Source of images on this page are from; personal photos, the USS SALEM 1956-58 Cruise Book (CB), Official US Navy photos, and Classic Warship's "Warship Pictorial" of the USS SALEM (CW). The drawn pictures are from the SALEM model instructions (MI). The rail graphics are of my own creation.

A preliminary review of the model.

On December 21, 1998, I received my 1/350 scale SALEM model from Classic Warships. Being a model maker, I had been looking for a model of the SALEM/Des Moines/Newport News class since I got out of the US Navy in 1958. The SALEM was the only ship I served on while in the Navy. No model manufacturer thought it necessary to make a model of these ships in those 40 years. Perhaps because they didn't serve in WWII or didn't suffer a major catastrophe which would have made them newsworthy and, only until the last active ship of this class, the Newport News, saw battle in Vietnam, not one of these ships had fired their guns in anger.

When I was on the SALEM in 1956-1958, there was a CPO who was scratch building a model of the SALEM using all manner of material, including card stock. I don't remember his name or rating but I do remember that the model was about 3+ feet long and he was fairly well along in the construction having the hull and superstructure built. I, of course, being 18 years old, had other interests at that time, so I never really got to sit and talk to him about the model he was building. I wonder if he ever finished it?

It took the United States Naval and Shipbuilding Museum and the USS SALEM Association to persuade a model manufacturer to make a model of this beautiful class of cruiser, which were the last all gun cruisers, and the last Heavy Cruisers ever built. That model manufacturer was Steve Wiper of Classic Warships. The association asked for preproduction orders and I immediately sent in my $225 in August and waited rather impatiently for it to arrive, which it did just in time for Christmas 1998!

Rob Mackey has some out-of-the-box pictures of the model components here: http://www.steelnavy.com/SALEM.htm

Classic Warships no longer sells this 1/350 scale model, but you can find it on the web sold by other retailers (undoubtably the Classic Warship model, but now made by Yankee Model Works). Google "1/350 uss SALEM" (without quotes) to find them. There is also a 1/700 resin model kit of the SALEM. Just change the '1/350' in the above Google search to '1/700'.

The kit consisted of a two part hull separated at the waterline. A small box of resin parts which includes superstructures, turrets, gun tubs, firecontrol towers, smokestack, a helicopter (wrong model. Should have been a Piasecki HUP-2 rather than a Sikorsky HO3S-1  See my attempts at building a 1/350 scale HUP-2 on the 'Pictures of the Model' link below), the Captain's Gig, crew launch, and other small resin parts. A small box containing white metal parts like the 3"50 guns, 8" and 5" gun barrels, two masts, propellers, propeller shaft bearings and numerous other small stuff.
Two photoetched brass sheets, one containing specialty parts made for the SALEM model and the other looks like a generic 1/350 scale sheet of ship railings and ladders. A small decal sheet with all decals needed for a SALEM, Newport News or Des Moines model. A 26 page manual and a full model sized drawing of the ship with a top view and starboard side view.

I am not going to be swayed by the fact that I served on this ship to either overly praise or pan this model. Overall, the model is a very accurate representation with a lot of small details. It does have some incorrect and missing parts and the instructions are lacking in details and parts placement. I am excited to finally have a 3 dimensional model of a ship that played such a large part in my life and development as an adult. My short stints as a Master-at-Arms and Shore Patrol duties on this ship probably had a lot to do with the fact that I joined a police department after my discharge and served for 38 years, reaching the rank of Administrative Lieutenant before I retired July 1, 1999.

Instruction manual:  

The manual, which consists of 26 pages of hand drawn instructions, lacks some detail. I realize that this is a brand new model and there are no accompanying photos of a model being built but they could have spent a little more time on the drawings. There is no typeset other than on the cover and the back of the manual. All text is handwritten. The pages are set in the manual in a haphazard manner. Sometimes the bottom of the page is oriented to the stapled fold and other times it is either at the bottom of the book or to the outside. This requires that you constantly spin the book to get the right orientation to view or read the next page. Since the manual is kept close at hand as is the model you are working on, you must do this spinning carefully lest you bump into the model with the book.

