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Coast Guard Icebreaker, cont'd


VonL

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Am still plugging along with this thing and have achieved some success with the Gold Medal Models PE:

 

USCGCEastwindIcebreaker.jpg

 

Meanwhile, a couple of QUESTIONS about the Eastwind's armament. Am building this model for a former crewmember who was aboard her c.1957-59. The ship went through a couple of refits in this era. This guy was a Gunner's Mate and remembers an open 3" gun mount. I can't for the life of me find that weapon showing on any pix, many of which show up online in various websites, Flikr, IMAGE search engines, etc. The pix do show a transition of main armament from an open twin-40 mount c.1955 to an enclosed twin 5" turret c.1960, with the kit's 5" twin turrets having been removed after WWII.

 

 

Can anybody confirm with pix, the presence of an open 3" mount on the Eastwind (W279) in the 50's, or ever? Maybe hidden somewhere on the fantail? Or might this guy be conflating the ship's armament with that of another vessel he was aboard? My default plan will be to do the twin 40mm and call it good.

 

I'm outa ideas here. Any help or suggestions appreciated.

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I did this kit a few years back and did a little research, but never heard or saw any mention of a 3" gun, open mount or otherwise, in any weapons configuration she carried.

 

FWIW, I did mine with the configuration it came with and did home made railings and generic shaped PE for radars and helipad safety netting and a cobbled together rotor for the helo.

DSCN1763.jpg

 

DSCN1767.jpg

 

Your's looks like it will be MUCH better.

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Ron - she looks great! I'm just going with the GMM program, but seeing yours, I'm gonna use the kit's hoisting hooks on those cranes. The PE ones just don't have that heavy, 3-D presence. Am planning a similar treatment for the display base, too. How did you do that?

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Get an inexpensive picture frame with clear glass. PItche the picture of the generic babe/family and back paint the glass where the water would show.

 

Line the frame with plastic wrap. Mix up a loose batch of plaster of paris and pour it in the frame to get a layer about 1/4" or so thick. Let set up for a couple of days. It will seem dry in an hour or so, but, depending on humidity, will take a couple of days to really set and be dried out.

 

Take the sheet of plaster of paris and carefully lift it out of the pan. Break it into a few large parts. Keep as much of the straight edges as possible intact.

 

You ship needs to be waterlined. Set it on the glass and mark it's outline. Don't make a big dark continuous line, that will show. Just dots or something like that.

 

Take the pieces of plaster with straight edges and fit them back into the frame, leaving the space around the ship and it's wake empty. Get as close as you can to the bow. You'll have gaps and cracks, that's ok, but minimize them as best you can with smaller pieces of plaster. When everything is laid out, you can glue the pieces down with white glue, although it's not really necessary. You may want to mask off the frame now to avoid getting the next step all over it. Now mix up another, slightly thicker, batch of plaster of paris and use it as putty to fill in the gaps and holes, especially around the edges. Add texture to the surface if you wish. Remove the masking before it sets as it may not come off later or may pull plaster with it. When set, spread a layer of Gloss Medium over the open area and add in the ship. Now take some smaller pieces and set them in to provide the broken ice chunks. Texture the wake area with more gel if needed. When dry, paint the wake and any churned up water with oil paints. Acrylics don't like to stick to the gloss surface and beside, don't look as good. When dry, a coat of J&J's Klear, or whatever it's called now, finishes the water.

 

Get a product from Woodland Scenics called "Snow". Working is small areas, paint a coat of white glue over the ice and sprinkle on the "snow". When it's dry, blow off the excess.

 

Sounds like a lot of work, but each step is pretty easy. It just takes time, what with all the drying of plaster, gel, glue, etc.

 

Here's some better shots of the "ice".

 

DSCN1765.jpg

 

DSCN1764.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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Rob, your ship is looking good. Keep up with the pics as you go along. I want to see how you tackle your "ice".

 

Ron, nice directions on the dio. I have been wanting to do something like that with a submarine but couldn't figure a good way to do it. I think your explanation is just what I needed.

 

 

Great job both of you.

 

Bill

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  • 1 month later...

Just a howgozit here, with a test fit of the mast and some of the PE railings started, along with a few minor mods. Those nifty PE cranes are off stage and I'm still not sure which gun to use, so both options are shown. Fun so far:

 

USCGCEastwindIcebreakerW2792.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanx!

 

If you really squint: The clunky kit parts for the 20mm AA guns abeam the bridge were updated with some scratch/mods and PE.

 

The 'moody' lighting is my friend here...

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