Keith Bender
1/350 USS Connecticut BB-18 (ISW)
The kit was built pretty much out of the box with the exception of the hull plating and modifying the cage mast to bring them to a hourglass shape rather then a rolled cone piece of photoetch. The anchor pads on the bow were removed and filled then scribed decking was put in place. This was done on the ship sometime after her refit from the Great White Fleet. The openings for the four torpedo tubes were drilled in the hull and docking keels placed on the bottom. Three of the four bilge keels had to be made and the fourth one repaired. Since I was building this to her 1917 fit she had paravains and needed the down haul bracket on the lower bow. The painting was done with WEM hull red and the gray is Testors neutral gray.
The cage mast were given a little makeover with the screened platforms added, vertical ladders and new tops. I made a set of semaphores for the bridge wings as well. MV product lenses were used on all search lights. The flag came from Blue Jacket. All my PE work is soldered rather then glued. In doing this I made the awning braces on the bow and stern along with the mast yards and other details including some of the rigging using brass wire. The ships name is .0312 dry transfers from Scale Scenic set # 575.
In all this was a pretty good kit to work with, my fourth from the cage mast line and I'm waiting for the next one to come out, perhaps USS Delaware ?
