The resin heavy cruiser is coming along quite nicely. My finish date is sometime in October so we're doing well for time. Both upper and lower hull are mated together and primer applied. The initial coat of USN Haze Grey (post war) has been added. Everything you see here is glued on except the aft mast. Below the ship, the prop shafts and rudder have yet to be added. They are white metal parts.
The deck color as per customer preference, is Polyscale Deck Tan Special. Bridge windows and shutters are added as are all secondary turrets and guns. The AA guns (twin 3 inchers) are all added as well. The kit is for USS Salem but I am doing her as USS Des Moines. The gun positions are all separate pieces which is great as you can position them to match the Des Moines class ship you are portraying.
The rear turret is just sitting in the barbette. It will be glued in later. Two of the three eight inch gun turrets are finished. I replaced the white metal gun barrels with brass rod/tubing as the white metal guns were too bent and disfigured to be of any good. The resin turrets cleaned up nicely. The mast does not go there; it is actually the forward mast, but I popped it into the aft mast socket just for the photo.
Forward AA guns and turret barbettes. All of the photo etch railing has been installed from the rear (stern) to the bridge. The forward part has been left off for now until the turrets are finished. The kit comes with white metal cleats and bollards, should you wish to remove the resin molded-on units. No thanks. The anchor chain was molded on which I thought was a rather eighteenth century feature. Normally resin ships come with photo etched chain. Oh well.
Here's the semi-finished foremast. The kit gives you two metal rods to create your masts. There's around 100 parts for both masts. Right now you're looking at around 40. I still have a few railing sections, ECM antennae and other little bits to add. Oh yeah...and several scale feet of ladder as well. The radar itself was around six or seven pieces and required some interesting bending and glueing. The main mast is going to be really fun.
The ship is being built for a veteran who served onboard her for her final cruise in 1961. His son ordered it from me as a surprise; he doesn't know he's getting it for Christmas. I have also researched his medals that he would have been entitled to and the son and I are going to mount them (along with the ship) in to a nice display case. The son is taking care of a nice acrylic case to mount everything in. As the son is driving to Florida in October for a vacation, that will save postage and the risk of damage. The kit is the out of production Yankee Modelworks USS Salem which is a resin/photoetch/white metal kit.
This kit is the Yankee Modelworks USS Salem heavy cruiser kit that I have converted to USS Des Moines. She's a sexy, beautiful ship spanning that weird period right after World War two but right before the Cold War got into full swing. So she has long, smooth lines and just enough turrets and guns to make her a beautiful addition to any kind of diormama or collection. However, be warned that she is a shelf-filling twenty-six inches long and sits close to ten inches tall when finished.
I did just a little bit of rust - not too much, just enough to make the point (the ship was the flagship after all!). The ship is a resin kit with white metal parts and photo etch. The twin three inch guns are white metal and are in two pieces. The white metal main gun barrels were totally useless so I threw them away and used brass tubing. The blast bags are molded in to the turrets which makes it easier to build, plus home-made blast bags are a pain in the ass. The Des Moines class were armed with the then-state of the art rapid-fire eight inch guns.
The USS Des Moines' secondary weapons consist of the tried and tested, combat proven twin five inch gun in six twin turrets. These rapid fire guns were absolute plane-slayers in the anti-aircraft role. The three inch gun mounts replaced the World War Two quadruple forty millimeter gun mounts. The five inchers are the same story as the main turrets: resin with white metal. This kit was built as a commission build for a veteran of the ship. Were I to do another for me, I'd use L'Arsenal brass barrels.
The masts were white metal rods with pretty extensive diagrams as to how to construct the masts. The radars themselves are multiple parts and are really not as difficult as they look. Just time consuming. The photo etch is just the right combination of easy to bend and rigid. The fire control directors are all clunky white metal as well. If I do another kit for me, I would use the L'Arsenal resin ones.
The kits extensive photo etch sheets contain loads of world war two and post war Navy sensors. As our customer father was onboard her as an Engineman during the 1961 decommissioning cruise, I was able to leave a lot of the antennas and radar dishes off. The USS Des Moines' final configuration portrays the ship right before the guided missile age really took off, so her Cold War fit is pretty minimal.
