LCS-4 Coronado and my most sincere thanks

'm more or less finished with my Independence class Littoral Combat Ship.  As I said in a previous post, it's the Cyber-Hobby styrene kit.  Assembly was just plain over my head.  I am a pretty basic model builder and this had more tiny bits than I was prepared to add on.  Not only that, but it's a game piece and not something to be admired on my shelf. 

Even so, I did manage a fairly basic assembly and paint job.  This was the first time I'd worked with photo etched parts.  Some of them were fairly easy to work with.  Others such as the flight deck rail/netting were beyond my limited tools/experience/ability to do much with.  The final embarrassment, however, were the decals.  The kit came with a pretty extensive decal sheet, which I decided early on I would use selectively.  I chose to paint the dark gray walking areas on the bridge and gun deck and focus mainly on the flight deck.  I never realized getting things to lay down in straight lines could be so hard.

I guess the most important part is the ship is done and I can move on.

I also took a few the time to finally paint my Skytrex APD, or destroyer transport.  It's a chunk of lead I bought six or seven years ago when I first began collecting my 1/600 coastal vessels.  Built on a flush deck destroyer hull, I'm not sure when I'll ever use it in a game, but when the time comes I'll have it. I have a few Skytrex vessels.  I have a pair of their LCG's I've used in a couple of scenarios and I like those a lot.  I'm less wild about most of their smaller craft.  The metal flash seems highly noticeable and hard to get rid of compared to my PT Dockyard boats.  I have one more large Skytrex vessel, a British V and W class destroyer to paint, and I hope to complete it over the summer.

I have a couple of the little helicopter drones to finish that go with the LCS, but they are just a basic gray.  I'll be moving on to 28mm horsemen for my Mississippi project.  The ship models were a very nice break.

Thanks for all of the kind comments about Jack.  It's been a very difficult week for my wife and I.  We've been married for 32 years and she's never seen me shed a tear, but they've appeared in buckets this week.  He was a very special dog, a very special friend and I miss him so. It gets a little easier every day, and we've even begun talking about another companion for my Lucy, who may miss him even more than I do. Maybe in July.  We'll see.

Enfilade is in two weeks.  I'm in for four games.  It looks like I'll remain for as president of NHMGS for at least another year, and I'll try to cobble together a functional board of directors.  Should be enough to keep me off the streets.