For a change of genre I'm doing the USS Independence in 1/350 scale by Trumpeter.
It'll be a strict OOB build and brush painted which could be a challange at this size.

Anway, enough talk, on with the pictures:









That PE is going to drive me insane. A lot smaller tham my preferred scale

Great work so far. I've thought about buying this myself.

Thanks Brent.

I would think you'd go for something like one of the LHDs so you could have Humvee's included



I've also been playing with some small LCAC's and vehicles with the idea of doing a marine landing dio. See here

Off to a very nice start Sean.....Cheers mark

Thanks Mark.

Got a lot more of the PE done over the weekend, including all the tie-downs: all 147 of them! It does take the fun out of it though....



Couldn't get the camera to focus properly on the flight deck when I was finished...I have to sand down and clean the flight deck of some glue spills, skin and even a little blood :-) . Will try again then for a better pic.

Wow! Great start so far! That's a lot of small PE to deal with. That may be the vote against me getting this kit. Not sure I would have the same patience. Will watch your progress...

Thanks Thomas.

That extra zero in the scale makes all the difference....what did I let myself in for?

It's been an educational evening...

1) I learned my phone is better for extreme close-ups than my camera at "macro" setting
2) I learned those tie-downs were actually the easy part :-(

They actually came out OK after sanding down. Once painted it'll be even less obvious that they are not all flush and level:


Then I started on the side rails, ladders etc..... OMG! They are so bloody fragile. There's nothing in the photo to put them in scale but I estimate them at under 2mm wide. And so light: impossible to keep straight... and trying to bend the parts for that ladder!!!! I can see this project getting shelved soon.

Quite a battle you are having with this build Sean, you are taming the beast though Once you spray a layer of paint things will look very ship shape I should think
Julian

Hello friend Seam!! That vicho more rare begun . Jejej
Good work with the photo-edg. I like to cut these windows and to place acetate behind

Regards Daniel

Sean...You still swinging away at this thing?

You have a job on your Hands my Friend but you are doing very well.....Cheers mark

Thanks Gents.

It's been an off-again/on-again type of build for the last month, but I have got to do some painting. I've not take any photos recently but one of the guys took and posted this at last weeks local IPMS meet:



The hull colour is a mix of aluminium and light grey. Real photos of the ship tend to look different depending on the light. I know it mostly bare metal, but quite weathered.

Daniel, at this stage it's too late to cut out the windows and put in accetate....the decals will have to do! At least I don't have to paint them.

I will do more soon, I will take more photos!