Trumpeter 1/350 USS Texas BB-35 (2015)

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to sneak in a little time today at the bench and opted to work on the Kingfisher seaplane since it was something that will have to be tackled sooner or later regardless. The kit includes 2 planes but only enough decals for 1...which kind of defeats the purpose I think! I was originally going to mount both as Texas carried up to 3 at a time depending on the circumstances, but just 1 will have to do.

The assembly is covered under Step 36 and the top half of the fuselage is split in 2 while the bottom and the wings are all one part. All of the floats are separate components, so I removed them from the sprues and cleaned them up. The downside is that all of the parts are provided in clear styrene and that complicates being able to judge how things are truly going together in terms of fit, seams, etc.



I decided to give the three tone scheme a shot so I airbrushed a coat of Testors flat Sea Blue after I'd used some blue tack poster putty to mask off the canopy portions. This was applied to all surfaces so it could serve as a kind of pre-shade/primer coat and ensure I didn't have any bare clear surfaces peeking through. It did reveal some areas that needed some putty attention, seam removal, etc. which were dealt with in short order.



I hand painted a 'stripe' of Testors Hellblau since I had it on hand and it was a reasonably close match to Intermediate Blue in this scale. It was meant to serve as a guide only and I airbrushed a thin overcoat on top of it to get the color solid over the Sea Blue with some masking tape used to protect the rear stabilizers in the process. Then I used some strips of masking tape to protect the wings and flipped it over and airbrushed MM flat Light Gray to serve for the non-specular White in the scheme. It was carefully feathered into the light blue to create a soft edge scheme and the floats got their treatment as well.



Blue tack came off and some small touchups added here and there. After I add the floats, I'll apply a coat of Future to protect it all so I can add the roundel decals next.



Still haven't forgotten about those 20mm guns.

[Bill Plunk]

Today's effort was on a two-front basis. I needed to get 12 of the 20mm guns together since they go into the two 14-inch turret tubs and they are a delicate operation that requires a combination of multiple painting and assembly steps since the guns themselves are one piece, but their splinter shields are separate PE parts. There's no margin for error either, 44 guns in total are needed throughout the ship and 44 shields are what are on the frets (even though the instructions say only 42 in Step 4's diagram...you need all 44) and I had a moment of panic and frantic searching when one mysteriously vanished as I was working on this batch. Fortunately, it was retrieved successfully from the jaws of a disappointed carpet monster. Before these get installed, I need to add the floater net baskets to the sides of the tubs first, but at least the guns themselves are now ready to go.



At the same time that I was working on the guns, I also made progress on the Kingfisher. The floats were added along with the propeller (after it was hand painted first) and I added a scratch-built radio aerial mast to the cowling. Careful work with the Optivisor and a 10/0 pointed brush picked out the frames in the canopy. I also hand painted the red prop warning stripe on the main float. Future was airbrushed, decals added, and a 2nd dose of Future sealed them in. Blue tack masking went back on the canopy and Testor's Lusterless Flat sprayed on to remove the Future gloss and tie everything back together. I used a short length of EZ Line Fine Black elastic thread and small amounts of CA and accelerator to add the aerial itself.





More to do on the turrets before I can call them done but I'm getting there!

[Bill Plunk]

More progress to report in the tiny detail department today, but first I have to point out that the fine folks at Trumpeter are mathematically challenged. Back in Step 4 the instructions call for 20 PE floater net baskets to be bent up and used in later steps. There are 22 baskets provided (11 each on the 2 'D' frets) in the kit, so this would seem like no big deal. The problem is that the instructions call for a total of 24 baskets to be installed at various points...an impossibility! The solution...the 2 baskets that shouldn't be installed on the 02 deck along with that railing section that interferes with the catapult on turret #3. Good thing I held onto them after popping off the railing section earlier, I'm going to need them!

Speaking of which, I spent a good while bending up the 14 remaining baskets since I was on a roll and had figured out a fairly good method to bend them into shape. They don't have bend lines of course for the curved basket mesh, only for the sides of the bin, so that means you have to be a little creative. I don't recommend annealing them as the mesh is fairly fine and prone to distortion once softened. I used a bending tool and multiple partial bends to get them into shape, but it's really hard to get them to all look 100% identical but after getting a couple under my belt I could get them reasonably close to each other if careful.



I picked out a set of 8 to go in pairs on the sides of the #2 and #4 turret 20mm AA gun tubs and painted them up by hand using some locking tweezers and multiple passes to get them all done without gumming up the mesh in the process. Some Gator's Grip Thin Blend glue helped get them in place on the turrets. Once they had set, I added the 6 20mm AA guns I worked on yesterday per turret to round things out.





Turrets are now all done so I can move ahead with getting a Future coat on them and applying a pin wash for their details.

