Harquebus

Trumpeter is your only bet in that regard. These early Trumpeter T-54 variants can still be found and they represent a good value for the money as they are priced much lower than a typical mainstream 1/35 MBT. Only problem is the dark green plastic is resistant to traditional model cements because it isn't exactly styrene. I'm trying to finish one I bought on a whim, the Trumpeter Type 59-D with ERA and I was successful getting 2/3rds complete using Plastruct Bondene as it works on a variety of plastics. Here's a good article and a run-down on all the Type 59 variants: http://missing-lynx.com/reviews/modern/trumpt55.htm

Any updates? Must confess the Academy IX-B is a very good (maybe not excellent) kit especially above the waterline. Below the waterline it suffers from the measures taken to make it a motorized model.

Egad! I came back to this thread just to look at the photos of the kit parts and found a big, big surprise. The thread has life again! Looking great so far! I think an option for the bare copper chains is to use Brass Black (Birchwood-Casey is one brand) which blackens brass and copper. Incidentally, the older Marine Model Co., Inc "Guns of History" kits came with pre-blackened chain and an actual functioning elevation screw. Nowadays they just make the elevation screw and housing and cast it as one piece with an actual slotted screw used as the mold master. The older kits also have a 3/16" brass axle with the box shaped axle housing cast around it. I have started mine, just glued the trail halves together but ended up using JB Weld which seems to work very well. It's meant for metal and can be filed, sanded and carved with relative ease. It is not 5 minute epoxy though and takes about 24 hrs to cure.

There are random 1/16 Civil War figures here and there, some produced by now-defunct Verlinden for example but probably no specific "Artillery crew" that would suit the cannon the best, at least to my knowledge. It's worth a look around to see what is available though but I think a cannon looks good by itself as a silent sentinel. Lindberg produced a 1/16 Horse Drawn Field Artillery kit in plastic that has figures. The Confederate version is product #70349, Union is product #70350. Cannon, limber, 4 horses and 3 (sitting) figures and although the kit is ancient the detail is pretty good. There's also another 1/16 Civil War cannon that can be found. First produced by Palmer Plastics in 1957 as the "Civil War Field Piece", then produced by Life-Like and then by Encore in that order I believe. It's labeled at 1/24 but it is 1/16 as far as I can tell. They can be found on that popular auction site because it is (probably) long out of production. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/palmer-plastics-28-100-civil-war-field-piece--1116236 ...Details are pretty crude ...but not terrible for 1957. I acquired one of these Guns of History kits; the James Cannon 6-pounder Model 1841, #MS4007. I expected to see a lot of metal flash on the parts because I know they come from old molds but I was pleasantly surprised by the crispness. I think every kit is inspected and cleaned up prior to boxing. Mine has a note at the top of the parts list: "I made your kit: Miroslava January 5, 2022". I am trying to churn it out and not be sidetracked by Advanced Modeler Syndrome but I already researched it and am adding my own touches. 🫢

Been reading up heavily on old muzzle-loaded artillery of the War Between the States era and both sides painted their gun carriages an olive green color so the box art is more or less correct. The wood was painted olive green and the iron fittings were black. If the gun was made of iron it was painted black, if the gun was bronze it was polished. If you see a bronze gun modeled as green/gray-green from weathering and verdigris, you'd have to conclude it depicts one of many bronze guns left as battlefield displays all over North America or a scene of a derelict gun, abandoned to the elements. "Paint is generally furnished to batteries, mixed and ready for use. When not supplied, and the materials can be procured, paints may be prepared as follows (you can imagine that the paint color or shade varied immensely): The proportions are given for 100 parts by weight of prepared colors, etc., when not otherwise designated" (that's a lot of paint). Olive Paste: Yellow ochre, pulverised.........68 Lampblack...............................11 Boiled oil..................................37 Spirits turpentine.....................0.4 "Make a thick paste with the ochre and oil, in a paint-pot, and with the lampblack and oil in another: grind them together in small portions, and keep the mixture in a tin vessel." To make "Liquid olive color" they took 61.5 pounds of olive paste and added 29.5 Boiled oil, 5.5 Spirits turpentine, 3.5 Dryings and 2 Japan varnish to make another 100 pounds of liquid paint, ready to use. The olive paste must have been seen as a raw or base material needing a bit more prep to use and liquid olive once prepared, sounds like it had a limited shelf life with the drying agents added. Interesting topic for certain. I might mix up my own "liquid" olive from the closest enamel I can get to yellow ochre and mix it 6 parts to 1 part black and see what I come up with. The Artillerist's Manual, John Gibbon, published 1860 is good reading and is searchable: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8FEkwTZd9FMC/page/n5/mode/2up?q=olive+paste As is The Ordnance Manual for the use of the Officers of the Confederate States Army: https://archive.org/details/ordnancemanualfo00conf/page/n3/mode/2up

