The Ship Model Forum

[quote="MartinJQuinn"][quote="Vlad"]Plans, what plans?[/quote]
Plans? We don't need no stinkin' plans!

You realize, of course, someone will now release this as an injection molded kit, since you kit-bashed it. :heh:[/quote]

Hey, if it looks the part from a couple of feet away I'm happy. :wink:

Also, would happily buy another. I didn't want to add complexity to this project but a kit in late war fit would be a nice canvas for the Measure 32 pattern the class wore. Or a kit in early war fit could easily become pre-war. Who though? Trumpeter? Flyhawk? Place your bets now! Neither was sunk in action so I guess Aoshima won't touch it. :heh:

[quote="Vladi"]Really lovely experiment - and (especially to myself ;) ) unbelievably fast!

AFAIK Simon (Micro Master) is working on a SLC model in 3D, hopefully to become available (via Shapeways?) once ready. But it is a longer-time project.[/quote]

He he, I like finishing and collecting my ship builds. I'm usually planning my next project not long after starting one and in many cases it's the lure of the next that drives the finish of the current.

I love 3D printed parts as replacements, enhancements and conversion sets. But a whole kit I would consider the cost prohibitive with current technology.

Really lovely experiment - and (especially to myself ;) ) unbelievably fast!

AFAIK Simon (Micro Master) is working on a SLC model in 3D, hopefully to become available (via Shapeways?) once ready. But it is a longer-time project.

[quote="Vlad"]Plans, what plans?[/quote]
Plans? We don't need no stinkin' plans!

You realize, of course, someone will now release this as an injection molded kit, since you kit-bashed it. :heh:

Thanks all!

[quote="PetrolGator"]Duuuuuude. I love this. Do you have plans for the gun tubs on the side of her bridge? I've got a Midship kit needing them scratched.

Love seeing your bashes![/quote]

Plans, what plans? :big_grin: I used some basic general arrangement drawings I found online and pictures. I found some really hi-res shots I used to place some details, at least one just on Wikipedia. The bridge tubs are just a round tub I found in my spares box cut in half and glued either side. I run on rule of thumb.

Really an impressive conversion! :thumbs_up_1:

[quote="PetrolGator"]Duuuuuude. I love this. Do you have plans for the gun tubs on the side of her bridge? I've got a Midship kit needing them scratched.

Love seeing your bashes![/quote]


I concur with Chris! Fantastic job!! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: I might give this a go sometime down the line.



Bob Pink. :wave_1:

Duuuuuude. I love this. Do you have plans for the gun tubs on the side of her bridge? I've got a Midship kit needing them scratched.

Love seeing your bashes!

Aaaaaand... calling this done.

Thank you all for your interest and support. It's been a fun exercise with the knife and file, the effort was very front-loaded on the conversion so I didn't go mad with detailing as by this stage I just wanted it on my shelf. Hopefully there's a spark of inspiration for some of you, I don't see us getting an affordable kit of this ship anytime soon. :wave_1:

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So, I stalled again during the week, although this time I blame the weather :big_grin: (I need to go outside to spray prime and last weekend it snowed, the rained all week). However, in a typical burst of activity, I've now basically finished. Just need to find some decals for the hull numbers.

While I'm being lazy about doing that and getting a set of pictures of the complete ship, here's a little step compilation of the bridge windows. Prime > Gloss Dark Grey > Mask > Paint > Highlight with 0.05 pen and dry-brush:

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Yup, it has been fun. I enjoy seeing what can be done and focusing on big changes rather than getting stuck into superdetailing.

I managed a nice burst of progress this morning, at this stage I'm happy with the details and clutter and construction is complete barring some major revelations. I'm hoping to rattle my can and prime this tomorrow but any last-minute feedback would be appreciated in case I missed a 20mm somewhere.

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A great, smart project. I'll bet it's been a lot of fun so far.

Thanks. As I said I'm not aiming for superderail and correct to the last rivet, just to do something different and hopefully generate some inspiration as this class is badly represented in kit form.

Nobody noticed (or was too polite to say) my tripod forward leg is rather wonky in that shot (too straight)! I've now corrected this and done most of the AA and fittings but stalled again during the week.

I'm hoping to finish the upper masts, scrape some radar sets from PE spares and take some final pictures before priming this weekend.

Really an interesting conversion! I would not have thought about that starting point.

Very impressive, she certainly is looking the part :thumbs_up_1:

Matt

So, this stalled a bit during the week but so far today I've managed to tackle all the three major bits of work I mentioned above. Lots of help from the spares box in these areas. A little bit messy with making holes to line up the tripod legs, this is the last time I'm scratchbuilding a tripod mast for a while!

At this stage this is essentially all major construction/conversion done, just fitting out to do now!

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Great progress, Vlad!



Bob Pink

[quote="Steve"]I'm in the throes of finishing a 1942 Portland from the Tamiya Indianapolis using MM replacement parts and have a spare Indianapolis kit which I would love to do as a Pensacola/SLC. To accomplish that, can I PM questions about measurements, etc., so I don't go off track? Mostly and so far your pics require little added info to do copies from the Indy kit and plastic stock.[/quote]

Sure, feel free to PM me your e-mail address and I can send you the drawings I'm working from (although they're easy to find online if you want to scale them yourself). I didn't annotate much because I wasn't sure people wanted walls of text with the pictures. Also because I do a lot of measurements on the fly just by putting the part down on the scaled drawing, especially when sanding is involved. If you want extra detail let me know where and I'll cross-reference with the Indianapolis kit instructions and tell you which parts I used (or chopped up) for what purpose.

I'm in the throes of finishing a 1942 Portland from the Tamiya Indianapolis using MM replacement parts and have a spare Indianapolis kit which I would love to do as a Pensacola/SLC. To accomplish that, can I PM questions about measurements, etc., so I don't go off track? Mostly and so far your pics require little added info to do copies from the Indy kit and plastic stock.

Sorry for changing the thread title again :heh: I was actually bouncing back and forth trying to decide which ship this conversion would end up as. I initially settled on Salt Lake City in 1943 (Battle of Komandorski Islands) because I thought the refitted open bridge would be easier to convert from the late war Indianapolis kit. However, I found a convenient way to make the upper bridge level in the original enclosed form, which I prefer visually anyway, and most of my references are of Pensacola, so now this is settled as USS Pensacola in 1942.

It's been full steam ahead this weekend. Major superstructure construction done. Just three difficult things left to tackle, the aft tripod, the searchlight tower, and that awesome iconic forward tripod. Then the tedious stuff, dressing her up with AA, boats, rafts and any other appropriate fittings I can scavenge.

I have a question about the build. Where on the bridge are the directors for the forward set of 1.1" quads located? Can't seem to find these in photos, there are actually some 20mm mounts where I expected them to be.

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Got some forward superstructure progress done :wave_1:

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