There are very few measurements for placing of the parts and some of the parts placement is incorrect (See below). The placement of some parts can be critical because they may meet up with or have to be joined to another part. It is best to dry fit all parts before gluing whenever possible.

There are parts that are not identified in the manual and others that are identified but are missing from the parts bags.  This model is supposed to be built in one of three different versions, each representing one of the ships. There are no differences pointed out in the manual. Some of these parts do not belong on my particular model according to pictures I have of the SALEM. Radio antennas are different. I do not know about equipment which was on the other two ships but I am sure there are parts that are missing or parts those other model builders cannot identify as being accurate to their particular model. What makes it more difficult for the Newport News model is that it was in service far longer than the SALEM or Des Moines and many more alterations were made to the NN during those later years. The model is in an early 50s configuration and later renovations or alterations have to be removed or scratch built (square Flag structures on each side where the forward 3-50 mounts are on the other two ships, and the bare umbrella looking mast on the foc'sle). The instructions for building the Sikorsky helicopter are not included in the manual.

Views of the placing of some parts on the starboard side in some cases is not shown. You must guess where they go. In some cases the manual will show one side and just add "P&S" (Port and Starboard) to denote that the parts go on both sides even though they may not be in exactly the same place.

Errata

1. The spar (yardarm) on the foremast is positioned incorrectly in the manual. The model's spar is constructed of a piece of .020 brass rod (not included) to which a PE brace is glued. In the instructions, the brace is positioned to the rear of the top platform. The brace is supposed to be positioned towards the front of the top platform. If you place the brace as shown in the manual, the end of the brace will be hanging out in midair rather than attaching to the platform.

This is from the instruction manual (MI)	This is from a B&W photo in the cruise book showing the brace running to the front of the platform (CB)	SALEM at Quincy. Notice some masts and antennas have been removed while at Philadelphia

3. The signal flag bins are positioned wrong in the instructions. If placed as in the instructions with the locating ridge on the bins attaching either over or under the deck, the tops of the bin would be higher than the flag deck side walls and the bottom of the bins would be just level with the deck. The drawing is confusing anyway. The bin has dotted lines over the ridge like it was to be attached with the deck above the ridge and the deck has locating lines on the top of the deck like the bin was to be attached with the ridge over the deck. If you look at my photos of the SALEM bridge or Rob Mackie's photo #8, you will see that the flag bin top is lower than the deck sides and the bottom hangs well below the level of the deck. I filed off the ridges and lowered the bins.

(MI)   

From Rob Mackie's photo#9 of the SALEM.

There is no cutout in the model, so I cut an opening in each side of the bridge (See model photo #2 on the picture page).

The Resin Hull

The Hull came in two parts separated at the waterline. This gives you the option of making a full hull model or a waterline model that can be mounted to a base and could appear to be afloat with simulated water around the model.
The two pieces of the hull are solid and are heavy! I have never built a resin model before and all my model making experience was with plastic models from the likes of Revell, Monogram, Tamiya, Italeari, etc. A close examination of the raw hull shows it to be a hard very light tan material with surprisingly detailed hatches and other fixtures for its scale. The actual ship is 717 feet in length and at 1/350 scale, the model is 24 1/2" long. This works out to be about 30 feet per inch on the model. The smallest ships I  have built were some 1/700 waterline models including some 1/700 harbor craft (60 feet per inch). The largest scale ship models I have built were the USS Constitution (32" long-Unknown scale) and the Lindberg "Blue Devil" Fletcher class Destroyer which scale was given as 1 inch equals 10' 6" and was about 36" long which is about 1/100 or so.  Not having built a resin model before, I saw that some smaller resin parts such as the lockers against the superstructure and gun mount bases are apparently added to the hull during casting. I am glad that I didn't have to add those myself.
Both parts of the hull were slightly bent from the casting and when the two parts were placed together, there was a gap of about 1/8" between the two hull parts in the center of the model. I was told this is typical of resin models. The solution to straightening them was to place them in hot water until they were soft and then weigh them down on a flat surface. I tried this a number of times and it seems that the parts just went back to their bent shape when they cooled. I even placed the hull in the oven and set it at 250º and sat down next to the oven so I wouldn't forget it was in there. When I took it out, it was almost too hot to touch and was very pliable. I weighed it down and even placed two wooden pencils at the bow and stern to overbend it in the center a little. When it had cooled a little, I took away the pencils and let it rest on the table with the weight still on top. It had a definite opposite bend to the hull at this point, being high at the ends rather than in the middle as before. It seems that as it cooled to room temperature it returned to it's original bend so I just gave up and decided that I would straighten it when I screwed it to the base. Oh, well!!!

