Hello dear forum members. After I finished the I-58 and the IJN Yukikaze Destroyer, I knew the "ship bug" has bit me and there is no way back. I still model mostly armour and planes, but I already hoarded 5 other ships in the stash. The first "capital ship" to make it to my bench is the USS San Francisco from Trumpy. For some reasons I prefer Cruisers and Destroyers to other ships so this was a natural choise as there are not that many light and medium Cruisers ou there. I actualy started the built in summer, but I didnt get far since Im only working on it inbetween other projects. So far I was a bit dissapointed with the quality (no wonder after the Yukikaze from Hasegawa). I spent a lot of putty on the hull. Some other details will have to be replaced. The windows wil be filed with putty and drilled anew. All the WT doors which look horrible will be replaced by PE. I bought the Gold Medal Models set which is for the early version of the Cruiser and its preaty nice. Only proble is that there are too few WT doors, so Im looking for a second PE set right now. Given the lack of time this one will take a while to finish. But I want to share it with You and maybe get some advice.

very nice start

Good looking start to a good looking cruiser Naseby,

will be following with interest.

Si

Thanks for the comments. I was working a bit on the superstructures in the past few days. What I can not understand is how could this kit get such positive reviews back when it was released, and not only in box, but also from people who actualy built it. The fit is by far the worst of all Trumpeter armour and plane kits I ever built. I may be relatively new to ships, but I can not imagine that this is somehow caused by me doing something wrong here. So far I replaced all the WT doors I came across. I also cut of the horrible anchor chaine moulded on the deck and drilled out the anchor chaine slots. By far the worst is the fit of the aft superstructure/hangar. This is supposed to be even with the sides of the hull ! Im not sure yet how I will handle this.

Whoa! You're right Naseby, the fit between the aft superstructure/hangar and hull is pretty bad... one way to over come it might be to sheet over the area with some styrene to bring it to the correct level. The only catch is the detail will need to be removed first and re-applied after.

In the past few months I have done som small progress on the San Fran, mostly on and of inbetween other projects I have. But most of the time these are so insignificant that it isnt worth to take out a camer and to take a picture. I have more free time now so hopefullz there will be some progress soon. Here are some new pictures of the kit.

¨

Looking good, Naseby

You seem to have tackled a lot of problems in style Naseby, she's looking good sir!

Hi Naseby,
I have just caught up with this build and it's looking good progress. I am keen how this progresses.
Cheers
Michael

Great progress Naseby, very tidy etch work.

Si

uuuffff great Job

Built the 1942 version last year and will watch the '45 version with interest. I had minimal fit problems and am surprised the problems you have with the hanger. Suggestions: if it's not too late, cut off cut off the molded 5" position shields and use the PE GMM has, the bends are tricky but the look is worth it; the kit 5" are horrible I recommend the l'arsenal or Veteran products; Master Models maker an excellent gun barrel set and 20mm guns. Keep up the good work, it makes a really attractive model.

Thanks for the comments guys. I apreciate it that this built is being watched.
@James : The PE shields for the guns look great thats true, but I will keep the plastic ones. Im not that good with the PEs yet. Im afraid the PE shield would be too brittle and easy to break off. Im planing to paint the camouflage partially by brush, so structural integrity is a priority over detail.

Next on the program is the painting of the hull. Basic colour was red with a bit of brown and black. Then I patched parts of the hull with tape and sprayed a thin layer of grey over it, I made also some light weathering with diluted black. The colours on the picture are not exact as I was taking the picture with flash. I also came across another issue with the kit - the range finders are of the incorrect early version. There are no replacements availeable as AM parts, so I will have to modify them to be period-correct.

Coming on great Naseby,

The effect of the pre shading on the hull is excellent.

Si

Thanks Simon. I will make some changes to the shading later on when the whole ship is painted. After my first ship project I realised that probably the best way for me to work, is to paint the hull first and then cover it with tape so that I have a possibility to "hols" the ship properly in my hands during the further construction. In this way I dont have to worry about fingerprints on the already painted surfaces. After I covered the hull with tape, I continued with some PE parts. The basic railings, steps and ladders were added as were the remaining WT doors. The PE set is wonderfull, I had no problem with it whatsoever and there is plenty railing and ledders left for at leas another US destroyer!

Very neat etchwork Naseby.

Are you just gong to drill out the opened water tight door?

Si

Thanks Simon, no im not planing on opening them up, just blacken them with colour. There is still a lot of work to be done on this ship and I want to keep this project simple becuse its my first capital ship model in this scale. I managed to put on the base camouflage colour. Its Light Grey from Gunze. Im not too concerned with the shade because the folowing weathering will change it anyway.

Very nice work, you tackled that really nice! Looking at your first posts from this build, there seems to be a lot of problems with the kit, and you made it into something really looking great.
I'm following with interest, looking forward to see how it turns out in the end!!

Jan

Jan Thanks for the possitive feedback. Here are a few progress pictures. I decided to paint the Measure 33 camouflage by hand.

Naseby,
Your San Francisco is looking super! Your hand painted Measure 33 looks better than many airbrush jobs I've seen. Great work!

I concur Tim!

You sure have a steady hand there Naseby! Great work!

The camo looks absolutely fantastic, I fully agree! You certainly know how to work with the good old brush, really nice work!!

Jan

Thank You for the comments Guys. Unfortunatelly the camouflage fields are not 100 percent correct and also the blue colours is a bit too "blue" should be more subtle and greyish.

Don't be so modest You have done an excellent job hand painting the camo. It looks very smooth and even.