by Andy Bradshaw
1/350 USS San Francisco CA-38 in ABSD (Trumpete/Scratchbuild)
This is the recent Trumpeter New Orleans class cruiser release, as the San Francisco recovering after her night battle off Guadalcanal. A fun model to build. I did some damage to her bridge (where Adm. Callahan was killed) and after control-where a Betty bomber sideswipped the aft 20mm battery. I took artistic license and put a torpedo hole in the portside midships. I used GMM railings and crews, and TM's cranes from an early USW battleship set for details.
The ABSD-floating drydock was scratchbuilt. The pontoons were cast from a master and detailed as were the crane bodies and work huts. The walls and floors of the dock were rivet-detailed plastic sheeting over a balsa form. I think I used TM's 1/96 scale cruiser crane PE for the booms, and scratchbuilt the crane gantries. Anyway, this is my version of a ship in a bottle.
