The Ship Model Forum

At home, Thurs. night -

Nikon camera arrived - now the learning curve to figure out how to turn it on

I will attempt to get a picture of the teak deck plug from NEW JERSEY while I'm home. It's actually more brown than gray, but then it has been cleaned, finished, and mtd. for over 25 years and not out in the weather where it came from.

Tomorrow I will also go stain shopping and see what I can find. W-S, NC has many more places to shop for this than down in Johnston County, NC - duh-huh ; yea, that's right, I have no allegiances down there - it's just a job!

_________________
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

You could have had the teak cut into veneers and stripped. A deck from the real ship...

T

Hmm..... let's see.....

2"x3"x1" cut into strips 1/256" wide x 0.001 thick - I may be still cutting them when I see God!!!

So..........NO!

I've now got the battery in the camera - progress!!!

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 am about to begin a 68 New Jersey. I am wonder where I might find the dimensions of the tripod mast attached to the stern stack?

Steve2838 wrote:


Well Steve, first of all - if you are building a 1968 era NJ, you SHOULD know it did NOT have a tripod mainmast. And... it is not completely attached to the after stack.

The basic answer to your question is - unless you have access to her actual blueprints from that time period (highly doubtful - and believe me, I'VE TRIED!!) the only way to dimension the mast framework is to scale those parts from dimensioned drawings of the ship or know someone who worked on the ship and can recall those dimensions firsthand.

As a former member of her 1968-69 crew, I'm spending a LOT of time in research for my model. Your interest in her is?

Just wondering....

_________________
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

Did a bit of stain shopping today and decided on a small can of MinWax Wheat - it appears to be very close to the deck plug I have from the ship.

I've also taken a picture of the deck plug with the new camera and will attempt to post a picture perhaps tomorrow as soon as I learn how to do that with the new rig. Then, once back at the shop I can make a sample to compare with the earlier ones and see if my thinking on this is correct. I was leaning to the Driftwood but want to compare it to the Wheat.

So, there we are - learning something new again, it never ends!!!

_________________
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

BB62 Vet
First off thank you for your service and welcome home. I have always loved the Iowa class BBs, fell in love with them when I was a kid back in the 80s. I wanted to serve aboard her, but medical reasons kept me out of the Navy. I am going to build all four ships. USS Missouri as she was for he surrender, USS Wisconsin from Korea, USS New Jersey from Vietnam and, USS Iowa from the 80s. My Dad was a Vietnam vet, served aboard an AR. But he always seemed to have a soft spot for USS New Jersey.
After looking at the pictures from Nav Source again, you are right. The stern mast is 4 legged.

Steve,

I appreciate the remarks and your reply - it's always helpful to know a bit about one's modeling interests, etc.

NavSource is a good start for reference online - I would suggest that you spend some time reading thru the Calling All Ships Fans (CASF) Forum/Battleships/IOWA Class and any individual builds, etc. here on the forum. Lots of good modeling info here - AND, info specific to the IOWA class ships. You are probably NOT going to find much about NJ (1967-69) except in my build; I haven't found any others that are building her in this time period.

The Floating Drydock is a good source for plans and USN ordnance pamphlets as well as other modeling info, etc.

_________________
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

Deck Staining:

First, here is a shot of the small deck plug from NEW JERSEY -

This is attached to a plaque I made for it with a couple NJ wooden "nickels" & medallian.

Now, here is a photo of the Wheat stain (MinWax) coupon that I think will do the job -

Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, the Wheat is pretty much right on target; so, this is what the deck will be stained - I plan to FIRST stain an unused area of one of the deck sheets and see how this looks prior to actually stainning the parts. I realize that these are hard to see, but resizing the originals makes these a bit small in order to upload them.

On the topic of modifying the kit bow area:

I did some basic carpendry to fashion a couple wooden hull stands which are bolted to the hull cross members -

Then the stand was screwed into the work surface to hold it steady while working on the hull -

Last night I created the various templates to be used as station guides; tonight I'll cut them out to their proper shape -

So, once this is accomplished and the templates are located, I'll know where to add styrene and where the hull plastic needs to be filed away.

Note - still learniing the new camera - focus and various aspects of adjustment are in the early stages of this curve - apologies if they don't look just right

_________________
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

Looks good Hank! A "helforstout". Arrangement, should allow the yard workers to carry out the necessary hydrodynamic modifications!

New camera looks as if it is doing a good job, at least you don't have to wait to get the pictures back to discover bloopers.

Regards: Tom

Alright, Hank!

