The Ship Model Forum

Upon the invitation from Nektarios, I'd like to share some of my Postwar / Modern ship model projects.

Here I intend to depict the ships USS Vinennes CG-49 and USS Sides FFG-14 during their service in Operation Earnest Will in 1988 during the Iran vs. Iraq war while escorting oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz.

The Vincennes model is done and I'm working on the Sides.





On the Sides, I am detailing some canvas covered railings atop the bridge and will do the same onlong the port and starboard sides a little farther aft towards the amidships area.

From what I can tell, in 1988 the Sides had two small pieces of equipment mounted on port and starboard, canvas-railed platforms atop the bridge. I'm not sure what these pieces are, but I have substituted actual platforms and railings with two small 1/700 gun tubs (maybe for .50 cals) from spare parts sprues, that I hope will pass for canvas covered railings after painting them like the other canvas covered railings.



I have installed support stanchions at the spray shields and at the whale boat platform using .012" brass rod. I filled in the holes in the model where the plastic mast pieces would have been mounted and removed the fore and aft radar towers which will be replaced with PE towers. I added doors on the whale boat platform and on the bridge, along with extra windows, there.



Here is FFG-24 with those small objects mounted on the round platforms atop the bridge, but without canvas on the railings.

Here are recent shots of my Vincennes model.

Were SH-60 helos used by these ships in 1988 in the Persian Gulf? Or some other helo models?

Nuke,
Those platforms were for TDT's, which allowed you to manually aim the 76MM. They were removed from the fleet a few years ago.
Scott

Nuke

Nice work, I am glad that Nektarios ask you to post. They look like fine models. I have a question that has always made me curious. How do you paint the decks without messing up the PE. I have always painted then place the PE, I thought of doing this with my next models, but a bit concerned of making a bigger mess.

Great job!

John

Pingjockey, Thanks for the explaination about the TDT, thingies. Do you think I'm going to pull off the way that I am portraying their platforms as canvas covered railings? I'm not quite sold on them, myself, but they may pass in this smaller scale.

Here is the Sides with the dark canvas on the railings. The canvas is probably a dark gray but show up blue in this exposure. The TDT platforms look like they have canvas, as well, to me.

USS Sides FFG-14 in July 1985.



John, I brush paint the decks with slightly thinned acrylics. A couple of coats. I use a small brush which I have cut its tip square and push the tip down and flat at the interfaces of the two paint colors. The very bottom rail or "gunwhale" or toe-kick acts as a nice stopping edge for the brush. Where ever I mess up and get a little deck paint where I don't want, I go back and touch up with thinned bulkhead paint.

Great work as always Carl

I do not know what kind of helicopter Vincennes carried ( i believe it should be one or two SH-60Bs ) but if i remember correctly some FFGs used to carry at that time OH-58Ds to counter possible FAC attacks. This could have been done in Spruance class ships and Ticos.

Again congratulations for your work.

Hi All,
Early Tico's carried SH-2 Seasprites as did the short hulled OHP's, look for pics and search for more info, OH-58 were carried by some units as mentioned and also on the Kidd class that deployed to this region.

Happy modeling

John

I found this pic of an OH-58D approaching the USS Deyo during operations in the Gulf during 1987.



Happy modeling

John

Thanks for the photo and the information John. Your knowledge and experience is valuable as gold. We re lucky to have someone like you on this message board.

I have found reference to SH-60B's operating from USN ships in the Gulf in 1988. Even a Sea Cobra landing on a FFG USS Nicholas.

I'll keep an eye open for references to Seasprites or OH-58's on any ships, in particular the USS Sides.

I have learned that the Knox class USS Elmer Montgomery FF-1082 served closer with the Vincennes in attacking small Iranian gun boats in July 1988. I have an AFV Club Knox model. Maybe I'll mount that with the Vincennes, instead.

Hmmm. Its not too, late.

Thanks for everyone's research on this one.

The Vincennes, also known as "Robocruiser" was carrying SH-60s during her time in the Gulf. Sides being a short hull carried a sea sprite. While it is true that the Army was operating in the Gulf, none of the Army Helos were permamently assigned to the ships. They fueled off the ships and I know they were on all of the ships in the Gulf at the time. I have seen a picture of an MH-6 Littlebird on a Leahy class CG. They operated off of anywhere there was fuel and a big enough deck. They did some serious damage. FFG-14 Sides was the closest ship to CG-49 Vincennes when the Iranian airliner was shot down. Read up on Operation Prime Chance, Operation Praying Mantis and Operation Nimble Archer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Prime_Chance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nimble_Archer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis

and the incident with the Iranian Airliner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

I was in the Navy at the time during these events and remember all the news articles and scuttlebutt around base.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

Thanks for the additional research on helos in the Gulf in the 1980's. Thanks for the links, Guest!

So, the short hull FFG's could not accommodate SH-60 Seahawks?

My Skywave OHP kit came with one in it, which is the same as the OHP kit by DRAGON (non Premium Edition) which I also have.

I can salvage a Seasprite from my AFV Knox kit, but I'll have to see if they used Seasprites in 1988 Gulf.

Hi Guest,
Thanks for the info, some of the Helos were actually embarked on ships for certain ops, they never just flew around expecting a deck to be clear, also they were under control of Fighter Controllers/Helo Controllers aboard ships,
I left the Royal Navy last September after 32 years service, i was in the Gulf during the Stark incident, Praying Mantis and other Ops, was in the Med for El Dorado Canyon in 1986. i also did Desert Storm and was part of STANAFORLANT at time of 9/11.

Do i miss it, Hell Yeah, but i am now settled here in SC and get lots of modeling time, looking forward to building my 20' x 20' Modeling shop and getting my models out of the dust.

Happy modeling

John

Hi NukeMM,
That is correct, short hulled FFG's could only operated SH-2's, Kidd class were also affected that way until updated, as were early Tico's, as the SH-60's joined the fleet from 1983 onwards, ships enterd the Fleet with the RAST system and others were upgraded, short hulled FFG's were not upgraded. WEM produce SH-2's

John

John,
Thanks for this confirmation and the lead on the SH-2's from WEM.

Here is the Seasprite on my 1/700 USS Knox model.



Here is an SH-2F of HSL-84, actually on the USS Sides FFG-14 in 1987, from Navsource.org.

Very Nice NukeMM

Fantastic job Carl.

Carl i have just checked and i could spare a couple of Seasprites send me your address and i ll send them to you.

Thanks for the kudos, Gents. I was kind of proud of that Seasprite when it was finished.

I hate building the little aircraft. That's why I am impressed by Nektarios' work on his aircraft carrier planes.

I haven't decided, yet, if I will display helos on the decks of the Sides and Vincennes. If I do, I wanted to be sure that I didn't display the wrong kinds. But, I will keep your offer for your Seasprite in mind, Nektarios. Thanks.

The SH-2 in my Knox kit may not be used when I build it. I have plans to build three Knox FFs tied up to the USS Ajax AR-6, like in this photo of Subic Bay in the very early 1980's or late 1970's.

I finished the Main Mast, today. It is not permanently attached, yet. It is rather fragile and the mounting points at the base are very small in surface area, I am worried about bending it or detaching it when attaching the rigging, especially the shrouds on the port and starboard sides. I used the PE from GMM's Modern USN and JMSDF set.