. . . . . And I couldn't fit the subtitle "A Model Shipwrights Noobs Adventure!"



I have been a (virtually) silent observer here on the Shipwrights forums for a few years now and decided to overcome my reluctance and dive in, so to speak! I recently purchased the final chapter in the trilogy and now there are no excuses.

I chose this series for several reasons. Price wise they are very reasonable for the detail and inclusions, the only glaring omission is the railing. I like to build in themes, so having three very similar vessels will fit my quirky habits. They are relatively small, so I can fit them in to my limited display space together when they are finished. I have read a few reviews and they are recommended as decent kits for beginners in this field. There don't seem to be any major difficulties or fit issues in the process. I am not scared of ill-fitting kits, having built some absolute shockers in the aircraft genre, but I really didn't want to face this type of headache in my first trip down this road.

Now, all of that being said, I will be going very slowly and carefully on this project, so please don't expect regular updates or massive progress reports. I will be fitting these in between commitments to Group Builds over on Aerscale and Automodeler. I like to work on subassemblies and put as much together as possible before I get to the airbrushing stage, and along the way I am going to be learning the terminology, the names and functions of the various parts of the vessels, and the best sequence for assembly and painting. What you CAN expect is lots of stupid questions! Following a few of the build log threads here I am absolutely amazed at what you guys achieve, the quality of the builds and the level of detail is just stunning, and the exchange of information, assistance and cameraderie is second to none. I am here to learn and improve my skill set, so please don't hesitate to throw any comments, suggestions, critique or criticism in wherever warranted.

Who knows, maybe following along my fumbling path might persuade some more Wingy-Thingy or Muscle car nuts to try their hand here!

I have a couple of days off now and a few hours free time, so hopefully I can crack open one of these kits and introduce the styrene to the Xacto and Tamiya Extra Thin!

Happy Easter and thanks for checking in.

Cheers, D

Oops, almost forgot my first question. I don't want to go down the whole super-detail PE set path, is the Eduard Gearing PE railing set ( part number 53056) suitable for all three of these vessels?

Happy Easter Damian! Look at that...a triple threat! Looking forward to seeing you have your way with this! Enjoy!

Good luck Damien. A triple build will something different to watch. I don't know anything about the Gearing class so I'll be interested to know if there are different mouldings between the kits.

cheers

Michael

Hi Damien,

Have fun with these three, I have build Gearing and it was a very enjoyable build indeed.

Cheers

Si

Subscribed!!

Thanks for the warm welcome and the interest guys!

I had a bit of a browse through the boxes last night and I think I have settled on the Gearing to get the ball rolling. Looking at the profiles the Chevalier and the Frank Knox are almost identical, but the Gearing doesn't have the central superstructure so it isn't quite so scary for me






Cheers, D

While reading some reviews on these kits a couple of reviewers found discrepancies in the sprues so I thought it would be best to do a quick inventory. The Chevalier and the Gearing were fine, but the Frank Knox has a couple of issues.


There should be 2 x Sprue "M" but there is only one.
There are 2 Sprues marked "H" but they bear no resemblance to the sprues on the instruction sheet. They look similar to Sprue "M" but quite a lot bigger, and have parts to make up a couple of turrets.
This will be a customer service test as I purchased this kit a couple of years ago from a local online store. I will email them today and see what sort of response I get.

Cheers, D

Hey Damian,
I never knew we shared this 'floaty' secret. I have a couple of 1/350 tubs in my stash which I hope to touch on this year.

Do you solder? It's a great skill to have for shipbuilding as brass masts will stand the test of time better than the kit supplied plastic masts.

If you need railing, BNA has heaps. On a personal note, railing is the hardest thing for me to do without stuffing up.

Best of luck on your builds! I'll be following.

Gaz

G'day Gaz. Thanks for checking in mate! BNA is generally my go-to for after market accessories, they seem to carry good stocks and their service is great.

Cheers, D

Edit: I do have a soldering iron but I have never used it on brass, just repairing electronics. Another aspect of the hobby for me to try soon!

And so styrene meets Xacto, razor saws, Sprue cutters, assorted holding devices and Tamiya Extra Thin.





Instructions, Part 1, Step 1, Assembly "A" x 2. There are still 4 PE parts to add to this, so I haven't glued the guns in place. The PE parts to add are seats and footrests, sights and what look to be handles to elevate the barrels. What caliber are these?

Is anybody interested in me posting images of the actual instructions here?

There are multiples of most of the assemblies in this stage, up to 10 of some, so folks must have a preferred method of storing and labelling them for protection and ease of selection in later stages. I was thinking a small fishing tackle organiser, which I have plenty of, but is there any risk of reaction between the plastics?

Like I said earlier, expect plenty of noobish questions as I get started here.

Cheers, D

Edit:Damn, these parts are small! I'm used to handling the fuselages and wings of 1/48 fighters that don't disappear into the carpet and I can actually feel them between my fingers. This is going to take some real focus!

Wow, staying busy are you? I'm at least in your Hemisphere for the rest of the week, but all my kits are in the other one.

I've had great luck with Gold Medal Models and Tom's Modelworks for ship brass. Shipping down under might be a problem though.

Best of luck, I'd love to see how this works out.

Hi Damian,

Good to see a start, those twin 40mm are fun.

The great fun, for me anyway, of building ships is the loads of small parts!

Good luck with the trio mate,

Cheers

Si

Mark, thanks for checking in mate, hope you enjoy your visit to our end of the globe!

Si, thanks for the feedback. I'm looking forward to this challenge, and learning more about the subject matter as I go. It feels vaguely wrong assembling AA weapons when my main passion is aircraft!