I correct myself. I zoomed in on the instructions and could make out; "Use 5 minute epoxy to assemble the TRAILS and AXLE HOUSING. For the rest use either the Epoxy or cyanoacrylate (Super Glue)." So, your choice of the two for the rest of the parts. The topic of glues and what is optimal is something to ponder since we live in what is probably the 'golden age' of adhesives. I imagine there might be better choices than the two listed but I'm just putting that out there. This is a metal kit after all and a bit oddball compared to the usual fare on the forum. I think you got a good kit by the way. It seems earlier versions from Model Shipways had brass cannon barrels (the gun itself) and later models appear to be cast entirely out of Britannia, at least that is what I am seeing. The build here is a different model gun (same manufacturer) but the gun appears to be cast out of Britannia like everything else: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/20243-james-cannon-model-1841-by-tom-e-finished-guns-of-history-116/

A web search brought me here and I must say I am looking forward to this build. I'm looking into getting one of these cannon kits so that's what drew me in. Thanks for the photos and the layout of all the parts, good to see what is included. It says in the instructions to use 5 minute epoxy for the trails and axle housing and CA for the rest, right there in black and white. 😉 P.S. does the kit have a date anywhere on it, if so what is it?

What I meant to say but woefully failed at was that I prefer the earlier enclosed, short (I think) bridge of the early type 1 051 Luda-class destroyer and not the overbuilt bridges of the Kaifeng and Zhukai et al (Luda III?). I think that is one of the features that are shared, seemingly, between the Luda and Kotlin. The only pics I can find of an enclosed bridge Kotlin seem to be the 56A SAM and the ORP Warszawa. I like the flat face bridge of the early Ludas: Here's a link to someone's 3D rendering of a Kotlin-class Project 56 Spokoinyy destroyer. It looks impressive but one wonders if it's accurate and where they got the plans from. https://spacesauce.art/projects/v2mPnv

Interesting topic and as a Trumpeter 1/200 'Kaifeng' Luda Class destroyer owner, I've considered kitbashing the kit into a "cooler" Russian vessel. I mean there's no discounting the similarity of the Luda class destroyers with several Soviet-era post-war destroyers and/or the Kotlin-class especially. If the Kotlin-class is the closest in design or the actual analogue to the Luda-class more or less, then the later redesigned Kotlins that have the enclosed bridge like the Luda class destroyers would be the ones to base a kitbash on. The image that Terry1954 posted seems to be a variant vessel with a rear deckhouse superstructure that eliminates the rear turret. There are lots of photos on the internet that show Kotlins with a rear turret that are more analogous to the Luda-class. The kits depicting Kaifeng and Zhuhai (and maybe more) have a larger, taller bridge design that seems to be a Chinese PLAN design and nothing copied from the Russian Navy. I prefer that design as it looks more streamlined. Also consider the Zhengdefu 1/260 Luda destroyer series. These are all motorized "toy" models but many have raved about the finer details and part counts of these kits. They are probably out of production but can be found on ebay from time to time.

As we are (mostly) all detail and accuracy fanatics, your perfectly pristine builds are accurate for only a limited time period like right at launch, fitting out or right at refit when all new paint and fittings (whatever needed attention) were attended to but doing a Warspite at June 6, 1944 for example, with pristine paint and no weathering just isn't historically accurate. 😉 Several things of note-- A weathered hull like what our OP has done can certainly be seen as accurate because in the middle of wartime or sailing 6 months in the stormy North Atlantic without respite will trash the hull. As naval vessels are underway, any sailor not pushing a broom is put to work chipping away rust and repainting as necessary but they rarely paid attention to the hull because it was too dangerous having men over the sides dangling from ropes and painting the hull. Everything on the superstructure though was given priority and I expect HMS Warspite to be as tidy as possible at deck level and above. Pride of Her Majesty's Fleet and all, dignity has to be maintained, but there are limits to even that in wartime. 🤭🧐🙄 My nit to pick is a modeler's weather beaten, paint peeling rusty hull and superstructure but fresh, pristine, yellow teak on all horizontal surfaces (either a real wooden deck or painted) and bright brassy brass/gold painted props. Propellers are bronze and quickly turn brown, greenish gray or black after oxidation and exposure to salt water. They are never as bright and yellowish as pure brass however, but close to it when pristine. I've seen untouched red hulls below the waterline too when everything above the waterline is trashed. Funny stuff. I like weathering though and the OP's hull looks good to me. Thanks for letting me vent. 😀

Love the effort at lighting. How did you light the mast and the towing lights? Is that the original kit mast or a hollow tube you fabricated up (to hide the wiring)? I have several of these kits to include one that was sold as an R/C kit (#70817) complete with everything minus radio and batteries, so having lighting to go with the operating feature is what I would certainly strive for. Re: Scouring the internet - we truly are in the golden age of info for such things, whereas decades before you really had to be a subject matter expert on the topic at hand. I guess back then you'd have to rely on scouring libraries, bookstores or boat plans or reference materials made available for the modeling hobby ($, $$, $$$). Another nice tug kit from Lindberg is the more exquisite "Coast Guard Tug" which isn't really a CG tug. It's from the steam era (high funnel) and is wooden hulled or maybe riveted steel, can't recall. Way better fit and detailing although the pilothouse window arrangement needs at least two more windows per side or the helmsman is forced to stare straight ahead only, hoping for the best. 🤭 Ask your friend in the U.S. to find it for you and send it your way. Sometimes they can be found in overstock stores or in clearance.

