The Ship Model Forum

Moomoon, your work is simply amazing. I can only stand here in awe and watch the master at work.

Just wow.

Moomoon,

How do you deal with the sharp ends of all those little bits of wire after you cut them?

Dan.

Good day to all
It�s about time for an update of my build of the DML�s Benson class prewar destroyer USS Charles F. Hughes. I have attached two photos on the completed sub-assemblies for the ship. It took me three times painting and stripping the hull to get the camouflaged pattern right. That�s finial done and the walkway decals have been applied. I have also fabricated the mast out brass rod and piano wire; it can be seen in the second photo. I tried using the kits open 5 inch 38s, but the trienniums are way too low. I had a couple of the L�Arsenal open mounts left over from another project and am using them instead of the kit ones. I hope to have the project completed by the 5th of July.

Nice! Especially like the camouflage pattern.

Wow guys, some great looking work going on here. Great to see some new builds starting to take shape now as well.

Matt

1/350 Marshal Shaposhnikov

Hi everybody,

I made a lot of progress, but just in a small area this week.

I puttied the sonar area. After buying a few paints that I thought I might use, I finally decided to use a can of gunmetal (that I already had sitting around) for the main deck.


The foremast has been a lot more involved than I expected. It's a jumbled mess of original parts, both GMM and WE photo etch and bits of plastic strips and metal rod. There are some mistakes, but I'm calling it good enough. It's up to the point of paint now.




I was really looking forward to having the nice strut pair radar on top. Wouldn't you know it, Posh never had it. How disappointing. I'll try to make the correct simple dish out of brass bits. If it turns out good, I'll put it on top of the post and go for a pre 2008 version. If it looks bad, I'll just leave the foremast as it is now and try for the post 2008 version of the ship. I'm finding that there are a lot more little differences between the ships of the class than I realized.

Thanks for looking,

Dan.

Build Complete
USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428)

I have completed my build of DML�s USS Benson (Prewar) kit. Since I don�t like to build a cookie cutter model, I always change something. In this case it�s the color scheme, I went with measure 2, the 3 tone grey scheme used in late 40/41. My inspiration was this picture from Navsource.org. It shows the Charles F. Hughes (DD 428) just after she was painted but before they installed the lift rafts on the Bridge 02 level. The kits open 5inch 38 mounts are incorrect so I substituted L� Arsenal�s mounts. The rails are from my scrounge box. I scratch built the mast since I�ve had problem in the past with DML�s masts bending over time due to the weight of the rigging. I used the kits depth charge racking just adding the cross members on the top of the racks.

Gary Griffith wrote: Build Complete
USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428)

Gary,

Very nice!

Matt

Looks fantastic Gary!

You've certainly set the bar for the rest of us.

Gary, a very impressive build. Very nice indeed.

Bob

Nice build. I'd really like to do one of these in Ms 2 - it's a neat looking scheme. The hull number amidships is an interesting difference as well.

Gary Griffith wrote:The kits open 5inch 38 mounts are incorrect so I substituted L� Arsenal�s mounts.

Just curious, what is the issue with the kits weapons?

The kit's open 5 inch 38 mount trunnions are to short. The gun would be unable to evevate past 45 degrees not to mention having to evevate to 90 degres as required.

MartinJQuinn wrote:
Just curious, what is the issue with the kits weapons?

The kits open 5 inch mount trunions are too short. The gun would not be able to elevate past 45 degrees not to mention reaching the required 89 degrees of the real weapons. The L'arsonal 5 inch 38s are much closer in the required trunion hieght.

Your DD looks great Gary, the camouflage you chose is nice and original. It reminds me the one worn by some 1500t french destroyer at the end of 1939.

Nicely done Gary,

Did you have to paint all those little rectangles on the deck, or were you able to use decals?

Dan.

USS Reuben James, 1939

A bit of a progress update, the rear deckhouse has been assembled, striped of the molded details and the wood planking removed from the top. The portholes have been drilled out to the larger size used above the weather deck. The front and rear walls of the galley section have been added, and the top sanded smooth and installed. The engine hatches have been removed from the kit deck and are setting in place. The front wall of the bridge is in, and the two solid sides of the railing between the bridge and galley have been replaced by strip styrene (By 1939 the RJ had lost the curve on the forward section of these rails) Also the 4 base plates for the stacks have been added to the deck. A coat of filler primer was put on the hull, and then sanded back smooth, most of it being removed. Next up is to begin plating the deck and building the stacks and the more of the bridge.

Nice flush-deck taking shape up there

@ California Bound:to handle small part I use the wet tip of a toothpick.
First, with a needle I put a bit of gel cyanoacrylate glue ever the porthole, then pick the eyebrow with the tooth pick. The final positioning of the eyebrow is make with my nail or a blade. According to the text of my documentaion there were sinuous rails on the port side to handle torpedoes. This is my interpretation of this and the only pics I found showing a bit of it... Bye.

California Bound wrote:Nicely done Gary,

Did you have to paint all those little rectangles on the deck, or were you able to use decals?

Dan.

Thank God no, they came as decals with the kit

I'm coming along fairly well on my entry for the Civilain/transport group build, so I think I'll have enough time to enter this one as well, and have a ship in all three group builds. I'm not sure what the subject matter will be yet, but I know the scale will be 1/700!

1/350 Marshal Shaposhnikov

Hi everybody,

When I started this project, I thought all I had to do was cut off part of the Panteleyev 548 decal to make 543 and leave off the extra building on the roof. That turned out to be wishful thinking. Thankfully, most of the hard parts were on the masts so all that's left now is to move some of the little stuff and remove some things. Trumpeter must have used a number of ships of the class for their references. Some of the parts of the kit don't appear to belong on Panteleyev even, let alone on Posh.

I've been building sub assemblies to try and cut down the number of times that I have to use each color.


I didn't want this big of an assembly but as I was working on getting the parts to fit and stay together and try to get rid of some seams, this is what I ended up with. I don't trust my masking ability on the windows, so I've drilled and filed all of them out.


Since it's the most self-contained, I hope to finish this rear section first. Besides the usual stuff, I still have to add a missing wall and assorted support poles. So far I've left off the extra roof structure, rearranged the life preservers, and removed the center platform between the side mounted whip antennas. (Ladder to platform still needs to be removed). Drilled out the windows in the rear control room too. The refueling equipment that would attach to the deck near the front of the hanger has also been left off. It appears to have been removed from Posh in the early 2000's. I also added the rear sonar door which turned out to be a good thing. I had planned to put the white waterline stripe at the bottom of the upper hull. Thanks to this sonar door, I see it has to be at the top of the lower hull instead.


A general idea of how it'll look. Although I've left off the masts in order to keep them safe.


Thanks for looking.

Dan.