LCS-2 Independence Multi-Mission Combatant WHIF

[seadude]

Looking soooo good. 

Thanks. I'll have some more new pics ready in the next few days. For now, I have a question: I'm tired of seeing the same old, same old red hull bottoms on navy ships. I had the thought of painting the lower hull of my LCS in blue as shown in the example pic below. It's an odd color for sure, but I like it!  When I build something, I dare to be different!        I generally only paint with acrylics, either Testor or Tamiya. Is there a close match from either of those brands?

[Hobbes]

Were you planning to leave the radar panels like that? There's a lot of plumbing and electronics behind the face of the SPY-1, so you'll need to enclose the space some more.

[seadude]

Were you planning to leave the radar panels like that? There's a lot of plumbing and electronics behind the face of the SPY-1, so you'll need to enclose the space some more.

If you mean all the pics from Page 2 of this thread, I have already finished adding more hull panels to the SPY-1 radar structure. I just have a bit of puttying and sanding to do, then that structure will be done. Pics to come later sometime.

[seadude]

Here's some more new pics of the progress I've made so far. Some parts like the radar mast, dish radars, Phalanx's, Torpedo tubes, and a few other pieces are not glued on, but just sitting on the model for reference purposes. The yellow parts on top are what I'm using for the exhaust area. Those pieces came from a Gundam robot kit as it was all I had to work with. The triple tube torpedo launchers are now more "stealthy" and were made with styrene hexagon strip. The gold colored pieces near the torpedo launchers are "barracades/blast deflectors"....for lack of a better term.....if the torp launchers get damaged or explode, then the deflector helps prevent damage from spilling onto the helo pad, and vice versa if something happens on the helo pad, then the deflectors help prevent damage to the torp launchers. On the sides of the hull are black scratchbuilt "stealthy" parts for the SRBOC and Nulka decoy launchers. Though the longer larger ones I may take off as I don't like the appearence of them. The smaller ones I'll keep on.

[NARSES2]

Watching you put this together is making me more aware of the real ships and what they are/have 

[nighthunter]

Okay, I admit, I like the Exocet launchers as a replacement for the Harpoons. Although I was inclined to go with a VLS system and liked the blue launcher, just move them forward a bit and add a hatch cover. As to the torpedos, if you're going to keep the bulges, why not put the torpedo's in the bulges?

[seadude]

Spent some time trying to paint the lower hull of my LCS. I painted it blue similar to what the USS Port Royal had. I think the color is a close match. The blue will look different on the Port Royal due to various lighting conditions. I used Testor Model Master Acryl French Blue.

[nighthunter]

Looks good, can't wait to see her finished

[Weaver]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party with this one, but for what it's worth, I think your original torpedo positions on the front corners of the flight deck were okay. If you think about the movements of a helo on a flight deck, that's an area they just cannot go through: they can't get closer to the hangar than one rotor radius with rotors extended and the only time they do get closer is when they're going in through the doors in the middle, so the front corners of the flight deck are pretty much available for anything low enough that rotors will pass over it.

Some RN triple TTs had armoured plates added outboard of them following the Falklands War. You could combine this with stealth bu putting them in a triangular section box that sat flush to the deck and elevated slightly just prior to rotation. Another option would be to use twin tubes to lower the units' profile.

Of course, the stealthiest option would be internal launchers with just a hatch in the hull or superstructure side, much like the "magazine torpedo system" on the Type-23 frigates or the "torpedo catapults" on various French ships.

[Joe C-P]

I like the blue bottom; something different yet based in fact. 

[Captain Canada]

Nice work ! I like the blue too, and any boat with helicopters gets my vote !

[seadude]

No new progress or pics will be available till late Oct. or maybe Nov.  I'm going in for cataract eye surgery this week, so any new progress will be late.

[Captain Canada]

Best wishes ! Look forward to your full recovery and the finish line of this puppy !

[Mossie]

Good luck for the op.

[seadude]

Sorry there's been no new progress on this. The last few months have been busy with work, holidays, recovering from cataract eye surgery, and..........I've also kinda lost interest in this project.   I still do plan to finish it, but.........it might be awhile.