Ahoy mates!

January 6th, 2008, marks the beginning of another fantastic MSW Campaign!
You have the choice of sharing your progress pictures and discussions here in this thread, or start your own "BLOG" thread for your entry...if you do use the "BLOG" feature, please include the campaign name in the heading of your thread (example, "Gunny's Forgotten Sisters Campaign Entry").

There are two seperate Official campaign Gallery albums created for your use, "In Progress", and "Finished Models" for hosting and posting your images, as well:

Forgotten Sisters Campaign Gallery

Good Luck, and Happy Modeling to all who have entered thus far, and if you would like to enter, or need more info, please visit the campaign HQ HERE!

Keep Modeling!
~Gunny

It's here, it's here the start of "Forgtten Sisters" ! We have waited quite a long time for this to begin so I'm sure we will have some great builds in this campaign. Remember this campaign is a bit different at the end of the campaign we will vote for best build and the winner gets a gift from Harry at BFM.

My build will be the USS Cushing dd-797. This will be different for me since it will be my first 1/700 build and it is also a waterline so I will be taking skipper's advice and try the water base.

hello Mark,
got mine started at 0001 zulu.and FYI the review on the ship i am building is almost done.just a few twicks and then i will summit it.the review for the Severn Class Lifeboat by Airfix is almost done also.should have both to you my the end of the week.
cheers,
Bruce

I need a ruling here. I had planned on doing the Trumpeter San Francisco as the Tuscaloosa, but a revised release date moved it from Oct to Mar. So the shp I would like to do is Hasegawas late version Yukikaze. The Yukikaze was a member of the 19 ship Kagero class. She is however one of the most famous Japanese war DD's. She particiapted in almost every major sea battle and not only survived the wwar managed to be relatively unscathed (talk about a lucky ship). A major modification was done on the class in late 43-eary44. However, I am not sure what all was done to what ship and pictures and info is a bit sketchy still. I don't want to go off on a tangent and call her say the Isokaze or the Amatsukaze

Of course Frank would be the person to give the final word, but I don't think that would be a problem Steve. The Pennsylvania (lead ship in the class) had a much more productive time during World War II earning several battle stars, but because the Arizona went down at Pearl she is more famous.

I think as long as it's not the lead ship of the class, you're ok.

When I was brain storming about this campaign the original idea was to do a campaign of lesser known sister ships. But what I consider famous and what someone else considered famous could be far apart. So when I wrote this campaign up I defined just sister ships as the criteria to qualify for the campaign. So the Yukikaze would qualify since she was a ship of the Kagero class. Kagero would not qualify since she is the name sake of the class, just like Arizona would also qualify as she is not the name sake of the class. I know what some are saying that this line of thought takes away from what the title of the campaign implies but I was trying to take away from the guess work on who is and isn't famous.

But the Yukikaze does qualify by my definition.

Cool beans !!!!!!! Believe me, if I knew more of the ships and what and when modifications were made I'd do another. But as I pointed out all the others ended up getting sunk so I might do a major goof as the modifications were significant. OK, I'm back on track and the kit has been moved from the stash to the pending pile.

Steve's dilemma has got me thinking as to just how many ships who were the class leaders were the forgotten sister.

Think about this...
The USS Enterprise was the most decorated USN hip in WW2 and the USS Hornet is immortalized because of it's roll in the Doolittle Raid. The Yorktown, class leader, did her share of the work but is not as famous.

The USS Iowa was the class leader but everyone remembers the Missouri.

That's just two right off the top of my head, but I know there is more. Very interesting.

Kenny

I am really excited to get started on this one! I just recieved my Voyager PE set in the mail. This isn't going to be an easy build...I hope I can get it done by the deadline! (especially since I have other stuff to do before the Feb. 16th Columbus Model show!

And although the Tirpitz is the "Forgotten Sister" to Bismarck today...she was anything but forgotten during the war. I'm currently reading a book about the numerous attempts to sink her from 1940-44, and it really is amazing how much 1 ship was able to effect strategy in the Arctic/North Atlantic and beyond. Not sinking "The Beast" for years really was a sore spot with Churchill and hurt Soviet-Western relations.

