The Ship Model Forum

Mark, Randy, Tom:

Thanks for the positive feedback!! Actually, I've been working all along, just haven't posted lately; I wanted something to show, not just half-done stuff. I hope to get a couple of the life raft racks cut out, folded, and painted next week and then get them posted.

In addition to going with the Research Mob to NARA II last month, I've been working with Steve Larsen to get a suitable 2D drawing for his design work on the IOWA class 1950's 4 legged main mast & kingpost affair - other than photos to work from (the 1956 WISCONSIN BoGP is very crude and not something to scale from) it's been a trial & error process. I did find, however, a 1955 NEW JERSEY BoGP at NARA that I knew had to exist, but no one seemed to have it. It's not in the best shape (I had them scan the sheets to my flash drive) and I'm working on getting it printed out to see what it will look like. I only scanned the sheets that differed from the 1967/1981-2 sets (side elevations, deck plans - main deck and above).

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:

Coming along well indeed. At some point you will mount this on a base, are you still looking at replicating the dry-docking block pattern?

Cheers: Tom

Tom,

Yea, I am planning on the drydock keel block arrangement, only with a slight twist . Can't discuss here as I don't want some other hull chipper stealing my idea . I am planning on spacing the blocks at double space since there are so many of them - at least on the inside rows where they wouldn't been seen anyhow. I've already got the board and additional wood for this part of the build. It's going to be necessary soon as once the main deck is on I want to mount the hull and then work up from there.

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 cut out, painted, bent to shape 7 of the raft racks on the sheet. Here are photos of a few of them as I progressed on this task. THESE HAVE NOT BEEN COMPLETED - THEY ARE SIMPLY FOLDED TOGETHER WITH THE RAFT PACK TO SEE ABOUT THE FIT & SO FORTH!!!



The racks need to be properly glued together and the raft pack painted and replaced. Then, the rack assembly will be ready for installation. Only 53 or so more to go!!!

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

Very nice Hank! Well worth the investment in time and money to make your ship unique!

Cheers: Tom

Hi Hank:

I agree with Flieger 747. Lots of tedious work ahead, but then, that is part of the process. What are you using for the raft packs?

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

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Tom/Mark - Thanks for the kind remarks!!

And thanks, Tom - for the mold with which to cast the raft packs!! Of course, this came about several years ago so these little dudes have been sitting around waiting for the racks to be designed, printed, and assembled. I did have to do some sanding on 3 sides as the racks are slightly undersized for the packs; but this isn't a deal breaker, just a small amount of work on each one. As the hull/deck work proceeds, I plan to do maybe 1 row (7 racks) a night, so that's spreading out the extra time a bit.

Mark, Tom cast the mold from 3 boxwood prototypes I sent him - here is the mold box & 3 prototype masters:

Here is the mold and 3 castings:

Doesn't look like much, but it works, so that's what counts. The packs are cast resin (2 part) from Micro-Mark.

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've been following along from the nosebleed seats and wanted to say nice work. I dream of making it in 1/200 scale but my wife would flip out. And a question about the ship, if you don't mind the diversion. Are there photos or sources you would suggest that show the details on the sides of the hull?

Bill,

Thanks for the kind remarks!

Well, I'm guessing that your question refers to the various overboard discharge openings/pipes/covers etc. rather than the hull plating. In either case, the various plans available to the modeler do show some of the overboard discharge pipes/covers and that's helpful. These plans do NOT show the hull plating lines (horizontal) or weld lines between plates (vertical) nor do they show any of the tie-off eyes on the bow. These are the kind of items that photos provide and if the photo is close enough, will show some of the detail of these various items. In building this model, I've found that there are various molded items on the hull as wells as holes that are there for parts NOT included in the kit, but 3rd party PE parts (Pontos comes to mind) that you have to buy separate. The other thing to keep in mind is that depending on the time period of your model, some of these may or may not be applicable. In my case, most are not applicable as these parts were no longer used or had been removed.

My main problem with all the photos is that none of them show what I need to see with any great degree of clarity. Such as: the after UHF radio antenna platforms on either side of the ship (just fwd. of the helo deck) or the boat booms. I had to completely scratch build the fwd. boat boom sponsons and booms since they didn't exist in 1945 which is what the kit represents. The after booms need support brackets also which had to be scratch made. And I finally found a photo taken in 1968 in Long Beach that shows the fwd. boom in detail - so that's one Kudo for my trip to NARA in March.

