In Progress: DDG-54

  • DDG-54 Curtis Wilbur 1:200 Scale

    DDG-54 is an Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer on active duty in the US Navy. The 72 DDG's are the backbone of the surface fleet. This is my first 1:200 scale ship model which provides for much more detail. With the large size comes more parts! (1,300)!

  • Opening Day!

    This is the I Love It KIt (Formerly Trumpeter) with a great one piece hull and all the PE you need. As always with Trumpeter, the instructions are good enough but not the best, so experience counts when doing this kind of build. I found a great source to help with the details and work sequence: https://www.youtube.com/@PatricksScaleStudio-76

  • Special Hull Work

    Preparing the hull is routine (sanding out mold lines etc.) with the exception of the seam with the sonar dome. To eliminate the seam, I placed a very thin length of extruded sprue in the seam with thin cement and then sanded carefully.

  • Mounted Hull

    When the hull is painted and ready for the rest of the build you can mount in on a work board with the same bolts that you will use for the display pedestals (on another finished board at the end of the build). This makes it so much easier to do all the deck and superstructure work later as you can easily move the model around and keeps your fingers off the hull!

  • Anchoring Mounting Nuts

    I used Milliput epoxy (a tip from Patrick) to fix the pedestal nuts to the hull. Now you can take the hull off the board when needed and of course its necessary once the deck is in place when I do the final switch to the display board.

  • Waterline Marking Device

    You need to mark the waterline to paint the black bootstrap on the hull. Amazon has a device to do this using a mechanical pencil. I made my own rig with a heavy jar and tape, finally finding the exact correct height from the table. You just place the tip of the pencil at the hull and move the jar along the table. This keeps the exact height along the whole hull.

  • Hull Painting Completed

    Takes some patience but its alway a great milestone when you ship's hull has a well done paint job. Now the deck will go on and the real building will start....

  • Masking After Deck Painting

    The two piece deck was painted dark grey and then masked to paint the sky grey (basic hull & superstructure) features. I used the after market pre-cut masks which saved a lot of time.

  • Deck Decals

    Unlike aircraft models, most of the decals for a modern navy ship have to be applied early before all the deck details are placed. I did the hull and the deck next. The deck decals were good quality, but very delicate. You have to cut the big ones in pieces to have any chance of success. The aft deck markings shown here was cut into 5 pieces and then matched carefully.

  • Mock Up of Superstructure

    The big superstructure pieces are shown here. Each is a subassembly with many small parts attached before overall painting and then glued to the deck.

  • Many Sub-Assemblies

    The forward and aft superstructures are models just by themselves with many small parts to include and paint. With this big scale, you get the opportunity (and challenge) to add lots of details. Here, for example, you can build the Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) with great detail.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS#:~:text=The%20Phalanx%20CIWS%20(SEE%2Dwiz,Antonio%2Dclass%20amphibious%20transport%20dock.

  • Forward Superstucture

    Completed Sub Assembly ready to attach to the hull. The bridge and other items will be added later. This is a great example of experience and extra planning when building this type of kit. The instructions have you adding the complex mast assembly and railing etc and then attaching to the hull. That is not a good idea with all the small little pieces to work around if you did that. The better plan is to attach the two superstructure sub assemblies mostly completed. Then add railings and the other deck parts in an easier order.

  • Forward Superstructure Close Up

    Showing the details on the model. Another note is that there is no reference in the instructions on rigging (flag halyards and antennas etc). Later I will set up rigging thread before attaching the bridge and main mast, just to make it much easier.