USS Knox Class Modern US Naval 1/3000th NAvwar

Having completed the Spruance, Arleigh Burke, Ohio , Los Angeles, Ticonderoga ships and now the Knox Class ships from the NAvwar Modern USA fleet pack, I am left with 2 Oliver Hazard ships, the Cimarron Oiler, USS Tarawa and the CV Nimitz. I hoping to pick up some aircraft from ebay in the next week or so so I can decorate the helo flight decks and install a few aircraft on the Nimitz too. In the meantime, here are the Knox class ships..

Knox class frigates

The Nimitz is underway but waiting for my masking tape to resurface so I can complete the deck markings. Given she is the oldest serving US carrier I can't imagine she'll be around for much longer.

Nimitz in preparation

1/3000th Modern US naval Arleigh Burke Class

Slowly working out a system to paint these as I find out what works for me and what doesn't. The  two I've sqeezed in today  seem to me  a little improved on  my earlier Spruance Class ships. Slightly more aggressive with the highlights and the shading  wash is helping the models to pop a little more.

These are today's  Arleigh Burke Class ships. I've looked at numerous photos and the shades seems to change in every picture.

Then the Arleigh burkes on the left compared to  the earlier Spruances on the right...

Probably  more tomorrow as a have a rare day off and (good light prevailing) a long and fruitful painting day :)

Thanks for looking.

Navwar 1/3000 Soviet and US Modern naval Spruance, Los Angeles, Ohio

A nice package of figures arrived from Navwar last week - A battle-pack  for  modern US naval forces and a selection I made of Soviet ships to augment those I already have. I get the feeling that with the demise of Devian figures there's no-one currently making up to date naval stuff in 1/3000th. After I had cleaned up and based the castings I decided to start with the US subs - Ohio and Los Angeles classes. Next in line were the Spruance class ships, so after a good search  for pics on the web I had a go at them.

Work desk overflowing with  ships

After achieving something which I was happy with (although I can see much room for improvement) I set off to find out what had happened to them since the Gulf War only to discover that before 2000 they had all been retired! I was slightly deflated to realise that not only are the current  figure manufacturers seriously lagging and that their fleets are in serious need of modernisation but that if I want up-to date fleets, unless I'm prepared to pay the comparatively high cost that 3D printers are asking for their models, I might need to do some scratch building. I guess I can still simulate conflicts up until and including the nineties, but I need to rethink if I want to explore the hypotheticals.

My now redundant Spruance Class

 I do understand that costs of new models have to be offset by sales. Perhaps there's not enough interest in this scale and genre to justify the cost of new masters and moulds. I also  understand only too well how fast the years pass and  the nineties may be recent history to many. But these ships were retired 20 years ago. Time the battle packs were updated I think and if I can make a castable master I'd be happy to let someone cast them up for sale.'If you want something done - do it yourself' comes to mind.

I think at least the Los Angeles are still in service

I suspect the Ohio Class will be around for a while yet