The Ship Model Forum

Hi Guys,
Here are some pics of the 1/350 FF-1086 Brewton after finishing with all of the non-skid application. Funny thing; if I were to model Brewton from the 80's instead, almost all of the deck areas were non-skid, not thin walkway strips everywhere. I discovered some commonality with deck non-skid areas on Adams DDG's from the 70's..same thing.
My first effort from a couple of months back has changed; the non-skid application process is now being finished with decals rather than paint. This process has saved countless hours. I like the paint on effort better, but after dull-coating etc, there will be no visible difference between the painted on and decaled non-skid areas, (if all goes as planned).
I also added on the ASROC and 5" mount warning circles. Warning circles varied too....so I used pics of Brewton onca again to confirm actuality.
The WEM kit did not include the warning circles, so I borrowed them from an 1/350 ISW Coontz DLG kit I bought recently. Interestingly enough, the ISW Coontz kit had two of the decal sheets.....what luck! I still have to do the helo pad markings and I have good pics of this area of the deck, so there will be no guesswork.

Here is the layout of the non-skid ares of the main deck, 01 and 02 levels. This is after studying what I have available of Brewton from 1975-78.
The absolute best I was able....no sub-assemblies added.


Here are two more pics from different angles of the Brewton as she is with sub-assemblies temporarily attached.....


This model will be my only project from now till finished.
I have been working on the deck markings the entire past week. I did all of this work at......work! The fires in SD did leave me with much idle time at work this past week, so I got some,"work", done on Brewton.

Helo pad markings and all other remaining decals will be done next. After this, all of the photo-etch needs to be added. After that, the rigging and weathering. Lastly, the base of simulated water. Regarding modeling the ships wake and waves, I have been studying the Knox wave patterns at various speeds. I noticed that at the higher speeds, the ships hull below the boot topping becomes visible a short distance back from the bow. I'll try to post a pic....
Here is FF-1087 going just fast enough to show this, "void", created at the ships sides slightly behind the bow.

Now the downside; I'll have to display the Brewton going slower than this, as there is no hull bottom to, "expose". The WEM kit does have a hull bottom, but will NOT be used.
Tony

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"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

That model is looking good there!



My Peary is finished now

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Nichol Caballero
Civil Engineer and Ship Enthusiast

Hi all, Tony:

Looks great!. Keep going!. Looking forward to see more!.

Cheers.
Pachi.

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I will miss you Werner. Fair winds and following seas.

Hi Guys,
Nick,
Congrats on finishing A model!
Here is my all day Sunday project; the lattice mast. The kit provided photo-etch is very thin and somewhat difficult to use. I made the kit p/e lattice mast, and had to modify it to match 70's Brewton photos. You guys would not believe all of the small differences with the mast and platforms..per ship. I could not just study any Knox FF and get it accurately; oh no! Maybe later, I'll expound...not now.
I added some quick and easy details to the lattice mast exterior, (and interior), to make this assembly more accurate. I must have spent 6 hours studying and assembling today..spread out over a 10 hour period. It is not often I am able to work for so many hours in one day.
Here are some pics of the lattice mast as looks right now, ( as it won't stay this way for long), and I hope to finish the entire mast assembly within the next few days.
Here are two views......


Oh yes, I stole the wirly domes from the WEM Adams Class DDG, as the Knox kit does not have any; don't know why.
Here is a pic of Brewton's mast arrangement from the 76-77 WestPac cruise book; so I'll bet it is accurate.

more to come.......
Thanks for letting me share, Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Wow looks nice!!

_________________
Nichol Caballero
Civil Engineer and Ship Enthusiast

Hi Guys,
Nick,
Thanks.
After further studying the lattice mast, I decided to remove the railing previously installed and use ones with smaller spacing. This was in order to fit around the small circular bases for the WLR-1 system.
The small lattice "stub" mast went atop the WLR-1 platform and was an elevated platform for the SPS-10 radar. This type of SPS-10 platform was not prevelant on most Knox FF's.
Here are a couple of pics of the mast arrangement as it looks this morning...


I'm planning to post one or two more pics of the mast assembly when finished, (except for paint), and then after being painted. As many of you know, once painted, it becomes a lot harder to see the additional detail added for what it's really worth!
Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Looking very good Tony, we gonna get to see her on the 16th at the IPMS meting?

_________________
Dan
Field Artillery, King of Battle
Please check out the Secret Society of Model Builders on facebook.

Love it!!



