I got home from work yesterday to find a LARGE box on my back porch, with laser cut kits for Balti and Takao.... in 1/96! (and Takao in 1/144) Glee! I have a whole week off of work coming up soon, and there will be lovely things happening (sailing my AoS boat and working on big Takao)!!!
Wound up working on USS Macon (CA-132) first, it was closer to the front of the box Basic hull is together, did it while watching Despicable Me with the wife. I took the precaution of buying some ply and balsa stuff today whilst Hobby Lobby was open, for use tomorrow. Will post pics in the AM.
I hope you picked up a lot of wood. And glue. These 96 scale boats sure use up the materials. When I was just building airplanes, I would go through about a 1/2 of a set of 5 min epoxy every 3 years. When I built my first 96 boat I went through an entire set of 5 min epoxy in one week.
I have a gallon container of West System But I must say that I totally failed to appreciate the scope of a 1/96 scale warship till I had the Macon sitting assembled on the floor, 7 feet long and bigger than sh**. When the wife woke up and saw it... I must say that she took it with remarkable grace, referring only to my 'odd hobbies' and refusing my offer to be traded in for a man who drinks and womanizes instead.
If you think it's big now on the floor wait till it's sunk and you have to recover it. I drive a IJN Musashi in 1/144 scale and I do sink once in a while, and when that happens a 59 lbs boat becomes a 120 lbs boat in short order.
I'd think that an Oi or Kitakami with 40 torpedo tubes would be the way to go, provided it doesn't roll over when you fire your broadside of 20 1/4 inch bearings.
That is why there is limits to the number of torpedos a 1/96 scale ship is allowed to carry. 20 topedos is game ending.
40 torps is game ending in any scale. It's caused so much heartache over here that anyone who even says "kitikami" is immediately thrown, fully clothed, radio and all, directly into the deepest part of the pond. With their pockets stuffed full of 1/4 shot and 12v SLA batterys cable tied to their ankles.
Tug, Have you started work on any of Mark's kits yet? I picked up my Takao kit from Mark on Saturday, and had the frame together (with some help from Mark) in a few hours. If you haven't started on it yet, you're going to love it. Carl
I actually started on the Baltimore (hull is assembled), which is as much fun as the 1/144 Balti to put together, only the spousal reaction to it is magnified somewhat. I have the 1/144 Takao assembled, and I look forward to the 1/96 Takao. However, I've been having some rather vexing pains in the back that have large ships on hold. I am worried that I won't be able to lift Baden at Nats, and after realizing that Henri IV is not Nats-legal, I started a scratchbuild Gearing, which I know I can lift all day without pain. After I get the Gearing done, I will continue work on Balti 96 in the hopes of getting the back fixed at some point once they figure out what the issue is. Anyhow, I have some pics; I'll upload them when I get the chance. For anyone contemplating buying one of Mark's kits, they are all that and a bag of chips! They are works of art in their own right and I highly recommend them to prospective battlers in either scale Side note - if anyone has a functional destroyer or lightweight Class 2 cruiser (or mostly functional) that they want to trade for an Iowa hull, drop me a line!
