Well, after much delay, I have started. Last night I glued the hull together and tonight I did surgery to conver my ship to a water line. I also worked on a portion of the superstructure.



The Bridge before the upper deck was added. Not the now cut down hull in the back ground.



The WEM PE Set. I will use this. The first parts might find there way onto the ship tomorrow or Wednesday.




Second problem I know about at this point. The ladders as in the wrong spot.So they need to be removed and when it is time the PE ladders will take their spot.



The superstructure together. Note in the back ground waiting to attack my PE parts. There will need to be some filling tomorrow, but other wise it has gone together nicely,



The ladders are gone and some cosmetic work needs to be done to clean things up a bit.


All in all the kits has been easy to work with thus far. I have noted a couple of other errors in the kit as compared to the real ship, but I will try to wrok around them. Building the Scott is one fo the reasons I ventured back into modeling. I want this build to be both fantastic and fun. So far I am enjoying myself.

I am doing her as a waterline so I can build a base representing the trip I took on her through the Suez Canal in December of 1991.

Ahh, yes, Mr. Adams, the start of a new project...looks like you have a great start and a good handle on things, wishing you luck with the build, and we'll be following along, all the way!

Read your review of the Scott DDG kit (well, the Kidd...). Just thought I'd drop you a line to say I spent two years on the USS Buchanan DDG-14 out of San Diego. Was in Fox Division, which was Fire Control. I was guns. I just started a 1/700 Dragon kit of the Adams class DDG which I'm building as the Buchanan.

We had a saying on the Buchanan - "Sailors belong on ships. Ships belong at sea."

Regards,
Michael Scott
Northern California

After sleeping on my work from last night I came to the realization that I had found a couple errors in the kit. First of all on the aft side of both port and starboard bridge wings, there should be a double hatch. There is not one on the kit. In the area where I removed the molded acom ladder there should be one, possibly two water tight doors, on both sides again. So, I ordered a set of US Navy doors from Toms so I can add those. But so far everything looks really close. Of course I was last on Scott in January of 1992, so my memory could be a little clouded.

Tonight I made up my mind to tackle the first major PE project of the build. If I messed this up, it would cause major problems. One of the kits parts had to be trimmed down so if the PE did not turn out I was FUBAR. But after about an hour, I was able to get the SPY48 E Radar up and on its mast. I still have some minor touch up on the PE but I want the glue to totally dry before I finish it tomorrow night.

I am so new to using PE and we are not the best of friends, but I have made up my mind that I will use it and I will get good at it. I am happy with my results so far.



Up close with the Scotts main search system, the SPY48E Air search Radar. This system is very good, so good in fact the British prefered to have us over having two Tico cruisers,





Backside showing the top of the mast with the 48E.




My two most favorite tools. My Etch Mate, love the red anodize. The other Kenny's glue. Buy a case of it this stuff is GREAT!

On a side note, I came home worn out from work. Then I had to run back to town. I sat down at my desk and told myself I was going to do this. I did it and now I feel 100% better. Spend a few minutes each day on your projects. I hardly ever get in more than an hour a day. but I look forward to it each and every night. OK, OP Ed over.

Thanks for looking fellas!

Michael,

Thanks for dropping by. I want to add an Adams class to by Destroyer list, but I am running out of space on my slipway. Would love to see some pictures of the Buchanan. If I recall there were some ex-Buchanan BTs and MMs going through Gas Turbine school when I was at Great Lakes.

Ahoy Michael, Welcome to Model Shipwrights, glad to have you on board, mate!

Looking forward to seeing your work, and following the progress on your new build of the Buchanan...if you wish, start your own "BLOG" (Build Log) thread (and if you need a hand on how to, just let me know)

Looks good from my end, Jim, and now that you have one of the most "fiddly bits" of the PE build under your belt, the rest should be gravy, eh?...thanks for the update!

Sorry, no photos tonight. I had planned to work on the forward radar system, but ran into a problem. Some of the support work in that area needed to have some filling and sanding done, so I had to delay installation of the forward radar.

I did get some work done on the railings for the 48 Echo’s platforms. Those are not as easy as they look either, but I did get some installed.

Also did a few other parts of the build and those will also require some filling and sanding. The general appearance of everything looks right on.

I will try to get some new photos tomorrow after I get some more work done.

Hi Jim,

Good to see you starting this build. Your PE looks great,... and don't worry, you're not alone, no one likes working with the stuff. It's a necessary evil in our hobby!

