1/350 USS Cole DDG-67

I thought to get this forum underway, a new topic was in order. And why not make it my first ship as well?! Let's do this..
 

Subject: USS Cole DDG-67
Scale: 1/350
Brand: Trumpeter
Paints to be used: Mr Color mostly, plus some SMS, AK Real Colors, and Tamiya.
Aftermarket to be used: None! Maybe scratch build a few things?

Start Date: 28-Jan-2024

I've seen some amazing ships built online and on youtube, I've always wanted one, so why not start with my favourite navy vessel, one of the Arleigh Burke class destroyers. And USS Cole is of course famous for being attacked while fueling in the port of Aden in Yemen by terrorists, so this means a little more to me than the others of the class. 

The box arrived a little dented, but everything seems fine on the inside: 
 

Colour scheme is typical naval standard stuff! 


After a quick read of the manual, I've done what any experienced model builder does, not follow it all lol.. I'll build this from the top down pretty much. I can then mask off the darker roof sections, and decking, and eventually paint the rest of the super structure in FS36270 grey.

I started with the non-slip deck just outside the bridge (I regret to inform you this build will probably be lacking in formal naval terminology!). This was sprayed in Tamiya Rubber Black LP-65.
 
Once dry, I have then masked this floor off, and it will stay masked from now until weathering.
This is what I refer to as "The Art of Masking"! lol
 
I may have to adjust this masking and do it again when I build and fit the bridge, oh well! 

Next I built the roof of the bridge and the highest structure on the ship, other than the mast. This was a little difficult to line up and glue together, and isn't the greatest fit. But remembering it's a really tiny scale, no one is likely to see the gaps. I'll try and fill them a bit anyway. 
 
Once dried in place, the flat part of the roof could be painted in Medium Gunship Grey FS36118. I used SMS in this case. Never mind the overspray, that will be lost beneath the overall grey in the end. 
 
Next for this piece will be masking the FS36118, and that too will remain masked until near the end for weathering.

More to follow..


 

And he's off!! Watching this one mate.
No issues selecting the Category then? Never sure, my idea of simple isn't always simple, at least that's what the wife tells me  
Nice to get Whiterook's name off the charts as well 

This is a great selection… looking forward to seeing this come together; most interested in the top-down technique and curious on that, as well. Do you plan to build a custom base for it, or does it come with one you’ll use….I am of course, assuming it is whole hull? I also like how you setup the first post with Subject, Scale, Brand, etc…that’s something I’ve not seen done quite that way on a forum thread before and I really like it!

Cheers guys! No issues at all Gary. I'm an experienced forum guy from way back, so I am happy finding my way around one 

Thanks Em. No plans to build a diorama base. Maybe that's something I can try in the future though. For now she will park on the provided stand in the box. The top down idea is mostly to ease the painting as it's hard to mask in places for the airbrush. The roof and deck are a darker colour compared to the rest of it, and can be more easily masked. It's all very small for a guy used to working in 1/48th.. Yes, that's correct, it's the whole ship, from the tip of the mast, to the propellers under the water. 
I'm hoping it will look like this when done..

(that wooden stand in this photo is not supplied in the box)

AlisterC wrote:

Cheers guys! No issues at all Gary. I'm an experienced forum guy from way back, so I am happy finding my way around one 

Thanks Em. No plans to build a diorama base. Maybe that's something I can try in the future though. For now she will park on the provided stand in the box. The top down idea is mostly to ease the painting as it's hard to mask in places for the airbrush. The roof and deck are a darker colour compared to the rest of it, and can be more easily masked. It's all very small for a guy used to working in 1/48th.. Yes, that's correct, it's the whole ship, from the tip of the mast, to the propellers under the water. 
I'm hoping it will look like this when done..

(that wooden stand in this photo is not supplied in the box)
 

That’s a nice base! My last ship model, I researched the methods used on using brass fixtures in in the base…something romantic to me about a ship being held up by brass posts; looking up brass fixtures in model company catalogs proved to show these were ridiculously expensive so, I bought some brass lamp finials from a company here in the US (Texas Lamp Company) and they were perfect, and a damned sight cheaper! I mounted them by attaching them with nuts inside the hull before attaching the deck....hence my asking.

