rvchima

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis MD
 
Last weekend my wife Cinda Williams Chima and I went to the Baltimore Bookfest. She writes fantasy novels for young adults. I took a day off and visited the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, MD. The first floor of the museum has a history of the US Navy with plenty of ship models. The second floor houses the Rogers Ship Model Collection with 108 ship models from 1650 to 1850.
 
Azzoun gave a great description of the museum on MSW back in 2014, so I won't repeat everything here. I'll just state that this was one of the most amazing collection of ship models that I've ever seen. It made me want to go home and try harder. This spectacular model of the USS Maury might give you an idea what I'm talking about.
 

 

US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis MD
 
Last weekend my wife Cinda Williams Chima and I went to the Baltimore Bookfest. She writes fantasy novels for young adults. I took a day off and visited the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, MD. The first floor of the museum has a history of the US Navy with plenty of ship models. The second floor houses the Rogers Ship Model Collection with 108 ship models from 1650 to 1850.
 
Azzoun gave a great description of the museum on MSW back in 2014, so I won't repeat everything here. I'll just state that this was one of the most amazing collection of ship models that I've ever seen. It made me want to go home and try harder. This spectacular model of the USS Maury might give you an idea what I'm talking about.
 

 

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis MD
 
Last weekend my wife Cinda Williams Chima and I went to the Baltimore Bookfest. She writes fantasy novels for young adults. I took a day off and visited the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, MD. The first floor of the museum has a history of the US Navy with plenty of ship models. The second floor houses the Rogers Ship Model Collection with 108 ship models from 1650 to 1850.
 
Azzoun gave a great description of the museum on MSW back in 2014, so I won't repeat everything here. I'll just state that this was one of the most amazing collection of ship models that I've ever seen. It made me want to go home and try harder. This spectacular model of the USS Maury might give you an idea what I'm talking about.
 

 

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis MD
 
Last weekend my wife Cinda Williams Chima and I went to the Baltimore Bookfest. She writes fantasy novels for young adults. I took a day off and visited the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, MD. The first floor of the museum has a history of the US Navy with plenty of ship models. The second floor houses the Rogers Ship Model Collection with 108 ship models from 1650 to 1850.
 
Azzoun gave a great description of the museum on MSW back in 2014, so I won't repeat everything here. I'll just state that this was one of the most amazing collection of ship models that I've ever seen. It made me want to go home and try harder. This spectacular model of the USS Maury might give you an idea what I'm talking about.
 

 

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

Superstructure        20 days, 53 hours
 

Much of the superstructure is roughed out and she's starting to look like a real ship. Of course the components are just laying here and are only primed, not painted.
 
The model is listed as one of Bluejacket's most difficult kits but it is coming along surprisingly quickly. I know I still have a million little parts to attach, but I would say that it has been pretty easy going so far.
 
Forward Superstructure
 

Building the forward superstructure was fairly straightforward. All the decks are laser-cut basswood. They are removed from the carrier board, glued along the centerline, then stacked vertically. After a layer is glued up, the angles are sanded with the piece upside down on a disk sander. Laser-cut angle jigs are included to set the table.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A DISK SANDER TO BUILD THIS MODEL.
 
Then several layers are stacked to complete the forward superstructure. Sounds easy, right? Well not always. Although the instructions show several views of the stacked pieces, it isn't usually clear how they all go together and line up. Some of the pieces are not cut to quite the right profile, and it's hard to get the right profile off the plans.  One of the pieces is sanded upside down and 0.01" undersized to make room for windows. Not easy to do.
 
After everything is stacked up you apply lots of photo-etched and cast metal detail pieces. There is a whole page of instructions like the following: "Mark the location of the FAS brackets (FAB-39) on the forward angled face of the 03 level and glue them in place." WTF does this mean?
 
I have no idea what a FAS bracket is, so that's no help.  The instructions refer to level 01, 02, 03, but nowhere on the plans are the levels labeled.  You can try to guess, but it's just not clear where the levels spit.
 
