The Ship Model Forum

Hank: Yes, I am working on the airwing for the 1/200 Enterprise. I am planning on back dating to Midway configuration as no 1/200 Avengers exist, save for some on Shapeways sans props and landing gear, I figured I'd get the airwing out of the way so I don't have to deal with that after the ship is built, plus I can put some in the hangar bays to fill the voids. This may surprise you, but neither Trumpeter nor Pontos has the correct markings for the aircraft. They are stuck on Hornet. So, after much chin scratching and contemplating, I am just going with the national markings. Anyway, that's where I am now. I just finished up a 1/350 Intrepid, nice way to get back into the ship side of the hobby again.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Mark,

Good luck with the 1/200 ENTERPRISE - I'll check my USN aviation books and see if I can find any info on the Avenger air wing carried during her Midway battle timeline. I see Dana Bell has a new book out now (Amazon) regarding pre-war USN aircraft, etc.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Returning to this project, I have made some changes to the forward upper mast unit in that my original part did not include the small antennas, lamps, and instrumentation that was part of the overall mast. I have now added everything into the overall design except the A/N SPS-6C RADAR antenna in order to make a more simplified assembly of this unit. Having to manually add all those parts would have been quite tedious. So, here is a Before and After set of pix of this component:



If this prints out well, I may do the same with the lower mast unit as it too has individual lamps, antennas, and instruments which currently are not part of the overall part. The upper mast unit is printing now with a finish time of 6pm or so. I have two of these parts located on the printer so hopefully at least one will come out ok. Several of the arms on this unit are still bare as in 1968 some of the earlier 1950s era antenna had been removed and not updated, but the arms were left intact.

Hank

10:30am edit - I gave the wrong item as part of the upper mast unit - The RADAR on this part of the mast is the A/N SPS-10 not the A/N SPS-6C which is actually located on the main (or lower) service platform which is the base for this upper mast unit.

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

As to the air wing question, none of the USN carriers carried Avengers during the midway Battle, the only ones that appeared were flown off Midway Atoll itself.

Hank:

Glad to see you are progressing well on this long term recreation of your ship, somewhere at this point she starts to look like a ship. The very complicated masts and equipment, cableways etc are very time intensive!

Cheers: Tom

Tom,

Thanks, things are moving along slowly at the moment, working on main deck liflines, etc. In this effort, I've found that horizontal printing, while much less time consuming, is not producing the correct result, so I have printed my last 2 sections of railings in a vertical orientation. This now takes anywhere from 12 to 15+ hours BUT, I can get quite a few sections printed at one time. So, this will be the effort - to get these all printed in one final print session; I usually print 2 pieces of each as a rule of thumb. Here's a recent example -

A bit hard to figure out with the supports still attached to the printing raft, but the railing section is in there, just difficult to discern.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

Glad that technique is working out. When I printed masts vertically the attached ladders generally came out very well. I'm still using the printed stanchions and sprue lifelines, which are quite invisible as they should be, but very fragile. Once you get those on then the segments you have sitting on the shelf can be added, which will be exciting! Another masterpiece in the offing!

Cheers: Tom

Tom,

Thanks! Printing lifelines, etc. upright seems to be the best way, but NOT a certainty every time.

While working on the parts for the New Bern model group's BB-55 restoration project, I'm having to try various orientations to get a decent print - of course the much smaller size doesn't help, but I know from my earlier test print last week that it can be done - the full-length parts simply require time & effort to come out correct.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

I successfully printed some very nice vertical ladders fro masts etc at smaller than 1:500, but they are very fragile and overly floppy. Perhaps since the print time is so long vertically print a bunch of them, increasing the likely hood of survivors. Sometimes 3D seems to be dependent on the alignment of the stars and moon.

Looking forward to the installation! Tom

Have been getting in a bit more work lately - added the fwd deckhouse and amidship bulwarks. I've also created a couple Fuel Oil Hoses & mounting brackets for the port side bulwark -


Fwd Deckhouse added -


Here's the hoses installed on the bulwark -


And, here the bulwark is mounted on the model -


Hope to get more of the railings printed and revised if necessary in the next week. Time of year when yard stuff for The Admiral becomes center stage...

