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Atlantis 1/320 "USS Forest Sherman"

I got really excited about Revell's 1/530 "USS Hornet +3" Apollo 11 recovery ship model. She was my first. Revell USS Lexington and USS Forrestal followed. All bought from K-mart.
I got mine from the ol' "Hobby and Garden Center" and would haul those big boxes and a couple of bottles of paint home on my bike. don't forget the USS North Carolina.
 
I like to paint the decks and horizontal surfaces first, then shoot up at the vertical surfaces, touching up at the deck joint with a small brush.
Painting subassemblies in this fashion, when possible saves :bash:
Mark Karolus puts his 1/700 waterline ships almost all the way together, then adds his p/e railings. Touching up the tiny shiny spots of super glue with dullcote and a brush is an old Ship Guy trick.

Visual aid.
Not that I think you are looney enough to add much brass to this old Lady. R U?
Nevermind. Belay my last. :lol:
 
Well, I have probably goofed. I watched some YT vids on ship building and obe guy built the entire ship then painted it. Niw it sounds like you guys are saying paint some parts as you go. IDK, this is a learning experience, so hopefully I can learn. I have built quite a bit since the last entry.
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I lost one of the torpedo davits so I attempted to make metals ones. Yes, the hand crank is extremely out of scale. Not sure how elso to do it with the tools I have.
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You're doing a fine job on your first model ship! :good:
The original Revell 1958 model wasn't long on precision. At the same time, this was the pinnacle of US Navy Destroyer box-scale model tooling in it's day. Look at all the open hatches, hose reels, life rings and ladders! Pretty cool!
This mold seems not to have aged well. Flash, warpage and fit.
Still, for an 85-year-old model kit, she seems to be coming along nicely.
Painting her should be lots of fun! :lol::lol:
 
Looking good!
Painting first, then putting together may be the proper way. I've seen it done on the 1/350 Texas I'm doing, but given the amount of plastic parts, and photoetch that would need to be painting I thing those people are insane, or they are afterwards. That's why I shot some color on the foremast of the Texas. To see if I could get paint in the nooks and crannies. Of course the deck being painted as well helps. There would be so much touch up painting going on it would be like painting after building anyway.
 
I got mine from the ol' "Hobby and Garden Center" and would haul those big boxes and a couple of bottles of paint home on my bike. don't forget the USS North Carolina.
The memory of The Hobby and Garden Center was a great one. I still remember the racks, the stand with the paint and glue, and the smell of fertilizer

Bob thanks for the memory!
 
Well, y'all, I am backing up a bit afterthinking about the crappiness of the kit, and wondering "Can I make it better?". So, I decided to put scratch built railings using brass rod and EZ-line. If it all turns to giant turds there is little harm done. Let the surgery begin. After looking extensively for photos with enough resolution to see what is going on and what needs to be removed and what needs to be left as is I went ahead with the Xacto knife and cut off what is cable railing. I sort of did a test run on a small section.
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EZ-line is very EZ to work with so think it is something I can do.

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It took an eternity to get all of the solid railings off, then scraping and scraping to get all of the edges even with the deck. I was concerned that not all of the edges "should" be even, but it looks like it in the photos. All of this left a lot of gaps exposed so I used Mr Dissolved Putty (love this stuff) and filled where I needed to, and used Tamiya putty for holes too bug for the liquid stuff
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Not shown are the removed masts to hopefully make painting easier. Also, I am going to rebuild the aft mast because it was so crooked.

Anyway, let the "you have lost your mind" comments begin! I think I can do it though.
 
Took all night, but I got the front mast looking better. I added the second arm which was missing and used teeny styrene to make the details. The whirly-gigs are flat styrene and the black antenna wire is 26G black hobby wire.
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BTW, I also got the ship primed so I can see what needs work. There is a lot! I noticed in the photos that the hull steel seemed to undulate somewhat, like, it's not flat. A dremel is not the tool to try to replucate that. I see that now. Next time I will use the little curved Xacto blade and finess the ripples. Live and learn I say!
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I remember someone doing the stressed look by added strips of styrene and sanding them down flush, maybe some putty was involved.
 
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