Missing parts

1. There are some items that require brass rod, namely .020 rod for some masts and posts and .030 rod for the propeller shafts. None of this brass rod is supplied.

(MI)

(MI)

(MI) 

5. There are a number of catwalks missing. They were installed between the after 3"/50 mounts and also to the after 3"/50 fire control towers on both sides. I don't have any clear pictures but some of them show some sort of railing running between the two rearmost mounts and the after 3"/50 fire control tower. These catwalks or railings are not shown in the instructions nor are the parts supplied.

6. The following parts do not belong on the SALEM/Des Moines/Newport News as of the late 50s.

The forward #1 3"/50 gun mount. They were taken off in 1955 due to repeated damage from storm waves. The small 3"/50 fire control tubs were also removed from the bow of the ship. My duties as a member of the Repair division during the "Special Sea and Anchor detail" was to operate one of the brakes for the anchor chain. They are the 2 smaller posts outside of the two chain capstans in front of the #2 3"/50 mount tub. They had large solid brass hand wheels on top of each post.

(MI) (CB)

The following picture shows some photoetched brass parts that I cannot find in the instructions. Sorry, I had already painted one sprue Gray. Does anyone have any ideas?
The first part looks like a ladder of some sort. The second part looks like it might be for the 3"/50 Practice Loader, but the part has 2 window-like frames and the drawn part on the loader shows 3 frames. I cannot find any other brass part that might belong to the loader. What are the 3 circles for?

The ladder looking thing is unknown. The second part looks like it may belong to the practice loader.	(MI)	The Practice Loader. There is a black covered miter saw and a trash can blocking part of the base.
These 3 circular pieces are also unknown.

TOOLS and supplies required.

1. Small pairs (5" long) of pliers. These are a 5 piece pliers set bought at A.C.Moore, a craft shop, for about $15. They come in handy for folding photoetched parts, straightening bent PE parts, holding small items for placement, etc. They are also spring loaded so they open by themselves when released. These are four of the five pliers used on the model.

From left; needle nose, flat face, diagonal cutters, bent tip.

2. A pair of reverse tweezers. These hold parts while painting or gluing since they are like a small vise and have to be pressed to release unlike regular tweezers that have to be pressed to hold. You might want to steal a pair of your wife's hair tweezers too.

3. An X-Acto set of knives. I use the larger type C knife (red plastic handle) with a #19 chisel blade to cut photoetched parts from the sprue and the smaller type A or B handle with a #11 blade for small cutting, scraping, shaping and parts tweaking.

I never throw away dull blades. I have a small whet stone that I use to sharpen the blades. I can sharpen them as good as new.

4. Paint brushes: Get some good Artists sable hair brushes at an Arts and Craft store. I used a number of them including a #000 brush which has about 20 fine hairs in it up, a #1 script liner brush (3/4" long hairs, like a pinstriping brush), a #3 brush and a large #8 flat brush among others.

5. Sandpaper: #200 to #600 wet or dry silicon carbide automotive sandpaper. You should also have some silicon carbide fingernail files found in the drugstore. They work great for sanding small parts while holding them in your hand, vise, or pliers.

6. A set of 'warding' files. I have a 6 piece Enkay set, made in Italy, consisting of a flat, square, round, diamond, tapered flat, and tapered half round ( I can't find the half round ). They are about 6-1/2" long, including the handles. I have had them for 20 years and don't remember where I got them but it was probably at a hobby shop.
 

