Knowing the work you both turn out, you are going to get a run for your money on the Fletcher torpedo run, me thinks, Admiral.   Those will be a builds to watch.

Straycat1911

Considering your rather generous time frame, I will go with two ships.

Heck I put myself down for 4

Straycat1911

Revell Yacht America. Can’t get more American than that. 

That's a fact. I get you entries down later this evening.

modelcrazy

Yes, as long as it is/was commissioned to, or in the case of commercial ships, registered with the United States at some point during it's career, it qualifies.

 

(Salutes) Thank you, sir. Considering your rather generous time frame, I will go with two ships.

The first will be RoG’s 1/144 Fletcher class destroyer. OOB it’s under German colors but I’m gonna hoist the Taiwanese flag on her. 

Second one is a blast from my childhood; the classic Revell Yacht America. Can’t get more American than that. 

Mach,

Ouch, but far better to find out now than later. As far as painting, that's what I'd do, but I black base everything anyway.

Mongoose,

Dang nice Spruance right there.

For a "faded" black, or a slightly "sea worn" look, some use Tamiya NATO Black (XF-69).  That is what I'm going with on my Gato.

I like the clear blue idea.  Over a silver or alum. with a coat of micro crystal clear would stand out nicely.  Have to remember that for when I get to floaty things with windows.

Wow, I go away for a week and amazing things are happening!

Mongoose, thats some amazing PE work on the Vandergrift! I've never seen so much PE on a kit. She is looking great!

Bakster, those guns look so nice (big and small)! Your attention to detail is outstanding! I agree that cutting out 1/700 windows is fraught with grief. I might suggest painting them black, or blue and then with a very fine brush covering them with micro kyistol klear. That would give a bit of depth along with the illusion of glass.

As for me, I just got back to my bench after 10 days to find that some of the putty used to fill seems/sink marks had shrunk. 

So back to filling and sanding. I had hoped to get the final coat of primer on the Blueback today. Oh well.

Any sugestions on the colors? 

I'm thinking a coat of semi matt black, then masking for a coat of flat red on the bottom. Hopefully the black base will darken up the red.

Hey thanks for showing me that, Mongoose. I will go with the blackening out method. I think I'll try the pen method if I can find which one GM is talking about. I am long ways from that now but if I had decided to cut them out, now would have been the time to do it. 

Thanks guys.

Bakster I did clear blue on this one. I think spraying it would have looked better than using a brush. This is my 1/700 Spruance DD963 just to give you an idea of the outcome if you black them out or decide to add some color for reflection.

GMorrison

The glass is flush to the frames, or close to, not set back.Making little square pieces of clear acrylic 1/16" square would be beyond the call of duty.

Laughing... yup. If I'd follow the size of the windows on the kit and put the glass between the frames by filing, I eyeballed it at about 1/64 of an inch. Either way--it's dang small and I am not sure that they make a file small enough to fit that space. If they do-- I need to buy one because I am always trying crazy things like this. 

I think I will follow all of your advice and black them out. 

GMorrison

But I just use a micro point paint pen.

Do you have a pen recommendation? I did a little searching and I am not having much luck.

And I agree with the others on this Mongoose--the oil canning looks great! I will have to try that.

At 1/700 thats some real micro surgery. Sort of working backwards, if the major bridge windows were to be opended, IMO the best way to glaze them would be Micro-Klear.

The glass is flush to the frames, or close to, not set back.Making little square pieces of clear acrylic 1/16" square would be beyond the call of duty.

A good way is to paint and flat coat the model, and THEN pick out the glass with glossy black paint. But I just use a micro point paint pen.

That oil canning looks great.

Bakster, are you talking about the bridge windows? You can thin the back of the piece using a Dremel, then do as Mongoose sugested. To fill the windows, after painting the windows with Future, or Testers window glue, to simulate glass. The port holes can be drilled but like Gamera indicated, at that scale you might want to weigh the options.

Mongoose, that is small and good idea about cutting the plastic first. Try putting on dipoles on a 1/700 radar, not happening.

Those look great guys! 

Mongoose: I love that pre-shading you did, it look fantastic!!! 

Bakster: Nice work on the guns and frankly I think I'd just paint the portholes in 1/700 instead of trying to drill them out- but that's just me! 

Steve: She looks good!!! 

Here's the smallest most detailed piece Ive ever done. When I 1st looked at the instructions I said hell no! But decided it should be a challenge instead. You cut a chunk out of the existing plastic arm and insert the folde PE swivel mount between the 2 leftover pieces. Then put those crazy tiny wires across the dish. Amazed they didn't fling off into infinity.

I’ve done that with a drill and microfile. Punch the hole thru the middle with the drill bit, then use a square file to rough out the corenrs. Anything different I’ve attempted ended up with rounded corners. The square file allows you to cut in two sides at once and make them 90 deg. At least thats the best I’ve been able to do.

Question: the superstructure of my kit has the windows molded solid, no openings. If I could create openings, that would go a long way to add realism. Keeping in mind this is 1:700 scale, it could be a difficult task. There are no PE kits for this model that I am aware of, so I would need to fabricate something. 

