The Ship Model Forum

Tom,

True, to an extent - in this case the base of the kingpost is still somewhat of a mystery in that the two views I now have of the crane (side elevation/plan view) still leave a LOT to be desired in showing what's actually there and how it all fits together. I'm hoping for some detail sheets but that's not a given that they have those available.

In the meantime, I've gone ahead and redesigned a few of the associated parts and have just about completed the crane boom -

This is quite a bit different from my original model - and, with more details added. My original model did not have the Fair Lead Sheaves or the 10" Wood Block for the Safety Runner Ropes. I have plenty of scaled wood blocks that I will choose from in my parts dept. to use for this item. These views have also proved how many sheaves were in place (my original design was incorrect) and also shows a set that I wasn't aware of in the base of the kingpost. Those have all been redrawn to scale and await printing. The part I had called an "outrigger" is actually the Boom Head Assembly and I'm working on that now. There is an assembly detail drawing of that, but I don't know if the BB-55 archives has that available. It will certainly solve some questions if they do.

And, awaiting more paint in order to finish a couple of my other mini-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

I've received additional scanned drawings w/dimensions which make my last attempt an exercise in futility - again, close but no cigar! So, with the actual boom dimensions I've been able to accurately design this major piece of the puzzle -

This includes the two sets of Fairlead Sheaves which are mounted in a couple of the Diaphragm Plates to guide the cables thru the boom. I've also drawn up the boom ladder which I did not have on my first model. That's a separate design file. Both boom & ladder will have to (again) be split into two parts for printing purposes. I will next begin work on the Boom Head if I'm able to receive dimensioned drawings on that piece of equipment. I've now got properly scaled/dimensioned parts for the following items:
Boom Crane & Ladder
Boat Hoist Sheaves
Topping Sheaves
Whip Hoist Shock Absorber Assy.
Whip Hoist Swivel Hook Assy.
300-Watt Floodlight & Mounting Bracket

The Boat Hoist Block Assy. will require a complete redesign as the details & dimensions I've received show something quite different than the photos I was referencing show - this will be an interesting piece of gear to design and take some time to do so properly. The assembly & details are somewhat involved and not an easy piece of equipment to design - so this will take some time to construct.

Phil's suggestion re. the Bead Stringing Wire I'm looking into for this next version - I will try to find diameters that correspond to the scaled wire rope diameters. Seems like these products are fairly common.

One other interesting bit of lore is that these cranes (port/starboard) are exact mirrors of each other - the equipment layout is a flip-flop if you're looking at the plan view of the ship. I suspected that this SHOULD be the case, but until I saw an actual drawing of the cranes from overhead, I wasn't sure.

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 would be surprised if the winches etc were mirrored, which might lead to other minor alterations port to starboard in the crane construction? But who knows?

Great that you were able to get update info on their construction.

Cheers from Sub Tropical NZ. Tom

Tom,
I can't answer that, but the equipment LOCATION was flip-flopped symmetrically - here's an overhead view of the cranes:

As you can see, equipment outboard on the stbd crane is reversed and outboard on the port crane, etc. Whether the winches/motors operated in reverse fashion I can't say. The cable drums on the two machinery levels below each crane are located on the outboard side of the kingpost, so I would think that probably the operation of the winches was indeed reversed from one crane to the other.

I hope you're enjoying your "down under" retreat!!

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

After finishing the redesign of the crane boom, I began work on redesign of the 24" Boat Hoist Block Assembly. This is the piece of equipment that lowers/raises from the Crane Boom Head and is NOT at all what I originally pictured it being from photos. Once I had some detailed drawings of this unit it became apparent that this was more than just a rectangular housing for a sheave - it is actually a six-sided apparatus with two sheaves and a lower Strongback which has the connections for the cables used to hoist the boats. It's taken about all week to get this drawn up and ready to print a trial run. Here are the pieces that make up this assembly:

The Strongback is the one piece that is fairly close to being correct, but not 100%. I may do further design on this at a later date, but for initial purposes, it will work quite well as is. Knowing what the size of wire rope was used, will enable me to see if the Bead Stringing Wire that Dr.PR mentioned come in scaled diameters equal to or close to what is req'd.

