Anyone have any insights regarding the new Black Cat Models 1/350 USS Farragut. A very interesting subject since so many of the class were at Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941, and carried a heavy load through the early months of the war.

Thanks,

Kip

Black Cat's models are very impressive. I haven't seen any first hand but Mike Ashey used many of them in his recent 1/350 USS Missouri build: https://archive.kitmaker.net/review/14679

I have had my eye on Farragut too. Have seen no reviews, build logs, or threads devoted to it as yet, but is probably a bit too early.

A couple of things though. Ben at Black Cat was immediately responsive to customers who wanted a water line version and had their requests honored in a couple of weeks. Plus, every report I have seen on their products is very good. I wish their prices were a little lower, but I suppose if you desire quality you must be prepared to pay for quality.

Thanks for the responses and links. I'll be keeping my eye out for more information about the Black Cat USS Farragut before I take the plunge but my interest in the kit is keen. Not many between the wars 1/350 USS DDs available on the market, is there?

While looking over the Black Cat product line, I did notice that the anchor rings on the Black Cat stockless anchors sdd-on parts are incorrect.

kip

If your interest is in pre-war USN DD's you might want to check Iron Shipwrights, they have four or five.

Chuck, thanks for the Iron Shipwright suggestion.

I am familiar with Iron Shipwright and had acquired on of their small ships to give them a try. It was not a positive experience. At least in my view, their products are not comparable to other "cottage industry"-size resin kit makers such as AJM, Niko, and Starling. The former's Scott class DLs and the latter's HMS Nadder are very fine kits imo.

That said, I do hope that Iron Shipwright will someday soon raise the bar on their kit quality and level of detail.

That is a bit of disappointing news. I had planned to acquire a couple of their post war DD's this fall to serve as winter time projects.

I understand going in that some of their small parts are fragile, and I intend to replace them with aftermarket.

If you don't mind me asking what did you not like specifically about their models?

Also, does not that AJM model of the Scott Class leader enable you to go either full or waterline hull?

I too accept that there will be some small fragile parts and time spent cutting resin sheet or sprue away. Because of my work schedule, my hobby time is limited and I prefer kits whose inevitable parts clean-up isn't too time consuming.

In my one case with ISW, I spent much longer than is typical doing this. the sheets were thick and the parts didn't have particularly well shaped cut-off points. The worst aspect was that there was much flash on many small parts and the resin was more brittle than other resin kits I've build. In combination, the brittleness and flash made it very hard to clean-up small parts without breaking them - one must be very careful and not loose focus.

Replacing ISW small parts with after market parts is an interesting proposition (as is scratch-building as another option. If you give that a shot, hope you'll post and tell the forum how it went.

Regarding the AJM Scott Class kit, I checked all five in my stash and can report that all of them have top and bottom hull parts so either full or waterline is possible. The sixth kit in the 1/350 line that I don't have is the HMS Stuart

Kip

Appreciate the information. I will have a look at one of those AJM kits. I think Simon did one. I do mostly destroyers and submarines, because of my storage space limitations.

While I have some BBs and CVs in my kit stash, I'm holding off on building them until I can my retirement move plans squared away. So I too am building destroyers.

The Niko Treasury class cutter are a nice kit and a pleasure to build. While I haven't built it yet, the Sterling Models HMS Nadder looks very complete, accurate, and well detailed.

Yes, that Spencer (Treasury Class) from Niko looks really nice.

Somehow I had missed it, thinking Niko is known for their high quality models in 1/700. Never knew they had a small line of 1/350.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I purchased the Black Cat Farragut at the recent IPMS USA National convention in Chattanooga (great show, BTW). The kit is excellent. The resin is well cast and the 3D printed parts are superb.

Martin: I do hope you can find the time to write up a comprehensive review of Farragut.

I am of the opinion that a combination of either resin or plastic, in conjunction with 3D printed parts will open up all new avenues for building and converting.

Martin, your good news about the Black Cat Farragut kit is just what I was hoping to hear - thanks! Can you share with us a description of what is provided for masts and yards - do they include metal rod?

Thanks again,

Kip

Chuck,

Agree strongly with your post about multi-media kits being best. There are just some things - such as chain, mast, yards, gun barrels - that look best in metal, in addition to the PE and 3D in combination with plastic or resin you cite.

Kip

I was looking over the kit yesterday. I looks like the masts and yards are brass rod.

Thanks Martin,

The good news gets better and better - the Black Cat USS Farragut is moving up my want list fast.

Kip

You can read my review of the kit on Steelnavy.net
http://www.steelnavy.net/BlackCatFarragut350FBustelo.html

I started building the kit and so far it has been a very pleasant experience .

Felix Bustelo

To their credit Black Cat makes their USS Farragut model instructions available for download at their website. I took advantage of this generous practice (which all kit suppliers did this!). My intent was to compare the kit to photos, trying to date it and validate its correctness for that time.

Some interesting questions arose regarding gun directors and search radars. Most photos show DD-348 with tall cylindrical directors containing Gun Director Mark 49s. The Mark 49 was a mechanical analog gun director that was ultimately replaced by the highly successful Mark 51 Gun Director and is distinctive in appearance, looking like a WWII bomber ball turret.

The kit provides a director that appears to be a Mark 51 mounted within ...

The answer to the Gun Director question spawns a question about the SC type radar antenna. Photos taken after the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard refit that appear to have Mark 51 gun directors also show a SC2 antenna rather than the original SC. The latter was rectangular but the former had an elongated rectangular extension above the original rectangular "mattress".

So some potential anomalies - nothing that can't be easily corrected with aftermarket or scratch build. I'll query Black Cat and post to the forum any response I get. Given the weakness of the Farragut's photographic record and the lack of supporting plans or SY activity records, consider these as potential inconsistencies - Just wanted to point them out and invite others to research and contribute to resolving the questions. Can provide links to the references I used to anyone interested.

Kip