My Very First Ship--Tamiya's 1/350 DD445 Fletcher

[Bill Mall]

OK, Away we go with the first ship build ever for me. I built planes and a couple tanks as a kid, then left it behind for college, career and family. About three years ago, I picked up a magazine and was fairly hooked right away.

After getting my feet wet on 1/35 armor, I fell into a 1/350 Tamiya Modern New Jersey, and it was a totally new world for me. Our own Bob Melvin spotted my SOS elsewhere and told me about this wonderful site to find a fantastic world of ships and people who build them, and amazing camraderie, including sharing tips that would take 20 years or more to discover on my own. For me, the greatest thing about the internet is it puts me in touch with people I never would meet who share my interests and are willing to help out a stranger with hard earned tips or even comiseration.

Bob advised me to push the New Jersey off to second, and to instead cut my teeth on Tamiya's 1/350 DD445 Fletcher, so that's exactly what I did. I picked up the kit and Gold Medal's PE locally, and ordered Alliance Model Works 5/38 Turrets with brass barrels, and a whole lot of deep breathing thinking about all that fussy PE.

I told myself I was going to clean off the bench this weekend, and start thereafter. Clean up went quickly, here's the bench where I will build this.



And then I was out of excuses, so I cracked it open and got to work.

Here's the box, nothing new to you guys, but I am going to go ahead and do a detail blog, this is old hat to many of you but totally new to me, so I am taking it like my first armor build. I am basically a chimp here looking for a basic plan, mre detailed than "up and out", but flexible enough to fit what I am working on.



First thing I did to get my feet wet was to smooth some mold lines along the bottom of the little hull, nothing major, but baby steps here.



I look at this build as sort of a detail dry run for the Jersey, and one of the things I plan for that build is to replace the molded anchor chains with real chain, so the Fletcher is going to get chopped, too. I got to use my 2mm chisel for the first time, and I will admit the Optivisor came out, too. First I masked the surrounding area to protect it, then I went to town.



Then I drilled and cut out the deck channels so I can feed the chain through the deck to disappear out of sight (I am pretty versed in armor and aircraft terminology, but ships are foreign to me, so if anyone wants to correct my lubber terminology, feel free.)



When I put the chain down to see how it looked, it was too big for the capstan, I think it's called, so I added a new top made from punched plastic card so the chain rides under the top, I hope this is not too much artistic license, but I think this is how it works on a full sized vessel? I guess the chain sort of forces it, but it looks better with it.



Then I was out at Michaels, and saw a plaque that looks about right for this build, and some basswood strip to make up keel blocks, here's a couple shots for size and scale, do they look OK? Obviously I will run the blocks about every 1/2 " or so, but does the plaque look about right and the blocks look OK for this sized ship? If this is in the ball park, I plan to glue the blocks at intervals and stain and seal the base. It seems like I need to attach the hull to the base via expanding drywall type anchors, which tells me that I need to do this before I even add the main deck? So the hull and main deck need to be painted almost right away, correct?





I also put the bridge together. Of course, this means there's PE railing in my immediate future, and that freaks me out, I will admit. I plan to roll the PE using files/etc on a mouse pad to get it to conform to the small area.





I have a couple questions right up front. My guess is that I will fix the seam on the back of the bridge, then paint that the proper color, then attach the PE rais and smaller parts like searchlights, and set it aside to wait for final assembly? Does this sound correct?

I will be right up front here, I have no ship references other than this website. As much as I love Tamiya's engineering, their "color" painting instructions are the worst and border on criminally vague. There are 50 varying shades of grey keyed to Tamiya paint numbers, and the key is always on another page. I cannot for the life of me decipher what is supposed to be what color, and I will need some help here. I am conscious of guys popping in and demanding that everyone drop everything and tell them the answer to a question that the search function will reveal, for armor guys, its typically "What's the difference between a wash and a filter." I assure you I am not that guy, I have looked at about 6 years of archived build photos on here over the past week, but I am still haviing trouble telling what was supposed to go on in terms of color and demarcation.

I plan to try the mottled camoflage depicted on the cover. Is it correct that the decks will be one color, with the vertical surfaces masked and a different color, railings matching the vertical surfaces? The GMM instructions appear to even show the undersides of overhangs yet another color??? USN WWII Camo was hard edged, correct?

Could anyone point me to a plan view that I can use to determine what gets what color?

Thanks for following this humble build. Not much to report in terms of actual building yet, but as I shared with Bob, now I'm committed and will follow up to completion. If ANYONE has any corrections, hints, traps to avoid, anything like that, I assure you it will be very welcome. Thanks all!