I am hoping for some further drawing information/details before tackling the Crane Boom Head redesign - until that shows up, I will probably begin the redesign of the crane base and Lower Machinery Levels as I do have three views of that equipment and once drawn up, I can scale to the correct size as my printouts are not quite to 1/48 scale.

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:

Besides the Beadalon "miniature cable" there are some braided fishing lines which may also come in a selection of diameters. Of course there are some viewers who will check the direction of the lay and number of strands.

Back home in the Northern Hemisphere and a little woozy from the blood rushing back to my feet and yet again driving on the wrong side of the road.

Tom

Tom,
Yes, looking at the Beadalon products, but they don't have the two sizes I need. I'm also a bit concerned that as wire that they won't have a lot of flexibility like threaded cord does, although - I don't know that for sure. I may drop by the local Michael's and see what they've got and how it looks, etc.

As for others who are strand counters, etc. - they can take a hike!

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

Well,

There is hawser laid that is laid right-handed with the sun.

And there is cable laid that is laid left handed against the sun.

And of course shroud-laid is also with the sun but not the same as hawser laid.

It is important to keep these details in mind. Wouldn't want to piss off old Neptune, you know!

Phil

_________________
A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

My Dad's WWII BJM has a quite a dissertation on cables, I'll look and see what they have. This application was probably about 1" diameter?

Tom

Yes, I'm totally aware of rope being either right or left hand laid but more for sailing ships than modern steel warships. The crane drawings don't specify anything more than the diameter of the wire rope. When I built my 1/48 scale POB model of U.S. Sloop of War PEACOCK, I designed & built an electric serving jig, but it only ran in one direction. The standing rigging (stays) does require that rope be served either one way or the other depending on the side of the ship. Also, the leading shrouds are served in similar fashion.

I guess I should have been flogged by Ole King Neptune for my sin, but I did submit a chit requesting he give me a pardon and then left a couple Spanish Doubloons at the base of his statue in Virginia Beach.....haven't heard back yet, so I guess I'm off the hook!



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

Progress on the redesign is moving along. This week I've received scans of the crane kingpost, boom head assy, machinery arrangement, all in sections as these drawings were the old format, large C&R construction drawings. From these I've created a couple of the machinery hoists and also the boom head assembly. This in itself was a major piece of work. My initial design was incorrect, but based on photos, not drawings with dimensions. So, the 2nd go-around has this now fairly accurate. Discerning what needs to be included in the model and also left out of the model is also a bit of a task - many details of this equipment would only apply to the actual assembly.

Here is the redesigned boom head assembly -

While similar in looks, this is quite a bit different from my initial attempt. Another interesting piece of equipment is the boat hoist, located on the lower machinery flat -



Hopefully, the Topping Hoist and the Boom Head Assy along with a couple other associated parts will print successfully tomorrow. Topping Hoist is similar to the boat hoist -


I have not designed the wire rope into the drum as this will be added using bead stringing wire. The curator at the USS NORTH CAROLINA museum told me that most of the interior machinery is painted white and I'm guessing that the decking in the machinery spaces is deck gray for interior and Navy deck blue on the exterior. I also have thanked the curator immensely for the scanning that she and her staff have done for me - quite a job to get these drawings scanned.

I visited Hobby Lobby and purchased 2 sizes of Beadalon Stringing Wire. I need a third smaller diameter but may use cotton thread instead. These companies simply don't make these items in very many sizes. I haven't attempted to see how these wires act as far as flexibility goes, so their actual use may or may not happen.

If the boom head assembly prints out well and the sheaves all fit properly, then I will move on to redesign of the kingpost now that I have the dimensioned drawings to work from.

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:

How tall is this crane when complete? Pretty large I would think. Did you ever think you would find your new printer too small?

Nice work! Tom

Wow, this is going to be awesome!

