1/350 Dragon Ticonderoga-class USS Vincennes-1991

[anyahajobuzi]

Hello long lost friends!!!

Yes, the rumors are true, I build other things than the USS Nimitz (1985-86)! I know, I need a minute to sit down too... Here is the proof that I am actually working on another ship!!
Although I promised myself (and the forum members) that I won't start a thread until there is enough progress to report, a few people already asked me to post some pictures of this Vincennes. So against my better judgement,: here it is, and you will all have to excuse me for jumping all over the subject, for I do not have ANY sections completed, and I am jumping from bow to stern on this project, depending on my mood and how many Red Bulls I had.

What do we have here? An ambitious attempt to turn Dragon's steaming pile of plastic into something presentable at a show and tell at a local elementary school. Most of the people who EVER got tricked by the box art into buying this kit (and were older than 6 years old), probably got disappointed. Ryan knows what I'm talking about! A couple other companies attempted to sell this ship under different alter-egos, but don't get your hopes up: It is EXACTLY the same kit , whether it says Italeri, or Trumpeter or Dragon.....

So the kit: to sum it up: a window pane will have more detail on it than this kit. The bow bulwark is sooo plain. The signal room and both of the masts are slingshot worthy.... All the molded on detail is thick, and/or enlarged. One thing I do have to compliment though: virtually all the molded on detail is correct in location . So if they molded on a door, you can bet it is there on the real ship too. Except the real ship has 546 times more doors. The firehoses, vents and different sprinkler piping are in the right place, I just opted for replacing all these with more 3-dimensional material.. That was all the good news about this kit.

The decals (depending on the age and manufacturer) are either on a matt film or they are the thick glossy ones that must crack during shipping from the manufacturer, because I almost never see an intact sheet, therefore I slingshot the decals right to the landfill, gradually along with 50% of the original parts.( I never bought a CG from Trumpy, maybe they provide better decals )

Luckily LOTS of companies have picked up on the poor state of this kit, offering a TON of aftermarket stuff.
I don't need to mention Veteran, and WEM. But RESIN SHIPYARDS here in Canada may not be as well known: Darren offers excellent decals for smaller Navy vessels. More on decals later .
I also purchased Ray Bean's TICO DVD, and again: it was an excellent investment!!



GETTING STARTED: I started on the bow bulwark, because the designing and building of this section was super challenging and fascinating! I tried to imitate the different thicknesses they use on the real ships for the vertical reinforcement
plates. ( the last 5 towards the stern are bigger and thicker). Before sanding this whole area flat, I marked the location of all the details with a tiny drillbit, because -as I mentioned- all the surface detail is in the right place. Unfortunately about 70% of the details won't be installed until completion of bigger sections and the painting of the deck.

I will include pictures of other areas, but won't bore you guys with more writing . For now

I hope you guys see that there is a lot of work going into this thing, and that it will worth the wait.

Happy modeling!!!!

Laci

[anyahajobuzi]

The bridge got a LOT of attention since I made windows see-thru. I can never get the shade of these light enough, so this one is too blue.....other than that, once you look past the blue, there is all kinds of little details in there, which I will show further thru an open door on the port side. The bridge and the signal room (the triangle shaped "cab" behind the bridge, below the front mast) are going to be VERY detailed.

The kit comes with a hangar soooo poor, I didn't even want to get my slingshot dirty with it. The one I built isn't complete yet, but some of you couldn't wait, so here it is

Next up is the signal room and maybe the main mast..

Cheeers: Laci

[Koppalakki]

I love the ticonderoga class!
I've done the Mobile Bay one and yes the kit is a bit of ummph oh well.
Best of luck on your new project and hoping to see more, while I'm completly lazyed out on my own projects!

[ModelMonkey]

Nice work; much better!

[simon b]

very nice Laci
I've always liked the ships and just wished we had a decent 350 kit availale

[mcfrag0815]

Despite all inaccuracys and issues in building my CG 48 I really enjoyed it... so much scratchbuild and I love it.
Really looking forward for your build

[keith t bender]

Well in the hell ever happened to me ! I use to be that gung-ho. Nice job at nursing her along.

Keith

[DWD]

Nice start Laci! Another masterpiece in the works. Your additions so far look great. Good luck with this build, I'll be following

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

WOW Awesome work there Laci, looking forward to following this build.

[Devin]

Great work on the focsle. Looking forward to seeing how you trick out this build. I've got the Bunker Hill kit to build as my old boat, the Normandy CG-60, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth from when I built this kit back in AEGIS school 25 years ago! They really didn't seem to care if things fit or not!

[anyahajobuzi]

Thank you for the comments, guys! They always give me soooo much boost!
I am super happy to see some familiar "faces" here, Jim, Doug!!! Thank you for the follow!!

Devon: I am always moved when I see that some of you modelers actually worked on the very ships you are modeling!!! GO Navy!!!!! U.S.A.!!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaah, the Vincennes! To me it didn't matter which kit I bought, it would have needed modification anyway, because the kit is-as we all know: horrible. So this kit originally was sold as Bunker Hill. CG-52 is a baseline III, but I like the lines of the Baseline II (CG-49-51). The main mast is tripod already, no level 05, and level 04 stretches the longest, and these ships still had the Mk.26 Standard missile launchers instead the VLS. I did not pick this ship because of the infamous shootdown of the iranian jetliner, but simply because I had the most reference photos for CG-49. For this a whole bunch of things were sctartchbuilt. Like the above mentioned level 04.
The main mast would have needed modification -it being meant for Bunker Hill, but it is just such a sad looking piece of plastic straight from the kit, that I decided to build the entire mast out of styrene. That is time consuming to say the least, but I really like how it looks more like the real thing. Evergreen doesn't even make styrene rod small enough for this. Their smallest diameter rod is 0.5 mm, but Plastruct makes rods as small as 0.3 mm!!! And these will be handy in more places than just the mast.

I am not too sure what else to add for now. As usual, I'll have the pictures tell the progress.

Thanks guys for looking at this heap of mess, I will slowly turn it into something pleasing to the eye.

Cheers: Laci

[LE BOSCO]

HI Laci

again a great project to follow your modification work is already well engaged !!!I will not sulk my pleasure,and follow assiduously
cheers
Nicolas

[anyahajobuzi]

Stern and mast scratchbuilding. I am not sure in what order to show you guys the progress, and even less clue on where to continue building: there is work needed on this ship EVERYWHERE I look. And most everything has to be drawn and designed first.

On the last 2 pictures there are good examples of details that vary from ship to ship within the class. Some of these I only found out AFTER I built the part AND glued it into place....Good eye, eh? No wonder this project is so slow.
I am sure it will look like a ship by fall...

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Laci,

Awesome work on the scratch built parts, super details showing everywhere. Keep up on this fine detailed work.

[DWD]

AAAAHHH!!!!!! GODZILLA! GODZILLA!! HAHA just kidding. Saw your chameleon photo and it made me laugh. Super job on the super detail man. All the little additions like the downspouts, doors, support frames, etc... to the superstructure is really going to make this ship spectacular. Again, nice work Laci. It's always a pleasure reading and seeing your updates.

[Koppalakki]

Remember to do some plating effect on the hull and it'll be

[Gabor]

Very cool!!

[anyahajobuzi]

Remember to do some plating effect on the hull and it'll be

hmmmm, plating, huh? I've never done it before, but you know what?! I will try it! Thanks Koppalakki !

[Koppalakki]

I meant with preshading like you did with the Nimitz!

But everything goes!

[ModelMonkey]

Brilliant!

I have this kit in the stash. Thanks for taking me to school.