Calling all Oliver Hazard Perry-class FFG fans

[Willie]

Hi all,

The basics of the stacks are already done, but they lack some details yet.

I was working today on the main stack. It has got some ventilation grills which are very specific and that cannot be simulated with paint, so they had to be made in plastic.
The solution I found was to use the inner parts of the stanchions and handrails that Heller offers in their models, and that I have in store, crossing them on yogourth container strips.
The process can be seen in the following pic :

To save time I made them in twos, and were then placed in position.
I made two exhausting pipes more, specific for the Santa Maria, along with a door, the scale, the working lights and a couple of details more.

The grills are nevertheless a bit too thick, but when seen a foot away, they don�t look like so thick either.
And thus is the standard for the construction set.
Very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[nick]

Amazing job with the stack Willie!!

[Willie]

Hi all,

Nick, thanks for your always kind remarks.

After the standard I set yesterday with the stack, I thought the missile launcher could be improved a bit more, and I have redone it.

Compared with the initial work, I think it is better now.

Very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all,

I made today the OTO-Melara gun, a very attractive piece, in my opinion.
I could use the basic pieces that the kit offers, as they are correct, and make the work easier.
The base can be done in two steps, placing the pieces of stretched sprue around the base part, and cutting and sanding the excess afterwards :

All the rest is only stretched sprue and pieces of yogourth containers. Once finished, with the gun barrel dry fitted, it is like this :

I hope you like it, and very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[nick]

You make sprue very useful Willie!

[Willie]

Hi all :

Yesterday and today I was busy with the auxiliary stack, not very difficult appart from the scale forward.
It is necessary to keep in mind that the vent and the stack are not parallel, so the supports have to be adapted accordingly.

Very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all again,

I made today the so called Meroka System, our national version of the CIWS Vulcan Phalanx or Goal Keeper. I was somehow eager to make it, as it is one of the most complicated elements in the construction.
I had some deck pics, and a parcial air view of the after deck, but no plans nor measures, so I had to cross the pics in order not to get out of the scale

The Meroka itself is like this :

The solution I adopted was to build in blocks using Evergreen planks and then to carve the elements to shape:

The base is quite particular, and is done cutting the squares carefully and then carving with file, knife and sandpaper :

In the middle of the construction I noticed that the turret was too low, and I had to add some stuff :

The radar is made with a slice of sprue, cut in vertical so that the knife curves the slice a bit. Seen one foot away it looks OK.

The stanchions are very easy to make, but three of them are completely independent from the deck, and had to be modified with a wider base so that they keep standing :

Under the deck there are some beams that should be made as well.

To be followed in the next post.
Very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

And once finished it is like this :

It lacks one step in the access scale and four tubes in the gun, but otherwise it would be too blurr with glue.
It was not too complicated. If you have good pics, all the rest is very easy.
I hope you like it, and very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all once more:

Doublechecking the pics, I realized that the OTO-Melara gun that Lee offers is wrong, because the black ball that is so characteristic of this gun is roughly two feet too forward in the gun.

Accordingly, I made a new gun, carving the ball directly in the tube, and I added some more details, making the evacuation skid to keep appart from the tube, to add more realism -- I don�t know why I didn�t do this the first time...

It is now like this :

I hope you like it, and very best regards from Spain,

Willie.[/size]

[MartinJQuinn]

I hope you like it, and very best regards from Spain,

Willie.

Like it? That's an understatement. That's some seriously fine work, Willie.

[Willie]

Hi all,

I was busy this weekend with the production of magazine articles, and therefore the production of plastic debris had to be slowed, and I could make no more than a few electric registers.
I made them with Evergreen stripes and stretched sprue for the main bodies -- the stretched sprue sanded to level afterwards, and yogourth container and stretched sprue for the front doors and side covers.

Very easy to do, and doesn�t take too long.

Best regards from this side,

Willie.[/size]

[nick]

LLLLOVE IT!

[Werner]

I hope some of you find this picture of the quarter area of McClusky as useful as I did.

[Sean Hert]

Hey Werner- can ya find one of those for a short tailed OHP?

[Werner]

Clifton Sprague

[Sean Hert]

That's exactly what I needed! Thx!

[Willie]

Hi all,

I have been working these last days on the target iluminator -- at least I think it is the iluminator...

This is what the real thing looks like :

The pieces that the model offers for the structure are not too good, so it was necessary to replace them. I used a base of yogourth container and Evergreen rod to have an identical caliber in all the pieces. The base is necessary for the first stages of the building, but nothing else.

Once it is well dried, it is completed with the rest of the elements --the base can be cut, as the bars are welded directly to deck. The plate aerial had to be thinned and all elements printed had to be deleted as well as they were not real at all. Some holes that the aerial had had to be drilled too.

Afterwards it was everything but very easy : the aerial support had to be reshaped, all the little details set in place, and stanchions and handrails added :

Everything present with aerial set dry fitted :

And from a deck perspective, as in the pics shown before :

I hope you like it, and very best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all once more :

This week asignment has been the radar that is mounted on the flying bridge, ahead of the main masts. It is like this :

And this is the solution that I adopted, after the model and the experience of the last structure :

Good pics are really invaluable when building these tiny things, after the large amount of time in research that they can save.

Some of the details in the underside of the platformn are missing, because they would be hardly seen and would make the pint job very difficult as well. Two ladders -- inside and outside the structure -- are missing too, as they are so delicate that would admit very little manipulation. They will be added at the end of the construction.
I hope you like it,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all :

I finished yesterday the flag boxes, one of the elements that I like most in everyship. These are the original boxes :

And this is my solution :

As you can see I have taken the liberty of making one bar at the front of each box -- non existant in the ships -- so that I can introduce the halyards without needing to fix them at the risk of risking of bending the masts. The halyards should be fixed to the handrails, that are so thin that would not cope with the glue. It is a compromise solution, that will not be apparent when finished. The black signals and the attached box will be added at the end of the construction.

I was satisfied with this until in a further visit to the ship I made a pic that showed the flag boxes in a different perspective, showing that the central block is located further ahead from the platform and gets to the deck, instead of being hanging on it, as I had previously supposed. I mean this :

I had to make the necessary corrections, but most of the elements were correct, so it was minimal work. Completely finished, in a further moment of the construction, they look now like this :

I hope you like it, and best regards,

Willie.[/size]

[Willie]

Hi all,

Today�s work was several hatches, lockers and boxes, everything made with Evergreen strips, yogourth container and stretched sprue :

The upper deck is already coming out, with more elements that allow to imagine what it is going to be when it is finished :

The two big lockers are to be placed under the main masts and will not be too visible, but they have to be done and then they should be as complete as possible. Anyway, it was a pleasure to build these little things.

I hope you like them, and very best regards,

Willie.[/size]