Sorry about my confusion there Bryan LOL!! That makes more sense!! Thanks for clearing that up!! Good luck with the pen!

Nice build. Love the lines of the Perry class.

As far as the TDTs go, I have some line drawings of them somewhere, if you need. They're out of my qualification manual from the USS Barney in 1990. Different class of ship, but we had the TDTs, and they were my General Quarters station.

Yes! As I wrote, I'm building a Belknap class cruiser that had them and can't find a pic anywhere...

Bryan,

just another option/idea for your life rafts: reverse order. Paint them all black or dark gray, then cut a very thin (< 0.5 mm) line of masking tape and wrap it around in the position of the rubber. Let about 1 cm of the tape pointing away from the life rafts, this end you can use to fix and handle the things while painting. Then spray white in very thin layers.

Cheers,
Jan

Looking good Bryan,

Love the attention to detail.

Si

Here's the TDT.

Thanks Devin!

You're welcome.

The shown control units were not mounted on the TDT, but rather on the bulkhead adjacent. Also, when not in use we would take the binoculars out of the mount. I assume we also covered them with vinyl covers, but I have no specific memory of doing that.

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Devin, thanks for that diagram, I'm sure it will benefit other USN modelers as well.

Lots of progress in miniature, thanks for sticking with me.

Recent progress:

Torpedo Launchers:


These radar things which were actually pretty accurate out of the box:


and now for the real work, the Forecastle deck and Bow area.

Here is a photo of the forward area from the USS Curts:


Original detail:


Cleared of molded detail and bow wall (bulkhead maybe?) and on deck, I was very frightened that I could not rebuild the detail better than the kit, but it turned out okay:


Finished adding detail. I rebuilt the anchor chain system (capstan), railing ribbing, port hull detail, hatch covering, and more:




Thanks for following along,
I appreciate all the great comments,

Bryan

Very nice Bryon! The bow is coming alive again!! Well done on pulling the detail out!

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Today's Progress: cleaning up and attaching the very most aft deck behind the flight deck as well as rebuilding molded on detail etc.

Kit offering:


My solution:


Towed Array fitting:


Next up the flight deck, to drill or not to drill all those holes, that is the question.
Any ideas?

Thanks for checking in,
Bryan

Bryan,

that's really stunning work!! Your attention to detail and working with reference pictures is really great work! You made yourself really knowledgeable on the USS Reuben James and you're not just building a ship model but a genuine rendition of the original!

Jan

Another fine update Bryan!!! The Devil is in the details!! Looking great!!

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

So the flight decks of these ships are covered in drains. At first glance they are fairy regular in their pattern but upon thorough inspection they are irregular and complex.

Blackhawk landing on the fantail, note the drains and irregular layout:


Using many photos I drew out a plan in illustrator which was sized to scale based on the kit part's dimensions:


I then transferred this to the kit part covered in masking tape:


The scrap plastic underneath the flight deck piece are different potential "drains". Moving right to left the depth of the holes increases.

What looks best to everyone?

Thanks for the help and stopping by,
Bryan

Those are tie down rings to fasten aircraft tie down chains to, not drains.

EJ

Hi Bryan,

I missed your question further down concerning the holes in the flight deck.

What you are up to there is really ambitious, reproducing every single one of those.
But be aware, as EJ points out correctly, they are no holes as such, at least not 'through-holes' if you like, they are rather cavities or depressions, really not all that deep. Every single on has a link to hook up a chain to tie down a landed helicopter, that's why there so many of them and in such an awkward pattern, to allow to tie down various types of aircraft in different positions.

From my memory they were something like 5 cm in diameter and about 2 cm deep, just deep enough that the links don't become trip hazards.

Maybe I can find a close up picture of one, I'll check...

Cheers,
Jan

Close up of a typical tie down. Because there is no good way to allow water to drain out of it, they are a kinda maintenance problem and are usually kinda rusty.



EJ

Hi Bryan,

Great attention to detail, like the method replicating the tie downs.

Si

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Not that I think about it I dont know where I got the idea that they were drains. Based on Jan's dimensions, what is needed is an indentation about .01cm which might be a little out of my league. The smallest drill I have is .5cm.
Any good ideas?

Ill have to think about doing this as it might look way out of scale.

Thanks for Info everyone,
Bryan

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Almost let this thread die off. I was in the army all of last week running around and remembering the job of being a soldier. Anyway I have done a lot of work but none of it really photo worthy. I spent a great deal of time just filling, sanding, and polishing the hull and deck. I filled in the seams between deck pieces and the hull and polished the putty till it shined. I am proud of myself in that I find this to be one of the most difficult parts of a build and I think I did an alright job.

Regarding the tie down points I undertook a scientific study, as seen in the first cells of the first photo. Deeper holes from right to left. I decided on 1.5 turns of a .5mm drill through the masking tape after paint looked subtle enough. I also took the opportunity to try out the colors slated for the whole model. Grey green for the deck, light gray for hull/bulkheads, red+green for anti-fowling and black boot-stripe. The following cells show the flight deck, I extended the rail system into the left hanger bay so that I can build it open. Does anyone know if there are tie downs in the hanger bay as well?



In addition I took some time to research and map out the holes in the hull for dumping various waste water. I drilled the holes and attached the hull stabilizers and glued some stretched sprue to simulate the weld line which is pretty clear in photos. This process is shown in the following picture.



Finally, in preparation for building up the superstructure I mapped out the details on the bulkheads.

Green = replace with PE
Black = missing detail to be added
Blue = molded detail to be removed
Red = detail to be rebuilt/scratch-built


Actually the detail is pretty good OOB but I have to keep the madness going.

Thanks for looking, comments and help more than welcome,
Bryan

It's a labor of love Bryan!! Love the system of colors!! Nice work on the deck too! Can't wait to see the colors replace soon!! Bring it on!!

Planning and attention to detail is superb Bryan.

Keep up the great work, following with interest.

Si

Very nice detailing Bryan.

Keep the posts coming please.

Russ

Bryan,

your attention to detail continues to amaze, really great work!!
I like your solution for the tie downs! And yes, even though I have no picture to prove it or a lay out, there are those tie downs in the hangar bay as well!

Keep up the great work

Jan

You gonna model liquids coming from the discharge ports? I've always tried to figure out how to do that.

EJ