Hobby Boss Spruance Class PE assembly guide:

The first Hobby Boss sets seem to have met with success, for which we can all be grateful. It’s possible that these kits really will help to expand our hobby and bring in some much needed young blood. Building on the success of the first kits, Hobby Boss released four new editions late last year. These are every bit as good as the first three, and are faithful to their original subjects and tasteful in their representation of them. Therefore they are worthy candidates of any collector’s, modeller’s or wargamer’s display cabinet. With the addition of our (somewhat belated, sorry) photo etch mast kit they can become much more characterful and evocative of the real vessels.

Tools and Materials:

To assemble these photo etch kits (refer to previous guide for tips on painting) you will need:

A short note before we begin. These new sets are considerably more complicated than the previous sets. These were made in 0.1mm brass, the previous were made in 0.15mm. This allows for finer detail but does make handling far trickier. Once they are together you will be surprised at their rigidity and strength, but while assembling you must take great care not to bend or damage fine parts. Use of tweezers and not rushing it will help prevent this.
If this is the first time you have handled photo etch, I strongly recommend that you assemble one of the Ticonderoga class sets first, as this will give you a good foundation in handling photo etch in 1:1250 scale and you will be better armed to deal with the more advanced nature of these newer sets.
When assembling these sets a photo etch bending tool is unnecessary, and will probably make things hard for you overall. I designed these sets to be easily bent by hand or with tweezers, so you shouldn’t have much trouble with that. However, many of the half etched bend points are thin and wont stand up to multiple bending attempts, so try not to go for it too enthusiastically and take your time, bending the piece a little at a time until the correct angle is achieved.

Between each section of assembly, I strongly recommend that you leave ample time for the superglue to go off and harden properly. Many of these parts are under tension once assembled and even light handling can un-stick them from each other until they are properly cured – super glue isn’t that super until it goes off. There is no way around this, and don’t even think about superglue kicker agents. Yes they cure it off instantly, but they are the most toxic, carcinogenic, fertility-destroying, violent and dangerous chemicals I have ever encountered in model making and I wouldn’t touch them with a 60 ft pole. There’s a good reason why they are BANNED in model making degree courses and all responsible modelling companies.

Assembly of USS KIDD set:

Step 1:

We will go through assembly of the USS KIDD PE set first. Carefully remove the photo etch fret from it’s packaging. Next establish the “Up” side, the up side has the name of the ships written on it, this is important as many bends rely on the correct facing of the up side. Make sure you know which way this side is facing before you bend a piece. 

Step 2:

Cut the aft mast from its sprue and have your razor saw to hand. Cut the upper portion of the aft mast with your razor saw as per the image below. You want to cut it straight off the top of the lower section, make sure the cut is as even as possible and not at an angle. If you don’t think you can manage the precise cut, make it slightly higher and then file the remaining part off so that it is flat and level. Now using your freshly bladed knife, cut the details off as in the photo. Make sure you cut them off as close to their base as possible. Keep the tall pole mast, large radar and two smaller ones.

Step 3:

Next, remove the highlighted brass parts from the fret using your knife. Now take the lattice part and bend the two outer parts with the up side facing OUT. Bend the platform supports in slightly.

Now squeeze a blob of superglue out onto an expendable surface (and I don’t mean that antique table that the missus loves so much.) Take a pin or a straightened paperclip and dip the end into the glue so that you have a small blob to use on the end. Apply the glue to the brass with the pin or clip and fix the platform pieces in place. The result should look like this:

Step 4:

Superglue the large square lattice piece to the large radar. Next glue the brass mast to the base part that you prepared earlier. Now you are ready to glue on all the details, your mast should look like this:

Step 5:

Cut the forward mast from the plastic sprue. Then saw and cut the piece as you did before. The parts you need are show here:

Step 6:

Cut the highlighted part out from the PE fret. There is a thicker crossbar on the side sections of the piece. You’ll see it in the lattice-work with a half etched score line running down it. Take your scalpel and gently press it into the score lines on either side until the crossbars split in two. The lower platform slots into these splits, and splitting the piece while it is still flat is infinitely preferable to attempting it when it is a folded 3D shape – as I found out while building the model….

Now, bend the whole piece into the shape in the photo below with the up side OUT. Take care when bending the base part, the score lines are fragile and may break if handled incorrectly. Bend the platform supports slightly outwards so that they are all parallel with each other.

Step 7:

Cut out these highlighted parts. Slot in the lower platform and fix it with glue, then glue the upper platform onto the assembly as shown in the image below:

Step 8:

Cut the radar out of the fret, place it on the tip of your finger and roll the end of a file or brush over it until the correct curvature is achieved. Next bend the small arm on the bottom of the radar outwards, and the smaller part on the end of that up.

Now glue all the pieces together, as in this photo:

Step 9:

Now you are ready to spray the masts and fix them to the rest of the model. Remember, fixing the masts should be the very last thing you should do before you varnish the whole model. Make sure the model is painted and decaled before the masts are fitted!

Assembly of USS SPRUANCE and variants:

Step 1:

Once again, carefully remove the fret from its packing, and establish the up side. Now cut the highlighted part from the fret.

Bend the part with the up side facing outwards; take care with the base part once again. Use this photo for reference.

Remove these highlighted parts and repeat the lattice as the last. Then, assemble the parts as in this photo:

Step 2:

Remove the following highlighted parts from the fret. Bend them with the up side OUT and assemble using your pin and glue as in the below image. The lower platform support has the larger triangular parts; the upper has the smaller ones.

Step 3:

Remove the highlighted piece and glue to the rear of the mast as per the photo.

Step 4:

Cut the plastic forward mast from its sprue, remove the details and fix them to the brass mast as in the image:

Step 5:

Cut out the highlighted brass part and bend the sides and base with the up side facing OUT.

Step 6:

Cut the highlighted parts out. Bend the lower platform supports into shape, this is quite tricky to achieve and needs care and attention to achieve successfully. Just take your time and don’t force anything. You’re aiming for this:

Step 7:

Cut out the plastic aft mast and remove the details. Cut the radar from the brass fret and bend it in the usual way. The final assembly looks like this:

Congratulations, it’s no mean feat to complete these sets, and you have earned substantial bragging rights. If you were able to handle these sets, then there is very little in the world of PE that is out of your reach. I very much doubt it gets any harder than this, and if it does I’m sure we’ll all rise the challenge!

*Exits singing Eye of the Tiger.*