The Ship Model Forum

Tom,

Thanks for the nice comments!

I think I covered the rails in my email to you this morning. I probably won't have anything more on them until the very last of the project - they certainly would be the last item for placement. I don't want to chance losing them by removing them from their PE fret just to fiddle around with - the carpet monster is ever lurking

As for the gusset plates, I will study again the MO Plan Book and any and all photos to determine the correct placement of the plates. I plan to do this prior to delineating the horizontal plate lines (bow area) since the gusset plates sort of help establishing that curve.

One thing I'm finding out about "modern" kits is the instruction sheet "lingo" or symbology - not like the old days where everything is spelled out. Yea, I know, the manuf'rs are looking at multi-language markets and the symbols sort of supersede the need for wording, but they still leave a bit to be desired. I will say, though, that the Trumpeter instr. book is fairly well illlustrated, regardless of the verbage.

Later,

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 see that the aft flag bag is still installed. Did they run halyards up the yet to be constructed main mast? So why did it take so long for it to occur the twin 5" 38 practice loading devices were two in number because it was a twin mount...

Looking good. T

Tom,

Yes, the after flag bag served a flag/pennant halyard on the after mast (yet to be installed). The 5"/38 practice loading mount was (I guess) a trainer for the gun crews to work with the dual guns.
I'm trying to recall if STODDARD (DD-566) - my first ship, had a single 5"/38 practice loader on board (I think we did). It would make logical sense...

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

Hello Hank:

I was a young Marine in '68 going to radio school at MCRD San Diego and went on the NJ when it was pierside at NSA North Island. My buddy and I were on the boat to North Island, the bridge was under construction at the time, in our uniforms and a 1st class invited us to go aboard with him. He gave us the grand tour: his buddy worked in the FDC and he in turn gave us the tour of his work space. I built this in about '98 using the Tamiya Missouri, New Jersey, the GMM PE and some scratch building. I am amazed at what you are doing and am thoroughly enjoying your step by step approach to this unique ship fit. As an aside, for Thanksgiving that year, 1968, I was up at Pendleton and we were invited to a house for a thanksgiving dinner, the lady of the house was the wife of the XO of the NJ! When I was in Vietnam, I had the pleasure of hearing the rounds going overhead and impacting on targets to great affect.
Following with continued interest.

Best

Mark Krumrey
MGySgt
USMC Ret.

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

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Mark,

I really appreciate your recollection of the NEW JERSEY from "Our Time of Service". I also remember that visit of NJ to San Diego - I was a PN3 aboard USS BAUSELL (DD-845) and as we were departing San Diego for a weeks training off the CA coast, NEW JERSEY was coming into port and passed us to port - I saw this immense ship out of an office porthole and was permanently impressed. Little did I know that within 6 months I would serve on one other ship and then be transferred (by my request) to NEW JERSEY.

The XO, of course, was CDR James Elfelt and I'm sure you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with his family. You aren't the first Marine to tell me about our shells overhead. It's ironic that every now and then I run into or somehow come across someone who witnessed first hand what that ship could do. I also appreciate your service and the fact that you came back safe and sound!

I had been through several of the models on the market thru the years, but none really did justice until the Trumpeter 1:200 scale series came along. 1:96 scale, while big & beautiful, is simply way too much size-wise for my available space. I even had a 1:192 old Sterling kit in the '70s which I traded (partially constructed) for a .22 cal lever action Marlin. But, this kit, with all its faults, seems to be the one that will take center stage in many model shows, I'm sure.

I'm glad you are going to follow this build, it will be a while in construction. While the ship itself was modified in a very conservative manner (due to the Congressional budget placed on the Navy at the time), there is actually a lot of modification to be done. More than meets the eye when you start researching the actual parts that were modified at the time. I hope I'm able to capture what's visible in a fairly accurate fashion. You would not believe how much reference material I've collected in researching the ship.