The parts are all labeled with a code. F stands for Fabricated, or cast metal, PE stands for photo-etched, etc. AB stands for Arleigh-Burke, so (almost) every part has a redundant AB in its name. The final number is the part number. The photo-etched carrier sheet has part numbers all over it and they are relatively easy to identify. The several hundred cast metal pieces are sealed in lots of plastic bubbles in no obvious order. They are not labeled anywhere. The only way to identify them is to find the part number on the plans, then identify the part by its shape. There are several problems with that idea.
 
1. Some of the parts seem to be mis-numbered in the instructions.
2. There is no obvious cast metal counterpart for some of the parts shown on the plans.
3. Most of the parts on the plans are not labeled at all.
 
After struggling through the page of instructions there were still dozens of parts on the plans that had not been attached. Maybe they'll show up on a subsequent page, but I just decided to find parts that looked like the plans and glue them in place.
 
Aft Superstructure
 

While the forward superstructure is all made up of solid stock, the aft superstructure is glued up as an angled box of laser-cut pieces. This piece would have been much easier to make from stacked solid wood.
 
The back end of the aft superstructure is a mount for the Gatling gun made out of cast resin. There is a similar piece on the forward superstructure. Both pieces are basically angled boxes with a notch cut in them. They would have been so easy to make with wood. I can't imagine why Bluejacket decided to cast them.
 
Stacks
 

The stack are made like the aft superstructure, by gluing up a box of laser-cut pieces. There are still LOTS of grills, doors, and pipes to be attached.
 
 

Progress, Frustration, and more Progress       4 days, 21 hours
 
The first step on the Arleigh Burke kit, cleaning up the hull, was easy. I trimmed off the attachment points freehand on the band saw, removed the rest with a gouge, and cleaned up everything with a palm sander. The hull shape was nearly perfect but I had to remove a little material aft to match the deck plan. The back step on the aft deck is cut square but should be sloped inward a few degrees. I cut that on a table saw.
 
Then the project became frustrating.

The cast resin prop shaft attachments were some of the worst cast pieces that I've ever seen. Not only were they full of pits, but they were covered with extraneous nubs and debris. Bluejacket should be embarrassed to include them in such a high-priced kit. I spent several hours sanding, filing, and filling and still was not happy with the result.
 

The prop shaft assembly consists of the resin attachment point, a flexible styrene shaft, and a cast pot-metal strut. The strut looked OK until I realized how soft the metal was. I could just imagine the flexible metal strut and flexible styrene shaft bending over the first time I bumped the model.
 
There is no indication on the plans as to where the strut attaches to the hull, whether it should be vertical or angled. A short search on-line showed that the Arleigh-Burke has two angled struts on each prop shaft. I gave up on the resin/styrene/pot-metal construction and built my own prop shafts.
 


My prop shafts are made out of brass tubing with wooden struts. I spun the egg-shaped bearings on my drill press and sanded them to shape. There are two struts on each shaft. One is nearly vertical and the other slopes inward to the hull center line. The whole assembly is rock solid and looks so much better than what came with the kit. The rudders were also cast resin and were flawless.
 

The sonar unit is contained in the bulbous bow of the ship that reduces wave drag. On the model the bulb is made of cast resin. It had a few pits but was usable. I had to carve the bow to get it to fit into the slot in the bulb. I still need to do some sanding on the filler at the edges.
 
The anchor chain will go through a hawse pipe drilled through the bow. The hole is lined with more styrene tube. I expected a cast metal fitting for the bow, but the instructions said to use a "suitable filler" to build my own.  I used 5-minute epoxy putty that I rough-shaped by hand, then carved after it was solid. I guess it looks OK, but still another disappointment from an expensive kit.

USS Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer
 
I recently took a trans-Atlantic cruise from Rotterdam to Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Boston. I saw so many unusual ships, both models and full sized, that I had to start another model. I was intrigued by the Aeronaut Bismarck model, but I couldn't find any useful reviews. Please let me know if you've had any experience with their kits.
 