The sprue inventory issue continues. Sprue "Q" contains the parts for 2 of these 40mm AA guns, and only 2 guns are called up in the instructions, but the kit contains 2 x Sprue "Q". Is it common for entire extra sprues to be packed in these kits, or is Dragon just a little off their game in this regard?

Cheers, D

Once I get started on a project my mind tends to leap forward a few stages and look at further aspects. Looking at the three kits there are obviously a lot of common assemblies, numerous turrets and smaller guns in particular, just the numbers and arrangements on each vessel vary. Do I pull the sprues out of each kit and build them all together in an "assembly line" style process, which would involve several hours of repetitive building now but make the final assembly on each kit simpler, or do I take each kit separately and build in its own right?
I suppose if I was embarking on this project with a view to directly comparing the contents, the molds, the fit and the differences between the vessels, it would make sense to complete each stage of the three kits concurrently. Given that my aim is to learn about the vessels, the weapons, the parts and structure of the ship and the build process, I think that I will approach each kit separately. I won't necessarily completely finish one before I start the next, because who ever does that?
Well there it is, I have answered my own question! Apologies for the rambling, I am just enjoying a quiet glass of red while I read over the instructions again and try to spot any traps for the unwary (that being me).

Cheers, D

Next up are the main 5 inch twin guns. There are only 3 assemblies required, but parts are provided for 4, so I thought I would put all 4 together so that I can show the detail on all sides in one photo. I will attach the PE ladders at a later juncture.




Cheers, D

Aw come on, itty bitty, try 1/700 ships. I've got at least two on the shelf of doom.

Tell me more about your razor saws. I just bought one from UMW (?) and it's working well in most cases, in other cases the screw clamp set in the middle gets in the way.

Red? You're drinking red? I thought all you Aussies went for beers in the 24 oz cans???

Mark, I finished the last 6 or 7 barrels earlier today and all that was left was some of the magnum of Hanwood Cab Sav. Why I didn't finish it last week I'm not sure.

After working on a couple of 1/350 subassemblies, 1/700 parts would probably look like a small pile of sanding debris with an odd shaving off the Sprue. I don't even want to imagine 1/1200 !

I picked up the razor saws a few years back from the LHS, the set was one sheet similar to a PE frame. I don't recall the manufacturer, sorry.



Cheers, D

Hi Damian,
Those turrets look nice. Dragon does make some amazingly detailed ship models. On the flip side, when I built my only Dragon warship, I found the directions had me do the armaments first.
I spent the next couple of months with them attached to a piece of cardboard with blutack. After much reading of experienced hardcore shipbuilder's build threads, I saw that they worked from the keel upwards, saving the most delicate and topmost for last.

...I'm gonna try that next time.

Gaz

Nice work on the main turrets Damian.

As Gaz says, Dragon instructions do have an odd habit of wanting you to build a lot of sub assemblies first, that you don't need till much later.

Keep a close eye, I have built their USS Independence (CVL22) and have Scharnhorst under way (thanks for looking in by the by) and in both cases there were a number of errors in the instructions. Don't recall any on the on the Gearing, but it was a while bag that I built it.

Cheers

Si

Hasegawa makes a saw set very similar to the one you show. I think that Tamiya also makes a set.

I found a couple of very similar sets HERE and I'm sure a bit more Googling will find more. I use them more often than the Squadron Sprue Cutters that I have, I find that there is very little clean-up and no distortion of the parts at the sprue connection point using the saw instead.

Gaz, Si, thanks for the feedback. I have noted in most threads that you guys tend to start at the hull and work upwards, but I suppose diverting from the instructions comes with experience in this type of build. I will stick with the sequence in the instructions on this build, then go with a bit of freestyling on the next. I can see the sense in getting the hull and structure assembled and painted first and then adding the detail, I wonder why Dragon would not take note and rewrite their instructions to that effect.

I got an email reply from the supplier of the Frank Knox and they are going to see what can be done to sort the sprue issue for me. Positive action at this point.

Cheers, D

Thanks D, I was thinking it might be an old Eduard set. I try to track them down when I get to the correct time zone.

Good to hear that you're doing you best to keep kids from eating raisins. Wouldn't want good grapes to go to waste....

Step 1, Assembly "G" is the Quad 40mm gun. There are 8 plastic and 6 PE parts in each assembly, parts provided for 4 but only 3 required in this build. The photo below shows Sprue "P" which contains the parts for 2 assemblies, plus 2 completed assemblies from the second Sprue "P", with the PE parts yet to be added.

Note, I have already trimmed quite a few pieces of Sprue off the parts in this photo, the pieces are very securely held in place.

Cheers, D

Hi Damian,
Those quad 40mm look pretty sharp.

On build order no matter what the instructions say I can never help myself but assemble the big guns first to see what they look like. Usually they don't see the light of day for another 3 months.

cheers

Michael

Thanks Michael, I appreciate the feedback. I am very impressed with the detail on these tiny parts.

As is natural I find myself comparing this build with my past aircraft builds and there is a very obvious inversion between the two genres that has just struck me. On the aircraft we spend the first part of the build assembling and detailing the interior, cockpit, engine assemblies etc, and then go right on ahead and hide it away never again to see the light of day inside a smooth, aerodynamic solid fuselage or wing. We then go about painting, decaling, weathering this to give it some features. On the ships there is a beautifully streamlined hull that typically gets built first, and then all of the intricate detail sits there right on top, in your face!

And then there is Armorama , another field that I am yet to venture into, where the interior detail is generally covered up if it is present at all (like the aircraft), but then the exterior is absolutely carpeted with detail.

I think that I think too much!

Cheers, D