by Bill Liebold
1/256 USS Paul Hamilton DDG-60 (Scratchbuilt)
Yet another Aegis destroyer. The model was built using a good number of parts from the DDG-108 that was posted earlier including the front half of the hull. Patterns and RTV molds were made for all the parts needed to cast a Flt I ship that was lacking from my Flt IIa parts. It was a nice change to go back and build an older ship. Funny, when you build models of “new” ships for a living “new” normally means it is still on the drawing board. Once the real thing hits the water it becomes old hat and you move on the next “new” thing. Going back and scratch building parts to make a ship that has been in service for at least 14 years is unheard of, but there was a need for a DDG-60. It was also a nice change to be able to use off the shelf reference material. The Warship Pictorial 24 is a great resources for building a Burke class ship as are the Ray Bean CD’s. Overall I’m happy with the build. It is a good compromise between level of detail and getting it out the door in a hurry. The paint used was Tamiya. The name on the stern is a dry transfer decal using the system available from Decal Pro. It’s a nice system but to work it needs a laser printer ($$$$). The toner from the p rinter becomes the decal in some instances. There are metallic and white foils that bond to the toner that allow you to make decals in those colors. The decal has to be a solid area of color to work. Dot patterns don’t work so it is hard to make a grey decal and black dot pattern on a grey surface just makes a darker grey. There are grey foils but not many, that is why the other markings are painted on. The system gets a workout making white decals. There are times when the silver is used and it looks like chrome it has such a nice surface.