Bluejacket Shipcrafters has a couple of WWII kits, but their kit of the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer caught my eye and I ordered it. It is by far the most expensive kit that I've ever bought. Please don't tell my wife. Is it worth the price? Well, lets see what's
 
Inside The Box

The model came in a large box packed full of styrofoam peanuts. It was a pain to separate the parts from the junk.
 

Here's what was inside.
 

The hull is machine-carved from a single piece of basswood.
 

The hull shape looks very good, but there are still attachment points that will have to be carved away.
 

There is a 65-page instruction manual that seems to be very thorough. Bluejacket offers a CD of build photos for an additional fee. I didn't order it. The kit includes hull templates printed on self-adhesive paper, a guide for painting the helicopter landing marks on the deck, and a big piece of styrene for God knows what.
 

The kit includes 5 pages of plans. You should be able to see the titles in the photo.
 

There are 5 sheets of laser-cut parts. The cut lines are crisp and nearly free of char. All of the deck superstructure will be made from these parts.
 

The instructions say that there are over 600 photo-etched parts. Whew.
 

The kit had a tiny box packed full of beautiful cast metal parts.
 

There are also a few cast resin parts. These don't look so great. I will be doing a lot of cleanup on them.
 

There is a small bag of wood strips, a bag of metal strips, and a spool of rigging thread. The brass pedestals were extra. You'd think that for what this kit cost they could throw in the pedestals.
 

I also ordered the optional paint kit. It came with a dozen bottles of Testors paints. I will probably spray most of the model gray and use the red and black for details. We'll see.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

Progress, Frustration, and more Progress       4 days, 21 hours
 
The first step on the Arleigh Burke kit, cleaning up the hull, was easy. I trimmed off the attachment points freehand on the band saw, removed the rest with a gouge, and cleaned up everything with a palm sander. The hull shape was nearly perfect but I had to remove a little material aft to match the deck plan. The back step on the aft deck is cut square but should be sloped inward a few degrees. I cut that on a table saw.
 
Then the project became frustrating.

The cast resin prop shaft attachments were some of the worst cast pieces that I've ever seen. Not only were they full of pits, but they were covered with extraneous nubs and debris. Bluejacket should be embarrassed to include them in such a high-priced kit. I spent several hours sanding, filing, and filling and still was not happy with the result.
 

The prop shaft assembly consists of the resin attachment point, a flexible styrene shaft, and a cast pot-metal strut. The strut looked OK until I realized how soft the metal was. I could just imagine the flexible metal strut and flexible styrene shaft bending over the first time I bumped the model.
 
There is no indication on the plans as to where the strut attaches to the hull, whether it should be vertical or angled. A short search on-line showed that the Arleigh-Burke has two angled struts on each prop shaft. I gave up on the resin/styrene/pot-metal construction and built my own prop shafts.
 


My prop shafts are made out of brass tubing with wooden struts. I spun the egg-shaped bearings on my drill press and sanded them to shape. There are two struts on each shaft. One is nearly vertical and the other slopes inward to the hull center line. The whole assembly is rock solid and looks so much better than what came with the kit. The rudders were also cast resin and were flawless.
 

The sonar unit is contained in the bulbous bow of the ship that reduces wave drag. On the model the bulb is made of cast resin. It had a few pits but was usable. I had to carve the bow to get it to fit into the slot in the bulb. I still need to do some sanding on the filler at the edges.
 
The anchor chain will go through a hawse pipe drilled through the bow. The hole is lined with more styrene tube. I expected a cast metal fitting for the bow, but the instructions said to use a "suitable filler" to build my own.  I used 5-minute epoxy putty that I rough-shaped by hand, then carved after it was solid. I guess it looks OK, but still another disappointment from an expensive kit.

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

Progress, Frustration, and more Progress       4 days, 21 hours
 
The first step on the Arleigh Burke kit, cleaning up the hull, was easy. I trimmed off the attachment points freehand on the band saw, removed the rest with a gouge, and cleaned up everything with a palm sander. The hull shape was nearly perfect but I had to remove a little material aft to match the deck plan. The back step on the aft deck is cut square but should be sloped inward a few degrees. I cut that on a table saw.
 
