Ok, so here's my second go at this GB and my second new genre (what the heck is wrong with me??)
Like the racecar, this one has a backstory. Really more like three stories, but ya know... So it starts with my wife's grandfather was on a Destroyer Escort in WW2. So I have been thinking for a couple years about building a model of one for her. I got a kit for it, but before I do it, I want to work on my ship skills for obvious reasons.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Checkmateking made little planes for a carrier he built, in the 1942 GB. I got such a kick out of them that I said it was really making me want to try a carrier just to play with the little planes. A few days later, I went to the LHS, and in their clearance section they had the Hasegawa 1/700 USS Hancock (carrier) and USS South Dakota (battleship.) I thought, why the heck not? So I bought them. Then a few days later when I finished a project i hit a kind of "builder's block." To solve it I put a poll on Facebook of what in my stash I should build next. The south Dakota won, so here I am again!
Here's the two kits:
Eventually, when I get them both built, I want to display them together, which with some research shows occured in the winter on 1944-45, during the bombardments of Okinawa nad the Japanese mainlands. During this time period at least, the South Dakota was painted measure 21, which is all dark blue. I'll try some color variations, but for the most part, at least that keeps it simple for me on trying this for the first time.
That's the sprues. Nothing fancy or aftermarket here! Just lots of tiny pieces. I have mad eone small modification so far, though. On the big 16" guns, I know they had the cloth covers warapped around them, which are not reproduced in the model. After experimenting (and much frustration) with masking tape, I finally managed to replicate these with putty:
The left one is kit parts with no modification. The middle one is my attempt using masking tape. While it does look more like cloth, it still doesn't look right, and was just too much of a pain. The one on the right is done using putty. It looks pretty rough here, but less so in person. I think once it is painted up it will look the part all right.
Here's the guns as I got them done a couple nights ago:
I have most of the structure sub-assemblies done now. My plan is to build everything in to sub-assemblies, then paint it, then do final construction and detail painting. Figure that's probably the easiest. but just to show why I am only doing a small amount of this each night:
That little assembly I'm holding right there? 19 Pieces! 19!!!! That's crazy! Another assembly the size of my fingernail had eight! So yes, it's coming along slowly but surely.
Then tonight I picked up this at the LHS:
So now I can check the finer points of the details!
So that's where it is right now.
Thanks, -Budd