U.S.S. Blessman DE 69
An old Revell classic

Quite a nice kit from my father's mid 70's stash. This one was a 1962 release made under license in New Zealand. The kit went together nicely. The moulding was pretty good for such an old kit. Just some minor flash and small seams on most parts. The hull had several sink holes on the outside where there was a strengthening rib on the inside. Many of the sink holes were very close to the fine raised panel lines so they were a little tricky to sand. Most parts fit together with minimal filling to hide the joins. The plastic behaved like several other old Revell kits that I am building, with the paint causing rough texture to appear, but this one was better than the others. The decals were extremely fragile. Only the "Blessman" decal on the stern went on without breaking into multiple pieces. I touched up the "DE69" decals with white paint as a few bits disintegrated. Rigging was a complete guess as the instructions say to refer to the box art, which is very vague and cuts off the top of the mast. The hull is painted with SMS Tuscan (red), SMS Chassis Black and SMS Dark Sea Grey. Deck and superstructure are SMS Dark Sea Grey. Some parts are slightly lighter as the second bottle of Dark Sea Grey was not the same shade as the first.