1/350 USS Draco (Trumpeter)

 In another build of a tribute ship I have represented the USS Draco, a Crater-class cargo ship that sailed in the pacific theater during WWII. A local US Navy veteran, Robert Mielke served aboard and our local newspaper printed a story on his service to our great nation. He commented on the heat and humidity in the south pacific and how he would lay on the deck under the trucks and LCMs for relief from below decks.

I used the Trumpeter 1:350 John W. Brown. Using the only three pictures I found of the Draco I scratch-built as many of the features that I could. I used the great Eduard's Photo-etch set, along with some Gold Metal Models PE from the spares box. L'Arsenal jeeps, trucks and LCMs filled out the deck top cargo. Even though I modeled my ship in a sort-of dry-dock scenario, I realize that cargo would certainly not be on deck at that time.

Paint is acrylics by Polly-scale. Decals are from the kit along with dry-transfer lettering and numbers. I sealed the paint with Future before decals. Washes and weathering are oil-based. For rigging I used black 6/0 and 8/0 Uni-thread.
 

Gallery updated 2013

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