Jump to content

Laffey: The Successful Experiment


Guest PetrolGator

Recommended Posts

Guest PetrolGator

I love tin cans. These plucky little ships gave and took worse than about every other class of warship in the Pacific War. When the American and Japanese fleets were carrier depleted, destroyers engaged, on the front line, in battle in and around the Solomons. Hell, one can argue that it was the destroyers of Taffy 3 that prevented a major setback in the Philippines Campaign.

 

I have the intention of completing at least four destroyers in 1/350 due to my reverence of the subject and its history:

  • USS Laffey (DD-459)
  • USS Johnston (DD-557)
  • HIJMS Yukikaze
  • HIJMS Shigure

Of the four, this post will concern DD-469. Laffey participated in the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, engaging Japanese forces at near point blank range. During the action, she came within TWENTY feet, spraying the leviathan's bridge with five inch and machine gun fire, killing several officers and seriously wounding Admiral Abe. Shortly thereafter, a torpedo from the Yukikaze hit her fantail, followed by at least one 14" shell from the Hiei. She rapidly sank, but seriously hindered the effectiveness of the Japanese battleship.

 

The kit in question is made by Dragon Models with input from several big name in the model ship world. Her decks are well cambered, hull is perfect, and the superstructure detail is exquisite. I added Gold Medal Models' PE set, Alliance Modelworks' radar, and L'Arsenal crew.

 

I wanted to get this boat right. I spent an uncanny amount of time sealing small gaps that seriously bugged me on other completed versions of this kit. I scanned photos of her condition just prior to her loss. Once I was happy with the building process, I utilized the hairspray technique and oil paints to fade/weather the hull sufficiently to show a well loved ship in the midst of one of the worst naval campaigns of the war for the USN. The waterbase, at the time, was my best, and I still have strong feelings for it.

 

As a side note, I'm in the process of building her executioner, the Yukikaze (which survived the war.) I'll be spending about the same amount of time/effort into her construction.

 

I've had a lot of luck with this model at contests. She's taken Best Ship in two shows and Best in Show in Lafayette.

 

Pictures of the completed model:

 

1977247_10104877713040781_1147505255_n_z

 

1557481_10104877713030801_490444739_n_zp

 

537113_10104877713220421_244680256_n_zps

 

1947868_10104877713190481_2016789282_n_z

 

1618414_10104877713035791_698287616_n_zp

 

1380202_10104877713180501_1833774934_n_z

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest PetrolGator

Thank you, gentlemen. I'm hoping to one up the Laffey with a build of her Japanese counterpart, the Yukikaze. I'm using some similar techniques for weathering (ship spent almost TWO YEARS without refit.) She'll be dirtier than most of my work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...