USS Independence (LCS-2) 1:350 Bronco Models

[Mike]

Well, I've gone and done it. I'm actually building something that floats on the ocean... in 1:350 scale!

When this kit arrived for review, I immediately took a liking to it. Coupled to that is the simplicity of the hull, lack of masses of sticky-out bits, and the presence of a decent set of photo-etched parts that should let me build it up without too much hassle, and without recourse to aftermarket parts.

On the subject of aftermarket parts, there's an opportunity for some master maker to do a detailed hangar bay, as there are shutters and three walls provided in the kit, but no extra detail... whether there are any pics out there due to secrecy concerns though, who knows?

Anyway - on with the build. The instructions would have you build up the superstructure first, and who am I to argue, but I'm going to call it the Bridge from here on in The Parts are straightforward flat slabs, but the angles between them are different for each vertex, so I approached the task with trepidation and liquid glue. Once i'd trimmed up and glued two parts, it was clear that fit would be almost perfect, and the walls were all glued in place in pretty short order. The same goes for the smaller level above the main bridge, and with a few of the smaller parts added and all of the glazing installed, I set it aside to cure. I've not yet put any of the tiny parts or PE on, as I figured that gluing the assembly to the main hull would require some handling, and I didn't want to damage any of the parts.

The lower hull consists of 7 parts if you include the rear bulkhead, and care is needed when joining the various sub-assemblies together to get those seams as tight at possible. I glued the two main hull parts and clamped them together overnight to set up. next day they were sanded and the seam disappeared quite easily. I also glued the optional lower parts to the outer hulls as I'm modelling this on its stand rather than waterline - one new experience at a time is enough for me!

Once I'd sanded the puttied joints along the outer hulls, I attached the outers to the main hull by running liquid glue along the join from the inside. I also attached the rear bulkhead to ensure that they were set at the correct angle, and when complete I taped the upper hull in place so I wouldn't have any nasty surprises later. This morning I removed the upper hull and inspected my work. Not too bad so far, but I'll have to put some primer down to see any problems. I noticed that they lower hull assembly was quite flexible, so glued some scrap styrene rod across the gaps, and strengthened the rear bulkhead. While I was at it, I also re-enforced the upper hull, which was also quite flexible, despite having strengthening ribs already built in. After lots of chopping & gluing, I'd used up all the spare odds & ends that I had lying around, so called a halt to proceedings. The rigidity of the parts is much improved, and with it the easy with which the two halves mate together

I've attached all of the doors to the hull, and the odd little cut-outs on the rear corners, which had some rather awkward ejector pin marks that needed scraping off. The fit of these parts is a bit tricky, so I suspect a bit of fettling will be needed before I can attach the hull halves.

[Chris Hewitt]

Interesting what u have done to the hull ,must be very flexible

[Shar2]

Looking good. You would have thought that Bronco would have provided strengthening ribs seeing as the hulls parts are flexible.

BTW aren't you meant to building a sub Mike, or are you fighting against Dans' prompting?

[Mike]

BTW aren't you meant to building a sub Mike, or are you fighting against Dans' prompting?

He keeps mithering me, but I'm resisting so far

In truth, the hull isn't THAT flexible, I just got carried away with the strip as usual Because I'm so ham fisted with glue, I thought that if I could get it as rigid as possible, I'd need less hands

[jimbuna]

What is the overall length of the model Mike?

[Shar2]

What is the overall length of the model Mike?

It's still 15" long as mentioned in the review.

[jimbuna]

It's still 15" long as mentioned in the review.

Never noticed the review link

[Mike]

Never noticed the review link

In fairness to you, I'd forgotten to put it in, but you SHOULD be reading ALL the reviews

15" is an approximate figure, and will have to stay that way until I can find one of my many missing tape measures

[jimbuna]

In fairness to you, I'd forgotten to put it in, but you SHOULD be reading ALL the reviews

15" is an approximate figure, and will have to stay that way until I can find one of my many missing tape measures

Rgr that

[Mike]

I decided to glue the bridge to the upper hull before joining the two hull halves together. That allowed me to fish around inside the hull getting alignment right, and made clamping the two parts together a bit easier. Getting the front diagonal flats flush with the edge of the hull is a bit of a tricky one, and a little fettling will be required in due course. I can't help wondering whether building up the bridge on the top of the hull would give better results rather than as a separate assembly, which allows your angles to get a fraction out. I guess I'll have to leave that to someone else to find out

The solitary gun attaches to the forward hull by a solitary pin, and given that the barrel is very fragile, I thought it best to leave it off until later. So that it could remain rotatable (is that even a word?), I trapped the pin in position with a C-shaped construction of styrene sheet glued inside the hull, so it can be added later.

[Mike]

I glued the hull top and bottom halves together yesterday, taking my time to align each edge and gluing sectuon by section. It took about 15 minutes, but the results were worth it, and only one or two clamps were needed to keep the front of the lower hull at the same width as the upper. I untaped it all this morning and set about it with sanding sticks, flatting down the faces to retain the sharp angles at the intersection of each surface. The underside of the bridge between the hulls needs a little filler, which is setting up as I type this, and one of the small lifeboat stations at the rear quarter was also a little out, leaving a small gap, which I filled with slips of styrene sheet.