Then the project became frustrating.

The cast resin prop shaft attachments were some of the worst cast pieces that I've ever seen. Not only were they full of pits, but they were covered with extraneous nubs and debris. Bluejacket should be embarrassed to include them in such a high-priced kit. I spent several hours sanding, filing, and filling and still was not happy with the result.
 

The prop shaft assembly consists of the resin attachment point, a flexible styrene shaft, and a cast pot-metal strut. The strut looked OK until I realized how soft the metal was. I could just imagine the flexible metal strut and flexible styrene shaft bending over the first time I bumped the model.
 
There is no indication on the plans as to where the strut attaches to the hull, whether it should be vertical or angled. A short search on-line showed that the Arleigh-Burke has two angled struts on each prop shaft. I gave up on the resin/styrene/pot-metal construction and built my own prop shafts.
 


My prop shafts are made out of brass tubing with wooden struts. I spun the egg-shaped bearings on my drill press and sanded them to shape. There are two struts on each shaft. One is nearly vertical and the other slopes inward to the hull center line. The whole assembly is rock solid and looks so much better than what came with the kit. The rudders were also cast resin and were flawless.
 

The sonar unit is contained in the bulbous bow of the ship that reduces wave drag. On the model the bulb is made of cast resin. It had a few pits but was usable. I had to carve the bow to get it to fit into the slot in the bulb. I still need to do some sanding on the filler at the edges.
 
The anchor chain will go through a hawse pipe drilled through the bow. The hole is lined with more styrene tube. I expected a cast metal fitting for the bow, but the instructions said to use a "suitable filler" to build my own.  I used 5-minute epoxy putty that I rough-shaped by hand, then carved after it was solid. I guess it looks OK, but still another disappointment from an expensive kit.

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

Jud,
 
Thanks for posting the photo of the USS Ammen. The prop shafts appear identical to the Arleigh-Burke, but the Ammen props have 3 blades while the A-B props have 5. (see below.)
 

The props in the kit have a metal hub and photo-etched brass blades. I haven't built them yet but they didn't seem nice enough, so I ordered a pair of of 25mm cast props from http://www.model-dockyard.com/. I'll decide what to use when they come.

USS Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer
 
I recently took a trans-Atlantic cruise from Rotterdam to Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Boston. I saw so many unusual ships, both models and full sized, that I had to start another model. I was intrigued by the Aeronaut Bismarck model, but I couldn't find any useful reviews. Please let me know if you've had any experience with their kits.
 
Bluejacket Shipcrafters has a couple of WWII kits, but their kit of the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer caught my eye and I ordered it. It is by far the most expensive kit that I've ever bought. Please don't tell my wife. Is it worth the price? Well, lets see what's
 
Inside The Box

The model came in a large box packed full of styrofoam peanuts. It was a pain to separate the parts from the junk.
 

Here's what was inside.
 

The hull is machine-carved from a single piece of basswood.
 

The hull shape looks very good, but there are still attachment points that will have to be carved away.
 

There is a 65-page instruction manual that seems to be very thorough. Bluejacket offers a CD of build photos for an additional fee. I didn't order it. The kit includes hull templates printed on self-adhesive paper, a guide for painting the helicopter landing marks on the deck, and a big piece of styrene for God knows what.
 

The kit includes 5 pages of plans. You should be able to see the titles in the photo.
 

There are 5 sheets of laser-cut parts. The cut lines are crisp and nearly free of char. All of the deck superstructure will be made from these parts.
 

The instructions say that there are over 600 photo-etched parts. Whew.
 

The kit had a tiny box packed full of beautiful cast metal parts.
 

There are also a few cast resin parts. These don't look so great. I will be doing a lot of cleanup on them.
 

There is a small bag of wood strips, a bag of metal strips, and a spool of rigging thread. The brass pedestals were extra. You'd think that for what this kit cost they could throw in the pedestals.
 