7. Airbrush: I have a Badger model 350 airbrush and a Badger Cyclone I model 180-1 Air Compressor. This is a very good airbrush and a pretty quiet compressor. I leave the compressor in the box while running for even more quietness. The only things I painted with the airbrush was the primer and the PE stuff on the sprues. I will use it again when I spray the completed model with the semi-gloss clear finish.

8. Glues: I used CA (cyanoacrylate) glues exclusively. Pacer Slo-Zap, Pacer Zap-A-Gap and Pacer Zip Kicker, an accelerant for CA glue. $6.50-$7.00 each.

9. Putty: I used Squadron Green putty.

10. Paints: I used Testor's Model Master Acryl acrylic paints as per the instructions, in the following colors:

• White Primer for priming
• Gunship Gray (FS36118) for metal decks (instructions say to use on 8" and 5" turret tops and faces, this may have been done on the earlier paint scheme but I can't find that in any pictures in the later years. The tops may have been darker but it is hard to tell). I painted them the gunship grey anyway, because it gave some variation in the overall grey paint scheme.
• Dark Ghost grey (FS36320) for vertical surfaces
• Light Gray (FS36495) to mix with the Dark Tan for the teak decks
• Dark Tan (FS30219) used as above
• Semi Gloss White (FS27875) for railings and fire hoses.
• Semi Gloss Black (FS27038) for the tops of the stack and masts and waterline band.
• Flat Black (FS37038) for inside the stack and portholes.
• Semi Gloss Clear for finish spraying when I am done (not there yet)

11. Light: Lots of light! I have 3 small spotlights in tracks above my workspace and it still wasn't enough. I had to augment them with table lamps.

12. Magnifying lens. I have developed terrible short range vision, so bought a magnifying visor that fits on the head. This one is well made and has an extra drop down lens behind the fixed lens for twice the magnification, and a swing down loupe mounted in front of the fixed lens. It is also equipped with dual AAA battery powered lights. It was a 'Buy it now', New, item on eBay for $14 plus $5 for shipping.
 

13. Makeup Mirror.  The kind that has its own swivel base. No, not to use to clean the paint off your face, but to help align Port and Starboard items. After placing one, some, or all of the items on one side and are about to do the other side, place the mirror behind the model on the finished side. It will help to align the item placements on the new side to be equal to the one on the old side.

Railing Tips and Tricks

I use two types of Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. Both bought at a hobby shop. One is a gap filler which is a little thicker and one is the regular thin consistency. Both seem to dry a little faster than the Superglue and Krazy glue sold in stores. I also have a bottle of CA glue 'kicker', which when applied to the wet CA, dries it immediately. This comes in handy on small parts that have to be held in place for a half minute while the CA dries. I never spray the 'kicker' directly on the model. I spray a small bit in a plastic lid and then dip a small piece of scrap brass and touch it to the CA glue. It seems that even the fumes from this 'kicker' will dry the glue. There is also a product that will dissolve CA glue for clean ups and mistakes. I haven't used it, so I can't comment. There are also micro tips that are put on the CA glue tip. They have a smalled hole than the CA bottle and seem to stay unglogged for hours of use, especially on the thin CA glue. They will clog.up if left uncapped overnight, though. Some hobby suppliers have kits, containing various viscosity CA glues, kickers, disolvers, and micro tips. Expect to pay $20 + for the kit.

Gluing the railing to the deck. I dry fit the rail to the deck and hold it in place, then using a very small flat head screwdriver tip dipped into a drop of CA glue, glue the railing to the deck. It both applies a small amount of glue and holds the rail in place. I apply the screwdriver tipped glue all along the railing piece in a 'spot weld' type of application, then go back and fill in between the 'spot welds'. 

