The Ship Model Forum

This is my second ship model. Two years ago I decided to pick up modelling again after a 40-year lapse. I build model cars in my youth, but ever since I saw the incredible collection of classic sailing ship models in the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, I wondered if one day I might build something that even approached those masterpieces. Finally, in 2012, I decided to see what wooden ship model kits were available.

After a lot of research I decided to start with a simple lobster smack, followed by a more challenging Caldercraft 18th century British Navy kit. Both of these use all-wood, plank-on-frame construction. At the same time my stepdaughter, hearing of my new interest, bought me Tamiya�s combined 1/700 Indianapolis and Japanese I-58 sub. I felt this was a distraction from my plan, but started work on them. Soon I was hooked, and I learned about photo etch, decaling and painting techniques, and other skills, in the process.

Now I�m starting Dragon�s 1/350 scale Frank Knox. I had read many build logs on the Ship Model Forum, to learn what kits might be best for me and to pick up as many tips as I could. I wanted a larger scale after the challenges of working at 1/700 scale, I wanted a ship that would still be small enough to easily display when it was finished, and I wanted a first-rate kit that I would be proud to display. This Dragon destroyer seems a good choice.

This will NOT be a historically accurate model. I bought the kit while I was still doing research, and planned on applying a dazzle camouflage pattern I saw on Tamiya�s DD-797 Cushing. I didn�t learn until later that specific WWII camouflage was applied to specific groups of ships, and dazzle camouflage - intended as protection against submarines - was no longer used when the Frank Knox went to sea, when the main threat to ships was Kamikaze attacks.

After a lot of thought, I decided to go ahead with my plan. Purists will not be happy, but hopefully some members will be curious to watch my project unfold, and maybe some will offer helpful suggestions or answer my questions. Once I made up my mind, my first job was to project the camouflage pattern from the Cushing onto an image of the Frank Knox, and then adjust the pattern so it aligned with the Frank Knox so I would have a guide for cutting frisket for the painting:



A brief explanation: my background is fine art and graphic design, and I can�t seem to resist sacrificing historical accuracy, if it lets me build what I feel is a visually attractive model. For example, my Tamiya Indianapolis has a plain wooden deck, despite the fact that the ship depicted is from late in the war, when wooden decks were painted blue. The aftermarket wooden deck was just too beautiful to paint, when I saw it combined with the blues and greys of the metal construction (colors I carefully selected, ignoring Tamiya�s suggested colors) - see photo of my first build:



Likewise the dazzle patterns dramatize the industrial design of these warships, and because this particular pattern looks almost like arrowheads, or lightning, it accentuates the speed these destroyers were capable of.

So now I�m rationalizing that this dazzle paint job will let my Frank Knox illustrate several years of history - the mid-war period, the late (kamikaze) period, when destroyers became radar pickets, and even the post WWII era, when these destroyers continued in action through the Korean War.

I will build the Frank Knox as a waterline, and made a wooden base to hold the kit, so I don�t have to hold her by the hull as I work on her. So far I�ve only painted the hull, added decals, and sprayed it with a protective flat varnish. I�ve never used an airbrush before, and am using a simple single-action one that basically lets me �spray paint� acrylic colors that I custom mix. I am loosely following the paint specifications that Tamiya provided for the Cushing, but Haze Grey is so blueish it looked like baby blue against the darker Ocean Grey and the very dark black+white grey mix Tamiya recommends. So I ended up using a very neutral grey primer as the light grey.

I used the dazzle pattern on the Cushing only as a starting point. Since there were aspects of the Cushing pattern that I didn�t like, and since I was already exercising artistic license, I created a few new patterns. It was so difficult to calculate ahead of time the way this improvised pattern would play out on the model I decided to buy an inexpensive 1/700 Gearing kit, just so I could test colors, adjust the patterns, paint the entire ship, and then use the result as a guide as I build the Frank Knox. Ideally I would like to paint all parts and subassemblies ahead of time.

I devised a masking method where I painted the entire hull light grey, then masked off the sections that would remain light grey, and sprayed the medium Ocean Grey. Then I added masking to protect the desired Ocean Grey areas, and sprayed the custom mixed dark grey. I don�t know if this is a standard approach, but I reasoned that this way I didn�t have to worry about aligning any masking edges.

I wanted to hold the Frank Knox tightly to the base, because the hull was a little warped, and I wasn�t sure if the glued-down deck would correct this distortion. I secured the hull with a nut and bolt set, using rubber washers to ease the stress on the hull. The bolts go through holes in the wood base and then are secured on the bottom with a second nut. The holes are countersunk top and bottom to accommodate the nuts, so the hull can lie flat on the base and the base can lie flat on the table.



