Pat Hreachmack is an avid modeler and a good friend His specialy, is modiying and scratchbuilding 1.2400 ships, and I am grateful to him for sharing his knowledge. This is a two-part article, the first discussing basic techniques, the second showing how to model an American WWII Light cruiser I hope that Pat will be a regular contributor to the Naval SITREP. PART ONE Basics of Kitbashing Welcome to the wonderful world of "kitashing", where some of us more hard-core gamers and modelers attempt to convert commercially available ship models to sister ships with different arrangements, or to similar vessels. Those of our readers who subscribed to the Harpoon SITREP may recognize that an earlier version of this particular article appeared in one of the first issues. However, I know that those of you who are new subscribers to the Naval SITREP will not have seen the original. One of the problems confronting H,upoon or Command At Sea gamers is that Larry Bond, Ed Kettler, and other devious individuals keep adding new vessels into their scenarios. Until the suppliers come out with these ships, you and I are stuck with "making do." Worse yet, Larry and other authors arc guilty of writing about vessel types which we gamers may believe we can acquire, only to find that the particular ship model or modification is not available on the model we've putchased. If you've "just gotta have it," this series may help you. As model railroaders or plastic model builders, many of us have long recognized the value of "kitbashing," or the modification of an existing model into a variation not commercially available. There is no reason that 1:2400 ships cannot also be kitbashed, provided that the modeler has a certain degree of patience! Many kitbashing projects may be nothing more than adding extra weapons mounts, or changing their position. This column is not meant to slight the manufacturers of superb 1:2400 scale ship models. They may have produced the model at a time when the prototype did not in fact carry the particular weapons mount, structure, radar, or otherwise appears in a different configuration from. that desired. Different ships in the same class often have vaned systems and deck layouts. This is a naval design fact of life. The first stage in any kitbash project is research. You must have accurate photos and drawings of the project prior the starting your conversion. This fact can not be stressed enough. If you can't obtain both a side view and a deck plan, wait until you can! Even better, have your photos or drawings reduced to 1:2400 scale. That way you may take your measurements directly from the source materials. There are many information sources readily available, often at your public library. Some of the best sources include: Jane's Fighting Ships, Weyer's Warships of the World, the Conway series, US Naval Institute Proceedings, International Naval Review, and Polmar's books on the US and Soviet navies. For modern vessels, Weyers is especially good about giving both a side view and a deck arrangement of the same vessel. Tools The two best tools you can have are steady hands and a good magnifier. Magnifiers may be found to clip on the front of glasses (as I do), on a head mount for those without glasses, or in freestanding versions. At least one good 4x magnifier is mounted on a set of alligator clip "third hands." However, for freedom of movement and working case, the magnifier you can wear on your glasses or head may be the best. While I recommend a 4x magnification, everyone has a different level of comfort. Try several before you buy. Each kitbasher will develop his/her own set of equipment. My workbench includes the following: X-Acto blades & saws of various types, a set of jeweler's files, pin drills and dental drills, dental scrapers and carvers, damps of various sizes (all small), padded vise damp and "third hand" tools, measuring tools including a 6" plastic measure in both inches and millimeters, dividers, and a good work light. One of my most useful tools is a dental chisel having a very fine blade and only 1/16th inch across. This item has proven its usefulness on many occasions. By the way, check out your local flea markets for dental tools and other useful hobby tools. You may be surprised what you can find. You will also need your favorite adhesive, Green Putty (from Squadron), old credit cards, various sizes of fine wire, and a couple of different packages of shaped plastic from Evergreen. The Evergreen styrene plastic will be added as we go. I'll try to inform you as to which size of plastic you'll need for any particular project. I strongly suggest that you should save any superstructure or weapons mounts removed during your kitbashing. One never knows when and where thew will come in handy. For that matter, CinC and other manufacturers often include a few extra parts in their kits. A small CinC box with the foam removed makes a very handy storage container. Current manufacturers of 1:2400 ships include CinC, GHQ Viking Forge, and Superior. In fact, Viking Forge, a relatively new entrant into the 1:2400 ship model market, also has the U. S. concession for the SeaBattle line of 1:2400 models from Austria. One List comment before we start kitbashing along our merry way. Many of us are used to baking the finish onto the metal model by heating the miniature on a sheet of hobby plywood in an oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. DON'T TRY BAKING A KITBASH. THE PLASTIC WILL WARP, RUINING AN OTHERWISE LONG AND MASTERFUL KITBASH!! (Author's note: Guilty, by virtue of having done so on several occasions!) Kitbash Corner: Part 2: Getting from Brooklyn to St. Louis BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #3 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com