1/700 USN AEGIS FFG-62 2000's

[Cliffy B]

I'm still stuck on the LCI project but while rummaging through the boxes stuffed under my bench I found this old 1/700 DML FFG-61 kit that I had slapped together haphazardly and brushed on a coat of horribly inaccurate MM acrylics probably 5-6 years ago.  I put her away due to college and the fact that the superstructure bulkheads caved in while drying so it would have required slicing up and re-gluing to fix.  Well....with some persuasive bending I was actually able to straighten them out.

While rummaging I found a printout for a project idea I wanted to build with this kit.  Its from an article in a 1981 edition of the Naval Engineer's Journal I found online of an AEGIS conversion/follow FFG to the ubiquitous FFG-7 class.  You can see the design in the photo below.



Top is was as she looked after I stuffed her back in her box several years back.  Bottom is the result of stewing in a bath of Simple Green and being scrubbed with an old toothbrush; another reason I use acrylics!  I could have removed more had I wanted to let her sit for another day but enough of the old paint is gone for my purposes.  Most of the hull detail and half of the superstructure will be removed anyway.

So that's my straight forward project.  I'll be modifying the design slightly, basically restoring the original dual helo hangar instead of the single in the drawing, adding Phalanx, and moving the boats around.  She'll be depicted sailing around in the 2000's, eventually with a whiff CG and BB refit for the same period but for now I'll focus on the FFG.  Off to cut plastic!

Any and all thoughts, comments, ideas, etc... are appreciated as always,
-Mike

[GTX_Admin]

Interesting...please proceed.

[Volkodav]

Very interesting I was aware of the Spruance based AEGIS DDG that lost out to the Burke but had no idea this existed as a concept.  It would have been an interesting platform for the Australian Frigate Project (local FFG 7 build curtailed at two hulls was meant to be 6 plus the original 4 US built ships).  There are also a number of surprising commonalities between the Spanish F-100 AEGIS frigate and the FFG7 to the point the F-100 could almost be considered the FFG-7 replacement.

[taiidantomcat]

Always happy to see how floaty things are built!  :)

[Cliffy B]

Thanks guys!  :)

I've finally finished all my measuring and calculations so I could figure out how to build up the hull plating.  The new design has an angular hull (like the DDG-51s) thus her beam is 8' wider.  I've also been measuring hangars and found that I can actually install a DD-963/DDG-995/CG-47 style hangar and still have room left over for a RHIB to be stored alongside thanks to the wider beam.  I chose this hangar style in lieu of the FFG style (2 hangars split by a passage way down the center) in order to give them more operation room.  The FFG hangars are/were always extremely tight and moving helos in bad weather was...yeah....  New arrangement is more logical (since there's more beam to play with) and will allow me to better show off a detailed hangar!

Off to apply my hull bulge, one 1/4mm thick piece of plastic at a time; 7 per side!

[Cliffy B]

OK, so after some more measuring I arrived at a plan to "plank" the hull.  What you see consists of multiple layers of 0.5mm x 2mm, 0.25mm x 6.3mm, 0.4mm x 3.2mm strips, and 0.75mm square stock.  The stern was built with some scrap 0.25mm thick sheet pieces.  After all of that dries PSR shall begin!



I have also decided on her name.  She'll be the USS Talbot (FFG-62) in honor of DEG/FFG-4 of the Cold War and one of my favorite college professors who sadly passed recently.

[Buzzbomb]

No that is an interesting concept.. clinker built Destroyers.

Looking like the goods so far

[Cliffy B]

No putty yet but there has been A LOT of sanding.  She's as smooth as glass 



The sides will need some putty in a few places to fix some voids but mostly it'll just fill in the joints.  I've extended the stern by about 5.5mm which translates to 12.63 feet in 1/1 scale.  Did this to allow for some more room for the VLS installation forward and to clean up stern and square it off.   I've also completely eradicated all of the molded on detail on the fo'c'sle (anchors, bits, capstan, etc...) and sanded it all smooth as well as the bulwarks. 

The part lying next to the bow is a the bow insert from a spare 1/700 DD-963 kit.  I'll reshape it so that it fits the FFG.  Not sure how I'll treat the starboard anchor yet as I tried to replicate the real life recess for it and botched it horribly and had to repair it.  Think I'll try the recess again.  Its a signature feature of the FFGs and I want this to retain some of them so that you can tell where it came from.  I will add a stem anchor though since in real life they did have 2 anchors just one wasn't visible since it was in the keel!  Apparently that one just caused problems and was seldom if ever used so I'll move it to the stem since she'll need it with all of the weight this design has added.

Waiting for some glue to dry so I can continue sanding and tackle the anchors.

[Buzzbomb]

That is looking great.. nice PSR so far.. and all with no Putty !!

Well done

[Cliffy B]

Evening gents!

Did some major deciding/figuring/calculations and arrived at a hangar for my little Frigate.  Behold, a partially completed hangar!



You can see my sketch of what it will look like above.  I borrowed the arrangement from the proposed (ultimately abortive) DDG-51 FLT III design.  The two designs share a common time frame and the hangar fits the beam of my FFG perfectly!  The athwartships bulkhead is only dry fitted and has yet to be trimmed to shape.  I'll do that after I finish the starboard bulkhead. 

The two pieces of square stock represent the following:
Long piece: Torpedo elevator from mag, Aviation Workshop, Sonobouy Ready Service Magazine, and a fan room
Short piece: Helo Control Station (aft of it will be bulk storage)


I'm utilizing the bulkheads from the kit but since this ship will be of the low-RCS sort of design, they all have to be angled so that entailed slicing them up into individual sections to be spliced back together as I install them.

I was going to continue constructing until I realized my bottle of CA glue is now a paperweight....  Detailing and painting will occur after I obtain a fresh bottle.  Hatches, ladders, shelving, vents, wiring, etc... are to come.

[Volkodav]

Found this old one by chance and wondered how it was going.