by Bill Liebold
1/256 JMSDF Kongo DDG-173 (Scratchbuilt)
This model was built in 1998 along with four sisters and the negatives just were recently scanned, so I thought it would be a good time to get some pictures posted. This model was a major leap forward for me. It is the first one that was made where I made patterns, molds and cast the entire ship in resin and designed a complete set of photo etch just for it. Prior to that they would have had vacuum formed hull, really basic cast resin superstructures and fittings and a fair amount of scratch building. I had been making molds and casting resin so I knew what major pit falls to avoid, but I still had a lot to learn when it came to designing a kit that would go together well quickly. I had to beat the parts into submission to get the model you see, but it was still better than building 5 from scratch. The biggest time saver was getting the mast in resin. I think it took two days to assemble and paint the mast. It would have taken much longer scratch building them. The main colors on the model were automotive spray can primer. The markings were done with 3M’s “INT” (Image and Transfer). It was great stuff back in the day that allowed you to make dry transfer decals with a photo negative. They had to make it environmentally friendly and it did not work as well afterwards and they reduced the color pallet down to red, black and white. It eventually went out of production.
