The SteelNavy.Com Message Board: Fine Mold 1.1s in plastic in 1/700.

Fine Molds probably makes the best plastic (mold injected) 1.1s that are far superior to Skywave/Pitroad. 4 to box 2 piece assembly. A bit pricey. Comes with 20mm in which Fine Mold botched by making gun and shield all one piece (meaning no notch in the shield). Reminds me of the old Hasegawa 20mms.

They also make an open mount 40mm quad and 40mm twin, 3 piece assembly. These are very nice and highly detailed with sights. They fit almost everybody’s gun tubs so no worries there.

Avoid their shielded 40mm quad. Fine Molds got lazy and provided a shield in which you have to make two precision cuts to the shield and then glue the shield pieces around the open mount. They could have made the shield 3 dimensional 1 piece that just fit around the quad but I guess for savings purposes they made it flat. They are out of their freaking skulls because you still have to assemble the quad before shield. You would spend days just assembling 40mm mounts for an Iowa class.

They also make open mount 5”25s and 5”38s, 3 piece assembly. Very nice.

I moved away from these little assembly weapons even though they were of quality. I went one piece 3D printed either Blue Ridge or Bunker Studio in 1/700.

Blue Ridge printings is very brittle and the designer thought it would be excellent idea to put sprue attachment points on gun sights and crew footings. Sometimes the stress of cutting them away from the sprue cause you to lose the detail you just purchased.

You need a pin vise to work with their 5”38s as their brass barrels don’t fit the mount. You have to open the hole in the mount for the barrel to fit.

So I am using everybody’s stuff.

Bill

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Sky Wave - Pit Road USN DD and CA, CL kits (including reboxed Midship cruisers) use a common weapons sprue that has two 1.1" mounts which typically are not used in the basic kit. Larger kits may have 2 sprues each. To build an early Dragon Atlanta / Juneau model this is the only source for spare plastic 1.1" mounts that I have found. (The Juneau kit has only PE mounts.) The Trumpeter New Orleans kits have 1.1" mounts which are not spares for the early and 3 lost ships.

Comments on other plastic options and quality of these and others are welcome. I know that resin and 3D options abound.

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My options in plastic are chosen to keep within a reasonable size and fit for the model. (I avoid any assembly that does not use plastic cement. No white glue, PE or super glue for my 84 yr old fingers!)

One piece 20mm singles: Tamiya DD's or Iowa's
Two piece 20mm twins: Tamiya Indianapolis but availability a problem so I substitute singles.

I do a mix and match for open mount 1.1's, 5" 25/38 singles and 40mm twin and quad open/shielded using existing kits with barrels from one and bases, shields from others. Will post some of the sources and combos I use once I check my wips and pre assembled components for them.

Primary sources for these are mostly carriers, cruisers and battleships from Tamiya, Trumpeter and Dragon.

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What can I say but highly recommend the Bunker Studio 1/700 USN 40mm quads and twins. Nicely printed, captures the detail including surrounding rails. 40mm quads come with shield and without. 40mm twins with open railing and solid railing. 8 quads per sprue and 12 twins per sprue. In black resin which could be a problem for lighter paints.

With the demise of 3D Model Parts and the three part assembly challenge Fine Molds offered in 1/700, nice to just paint, cut sprues away and install. No more cutting or bending shields to fit the quad mount or the intricate process of installing guns in the mount. Best no more stupid placement of attaching sprues to the detail you just purchased. Cut the sprue and lose the detail. Bunker Studio seems to have given some thought to this for attaching sprues are from beneath the piece.

I wish I could give praise to their 20mm singles and twins. Excellent printing and superior to that of Blue Ridge but they do have a fatal flaw. They placed sprue attachment points on the shoulder harnesses. Too much stress in cutting away those sprues and you lose the shoulder harness. Even the Fujiya cutters would have a problem with this. But same could be said of Blue Ridge who put attachment points on the crew footings of their 1/700 1.1s and 3”50s. So I guess hobbyist choice if the detail is worth the effort and expense in 1/700 scale. Myself I will stay with the 20mm singles and twins from Blue Ridge. 2 attachment points and none in a critical position that you will lose detail.

In my humble opinion Bunker Studio raised the bar in 3D printed weapons and will be tough to beat in quality or simplicity. They would be a power house for 1/700 USN hobbyists if they corrected their 20mm single and twins attachment points.

Waiting to see if they will offer 3”50s 1.1s, 5”25s and open mount 5”38s in 1/700.