The Ship Model Forum

[quote="Fliger747"]Hank:
Surprised at how well the MK22 HF came out with the mesh. Amazingly enough very small things like that can print well since they are supported. Glad you have those completed, a lot of research and work!
Regards: Tom[/quote]

Tom,
Thanks! I appreciate the positive feedback! I was also surprised about how well it came out, also. The first version was nice, but the revised (current) edition came out even better. In some cases, I think I tend to oversupport parts, and then when making smaller scale versions you can't remove the supports without messing up the part. Somewhere a happy medium is lurking just around the corner.... :thinking:

Hank

Hank:

Surprised at how well the MK22 HF came out with the mesh. Amazingly enough very small things like that can print well since they are supported. Glad you have those completed, a lot of research and work!

Regards: Tom

Finally got things corrected and finished the display tonight -
[attachment=0]Completed Mk 37 Display_3.jpeg[/attachment]
Tomorrow I'll install the display box cover and this project will be wrapped up. An enjoyable, if not somewhat vexing mini-project. On to a finish a few others in the pipe-line.

Hank

Phil,

Thanks for the suggestion - I think the cube is an acrylic plastic. I assembled the sides & bottom and then put CA on the exterior of the bottom where the two slots on each side came thru the bottom and then took a swab and smoothed out the glue before it set. Just enough to hold the box together. I am thinking of trying to wet those areas with nail polish remover and see if that will cause the CA to break down and let me remove the bottom intact. I know it works for cleaning CA off your hands, etc. We shall see!! I'll save your method for a "last resort" if needed. The nail polish remover is acetone and that may be the key ingredient for dissolving the CA.

I appreciate your input and hope it doesn't come to that.... :doh_1: . Sounds a bit messy and quite involved.

As for my parts - I'm redesigning the support framework now; I have the antenna & its support arms redesigned and reprinted (the last 2 antennas tonight came out great!! - drying overnight), so this is the last part to be scaled down as needed. FYI - my print run yesterday was "OK", but by reorienting the antenna sideways gave a much better result tonight.

Hank

Hank,

We used to use cyanoacrylate glue (CA) to glue together pieces of a specialized microscope we built. If we had to disassemble a unit we heated it to the temperature of boiling water (212F, 100C) and the CA softened.

If the base of your cube is plastic you might just put it in a pan of boiling water and see if it comes unglued.

The plastic won't melt at that temperature, but it might warp. Support the cube on something other than the bottom of the pan - the pan can get hotter, but the water cannot exceed boiling temperature until all the liquid has evaporated.

You might be able to put the cube in a vegetable steamer - if you have one large enough - and heat it that way.

[b]CAUTION: NO GUARANTEES THIS WILL WORK![/b]

Phil

[quote="Ian Roberts"]Hank, I had the same question as DavidP. The accuracy of the radar looks great but it seems like it's overscaled for some reason.[/quote]

Ian,
I appreciate your positive feedback & comment - I've rescaled, reprinted, and have a 2nd printing in a different orientation than the 1st one due to some possible distortion of the screening. It may or may not correct during drying, but I've got a 2nd set of antennas printing now.

Sometimes too much info on a given topic leads to not using what you have - somehow, I did NOT look up the Mk. 12 antenna info in the Floating Drydock's Plan Book for the Fletcher Class - it's much more inclusive of dimensions than similar info given in the TFD MISSOUI Plan Book which I had out while designing the Mk. 37 & it's RADARs. So, I double checked and rescaled the antenna and then redrew the support arms entirely over the last 2 days. They've printed very well (drying now), and I was able to remove the original antenna parts from the spare Mk. 37 I had and will rebuild it first. Getting the one out of the display cube may be a problem as I CA'd the top/bottom of the cube. So, we shall see how easy or not it is to open that one up and get it rebuilt. Handling these items is always a potential disaster in the wings as the small parts are extremely fragile.

Hank

Hank, I had the same question as DavidP. The accuracy of the radar looks great but it seems like it's overscaled for some reason.

A legitimate question (for once!). Looking into the scaling factor of the antenna parts as well as the director itself.

Tonight, I was able to get this FC director completed and in its display cube along with the older Mk. 37 w/Mk. 12/Mk. 22 RADARS -
[attachment=0]1-48 scale Mk. 37's Completed_2.jpeg[/attachment]
My collection of these items is slowly growing; I hope to complete these items this Spring.

Hank

[quote="Ian Roberts"]Hank, really incredible work in here. I've been following along but haven't had any time to really enjoy the pics until today. Great work.[/quote]

Ian,
Thanks for the nice comments!! It's been a tough one with the Mk. 12 RADAR - but it seems to have come out fairly well. I should have my display boxes next week and I've also printed some 1/48 scaled "personnel" that I'll begin painting today. Perhaps populate these directors with a couple crew as a bit of additional color and to give a relative size to these items.

Thanks for your help along the way!!! :thumbs_up_1:

Hank

Hank, really incredible work in here. I've been following along but haven't had any time to really enjoy the pics until today. Great work.

