I haven't done a WIP on the boards for a while, and this should be a rather straight-forward build, so it seems a good candidate. This is the Dragon kit of USS Benson as she appeared in 1940. This is for a NJIPMS club group build, hosted by our very own Martin J. Quinn, and as such I'm doing this mostly out of the box, only adding railings and rigging. I INTEND to use the kit-supplied AA guns and 5" mounts, but I've said such crazy things in the past and ended up swapping out the whole lot of 'em.
I've built the Blue Water Navy USS
Farenholtand kitbashed a USS
Laffeybefore from resin, both waterlined. To mix it up a bit, this build will be full-hull. Also, I'll be going with the U.S. Navy pre-war gray scheme, keeping it simple.
A few photos to get things started:
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File comment: Obligatory box cover photo.

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File comment: There are a TON of parts in the box (and this is with the hull and main deck sections already removed)

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File comment: A quick mock-up, making sure everything fits. The parts go together quite well, even in this dry fitting. The sub in the background is the Pegaus submarine Nautilus that I'm just finishing up.

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File comment: I drilled out the mounting holes, as this will be a full-hull build, and mounted nuts with Apoxie Sculpt putty. The nuts will allow various lengths of screws to be used to mount the model as the build progresses from initial assembly, painting, and final mounting to the base.

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File comment: Everything glued and clamped together. I took a little finesse here and there to minimize seams between upper and lower hull, and around the main deck edge, but doing so results in very little putty being required when fill-and-sand time comes.

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