Railings - There are two types of PE railings supplied, 3 cable railing and 2 bar pipe. Both are about 4 mm in height. The width of the 3 cable railing sections between stancheons is about 7 mm, and the 2 pipe railing between the stancheons is about 5 mm. The bottom rail of each is just a base for gluing. All railing is generally painted white, at least on the Flagship that I was on. You might want to paint the base of the railing the same color as the deck it will be glued to.

A way to shorten railings so you don't have any railings with no support on the end, or "wild hairs". Just glue a new stanchion using a scrap piece of brass at the exact place where you want the railing to end, and when dry, cut off the excess railing (and the old stanchion).

There is a small problem attaching the PE bow railings. The railings pass over the openings for the anchor chain and the large hawser openings. The base of the railing interferes with the railing being glued to the hull at these points,. The base has to be removed at these points so that the railing fits flush to the deck. This makes the railing even more delicate at these places without the bases, and they rely on only the very thin brass rails to keep the piece intact. Fortunately, the spacing between these two openings is exactly two rail sections, so no posts have to be cut off at the base.

(CW)

The best way I found to install the bow railing is to install the bow flag pole first, then wrap the railing around the pole and glue it to the pole. You can then use the pole as a stanchion and cut off the excess railing after the pole. Do the same on the other side and glue the excess railing to the pole as you did on the other side and cut off the excess, and you wont' have any problems with "wild hairs".

By the 5" turrets on each side of the main deck, there are platforms that can be attached either in the upright position, acting as a safety railing, or down in a horizontal position. If attached in the down position, they need railings around them. These are the toughest part of installing railings. All rail sections have to be shortened to fit around this platform. If you are not up to the task, glue them in the upright position.

On the rear deck, there are safety nets which double as railings on both sides, that can be either placed in an upright, or in a horizontal position. These were usually lowered for helicopter operations, or as in the photo below, rifle training. There are no railings around the netting when lowered. In the upright position, the safety netting is the same height as the regular railing, as seen in the second photo below. As supplied, the model safety netting is almost twice as tall as the regular railings. You can either cut down the safety netting to the height of the regular railing, or eliminate the safety netting altogether, leaving a piece of regular railing there. If cutting the netting down, use a very sharp wide exacto knife or use the chisel tipped blade. Do not drag the knife across the netting, or else you may distort or rip the delicate netting. Make sure that you remove the bottom side of the netting that has the open ends of the V supports (see the side attached to the hull in the picture below).

(CB)  

Making the missing Platforms

See the missing platforms as mentioned above in this drawing? The wider one should not have end railings because there is a ladder that runs forward down from the lower bridge and attaches to the rear side of that platform. Another ladder attaches to the forward side of that platform and runs forward down to the forwardmost 3"/50 Tub (Tub A as shown in the drawing). The smaller platforms to the rear of the larger platforms should only have railing on the outside and the forward side because a ladder runs from the rear of that platform down to the rear of the secondmost forward 3:/50 gun tub (Tub B on the drawing). These are on both sides of the ship. Next to the drawing is a cruise book picture of that second platform and ladder on the starboard side. Thanks guys, nice song!

(MI) (CB)

Making the missing platforms. I took a piece of pipe railing (3 rails) and cut out one section ( a section is about 4.5 mm long). I then cut a piece as long as the section of railing from the outer brass sprue that had the SALEM model name etched on it. That part of the sprue is about 3 mm wide. I then glued the railing to the outer edge of the piece of sprue and attached that to the superstructure under the forward door. This was not as difficult as I had thought it would have been. The hardest part was getting the platform in the right place and level while the glue dried to where I could let it go. I then attached the ladders to the front and rear as pictured above in the drawing. For other ladder platforms, you can bend the railing around the sides as necessary, using the 'shorten railing' tip above.

For the smaller platforms, I used the platforms as supplied for the ladders that hang from the side of the ship to the boat launch docking platforms. Since my ship will be underway, I won't need them for their original purpose. I modified them somewhat by cutting off one end railing and the support brace on the bottom. Then attach a ladder to the rear of these platforms running aft down to the second 3"/50 gun tub.