Here's a closeup of the aft-mast's main radar platform. The kit requires a small bit of scratchbuilding for the main masts but nothing that isn't easily accomplished. The fan shaped antenna is a late-World War Two vintage counter measures systems. The main radar is a surface search setup. The Des Moines Class heavy cruisers would see action during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, although the USS Des Moines herself would end up being decommissioned in 1961.
The aft superstructure fire control area. The Des Moines' gunnery was state of the art for it's day. Had these ships seen action in the Pacific, the war would have been over two years quicker. Imagine Tassafaronga Strait or Sunda Strait with Des Moines and her sisters taking on the Japanese? Likewise, the Savo Island battle would have had a different outcome. Anti-aircraft sensors and weaponry plus the lastest anti-mine and SONAR made these very capable ships.
Here's a close up of the forward bridge superstructure and all of it's many whip antennas. This part of the build was a pretty time consuming build item, but I was smart (this time) and left it until the last possible moment so as not to damage/bend any of the many antennas. The bridge windows and their window shutters were an equally interesting part of the build process. You're looking at easily over fifty photo etch pieces.
The USS Des Moines Class heavy cruisers as-built, had two rotating aircraft catapults aft and carried four aircraft in the huge stern hangar. Once the float planes were considered obscelete, the deck carried boats and an occassional helicopter. On a historical note, when President Eisenhower visited the Med he visited the US Navy's Sixth Fleet and stayed onboard the fleet flagship, USS Des Moines during his travels.
The USS Des Moines ("Daisy May") was decommissioned from the active list of US Navy ships in 1961. Prior to that, she was the flagship of the US Sixth Fleet. The kit is extremely detailed and builds in to a nice, large, beautiful ship. The ship was purchased by a son as a gift for his father this Christmas. He took delivery of it on Friday and will be heading back home where a friend of his will make the display/presentation case. I'll be sure to post photos of the veteran when he's reunited with his old girl.
Wow, that is a GREAT heavy cruiser build, Donny! I especially appreciated all those closeups of the tasty mast PE. Nice writeup, too. Will definitely look forward to any vet's-delivery pics you want to post, buddy.
Great submission!
Cheers,
-Matty
Yeah I can't wait to see 'em either
Posted by Don Murphy on November 4, 2012, 12:02:22, in reply to "OUTSTANDING, Don!"
Although I may have opened a can of worms as I'm sure all his buddies are now gonna want one...
Work continues on the Cold War heavy cruiser USS Des Moines. We're on the home stretch now with just some painting and a few pieces left. At this point in time, all resin and white metal has been installed. This is the Yankee Modelworks kit of USS Salem in 1/350th scale. The kit is being built as USS Des Moines for a veteran who served onboard her for her around the world decommissioning cruise in 1961.
For the last major building piece, we'll need to make all four of the propeller shafts and their supports out of brass rod/tube. The kit gives you props but no rod material. Only white metal rods for the main masts are provided. The overall deck color is Polyscale Deck Tan Special. As built, she wore the standard Weatherdeck Blue.
Here's a view of the bow which includes two twin rapid-fire three inch gun mounts and their associated directors. These are white metal parts. The overall hull and superstructure color is a slightly darkened variant of world war two Haze Grey. The lower hull is Tamiya's Hull Red in a spray can. The forward guns were radar directed and reflect the anti-aircraft technology of her day. As late world war two cruisers go, she was heavily armed.
The forward and aft masts are not glued down, they are just sitting in place (dry-fitting) for photo purposes (and safety, with all the photo etch!). Each mast contains just at or under fifty parts. The forward mast is just missing some safety raililng and then it will be finished. Once finished, I'll spray them separately and then install them. I may leave them off the ship for transport purposes.
The stern was really complex for some strange reason. The crane is made up of multiple parts and builds quite quickly. The hanger door does not open. The kit gives you an early helicopter to build, but it was not embarked as per the veteran we're building for. Photo references are pretty vague and even the instructions tell you that you're on your own as far as the helicopter is concerned.
Here is another view of the cruiser's aft/midships area featuring the main mast. The radar was comprised of numerous photo etched parts and the Yankee Modelworks photo etch is really easy to work with. Not too bendable but not too rigid either. Most of the mast/radar parts are supplied though there is some scratchbuilding to do. Namely the mast extensions and a few platforms and mounting posts here and there.