The next thing I will do is paint the deck and attach it to the hull, at which point these 4 bolts will no longer be removable. When the build is about half done I plan on moving the kit to the final wood base that will accommodate a clear plexiglass cover I have ordered. I�ll secure the kit to the new, final base using the lower nuts.

Looks like your years in the field of professional graphics work are paying off handsomely, Mr. Pill

This is in direct contrast to my fairly chaotic ad hoc approach, where I just try whatever techniques strike my fancy on whatever model happens to grasp my attention for that week or whatever, keeping what works and learning from mistakes. Your masking system is almost identical to one I've seen in professional modeling magazines, and works very well on aircraft (paint the lightest color first, graduating to the darkest). You've definitely got a good head of steam going.

Also like you, I'm an airbrush neophyte...

Before I put on the non-skid decals, I loosely mounted the deckhouse parts, so I could be sure the walkways would actually line up with doorways, ladders, etc. (Tip to newbies like myself: before wetting, remove the little numbers that ID the decals, or you can end up with a stray number stuck to the deck, that you have to paint over). I read that decals work better on gloss surfaces, so I sprayed gloss varnish on the deck first. After the decals are mounted I�ll spray with dull varnish.

Non-skid decals are mounted; time to glue the deck to the hull. I was surprised to find that the deck did not fit the hull opening very well - I had to first hold the deck down with tape while standard plastic model glue dried (the underside of tape had backing stuck on where it touched the deck, so paint and decals wouldn�t be pulled off). After the glue dried there were still some gaps between the deck and the hull, so I had to pry up those areas, apply slow-dry super glue with a knife blade inside the gap, and hold in place by hand while that dried. There are still a few thin gaps that I�ll have to fill, maybe with paint. It seems like Dragon could have devised a way to make these parts match up more easily.

Gotta love a good dazzle! Looking good so far.

Matt

You seem to off to a great start. I would cut a half inch off the mid section and make it a Sumner. That way you could do the dazzle and still be an accurate build. That way it won't bother you down the road. The DM's built out of the Sumners wore the dazzle's. Either way your work is impressive. Keep up the good work.

Hi

Frank Knox actually did go to sea in a camo pattern...but it looked different from yours and she did not go to war with it! There are very nive pictures around of her in camo...
The "war paint" was MS21...which is what mine is going to get. I have just started to throw on paint this afternoon...

cheers
Uwe

Yes, I'm taking artistic license with the camouflage pattern and the colors of the paint. My approach to modelling is to make a slightly abstract version of the ship - what I hope to end up with will be kind of like an architectural model, which looks a little neater and more color-coordinated than the real thing does. My background in graphic design and abstract art seems to be taking me off in this direction.

Love it. I did the same with a USS England and got a LOT of heat from some people because it wasn't "accurate." Whatever. It was fun and looked cool. I think the same will be said about your Knox.

April 10th 2014

I haven�t posted in a long while, but that doesn�t mean I haven�t been busy, although mostly it�s been research and trial-and-error work. This is my second ship model, my first at 1/350 scale, and the process has been further complicated by the fact that I�m painting dazzle camouflage. On top of that, I�m really not familiar with modern ships, and I�ve had to learn by viewing other build logs and a Gearing class destroyers eBook, and inferring correct terminology and parts IDs from these sources.

I�ve decided to airbrush or use spray paint whenever I possibly can, even though masking everything complicates things, because with my current skill set I can�t get equally clean, flat color coverage when I use a paintbrush. As I approached building the deckhouse, I decided to first airbrush the second deck (forgive my landlubber terminology if this term is incorrect) and the insides of the splinter shields deck blue, after masking all the outside edges; then I masked the areas that will remain deck blue, and attached the bulkhead parts. I�ve sanded off the molded-on ladders, cable reels, fire hose reels, and fog foam nozzles from the bulkhead; these parts will be replaced with photo etch or scratch built versions.



After priming I saw there were quite a few gaps where the second deck attached to the bulkhead. Luckily I�d seen a technique for dealing with this problem in some other build logs. I applied masking tape on either side of the problem seams, so that only the gap showed. After applying modeling putty and letting the putty dry, the masking tape is pulled up. What remains is a very narrow band of putty, that can be easily sanded flat from the top side, using a fine emery board cut square. I�m experimenting with shaving the edge with an X-acto knife, too, and may have to make a sanding block with very fine sandpaper. It�s difficult to see if the resulting seam is invisible, so I will dab on a little dark blue matte paint as I go, to check the seam. This photo shows a middle section where the tape has been removed, and some of the putty has been sanded flat and the blue paint applied. After the seams are cleaned up I�ll prime the bulkhead once again and then mask and paint the next two colors of the dazzle camouflage (the primer is also the lightest color in the 3-color camouflage scheme).

