Trumpeter’s USS Massachusetts BB-59 1:350 - by “Artama”:
There are much more images in my latest page:
http://falconbbs.com/model73c.htm
Have fun!
very well done. Whose PE? That deck looks perfect too.
I like this one. The anchor chain treatment is very nice. I would have liked some photo etch antennae, crane and catapults but hey, excellent out of the box model.
I like this model. The bottom doesn’t look red but that may be the photos.9/
Thanks everyone for your kind comments!
Felix C., the PE rails are local made ones.
subfixer, it’s hard and costly to adorn all ships with full option. So some are built OOB w/ just local made PE railings.
GMorrison, the bottom is dark red, close to the color guide sheet.
I really like it. Might I suggest for his next ship build that you incorporate some of the Tamiya 1/350 injection molded figures, instead of the PE ones. I think their “flat stanley” appearance detracts from rather than enhances some really great work.
stikpusher, thanks for your kind comments and suggestions. Though the figures look flat, they show how massive the ship was. When I gave “Artama” new assignment - a modern Russian Cruiser and a Destroyer, he asked if I have some figures for them. I told him I have Tamiya’s and he shook his head. I guess it’s difficult to paint Tamiya’s (and Fujimi’s) 1:350 figures which come in all grey. A better product would be Pit-Road’s 3D pre-painted figures (1:350), but they are IJN figures and better saved for many unbuilt IJN ships.
I can sympathize there… those 1/350 figures are TINY!!! I understand competely aboutt hem giving the ship models the appearance of scale compared to the individual humans. But the PE figures have no relief/depth. Anyways, he is a far better ship modeler than I and it is hs choice as to what to go with. I did not know that Fujimi or Pit Road make some as well. I will have to look for those for when I do attempt to add some to my builds.
The best 1/350 figures I’ve encountered are resin ones made by a Russian company called North Star. Free Time Hobbies sells them: http://www.freetimehobbies.com/NSA350508/ . The link goes to one of the three sets of USN figures; the company makes quite a few other sets. To get the best impression of what they actually look like, click on the third thumbnail below the big photo.
I bought a couple of the USN figure sets. They are, literally, almost unbelievable. (A complete set, with 77 figures in it, sits on a casting block that’s about the size of a postage stamp.) And the price isn’t bad for what you get. The biggest problem is that Free TIme usually is out of most of them.
How the masters for these little guys were made I can’t imagine. When I compare this sort of thing with what was available to the ship modeler ten, or even five, years ago, I have to wonder what the hobby (obsession might be a better word in cases like this) will look like by 2020 or 2030. I’m not sure whether I envy or pity the modelers who will be around then. The potential for some magnificent models will be there, but the combination of nerves and eyestrain may produce a generation of prematurely blind and senile modelers.
Yes, I just saw those awhile ago after doing some image searching. Simply fantastic looking figures, and I am baffled how somebody could mold such tiny figures with the detail that they have! I see even Preiser does a little set of Seeleute! Sometimes I think this hobby causes OCD. Crazy!!!
Now who can paint those to look like these?
The North Star’s resin crew look nice, but to paint them all is a difficult task. If only they could pre-paint them like Pit Road’s.