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

I LOVE the Fuel Oil Hoses!

_________________
http://www.3xblackcats.wordpress.com

Thanks, SG1!!! It was a fairly simple 3D design - there IS a slight curve to the hoses, but hard to see. Thought that length needed a slight sag in them. Here's the design picture of that part -


Appreciate your interest!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

Are those two connected 10' sections? Good way to print and install, otherwise quite difficult to paint!

Cheers: Tom

WOW! I'm going through this again Hank, and the work you are doing is absolutely stunning, to say the least. Those three inch guns turned out spectacularily. Lots of effort and planning but it all paid off. I think you've hit your stride here Hank.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

As mentioned, CV-6 didn't carry the TBF during Midway. At Santa Cruz they carried the TBF. Sadly, the model depicts the ship as it was at Santa Cruz, but there are no 1/200 TBF's for the kit. So, I'm backdating it to Midway, with some liberties taken.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Mark,

Thanks so much for the kind remarks - I've emailed you regarding "stuff", so that will catch you up to date, etc.

Last night printed again the 01 Level (Hedgehog Deck) railings and orientation was the key to a successful outcome. Took overnight (9+ hours) but worth the time/effort -



Today, after getting another run of my BB-55 restoration parts printed, I'll also reprint the main deck Hedgehog Deck X Bracing & Railings in a horizontal orientation as this seems to give much better results -

Once again, this part has been eluding me as to getting a successful printing - I've had to alter size & height to what the model is, not the plans as they don't show true 3D depth and slight angling of posts or stanchions.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank

The Hedge Hog rail is geometrically challenging. I have such a rail to do for Alaska’s 56 mount and have been avoiding it. Sometimes I have taken card stock and made patterns to figure out the geometry of your forward deck support stancions or constructed them by piece work.

Lookin good! Tom

Tom,

Thanks! I'm guessing your last comment referred to the railing around the Hedgehog Launchers and not the forwardmost railing that goes around the deck where Mount 52 is located. Yes, this railing for the model has more to do with the model and not the plans as my 01 Level decking may/may not be 100% in alignment with those on the plans (although my intentions were to do just that!) and as such, the railing had to be modified a few times to fit. I'm hoping my current printed ones fit, but if not I will eliminate the shrinkage factor (Kastanza knows Shrinkage!!) to compensate for this.

The railings around Mount 52 are not a std set found on all (or many) of the modernized FLETCHER class DDs. STODDARD's was (once again) unique in that the stanchions were a bent & angled lot so that the railing still provided some protection, but did not interfere with the training of Mt. 52. Not a common piece of work; I wonder if this too was a ShipAlt by local yard engineers as opposed to a class modification. My guess would be a local ShipAlt at some point in her carreer.

Never a dull moment in the shipyard.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

Those would definitely apply to the navy advice to not lean on the lifelines. I'm pleased that you were able to obtain so much information about Stoddard to create a unique model!

Tom

Yes, I consider the research as half the fun and three-quarters of the build, in some ways!

With the printer back on line (maybe??? - find out around 11pm!) I've removed supports from Mt. 51 and did a test fit on the base ring - fits perfect! The mounts are my own 3D design/printed items.


Depending on the status of the printer, I may be able to get to Mt. 52 tomorrow and also check barrel fit - using Model Monkey's barrels. Tonight's print run is on the 1/48 scale Aircraft Crane Control Console and 1/200 scale Foam Suppression Shed which are obviously other builds.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

I am always pleased with the detail in the Rapid Black resin, but it is difficult to photograph as it always looks iike a black blob. For my 5"38 twins I had very good luck printing barrels at 45 deg though vertical would probably be even better.

Hope the new LC in the printer is behaving, seems as if they like to torment you for a cycle or two.

Cheers: Tom