I recently learned some details about my great uncle’s WWII service history. He was a one-of-a-kind guy and a masterful storyteller, but I never thought to ask him detailed questions about his time in the US Navy before it was too late. I’ve since learned that he enlisted in the Navy Reserve at 18 years old, just after D-Day, and spent most of 1945 as a Motor Machinist’s Mate, 3rd Class, on SC-677, a SC-497-class sub chaser, in the Pacific.
Naturally I’d like to build a model of one of these charming wooden-hulled workhorse boats, but kits are very limited. There’s a 1/350 resin kit from L’Arsenal out there, but I think that a larger scale makes more sense with a ship this small – 1/350 is like 4" long.
Apparently original plan drawings are available from the National Archives, and several museum models have been built from them, but that kind of build seems beyond me at this stage. And searching for plans online brings me to dozens of dead or zombie websites, sadly.
Has anyone ordered one of these kinds of kits? Any idea what I might receive if I did – just a bare hull? An entire printed kit with all details, guns, masts, rigging?
Any other options for this build that I am missing? It’s possible, given how interestingly separate the ship model world is from the rest of scale modeling. Thanks for any help!
SSModel is a real company… your link and my link are to the same model just different sellers… I have been tempted to buy US WWII cruiser kit from them for some time now cause they are the only ones offering that particular Cruiser Class model… (no reviews of it yet)
But caution is preventing me from doing it now…
There are a LOT of fraud sellers out of china… Use Paypal to protect yourself just in case..
@Egilman yeah, that’s the same seller, I think your link is to a waterline model while mine’s to a full-hull kit. It is tempting, but at almost $100 I’d love to see an actual photo or review of what’s coming. I’ll have to keep searching around the web to see if there are any reviews of other ship models from that seller.
@ffg7 I can see that being a problem for sure. There are lots of good drawings and photos of the SC-497s available, so hopefully I could figure it out…? Never done a ship model before.
Well, not counting the Bismark that I made as a kid and “sank” with my BB gun…
EDIT: A basic search for “SSmodel reviews” answered my questions. Seems this company’s 3D models are based on video game renders, particularly World of Warships and World of Tanks. This means that detail is limited to the game model’s detail — so things that are “textures” (images) in the game may not be rendered in the model itself. Quality in the prints themselves seems to be hit and miss at best, with most reviews commenting on how brittle the resin is and large pieces being warped.
Brooklyn Class light Cruisers… I have the USS Nashville from Commander Models but it is the Leyte Gulf Version and I need the early '42 version… Too many changes to make to convert it..
I went ahead an ordered their 1/350th scale USS Brooklyn full hull version to get my own view on it…
there are issues with the Pensacola model especially the aft deck section at time 10:47 that shows the 2 port & 2 starboard 5" gun mount holes being parallel to each side when they are not which also affects the bulworks for those gun mounts being wrong shape & position.
Yeah Brother… I imagine the Brooklyn class will have similar problems… BUT, I have the Commander Models '44 Nashville to compare it… The Commander models Nashville is fairly accurate…
His comments on the 3D printing are good except for a few parts that are misformed which they replaced…
But there is nothing like seeing it for yourselves… Maybe if they scale out close SSmodels and Commander, I can bash a proper '42 Nashville out of both of them…
I am collecting the parts for a Task Force 18 build… I’m only missing the USS Cimarron at this point…
