Recieved my ISW Resin Sumner class FRAM II kit today...Advice

Misterkenro wrote:

Never worked with resin before, I feel a little overwhelmed looking at the kit, so much flashing around delicate parts and warped masts and such. Will I be able to straighten the masts or should I create new ones from brass rod? The superstructure parts have about a 16th of an inch of resin on the bottoms of them that needs to be removed...Should I just sand them down on a flat surface? The instructions dont say anything, pretty much just a parts list.

Resin genrally lacks sufficient strength to work as masts & yardarms.   It warps easily under temperature fluctuations and tension from rigging (not a lot of mass).   Replace the resin masts with brass rod.   Use the resin versions as cutting templates.   Solder or superglue the brass rods.   You may also wish to cut any resin platforms off the mast and cement them to the brass or replicate with sheet styrene.

Before you sand the plug off the bottom of the deckhouse, check to see if it doesn't mate with a underlying bridge/deck part. 

Use some contact cement to glue some wet-n-dry sandpaper to a sheet of glass or plexiglass (hardware store unbreakable windo glazing).  Use this as a flat surface to sand the bottoms flat.   Work at the sink under running water to flush away the dust.   Work slowly, making sure that you hold the parts square to the sanding board. 

Misterkenro wrote:

To be honest, the hull looks great, lots of detail, all the parts beisdes the PE are terrible, lines are not straight and square, no deck guns, no barrels for the 5 inch guns. I am wondering if I should scratchbuild all the parts and rob some parts from my Tam fletcher 1/350. I didnt know what to expect buying a resin kit but to be honest for $120 I expected a little more. Is this normal for resin kits? I dont mean to be a whiner.

Have you inventoried the parts versus the parts list?    Contact Jon Warneke at ironship at vic.net.   Jon also posts here as 'ironship'.  

Which lines are not straight & square.    These kits have some bulkhead detail,  not a lot but more than most styrene kits.  

Deck guns?  By the time the Sumners were FRAMed the 20mm Oerlikons were long gone.   So too were the 40mm Bofors.   They may have had some 3-inch dual purpose guns remaining.   Check your references for details.  The main armament was twin 5-inch/38s.  Look in the parts again.   The barrels most likely look like lollipops.   

Remember that Ironshipwright has a good customer satisfaction policy.   If you find that there are missing parts when you open the kit, contact them and they will send them to you.  

If while you are building the kit you break something, or screw something up (like drill through the deck or sand a deckhouse out of square), contact them.   Even if it is your fault they will replace the part (even a major piece like a hull).

I've even heard that they will replace parts on a finished model which is knocked off the shelf by the family cat.   Contact them.

If you have any specific questions on how to proceed next with the assembly, write back & I'll see what I can do to help.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have mastered a few patterns for Iron Shipwright and have worked their booth at some regional and national shows.

Hello Ed, As I have been researching tin can destroyers your name keeps popping up over the net, picures of you also....you must be famous in the modeling world. :)

Well, I now have had some time to start going through the ISW kit and started working some parts and I am changing my tune, I just didnt "get" how the superstructures went together. They are looking good.

There definetly isnt any 5 inch barrels. The ISW website stated there were resin, metal and PE parts to the kit, I have the resin and the PE, no metal. I'll shoot them an email to make sure I'm not missing anything. Brass rod will be more lifelike anyways.

When making brass rod masts do you notch out a little where cross members go? I cant imagine you just glue them?

The ISW is going to make a beautiful representation of the USS Collett for my father plus I'm going to learn something along the way.....shhhh...I've never built a ship model before. Armor and aircraft only, Diorama's mostly. I was definetly overwhelmed at first.

Thanks again.

Misterkenro wrote:

Hello Ed, As I have been researching tin can destroyers your name keeps popping up over the net, picures of you also....you must be famous in the modeling world. :)

Not famous at all.  Not a legend in my own mind,  Just trying to help where I can

Misterkenro wrote:

There definetly isnt any 5 inch barrels. The ISW website stated there were resin, metal and PE parts to the kit, I have the resin and the PE, no metal. I'll shoot them an email to make sure I'm not missing anything. Brass rod will be more lifelike anyways.

I rechecked Jons address it is ironship at vic.com  (Replace the at with @).    Contact Jon directly instead of the rochester address.