I've put a test coat of Alclad white primer on the joins, and there's a little more sanding and filling required here and there, but not too bad considering.

I'm not far from being able to put all the fiddly bits on, which should see the interest level increase somewhat, but I've also found a small issue with the bridge, insofaras Bronco have simplified the small grab-rails just under the bridge windows (presumably for cleaning/repairs to glazing or wipers) to a couple of raised lines. I'll have a root through my stash of spares and see if I can find any thin railings that could be cut down and attached instead.

[ferny]

coming together nicely Mike.

[Shar2]

Looking good. Certainly a stange looking ship.

[Chris Hewitt]

very different

[Calum]

Interesting subject there Mike. looking forward to seeing more progress

[KiwiSteve]

Shes coming along nicely Mike, I take it this is the ship design based on data from the Vospers test ship for the Royal navies Future Surface Combatant?

[Mike]

Thanks guys

Shes coming along nicely Mike, I take it this is the ship design based on data from the Vospers test ship for the Royal navies Future Surface Combatant?

Apparently not. it's supposed to be an all new design by Northrop Grumman based on an Australian hull... have a look on Wikipedia for more info here.

[KiwiSteve]

Thanks for the link Mike She sounds like one sh*t hot rocket ship with the LM2500 gas turbines powering her at 50mph Check out that price tag though I will be watching this with interest

[Mike]

It's also a lot more interesting than LCS-1 - USS Freedom, which is quite tame by comparison in terms of construction.

[Mike]

After pausing to finish off the F-16 I'd been procrastinating about, I've taken up the cudgel on this again. The main issue was blending the main hull halves (top & bottom) together, and the pesky lower halves of the outer hull. Lots of putty/sand/repeat there. I also had to work on getting the front angled sides of the bridge transitioning smoothly into the corresponding facet in the hull. That's further complicated by the addition of two small PE fillets, which also have to be blended. On top of those go some small trapezoid chunks of PE, but I've left those off until the fillets are completely blended.

I gave the whole thing a coat of Alclad grey primer to check progress, and there isn't much that needs touching up other than the aforementioned parts. The windows have been protected by a coat of Ambroid EZ-Mask, and any touch ups will be done with a fine brush later in the build. Once I'm happy with the hull, I'll set about painting it, for which I've got a few ideas on how to replicate the somewhat patchy finish on the in-service boat.

[Mike]

Have I told you lately that I love Lifecolor?

The instructions give you FS36270 as the hull color, with the flight deck a darker FS36118. I'm casting around looking for the appropriate colors from Xtracrylix, Tamiya, Vallejo and Lifecolor, using the Paint4Models paint chart, but not having much luck. I picked out some greys from the British selection I mentioned in the review here, and what should I see below the UA numbers 094 - Medium Sea Grey and 022 - Dark Grey? You guessed it... those pesky FS numbers

That makes the paint job so much easier... now I just have to decide how to replicate the rather faded scheme on the real thing

[Dylan]

I hate to be the fly in the ointment but the real ship is unpainted aluminum. the "fading" you are seeing is the heat discolouration from welding the internal structure.

[sweaty]

I hate to be the fly in the ointment but the real ship is unpainted aluminum. the "fading" you are seeing is the heat discolouration from welding the internal structure.

At leasts that makes it easier

Nice work so far Mike, you have got me eyeing up the 1/700 dragon version. And the keyboards 7 Years old me thinks, much paint, beer and fag ash has made its way inbetween the keys almost time for a trip to the dishwasher

Jamie

Edited October 8, 2010 by sweaty

[Mike]

I hate to be the fly in the ointment but the real ship is unpainted aluminum. the "fading" you are seeing is the heat discolouration from welding the internal structure.

I've seen a couple of pics where the very top of the super-structure looks like bare metal, but in other shots, I'm almost certain that she's been painted. I'd have thought that aluminium wouldn't fare well long term in the rigors of sea air and spray, so some kind of protective coating would be needed.

Here's the one where the top looks unpainted:

This one looks painted:

[Dylan]

the only reference i could find in a quick search is on facebook linkage and if you are not signed into fb it will probably not let you in however here are the posts on the USS INDEPENDENCE (LCS 2) fb page

" I'm building the little DML model of Independence...how is she painted? Looks different in almost every photo - reminds of that silvery look the F-22s have from certain angles. Actually heard someone claim she's not painted, but she'd have to be. Any thoughts, anyone? Any other modelers having this quandary?"

"You heard correctly. LCS 2 is not painted. The decision was made to leave the hull unpainted in order to keep her weight down and thus increase her maximum speed. The color of the hull is that of aluminum. It is a lighter gray than the classic battleship color. Hope that helps!"

"When painted it was only a true paint below the water line. They kinda sandblasted a slurry on the Hull it self bringing it to almost a ghost grey color."

" helped build this ship and to answer your question there is no clear coat over the aluminum and she is painted from the water line down but from the water line up all that was done was a lite sand blasting of the aluminum "

i think the theory is that there will be a layer of aluminum oxide on the surface and that will protect the layer underneath. thats the way it works on airplanes, but i have seen firsthand what the ocean does to a seeplane . they will probably be painting her within 5 years imho

D

Edited October 9, 2010 by Dylan