USS Gearing, DD-710, 1945 (Dragon, 1/350)

[Marcello Rosa]

Here is my completed USS Gearing, built from the Dragon 1/350 kit, out of the box apart from railings and some home made improvisations.

Little did I know that, when I was gifted this kit by some friends at work (my birthday, 2019) this was going to become my most ambitious project yet. Pretty much from day 1 you have to deal with sub-millimetre pieces (each Oerlikon has to be put together from 9 parts, including a mixture of polystyrene and photoetch). My learning curve became very, very steep (this is only my third ship).

The rigging is largely human hair, although for some thicker and thinner parts I used surgical silk and Caenis thread, respectively. I also substituted the jackstaff and the aerials sticking out of the aft stack with metal (hypodermic needle and tungsten wire), since the parts provided  in the kit looked unnaturally thick, and kept breaking during the build anyway.

There were some problems with the instructions. I have compiled a list of tips to avoid getting into trouble in my web site (address in my signature panel below). Feel free to email me for any questions.

I am sorry for the quality of my photos, particularly in comparison with some of the stunning stuff I have seen in this web site. I only have my iPhone for this.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Marcello Rosa
substitute photo with a damaged part which has been subsequently fixed

[socjo1]

Beautiful model of beautiful ship with crisp and clean details and painting. I like Gearings very much due to its low, somewhat heavy silhouette and many big guns.

Edited April 2, 2021 by socjo1

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Marcello, don't worry about the photos, they're fine. I think this is a very good model, and the ship certainly packed a punch. With all those guns it is obvious how they got the name "Kamikaze Killers". Well done. Regards, Jeff.

[F-32]

That looks superb

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Oh me oh my, that's simply gorgeous, echoing above comments - v crisp details. I have also learnt that I can use human hair for rigging (or at least blame a fading hairline on modelling)...so thank you.

 

David

[Faraway]

That is a very very nice build. Well done.

Jon

[dnl42]

Very nicely built and finished!  

[Toryu]

This is an extraordinary model and very realistic.

Your pictures are fine. I love the one with the mirror as basis - just use some cardboard or printed sky with clouds as background next time 😉

[Alan P]

Wow, agree with the general appreciation, handsome ship, great kit and beautifully built 👏👏👏

[robgizlu]

Great looking build - I was intrigued to hear about rigging with human hair 

Rob

[Marcello Rosa]

Hi all

Thanks for the encouraging feedback. With respect to the use of hair for the riggings, it is not a bad option. I happen to be blessed with a daughter with very long, fine and straight hair, so when I need some supplies all I need is a quick trip to where she keeps her combs. It is a good material that is amenable to get firmly attached with quick setting cyanoacrylate. I have tried other people's hairs, and the results are not all that good - particularly if someone dyes the hair, it becomes thicker and too stiff...

Apparently it is not a new technique - quite old in fact: https://blog.marinersmuseum.org/2020/10/built-with-what-bones-hair-and-prisoners-model-ships-of-war/

[Terry1954]

Superb looking Gearing!

 

Terry

[Greg Law]

Great looking model. I really like your weathering. I can see a lot of effort has gone into getting that to look right. 

[Marcello Rosa]

A little update on this one. This weekend we just had the first Australian Model Expo since the beginning of the pandemic. This was my first opportunity to show my models in public and compete. And the new is...the Gearing got first prize in the large scale/ powered ships category, and "best of brand" for Dragon! 

[MRMRL]

Congratulations, not bad for only your third ship, you'd not know it by looking at it.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @Marcello Rosa, I've only just seen your post of June. So please accept a belated congratulations on your award for the model. She looks a beauty. Regards, Jeff.

[Marcello Rosa]

1 hour ago, MRMRL said:

Congratulations, not bad for only your third ship, you'd not know it by looking at it.

Thank you . I look forward to seeing the Shimakaze, which I think is a really good looking ship

[MRMRL]

19 minutes ago, Marcello Rosa said:

Thank you . I look forward to seeing the Shimakaze, which I think is a really good looking ship

It's been very slow progress, hopefully it'll be completed soon 😉

[mick]

great work

[Rod bettencourt]

That looks fantastic!! Thanks for sharing.

 

Rod

[ErikT]

Beautifully done!  The award was certainly well-deserved!

[Model Monkey]

Brilliant.  Well-deserved award.

[Micha_Pol]

Lovey-looking ship, tons of great detail and well-painted.

[Michael M]

Very nice model of a great looking ship. I'm hoping that Dragon will re-release them, you can't get them for normal money anymore. One thing that strikes me though is the fact that you swapped the screws, left is right and right is left. RH should rotate clockwise and LH anticlockwise. There are exemptions from that rule, but they're are the ships optimized for maneuvering at very low speeds.

Cheers

Mick

Edited August 17, 2022 by Michael M

[Marcello Rosa]

4 hours ago, Michael M said:

Very nice model of a great looking ship. I'm hoping that Dragon will re-release them, you can't get them for normal money anymore. One thing that strokes me though is the fact that you swapped the screws, left is right and right is left. RH should rotate clockwise and LH anticlockwise. There are exemptions from that rule, but they're are the ships optimised for manoeuvring at very low speeds.

Cheers

Mick

Thanks for the tip. I will get this fixed and try to remember for future builds.