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USS Columbia and ABSD-1

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[quote="Walter Sonderman"][quote="Walter"]Hi, Steven, congratulations on the prices won at Flanders, we have already spoken each other over there! Flanders seemed to us a little bit quieter than e.g. last year. Might has to do with the fact Lingen is up this weekend. Cheers, Walter[/quote] Strange, I was logged out at the moment I submitted this message. Anyway, logged on again.[/quote]

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Topic review - USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Author

Message

Yuth

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Congratulations

Just read the 8 pages, and it was a real pleasure, thanks for taking the time to share with us

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2024 11:47 pm

JIM BAUMANN

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

I don't quite know how I missed the completion of this most excellent piece of work... but... BRAVO !!

Jim Baumann :thumbs_up_1:

Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:26 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Thanks, everybody. And Walter, I had recognized you in that post. The difference when logged out, is that you have to resolve a captcha to be able to post your message.

Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:52 pm

Walter Sonderman

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Walter wrote:

Hi, Steven,

congratulations on the prices won at Flanders, we have already spoken each other over there! Flanders seemed to us a little bit quieter than e.g. last year. Might has to do with the fact Lingen is up this weekend.

Cheers, Walter

Strange, I was logged out at the moment I submitted this message. Anyway, logged on again.

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:57 am

Walter

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 10:27 am

ModelMonkey

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Wonderful!

Attachments:

j0j903N.jpg [ 32.17 KiB | Viewed 364 times ]

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 6:58 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Thanks Marijn!

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 1:04 am

marijn van gils

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Congratulations Steven! :thumbs_up_1:

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 8:39 am

Pieter

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Looks like I nothing really changed since I last entered a model in competition in 2004 or 2005. There used to be an IPMS NL gang going there with an obligatory stop at the local frietkot. Will try and put it in my agenda for 2025.

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:34 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Thanks, Pieter. Eventually I didn't get to adding the searchlight platform on Callaway's smoke stack. The event was just what I expected from it, a contest with attention to ship modelling (bar the lighting at that table, maybe they can arrange it closer to the entrance next time), many visitors, a bit labyrinthine if you wanted to meet certain clubs but also lots of occasions for buying. Pictures can be seen here: https://www.scalemates.com/newsfeed.php?thread=14376931 .

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:00 am

Pieter

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Very nice result. I think Callaway made the diorama stand out but maybe that is just my prefence for cargo liners of that period. How was IPMS Antwerp this year?

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 4:33 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Thanks everybody, the first event meeting did pay off nicely with a 200 euro reward combination as Best Ship and Best of Show, and a beautiful Limited Edition LPD21. Three other models also got gold.

Some other nice ships were also present:

Operation Overlord got the silver medal.

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2024 4:21 pm

SG1

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

God almighty! What an OUTSTANDING conclusion! Congratulations on completing such a complex project. The result is beyond any imagination :thumbs_up_1:

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 1:03 pm

gm shoda

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Bravo! Magnificent weathering and detailing. Some of the photos are outstandingly atmospheric. Great work. Congratulations!

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:57 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Now the daylight pictures:

Some tips for the people aspiring to an ABSD build:

Out of the box:
- All allied 1/350 ships can be placed in the dock, that still seems widely available everywhere. The period of use of the dock as an ABSD is restricted to 1944-early 1945, after that they were changed to AFDB status and an expansion was built around the walls. Maybe this can be scratched onto the kit without much reshaping.
- Cleveland type light cruisers are frequently portrayed on old ABSD pictures. This makes them easy subjects in a diorama, but some problems arise. You can't use the complete ABSD kit, remove two of the pontoons for a correct proportion. For me this discovery came too late. Also, the Veryfire Cleveland and Birmingham hulls have apparently an intentional kink in the keel, necessitating a rework of the first part of the keel to make them fit on the blocks. The builder is also completely left on his own device for the docking plan of the ship. Seemingly an Iowa hull was used as the manual example, but it is not reproduced correctly. A lot of blocks have to be tripled in number, I only nearly had enough of them for a cruiser. The tripling of the blocks is made more difficult because they are not perfectly square, the result has something of a wedge shape.
- The modules can also be used individually, for a port diorama or the towing by a tug. The walls can be shown down or maybe even angled halfway up. This would reduce the dio size.
- The berth of the pontoons is minimalized in the kit, most of the pictures show them sunk on par with the accompanying barge deck heights. This I also discovered later on. I could only provide access to the YRDM's on their main deck. Some of the YF barges have cabs built on them, these would be accessible then. A solution is using resin water to fill the gap, but you would need huge amounts.
- Make sure to use the wall tops as the base for the construction of the wall sides. I first squared the sides and then added the top, leading to a skewedness causing a bad fit between the pontoons.

