1/350 FFG-48 USS Vandegrift, Academy& Pontos

[Themongoose]

"(Land the Helo before someone complains...)"

LMAO yes I've heard about that twice on another forum already! I like the action but I do admit it's not that realistic. Maybe I'll cave a little and leave it in the air but suspend it from the base instead so it's not over the FFG during weapons firing. Definitely a little carried away on my part in making everything in action

I've got a plane to do for my daughter and then back to a ship I think. I can't decide between a German Pocket Battleship and an Iowa Class BB. If you guys have any opinions throw them my way.

[Nino]

Ah, Pocket Battleships...I am always interested in plastic models of Germany's Sheer, Lutzow (ex-Deutschland), and Graf Spee. Plenty of Graf Spee's by companies like Testors/Italeri (1/720), Fujimi (1/700), and Trumpeter (1/700). Trumpeter has the newest molds and a Spanish Civil War version as well as the 1939 version.. We're not so lucky in finding a Sheer and Lutzow other than old 1/700 kits by Italeri and Fujimi. But wait, Flyhawk has intimated they will also release a "pocket battleship" in 1/700 too. That Flyhawk quality and detail is now legendary as well as the high price.

My suggestion in 1/700 would be for the Trumpeter Graf Spee kit (It's full Hull ), unless you want to await a possible Flyhawk release. (See my post on *Inj. molded plastic* Upcoming Ship Kit Releases , page 146)

Where do you find "Pocket Battleships" in something larger than 1/700? Heller (and Lee copies), made some good, if rather plain, 1/400 Graf Spee, Lutzow, and Sheer models. Nichimo made a nice 1/500 Graf Spee too but all of these kits are had to find. If you want to have a fun 'build' detailing these kits, buy one and get 50+ bucks worth of AM stuff.

What's left is Academy and Trumpeter in 1/350.
If you are going large, go Trumpeter for 1/350 Graf Spee.
As an "aside"...In comparing Trumpeter 1/350 kits: I like Academy's Indianapolis over Trumpeter's, Trumpeter's Dreadnought over Zvezda and Trumpeter's Graf Spee over Academy.


As far as an Iowa class goes, making a Missouri/New Jersey etc., is a right of passage. Early in life every ship modeler makes at least one, even if only the Revell 1/535 classic or a crummy 1/900 Lindberg, or "Gawd Forbid", the old Pyro Missouri on Wheels.

All the major OEMs make an Iowa class these days. You have to build at least one.

Toughest part, picking the time frame: WW2 or Cold War. For 1/700 WW2 I like Tamiya for their Iowa kit #31616 as it has the original bridge. You can always add a lower hull from Academy/Meng/Trumpter/Pit Road Iowa class models- and sand till it fits. I find Meng is a fun snap-together-build if you have some kids involved. I have not seen the Academy offering. Maybe Veryfire will release a 1/700 kit of their 1/350 Missouri. That would be nice.
Trumpeter(Pit Road mold) 1/700 is the choice if you want 1984-1991 fit. The Trumpeter BB's look real good.

For that larger 1/350 Iowa class there are a few choices: Tamiya, Revell, Blue Ridge/VeryFire. The VeryFire Missouri seems like only a modest improvement over the old Tamiya kit according to some reviews. Watch out for Trumpeter's very old 1/350 kit of the Missouri. It is old. Academy also made a 1/400 scale kit of Missouri. Several other lesser-known plastic model makers also did some Iowa's in various scales like 1/400 and 1/600. EDIT: I was advised that Joy Yards BB63 will be the kit to beat. Supposedly highly detailed and has not made the same errors and missing detail that VeryFire did.

Couldn't help the long reply. It's Lunch time and somehow Burgers and Posting work well together.

Nino

That Pyro Missouri was the fastest "rug-sailing" ship in my fleet.

[Strategos Augustus]

FINISHED! Can't tell you how ecstatic I am over this one because I think the image I was trying to capture is really representative of the cruise. Here is the USS Vandegrift as fitted out in 1995. I've weathered her for an active cruise doing missile system tests as shown here (Wikimedia Commons):



And my representation:





Once I had the action up front I just couldn't set the helo on the deck so I have big brother taking off, the doors closing for his berth and the other opening to bring out her other brother.







And here are some other ones to show some details and how she fitted out.





I plugged the original hole for the rudder and offset it like the real thing. The prop is aluminum color on the drydock photos I have so recreated that look here.



Testors clear canopy/window glue used across the board.









6 weeks start to finish. I used MCW lacquer paints for everything; light ghost grey on verticals and a lightened mix with 10% white for center panels and oil canning down the sides(washed out in the latest photos though but it is there), and dark ghost grey for the horizontals with a 10% black mix for tonal variation. Primer is Citadel Chaos Black for the hull and MCW grey for the PE and plastic. Only 1 piece of Pontos PE was lost during the build and I was able to fold up a new piece out of scrap. The Desron on each side of the superstructure wasn't provided so I hand painted them. I also tried the Flexy 5k CA for handrails and some of the parts that stick out, like the flag mast, to see how it works. It takes longer to dry, more like thick CA in time. Acts like a medium CA. Is easy to remove and redo. More ships to come as I am way better at this than planes. Definitely going to continue using PE sets where I can. I'll be back for more after I build the bomber my daughter got me for my birthday!

It is a great result. I rather like the dynamism, really seems to come alive.

Looking forward to your next project.

[Themongoose]

Many thanks gentlemen! Shouldn�t be too long before I start the next one. Off to check the poll results and see what the line on my next build is...

[Silenoz]

looking very good.

With regards to the soldering, do you clean the "corrosion" from the PE, at least at the mating/joining surfaces (fine sandpaper, glassfibre pen, etc...), that helps a lot for fine soldering. Also do you use some kind of flux? It helps making the solder run smoother. I see from the picture you use a lot of solder, I tend to squeeze a bit flat, then cut it into tiny bits and use these to solder.

I do have a how to in dutch, with some pics that speak for themselves (I hope, but when you have more questions, please ask)

https://www.modelbrouwers.nl/media/docs ... chniek.pdf

I can try to translate in the future.

[Themongoose]

Thanks for the link silenoz. I�ll see if google translate gives me enough to interpret it.

For soldering - I seem to have the right approach but haven�t executed well. I am cutting the solder into bits. I wasn�t doing it very consistently though at first. My other problems with too much solder on the joint was holding it all together firmly and keeping the solder from flying away when the air flow from the torch hit it. I cleaned the PE first with apple cider vinegar, then a water rinse. I�m using a liquid solder and no flux core. I only have the high temp solder right now. Need to get some low temp. Anyway, I think it boils down to more practice and watching how others do it. Will definitely check out your how-to! Thanks for the advice