by David Hill
1/350 USS North Carolina BB-55 (Trumpeter)
This is my Trumpeter 1/350 scale USS North Carolina. I built her as she appeared late in the war wearing MS22 camo...it seems her MS32 camo is popular with many modelers, but the darker colors seem to hide to much detail...(just my opinion)...I like the look of the MS22 scheme plus its easy to see all the detail...(again just my opinion).
As with everyone who has built this kit I encountered the same fit problems, bad joint locations and the need to clean-up virtually every part because of bad sprue attachment points. I purchased the kit a year ago and due to the build problems...taking time-out so I wouldn't get into that "just get 'er done" mindset, thumbing through reference material and running to the computer for even more reference and working on it when I could (married,two kids and I work third shift) it took a good 6 months to complete the model.
For me this model had a few firsts...it was my first attempt at super-detailing a model (of any kind) and my first attempt at working with PE railings...I used PE before on Tamiya's U.S.S.Missouri, but only added cats,cranes and Radars no railings, and as it turned out, working with the PE was the funnest part of the build. In my attempt to "think of everything" I ended up forgetting something...ie. forgot to paint Deck Blue counter-shading on the 16" and 5" gun barrels which would have resulted in damage to the guns and turrets so I decided to just live with it and re-scribing the deck planking after filling and sanding the joints plus some other minor errors.
I used Lion Roar and WEM PE sets ...the masts were scratch-built with brass rod and detailed with PE...about 90% of the model was painted by airbrush which required much masking...but I like the results...the Kingfishers, and detail touch-up was painted by hand...Pollyscale acrylics were used.
The following reference material was used:
Randal Shoker's Tech. Reference #1
Squadron's US Battleships "in action"part 2
The Haze Gray and Underway website
Navsourse photos
The display case and spindles were made by me to match the one I made for the my Tamiya Missouri I built a few years ago.