Gotta say though, while the color matches the real deck piece well it just doesn't ring "right" in scale form to me... it seems a bit too dark in my opinion.

I've gotta rig up a similar rack for my Iowa; I don't want to crush my new hull rim accidentally. Thanks for the inspiration!

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

A possibility to explore is to sand the deck with a fine paper to slightly but finely roughen the deck then seal with something like dullcoat, and possibly sand again with something like 600-1000 grit wet/dry paper.

Worth the experiment!

Cheers: Tom

Tom, Jason -

Thanks for the positive reinforcement

The stand idea was sort of old school since I had something like that for each of my models for doing hull work. Besides, I needed something to hold it in place during the rebuild.

I understand what you're saying about the color, Jason - I think if I stain the decking and wipe as much OFF yet leave a uniform coat, it will color it and at the same time be light enough to give the scale effect you are talking about. Hence, the reason for doing this to a NON-part piece first to see the results.

Tom - If it weren't enough usng a new camera, I also have a new bifocal pX - and it's 5 days now and still slightly out of focus - I may have to make a trip back to Costco this weekend to have them redo the glasses. Happened last year also - got the bifocal point too low and the glasses had to be remade.

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

Jason wrote:

After careful examination of the decking, I've concluded that Jason has a valid point in his remark about the color and scale factor. Since my color coupons for testing were taken from areas of the decking that were NOT scribed, they are lighter in appreance (and yellower) than the decking itself. So, I have decided to finish the decking only, no stain. This should still give the decks an overall good appearance, although not a match for the actual teak plug I have on hand.

Bow Area Hull Modificaitons:

Last night I cut out the various templates that I'll use for reshaping the lower bow area and the following photos show how they look when placed approximately where they would be located:

As you can see they show the amount of plastic that will need to be added to fill out the bulb properly as well as the plastic that needs to be removed around the middle area of the sides in order to allow the templates to fit properly. I didn't want to bend the out of shape, so that's why they sit askew.

_________________
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 wonder if the areas that need to be pinched in could be clamped or have very small bolts/screws inleted to suck the pieces together? Or clamp and fill with epoxy?

Just ideas!

Tom

You really went the extra mile on your templates, Hank.

That's what I love about your work... so neat, orderly and clean. I usually can't resist doing stuff all over the place and end up making a big mess, then spend forever cleaning it up. You've taught me a thing or two already and I anxious for more. Good Job!

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Jason Wrote:


Oh, Jason If you could only see the living room/2nd bedroom/3rd bedroom (my spreadout workshop) in the rented mobile home I stay in during the work week!!! you would have second thoughts about "neatness". But - I do appreciate the nice comments! I may have to order a tee shirt that says Nautical Pig Pen on Board

The templates are a bit fragile, so until I remove the middle plastic, I can't place them correctly on the hull. I've got one small tube of the Green Stuff, not quit a full tube - think that will be enough, or should I get an order in for more? Any preferences on brand or color?

Tom - I don't think pinching or epoxy would work here - the only way is physical removal of the exterior plastic by filing, sanding, scraping, etc. I may attempt to use a drum sanding attachment on one of my Dremel tools and see if I can't remove it that way as a start.

_________________
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

Good luck with the drum sanding. Biggest issue I have had with sanding plastic is the heat trying to melt the plastic. Even cutting thick plastic or plexi on the scroll or band saw requires a low speed. I wonder if one of those fairly coarse sanding drums, a large one, such as one could chuck in a variable speed drill might be good? Not easy as you are sanding on the inside of a double compound concave curve.

I am sure that whatever method you choose it will turn out OK in the end...

Regards. Tom

Tom,

Thanks for the advice, etc. - yea, it's not a real simple task. I've thought of perhaps asking my modeler/machinist friend to make a s/s (stainless steel) scraper for me and I would provide him the curved profile of the blade - or I could try this myself; I do have a good elec. grinder in my workshop here at home. I'm thinking that the possible metal piece to use might be the shim from an old plane and simply grind the curve first and then grind a sharp bevel to one side. If the curve matches the pattern on the template, then it should be easier to scrape with, wouldn't you think?

Of course, I don't have an old plane I'm willing to part with - perhaps a visit to the local cheapo tools place would have something that could be modified at a really insane low price.

_________________
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 believe there are cabinet scrapers available with a varying curve, one would just need to apply the right part of the curve? I am not sure how much plastic one can remove this way. Certainly your hold down system would be necessary. A curved surface sanding block might be useful as well.

Looking fwd to the progress! Tom