Ladders

I have become an expert on making the ladders. There are 11 in all that I have found so far, most of which are not shown in the instructions. There are 5 on the starboard side and 6 on the port side. I am trying to locate a picture that shows the ladders from the rear of some of the 3"/50 tubs down to the main deck. I know some have them. I painted all the ladders before cutting them off the sprue. When cutting them off the sprue, try to hold both parts lest the part you are cutting off rockets across the bench when you cut the last connector. After I cut them off the sprue, I bend the railings up 90º from the steps using a small pair of flat faced needle nosed pliers as mentioned in the Tools above. I then used the small X-Acto knife with a #11 blade and, with the tip of the blade, gently bent each step of the ladder to the proper angle. The tough part here is to get the right pressure between your fingers while holding the ladder to set the angle of the steps. Not too tight so as not to crush the ladder between your fingers and not too gently where you will drop it and then you will have to spend a half hour searching for it on the floor. When I am doing really delicate work, I hold the piece and the tool in my hands very close to my chest with my elbows pressed against my sides to limit shaking, so when I drop something small, it either falls in my lap or on the floor. Something as small as the ladder can bounce when it hits the floor and I think those little parts can bounce a 1/4 mile away (or so it seems when I am on my hands and knees searching for it!).

(CB)

This appears to be on the port side in the area of the funnel. The railing on the upper right side is from the 3"/50 gun tub that has the 5" FC tower mounted on the forward side of it. I can't tell if there is 3 or 4 baskets above or if there are more baskets before or beyond the lower 2 baskets. The canvas cover for the rafts can be seen laying on the deck at the bottom of the picture. The cover appears to be very dark. I painted the baskets Dark Ghost Gray with a Gunship Gray wash. It might have been better to have plain block baskets with photoetched brass rails to be folded around the front, bottom and rears. I sanded off all the small square locating blocks on the rear of the white metal baskets since they were slightly angled and they shouldn't be there on the deck mounted baskets anyway.

The whale boat davits supplied are not a true representation of the davits on the SALEM. The real davits look like the neck and head of a "pterodactyl" (the flying dinosaur). The supplied davits are just thin rod shaped hangers. The real davit bases are supposed to be located under the whale boat when secured and the davits hydraulically swing out when launched. See pic below. The supplied davits are mounted behind the whale boat. This might be a good place to start my scratchbuilding skills. If I decide to do this and then actually do it, I will post the results here.

SALEM "Pterodactyl" shaped davits (CB)

If using the supplied davits. This is the first assembly where I had to substantially alter a piece for it to fit. I thought I would drill some holes in the deck for the locating pins on the bottom of the whale boat davits. Fortunately, as it turns out, I started on the starboard side and drilled two holes for the aft davit just outside of the 5" FC tower. I tried the davit and my spacing was  right on. The pins fit neatly into the drilled holes.  Leaving the davit in place and before gluing it in, I placed the whale boat in the space and tried it for fit. No good! The bottom of the davit was too wide and I couldn't get the boat back far enough where it wasn't hanging over the edge. Seeing how this wasn't going to work, I  took out the davit and then glued the two chocks to the bottom of the whale boat about 1/4" from each end and when dry, placed the whale boat back in the space without any glue and lined it up with the side of the ship. The edges of the boat chocks should be even with the edge of the teak deck (no railing goes in this area). I then tried to see if the davit would fit behind the boat. It wouldn't. The combination of the leg and rear brace of the davit was too wide to fit between the boat and the FC tower. I took the davit and cut off the brace at the back of it. I was then able to squeeze the braceless davit between the boat and tower with little space to spare. The forward davit will fit without cutting off the brace. Seeing how the locating pins on the davits were going to be of no further use since they will be attached after the whale boat is in place, I filed and sanded them all off.
So, the order of assembly: 1.Chocks on whale boat; 2.Whaleboat in place; 3.Davits in place.

Rigging of mast standing and running lines, and antennas.

