FFG-36 Masts

 Mnay parts of the ship must be painted by hand before I add on additional detail pieces.

 The main mast is nearing completion, There are still numerous parts to install but I needed to paint it before adding any more which would make the painting even more difficult. 

 The 76 mm gun director is completed, to the right is the signal flag boxes.

The main search radar, This is where the PE kit pays of in fine detail. 

U-575 TBM and figure work

 Painting is just about complete on the crew of the U-575. They will be in the process of abandoning ship when added to the diorama. Some will just be the head and shoulders as they will be in the water.

The support rod was added to the wing and the white and dark gull gray have been applied. I will dry brush the gray to lighten it up some and add wear on the surfaces. I still need to paint the canopry frame.

U-575 Progress

 The avenger is ready for painting. I will need to use my airbrush to do it. But the winter temperatures may delay this since it will have to be painted in the garage.

 I have slowly been building up the mod podge around the subs hull, this takes much time as each application takes several days to thoroughly dry before I can add another coat.

This is the paint schemed that will be applied to the avenger, white overall with a dark gull gray paint on the top surfaces of the plane. This scheme was applied to planes on the small escort carriers that made up the hunter killer groups working the battle of the Atlantic. I will probably build a larger scale (1/48 or 1/32 scale) of this plane in the future.

FFG-36 work

Work is progressing slowly, the photo etch kit assembly is very tedious and I can only do a few things at a time due to the small size and delicate nature of the parts. This will be my first and last model in this scale (1/350) with PE parts. It is not relaxing or "fun" to build at this small scale.

FFG-36 Bridge

Today's progress 

U-575 TBM Cockpit

 Bulkheads and a control panel have been added to the cockpit and the pilot. 

I am not sure if this will even be visible after the canopies are installed but it is there just in case.

More PE Work on FFG-36

 A lot of tiny pieces went into the weapons loading gear on the front end of the superstructure. 

 Missile launcher and the forward breakwater stiffener structure installed.

 The sea base has its coat of black paint.

 The 01 main deck PE is glued on.

 Several pictures of the main superstructure after assembly.

Underwood PE details

 Fair leads, flight deck, rear capstan and a hatch have been added to the fan tail.

 Anchor Capstan and a deck hatch installed, the anchor chain will be added after painting this area.

Yeah, the fair leads are tiny.

This took an hour to complete part of the time is trying to find the parts on the PE sheet, then cutting them off and then finding them after they are separated. I am stopping for the night and will head down to watch a movie on the big screen TV.

U-575 12-5-14

Working on the depth bomb splash, it may be a bit too high but that can be adjusted. More "body" will be added after this sets.

U-575 diorama

The U-575 has been inserted into the diorama base, it is being worked into the base, using Mod Podge. The base of the depth bomb splash has also been started. This was dropped from the TBM Avenger being built. There will be numerous other smaller 3" shell and 20 mm splashes depicted as well. The U-575 was being bombed and strafed by aircraft and shot at by no less than 3 ships at this time after it surfaced due to damage from a destroyer escort depth charge attack. The crew was abandoning ship during this time and numerous crewmen were mortally wounded. Since the sub had fought back with intense anti aircraft fire earlier in the day when it was attacked by British Wellington and B-17 bombers I think the hunter killer group was taking a shoot now ask questions later stance.

FFG-36 hull work

 Tonight I worked on the hull, the kit has parts to make the short hull or long hull version of this class. The kit instructions do not show or even mention the assembly of the pieces of the long hull even though they are provided. The deck section here has the helicopter retrieval system engraved into it. This deck will be covered with a new photo etched deck.

 The arrow is pointing at the joint between the standard hull and the added on extension. The class hull was stretched to accommodate the SH-60 helicopters which were just coming into service. The ship had been designed to support S-2 Sea Sprite helicopters which were much smaller than the SH-60.

 Photo etch set that will be used on this model, it also comes with the names of all of the Oliver Hazard Perry ships, the kit decals only have markings for the lead ship FFG-7.

Decks are installed, and the extension is sanded smooth. Some details on the decks have been cut off and sanded smooth in preparation for photo etch parts.

FFG-36 USS Underwood started

 The styro foam is being glued to the base for the USS Underwood. 

I had to glue the hull together to mark the base cutout. I have ordered the Pontos photo etch upgrade for this kit. This diorama is for a fellow retired sailor who works for me. This is the ship he has the fondest memories of being on.

U-575 UPDATE

 U-575, the diorama base has its base coat of black paint applied. The TBM Avenger assembly has started.

I will add some cockpit details and a pilot to the plane since it will be in flight. I will also add rockets under the wings as the plane shot these after its first pass.

USS Chicago 10 May 1997 Complete