Bill

[gott_cha]

Hi Bill,
welcome aboard! Looks like you are off to a good start.
You posed a question about PE and working the bridge area. Im by no means an expert here, But here is a building tip I picked up from others.."Build from the center line outwards and down" that keeps you from reaching into areas that are completed and accidentally breaking small parts or PE in those areas. = the bridge....yes! paint,..detail and PE then set it aside and move on. Leave of all masts and such until very last.

As far as your painting question goes...check out the paint and cammo forum here on the site. And try http://www.shipcamouflage.com/.

The info there is very extensive!

P.s. Keep the pics coming and good luck!

[aleccap]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/capalec/6823827347/
Above is my little offering, the camo was going to be a problem due to constant picking the model up applying rigging and so on. Took the decision to paint that first, copied on with a pencil and hand painted the camo, then gloss varnish, followed by matt varnish, worked a treat, its a great model, with very little to go wrong, pleased you're enjoying yourself, this is what this hobby should be all about (nothing to serious)

[Icantswim]

It looks like a good start and I'm envious of your modelling set up. Good luck!

Alex

[Bill Mall]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. The Shipcamoflage.com is the holy grail for me, that's EXACTLY what I needed, the internet is truly amazing.

Today, I was busy but got stopped short by a mechanical issue. I started sanding and scraping the seam on the front of the bridge, and learned that the handrail was going to be a casualty, so I just scraped it off and used a bit of wire to replace it. I also drilled out the portholes, at least deeper than the molding, are these typically drilled all the way through?

Then I started replacing the poorly defined water tight doors, but quickly found that the raised detail on the molding is bigger than even the largets PE doors, I learned this after gluing one, I I trimmed around it. I also added a punched card bit to emphasize the bump towards the lower front.

So is it typical to totally remove the molded on door before adding the PE?

Here are my progress shots:




Thanks for looking and weighing in on the correct colr scheme.

Bill

[Red Devil Squadron]

Hello Bill,

Your work looks great and you should end up with a really nice model when finished. I don't think it matters if you drill the portholes all the way through or not. I like to drill all the way so that when I wash and rinse sanding dust from the assembly prior to painting I get better airflow and subsequent drying on the inside. I think everyone has their own approach about the molded doors and hatches, but it might be better to remove molded doors and hatches all the way if the PE part is smaller.

Please post more photos as your work progresses.

Cheers,

Bill

[Timmy C]

I usually drill my portholes all the way through to save me from having to try painting them neatly later on.

The plastic doors are usually completely removed before adding the PE door in smaller scales.

[Bill Mall]

Today I made some progress on both the base and the tiny sip itself.

First off, the base is simply a plaque I picked up at Michaels, I grabbed some basswood sticks and set teh fence on the tablesaw to 3 inches, about 20 seconds later I was gluing them in place. I hit them with some Danish oil I had left over from finishing another project.

Here are a couple shots showing the spacing and the finish, although it's still wet here.










That's the first base for a ship I have done, I like the look, and will try to do better for my New Jersy.

I then drilled out the portholes all the way through, and added a couple PE hatches to the bridge.



I was ready to start the PE for the brisge, and figured I would try to form the railing using the canvas covered railings, then I couldn't decide if the railings would be visible on the inside or the outside, so I decided to ask here. See the rails there, are those supposed to face out or is the canvas on the outside? I can see it would be easier to hang it on the inside, but it would look more ship shape if the canvas covered teh rails from the outside.



I also was ready to stary another part of the superstructure, but couldn't decide if these stairs are to be chopped off and replaced with PE stairs and handrails, my guess is yes but I am thin on knowledge with ships, so, again, I thought I would ask before chopping them off. The are at the extreme rear of this piece, the two parallel stairs, lose them correct?



I need to paint the hull bottom red, and deal with the boot stripe, then I will affix the hull to the base and I can attach teh deck, and paint above the water line masking the boot stripe and base together.

I hope to make some progress tomorrow, but you never know.

Thanks for following.

Bill

[Timmy C]

Yep, those are what are usually called "Aztec stairs" and are almost universally non-existent on the actual ships.

[robertmelvin]

Bill, I really like what you have done with the base. That is going to look great when you have your Fletcher mounted.

I would remove the molded on "Aztec stairs" and replace them with PE. That's what I did on my Tamiya Fletcher and the difference is remarkable. Much more realistic. As for the railing, as I recall I mounted mine with the canvas toward the outside.

Your Fletcher is coming along nicely, my friend. Keep up the great work.

Bob

[Rick E Davis]

Normally the canvas was on the outside of the rails.

