The Ship Model Forum

Hey all. I'm currently planning on what to buy for my 1.700 Astoria and New Orleans from Trumpeter, and one of the things on the list are the cranes. Now I've noticed through this forum, specifically [url=http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=6603&start=640]page 33[/url] and images on Navsource [img]https://www.navsource.org/archives/04/034/0403414.jpg[/img] (Astoria here) that the boat/plane cranes have backs that could be open. As these images are 1942, does anyone have a time table or series of pictures that document whether these were open or closed with blanks through 1942?

Hello gentlemen, would anybode have either a drawing or more good photos showing detail of the 12ft main battery rangefinder used on the NO class cruisers?

Cruiser in the first photo is CA-36. Second is CA-38. Third photo is CA-36 then CA-32 and CA-38 behind. Next cluster is CA-35 and CA-68.

June 1942

what time period?

West Virginia

[quote="Jeff Sharp"][url=https://postimg.cc/yJnSgxdn][img]https://i.postimg.cc/qRHcFCdf/Screen-Shot-2025-04-03-at-3-36-40-PM.png[/img][/url][/quote]
Totally off topic, what battleship do those turrets belong to?

[url=https://postimg.cc/yJnSgxdn][img]https://i.postimg.cc/qRHcFCdf/Screen-Shot-2025-04-03-at-3-36-40-PM.png[/img][/url]

[url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.postimg.cc/RhM7S5FX/Screen-Shot-2025-04-03-at-1-42-28-PM.png[/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.cc/gnRXyNjx][img]https://i.postimg.cc/dtN2YfKj/Screen-Shot-2025-04-03-at-5-40-15-PM.png[/img][/url]

Indeed, thank you very much Jeff!

And yes, that was going to be my next line of inquiry. Was she painted in Ms.11 in Feb 1942 and repainted into Ms.21 later, or Ms.21 immediately?

There's also the famous colour photo of Minneapolis and Astoria side by side, where in my opinion Astoria looks notably darker, but that's not enough evidence that Minnie (or any other class member) was still in Ms.11 while Astoria was already in Ms.21.

Thanks, Jeff, for the Ms-1 evidence.

It´s the usual problem of distinguishing Ms-11 (5-S) from Ms-21 (5-N) if there´s no written evidence. Check how light she appears on the in-refit photos from February 1942 shared by Rick on [url=http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=6603&start=640]page 33 of this thread[/url], but that all can be just the lighting conditions, photo material etc. etc.

Hi Vlad,
USS New Orleans was wearing MS-1 camouflage during the 2nd half of 1941. She was still wearing MS-1 on December 7th, 1941. She was in the Navy Yard for an overhaul which included installation of wiring and the foundation for an SC radar on top of her forward mast.

[url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.postimg.cc/L62hKsMX/Screen-Shot-2025-03-20-at-8-13-42-PM.png[/img][/url]

Here is a cropped pic of her on 12/7/41. Note that you can see that both her forward mast and main mast are painted 5-L (light gray).
[url=https://postimg.cc/PN5tLPtQ][img]https://i.postimg.cc/66dTmvgg/Screen-Shot-2025-03-20-at-8-29-15-PM.png[/img][/url]

This is an overhead shot a few days later. Note that there are no turret top markings on her and her teak decks are still unpainted.
[url=https://postimg.cc/56fCphNH][img]https://i.postimg.cc/pXFJVvwB/Screen-Shot-2020-08-09-at-8-23-12-AM.png[/img][/url]

Whether or not she was painted into MS-11 prior to leaving Pearl on 12/23 is anyone's guess at this point.

Hope this helps!

Yeah that's why I'm asking :heh: I'd be inclined to trust them but it is just one source that may be out of date, was hoping for some more evidence.

And as a follow-up, what was her appearance like in 1941 as compared to the more well known look for the major 1942 battles? Bird bath and no 20mm yet?

[quote="Vlad"]Was USS New Orleans painted in Measure 11 overall Sea Blue in 1941 before being repainted into Navy Blue presumably in her February 1942 refit?[/quote]
That's what they think over at [url=https://www.shipcamouflage.com/usn_ca.htm]Snyder & Short[/url], anyway.

Was USS New Orleans painted in Measure 11 overall Sea Blue in 1941 before being repainted into Navy Blue presumably in her February 1942 refit?

Currently working on Astoria in July 1937, when she visited Portland for the Rose Festival. She was assigned to CruDiv 6. She had her hull number painted on the roof of Turret 2 instead of stripes. The color doesn't look black. Any clue what color?

The hull form of the class, below the waterline, was not significantly different from earlier US heavy cruisers. However, the New Orleans class, above the waterline, morphed the stern into a rounded quarterdeck level. All 7 ships of the class had the same hull form aft. Rick Davis has an aerial shot of Quincy and Vincennes at Norfolk that shows this stern shape on Quincy quite clearly.

A question about USS Quincy:

In this well-known photo of USS Quincy, it seems that the fantail of Quincy was a rounded shape (though I understand it might be that perspective and lighting makes it look this way), whereas most if not all the other ships in the class had a pointed or "pinched" fantail, at least on the lower part of the fantail closer to the waterline (see the photo of Minneapolis' fantail below). Does anyone know if Quincy's fantail was different than that of the other ships in the class? Please advise.

Thanks!

Mike E.

You are welcome Vlad. The funnel issue wasn't well known or at least not discussed much back in 2009. WSW did a Quincey kit with the correct funnel size as well as some of the other things correct, but still as I recall some other issues with the WSW kit. Loose Cannon did both Quincey and Vincennes back I think in the late 1990s and I think this was David's first resin kit release. His two kits had most of the issues with the Trumpeter kit correct, but the forward superstructure height matched the later released Trumpeter kit. Classic Warships released these two Loose Cannon kits later. Model Monkey has 1/700 and 1/350 versions of the correct funnel if interested.

I was not aware but that is really great, thanks for drawing my attention to it. I thought myself quite well versed in this class but always more to learn. I have built Vincennes, also about 10 years ago, correcting most of the issues but I don't remember this height thing; and San Francisco OOB some years before that. I was hoping to revisit the class for a relaxing build, but avoid another rather bland Ms.21 ship. However, that seems impossible since any member sporting camouflage (either early or late war) requires major surgery to the Trumpeter kits. :frown_2:

You´re indeed welcome :thumbs_up_1: . Don´t forget about the slimmer funnels on Quincy, which I wasn´t aware of at the time of my build.

I guess you know about my [url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B-uK2B7nV7WUxAiYatTqsJLiYmEqbqRJ/view]NO class comparison table[/url], right?