Most, if not all the overboard discharges will need to be made from scratch if you are so inclined (I was). The hand rungs on the stern are a devil to glue in place and mine do not look the best, but "it is what it is" and that's about all I can say about it. One other item I might mention - the waterlines will need to be scribed on the hull as they are not molded into the kit hull. Measure twice, scribe once - can't redo these things.

The drawings that I did use (with details) - Floating Drydock's - USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 1968 (Tom Walkowiak/Alan Chesley).

Hope this helps,

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

Ah yes, the waterlines! Depending on the ship and date the boot topping varies in position and width. Many periods it is not a constant width (as measured by a perpendicular to the keel) with more width at the bow.

Hank, the strapping on the rafts? Are you duplicating this with thin tape strips or just painting a strap line on?

Cheers: Tom

Tom Wrote:

Tom - Well, originally I had designed the PE sheet to include the triangular shaped straps, but the vendor could not print it, so at the moment I'm not sure how to replicate this. I still have the Micro Mark PE kit but I really don't want to have to get into all that at this time. However, having said that, it may be the only way to do this. Sometimes need precedes desire, right?

I actually have the necessary racks painted and put together as of last night - the packs I will spray early next week and insert, ready for installation when I get the superstructure unit out of the closet (no pun intended, believe me!!!) to work on it.

It's interesting that while at NARA last month I did find one photo of NEW JERSEY during her sea trials in early '68 that shows three of these racks (deck mounted above the whaleboat) with white packs, not the usual gray that you see in most photos of the time. I have a picture of me standing at the end of the whaleboat in 1969 that shows the std. gray raft pack in the same racks. Somewhere, they must have been replaced. My life raft packs will be a slightly ligher gray to set them off from the rack itself.

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

Try some really thin tape for the straps, cut into a narrow strip. My guess is that they didn't replace the packs but just furnished a new cover? I think that tape will work better than PE, which would have trouble adhering to the curves like a real strap would.

Cheers: Tom

Tom Wrote:



Now that's a good idea - one worth exploring, for sure!!

Thanks, Tom

_________________
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,
Just had time to come by and check on your progress. It's coming along quite nicely! Keep at it and work on it when you can, every little bit goes a long way. I'm still plugging away at the Arizona, working on the aircraft. Next time I'll do them first as well as the boats! I'm also trying to decide when is the best time to mount the ship on the waiting sea base.....
Randy

_________________
Completed: Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona
Current Project: Trumpeter1/200 scale HMS Hood
Future Project: TBD

Thanks, Randy!! I appreciate the comments. I will be picking my display base board up from Scott Wiggenton (1:200 IOWA build) today at noon - we're meeting for lunch. That will help a lot in get my motivation going for finished the underside details and being able to turn the model right side up for main deck stuff!!! He cut out and assembled the base board and I'll get a local acrylic vendor to make a cover to fit.

When I get to PENNSY next year, my intent is a waterline model with sea base - so, I'll be eying your build with interest as I have Jeff Sharp's AZ model. These older BBs certainly have a classic "aura" about them, don't they? Just something that isn't visible in the newer WWII era BBs.

I hope to post more photos very soon.

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

Part of the real Battleship aura was the dominance of the big guns in the overall impression. Hood especially comes to mind with her clean lines. Imagine her with 20-5"38 in twin mounts and a hundred Bofors and Orkilons stuffed in every corner. However the AA was effective, Battleships became the ultimate floating AA battery, something to be avoided and not a target! It always amazes me that Bismarck did not down a single Swordfish.

Speaking of hull work, some of the Bismarck modelers have gotten obsessive about the sea chests, actually mounting the model on a mirror base to allow observation of the nether regions.

Cheers: Tom

Tom wrote:

Well, I've heard about that and all I can say is - without any info re. where they were located and size of the sea chests it makes for an easy decision not to show them.

I would love to be able to see a copy of the hull drawings that show these openings.

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

BTW before I forget! happy "Sinko de Maino" to all...

T

The ghost of Fidel will get you for that one

_________________
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

That's exactly what I meant - thank you. The model built by veliko_pile (I don't know his real name) on this site a few years back is my goal. I don't know how to link to it, but the subject line he used was "USS New Jersey '82 (+Pontos set) **22.3.2014**". The first few photos in his very first post illustrate what I'm trying to replicate. Anyway, I reached out to the Floating Drydock for advice on the best plans and got an immediate response (great service!) so I hope to be in business shortly.