[aleccap]

I often use PVA for the cavas applied with a sharp cocktail stick, this will dry clear and normally paint from the inside (as crazy as that might seem, it works). The removal of those moulded stairs takes a brave person, and you have to remember where to replace these with the correct etch one's, Peter Van (can't spell the rest of his name) has a first class Fletcher and if you haven't already, then have a butchers at it, and you'll see there are many things you can do to brighten up this heavy crusier. Going back to the canvas, you could also try baking foil (tin foil normally used in cooking), this can be easily bent into any shape, it will hold, and spray, don't hand paint, and place some dripped over a rail attached to a very fine line, ie a length of canvas that's come away and only just holding on, have a few figures struggling to re-attach it to the rail (just an idea)
The only problem I had was assembling the bridge and lining up the poll that sits on the back, runs through and down onto the lower section, make sure this lines up before the glue goes off, or otherwise like myself, you'll have to remove it, and re-aline, it worse when its all painted.

[Guest]

Thanks for the support and info, guys.

I have a micro update, I was away last weekend but over the evenings this week I was able to assemble the prop shafts and bracing, and the rudder, as well as the remaining superstucture except for the funnels. Everything is still in subsections, no section is very close to complete.

No PE on any of it yet, but I did use the canvas bridge railings to try to make something that fit the bridge, it's OK, but nothing to make anyone impressed. I plan to use the 3 par railing on the model, I may practice with the Dragon designated parts first, that PE is persnickety.

Then I primed the lower hull, in preparation for shooting the hull red and boot stripe, at which point I will permanently mount the hull to the base, then I can add the deck.

Still need to tackle the PE for the superstructure, details, weapons, etc. It's a long way to Tipperary from here.

Sorry, I forgot to snap pictures, but my phone has a pretty good camera and upload capability, so I can remedy this maybe Saturday night.

[robertmelvin]

Bill, it sounds like you are coming along slowly but surely. Remember that the PE railings should be among the last things you put on, building from the centerline down and out. I usually attach the other PE, doors, hatches, ladders, etc., as I build each subassembly.

I'll look forward to seeing some update photos. Hang in there, Bill, you'll be surprised how good she's going to look when you are done. While I was in the midst of my build I kept thinking "my God, what a mess", but once I got her all together, all of the painting done and the PE and railings attached, I thought "dang, that isn't too bad after all!".

Building ship kits is kind of a steep learning curve. I think that's why you seem to have guys who build ships, and then guys who build other kinds of modelers. Its my impression that most ship modelers don't do much else, though I may be wrong. I know with me, I can't remember when I've built anything but ships. They become completely addictive once you get into it, learn the tricks and techniques you need to master and turn out a nice build or two. I'm so hooked I've got four on the work bench right now!

Bob

[aleccap]

please take note of the bloke above, and someone once said to me ''its not a race'' take your time, little by little and think before you commit yourself to the dreaded glue. When I use to build, I'd have a good rattle tin and spray everything the same colour, then touch up afterward, but you are facing a complex camo design so be very careful when applying etch in strange placing or dare I say, odd circumstances, as you'll remember I actually painted my camo first then everyhting else came last, that way I could afford the odd mistake, I'd like to build this model again some time, but doubt very much if I'll ever get round to doing that, so its great in the fact that other people such as yourself are making such a good effort. Keep it up, and keep those pics coming.

[Bill Mall]

Thanks, guys, well, although I haven't managed to screw up the model yet, I did post on my own thread as a guest. Needless to say, that's me and I approve that message.

[roy allen]

Take your time, she'll come together.
I did this kit some years back, with the GMM set to detail her
An old kit but still one of the best 1/350's around to break year teeth on as a first time ship builder.
Too many try BB's and pack in,

Roy

[bismarck builder]

hi
your in the right place and you'v made a great start
looking good
cheers
gary

[drizzt73]

Looking good Bill, love the base too. I am also on my first ship build and learning as I go. This is a great site with lots of friendly advice.

Keep at it

Cheers
Anthony

[Bill Mall]

OK, the long promised update.

Last night I was able to finalize the attachement design, nothing novel, just some toggle bolts thruogh the base and into the hull bottom, I did have to dremel off the tops to make it fit.

Having finalized that, I sprayed some paint, freehanded the boot stripe (Robert, I was in the groove at 2200 and had forgotten the stripe/pinstripe tip, so I just shot it with Tamiya Nato black, which is really a super dark gray, then masked the bottom line for the hull red, which I mixed by eye, some Tamiya flat red and red brown.

Then I atteched the model to the base, but I didn't put the deck on yet, it was by this point 2350 hrs.

Photos so far:







Then I decided to place the deck on and some sutperstructure parts were added just to make it look like I am making some progress:





Just when I was feeling good (pride), I noticed a problem (the fall).

Can anyone spot my rookie mistake?



I did such aan exact job placing the holes that even when I unbolted it and swapped ends, I come out the same.

I figure it will take a bit of a shaft extender to get this to permit me to attach the props.

Oh well, I learned a lesson last night.

Thanks for following, any tips, please sing out.

Bill