The Ship Model Forum

So I am back at something other than a CVN

This is a commission build of the Shiloh, from the Dragon Mobile Bay kit. It will be one of a trio of CGs (Shiloh, Yorktown, Lake Erie) for the same customer as my trio of Burkes. Unlike last time, I am going to do these one at a time, having not enjoyed the work in triplicate last time.

Like the burkes, this will be toned down a bit, no PE, no crew, no weathering, waterlined, but not on a sea scape, all at the customer's request obviously.

The Dragon kit is rough, to put it nicely, and shows it's age. Appropriate parts will be upgraded with veteran accessories, spares from a trumpeter Burke donor kit, and my own resin and / or scratch built enhancements.

My first impressions of the kit are not good. Aside from soft details, there are some very serious fit issues right off the bat. Worst of these is the fit of the foreward superstructure to the deck, there should be a flush fit on teh sides, but this one has a very considerable lip that is going to have to be overcome.

I replaced the stern deck with blank styrene, deciding it will just be easier to start from a clean slate rather than sand off the marking lines and deal with the kit part.

the plastic itself is brittle, the hull cracked right in the middle from only minor work on it.

I'm going to be watching this with wide eyes. I'm especially interested in how you overcome the fit of the forward superstructure.

Bigdaddy Mark wrote: I'm especially interested in how you overcome the fit of the forward superstructure.

You and me both Mark! I have some ideas kicking around, NONE are easy, and all are gonna require me to get my hands dirty on this one!

Ryan you certainly roll with the hits I remember building The Tico's and Sprucans Many Many Many years ago, taping and gluing inches at a time, taking out shares in Squadron Green putty,
During Desert Storm I remember seeing Princeton after being damaged by the mines, Heck even she was in better shape than the kits, you are already tackling one bad area, the sterns.

Looking forward to seeing your work as you progress

Happy Modeling

John

looking good. ....
love how you did the stern, spot on with the SQQ-19.. you might want to consider redoing the nixies also.. if you are using burkes for parts go with a trumpeter burke kit it comes with the best looking set i have seen for the old style of nixies other wise I think Dave has done some of these for his JPJ not sure.. Again, this kit has problems and I will be following this build keep it up....

Yeah, good luck with that forward superstructure. I built the Bunker Hill kit when I was in AEGIS school back in 1991, and I STILL remember fighting with that assembly! It's the main reason I still haven't built a model of my own boat, the Normandy.

Thanks guys, there is a lot mroe interest in this old kit than I could have imagined.

Major- I am embarrassed to say that I have heard the term "nixies" many times, yet I have no clue what they actualy are! Ill have to google them to make sure I steal that part off the burke.

Well, I am very happy to say that the hull to structure fit issue has been resolved, and it was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated.

I removed a section of the fore deck (simple piece, 1ll replace it with a smaller scratch built one), removed the deck under the structure, and cut a channel in the remaining aft deck. this allowed me to pinch the hull sides in to conform to the completed super structure part. I reinforced the joints, and we are good to go. If I had not already installed the aft deck, I would have just replaced it with a styrene piece on each side, leaving a gap where I cut out the channel.

GREAT IDEA!!!!!
I may be pulling my CG back out of the box after the Deep Endeavor.

While it's sad that the customer wanted you to build a "toy", I am looking forward to seeing one of your builds OTHER than a Nimitz class ship
And this one is hitting one close to home for me, since I am working on my Vincennes. Will overdetail it like I did with the Nimitz, but I just know there is always something new I can learn from pros like you. Stuff like: why is the towed sonar off-center on the actual ships? (luckily the CG-49 doesn't have it)



Keep working on these babies too! I'll be watching as well.

Cheers: Laci

Well Laci, Ryan did do a very nice job on Academy's 1/350 USS Indianapolis. I think it's been moved to the Completed Models subforum.

Thanks guys,

Laci, I have no clue why the sonar is off center, my best guess is that having it dead center behind the screws interferes with it somehow?

I don't mind the lack of super-detailing in these builds, in the long run it makes me a better modeler because it keeps me honest. I can't hide a flaw in the finish wtih some weathering, or strategically placed crew figure or something, so I need to make sure that every little bit of the basic fundamentals is perfect. "Fit and Finish" just like the main criteria for judging at competitions.

Well, I have finally beat the main parts of the superstructure into submission. On some of the parts, especially the flight deck to hangar fit, I can't even say the fit is poor. It is more like the parts were designed for 2 separate kits. I am finally happy enough with all the fit that I started painting her. All of her decks were painted first, now I am masking them all off so I can paint the hull and sides. She should start to actually resemble a CG pretty soon!

Looks outstanding!!
I'm going to be at it again soon.

Thanks Mark, looking forward to seeing your progress on this ahem "kit".

So main hull and superstructure colors are all done, one or two minor touch-ups needed. and in the words of Forrest Gump, "And that's all I have to say about that."

Well, the beatings will continue till morale improves.

This kit continues to suffer from fit that ranges from bad to crap. Huge sections of plastic parts have been removed all over the place and replaced with styrene in order to get some type of acceptable fit. Luckily, I think all the surgery is behind me now. She got a lot of her markings, which are a combo of painted and decals.

Nearing the finish line...sorta.

I think I am getting past the frustration with this kit's crappy fit, and it has morphed into a sort of morbid humor. Every time i think I have rounded the corner for crap fit, a new challenge rears it's ugly head. Seriously it is like this kit was designed by 2 different people who did not consult each other even once during the design process. Really, there are many parts that I can not even describe as having a poor fit, because they simply DO NOT FIT! It's like I am using parts from 2 completely different kits made by different companies.

Anyways, the good news is that with the exception of the mast to deck fit area called out in the pics below, I think I am done using any of the original kit parts. from here on out it is all aftermarket and / or scratch parts. At least if I am making parts from scratch I know that they are beign made by a professional and they will actually fit!

All weapons are from veteran, CIWS, harpoon, deck guns, and nulka & bushmasters which have not been installed yet.

I don't remember it being this bad when I built it a decade ago when I was 15, but I guess ignorance is bliss

You're nuts and you're good at it

Anyway, looks like you're an extremely bad builder since you don't make these parts fit. Just kidding of course.
I admire your courage for doing such extensive work on such a kit. The result is as usual with your builds, very high standard, eventhough the kit itself seems to be rather poor. makes me wonder what the result would be if someone provided you with decent plans and let you build something entirely from scratch

Ooooh, that's a nasty gash. Did somebody hit it with an iceberg?

Neptune wrote:You're nuts and you're good at it

Anyway, looks like you're an extremely bad builder since you don't make these parts fit. Just kidding of course.
I admire your courage for doing such extensive work on such a kit. The result is as usual with your builds, very high standard, eventhough the kit itself seems to be rather poor. makes me wonder what the result would be if someone provided you with decent plans and let you build something entirely from scratch

Now that made me laugh

Looking Good Ryan

John

Ha. thanks guys. I take that as a high compliment, being good at being nuts!

I am in the home stretch, this thing has just dragged out so long since I always find myself not wanting to work on it for fear of yet another issue popping up.

From the start, this was planned as an intermediate type build, mostly OOB for the main ship, with a few additions here and there to make it accurate for shiloh. In retrospect, it probably would have been easier if I just scratch built almost the whole damn thing from the deck on up. The horrible horrible fit has just taken all the wind out of my sails. But the ship, unfinished is like a nasty distraction teasing me and taunting me in my shop, and i have decided it is time to man-up and finish the beast. Even though there are a lot of things not installed on her yet, just about every detail part is finished and painted, just waiting for install as soon as I iron out what I hope is one last speed bump in her masts.