[Bill Plunk]

Today was another productive day in the details department. I assembled another 8 of the 20mm AA guns and installed 4 of them along with the blinker lights into the tripod mast tub as called for in Step 34.



The other 4 guns went into the small elevated tubs that sit beside the tripod legs on the main deck. They also got a pair each of the floater net baskets as called out in Step 24. After I get the tripod mast finished and installed, these will get permanently added then. For now they are set off to the side to wait their turn.



Rounding out the day, I airbrushed some Future to all 5 of the turrets plus the #4 turret barbette and will let them sit overnight to fully cure before tackling their pin wash. For good measure, I'll be dealing with the small clipping room/radar shack that goes at the top of the mainmast tripod structure along with the two little side room structures that install adjacent to the 02 deck structure up near the whaleboats.



Next up will be dosing those turrets with a pin wash before moving up the chain to the remaining tripod structure antennas and other bits.

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to sneak in some unusual bench time for a Sunday and made the most of it. I applied a pin wash treatment of thinned MM enamel Burnt Umber to all the stuff that was Futured yesterday and then sealed it with a dose of MM Lusterless Flat after making the usual adjustments to the pin wash where needed.



I also applied the pin wash treatment and sealing process to the bow area of the 02 deck that hadn't been dealt with before as well as the #2 turret barbette. The #1 and #2 turrets are still only dry fit for now but here's how it all looks at this stage.



I added the little boxy structures that sit in between the 02 deck and the outboard whale boats on the main deck first, then added the inboard pair of whaleboats that sit on top of the 02 deck. The #3 turret is also dry fit still for the time being.



I permanently installed the #4 turret barbette and added the two elevated 20mm gun tubs. The tripod mast received the final level to its structure along with the clipping room/radar shack that sits at the top. The antenna mast was painted and test fit but hasn't yet been secured, that will happen after I add the PE mesh deck for it along with the PE antenna itself. The tripod structure as a whole is still removable to provide maximum flexibility for adding those final details.



Next up will be getting the rest of that tripod mast done and then starting work on the remaining AA guns for the rest of the aft part of the main deck.

[Bill Plunk]

I spent time today on the remaining elements for the aft tripod mast with the focus centering on the large rectangular PE antenna that installs on a little platform atop the small mast support. Little did I know just how fiendishly complex of a task this was going to be when I sat down at the bench. The assembly is covered under Step 34 in the instructions, but the diagrams provided aren't a whole lot of help. Add to this that the contact points are tiny and the mesh of the antenna itself is very fine and it combines to create a very delicate arrangement. While the back frame has bend lines etched into it, it's missing the most important one that involves bending the top part at a slight angle so that it will match up properly along with the rest. Once I figured that out, it was just a matter of carefully bending and adjusting everything until it finally matched up on both sides. Very small amounts of CA applied with the tip of a #11 blade secured the frame to the antenna mesh. Once I was happy with that, the styrene base was added with the help of some Gator's Grip Thin Blend to help ensure the whole thing sat level for when it is installed on the little platform.

Speaking of the platform, it was also cleaned up and received it's separate PE railing. This is another super delicate PE part and I used a tapered paintbrush handle to slowly work it into the desired round shape before it was attached with CA.



Since those parts are going to need airbrush attention, I decided to work on some other things to make it a worthwhile time in the spray booth. I opted to return to Step 29 and work on the boat cranes. The king posts weren't any problem to get together, but the PE portions of the crane arms were another matter entirely. They are heavy and have really small attachment points both at the base of the king post and to each other, so getting them all to line up straight is an exercise in patience. Ultimately I had to glue the top straight arm of the crane to the king post top first, then position the bottom angled part in the little hinge points and maneuver it to line up with the top arm, then glue the two parts together once the alignment was set. It sounds simple enough, but you almost need a third hand to pull it all off. The only thing I didn't add was the curved PE railing that attaches to the half-moon platform midway up the king post, that will come after painting as it isn't in a great spot for handling purposes until after that's taken care of.

As you can see in the pic below, the weight of the crane arms is such that the whole thing wants to lean in when dry fit into the mount holes on the main deck. I'll have to contend with that when it's time to install them in place.



That should give me enough stuff to justify another round with the airbrush at least!

[Bill Plunk]

Round 2 of the painting effort continued today from the previous effort. Yesterday I had airbrushed some Deck Blue on the cranes and the antenna platform and let them dry overnight so they could cure and be ready to take the masking needed before the Haze Gray was added today.



After the tape was removed, some small touchups with a detail brush cleaned things up and the cranes now match up to the Measure 22 scheme along with the rest of the ship. I still need to add the little PE railings and deal with a couple other small things, but the large paint work is now done on these.



