1/700 USS El Paso (Ships & Co.)
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by David J. Salvin |
1/700 USS El Paso (Ships & Co.)
Another in the line of unusual subjects from my favorite patron is the USS El Paso. As far as I can tell, the first of this ship to be presented on this site’s gallery. Out of the box, the kit presents with few actual parts to assemble. The entire hull is cast (rather well) in one piece with heavy over pour that needs some attention. The bridge is cast in a few pieces completing the bulk of the construction. The rest of the construction consists of the derrick, booms and of course, rigging. Not many close up pics of these ships exist making actual crane and derrick rigging difficult to surmise, but the instructions on the kit are full color pics of the ship crudely constructed so you can see where most things go.
The build is mostly OOB, except the crane booms which came with the
kit were hopelessly warped and not straight, so I replace them all with
brass and steel rods. I added the usual PE railings and radar etc.
The decals are very thorough and consist of a single large sheet with all
the decals for all Ships & Co models, so you will have many great decals
left over. What makes this kit, in my opinion, are the unrep decals along
the sides and the no smoking decals on the bridge etc. which really help
bring the ship to life.
