USS TEXAS BB35 in 1:350

[Haddock]

CXAM-1 radar. Quite fiddly, partly due to the fact that the development of the mounting frame ain't  quite right, so some "adjustments" to be made. The frame touches down on 13 points. Kipling!!. Might look better under a coat of paint. Need to hide those blobs of glue.
Haddock.

[Pen-Pusher]

Interesting shot on detail of foredeck...

[Haddock]

Quite, of particular interest are the railings, the colour of the paint and the wear and tear on same, plus of course , the guns are missing atop B turret.
Haddock
Same view, different time or lighting conditions.

[Pen-Pusher]

Regarding our most recent conversation vis-à-vis deck colour and treatment. I would suspect the deck once being stained or varnished would be resistant to any paint after a while?

[Haddock]

       Don't know when you picture was taken but mine was taken in 2000, probably after the decks were re-covered in pine but before any paint/stain was applied.
       My problem is that I'm hoping to depict the ship in late 1944 so I'm going for 20B deck blue, lightened for scale effect and hopefully, to lift out some of the detail. USS Laffey looks too dark overall to me, even though the colours are "authentic" and already faded for scale effect.
Haddock.

[Haddock]

Regarding our most recent conversation vis-à-vis deck colour and treatment. I would suspect the deck once being stained or varnished would be resistant to any paint after a while?

I seem to remember you can slosh deck paint on top of anything, including rust, grease, sand and even seaweed. It sticks to anything. It also takes the skin off your knees better than sandpaper.
Haddock.

[MSea]

I remember getting the crew to paint the bilges - they painted OVER a cigarette packet and several  loose 3/4 inch whitworth nuts and bolts - and made a good job of it.

[Haddock]

I remember getting the crew to paint the bilges - they painted OVER a cigarette packet and several  loose 3/4 inch whitworth nuts and bolts - and made a good job of it.

Hope they primed it first!!

[Haddock]

Bet you all thought I was asleep!........been doing battle with measure 31a design 8b.

The first picture is the "official" navy design for both ships in the class.

The second picture is from the team that have been responsible for the restoration of USS Texas and is as she was when wearing this scheme in late 1944. It only lasted for about three months.

The third picture speaks for itself but to me, looks more like the second picture than the "official" scheme.

The fourth is progress to date using the second picture as reference. Not keen on the colours but they are supposedly correct.

Haddock.

[Haddock]

Bit more progress albeit very slow, the following shows probably why.

1. Railings and ladders, more to go on yet.

2. Catapult, looks very nice but is hopelessly wrong. As it is, there's no room to fit the railings around the boat deck. Also, the catapult should lay at an angle of around 10-15 degrees to the centreline of the turret, not much I can do about it but I can create room for the railings by swinging the turret around so it looks as though the aircraft is about to be launched, nobody will know.

3. X turret as fitted is actually touching the tripod assembly and preventing it from sitting down properly, there should be a gap of about 1mm between the tripod and the turret.

4. Here's the "engineering" solution, not quite so easy to do at this stage of the build.

5. Fixed. 

You would have thought Trumpeter would have corrected these errors before releasing the kit!!!!!!

Haddock.

[MSea]

Trumpeter need a Haddock - then they would be correct at everything !!!!!!

[MSea]

Just thinking again - if we sell Haddock to Trumpeter - WHO GETS THE MONEY - I bet Zak ends up with it.

[zak]

We could share it, but 1p each, is it really worth it?

[Haddock]

Flattery gets you nowhere!!!!!

[zak]

We could offer him as a free gift.