Hi everyone!
In my last post, I showed you the construction of the aft gun tub. Before I install that onto the hull, I have to build the Stern Winch Operator. That's today's topic.
But first, a quick note of thanks to the Admiral, Les, and Russ. Your comments are much appreciated!
And now for today's post. The Stern Anchor Winch was controlled by an operator who stood his post at the forward end of the winch. Facing aft toward the winch controls, the Stern Winch Operator stood under the deck overhang on the port side of the stern, in the shadow of the gun tub. On the model, this area is inaccessible once the gun tub is installed, so the figure of the operator has to be installed first.
In contrast to the plethora of scale soldier figures available in 1/48th scale, almost no-one makes WW 2 US Navy figures. The one exception I'm aware of is Eduard, but IMHO, their figures are disappointing. In short, the figures more closely resemble slightly overweight middle-age men than the slender youngsters you'll see in any photo of the crews manning US Navy ships in WW 2.
If I were going to build a diorama of the Chief Petty Officers' Mess, I'd use the Eduard kit.
Enough said.
Because of the lack of available Naval figures, I've found myself falling back on a reliable source: Monogram's series of 1/48th scale US Navy WW2 aircraft.
I believe these kits date back to the 1960's but they still have the best figures around if one wants to bring life to a 1/48th scale model ship. Not only are they very lifelike in their appearance and proportions, but if you raid the various kits in the series, you can come up with figures in a wide variety of action poses that are readily adaptable to any setting. In the case of the Stern Winch Operator, I began with the Landing Signal Officer (LSO)from the Monogram SBD Dauntless.
From this point on, the description of how I built the Stern Winch Operator is going to sound like one of Dr. Frankenstein's experiments! I knew that I would be using different arms for the figure, so the first step was to cut off the arms and paddles from the LSO. I cleaned up the remnants of the arms on the figure and then created the life jacket, using Green Putty for the main body of the jacket and .040 inch styrene for the collar. Next, I made a mold of the modified figure and cast a copy.
For arms, I cast copies of several that I'd stolen from other kits. Here's a photo of the cast figure, along with a couple of arms that I was considering using:
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File comment: The beginning of Dr. Frankenstein's Stern Winch Operator!
Stern Winch Operator 01.jpg [ 135.92 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
In the photo above, you'll see that the figure's head is missing. The head of the LSO figure was obviously unacceptable because it had a tight-fitting aircrew cap, so I carefully removed the upper part of the head from the jaw line up. This way, I hoped that the seam of the replacement head would be hidden when it is grafted on later.
After deciding which arms to use and test-fitting them so that they'd be in the proper position, I attached the arms with CA glue.
Here's a photo of Operator with his arms glued on and the helmet and head that I'd be using:
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File comment: All the body parts!
Stern Winch Operator 02.jpg [ 90.65 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
Next, I carefully removed the material below the jaw line on the head that I'd selected for the figure. I test-fitted the head and the body to confirm they mated up as planned, and then began trimming the top of the head so that it would fit a standard GI helmet. The helmet came from a Tamiya set of US Army figures. When I was happy with the fit-up, I used CA to join the parts together.
Here's a photo of Dr. Frankenstein's Stern Winch Operator:
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File comment: It's alive! It's alive!
Stern Winch Operator 03.jpg [ 140.88 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
After gluing a strip of .005 inch styrene around the waist to replicate the life jacket belt and applying a coat of primer, the figure is a little easier to discern:
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File comment: Maybe a little easier to see? Maybe not?
Stern Winch Operator 04.jpg [ 143.22 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
Next comes the painting. I airbrushed the dungaree pants with Model Master Insignia Blue lightened with White. Then, I airbrushed the skin areas with Tamiya's Flat Flesh Acrylic. Next, I hand-painted the collar of the chambray shirt with Model Master Intermediate Blue lightened with White. Then, I hand-painted the lifejacket with Model Master Euro Grey. Then, I used the same lightened Intermediate Blue for the shirt sleeves. Finally, I masked the figure and airbrushed the helmet with Model Master Olive Drab. At this point, I sprayed the figure with Future floor wax to give the paint a protective coat before I began applying shading and flesh tones.
Here's a photo at this point:
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File comment: Painted and ready to apply shading
Painted 02.jpg [ 37.08 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
To give the figure depth, I used the technique described by Roy Allen, which can be found on Dave Wooley's post of his beautiful build of the Kiev in 1/144th scale.
Here's the link to the page:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=5903&start=1660After shading and highlighting the uniform, and applying flesh tones, here's a couple shots of the finished figure:
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File comment: Ready to be installed
Frankenstein- 01.jpg [ 124.37 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
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File comment: Ready to be installed
Frankenstein- 02.jpg [ 126.06 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
OK, so the painting of the face didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.
It's a good thing he's going to be under the gun tub with his face in the winch!
Not to worry; by the time I get done with this model, I should have lots of practice painting figures because there are going to be about 30 figures at the topside stations!
And here's a shot of the Stern Winch Operator in place:
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File comment: The Stern Anchor Watch is manned
Anchor watch 01.jpg [ 132.9 KiB | Viewed 1401 times ]
At this point, I'll be taking about a month off from working on the LSM-59. My job requires me to travel occasionally, and this week I'll be traveling to Yokosuka, Japan, in support of the Navy. The trip is scheduled to last about a month, but may extend a little beyond that. So, work on the LSM-59 is going to have a momentary respite. As always, thank you everyone for checking in and thank you especially for your great comments!
See you when I get back,
John