I have two thoughts. The first it to notch them open using my rotary saw. If I manage to not slip... I’d still have problems notching the tops and corners without breaking the frames. My second thought is to cut the windows off entirely and then construct new frames using styrene square stock. Eitherway seems filled with pitfalls. 

Has anyone attempted this?

I don't know what those are Bakster, cams are good enough for me.

Mongoose, yea paint. I like the oil canning efect that's being used by many builders today. It really looks good and is something I want to try.

Here are som shots of my Spruance.

Building away the day! I've got the major elements of the paint done. Tried out some oil caning on the side of the helicopter bay. I used dark ghost grey to preshade it and am pretty happy with how it turned out. Now starting to build up the masts and all the boxes that go on the deck.

More work on the guns.

For the barrels I used K & S 1/32 round tubing. The kit pieces come with a structure at the base of the barrels that look like the lobe of a camshaft. Since I don't know the official name for that structure, I will call it a cam.

Without the cams, brass tubing alone looked bare and incomplete. The tolerances and scale of the cam made it impossible for me to make a plastic replacement, I instead used a dollop of super glue, one on each side of the tube. I did a little shaping with a sanding stick and then test fit.

In the image below the guns are not glued, so they may look a little wonky. I decided to paint the parts separately and install them later. You can't see the CA work very well especially without paint, but from my bench, it seems to fit the bill. You get a sense of something behind those barrels.

Now that the guns are done and awaiting paint--I think I will start work on the deck structures.

Yes, as long as it is/was commissioned to, or in the case of commercial ships, registered with the United States at some point during it's career, it qualifies.

modelcrazy

The second ship installment, getting those who want to expand their horizons, or just like building ships. The ships of different nations GB’s continue with American ships.

Any ship which flies or flew the Stars and Stripes is acceptable. Warships, training ships, cargo ships, passenger ships, captured ships, racing yachts, submarines, private boats etc. any era.

You have up to 2 years to submit an entry and no build time limit. That’s right, as long as I'm around, I will answer your posted WIP updates. I know how long it can take to build a ship, Prince of Wales, I’m looking at you.

So, who wants to join me in building something American? I have several in the stash and can pick easy one or hard. I have several in mind but believe I have THE one picked out, besides, the wife got it for me a few Christmas’ ago so………

The small print.

1. Starts on Aug 1^st runs until time ends or the Earth is destroyed.

2. You have two years to enter and until FSM goes away to post it.

3. WIP photos a must.

4. 10% completed or less please.

5. Crossovers allowed.

6. As much or little AM as you want.

7. Scratch or OOB.

8. Enjoy yourself, it’s just a plastic kit and a hobby.

9. I reserve the right to change the rules slightly to make the GB more enjoyable if necessary.

 

Fleet Admiral Modelcrazy

 

 

Admiral, just to clarify: does “flew the Stars and Stripes” include American ships sold to other countries? 

Oh yeah, a little backstep.

In my case I'm just about to the PE point. I should have some pics tomorrow. All I have left is the mast, radars and railing, then the painting starts.

I am taking note, KC.

Somehow i forgot to Quote one of the other posts about rigging. Sorry about that

I got my Missouri rigging from  Bobe's Hobby House. He sells a couple dozen different colors, sizes and ever rope. The EZ Line rigging material  can be stretched up to 700% normal size and return to shape. Plus it's CHEAP.

Thanks guys, makes me feel like this is going ok! We’re always our own worst critic So encouraging words sure are valuable when doing something new.

this afternoon AGONY is realizing all those holes just under the deck aren’t portholes   Turns out they are for the standard plastic handrails in the kit. Out comes the bondo lol

Looks great Mongoose! Nice work.

goldhammer

Looking good. Nice PE work...you want to come over and do my Gato shears??

Undecided on doing the Eduard decking on the Gato or not, a lot to cut out and put in 2x2mm cross bracing.  Probably will do it since I want to donate her.

 

ROADTRIP

TheMongoose

Lov’n all this BB talk! One day I want to build the North Carolina. Got me back into ship mode today. Possibly ready to prime and paint the deck and superstructure tomorrow. Decided to place the ladders and hatches at the least before painting. I covered all the places on the brass where deck fittings and mounts will go so there will be a good metal surface for glue later on.

 

 

  Deck the Halls... With PE!    Wow. Great looking details. Beautilful work applying the Decks!  I have one carrier with a brass deck. It's bent/dented at the Bow and I never could fix it (1/700 Hiryu). Never gonna try brass deck again. (Although I still have a "Joe World" brass deck for a Zuikaku/Shokaku and it does look real good.)

   Nino

Looking good. Nice PE work...you want to come over and do my Gato shears??

Undecided on doing the Eduard decking on the Gato or not, a lot to cut out and put in 2x2mm cross bracing.  Probably will do it since I want to donate her.

That is lookin da bomb Mongoose

Post of the week, at least IMO. I have never built a ship with brass decks any larger than deck edge catwalks. I always paint the decks first and then mask them.

I like those model holders. I see those "flying" pedestals. Like.