Super nice build. Always nice to see further builds of this old old model kit. It began life in 1956 from a now defunct company called Pyro. This tug is modeled after a real vessel, an 85' U.S. Army ST (Small Tug) so they can be built in military or civilian guise. Some notes on building: The pilothouse suffers from overbite so it would behoove future builders to trim the ribs (L and R) at the rear underside of the deckhouse roof in order to allow the roof + pilothouse to slide rearward until the deckhouse and pilothouse are both flush with each other at the forward vertical wall. Hope that makes sense. The closed-over portholes at the front of the deckhouse can be opened up with a drill. They could not be molded open with the limitations inherent at the time this kit was made. I think I recall reading that an opening there would hamper the release of the pieces from the mold so they molded them solid with just a raised lip to indicate where they are. The way Lindberg depicted the waterline on their box art is way off. The waterline should be higher on the hull to put more of the hull in the water and more of the aft hull underwater, especially, making the bow high and giving the tug a raked stance. The propeller and 9/10ths of the rudder should be well underwater too for maximum thrust and rudder effect. The rest is just minor details added to make it more realistic. Maybe some wire for the railing that encircles the entire deckhouse at main deck level... The Angels Gate tug based out of the port of Los Angeles California is a good reference for the tug and there are lots of photos around the web.

Indeed. The Iowa-class has fold-down stanchions on the main deck. Rather nice feature. All we need now is PE rails (or some other material) in the collapsed position as I like the look and no-nonsense, "means business" posture. For that matter, has anyone depicted this feature on any particular warship?

For a stated length of 12" and "presence" (lots of nasty guns), I'd look no further than a 1/350 destroyer; US Fletcher-class or a Tribal-class. Trumpeter or Tamiya, etc.

I am wondering if PE sets, in their descriptions, have a parts count number as that would be a good, albeit simplistic way of judging which is better.

Nice BIG photos and excellent painting. Your flags appear to be upside down though. .. Why is there a searchlight on the bow?

Thanks for posting this info. Any information about Nichimo is or was scarce as they were a bit obscure. Their most well-known kit, the Yamato in 1/200, I never got my hands on (and I'm not sure I want to) but I have one each of their other 1/200 naval vessels. After amassing those kits, I got curious about Nichimo's status myself a few years ago but no one knew anything and they had no company website to speak of. It's sad to see them finally defunct.

Over here in the states, IPA is India Pale Ale and is a heinous waste for washing these figures. It's for washing your insides with! Ex-FAAWAFU, which set did you order, the modern flight deck set or something else? Seems the WWII USN set by Holden8702 has already been set up for 1/350. ~H

Indeed, that flotilla of battleships is made up of the new Graupner 1/150 Yamato and is RTR. That's the assembly line of the Chinese shipyard that makes them. I see a few men in attendance but things of this nature are typically assembled by women as they do better with fine, delicate work on account of their more nimble fingers.

I'm a big fan of the JMSDF and their unique vessels. A great many, if not all, certainly capture the structural distinctiveness from the IJN era and beyond that has always been uniquely Japanese. Nice mottling on the hull above and below the waterline. The weathering is not overdone although I think it would be rare to see such wear and tear on a peacetime vessel but we can surmise that she was on an extended patrol or had partaken in lengthy war games or training. Nice weathering on the props too.

To all concerned, I'm quoting a friend here only because he said it so succinctly: "The 4 IOWA class ships were built to a class design, but are not identical. Due to wartime shortages, steel production, construction design changes, whatever the case - the superstructures were slightly different from ship to ship. Decide on the ship you wish to model and then research that ship for drawings, photos, etc. - One size does NOT fit all." It sounds profound but the same can be said of their contemporaries such as the King George V and Bismarck-classes.

This designer, HOLDEN8702, has a range of figures most notably WWII USN Combat and casual dress sailors in various ship scales. I ordered a combat set (with M1 helmets and "Mae West" life jackets) for my Lindberg kits in 1/125 and the detail is outstanding. Faces, hands, heels on the shoes and clothes wrinkles all well executed. These were printed without a carrier sprue so handling was easier. I used dish detergent and warm water to clean them with an old toothbrush... He might be able to print these and others in 1/350 as well. https://www.shapeways.com/shops/panzervstanks ~Harq

It is my understanding that Shapeways will freely replace broken items from shipment or missing or deformed parts, just contact them. I haven't done it but one of my designer friends from the site showed me the way.

Great classic kit. Are you aware there is a PE set for this model made by Gold Medal Models (railings included)?

Fantastic, fine work and great photos--they are very much appreciated. These figures look great and are fully fleshed out in 3D, unlike some photo etched figures I have seen. I first thought the thread title was an inquiry into where these figures could be obtained--but you are the provider!