The aft (main) mast needs some final assorted parts on the rear which will actually make it level (or just lower) than the forward mast. When both masts are finished, I'll remove them and spray them separately. Right now, they are just dry-fitted to get them out of the way so that they're not laying on the bench exposed.
Yes, those are etched windows. They are provided in two parts: the bridge windows themselves and the bridge window shutters. The shutters are loose at the moment. Once all of the whip antenna work is done, they'll be glued down. I won't bore you with how many whip antennas there are. The top outside of the bridge will be ringed with a dozen whip antennas when I'm done. Just have to check my references as to how many.
All "building" is done. Just have to add railing to the forward half of the ship. But that will wait until the props and shafts are done. Then a massive repaint/touch up evolution. Once that's done, I will add threads to the bottom so I can screw the ship to a base for travel. The vet's son will be meeting me around the middle of October to take delivery. he's going to combine a vacation with the pick up. He is going to take care of building the display case which will contain medals that his father was never awarded. I've provided him with a list of medals that his father would have been entitled to and the the name of a store to buy them from. After that I'll be finishing up a Spruance Class destroyer for a vet that served onboard her in the 90's.
Heavily armed, for sure - now THAT'S a warship - and you gotta love all those "pointy bits" (Old School) - on the long, lean hull of a cruiser!
I lightened and sharpened (because had to reduce sizes on) your pics:
Click on Image to Enlarge
Nice detail shots of the masts and 3in/50s as well - Thank You, buddy!
Do I see a 3-bladed PE aircraft propeller - looks too large for a helo tail rotor, but too small for a main rotor - on the fantail...?
Click on Image to Enlarge
Also great to get some good looks at the bridge windows and Mk37 directors. Those directors and Twin-3" mounts sure do look a lot like Matt Stein Models' depictions - maybe because they're also (at least fairly) accurate!
Is it me, or do the bridge structures of late/post-WWII USN cruisers distinctly resemble those of the IJN Maya-class: a massive, blocky stack of bridge levels - the top one (captain's) being fully glassed- and roofed-over?
Anyway, GREAT build - excellent submission - and we'd love to see more of her, when finished, Donny!
Cheers,
-Matty
She is indeed hyper sexy
Posted by Don Murphy on September 27, 2012, 20:08:05, in reply to "Looking GREAT, Don!"
As gun ships took a back seat to subs and carriers, their role was more gunfire support so the tall bridge level helped shore bombardment.
That is indeed the tail rotor for the chopper. The Matt Stein gear would be miles more accurate than the blobs of white metal which I really detest (even in larger scales). The three inchers are basically a baseplate and the barrel block.
"Molded-in 'Eighteenth Century feature' anchor chain." (LMAO! Actually, the anchor chain was probably the one feature essentially unchanged since the 18th Century.)
Gorgeous Fargo, Donny. All that PE on the masts will no doubt make them just spectacular. I already noticed the bridge windows - are they PE, or how was that executed?
I'm looking at the twin-3" guns, and not seeing any more detail (in fact, even less) than on my little 1:550-scale ones. How do they look up close, in person? I guess I can't really criticize this (or any) kit, until I build my own Cold War USN ship, with those included.
Come to think of it, I have yet to build (in adult life) any kind of USN cruiser! But when I do, rest assured - even if it means grafting a hull-bottom (which it probably will) onto one of the old Rev-Wal classics - it will be a full-hulled beauty - just like yours, here. Great job - keep us posted, buddy!
Cheers,
-Matty
Re: Work in progress: 1/350th scale USS Des Moines
This kit's hardest/longest phase was soaking all of the resin parts in dishwashing liquid to remove the release agent. Other than that, it builds pretty quickly. Also, I'm a bit lazy and I traditionally just throw away the white metal and buy aftermarket plastic or resin parts.
It's either that or spend hours straightening bent metal pieces and getting rid of the flash, etc. It adds more money to the kit's cost but it saves on time. The photoetch is pretty straight forward on the Yankee Modelworks kits as well. "Just enough."
Cheers,
Don
Re: It's pretty straightforward, you just have to plan