As a side note - speaking of radios - I was the "ranking" 3rd class PO on the ship during that time and in the Enlisted Personnel Office, the CPO gave me a task early in the cruise - to make a sea bag/Pea Coat storage area out of an unused radio equipment room that occupied the space at the base of the after main battery fire control tower. I had 3 SNs as a work detail and we stripped the radio gear out of that room and Deep 6'd that stuff to Davy Jones Locker. I guess we did too good a job in the end because a month later that space was "hijacked" for use by one of the other divisions. How this came about was never relayed to me, only that we were to clear our gear and turn over the keys to the access. I think now of the possible value of that radio gear (and it was big and heavy!!) to those currently in the restoration of old military hardware. Of course, in 1968 it had no value to us on board - antiquated and totally surplus.

Well, check in from time to time - I didn't see any photo attachments of your model - I would be interested to see your model, if you have some pix of it available.

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

Hello Hank:

Being new to this Forum, I will have to figure out to post pics. I will have to dust it off, always makes SWMBO happy, take, and post some pics. I am pretty much an out of the box builder. I started doing research, but; the more I found, the more I found I needed to find and eventually was discovering, that model time was now research time; so if something is glaringly off, I will fix it if doable, other than that, I don't get too wrapped around the axle about the small stuff. So, you may find a tone of errors, but; It has the look and has been occupying a shelf for almost two decades and I still enjoy showing it off and telling folks how I went aboard it in '68. I also did a civilian tour of BB63 when it was at Hunters point in about 89. A Marine buddy of mine was the Marine admin chief on board the ship at the time, but was on leave when it was in SFO. All I got was the main deck tour. I will be checking in from time to time. I have a 1/200 AZ that I am going to start once I get my Wingnut Wings Salmson finished. Mr. Sharp is doing amazing work with his.
Take care

Mark

Mark,

Yes, there is a wealth of talent on the forum - esp. within the BB community. The picture posting isn't too difficult, just follow the basic guidelines and it should fall into place.

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

Hi Hank:

I don't want to steal your thread, here are a couple of my 1/350 BB62 in its '68 fit. I built this about 20 years ago and it is showing signs of age and the ubiquitous cat hair!


At the time there was almost no reference material available, I had a good photo off a calendar that I used for reference.

Enjoy

Mark

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

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Mark,

Quite impressive indeed!!! I'm especially interested in your ECM array on either side of the conning tower. Very nice job. I was recently reminded by an acquaintance of mine who actually did the installation work of the "derby hat" sensors (6 on either side - they look like derby hats) that those were black - so, I've done some additional work on mine since posting the pictures). I figured that a 40 year veteran of the shipyard must know something and if that's all he could argue about - well, I must have done something right!!

For a 20 year old model - it looks fine to me - I guess a case would keep a bit of the age (or dust) from accumulating over time. Research is getting more difficult with each passing year. The above mentioned guy is now involved with IOWA at L.A. Ports so he's still working on the same type of ships now that he always has in the past. We've discussed the "paper trail" of drawings, plans, etc. and most, if not all of the stored plans from the 67-69 time period are probably gone forever save any that might have been copied or tucked away somewhere.

I had actually started a Life Like/Tamiya 1:350 kit years ago and finally sold all of the three kits to another modeler last year - incomplete. The 1:200 scale seems to be the really workable size for me and large enough to show details that would be extremely hard on a smaller scale model.

Your model really is worth dusting off and putting out there for all to see - thanks for the pix and if you have more, be sure to post.

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

Yes, nice indeed! A great helpful community here with a lot of information, or the ability to find it. I am redoing a 1:192 BB63 that I did almost 50 years ago when I had access to the ship in the reserve fleet. It has been converted to a much higher standard, in modern configuration. Originally I thought it would be a much simpler build, boy was I wrong. Absolutely everything has to be scratch built. I do have many hundreds of photos I took of the ship at Pearl, but alas probably no sure access any more.

Still finding and correcting errors every day, drawings aren't always the same as the as built.