_________________
Pascal

•Battleship Bretagne 3D: https://vu.fr/FvCY
•SS Delphine 3D: https://vu.fr/NeuO
•SS Nomadic 3D: https://vu.fr/tAyL
•USS Nokomis 3D: https://vu.fr/kntC
•USS Pamanset 3D: https://vu.fr/jXGQ

Tom,

Well, overall, the kingpost is approx. 44' high, from the main deck to the top of the topping rope sheave cover. At 1/48 scale this is approx. 11 inches (278+ mm) high. What you see externally is the two covered machinery levels and below that the two levels of machinery within the superstructure above the main deck.

As my redesign includes the lower two machinery levels, I may need to make the kingpost in two parts. I'm currently working on that now.

Today I received the drawing of the Boat Crane Arrangement of Machinery (1940). I have quite a bit of design work ahead to make this model complete. At least, with the dimensioned drawings I can feel relatively good about this current rework and it being accurate.

Pascal,

Thanks, I hope this will prove to be an interesting display piece when finished.

I am currently reprinting the lower half of the crane boom as I managed to break a couple of the members while trying to assemble with the upper half. One of the downsides to working with this type of material - it's brittle and doesn't like a lot of handling.

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

After a week or more of redesigning, I have the Kingpost Assy about finished. At least, from what I can glean from the drawings, it is finished but lacking some details on the far left of the drawing, I can't be sure. I'm currently waiting for a possible further scan of this. Here is the progress so far -

As I've already printed the Topping Sheaves, these are only shown in the picture; they won't be printed as part of the kingpost. This version includes quite a few details that I was totally unaware of on my first version - again, having the correct documentation (drawings!) makes all the difference!!

My recent reprint of the lower boom half came out fine and has now been joined with the upper half to give me a 2nd unit to work with. Paint resupply today by the Supply Dept. will enable further work on this as well as a couple other of my display projects.

Once the Kingpost is finished, I can begin to redesign the lower, upper machinery platforms and the Rotation Gear & Control Platforms which are above the super deck (01 Leve) and were visible when the ship was in commission.

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

Cool side project. I've always had fascination about these pre-war design boat cranes.

Once perfected, you should print a 1:1 version for installation aboard NC.

Dan,

LMAO!!! Thanks!! I appreciate the interest & feedback. Well, when I win the Powerball JPot, I'll do just that - and X2 as there are two of them. Maybe a couple A/C catapults, as well!! We need to get 'er up to snuff!!!

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 think the way to go as was done with that 1/150 New Mexico scratch-build recently posted.

One side of NC can be as-built, the other late war fit. With paint schemes to match. I'm sure her curator will go for that............

You'll be printing for quite some time, most probably.

Dan,

(Gulp!!) Well, an interesting prospect, to be sure. One side in Graded (early) Measure 2 and the other in Medium Pattern 32. A LOT of work!!! I'll let the Admiralty Board handle this decision!

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've made quite a bit of progress on the overall redesign of this crane. Having at least some of the drawings to work from, in spite of them not exactly being readable scans (dimensions, etc), I have been able to get the basics of what the major parts consisted of and thus, size them fairly accurately. Here are a couple photos of the major parts (kingpost & crane boom) -


I am making two starboard units - so, printing two of each part needed. If you compare these to their earlier 1st edition counterparts, you will see that I had it WAY off on the first version. Having fairly accurate information to go on is obviously a necessary element in designing and building something like this.

Over the last couple weeks, I've also designed and printed most of the equipment that was installed on the visible platforms (rotating unit & control platforms) and the two levels of equipment that were located below in machinery spaces (upper & lower machinery platforms). Currently I am waiting for a new paint order to arrive and will then continue with getting these items painted. The two machinery platforms are still under design - I've printed a prototype of each but have some refining and resizing to do before these will be considered in a finished state.

I'm considering a few options on how to mount and display this corrected version as the lower machinery levels present a different aspect that wasn't present in my original idea. I'm thinking about ordering some clear resin in order to print the bulkheads and decking around the two machinery platforms but making them visible rather than a solid material. That will also require some additional design work, 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