I also ordered the optional paint kit. It came with a dozen bottles of Testors paints. I will probably spray most of the model gray and use the red and black for details. We'll see.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

USS Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer
 
I recently took a trans-Atlantic cruise from Rotterdam to Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Boston. I saw so many unusual ships, both models and full sized, that I had to start another model. I was intrigued by the Aeronaut Bismarck model, but I couldn't find any useful reviews. Please let me know if you've had any experience with their kits.
 
Bluejacket Shipcrafters has a couple of WWII kits, but their kit of the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer caught my eye and I ordered it. It is by far the most expensive kit that I've ever bought. Please don't tell my wife. Is it worth the price? Well, lets see what's
 
Inside The Box

The model came in a large box packed full of styrofoam peanuts. It was a pain to separate the parts from the junk.
 

Here's what was inside.
 

The hull is machine-carved from a single piece of basswood.
 

The hull shape looks very good, but there are still attachment points that will have to be carved away.
 

There is a 65-page instruction manual that seems to be very thorough. Bluejacket offers a CD of build photos for an additional fee. I didn't order it. The kit includes hull templates printed on self-adhesive paper, a guide for painting the helicopter landing marks on the deck, and a big piece of styrene for God knows what.
 

The kit includes 5 pages of plans. You should be able to see the titles in the photo.
 

There are 5 sheets of laser-cut parts. The cut lines are crisp and nearly free of char. All of the deck superstructure will be made from these parts.
 

The instructions say that there are over 600 photo-etched parts. Whew.
 

The kit had a tiny box packed full of beautiful cast metal parts.
 

There are also a few cast resin parts. These don't look so great. I will be doing a lot of cleanup on them.
 

There is a small bag of wood strips, a bag of metal strips, and a spool of rigging thread. The brass pedestals were extra. You'd think that for what this kit cost they could throw in the pedestals.
 

I also ordered the optional paint kit. It came with a dozen bottles of Testors paints. I will probably spray most of the model gray and use the red and black for details. We'll see.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Progress, Frustration, and more Progress       4 days, 21 hours
 
The first step on the Arleigh Burke kit, cleaning up the hull, was easy. I trimmed off the attachment points freehand on the band saw, removed the rest with a gouge, and cleaned up everything with a palm sander. The hull shape was nearly perfect but I had to remove a little material aft to match the deck plan. The back step on the aft deck is cut square but should be sloped inward a few degrees. I cut that on a table saw.
 
Then the project became frustrating.

The cast resin prop shaft attachments were some of the worst cast pieces that I've ever seen. Not only were they full of pits, but they were covered with extraneous nubs and debris. Bluejacket should be embarrassed to include them in such a high-priced kit. I spent several hours sanding, filing, and filling and still was not happy with the result.
 

The prop shaft assembly consists of the resin attachment point, a flexible styrene shaft, and a cast pot-metal strut. The strut looked OK until I realized how soft the metal was. I could just imagine the flexible metal strut and flexible styrene shaft bending over the first time I bumped the model.
 
There is no indication on the plans as to where the strut attaches to the hull, whether it should be vertical or angled. A short search on-line showed that the Arleigh-Burke has two angled struts on each prop shaft. I gave up on the resin/styrene/pot-metal construction and built my own prop shafts.
 


My prop shafts are made out of brass tubing with wooden struts. I spun the egg-shaped bearings on my drill press and sanded them to shape. There are two struts on each shaft. One is nearly vertical and the other slopes inward to the hull center line. The whole assembly is rock solid and looks so much better than what came with the kit. The rudders were also cast resin and were flawless.
 

The sonar unit is contained in the bulbous bow of the ship that reduces wave drag. On the model the bulb is made of cast resin. It had a few pits but was usable. I had to carve the bow to get it to fit into the slot in the bulb. I still need to do some sanding on the filler at the edges.
 
The anchor chain will go through a hawse pipe drilled through the bow. The hole is lined with more styrene tube. I expected a cast metal fitting for the bow, but the instructions said to use a "suitable filler" to build my own.  I used 5-minute epoxy putty that I rough-shaped by hand, then carved after it was solid. I guess it looks OK, but still another disappointment from an expensive kit.

