The instructions for this kit don't make any reference to the long hull OHP, so make sure you use the long-hull flight deck piece and stern part when putting together the basic hull.
Hull: Primed (and base-coated) with Tamiya Light Ghost Gray spray primer.
Boottop/flightdeck/radar: Mr. Surfacer Black 1500
Antifouling: Vallejo Model Color Hull Red (I'll be using the Model Air hull red in the future, as even when heavily thinned, the airbrush HATED spraying the model color)
Deck surfaces given dusting of Black 1500 to experiment with weathering.
went a little too heavy on the dark ghost gray, thinking i could color correct it with some light ghost gray. Of course, what i didnt realize is, I dont have any non-spraypaint light ghost gray. :/
There's a lot of things about this build that I'm not thrilled with, but as my first 1/350 ship (and the second model I ever started, even before my ov-10) it is a massive learning experience. And it does still look very cool
A 5 star models 26 ft whale boat is on order. Its the wrong Mk, but i dont see anyone making cheap Mk8 26 ft whaleboats. I'll also use a little bit of PSB pipe to make the lower rail that holds the boat in place.
thought i would buy the longhull decal pack and do the lines of the flightdeck like that, but that thing is almost 30 bucks and its only through a boutique retailer! So i'll try using the pontos masking to airbrush on all the white lines first.
if you look closely, you can see the remains of rigging on the bottom of the mainmast catwalks that was ultimately removed due to how frustrated i was getting with the whole endeavor. will come back to it before the project is done.
as one of my first builds, I started out under the impression that I could build it all and then paint everything at once, which is part of the reason it looks kinda funky.
There was some... Uh... Accidents that led to the bridge antenna not looking good anymore. I know the antenna aren't really whip antenna, but I think they look really good.
The way decals work on this ship is really frustrating. Because of the deck clutter, you HAVE to add the red "caution" circles to the top deck before mounting any structures onto the deck. At the point in the build pictured here, there's basically no way to add the caution circles around the CIWS or the 3 antenna structures.
Boat was primed with vallejo light ghost gray, then a coat of. Mission models insignia white. Boottop was in Mr surfacer black 1500, then used testors enamel rust for the mohogany accents. Dark ghost gray for the raised deck surfaces and light ghost gray for the engine. Then the deepest deck floors got a very light brushing of tamiya black panel liner.
The kit itself only includes water-slides for a short-hull OHP (different marking configuration on the flight deck), and only has naming and numbering for FFG-7 herself. Its very bare bones waterslides, and the only company making a decal set for long-hulls appears to have gone out of business.
The instructions booklet for the kit (at least the one I got) is not updated for the Long-Hull OHP, so it's easy to miss some stuff. If you're not looking for it, you might not realize they include a small FLYCO structure for the long hull flight deck.
FFG-54, USS Ford
Gunners mate Patrick Osborne Ford was postumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions in Vietnam. An account of his death is provided by Ralph J. Fries of River Section 535:
"Ford was the after .50 gunner. When the boat took a B-40 rocket in the port fuel tank, it blew and started a fire in the coxswain flat where BM1 Delph, the boat captain was killed instantly. Patrol officer, Lt. William Dennis was standing at the entrance to the coxswain flat talking on the radio. He was blown overboard, hitting his head on the canopy railing, and drowned. His body was picked up later on that day. The engineer, EN1 Knott was wounded while either standing on the engine covers, or close by the forward bulkhead of the engine compartment on the starboard side of the boat. I would assume he was on the engine covers manning the M-60 machine gun or Honeywell grenade launcher that was attached to the engine cover splinter shields. GMGSN Barry Johnson was in the forward .50 gun mount and was wounded from the blast of the port fuel tank.
Ford left the after .50 and pushed EN1 Knott into the water, then he pulled GMGSN Johnson from the forward .50 gun mount and put him into water. Ford, I assume, went to the coxswain flat and put the starboard engine throttle full speed ahead and straightened out the rudder to head straight to the beach as the boat was going in circles. After the boat hit the beach, Ford manned his gun until he was out of ammunition. This is when the VC captured him, before the cover boat could arrive on scene. When the cover boat arrived, they picked up Knott and Johnson out of the water.
The survivors stated that during the late evening and night of June 21st, they could hear screams that made their hair stand on end from a man on the land in the under brush, close by where Ford was captured near his boat. They knew that Ford was alive but being tortured most unmercifully. They retrieved Ford's mutilated body on the 25th.
Patrick Ford was not killed by a burst of fire after leaving the boat, he was captured and tortured to death."
