USS Fletcher by RGL - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/350 - PLASTIC

[RGL]

Now to make the brass disappear. Base coats of the lower hull and blue deck done. I’ll give it a day to dry before I start working on them properly to add the oilcanning and highlights. 

 

 

[BANYAN]

Looks a good solid base of colour Greg.  What is the actual colour (and Brand) f paint you used for the decks?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[cog]

Looks rather dark the horizontal plane ... I am really curious to the oilcanning, can you show the steps?

[RGL]

Pat, XF9 (hull red) and XF50 (blue) at a 1/2 ratio (That’s the Tamiya instructions)  I need to lighten and highlight yet as there are non slip walkways. 

 

Cog, I’ve done oilcanning on a lot of my builds, in particular the USS Spruance but I’ll break it down when I do it next. 

[BANYAN]

Thanks mate.  That is a very similar colour used by the RAN fore  while and I also need to do some non-slip (Devron) walk areas on my little 'lugger' so will watch with interest.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[RGL]

Lower hull, using a piece of card, overspray of red to highlight the ribs, then diluted coco brown to dull it down, the very dilute burnt occre to highlight. Next will be grunge which will make most of this go away, but as this is 1942, the damage and grunge would not be so bad. 

[RGL]

Grunge and green. That’ll do I think, now onto the decks. 

[yvesvidal]

Amazing results. Beautiful and realistic.

Yves

[lmagna]

16 hours ago, RGL said:

but as this is 1942, the damage and grunge would not be so bad. 

Great build as always Greg

 

You may find that there were many of the US Navy small ships that were looking pretty grungy in the early days of the Pacific war. Long miles of steaming, shortage of upkeep and repair facilities and many other factors made a number of ships look old before their time. For those that survived into the next couple of years things improved considerably and it was much easier to keep up with maintenance and grooming needs.

[RGL]

It’s near impossible to find any contemporary photos, there is a website dedicated to the restoration of a Fletcher class destroyer where the hull is covered in barnacles and almost rusted through but it would be sitting fallow for years and years. The oilcanning would (I expect) get worse as the years and pounding into big waves over and over. 

[RGL]

Deck faded, walkways are in a darker blue. First layer of masking removed. 

Edited April 5, 2019 by RGL

[Richmond]

Fantastic detail

[RGL]

Side plates pre shaded, a few shades of grey and oilcanning. I need to put another diluted coat over the top then cut some templates and overspray with dark blue for the camo. 

[cog]

Do you use masking tape or e.g. carboard to get the sharp line for the oilcanning effect? Shouldn't you have the light side from the effect at the bottom of the hollow and the dark side at the top. I know I am a pain right know. It looks like the light comes from right under. It looks very real, as if you can touch the hollow

[RGL]

It’s not finished yet but I always try to have the line forward of the bow and above the gunnels. I use post it notes, as they come in lots of sizes and are thick enough that the paint won’t soak through but still soft. 

 

When an very five opeque overspray 20% colour/ 80% thinner it will give it more depth. That’s tomorrow’s job, as there was rugby watch this afternoon plus beer to be had. 

 

 

[schooner]

Just caught on to your build, fantastic as always. I thought the Orange Hobby PE sets were tough but this one takes the cake, it is one thing to lose PE parts into the carpet but to lose them into the folds of your fingerprints!

[RGL]

About 3 hours of masking, using a pencil on the masking to ensure the oilcanning lines up, sea blue, and the same process as with grey, I’m pretty happy with the outcome so far. 

 

[cog]

oilcanning came through nicely, didn't loose a bit. Camouflage ain't half bad either  

[RGL]

I’m just looking forward to your interpretation of Seydlitz! 

[cog]

I know you are, you've made that perfectly clear in that log ... abundantly!

[RGL]

So I tried this new modeling putty. Nope, don’t like it.  

This is now really fiddly and slow as I’m using individual stanchions. Fading done with an airbrush and then dry brushing to bring out the details. None of this is glued yet, there are a heap of details to go. 

[RGL]

Main superstructures done and dryfitted. I calculate I’m about 2/3 done 

[BANYAN]

Looks good!

[CapnMac82]

I'm not a huge fan of the PE nonskid at 1/350--it's just way too thick on the kits.  The decal versions have the opposite problem, of being too thin (and, really, way too uniform in color).

 

Now, I can understand how some one tasked to make PE of it might do it that way.  The WWII non-skid was thick stuff, looks almost like asphalt when applied and eyeballs to 3/8 - 1/2" thick, toe-stubbing tall on deck if you don't have your wits about you.