Progress, Frustration, and more Progress       4 days, 21 hours
 
The first step on the Arleigh Burke kit, cleaning up the hull, was easy. I trimmed off the attachment points freehand on the band saw, removed the rest with a gouge, and cleaned up everything with a palm sander. The hull shape was nearly perfect but I had to remove a little material aft to match the deck plan. The back step on the aft deck is cut square but should be sloped inward a few degrees. I cut that on a table saw.
 
Then the project became frustrating.

The cast resin prop shaft attachments were some of the worst cast pieces that I've ever seen. Not only were they full of pits, but they were covered with extraneous nubs and debris. Bluejacket should be embarrassed to include them in such a high-priced kit. I spent several hours sanding, filing, and filling and still was not happy with the result.
 

The prop shaft assembly consists of the resin attachment point, a flexible styrene shaft, and a cast pot-metal strut. The strut looked OK until I realized how soft the metal was. I could just imagine the flexible metal strut and flexible styrene shaft bending over the first time I bumped the model.
 
There is no indication on the plans as to where the strut attaches to the hull, whether it should be vertical or angled. A short search on-line showed that the Arleigh-Burke has two angled struts on each prop shaft. I gave up on the resin/styrene/pot-metal construction and built my own prop shafts.
 


My prop shafts are made out of brass tubing with wooden struts. I spun the egg-shaped bearings on my drill press and sanded them to shape. There are two struts on each shaft. One is nearly vertical and the other slopes inward to the hull center line. The whole assembly is rock solid and looks so much better than what came with the kit. The rudders were also cast resin and were flawless.
 

The sonar unit is contained in the bulbous bow of the ship that reduces wave drag. On the model the bulb is made of cast resin. It had a few pits but was usable. I had to carve the bow to get it to fit into the slot in the bulb. I still need to do some sanding on the filler at the edges.
 
The anchor chain will go through a hawse pipe drilled through the bow. The hole is lined with more styrene tube. I expected a cast metal fitting for the bow, but the instructions said to use a "suitable filler" to build my own.  I used 5-minute epoxy putty that I rough-shaped by hand, then carved after it was solid. I guess it looks OK, but still another disappointment from an expensive kit.

USS Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer
 
I recently took a trans-Atlantic cruise from Rotterdam to Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Boston. I saw so many unusual ships, both models and full sized, that I had to start another model. I was intrigued by the Aeronaut Bismarck model, but I couldn't find any useful reviews. Please let me know if you've had any experience with their kits.
 
Bluejacket Shipcrafters has a couple of WWII kits, but their kit of the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer caught my eye and I ordered it. It is by far the most expensive kit that I've ever bought. Please don't tell my wife. Is it worth the price? Well, lets see what's
 
Inside The Box

The model came in a large box packed full of styrofoam peanuts. It was a pain to separate the parts from the junk.
 

Here's what was inside.
 

The hull is machine-carved from a single piece of basswood.
 

The hull shape looks very good, but there are still attachment points that will have to be carved away.
 

There is a 65-page instruction manual that seems to be very thorough. Bluejacket offers a CD of build photos for an additional fee. I didn't order it. The kit includes hull templates printed on self-adhesive paper, a guide for painting the helicopter landing marks on the deck, and a big piece of styrene for God knows what.
 

The kit includes 5 pages of plans. You should be able to see the titles in the photo.
 

There are 5 sheets of laser-cut parts. The cut lines are crisp and nearly free of char. All of the deck superstructure will be made from these parts.
 

The instructions say that there are over 600 photo-etched parts. Whew.
 

The kit had a tiny box packed full of beautiful cast metal parts.
 

There are also a few cast resin parts. These don't look so great. I will be doing a lot of cleanup on them.
 

There is a small bag of wood strips, a bag of metal strips, and a spool of rigging thread. The brass pedestals were extra. You'd think that for what this kit cost they could throw in the pedestals.
 

I also ordered the optional paint kit. It came with a dozen bottles of Testors paints. I will probably spray most of the model gray and use the red and black for details. We'll see.