Modelling > 2013 "Clear Your Workbench" GB

1/700 USN AEGIS FFG-62 2000's

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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!

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