 

The color ought to be somewhere between a "panzer" gray and NATO Black, with the foredeck and main deck the most faded.  The foredeck stuff, particularly under the  ground tackle gets to a faded, speckled, color that really resembles the old faded asphalt of a country road.  An effect impossible to achieve at 1/350.

 

There are endless debates on other websites on how to get the "proper" USN Deck Blue.  Most of those are just pointless flame wars.  However, most agree you really want a blue hue to come through, as the tints were based on a Purple-Blue paint scale.

 

 

Tiny note--the "roundhouse" on the torpedo tubes was only used on the aft mount on Fletchers, to protect the crew from Mount 53 firing.  The mount between the stacks had no roundhouse, but had the station for the three Torpedomen and a Talker assigned there.

 

The oilcanning looks good, as does the paint texture below the waterline.

 

When you get to weathering, remember that the main and upper decks were frequently painted and subject to constant upkeep (especially around the Bridge), which then falls off a bit from about the 04 level and on up--hard to get up on masts and stacks while underway and in between drills).

 

That's my 2¢ from having done the juggle of what the Division or Department needs to do, and what the XO requires.

 

 

[RGL]

Thanks for the feedback, I put the second round house on really because it was that complicated to construct this piece it just would have looked ramshackle. I’m reasonable at PE, but this one really needs a it 10 attempts to get right.  The deck is always hard, and it’s a balancing act and if it wasn’t ‘42 it would have been a lot more faded. That being said, there is so much detail to be added yet not that much will be visible. 

 

Whats 04 level?

[Old Collingwood]

3 hours ago, CapnMac82 said:

I'm not a huge fan of the PE nonskid at 1/350--it's just way too thick on the kits.  The decal versions have the opposite problem, of being too thin (and, really, way too uniform in color).

 

Now, I can understand how some one tasked to make PE of it might do it that way.  The WWII non-skid was thick stuff, looks almost like asphalt when applied and eyeballs to 3/8 - 1/2" thick, toe-stubbing tall on deck if you don't have your wits about you.

 

The color ought to be somewhere between a "panzer" gray and NATO Black, with the foredeck and main deck the most faded.  The foredeck stuff, particularly under the  ground tackle gets to a faded, speckled, color that really resembles the old faded asphalt of a country road.  An effect impossible to achieve at 1/350.

 

There are endless debates on other websites on how to get the "proper" USN Deck Blue.  Most of those are just pointless flame wars.  However, most agree you really want a blue hue to come through, as the tints were based on a Purple-Blue paint scale.

 

 

Tiny note--the "roundhouse" on the torpedo tubes was only used on the aft mount on Fletchers, to protect the crew from Mount 53 firing.  The mount between the stacks had no roundhouse, but had the station for the three Torpedomen and a Talker assigned there.

 

The oilcanning looks good, as does the paint texture below the waterline.

 

When you get to weathering, remember that the main and upper decks were frequently painted and subject to constant upkeep (especially around the Bridge), which then falls off a bit from about the 04 level and on up--hard to get up on masts and stacks while underway and in between drills).

 

That's my 2¢ from having done the juggle of what the Division or Department needs to do, and what the XO requires.

 

 

Ex service then?

 

OC.

[CapnMac82]

20 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Ex service then? 

 

OC.

Yeah, 24 years, SWO & Information Dominance.  DivO (deck), Department Head (OppO), XO and CO in my time. 
Third generation Navy, too, so, I'm steeped in it.  Some of my earliest memories are Haze Gray [:)]

[Tigerdvr]

Thanks for your service CapnMac. Your additions to this build log have been a treasure for the Fletcher fans.

RGL, great work. Thanks for sharing.

[CapnMac82]

23 hours ago, RGL said:

Whats 04 level? 

Naval vessel decks are numbered in "hundreds" so the main deck is 100, Second deck (down) is 200, and so on.
Superstructure decks (until 1947) were in "tens" from main deck up.  So, top of the deckhouse is 01, next level up is 02, and so on.

After '47, the upper decks would be 0100, 0200, etc.  (and this can be quite a stack of deck numbers on a carrier, like 01300 and more).

 

For relatively new WWII nonskid, NATO Black with a drop or two of pale gray is probably your ticket.  If you paint them in batches and they don't quite match, that's actually more prototypical. 

 

Personally, I like just enough color variation so that the anchor chain, painted semi-gloss black will show up different in hue than the nonskid it rides over.

[cog]

4 hours ago, CapnMac82 said:

NATO Black with a drop or two of pale gray is probably your ticket

Which is all very nice, but how many drops of black, or for that matter, ml

I can do a single drop of black and stil have a darkish grey with two drops of pale grey