Nick

_________________
Nichol Caballero
Civil Engineer and Ship Enthusiast

Hi Guys,
Dan,
I'll be there, and hopefully a lot further along!
Last night, I worked on the last segment of the mast assembly. Trying to decie which, "itsy bitsy", mast detals to duplicate, and which to ignore.
Hi Nick, Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Hi Guys,
Here is the mast assembly.....completed but for paint.

back to work!
Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Hi Guys,
.....I have finished fussing with the mast assembly. After my last post, I realized the SPS-10 was not able to rotate 360, (as if...), so I did further studying and lengthened the SPS-10 base..more closely matching the pics I have.
There is nothing worse than finding very useful information after the fact!
This is the most, "anal", I have gotten on this project. That's the deal with 1/350 scale; kinda small but still waaaaaaaaaaay bigger than 1/700.
This is a nice sized model, at 16". There is plenty of room to go, "nuckin' futs", if one desires.
Check these out.....

Next is the yardarm and its attachment to the front of the Mack.
This will be a lot less guesswork, as I have plenty of clear pics of this yardarm. The hard part will be anchoring the yardarm and all of the braces, and still have it look to scale.
Thanks Guys, Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Very detailed Tony!!!



Nick

_________________
Nichol Caballero
Civil Engineer and Ship Enthusiast

Hi Guys,
Mack progress.
Mack is WEM plus:
Yardarm is 0.040" brass rod. Ends machined/tapered to match pics.
.012" steel wire used to attach the yardarm to mack. 6 pieces/2 different lengths. Most Knox FF's had the same yardarm setup, but not ALL were the same.
After the yardarm was installed, I used the WEM p/e yardarm and attached it to the front of the .040 yardarm. Looks like the photos now.
I then added some detail to the whistle platform, (fwd/center), and scratchbuilt two different types of whistles, (some profound guesswork was done here), but better than left, "bare". Lastly, some vertical ladders added where Brewtons were.
Some pics....after the yardarm was added.......


After the rest of the details were added and painting done...


Next will be adding the lattice mast to the mack and then putting it away till final assembly.
Thanks Guys, Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Wow, Tony. Impressive modelmaking. Looking forward to more!.

_________________
I will miss you Werner. Fair winds and following seas.

Hi Guys,
Progress.......
Closed chocks are from L'Arsenal and looked good. There are more neede on this model, but teh L'Arsenal package only comes with 10. For the stern of the ship, I'll probably steal some from the Tamiya Missouri kit, as they are the same in size.
Forecastle area as it looks today.......



Here is the area on the port side/stern beneath the helo pad....
This is a WEM p/e part.......

Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

When I see the progress of this model I can recognize my own ship !!!!!! Thanks a lot for it, and please keep the pics coming...
Very best regards,

Willie.

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

man, that is one good looking ship! Great job on the paint and pe!

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How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. How do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. - Ronald Reagan

Hi Guys,
I spent a good solid hour masking and painting the forward facing bridge windows. I made the best of a less than desirable situation. It is my opinion that WEM would have made a slightly better model if the bridge windows were recessed rather than raised. No matter, as I masked around them and painted the bridge windows a clear green color. It came on a bit strong, but I'm gonna live with this color. After the model gets its final dull coat, it may look a little tamer. We'll see.
Here is after masking........


Here is after masking and painting.....


Here are the bridge windows after masking, painting and un-masking......


I still have two side looking bridge windows on both sides to do, and I saved some of the clear green paint. Tougher masking task!

Other stuff done:
Painted the two ships boats
Did all of the post-painting touch up
Decaled more stuff; but not quite finished
Added the wooden walkways directly outside the bridge with perforated p/e pieces..looks kind of cool, but the pattern is off......

Need to finish the forecastle area by adding the anchor chain, and chain bolsters.
Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Hi there Tony,

Better paint them in a very dark grey or flat black, as it will be far more realistic -- Take a look at the first page in this thread.
As for the rest, your work is outstanding !!!!!!
Very best regards,

Willie.

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Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Hi Guys,
I spent the last few days studying the Knox anchor bolsters and chain routing. I found these ships have two anchors. I will only be dealing with the, "visible" anchor. The WEM kit supplied Danforth anchors are resin cast, but are still workable. Rule#27, (arbitrary #), when dealing with resin parts: The more you sand and re-shape, the better the parts can look.
WEM's Knox kit has the raised bulwarks in place OOB, and I had to remove them. This made it necessary to add on the anchor bolster, (scratchbuilt from strip styrene). Additionally, I had to add on the anchor stock, the anchor chain and do some drilling. The anchor chain bolsters varied from at least the ships with the rasied bulwarks to the ones that previously had not. Anyway, big thanks go out to Mr. Kurt Greiner of, "SeaPhoto", for getting some superb close up shots of the anchor bolster, the chain routing and the information that made it all make sense. Kurt offers many Photo CD's of great value to the ship modeler/studier, (of which I am both).
Here are a few shots of the forecastle and its recent modifications.





Tony

_________________
"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"