Aftermarket
- The ABSD is an extremely detailed upscaling of Snowman Models' 1/700 dock, making the builder level quite advanced but not extreme. Yes, there's a lot of PE, but the parts are large enough to manipulate and prepared to fold easily. But it is not complete for a real ABSD setup. Therefore you would need about 240 centimeter of two-chain railing on top of the one provided for the catwalks, assuming you wouldn't sink these down the waterline and use it on top of about half of the walls.
- Maybe you want to replace the 500+ slightly wedge-shaped keel blocks by nice rectangular ones, about half of them in a triple configuration. But that's a lot of sawing. At the other hand, the kit ones all need clean-up to glue them flush to the deck.
- None of the specialized auxiliary boats are available in 1/350. Type YF en YRDM are visible on most period pics, accompanied by a floating crane, a tug and multiple LCM's. I could have used the new Black Cat one, but I veered back from the 30 euro shipping cost compared to my usual 6 euro L'Arsenal one.
- For the Cleveland and Birmingham upgrades I can give good acclaim. A pleasure to build and perfect detail.
- Also a thumbs-up for Ion figures. I now prefer them to North Star because they don't break (and don't arrive broken either).

And now on to my derelict Essex-carriers build.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 9:22 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Thanks, Dan. Today the ABSD leaves the dockyard. Just in time for the IPMS Antwerp event tomorrow. A name tag is not yet in the picture. I'll make two postings today, ome with the last building steps and one with end result pics and a review.

I reversed the planes, because some comments were made about the docking procedure. The water gel was still a bit mellow, so I was able to remove the floaters. After the trnaround I connected them to the hull and a scratch buoy ex-truck air bellow. A sloop is in the vicinity to pick up the crew, that's not on this picture.

The ABSD videos show the stars and stripes on a mast, this was made with a decal on a piece of aluminum foil.

That makes the flag fluttering in the breeze.

The Cleveland deck set remains are fit to use for some scratch woorden objects.

Cable reels and deck planks can be made out of it. I also added some crane cables and pulleys, some now tilling a crate. After a matt coat to remove glue stains and fixing what came loose I was able to make the first end pictures.

My glass showcase from the pet store is then installed. I will have to provide some spacers under the plank if I want to be able to lift it from a table.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:43 am

Dan K

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Astounding work. Just great.

Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 2:32 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Luckily all went well even when I added the stuff immediately on the paper.

The decals on the continuous white film needed to be cut out.

At the right you can see the result.

The PE canopy is filled with PVA glue.

The planes are placed in the water with some figures on them.

The LCA ships got some Vallejo white surf on their wake..

One of the barges is being moored with some painted wire..

A new order came in, it wouldn't look wrong in an ABSD...

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2024 7:00 pm

Pieter

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

Hey Steven, if this is your first attempt at decals make sure you apply you decal film after the print is fully dry (hours, not minutes). I made some perfectly nice looking decals into something looking like a pocket handkerchief by appyling the decal film too early.

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 6:44 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: USS Columbia and ABSD-1

It's time for the waterworks, an important step that might make or break the dio.

For the hard to reach zone between the pontoons I used up an old pot dating from the Princeton project. That stuff was slightly cured on top, so it soon darkened.

The main surface was then covered much faster with a palette knife.

It looks a bit like the ocean color at Espiritu Santo.

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Champagne_Beach_Espiritu_Santo_(29173593482).jpg)

But off course the product is intended to darken after use.

Knowing that one layer wouldn't cover the white base, I left off all boats until the second layer was starting to be applied. This would get a wind-swept surface, but that needed to be arranged during the positioning of the boats.

The waves can best be modelled in partly-cured paint.

The wake is done by dripping on paint with a pencil.

The barge undersides were covered with paint before they were applied to prevent seams.

For the Higgins boats a perforation of the base was needed.

Then the wood splinters were carefully removed.

With a broken scalpel the wake of the fast boats can be shaped.

I took care to give the scene some dynamic by angling the boats toward the curve.

Because the APA was perfectly level and the base plate not, a meniscus of a few millimeter was needed to prevent a seam. It's not ideal but the water should of course be level on the entire dio.

Any of the seams in the wood had to be leveled out in the paint. Because of the thickness this is possible after 2 layers.

The day after the blue is completely cured. The ships are all located now. A few zones might need an extra wavelet.

The water near the APA had a different brush stroke in the first layer, but it goes along with the hull. The next waves crossed this, but I imagine the heaving of the hull might cause waves like this.

I'm pretty impressed by the ruggedness of the Ion figures. All of these will man their stations over the next couple of days.

The missing plane decals should be printed on this paper and sprayed with decalfilm. That will be a first for me.

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 8:20 pm

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