I love that final look on the reference shot you provided. I really must tackle something like this someday. Happy to see this build thread, mate!

thanks! I'll endeavor to keep up on this for you, I'm also working on a TR-1A spy plane at the moment, but when that is finished it's full steam ahead on the Cole. Cheers!

Some days model building is measured in centimeters, I'm certain of it. Today was one of those days, with THE smallest windows I've ever tried masking. I work fulltime, have a large family, so I can't always spare a lot of time for my hobbies. Tonight I had a spare 1.5hrs or so. I decided since the paints hadn't arrived for the ship (hopefully tomorrow), I'd do more masking. 
The piece I airbrushed a couple of days ago got masked first., so the medium grey surface that is painted is now protected and ready for the next step.
 
Followed by all the tiny tiny windows for the bridge! The windows are about 1.8-1.9mm tall, so I cut a strip of tape about that thin, and then cut tiny little chunks out of it, that were the thickness I needed for the windows (which of course were all different sizes in width). After the first half hour I got pretty good at eyeballing the size of the piece of tape I needed, and things started to speed up. 
Those tiny windows..
 

That's it for today though, bedtime again. More to follow..

 

Time for a bit of a catch up. I finished my aircraft, so it's full steam ahead on the ship for the moment. 

Firstly I have painted the bridge windows, sorry, no photo on hand lol, and the walk around decking outside the bridge.
 

I felt like doing some more building, so I started with the forward smoke stack, and this lead to the start of the main main bridge structure as well. This went together so well. The angled edges went together like the should, it was easy to put together, and went well. It honestly took longer to clean up the sprue joins, than to join up the panels together. 
    

The top deck could be mounted into the super structure, and the gaps filled
 

And gaps sanded and polished
 
 

It's the weekend, I have time for a big project today. Ok, let's start on the fore and aft deck markings. The front decal in the kit is incorrect, and misses a red warning ring around the main deck gun. Ok, I'll have to paint these for accuracy. These decks also contain raised details, yuck, so I started with sanding these off. Difficult with all the little details around them. 
 
I then sprayed all the white lines with SMS Insignia White, and gently sanded them with some 3000 grit when done. 
 
Next I need to paint the red circle. It looks like this:
   
With a circle cutter, I made some measurements and made some masks
 
These were carefully laid as best I could on the deck (this wasn't easy by any means!)
 
Once I got it on. I figured the line was a bit thick, that's ok. I'll just paint it red inside, and mask off the red with a slightly thinner mask. Like so:
 
After that, I could remove the masks, and cut some more for the rest of the white lines on the foredeck. Noting they are dashed through the middle, not solid like the decal..
 
So a good 5 hrs work or so.. Good progress though, and the front deck can now be painted in the medium gunship grey when I'm ready for that. 
The rear deck will probably take about the same length of time, another day though!

Hi all, USS Cole is still in production, but I am slowed a bit at the moment due to family life. I've been spending time finishing the super structure on top of the hull, have started tidying up and building the lower hull, and masking, more masking..

Here's some photos of the last week pretty much..
1. The rear section of the super structure has been built. Went together well mostly, no real problems here. 
 


2. The lump on the front is two pieces, they have been joined, and then glued to the hull. I've filled the gaps here with super glue. It'll all polish back to smooth nicely enough, no need to panic. 
 


3. The flat decks that are darker grey on the top parts have now been painted. The forward smoke stack has also been fitted. This did not fit well, it needed a bit of sanding to try and improve it. In the end I just went with some filler (moving on!)
 


4. And I mentioned the masking. I've managed to mask off the rear section, just the front part still to go. Will try and add that job into my things to do in the next couple of days.
 

Following that, it will be time to mask the rear deck markings, then time to put all the big pieces together. And then paint! Followed by 300 tiny bits
Cheers