Beginner's Help on 1/350 New Jersey

One of the attractions and curses of ships are that a good one takes time.

I spend anywhere from six months to two years on a ship. As opposed to an airplane that generally takes me a couple of weeks. I would say a good job on that BB would take at least 6 months, as is.

I would also give the use of the wood deck some serious thought, and read some reviews online.

Sometimes, often the problems with those out weigh the pluses. I bought my first one for the Ting Yuen, and it's a good company, KA, but I am not at all happy with it and am not sure it adds much to the model.

I too would recommend you work on the FLETCHER first . The only difference between what you have already recieved in advise is this .DO NOT use ELMERS ! There is a brand found even at WAL-MART (in their crafts section ) called ALEENS . It too is white glue , BUT , It is thicker and therefore requires less to do the job .I use it all over the ship depending on how my mood set is .If I want fast then CA glue it is . If I just want to take my time then ALEENS is used .I swapped out the guns with some from the TRUMPETER kit which I believe are better . I WILL NOT use resin replacement or update parts .I just don,t like the idea on most of that stuff of doing more work and taking more time than I would otherwise .A friend of mine got bit by the update thing and the parts weren,t even what was needed ! . So be-ware there . Good luck on the build and remember there are plenty of folks that are willing to help here .        tankerbuilder .   P.S. I got told to get a conversion set for the NORTH CAROLINA as the TRUMPETER kit was incorrect .I called the ship museum itself .They assured me the kit was correct as she is now and that is why if you buy the kit at the gift shop that,s the one you will get .

The Alliance Model Works 5/38 turrets are very nice, in scale, and well detailed.  Also come with PE.  As to glues for PE, I usually use a thick, slow set, CA applied with a fine needle inserted in a pin vice.  Gives me time to locate the part, but gives me a strong bond.  One time I do use PVA is when I'm doing railing.  I fix the railing at various points with slow set CA, using kicker in a small dispenser.  Since I take monthly vitamin B-12 shots I use the syringes for the kicker.  Works great.  If you have an understanding doctor he can write you a script for them, or I believe you can order then off the net.  If that isn't an option, try a small pippet, like the kind used to mix paint/thinner.  Once I have the railing set with the CA and kicker, I run a small bead of PVA glue all along the bottom of the run of railing.  Seems to produce a more robust bond.

Hope this helps.

Bob

One last thing, WHICH 5/38 turrets would be correct?

Thanks again.

Don, thanks for the tip, but a few more basic questions, do you mean white glue as in Elmer's type?

And how do you keep the part in place while the glue sets up?

Thanks

I am fortunate enough to have a well stocked LHS, so today I indeed purchased the Fletcher and PE for it.

PM sent re reliable ship suppliers online.

Thanks all, this is new to me.

I'm currently working on my first 1/350 kit (Trumpeter Roma).Some advice I got was to build up and out.So far it appears to be good advice.

Hello, and welcome back to the dark side.  If I might make a humble suggestion, you might want to take a slight detour before you tackle a monster like a 1/350 Iowa to hone your skills.  Ships are rather different than AFVs, or anything else for that matter.  Different PE, some unique techniques and skills are needed.  My usual recommendation for a first ship kit is Tamiya's 1/350 U.S.S. Fletcher. Its a great little kit with no real vices and a great way to get your feet wet, especially in using the PE unique to ships. I'd suggest adding GMM's PE set for Fletchers, which includes the PE for both early war and late war Fletchers. Also, the turrets for the 5/38 guns are under scale in the kit and best replaced with resin. Alliance Model Works and L'Arsenal both make very nice resin replacements.

Once you have done the Fletcher, which you should be able to build in a couple of weeks easily, you can then move on to a more challenging kit, like the Iowa.  I suggest it would be time well spent, and some enjoyable time at that.  For paints, BTW, you might want to take a look at WEM's colourcoats line.  They are spot on duplicates of both modern and World War II ship colors. 

Happy modeling and please, don't forget to share pics of your builds with us. We just love eye candy!

Bob

I'll tackle a couple of the questions, leave others for others.  In general you have the right idea.

I paint my PE , in most cases, while still on the fret.  I attach PE with white glue, thinned 1:1 with water. I learned about this at a club meeting when someone demonstrated how he did PE railings.  I like it- gives you plenty of working time. PE railings are so fragile you don't need a strong adhesive 'cause they'd break if much force is applied to them anyway.  And for very small parts, again you do not need a super-strong bond.

Almost forget--they have dedicated threads for specifi ships and classes.  Here's the link to the Iowa class.

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4683

Try here:

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/index.php

I don't belong to it, but I've found a lot of useful information by looking through the threads.

Fair winds and following seas.