Beau travail ...

April 13th 2014

The seam repairs worked well, and I proceeded with the camouflage paint, but apparently when I sanded the seams the masking tape protecting the Deck Blue got a little frayed, and some camouflage colors leaked onto the blue. When I tried touching it up with a brush the color did not match the airbrushed blue, for reasons I don�t understand, so I had no choice but to mask the bulkheads and airbrush a new, even coat of blue on the upper deck. Still learning... there is a little overspray on the bulkhead colors now, but they are cleaning up easily by lightly shaving the blue off with an X-acto blade.

April 28th 2014

Before working on the deckhouse details I first had to attach part of the superstructure that would require a seam repair (once again I don�t know the exact terminology; my photos will have to make up for my lack of knowledge). I also applied non-skid decals to the upper deck. Note to newbies like myself: use what I learned in one of these forums, and cut up complex non-skid decals into smaller pieces, and apply them one at a time. The big non-skid pieces can get tangled up during the application process, and it�s a heck of a job untangling them!

Looking good! Looking forward to seeing it done.

Matt

Bill, looks like your on the right path here. I'm a huge fan if Razzle/Dazzle schemes. I have couple of projects planned up with this kind of camo. So, I'll sure to follow along to see how you tackle yours to the end

Mike

June 20th 2014

Has anyone else out there done this?

After a series of little mistakes that finally got to me, I bought a new Frank Knox kit. I started the project all over again, and I�ve just now reached the stage with this new kit where my first attempt left off.

The last straw was about 6 weeks ago, when I tried to glue the completed deckhouse to the deck, and it didn�t fit. I realized too late that the complex deckhouse has to be assembled so that the bottom has a curve, matching the curved deck. Focusing on the deckhouse as a separate assembly, my finished version had a flat bottom, and there were gaps in the middle while other spots were too tight to fit.

This came after a series of problems that I had managed to repair, although the results weren�t completely satisfactory. I realized I wasn�t going to be happy with the build. But because I had invested so much time and had learned so much, I also decided to just buy another kit. Compared to the cost of tools and supplies, the cost of the kit seemed relatively incidental.

This photo shows the new hull and deckhouse. Even in my second try the deckhouse fit was tight, and though I know experienced modelers have ways to work around the limits of a kit, I think Dragon could have engineered the deck-to-hull and deckhouse-to-deck connections better for newcomers like myself. There don�t seem to be enough connection points where glue can be applied to overcome the tension caused by the tight fits, and I finally decided the sturdiest solution for the deckhouse was to attach it with 3 nut-and-bolt sets, that go straight through to the bottom of the waterline hull. This way the deckhouse is securely attached, and I didn�t have to worry about excess glue being squeezed out onto the surface of the model. The bolt heads are visible in this photo, but they will be hidden when the model is complete.



One other thing - I decided to not apply the non-skid decals, even though it�s nice to have a way to represent this detail. The dark grey decals looked magenta-pink against the Field Blue deck, they looked too busy next to the dazzle camouflage, and looking at photos of the actual destroyers in my Gearing class ebook, I think the visual impact of the decals looks out of scale compared to the real ship. Just my opinion, of course...

On the bright side, I now have spare copies of all the other kit parts, in case I screw up in the future.

Really great work! I'm building a Dragon kit myself and you've provided me with some fantastic ideas which should make my build better. Love your paintwork!

July 14th 2014

Finished the camouflage on the superstructure; now I�m ready to go back and add the kit detail parts (and some GMM PE) to superstructure and deckhouse. After that a lot of the build will consist of subassemblies that can be attached as needed, followed by the final challenges of rigging, anchor chains, deck railings, etc. I�m looking forward to focusing on individual items for a while, after the challenge of being a newbie and figuring out how to airbrush the camouflage and assemble the hull, deck, deckhouse and superstructure (involving seams and putty) at the same time.

Note: I realize the order of assembly I�m following is not typical, but applying camouflage only seems possible if I paint items first (as much as possible), then assemble them. It would have been impossible to mask paint shapes with a lot of small parts sticking out.

Two bolt heads are still visible - they'll be hidden by the rear stack and the torpedo launcher. I painted them, though, so the bare metal wouldn't distract me from analyzing the color balance of the camouflage! Guess I am treating this like an art project, as well as a model.