Trumpeter 1/350 USS San Francisco (CA-38)
When I was an 18 year old sailor, I stood on the ruined bridge of USS San Francisco there in the park in the city whose name she bore, thinking to myself what might I have done had I been there that terrible night off Guadalcanal. USS San Francisco has always been a special ship to me. I used to be friends with the late Master Gunnery Sergeant (ret) George Martin, the ship's company Marine who was the first to come onto the wrecked bridge that night after she was hit. Captain Cassin Young died in his arms. Four Medals of Honor were awarded that night, it's one of the great stories in USN history.
This is definitely one of the best Trumpeter ship kits. Tom's Modelworks photoetch used for the ship, WEM photoetch for the two SOCs.
Nice work. I'm gonna have to tackle mine someday. I have the 1944 fit of this ship, and all the photo etch as well. I'm just curious about one thing. you did all that work with the bent metal bits, but no rigging? Just wondering. Excellent build.
I leave the rigging off until the model goes somewhere else, since here at Le Chateu du Chat, Cary the model kitty finds rigging between masts to be "interesting" should he forget the "don't go in the shelves" rule - I'd rather not get mad at him for being himself, so the rigging awaits final finish.
Wonderful. This was my first 1/350 build ('44 version). I didn't know of any purpose made PE at the time and spent a boat load on generic PE cranes, radar, guns, etc. Yours still looks better.