Misterkenro wrote:

When making brass rod masts do you notch out a little where cross members go? I cant imagine you just glue them?

I will file a small saddle-notch into the mast & yardarm brass and more often than not, solder the joint.  Solder has more strength then CA, which holds well in tension but poorly in sheer.

Also look at using brass rod to replace the prop shafts.   Like the masts they have little mass and warp easily.   Cut the kit pieces apart and drill some holes to accept the brass rod.  (Worried about a screw up -- remember the part replacement policy!)

Before you get too far with the hull, think about how you will mount the finished model and attach it to the finished base.  The method I use is to get some threaded brass wood inserts (size 6-32) from the hardware store.  These are items which allow machine scres to be used in wood.   They have a coarse thread on the outer surface and a machine thread on the inner surface.   Drill a 1/4 inch hole into the bottom of the hull and epoxy the threaded insert into place.  Make sure that it is square while the epoxy hardens.  Put some Vaseline into the inner hole to protect it from the epoxy.

This allows you to temporarily attach the model to a building board during construction, remove it, and attaci it to a finished base when complete.  

The building board also minimizes handling the model itself.  The photo is not flipped.  I make my building board in an L-shape which allows the model to be stood on end or laid on its side for ease of access.   This is the ISW USCGC Hamilton - in progress

Thanks Ed, Your build board is an awesome idea, Im on it. Can you recommend some good sources for late 60's FRAM Sumners references?

ken

Number one for photos of all things US Naval is NAVSOURCE http://navsource.org/

I went to the Collett and from there linked to the Collett Veterans Association.  More pictures there  (mostly crew)

Then check the Photgraphic Section at the US Naval Historical Center http://www.history.navy.mil/

The Floating Drydock http://floatingdrydock.com/update.htm  has many plans & photos.  They offer an excellent plan eBook in PDF format of the Sumner/Gearing classes (item DD692PB-CD).  While it centers mostly on the as-built configuration ofthese ships, there are some info on later mods

Anyone know what emblem this is on the USS Collett DD 730 post FRAM 1960's

Thanks,

Ken

... perhaps Destroyer Squadron 9 (DESRON9).   WESTPAC destroyer squadron

from the Collett website mentioned previously

white replaces the black checkerboard on the real thing

Thank you agian Ed, I have seen that lighter on the Collett website but the yellow and orange look of the emblem on the ship side was throwing me off as the lighter seemed contrasting colors to me.

Ken

If you didn't get in touch with Jon Warneke of Iron Shipwright last week,  you will have to wait a couple of weeks to do so.

Jon has just posted on SteelNavy that Commanders/Iron Shipwright will be temporarily down for a couple of weeks while the business is moved from Rochester, NY to Oak Ridge, TN.   Once the move is complete and things are sorted out they will be back in production.

Jon has completed the purchase of the business from his former partner Ted Paris.   Ted is retiring to Florida - no more New York winters for him.

Thanks Ed, I have conversed back and forth a couple times with Jon and he informed me of the move. He is going to mail me the missing parts in a week or so plus recast me some parts that were subpar. Real nice guy Jon is.

Ed, I got a question for you, the brass posts used to mount a ship to a wood base... I went to Home Depot and could not find anything even closely related, I even tried to describe them to some workers there but was a lesson of my patience. What is the intended use of these products and what section would they be in?

I scratch built the mast this weekend 5 times, the 5th one I actually like.

I've not had luck finding these at Lowes or Home Depot.   I get them from the local Ace Hardware.

Print the picture & take it to an Ace, True Value, or lighting supply shop and say you want some of these! 

The two on the left are lamp finials.   Those on the right are lampshade risers (these I have found at HD).  Risers are handled the same as finials.

I clamp them by the top knot in a vise and drill a through hole from the bottom, through the neck and out the top.   Then I cut the top knot off.  Polish with steel wool and spray with Krylon clear gloss to prevent tarnish.

If you are going to use the risers without cutting - you need some 1/4-28 NF nuts to attach to them.  

On the building board I just use some tubing of appropriate length.

I have also experimented with a chrome drawer handle.  Clamp it in the drill press, drill a through hole,  cut off the excess handle.   Whenever you're in the hardware store keep an open mind and an open eye for things which might work

I thought they were lamp parts, they just need to be drilled out. Easy enough.

Thanks again Ed!