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USS North Carolina, Late War Configuration

a photo feature by Dave Hill
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"New MSW crew-mate Dave Hill (DaveHill) sends in his second MSW submission, this time he shares his fine build of the USS North Carolina, Late War Configuration, in this MSW Photo Feature!"



the build...
This is my Trumpeter 1/350 scale USS North Carolina. I built her as she appeared late in the war wearing MS22 camo...it seems her MS32 camo is popular with many modelers, but the darker colors seem to hide to much detail...(just my opinion)...I like the look of the MS22 scheme plus its easy to see all the detail...(again just my opinion).

As with everyone who has built this kit I encountered the same fit problems, bad joint locations and the need to clean-up virtually every part because of bad sprue attachment points. I purchased the kit a year ago and due to the build problems...taking time-out so I wouldn't get into that "just get 'er done" mindset, thumbing through reference material and working on it when I could, it took a good 6 months to complete the model.

I used Lion Roar and WEM PE sets ...the masts were scratch-built with brass rod and detailed with PE...the entire model was painted by airbrush which required much masking...but I like the results...the Kingfishers, and detail touch-up was painted by hand...Pollyscale acrylics were used which I will never use again...the Acrylics were a clogging nightmare!...it's back to Enamels!

The following reference material was used:
Randal Shoker's Tech. Reference #1
Squadron's US Battleships "in action" part 2
The Haze Gray and Underway website
NavSource photos

The display case and spindles were made by me.
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About the Author

About DaveHill (DaveHill)
FROM: MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES


Comments

Harry_at_BFM
Very Nice!!
SEP 29, 2008 - 01:26 PM
ajkochev
An excellent model indeed! There appear to be curved basket looking things in a few places, what were these used for on the real ship?
SEP 30, 2008 - 01:08 AM
DaveHill
Anthony, If you are talking about the things circled their called "Floaternet Baskets"...the baskets contained strings of cork floats used as life-saving equipment by the crew if the ship sank. I didn't add the floats because I could't come up with a way to make them. HTH!!!!! Dave
SEP 30, 2008 - 01:32 AM
goldenpony
Now that is a very nice looking North Carolina. Loaded with detail right down to the hand wheels on the water tight doors. Thank you for sharing her with us.
SEP 30, 2008 - 01:47 AM
grayghost666
hello Dave, great looking ship.do you have any close up photo's of the mast and supporting wires?that is one of the places i have a hard time figuring out how to do. thanks for sharing. cheers, Bruce
SEP 30, 2008 - 06:59 AM
rbuilder
Nice build Dave, but the gun barrels look to long, they look like 50,s as on the Iowa, appossed to the 45,s on NC
OCT 05, 2008 - 10:45 PM
JMartine
very nicely done, thanks for sharing!
OCT 06, 2008 - 05:38 AM
blaster76
I did this one a year or so ago. Tough kit, but with some patience and that excellent Lionroar set, it comes out looking great. I used Kenny's Gator masks on mine to do that 3 color camoflauge pattern (MS - heck if I know). Really love all the goodies that came with that Lionroar set, just disappointed that the follow on sets they make are all well over $100 a pop. I think the one I got for this one was around $50.
OCT 06, 2008 - 05:51 AM
DaveHill
Ron, ???...those are the brass barrels from the Lionroar PE set! Dave
OCT 07, 2008 - 11:47 PM
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Copyright ©2021 by Dave Hill. _OPINIONS Model Shipwrights, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Model Shipwrights. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2008-09-29 00:00:00. Unique Reads: 4455