. 

I, like a lot of other model builders, use this hobby as a cheap constructive therapy. The time spent researching and painting and building is time I don't have to think about my busted up shoulder, or being broke, or being older than I thought I would ever get. All in all life is good and I have models to build. My stash is fairly small, 400 kits maybe, but I'd like to build at least most of them before I expire. I bought them to build them, not to collect them. 

If I ever get down that way I'll let you know tankerbuilder. 

Well , I would sure hope so . Maybe if you do ,  I could take you and the missus for dinner at a real TEXAS restaurant ! I rent living and eating privledges in a private home so I couldn,t have you there.My wife in in a nursing home as well. Their schedules are weird . Anyway I know about the busted up part .Two bad knees (Courtesy of a belligerent WW2 vet ) One bad shoulder and PERIPHEAL PARKINSONS .I shake like the dickens EXCEPT when I am at the model bench , So , the models are a panacea to me as well .I do the CONTEST and show every other year because I go to see friends who live in HOUSTON and DALLAS etc. . Who knows this year I might actually win something .Years ago when I helped found C.A.M.S. I did win a few and that isn,t really my thing .I put mine in and if a newbie says " how,d you do this or that " ,then I tell them and show them on the model .I find that to be a real pleasure .  catchya later---tankerbuilder