The 1/700 Hamilton FRAM by JAG is a pleasantly
challenging build of an interesting, out-of-the-mainstream subject.
The kit is suitable for intermediate and higher skill levels, though is
designed such that you need not have extensive experience with resin and
photoetch (PE) to build a nice looking ship. |
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The kit shows the usual high quality casting by JAG. The ship's bottom
is dead flat. The detail parts are molded on to two sprues, with three
other parts cast onto a thin sheet of resin. Be careful removing
the parts from the sprues, especially the two masts. The casting
is very fine and it would be easy to slice off one of the platforms from
the mast with a slight slip of the knife. I cut the individual chunks
from the sprue and then very gently nipped away at the resin flash to free
up the part. |
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The instructions are clear and assembly is straight forward.
The detail parts appear to be largely Skywave cover tunes, though the included
Jayhawk seems to be different than Skywave's parts, showing the slightly
wider, rounder body of the real thing as opposed to the Skywave part which
always looks too thin to me. The Hamilton comes with enough railings
to detail the entire ship. You also get radar, helo netting, mast
details and a few other detail parts as PE. The PE is easy to work
with, brass (not stainless steel) so it is easy to bend and place.
Decals are provided with every hull number and ship name in the class,
as well as the distinctive Coast Guard orange-red slash on the hull. |
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The challenges in this kit are two-fold:
1) The graceful side pieces between the two decks that give the Hamilton
its distinctive lines are each separate photo etch parts. JAG recommends
gluing a piece of stretched sprue onto the deck to use as a guide for the
parts. On my kit I installed railings first and then laid in the side pieces
using the railing as a brace. On the real ship the side pieces and
railings are flush with each other, but I am willing to consider an inaccuracy
the thickness of a 1/700 piece of railing as a fudge I can live with.
I pre-painted the area behind the side pieces, and the back of the pieces
themselves, and then installed them. A little super glue helped fill
in any slight gaps. I then sprayed a final coat of white over the
whole assembled side to give it an even look. |
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2) White. One thing that attracted me to this model was a desire
to introduce some color into my collection of grey, gray and grayer ships.
The white hull and superstructure, coupled with the orange-red markings
and deck details, really sets this ship apart. The challenge I found
was that white is a very unforgiving base color. White paint (for
me at least) does not cover well, so I had to build up the opacity
with many thin coats of paint, walking a fine line between paint coverage
and not obscuring the delicate details with gobs of paint. Also, when masking
off areas of white, say for the black rear superstructure, white does not
allow for even a little bleed-through under the tape. Expect to get really
good at masking or really good at touching up. |
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The kit builds up well right out of the box/tube, but I made a few
additions: I drilled out drainage holes at the bow of the ship, I added
hand wheels to the deck near the anchor chains, I added two .50 machine
guns P&S, I included various whip antennas near the bridge and on the
masts and added some rigging. The figures you may see in the photos
are also added, and come from Gold Medal Models, US $5 for 100 figures.
I also added some ladders. Otherwise, the PE you see all comes with
the kit. |
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Conclusions: While the kit is not for beginners, it is appropriate
to new-ish resin builders (for a first resin kit, consider the Hamilton's
sister, the Bear by JAG, similar in design and execution but with fewer
parts and simpler PE). The instructions are clear, almost everything you
need is supplied and the kit builds up into a nice piece without the need
for scratch work. Try this as a second or third resin kit if you
are looking for something more colorful than gray on gray.
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