Ringadingdong

'Nein' - 'Doch' - 'Oh!' 😁 Mom hated him, but these films were an enjoyful part of childhood

I'll have to rework a few blemishes, but overall I'm quite pleased how it turned out: I don't know what I'm going to build next, but one thing I know for sure: it'll have a far less complex paint scheme! 😉 Also, I got some valuable informations regarding the forward funnel, though I'm still short of appropriately sized ladders. Thanks for watching!

Now, Roger Penske and the Daytona 24 created quite some stories... ...in 1966, he gave his debut as a team owner by entering a Corvette L88 to the race, lightning quick, running in practice some seconds faster than the next car in the GT category and just 13 slower than the fastest prototype. During the night, George Wintersteen t-boned another competitor which destroyed the whole front. He limped back to the pits, the mechanics somehow reattached the front, or what was left of it, but the headlights remained scattered around the track. Despite his protests, Penske sent Dick Guldstrand back into race - without headlights('But I'm going to die, Mr. Penkse!' - 'That's allright, Guldi, now the the hell out of here!'). After a lap later, the car was blackflagged for running without headlights, so the team had to improvise again - an attached some flashlights to the front with duct tape. That solution satisfied the officials in having two working headlights, the but the driver still couldn't see a thing out on track. But luckily, Guldstrand could soon fetch some taillights he was able to keep up with through the night. At 2 a.m., he could even set an overall lap record. Turned out the lights he was chasing belonged to no one else but the race leading prototype Ferrari.They finished 12th overall and first in class, distancing the next car in class by measly 48 laps... ...fast forward into 1971, and Penske entered a Ferrari 512M, extensly reworked and lightning fast again, earning the team pole position and allowing them to carry a good fight against the allmighty Gulf-Porsche 917. A couple incidents of varying severity later, the car finished the race in 3rd position. A piece of modern art, made from GRP and duct tape... ...you gotta love these old stories! :-) A friend of mine had a 2CV, fun ride, though I always ended up somewhat sea sick 😉

Some things are obvious, but each railing keeps me thinking over it again. Yet, just working on my second ship, I still consider it as part of the learning process

I find it rather difficult to decide what to add before and what after painting. Anything added afterwards bears a good chance to inflict damage on what has already been good... Nice, clean work, though!

Really love it, but then, we're talking about one of my fafourite movies! 🙂

Time for an update: Now everything is in a grey haze, err, Haze Grey, we can move on to the camouflage, nuffin' more than a little bit of colour by numbers: Should be a walk in the park! :D I just bulked up my inventory, just in case... What else? Ah, I made a base: That's it for today. Thanks for watching!

I gave it a thought, but I'll save that for a later project. I have to keep complexity managable, because I tend to work all over the place, and the paintwork on this one will already give me a good amount of headache...

And red: 5 parts Vallejo hull red and 1 part Vallejo flat red, as the hull red is a bit too dark for my taste. Camera sucks, I have to realise again. Its definitely nicer than it shows up here. Thanks for watching!

Now to the fun part. Everything starts bland in grey primer Minutes later, some black emphasizes the areas that usually see now light: 2 1/2 hours and various shades of grey, brown, orange, green and white later break the monotony of the surface: Time for coffee. Next time you see her, she'll have a red bum, err, bottom!

Excellent, I just miss the sea bed base. Oh wait, she was still afloat in that state? 😨 Very nice and very inspiring!

I can almost smell the primer!

Just had a look at your USS Kidd, very nice! I have two of those kits in my posession, I bought the first to borrow some parts for Thatcher and build it in a '45 configuration with the remaining parts. Then I got a offer for the second kit which I just couldn't ignore. That'll end up in a 60's configuration, if I can find some 3" guns. Oh well, so many ideas and such slow progress... I saw you also used the Black Cat Oerlikons. Is there anything on these that needs some extra attention?

I also started work on the reinforcements on the forward quad Bofors and gun director platforms. While the platforms were pretty quickly done with some 0.5 mm plastic and some brass sheet (and to my surprise, unlike some funnel parts, just the plastic parts needed more than one attempt!), it took me a while to find a solution for those reinforcements. In the end, I decided to try some 0.25mm plastic strips: Still quite a way to go, but it seems I can pull that off! Missing some basic supplies usually isn't a big thing, but what's 'usual' these days? Thanks to everything closed due to Corona, I had to place an order for 5€ worth of plastic (okay, 10 € of plastic and 15 more for paint...) and had to wait five days until the parcel arrived. Oh, well... Overall view: and because it is so nice, a better view on the funnels: Thanks for watching! :)

To chill down inbetween, the direction finder received some attention: Also, checking the few pictures of the ship I have, I suddenly realised Thatcher had the revised stern Bofors platform. Running a bit out of motivation to modify the kit-supplied platform (especially after I already put a few hours effort in it), I made an order at Shapeways and got that lil' gem: I'm certain it'll look awesome once it got some paint!

Two weeks and a couple of unquotable exclamations later, main work on the funnels is done. The rear one was pretty straightforward, but the forward one almost gave me the fits. I had to make 8 of the large whistle, and for the small one, I went through about 10 cm of 0.75 mm plastic rod. That railing around the middle platform went through three or four iterations, and then, the platform itself wouldn't want to stick at the first attempt, as well. The railing on the searchlight platform is from the Tom's Modelworks set, which is made from a somewhat soft brass and thus pretty delicate. That definitely still needs a little extra care. The forward funnel still needs the persenning around the searchlight platform and some floater baskets, and both still need ladders. And a good cleanup, as the makro reveals... Unfortunately, I lost a significant piece of ladder from the rear funnel and need a replacement. The ones from the Eduard set are much smaller than the ladders from the Tom's set, so I'm looking for some generic ladders in a comparable size.

There you say something! Modelling is currently a method that works well for me getting away from all the hysteria, which is potentially driving me nuts. There's no way to consume any media at the moment without some form of coverage about Corona. I like your avatar, I've got a big thing for owls :) Thank you :)

Maybe we should establish a support group? "Hello, my name is Michael, and I'm unable to build kits as intended!" Anyways, todays harvest, a little work on the funnels. Funnel caps, the whistle platform and the center tube leading up to the ship's whistle. More tubework ahead!

As I mentioned in my introduction, I am currently working on Tamiya's 1/350 Fletcher. As I'm genetically unable to simply build a kit as provided, I'm trying to build her as USS Thatcher DD-514, as she appeared ca. February 1944 after she was rebuilt at Mare Island. That requires some extra work, as the kit covers only the earliest (6?) Fletchers, which differed a little in their AA arrangement Thankfully, I could borrow a couple of the required parts from Trumpeter's 'The Sullivans' kit. Furthermore, I'm throwing in some aftermarket for additional excitement. Enough of the words for the moment, here she as she currently appears: There's still quite some way to go, apparently...

Thank you all for the warm welcome :) As he was mentioned, it was actually RGL's Fletcher built that had me stumble into this place. Google can give the weirdest results sometimes, I was looking for informations about FRAM-modified Fletchers...

...and hello from Germany!🙂 I've been building models since... I don't know when, but its just recently I started building ships.. A submarine to be precise, a rather quick, enjoyful build, so I thought some surface vessel might be some change of pace. Currently I've got a 1/350 Tamiya Fletcher on the miniature slipway, a good compromise between size and details concerning the scale. Researching something for the Fletcher, Google got me here, not exactly answering my question, but I spent the rest of the evening admiring some excellent and inspiring projects. And it looks like a friendly place too! So, see you soon! :-) Michael