Egilman

In forward areas it was the crew that painted the ship, the only time yard workers painted a ship was at a dry dock availability...... Usually the superstructure was well maintained but the hull could get pretty ratty looking..... The Gwin was yard repainted just before she left with TF 18 and the Hornet.... She was pretty clean.... Prewar, there was standard Navy Grey, post Feb '41, they went to measures but still used premixed paint and due to the large stocks of Navy Grey they issued a tinting paste to convert that standard grey to 5-D dark grey.... Then, in June '41, they changed everything again and went to the purple blues doing away with 5-D dark grey altogether.... The paint was issued in five gallon buckets of base color and pint cans of tinting paste, the mix being so many cans of paste into a five gallon bucket to get the correct color/shade. This eliminated paint color/shade variations between fleets and yards.... Actually this was incorrect after they went to the purple blues in June of '41 5-N Navy Blue for instance was very color fast, and could last for over a year in service, (there are several examples of this in the archives) Where 5-S was found to chalk up and fade fairly quickly even though they were made from the same materials..... By 1943 they were changing things again and by early '45 they were going back to an overall navy grey not much different than the original prewar navy grey.... Ships didn't change measures until they had a yard availability, this is why most ships in the navy still appeared in some measure of blue at the end of the war..... Everyone modeling US Navy ships during the war has to make their own judgment on how they wish to depict her.... Accurate research is essential if your going to model a specific point in time like I am with the Gwin, otherwise almost any of the Ships-II measures could be applied.... It's a wide open field....

No problem brother, yes it is up to the modeler on how he/she wishes to present the subject.... In mid 1941 the colors were standardized, all the colors used the same tinting paste and base white paint 5-H Haze Grey, 5-O Ocean Gray, 5-S Sea Blue and 5-N Navy Blue were all made by mixing the same two items to the specified standard.... You could take mixed 5-S and make 5-N by simply adding 50% more tinting paste... (it's why 5-S disappeared so quickly after December 16th) The whole paradigm over the colors used by the US Navy during 1941 and all the changes made during that period is a discussion that has generated a LOT of heat in various fora out there.... Everyone has an opinion on it and I in particular was going to wait for that discussion when I build my Arizona..... That's where it comes to a head (it's been raging since 2009) .... I've done the research sufficient to establish what I'm going to paint her as.... It's a discussion worth having but it's way to large a subject to discuss here my friend.... The preponderance of evidence points to one thing but there is no "smoking gun" to establish what was going on beyond any doubt so the debate continues.... We should leave it at that....

Minor update... Superstructures assembled, now to do the little details....

That'sa a good way to put it brother, Authentic, it doesn't have to be exact.... Specifically they weren't identical, that is the main issue with replicating Ms.12 mod, and they weren't really paying attention to recording the camo schemes... The port side was similar to what was on the starboard side, this works for the hull but the superstructures were another thing with wide variations... I guess it depends on what the painting crew responsible for that portion of the ship decided, without pics there is no way to know..... So composite is the only way to go.... The wake is going to tell the tale my friend, I'm still calculating on how I'm going to do it.... There are none unfortunately, with the Gwin I got lucky, there are shots of most of her port side, it's the stern that is missing.. I didn't know this when I started so I lucked out in that respect.... I also found a port side shot of the USS Kearny, which was painted at the same time as the Gwin and their patterns are so similar that they were probably painted by the same crew..... I lucked out there as well... Thank you my friends, I'm trying to do her as accurate as I can....

Looks like it should be sitting on a '50 used car lot just waiting for the next hot rodder to come along.... Beautiful job my friend..... Pick up the keys and drive it away.....

I would suggest an old #2 Exacto blade with the tip broke off, use the back side of the blade like a scraper...... It's stiffer that way and doesn't cut, just scores a line.... light pressure which you adjust to the grade of Balsa.... And as lou says, mistakes are easily fixed.... Another suggestion is put a light coat of poly over the wood, makes the surface a bit stronger.....

Yeah they used various callsigns.... sometimes the callsigns became nicknames sometimes not.... Whatever you call them, yes, they were very effective aircraft and a devastating weapons system...

AC-47 Spooky, AC-119G Shadow, AC-119K Spectre, and AC-130 Spectre.... Those are the nicknames that were given the aircrafts when they were converted into ground support gunships Over time they have pretty much became interchangeable... The official name today is Spectre....

Yeah, it's all up and functioning, didn't lose anything.... It was kinda a surprise storm a lot stronger than they predicted....

This should be a nice one... I'm here brother....