Frank

P.S. I love the Ano red etch mate, mine's green and quite dull compared to yours!

Frank,
The stuff is a pain to work with, but it does make your build take on a whole new life.

I like the red surface as well, the brass stands out on it really nicely.

Looking forward to some new images from the Nagato.

hey Jim! Sorry I missed this thread before, have to learn to look two places on each page directory

Nice progress! Nice PE so far....also nice, crisp close up pics...

and... Kenny glue? Modelshipwrights Kenny? Glue for PE? Pardon the ignorance!

Hi James
Yes Kenny Kenny from MSW
Check it here: Gator Glue review

;)
Rui

Since I had a major busy day at work I had to get some bench time in. SO, of course I decided to try the other radar system on the Scott. This one was harder than the first one. I really am glad it went together fairly well.

I also did get some railings added to the aft mast and some more work done on the exhaust stacks of the ship. If all goes according to plan I will be doing surgery on the upper deck so I can add some more PE. Once you start to work with it and learn how it reacts it really isn’t all that bad.










Like normal there is some clean up work to do, but the major portion is done on that portion.

James,

Thanks. Working with PE just takes time. Now I can see why these ships take so darn long to build.

The pictures are thanks to my wife. She kept pushing me to get a nice DSLR camera and I finally did last October. If I ever learn to use it I'll be happy.

You saw Rui's post. Kenny's glue is great. Just takes getting used to useing, It is not as fast as regular CA, but it is nice and since it is water based, easy to clean up.

Progress, progress, progress....

Looking good Jim, keep up the great modeling, and thanks for the update!

Looking good for a first one (PE parts of course)
Keep us posted on your progresses



Rui

Great progress Jim! That pe DOES look nice.... doing a great job so far!

PS Thanks for the glue info all, will get some for sure!

It is time for another no picture update. Last night I was able to get the main deck and fan tail installed. There is a big gap in between the main deck section and the fo'c's'le, I will have to fill that and do some cleaning there.

I also broke out the Veteran Models upgrade parts last night and started to prep those. Beware if you buy a set of the 5” guns. I bought two boxes of them and out of 8 guns, only two of them had their barrels intact. Every other one was broken. Tonight I will add some new pictures and hopefully have some more done with the main deck.

One thing I need to do and I am not sure how to do it replace the forward and aft capstans. They are totally wrong looking. If anyone knows of anything, give me a direction.

If you want to use my recipe: scratchbuild it.
Just have to "dismantle" it in circles and rectangles and use evergreen, fresh cutter and a punch & die set
It worked on my Alvares Cabral and in the Unyo

Rui

Looking great Jim!

Gator

I see, build it up with rounds on top and bottom and a cylinder in the middle. Then to do the brass top I can punch out a round piece of brass. Thanks Rui! I will have to get what I need first, but I think I can do something that simple.


Thanks Kenny!

OK, another one of my semi nightly construction updates. I have the main deck attached and the mounted the superstructure to it. On the real ship there is a flange around the entire base of the superstructure. This flange is aluminum and it sits on an identical flange on the main deck. This flange is steel. The two flanges are welded together, which as you know steel and aluminum cannot be welded together. So how did they do it? A very large amount of current was run through each part of the ship and they pretty much melted together. Exothermic Welding it is called.

Since the ship is going together nicely I am going to work on one area at a time. Now that I am working on it, I think I may have picked the wrong area to do first. But since I am working on it, there isn’t much I can do about it. I think the top down approach will work fine.

Yes, on the real ship that ladder is right over that hatch. It was a pain going in and out of that hatch. That exhaust stack is not attached, so I can finish cleaning it up




It is strange there is not a ladder to go up to the aft upper deck. I guess I need to get some generic ones.



AM 5" gun from Veteran Models. Not too bad looking, just 3/4 of them had broken barrels.

Looking good! That PE looks nice.... also good that you know the layout of the ship, probably doubles the fun of your build Cheers

Knowing the ship does make this fun and it turning out to be a pain. I loo at somethign and say thats not right. So I am needing to get some extra ladders and hatches. One thing that gets me is nobody that I can find makes a 1/350 SH2F Seasprite Helo. Too late for me to add a helo, I already have the hanger bay shut.

Our bird was in the barn while we passed through the Suez canal. So that makes things a little easier.

Excellent job so far, Jim. I am very impressed by your PE work. I have to check out this Gator glue.
These warships seems more and more attractive.