Rob 1

Thanks All. I will be doing her in Measure 21, as she's being modelled for mid-1943. There will be plenty of crew and activity on the decks, I've normally used L'Arsenal figures previously as they are pretty good, although tested using some Northstar figures on my last ship and they are very fine indeed, so will be using more on this build. I bought the U.S.Navy set 3 from Starling Models at the recent Northern Model Show - they will all be drafted to CV-9 following final commissioning . Having read up on plenty of research, USS Essex had acquired Jeeps on the deck by this stage, so also have some of L'Arsenal's excellent little 1:350 Jeeps to add (it would appear the 'Moto-Tug' tractors and utility deck cranes didn't arrive until later in the war, which is a shame as I had splashed out on a set of 3D printed tractors, and they are gorgeous).

This has progressed really well, and looks great. As mentioned before, the level of detail achievable at this scale is very impressive, and has been well applied on this one.

Looks good, very nicely finished and displayed, and a good level of detail particularly for that scale. An interesting subject too - this is quite a big frigate for the Norwegian Navy, looks like full Aegis type radar arrays, vertical launch system (AAM), 8 x SSM canisters, medium auto gun, as well as ASW helo. Not bad, certainly up to the latest modern frigate standard as many other more major navies.

Those detailed parts are looking really good, this will be a very finely embellished destroyer when finished.

More progress has been made - the island area is nearing completion of assembly now, with the p.e. and a fair few minor scratch made extras added. The twin 5"/38 turrets needed a bit of work, as the main turret, the side plates and rear curved plate come as separate pieces - this has allowed better detail to be moulded on the face of them, but the edges don't come together very sharply, so needed a bit of filling and sanding to produce reasonably clean edges without any gap showing. The main island, deck houses and turrets are all still detached (as you can see the gaps), I will need to decide whether to keep them off for painting or attempt painting with them after they have been fixed down (and gaps filled).

That is phenomenal !! - absolutely top rate level of detail, particularly the aircraft and extra detail work in the hanger, also the overall finishing - to a point where it looks so real like it could be a much bigger scale. Excellent work!

Thanks Frank - anyone on here who knows the real me knows I love Britmodeller and wouldn't have a bad word to say against it or anyone on here .

Looks like someone has got into and used my account to post some long text about something or other (as quoted above) - it wasn't me, so I've deleted that original post (and changed my password to a more secure one), so all please ignore that original post.

DELETED Someone has used my account!

Lovely neat work, looks great.

Excellent building work, always good to see that extra detail being scratch made and added.

This is looking very intriguing - there's more complexity in the superstructure than I would have thought, looks good.

That looks excellent!

Looks very interesting, there's the potential of a good looking little diorama here - I'll be watching with interest.

Agree with all above, very nicely finished, you've done a great job on this old legend.

Very nicely finished, looks very characterful.

That looks great, what a nice subject to be building.

Excellent finishing, looks really good.

That's an excellent little diorama, very well composed and finished scene from this infamous conflict.

I have considered airbrushing primer, will probably get some and give it a go some time, but haven't yet as the can method is so quick and easy and reliable.

Spray can primer could go a bit wrong if applied too heavily, but I've used this method for years and with careful thin application it always gives a very fine finish (even on the finest p.e. parts), and the paint grain in this primer is very fine.

This is excellent, it captures the viewer's interest and sets a great scene.

I've just had a bit of a catch up on this too, I do like the nice atmospheric old building being worked on, looks very well finished and convincing.

I do like these, certainly a good step back in time.

More excellent top rate ship modelling, very good work.