Anyhow, here is what's on my desk. (still need the White Ensign AA guns...)

nice looking kit and PE, look forward to the build... is the Dragon 700 Tirpitz better than the Tamiya? Looking forward to the build!

Thanks James,

I'm not sure. I have not seen any reviews, etc. for the Tamiya offering. All I know about their ships is that I found their 1/700 Fletcher rather uninspiring a few years ago.

But, I'm starting to think the Trumpeter Tirpitz might have been a better choice. I love all of their kits I have, and their Allen M. Sumner DD was one of my all-time favorite kits to build.

Plus, DML made the main stack, and a few other parts in the kit out of that soft vinal material. ...That's the major pre-build problem I see so far. But, I'm still looking forward to it!

Thanks for the info!... look forward to the build! Cheers, James

Nice choice Steve.

Here's some progress I made on Trumpeter 1/350 USS The Sullivans with GMM PE. My first try with ship PE. I now have even more admiration for those of you that post such beautiful work in this scale and smaller.

Tom

very nice! I ordered that kit from Lucky models, is somwhere Mid-pacific at the momment, will follow your build closely for sure... I assume you sand off the hatches first, before applying the PE? Or they go on top? Im a newbie always have dumb questions
Again, looking good, look forward to the rest! james

Tom,

Nice The Sullivans there! I had one on my bench for awhile now, and I took a different approach by painting some parts before all the PE is on. A mistake that I won't make again.

What company is "GMM" for your PE? I bought the Tom's Modelworks US Destroyer set for my kit, and I think the one you have there might have more to it tham mine.

Hey all,

It's been 10 days since the start of the campaign, so lets get a quick sit rep.

I have the main deck painted and the molded depth charges cut off. I have also removed the molded on splinter shiel from mid ships area on my USS Cushing dd-797.

Nice job on the PE. One word of caution - you may have a problem fitting the ships boats and/or the # 3 turret with the PE in place. "Just proceed slowly when you get to adding those parts", he said, having just completed the same kit.

As for me, I primed the hull of the 1/700 HP Wyoming (AG-17), but haven't had a chance to anything else. Next step is to remove all the "aztec" stairs on the hull.

GMM = Gold Medal Models

I have no practical PE experience, but have been reading up on Ship PE prior to the Cold War Tin Cans GB. Seems from most posts that Toms modelworks is the "lower end" PE; softer brass and non-relief. Flagship Models and Gold Medal Models is the next step "up", with hard brass, relief etching, mid-range prices. Yankee Modelworks, L'arsenal and White Ensign are the top of the line. Lionroar is new, also seems top of the line and very comprehensive. I may get corrected though...

In any case, thats a fine job with the PE on the posted pics....

James,

Not often we have people make a stand on what their views are.... Toms PE does have reliefs in the etching. The main difference that I have seen in the companies that supply PE is where they ship from. Tom's and GMM (gold medal models) are based in the states, L'arsenal is in France but you can order their stuff from Great models site, WEM is from GB. I try to order from the state side vendors as much as I can because it’s a little better on the shipping. Main thing I look for though is what I need. Most PE is the same quality wise but some companies carry things that others don't. Best thing is to look around and go with who ever has the right things for your build.

Frank, thanks for the info.. I had been reading some posts in another web site (FSM), but I stand corrected Rollmodels also has good prices/selections.

I have to disagree. IMO, White Ensign and Gold Medal are the (pardon the pun) gold standard of photo-etch. While other companies make some nice sets and maybe some more extensive sets, I don't think anyone can touch these two in terms of quality - not only in the etched parts, but in the quality of the instructions.

This isn't to say the other companies stuff isn't good. It's to say the GMM and WEM are at another level altogether. Just my two cents...

Thanks for the comments all. James, I used an xacto chisel blade to take off most of the hatch and then sanded smooth. Watch your fingers with that blade!

Martin, thanks for the tip. Sorry mates, I did not take a photo of the PE set before I started. However, if you are interested there is a photo on the Gold Medal Models web site with a link to the review at modelwarships.com.

Tom

hello Jim,
now that the review is done i can start on the ship.more to follow.
cheers,
Bruce

Tom - thanks for the info and look forward to your progress!

Bruce - Look forward to your build!