Welcome aboard and you ship has stood the test of time well!

Cheers. Tom

Further work - modification of the center 40mm tubs between the stacks is finally complete - although the Mk. 56 FC Directors are yet to be built. This assembly is sitting in place and will be removed for completion of the lower portion of the tubs when the time comes for that. Quite a bit of scratchbuilding was in order and I will try to get a shot from the front this week - the one I took was out of focus.

The holes in the decking are for antenna poles which are yet to be painted. I have not yet begun work on the Zuni Rocket Launchers which were placed in the 40mm tubs forward and aft of the director platform. Those tubs, as well, will need minor modifications.

I've started work on the Navigation Bridge and that will require some scratchbuilding as it was altered thru the years on NEW JERSEY.

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

Looking good, continuing progress. Hope your deck arrives soon, you are nudging down into that territory.

Regards. Tom

Tom,

Thanks for the kind remarks. Yea, I'm hoping it will arrive this weekend, but not seriously counting on it. Don't know what the transit time is from S. Korea to NC.

There is, of course, MORE than enough to keep me busy for quite a while!

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 just spent the time to go through this build and.. wow. Work like this needs to be displayed publicly, IMO.

_________________
- Chris

1/700 Saratoga w/Pontos (Needs paint)
1/700 Potato w/Kurama (On hold)
1/700 Murdertorpedoboat Ooi

Chris,

Thanks, I do appreciate the comment!

I'll keep that in mind when the time (future) comes!!

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

Last night I was able to get an IN FOCUS picture of the Mk. 56 director platform from the front -

The center bulkheads fore & aft are completely scratchbuilt as are the foundations/bases for the directors themselves. Actually, the only kit parts remaining are the two tub bases on either side. So, eventually I will construct the FC directors themselves and this will complete this area.

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

Things seem to be going really well Hank! I wish I had your level of patience.

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Looking nice Hank!

I see a tediously long line of ladder rungs up the aft end of the fwd stack! Does add a lot!

Tom

Jason,

Thanks for the kind remark. I do have a lot of patience esp. working away from home for 14+ years - one needs lots of patience for that!

Question - in regards to the deck/hull (kit parts) - how did you approach this part of the model - i.e. the steps you took in getting the hul & deck together and then proceeding with the Pontos wood applique'. Be as detailed as you want.

My special order Pontos decking should arrive soon - it's on its way. I'm still in a quandry as to how to proceed with the hull; and when. I know Randy is working on a possible solution to the after section, but that's also an unknown timing wise.

Tom,

Thanks once again for the support. FYI - that ladder up the after stack took quite a bit of research to verify it's position.

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

On mine I glued the deck to the hull, then puttied the seam all the way 'round the perimeter of the hull, sanded it smooth with the deck (including taking down the tiny ridge the kit has), added the Pontos bow deck plate/puttied/smoothed edges (along with any molded planks within the "gutter" areas) and then added a vertical line of .010 X .020? (I can't remember what size exactly now!) evergreen strip. After getting rid of the seam between the styrene strip and hull (not easy!) I topped the strip with the smallest styrene rod Evergreen has (in retrospect, brass rod might have been better for this). After that was done, I put the wooden deck down without the pontos brass "gutters" as they were represented by areas I previously smoothed out.

Just an FYI; in the process I discovered the bow is slightly too rounded and circular shaped; it's easy to "pinch" the edges by filing/sanding to the proper dimensions and is a good thing to tackle early on and didn't become obvious until I tried to put the bow 20mm platform on. This also requires relocating the center hawsepipe because it will appear to be too low with the raised hull edge; it's easy to do by making the plate edges from a piece of sheet styrene and puttying the inside of the hawsepipe.

Anyway I've totally lost my mind, Hank. I've now got a 1/200 USS Iowa on the way and am gonna scratchbuild the stern. I guess I just can't live a happy life without an accurate full hull Iowa class ship on my unfinished model shelf!

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck