-- Originally Posted 6/8/07 --

Those of you who know me from 'way back may have noticed that the entire line of Matt Stein Models' 1/550 scale aircraft - AD Skyraiders, HSS Seabats, AJ Savages and S2F Trackers - have all been directly employable in my 1/525 scale build of USS Boxer CVS-21, circa 1957. In this way I have been making Matt Stein Models, which I serve all week, serve me on the weekends; contributing to my own build(s). And my latest two releases - single-5" open-mount and twin-5" DP turret guns - are no exception.

Of course, my Boxer build has additionally given more than her share to R&D at Matty's Models - soon to become apparent in upcoming releases - but right now she gets to "lay back", and be adorned with by far the best guns you have ever seen - maybe will ever see - on this venerable Lindberg kit. Firstly she needed four single-5" open-mounts.

Step one is (always) to paint the castings purple to see exactly what you've got:


Click on Image to EnlargeAt left are the unworked castings - with chunks of remnant casting wafer still attached - but in addition these are defective units; note the large pits on lower corners of the gun carriages, and of course incomplete/broken gun barrels as well as additional pits and holes on the gun breaches. These problems can be seen more clearly after removal of the casting wafer (right).

I didn't want to use up precious, defect-free inventory and also I was curious to see just how hard it would be to repair these problems - as I have a lot of such rejects from the first, problem-fraught production run!

And the News was Good - turns out it's very easy to fix these defects:


Click on Image to EnlargeYou just mash in blobs of putty, let cure and then sand 'em (top), and all these problems virtually disappear - as can be verified after repainting (bottom). Note the gun barrels have all been clipped down almost to the block - where tiny sockets (not visible) were hollowed out, to accept replacement barrels.

I would recommend one slight variation on the above: instead of filling the defects with putty, use thick superglue - or ideally, superglue thickened with talcom powder to make it cure softer - and, after sanding/smoothing as above, remove all the paint by submerging the parts in paint remover and scrubbing with a toothbrush. It won't damage the resin nor the superglue patches (I've done this many times) but it will restore maximum definition to the fine detail (which was degraded somewhat by the extra paint on these examples).

Likewise in all respects for the twin-5" DP turrets, of which Boxer needed four:


Click on Image to EnlargeHere are the untouched, defective castings (left), and "cleaned up" units (right), showing again some major pits, voids and malformed gun barrels.

And here are the gun houses, corrected:


Click on Image to EnlargeIf you think about it, almost no parts of the gun bases nor gun "slides" (which mount the gun barrels), will ultimately be visible once the turrets are assembled. Therefore, practically all defects which don't actually compromise their functioning (elevation of the guns) don't have to be filled at all.

With significant defects corrected, both single- and twin-turret mounts can then be assembled:


Click on Image to EnlargeThese gun barrels are all simply lengths of copper wire - actually strands unwound from a heavy-duty electric cord - of roughly 0.023" diameter. Note also, on the turrets various options for open versus closed hatches are depicted (sorry about the grainy pics; details are much clearer in those below). All open hatches, closed hatches and ladder rungs are provided on the castings "OOB". Of course, you still have the option to sand off some or all of them - very easily done with the soft resin - and replace them with PE accessories.


For the standard, market product, once you remove the remnant casting wafer you can go straight to the above step.

And then proceed, as I did here, with finish-painting:

Click on Image to EnlargeYeeuh-Boyie - now that's what I'm talkin' about! Except, again I decided a better procedure would probably be to do as much painting as possible before assembly - and then the inevitable touchup afterwards.


Now you can see much better on the twin DPs (right), all the different options for open- and closed hatches. Note I bored out the open hatches completely - going clear through the (thick) gun house walls - but left slight, raised rims around the edges. Such coamings are not strictly accurate, however they greatly add definition to the hatch openings - which otherwise you'd better be able to drill with near perfect edges.

But what about Boxer? Well, you tell me:


Click on Image to EnlargeThis ain't "your daddy's Lindberg" any more!

Of course, you have to see these tiny guns closer-up, and clearer:


Click on Image to EnlargeHere are the single-5" open-mounts; on the forward sponson (left) and aft sponson (right). These look so much better than the kit parts that now they're making the sponsons look bad! And not just cosmetically; note how snug the mounts sit in the sponsons - there actually isn't even room enough for them to rotate in there!

Since I know these gun carriages are precisely 1/550 scale, the "1/525" Lindberg sponsons must be too narrow - and significantly so, at that. This is yet another example why it is fruitless to obssess on matching the scale of your accessories precisely to the stated kit scale: your OOB kit probably isn't that faithful in all respects to begin with!

In any case, the solution will be simply to widen the sponson a tad.

Now, what about the twin-DP turrets:


Click on Image to EnlargeYow - anyone familiar with the OOB (just offensively inaccurate) Lindberg turrets will appreciate just what an improvement are these here! Note inside the open maintenance access hatches you can even see some "inner workings"; the actual innards of the turret assemblies!

Let's see those beauties from another angle:


Click on Image to EnlargeHere are the outboard views; of the pair of turrets aft (left) and forward of the island (right).

OK so with the above my Boxer now has almost all the detail parts - aircraft and weapons - which she needs to make a decent build out of her. Which building can thus proceed apace. Actually, the way was cleared for major progress - putting planes in her hangar and closing her up - upon completion of the last required aircraft; the S2F Trackers.

So it shoud all be coming together very quickly now. We'll see what I can get accomplished by the end of this weekend…

Cheers,

-Matty