1/350 USS Hobson during Operation Torch

[biggles2]

This is Dragon's Benson/Gleaves class destroyer dressed up as USS Hobson late 1942. Mostly OOB, with Master Models Oerlikons and Gold Medal PE. Crew are from l'Arsenal.





















Comments?

[taskforce48]

Looks great! Love that unique camo, long been on my list to do and nice to see someone actually get it done!

Matt

[ModelMonkey]

Love the finish.

[K494]

Well done!

Scott

[biggles2]

Thanks guys! Although criticism where I could improve is also welcome!

[D Burger]

Nice job..love the camo..any tips on building the Master 20mm's, I'm having a time trying to figure out folding the pe cradle!

[Miguel]

Nice job..love the camo..any tips on building the Master 20mm's, I'm having a time trying to figure out folding the pe cradle!

follow the gif in their website,it is ok ,needs some patience only
http://master-model.pl/images/stories/Z ... on_350.gif

BTW try to use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to view the gif properly.

[saibaiman-kamikaze]

Awesome work. Well done. I like the accurates details on the radial davits and boats.

[robertmelvin]

Nice job..love the camo..any tips on building the Master 20mm's, I'm having a time trying to figure out folding the pe cradle!

follow the gif in their website,it is ok ,needs some patience only
http://master-model.pl/images/stories/Z ... on_350.gif

BTW try to use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to view the gif properly.

Get the 3-D Model Parts version done in 3-d printing. Only three parts including shield and look so close to as good as the Model Master offering with much less hair pulling out and gnashing of teeth. Once they are painted you can hardly tell them apart.

BTW, very, very nice work!

Bob M.

[marijn van gils]

Beautiful!!!

I like your rendition of the 'walkways' on the deck a lot; it is hard to make this look right.
And I love how the figures at their battle stations bring the model alive, and together with the position of the guns and the shell casings (nice detail!), tell the story.

Well done!

Marijn

[biggles2]

Thanks, Marijn. The textured walkways are the decals supplied with the kit. Sometimes a little tricky to apply because they are long and thin decals, but they do look good. Hint to Archer decals: they could make actual textured treadways with raised texture similar to their surface texture detail series, for larger scale ship models - 1/200, and 1/144. Revell Fletcher would look good with some.

[biggles2]

I would like to pose a question here concerning #3 turret. I wanted to have it also in action, firing in the same direction as the others. When the railings are placed, they (the tapered end sections) restrict rotation of that turret. On the real ship, did they have to fold down that rail section to allow full rotation, or is that some possible flaw from Dragon, where they may have made the deck cabin too narrow?

[Timmy C]

When the railings are placed, they (the tapered end sections) restrict rotation of that turret. On the real ship, did they have to fold down that rail section to allow full rotation, or is that some possible flaw from Dragon, where they may have made the deck cabin too narrow?

Two things that "artificially" restrict your kit turrets' rotational space: firstly, the real railing stanchions were placed on the vertical edges of the deck (i.e. the bulkhead below), not on the horizontal part, and secondly, PE railings are immensely overscale in thickness, occupying even more room when fixed on the deck's horizontal surface.

That being said, even the real ships lowered their stanchions for battle or replenishment, though I'm not sure if that's just for precaution or because they would otherwise directly interfere.

[Rick E Davis]

Yes ... the stanchions were lowered around the weapons (5-in mounts and torpedo tubes) prior to "Action".

You seldom see this in photos because fewer photos were taken during actual combat.

[biggles2]

Yes ... the stanchions were lowered around the weapons (5-in mounts and torpedo tubes) prior to "Action".

Were the main deck railings lowered too for #1, and #4 guns?

[Rick E Davis]

I guess I should say except for 51 and 54 mounts .... those mounts had plenty of deck space to get around and stay away from the revolving gun mounts while in operation.

In looking at drawing plans the gun mounts were in theory suppose to be able to rotate with the stanchions up, but in practice they were apparently lowered. The deck edge "railing" alongside the torpedo tubes, was normally only a single line at the top.

In looking at photos of HOBSON, the stanchions around the front and sides of 52 Mount was very short with only one line (common with the SIMS class as well) being below the bottom of the gun mount and would have been nothing more than an emergency grab line if someone fell. The 53 Mount stanchions were as Timmy said, mounted on the outside edge of the deck edge and in theory should have allowed free rotation while the mount revolved. In the photos I can see, the stanchions in the area where you were having issues with clearance, were the type intended to be lowered if needed to be. You can see from this drawing that 53 Mount would have had a close fit against the railing in rotating to a forward aspect angle. (Drawing is from a plan for the original configuration of the GLEAVES class)

[biggles2]

Can anyone tell me what I did wrong with 53 and 54 turrets? I didn't even notice it until looking at the close-ups! I suppose I will have to eventually re-locate the turrets without damaging them. I'm surprised no one else noticed and commented on it.

[Timmy C]

You got them swapped around! Ah well, as you noted, nobody will notice anyway