I’ve been working on this kit for about three months. I don’t get much time to work so it’s slow going.
It was a Xmas gift from a friend and he included the PE to go with it.
So far I’m having alot of fun with it. There seems to be many different additions that can be done.
I have so far purchased extras in the way of: 5" guns from Corsair Armada, PE from Yankee Modelworks, Hatches and Doors from Toms.
Excuse me if I get some of the terms wrong.
Things I’ve done so far include: Drilling out the “chocks?”, Removed the doors and ladders, Made a new mast, added supports, added hand rails around the ship, Drilled out a couple doors so they are open, added some vents, made flag boxes, made detail for the forward smoke stack.
I think thats it so far.
I was thinking about using some thin wood strips for those darker walkways. Does anyone know if they were wood or just painted with some antislip stuff?
I’m hoping to set it in water and add sailors to it. I’ve been experimenting with a few methods of creating water but am not really happy with any yet. One method used a painted base with silicone. Another used Liquitex gel medium. That seems to be the direction I’m heading. But I keep looking for insight into Kosta’s work and feel really inadequate after looking at his…in every way!
Not wood, and not really linoleum, more like rubberized anti-slip tiles (think of those no slip strips at the harware store). Some were laid out in long roll strips. Others were cut tiles laid in patterns, especially around the gun mounts.
Paint the deck 20B Deck Blue. New anti-slip would be a very dark gray, weathering to a not-as-dark gray. A definate tonal difference between the deck and the tiles
gregg, I have seen Kostas’ ships. They’re the best I’ve seen. I do not imagine my ships even coming close to his so to continue my ship building, I forget about his and concentrate on mine. I think he has 1:350 people helping him with builts.
I have both the round and square bridge FLETCHERS.They are interesting builds.the TAMIYA ship was really nice and the TRUMPETER version was good too.I bought two of each because of some detail problems I thought they had.I also got DRAGONS kit.all have flaws ,but,the DRAGON ship with TRUMPETER and TAMIYA parts swapped aboard creates one BEAUTIFUL, FLETCHER. You picked a darned good ship to build. TANKER-builder
Thanks. I still plan to put it in water. I just haven’t found a recipe I like yet. Just bought some resin and hardener and will do a couple tests. Would you add color to the resin or paint the base? One of my hurdles is getting a green under the white wakes.
Previously I’ve been experimenting with heavy gel medium but that hasn’t worked out like i’d like either.
One thing I have learned is “build a case first”. As long as it takes me to complete a model it’s saved my butt a couple times. There fun to make also.
I’ve posted a 426 arizona and a 220 glencoe Oregon. Wouldn’t mind having your opinion of those builds.
Wow, I guess I opened that door. I favor ships from either the Solomons campaign or late in the war when (I believe) these were used as radar pickets. Maybe a scholar can pipe up and give some info on which ship the Tamiya kit best represents with a stockish build (PE parts in your case). I must say the build is looking good, although I wouldn’t want to climb that ladder on the mast to the base of the radar on the full sized ship!
I would recommend the method Frank Spahr taught me. You can find his work in Modelwarships.com. House paint stippled on foam construction board creates a very realistic water base and the foam allows you to add some shape to the water. Much more affordable than resin and looks as good or better. Here’s one I recently completed in 1:350 scale.
Thanks, I have some house paint floating around in the garage to give it a try. I did just try the resin. Total failure. But I will give it another shot.
I’ve finally finished this model. It is my first trying to make water. I don’t think it came out to bad for a first try. I even entered it in a model show. It’s also a first for me using scale crew. Kinda cool I thought. I did have one incident that was a bit depressing. One of my wife’s daycare kids pulled the case top off and broke off 4 pieces of P.E… Doesn’t look as good as it did but…What Can I Say!
