Forgotten Sisters Campaign



As you can see my build will be of the USS Cushing DD-797. This will be my first build will small scale (1/700) and I may attempt a water base since this kit is a waterline. Should have a good time with this build. I will be adding some GMM P.E. to this and maybe some resin after markit parts (not sure about this as of yet) I will be reading up on the articles here at MSW about making water and such but I will take any help I can get. See ya at the bench and lets get those Forgotten sisters built!

I went and opened the box last night and it hit me how tiny this build will be. I can see from the size of the kit why some like this scale.....you can fit many on a shelf. But for my poor eyes I do prefer the larger scales. Here is the shot of the parts out of the box;



This is a Tamiya kit and the overall look of the parts are not thar bad. About the only thing I can see from first glance is the molding on the twin 40mm's and the single 20mm's. The main gun's don't look bad. There is no flash on the parts so not bad for a kit that was made 12 yrs ago.

I have ordered the PE from GMM and I'm leaning towards resin for the secondary guns.Thats all for now so I'll see all of you at the bench.


Get those Sisters built!

hello Frank,
i know what you mean about small.my Kai-Feng is in 1/350 and some of the ladders are so small i missed them when i looked over the model. i use magnifing reading glasses for most of my builds now.
cheers,
Bruce

It helps to be nearsighted... I take my glasses off and voila! 10x magnification close to my nose... just have to be careful I dont stick the hobby knife blade on my eyeball...

good pair of tweezers help, of the "hemostat" kind, which are CLOSED by default and OPEN when pressure applied. You can hold the small piece in place without having to "squeeze" the tweezers shut, great when waiting those 45 seconds for superglue to bond...

wish I had the time to join this build, but Im still trying to finish some stuff and get my skills to the point I can attempt the predreadnaught/WWI campaigns... cheers! Jim

I just received my PE from GMM and I can't believe how small those parts are. The propeller guards are just plain tiny. The doors are so small I'll have to have two beers to my normal one......One thing for sure it will be fun as heck, gotta love the tin cans.

Hi Frank

Please... please don't be scared by the small size of it! You'll can see that you can put a lot of detail on it. Just take it slow and don't work too many on PE per day - I work one two hours tops, and then I'll switch to the plastic/resin parts, before I make some mess on the PE parts
Some magnifying device will provide a good help, in attaching the parts as well as putting some more details on it - and you'll see you'll find some more extras to place!!
If you need some help, don't forget: ASK

Skipper

We'll I'm getting some bench time in. I'm attempting to paint the camo on the hull right now, I was going to get the mask from gator but decided to give a try at doing it my self. Not to bad but I am going by the box art. Can any one tell off hand if the camo art on the Tamiya USS Cushing was correct? Also so I would like to drill out the portholes on the bridge but they are tiny, does any one know what size drill I should use(I don't have the right size and I'll have to order it.) One more question........the opening for the anchor chain that is on the deck, what is that called?

Hi Frank

Regarding the portholes, you can use a 1mm drill
The hole for the anchor chain is called hawser pipe (it would be easier in Portuguese)
Cheers,
Skipper

Check this for measure camo:

USS Cushing DD797

[quote
The hole for the anchor chain is called hawser pipe (it would be easier in Portuguese)

[/quote]

True

I sent an e-mail to gator and he let me know the camo for the USS Cushing was MS31/16 D for the time frame I'm building towards. To bad it's one of the few "Fletcher" mask's he doesn't make....bummer. I had to file down the edging around the hawser pipe because I drilled out the opening and it messed up the edging so now I'm makeing edging with some small copper wire. I'm also searching for the 1mm drill, I think I'll be ordering that one along with some goodies from WEM.

hello Frank,
try Micro Mark,they have alot of small drill bits at a reasonable price.i ordered some from them online and received them in 3 days.
cheers,
Bruce

Hey all,

I'm at a bit of a loss right now. The USS Cushing was painted in MS31 /16d. I know that MS 31 was haze grey, ocean grey, and black. But what has me lost is the geometric design number 16d. I know the "d" stands for the type of ship, so "d" would be a destroyer. But I can't find any references what geometric design number 16 should look like. Can any one point me in the right direction?

Frank,

Try the contacting the Naval Historical Center. They may have the sheet for the MS31-16d for the Fletcher class and can email you the artwork.

http://www.history.navy.mil/

Here is what I found;
www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g100000/g170940c.htm

not the exact ship but it does give me an idea what measure 31 design 16d looked like.

Jim,
the pics didn't work.

Hey all,

I went to the craft store today and got some stuff for the water base and I got the first coat of caulk down on the board. I don't know if I'll need another coat, since this build is a 1/700 I don't want to drown my build. I think I have the caulk spread pretty good, I didn't have a good idea how water reacts to a large ship so I winged it. By the time the gallery is up and running I should have some paint on the base and I'll post a pic.

Frank,
I was just going tocheck the base I did for myself. I think I let mine set up a little too long. I think as long as it is thick it should be fin. My first coat was a little thin and I am going to have to do a second.

But, the tape I put down around the edges did come up and gave me a nice hard edge.

Frank,

Here are some USS Cushing photos.

http://www.usscushing.com/

Thanks for the link to the pics Kenny. I've been working on my build the last to days and almost all of the PE is on. I just have to put the Raft supports in, railing, and some doors and life rings then she'll be ready for some rigging. I'm only going to place the bare min. for rigging because I don't have the right size thread and I'm a bit nervous since this is a tiny scale for me, I don't want to wreak the PE that I have in place........what was I thinking building a 1/700. Has led me to decide to get a PE bender but I still have to decide who to get it from.

I got the pics posted in the photo section and the build is finished. I have decided that 1/700 is not the scale for me. To many tiny parts, I have no idea how many items of PE were lost to the carpet gods. But the ship is done and I'm happy with her.

hello Frank,
i just looked at the photo's.the ship looks great and the water looks great to me.thanks for sharing.i am going to try to do water for my build also.
cheers,
Bruce