As far as decals sticking to flat paints, that is a hit or miss proposition brother, this is why most use a bit of gloss over the flat paint where the decals sit, then reshoot the flat overall.... Seals in the decal... Nice job! Impressive.....

Take a lot of imagination and research to do something this accurate..... Nothing I could say, it's all been said.... You sir are an artist, pure and simply..... Way above my talent level.....

I'm gone for almost two days (power outtage) and here you are almost finished..... You work fast brother.... Nice look superbe paint and finish..... Another well executed beauty.... Nice, very nice....

My Dad was on the other side of the world, but he was the same way, way too many things he wouldn't talk about.....

Camo patterns done.... Had to take a little artistic license on the port side as there are no images of it available.... but for the most part it is close to what she wore.... Should be able to work with this......

Yep, all brushwork..... Gonna take some time..... Thanks brother, the base isn't finished yet, that will have to wait for the ship to be almost finished.....

It's been re-released this year by a new company called "Magnifier" and can be had off evilbay for under 100 USD.....

Prior to 1946 The Eyerly Aircraft Company designed a ride called the Orientator to train people to fly, After early success and selling four Orientators to the Cuban government, sales lagged and the Orientator floor model gathered dust on Eyerly’s property. Then, one day someone suggested giving it a fresh coat of paint, taking it to the local fairground and charging 25 cents per ride. Called the Acroplane, The Orientator was an instant hit and was proclaimed by some as the best thrill ride since the advent of the roller coaster. The device gave riders the experience of flying and was renamed the Acroplane -- the first in a long line of amusement park and festival rides manufactured by the Eyerly Aircraft Company. The originals traveler (set up and teardown rides were the Rock-o-plane, Roll-o-plane and the Loop-o-plane) Those were based upon pilot training devices Eyerly made for the USAAF during WWII to familiarize pilot trainees with the gyroscopic forces involved in high speed maneuvering aircraft for the Army Air Corps...... Those who couldn't handle the rides were washed out early that way..... The whole traveling amusement ride show started when they were selling the equipment off for scrap after the war and a bright guy thought he could make money setting them up and offering the public rides... The Acroplane -- the first in a long line of amusement park and festival rides manufactured by the Eyerly Aircraft Company. Eyerly developed and patented many amusement rides which would become common at carnival midways, including The Loop-O-Plane (1933), the Roll-O-Plane, the Fly-O-Plane and the Rock-O-Plane (1947). But arguably their most popular design was the Octopus.... Fly-o-Plane... Rock-o-plane... Roll-o-plane... And finally, the Loop-o-plane.... Those are what got it all started, now in this last pic you can the the classic flat pig iron ride, the Tilt-a-Whirl.... 30,000 lbs in a trailer... I broke in as a second man on that towering green bone shaker in the background, the Zipper, 78,000 lbs of pig iron...... At 19, I had one of the kids dream jobs..... Being a ride foreman at 20.... those were the days......

After Crete, the Fallschirmjager Regiments generally fought as infantry brother, (with some small jumps but nothing enmasse) what would be period appropriate? an American Paratrooper.... (cause we actually saw that for real, but it might be too close to the heart for some and there is something to be said for understated brilliance)

On the money brother.... After testing, they sent it out there to do resupply, medivac and scouting.... R-4's and then R-5's, the R-6's came after the war...... Not the first military use of the helicopter, (the Germans got that) but close....... From '43 on.....

Agreed! {chuckle}

Sorry Brother, wrong era... They didn't use R-4's in the european theater BCI only...

About half way through working out the Camo pattern for the superstructure.... There are not a lot of references for it out there and it was unique to the ship... (no two Ms.12 patterns were identical, ships to ship nor port to starboard on the same ship) Everything that is details not shown on the diagram gets 5-O ocean grey.... Similar but not identical... (still working on the port stern, it's a little disjointed at the moment... Onward...

My friend, I would propose that there is no difference from modeling a building to modeling a ship..... everything as far as modeling skills is the same.... The difference is in understanding what the construction is..... You currently understand ships and airplanes and figures.... To do this you need to expand into construction of historic houses and buildings.... Gain a general understanding of how they were built then you can copy from any reference as long as your materials are in the scale you need them to be.... It's the same process and it's not hard..... You took the first steps long ago, you got this, just go slow and study the references..... and see how others achieved theirs.... Just like a ship, a building has a frame and a skin and accessories, building a model building is exactly the same process.... YOU GOT THIS my friend....

Now that makes a good match for the Halftrack... Well done....