Attention shifted to the radar antenna platform that was the last part of Step 34's assembly for the rear tripod mast structure. I had previously tested out the fit of all the various things that have to attach to the top PE platform so that there wouldn't be any surprises. Even so, it's a delicate balancing act with limited contact points to get it all together. Here's where leaving the vertical mast, part E38, movable really paid off so I could be sure everything lined up properly. I added the PE platform to E38 first and made sure it sat level. Once the Gator Grip glue had set for that, the rear skinny mast antenna (part E41) was added next and allowed to set. Once I was happy with their orientations, the bedframe radar antenna was added last. This is the heaviest part to go on the platform, so if the platform itself isn't solid, the whole thing will want to tip forward. Not a good thing, hence the order I chose to assemble it all. Looks good once it's all in place, but having some work time with the glue is essential. I only added CA to the posts on the underside of the platform after the Gator Grip had grabbed to avoid any accidental shifting later on.



The tripod is still only dry fit at this stage as I need to do a test first to see if I can work comfortably with the remaining AA guns with it in place. If yes, then it will get permanently attached next.



As you can see, that rear deck area is starting to get pretty crowded now.

[Bill Plunk]

The adventure in PE continued this time with some attention going to the fighting top for the foremast tripod. This is dealt with in Step 17 and is something I had deliberately avoided until now because of how delicate and fragile it all is. First order of business was adding the 6 interlocking pieces of PE that make up the truss supports on the underside of the top structure. The instructions give the impression that you should assemble these off first and then add them, but that's not really practical. The alignment has to be just right for all of them and some handy guidelines are molded into the bottom of the structure to help with this. I started with the inner ribs first and then the outer pair, checking after adding each one that the cross members would fit correctly and not interfere with the mount holes that the tripod legs go into.



Taking the prize for most intricate/delicate assembly though definitely goes to the small 'eggbeater' style cross-loop antenna for the DAK radio direction finder apparatus. This sits on a little small platform that extends out from the back of the fighting top and also gets its own separate little railing around the base of the platform.



While I was in the mood for delicate PE stuff, I also knocked out the D-shaped antenna that sits on top of the structure along with a short mast antenna of another type.



I'll get all this painted up tomorrow and added along with the yardarm to complete the fighting top assembly.

[Bill Plunk]

Got the fighting top fully assembled today which involved more fun with some very delicate PE, specifically the yardarm. This is provided as a single piece of PE with attached delicate support struts that have to be bent at different angles to match up with the underside of the cross-loop antenna platform, the sides of the top structure itself, and the underside of the top structure. As you can see, these are all very delicate struts with tiny contact points. Fortunately the backside of the top structure has a molded on support bracket that helps greatly in holding things in place. Strategic spots of CA glue were used to get it all lined up properly before committing some thin CA to the base of the support bracket to lock it in.



The yardarm was hand painted and then the rest of the antennas added to the roof of the top structure platform. I found it necessary to trim the little rectangular tab that the D-shaped antenna attaches to as it was slightly too large for the opening in the PE base part of the antenna, but otherwise it all went together without issue. It is, however, an extremely delicate combination now and during a test fit with the tripod mast legs to ensure everything was sitting right, it took a tumble onto the floor. Truly a heartstopping moment and the left side yard arm caught in the carpet on the way down and crumpled badly as a result. Fortunately, some careful attention with tweezers and needle nose pliers was able to straighten it back out, but there's now 0 chance I will be adding any rigging to it as it has lost a lot of its structural strength and will distort if you look at it funny now. I was already reluctant to do the rigging once I saw how fragile it was to start with and this just sealed the deal for sure.



Here's how things look now with the fighting top dry fit. I still need to seal it and apply a pin wash so it will match up with all of the rest of the superstructure. That's going to be a really fun exercise given the delicate state its in now but I'll manage.

[Bill Plunk]

Following on from yesterday's effort, I got the pin wash treatment on the fighting top and then sealed it all up with some Lusterless Flat.



The top was then carefully glued permanently in place on the foremast tripod legs. I want it to be rock solid from here on out so that there aren't any more chances for it to come to grief. While that was setting up, I added the jackstaff and brace to the bow as called out in Step 19. It's going in now so that I can run a rigging line from it to the underside of the fighting top. I did some careful testing with the yardarm and I believe I can safely rig the signal flag lines from it but it will be something I will definitely take my time with.



I haven't yet secured the cranes or the mainmast tripod as I'm still trying to give myself maximum flexibility for working around the rear main deck area for as long as possible. That came in handy for attaching the rope cleats and the small raised deck guard that are called out in Step 23. The instructions would have you install 6 of the cleats per side but one of them interferes with the bulwark on the 3 gun 20mm AA tub, so I only installed five per side and skipped the problematic one.



Not as dramatic an update as in previous days but it all adds up towards getting the remaining details taken care of. The rear tripod structure got a dose of Future so I could pin wash the rest of it to match the structure and will be left to cure overnight before I tackle it. After that will be permanently placing it and adding the rigging...fingers crossed!