Standing lines.
I used .005" (.137 mm), 3 pound test, fly fishing Tippet line painted black for the mast standing lines (steel cables).  The .005 line works out to be 1-3/4" for this scale. I don't think the actual steel cables were more than 1" thick, but any thinner model lines would be hard to see anyway. The standing lines were attached to the masts before the masts were installed on the ship. It makes it easier than trying to get the lines up under the platform after the masts are installed.
Here's another hint: Cut the lines a few inches longer than necessary. Take all the lines from one side that will be attached to a mast, knot them together at one end, then trim off the excess line from the knot end and glue the knot up under the platform. Do the same for the other side of the masts.

Running lines.
The running lines (rope) are the same .005 fly fishing line, but painted grey. With the exception of the US flag line, which was attached to the mast before the mast was installed, the running lines for the signal flags were installed after the foremast was installed. Even though all the flag lines would be doubled (going up over a pulley and returning, I used a single line to represent the two).  I glued one end of each single line to the flag bins, and after they dried, I pulled the other end up to the spar and glued them there.

Antennas and other thin brass strips.
Besides the supplied PE stuff, you can use some thin steel wire for antennas, or other thin brass that broke . Go to a music store and get some high E or B acoustic guitar string, which is single strand steel wire. It is a little more sturdy than brass and less likely to bend if brushed against inadvertantly.

Simulated water for the waterline version of the model

I have decided to make a waterline model rather than the full hull model. I figured this would save me the trouble of trying to match the two halves together and all the filling and sanding that would entail, and then building an unrealistic platform for the hull. Besides, I think full hull models are too static, and more suited to museums. But that's just me.

This will be a first for me, never having constructed simulated water before. I have found some Jeff Herne instructions for this using Liquitex Acrylic Gel Medium at Rob Mackie's SteelNavy site. (Anyone who hasn't been to his site should go and poke around. He has some great pictures of the SALEM and some modeling tips, including official paint schemes, Do-it-yourself photoetching and the simulated water). I went to A.C.Moore, an arts and crafts store, today (Jan.12) and picked up some tubes of  Liquitex Acrylic Gel Medium. Jeff Herne advised that this was selling at about $6-$7 a tube. I found some hanging up on the display case for $3.74 a tube. There was some more on a shelf right underneath them and those were marked at $5.47 a tube for the same exact 2 oz.(59 ML)  5" x 2" tubes. Needless to say I picked up the last 3 of the $3.74 tubes.

I found some Rusty White instructions using another medium called "Sculpey", a clay like substance that has to be baked at 250º.
I don't know about baking my ship after it is completed. Rusty claims that the Sculpey is better for ships over 1/700.

Jeff tells how to prepare the base for the water. First, sand the top of the wood base to provide a "tooth" for the paint. Next, put a base coat of blue-green acrylic paint on the base. The ratio of blue to green depends on the sea you are trying to imitate. The acrylic gel is applied over that and finished off with washes of lighter blue-green and white for the white caps and wake.

I have been experimenting with making the Liquitex simulated water on a separate piece of board. I have the sea color just about right but am having trouble applying the gel to where it looks like wavy water. The gel looks good going on and before it dries, but it shrinks a little to where there are flat spots where the gel is not as thick. Well, both Herne and I want to simulate waves and wake of the ship doing about 15 knots. I have used painting spatulas and brushes to apply and work the gel. The spatula works well if you pat the wet gel with the flat blade to where it gives a choppy sea effect but that's when the flat spots between the small wave crests appear. Subsequent applications of gel obliterate and obfuscate the crests. Brushes leave brush strokes in the simulated water. I have yet to find a desirable method of obtaining this effect.

Well, both Rusty and Jeff stated the Liquitex was not suited for 1/350 models. I like the idea of the Liquitex because I can mix some blue-green acrylic paint into it so that the water has some color depth to it and not look like a painted surface. I once made some dioramas with a base made of some air drying Celluclay, a shredded paper material. Another method would be to make bow waves with some polyurethane pieces cut to shape and glued to the base. Smooth it out with some Squadron Green Putty and then color it all blue-green. Then I could use the tinted Liquitex since it would only be a cover for the foam and putty.

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