1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James


Back to business

Today's update:
Forward bulkhead of superstructure. This part has three yardarm constructions on it. The center crane I think is for loading the missiles for the the MK-13. The other two are less clear to me. They are pretty complex in real life. I tried to do them justice. They came out a little misaligned but I cant imagine building them again. There must be more than 15 plastic parts in just one of the yardarms.

Here is the real Reuben James (a fairly modern photo as the MK-13 launcher has been removed)


My interpretation:


Next up: the deck extension for the 26' whaleboat

Thanks for stopping by,
Bryan

Some more fine work there Bryan!! Big fun to follow along with this one coming together!!

Your yardarms look great. Once some paint is on they will be perfect.

Excellent work Brian. The center support arm actually locks into the port or stbd arm depending on which side the replenishment is coming from. The fwd replenishment area wasn't ever used too much at sea. The flightdeck point was most popular.

Bryan,

great work on the yardarms - you definitely did them justice. They definitely don't look misaligned!!

Cheers,

Jan

Bryan, your attention to detail is mind boggling.

Great work!

Russ

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Thanks for the comments and the little factual tidbits(Ned). That explanation makes that strange three arm set up on the forward bulkhead of the superstructure a little bit more logical. I think they might have put it there to challenge modelers though.

I have to admit that since my last update I may have built and painted some figures for the improve your figures campaign. After working in 1/350 its strange to work on such a HUGE scale of 1/48. Still couldn't paint the eyes though.

Today's update,

AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar and Mast:

This was the most complex piece of PE on the ship but it wasn't to difficult in the end, which gave me some good confidence for the future. I pinned the radar piece to the mast so that they can be painted separately, its a little droopy just dry fitted but it will allow for plastic to be glued to plastic in the last stages of the build instead of fumbling with super glue and fragile PE after paint. Of course the mast got the standard upgrades based on the now very familiar photos.



'

I think next I will build the whaleboat deck and the boat itself,
Thanks for stopping by,
Bryan

Beautiful work on the radar Bryan!! Sharp looking PE piece!!

Great Work Brian,

The etchwork on the radar is superb,

Si

Bryan,

I can only second Si and Todd here - outstanding work on the SPS 49!!

Cheers ,

Jan

I love the work you are putting into the FFG. Brilliant.....Cheers mark

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Thanks for the support guys.

Today's update:

Whaleboat and Whaleboat deck. I sourced the little resin boats from L'Arsenal and had to modernize it a bit by adding a rudder and a steering wheel. I even put on a throttle which is so small its literally invisible. All the parts are going to be painted and attached to the ship later. By the way those ugly plastic blocks holding the boat have beautiful PE replacements, I used them just for the dry fit. There will also be a lot of rigging between the crane and the boat.



Thanks for looking, I have no idea what to build next but I am running out of sub-assemblies to make.

Bryan

Some more amazing work there Bryan! Seems funny saying that for such a small piece, but you're nailing it it!!

That is some lovely work you have done.....Cheers mark

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Its one of those kinda nights...



Bryan

Hi Bryan

I hear that! Looking great though!

Russ

1/350 FFG-57 Reuben James

Today's update:

Whip antenna kit comparison and finished products in addition to GPS antennas:


More interesting was the construction of a new propeller as the kit part is from some other model or something. Apparently the FFG prop was a very special piece of engineering which allowed the blades to change their pitch resulting in increased speed. In any case I cut a bunch out of plastic stock and glued them to the propeller base. They need some fine sanding and other minuscule details but overall I think they came out much more aggressive than the kit part.



Thanks for looking,
Bryan

Great job on the prop refit Bryan! Much better!!

Great work on the prop and the antenna Bryan,

Looking stunning.

Si

Todd and Si, thanks for the comments,

Of course the natural next step was to add the propeller shaft and Rudder. If you remember the rudder needed to be offset offset starboard a bit (thats the exact measurement) so I drilled a hole and

oops...


F%*#, but nothing some putty and super glue cant fix,

I also started building and detailing up the SH-60B, I made some Chocks detailed the prop shaft between the rotors and the helicopter itself, it will be clearer when its all put together.



Thanks for looking, I'm gonna stop working on this for today,

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Nice work,

I presume the offset rudder is to overcome to torque from the single screw when going ahead?

Cheers.

Si

I wanted to bump the thread and let you guys know that the ship hasn't sunk. I start a month of active reserve duty starting tomorrow so I wont be able to work on the James for a awhile. I really appreciate everyone's input up to this point. I have studied the instruction for the project and believe that it is finally time for paint, of which i am very intimidated.

I'll take a action picture of me standing guard and drinking coffee for you guys,

Cheers,
Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Good luck with your reserve service, hope all goes well. Looking forward to seeing more progress when you are back.

Cheers.

Si.

Good luck with the reserve service, Bryan.

Looking forward to seeing some paint go on!

Russ

Thanks for bumping Bryan! Missed the last update somehow! LOL! Sure you have the rudder move well in hand by now! Nice start on getting the chopper up to snuff!! Keep at it!