I have finally gotten both versions of the Mk. 37 (Mod. 11 & Mod. 17) completed. Here is the older (WWII version) of the Mod. 11 with the Mk. 12 RADAR and Mk. 22 Height Finding RADAR -
[attachment=6]Mk. 37 Mod. 11 wMk. 12 RADAR_1.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=5]Mk. 37 mOD. 11 WmK. 12 RADAR_2.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=4]Mk. 37 Mod. 11 WMk. 12 RADAR_3.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=3]Mk. 37 Mod. 11 wMk. 12 RADAR_4.jpeg[/attachment]

And, here is the newer (1950's-70s version) of the Mod. 17 with the Mk. 25 RADAR (older perforated dish on right) -
[attachment=2]Mk. 37s wMk. 25 RADAR_1.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Mk. 37s wMk. 25 RADAR_2.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Mk. 37s wMk. 25 RADAR_3.jpeg[/attachment]

I hope to get the 2nd unit of the older Mod. 11 finished in the next day or so and then return to the 1/48 scale 6"-47 cal. gun turret that is in the assembly process.

Hank,

The fellow did have big aspirations! However, I told him the boat with real 50 caliber guns probably broke all of the California gun laws, and possibly some international arms limitation treaties.

His response was something like "Hey, this isn't a mobile remote controlled gun platform with more firepower that a P-47 Thunderbolt. It is just an R.C ship model (with more firepower than a P-47)!"

I lost interest in the project after he started talking about putting the 50 caliber guns on the model. He figured he could get 6-9 rounds per gun, or up to 81 bullets total, And since a friend would be making the guns, they probably could be switched to full automatic.

It might be fun for target shooting and the occasional duck hunt (he did have a California hunting license). But I was uncomfortable putting something like that in the hands of anyone in a crowd setting.

Phil

Phil,

Wow!! That would have been some model - from the hull framing photo it looks like he had the form correct!! Too bad his life situation caused him to Adios to the Ponderosa. At either of those scales he could have employed all sorts of digital computer control, etc.

Tonight was another short shop stint mainly painting parts. The cold set in early so I closed up early.

Hank

A few years back I corresponded with a fellow in southern California who had started building an Iowa class model at 1:48 scale (18.5 feet long) - out of steel. He was a very experienced professional aircraft designer and had the ship modeled in CAD. He had some of the bulkhead sections NC cut and was working on the keel.

[attachment=0]IMG_0041.jpg[/attachment]

But then he decided to try to make it at 1:32 (27.7 feet long) because that would make the scale 16" gun bore 0.5". He wanted to arm the model with nine 50 caliber semi-automatic pistols which a gunsmith friend was going to make. He was talking to me about designing a fire control system, plus steering and a lot of other things that would be radio controlled from shore with a TV video link. He also designed a floating drydock (for launching/retrieving the model) that could be carried on a large flatbed trailer.

His idea was to start a company that made very large scale model fleets that could reenact major naval engagements. He also wanted to make a working model of an Iowa class battleship for museum displays (without operating guns).

Then the recession hit, he lost his job and disappeared into the wilds of northern California. But you have to credit him for thinking BIG!

Phil

[quote="Fliger747"]Hank:
Looking forward to The completed unit! Shows how much more detail is possible in this scale. A whole Battleship this scale would need a whole team of designers and researchers!
Tom[/quote]

Tom - Thanks and Yes! - larger scale, mo' detail!!! I can't imagine an IOWA class model at 1/48 scale - what a wonderful idea!!! NOT happening in my shop :big_grin: !

I [i]think[/i] I have all the parts printed now that will be needed for both versions of the Mk. 37 directors. Painting and assembly is in progress. Slow, but proceeding!

Hank

Hank:

Looking forward to The completed unit! Shows how much more detail is possible in this scale. A whole Battleship this scale would need a whole team of designers and researchers!

Tom

I decided that the addition of the Mk. 3 Slewing Sight might be an interesting detail, so with Ian Roberts assistance with his 3D rendered illustrations, I've been able to design & print my version of this equipment -
[attachment=0]1-48 Mk. 3 Slewing Sight wBino_3.JPG[/attachment]
I've now got 4 of these tiny (1/2" high) units now printed and will add to one of the two Mod. 11 directors that I'm building. This will fit on the angled front face of the director with the two cables also attaching to the face.

After designing the initial equipment, I copied this into the design file for the director, scaled it to size, moved into the correct location, and then adjusted the angle for all the connection points before copying it back to its original file for completion. This unit sits just forward of the upper left hatch on the director.

Many thanks to Ian for his assistance in providing obscure info on this particular item... :thumbs_up_1:

Hank

[quote="Fliger747"]Hank: Turning into quite a complex project. A lot of the "fun" of such a project is working out the challenges. At least if you are successful in doing so! Your channel is a good idea and allows for possible reinforcement for a fragile structure! Now all you ned to do is complete the rest of the ship under it!
Regards: Tom[/quote]

Tom,
Yes, as usual - things always become much more than originally intended.

I now have one antenna & supports assembled and painted. It's only lacking the Mk. 22 HF RADAR which is reprinting now (size correction) -
[attachment=1]20231226_200421.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]20231226_200408.jpg[/attachment]
Tomorrow, I hope to get the 2nd unit assembled & painted and also both units finished with the Mk. 22 RADAR. We shall see :thinking: Work on the Mk. 37 FC Director bodies is slowing proceeding, as well - tedious work and thus I'm not rushing it.

Hank

Hank:

Turning into quite a complex project. A lot of the "fun" of such a project is working out the challenges. At least if you are successful in doing so! Your channel is a good idea and allows for possible reinforcement for a fragile structure! Now all you ned to do is complete the rest of the ship under it!

Regards: Tom