The Ship Model Forum

Thank You Neptune!

We used to layover in Belgum and I always enjoyed the experience. Even when in Lux, Belgian BEER was available and well crafted.

Last nights printing was set of 12" signal lamps, such as found on the bridge wings of a Fletcher. The first one's I printed had problems with the actual lamp, the stands came out fine. They needed an addition of a support on the bottom of the lamp. These are in 1:120 but I am sure I can print them well in 1:144. If I don't destroy them in cleaning them up, perhaps some photo's later?

One item I might try is the canopy that some of the P boats carried when used as a command craft. I have four P-boats so maybe I'll make (try to) two in that configuration. They usually sat on the #4 hatch which had a unique set of supports at the fore and aft ends of the hatches.

Cheers: Tom

12" signal lamps!

Tom,

28 months in WESTPAC. We visited Hong Kong 10 times for about 5-6 days each time - except one visit was cut short by a typhoon. I also visited Taipei and the Nationalist Chinese Museum. When Chang Kai-shek left the mainland he took everything from the museums there with him to Taiwan. The Taipei museum is amazing!

In that museum was a 12 level ivory ball about 8 inches (200 mm) diameter, with each layer elaborately carved through holes in the upper layers and rotating independently. That was one of the first things I thought of when I heard about 3D printing. It must have taken many months (years?) to carve that ball but it would only take a few days to design it in CAD and only hours to print it!

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

One year I spent 56 nights in Hong Kong. Both it and Shanghai have that buzzing energy that NYC was famous for. I was happy that I got to fly a 747 on the famous Kai Tek IGS approach with the checker board and all, before they moved the airport. I had a number of friends there! We usually stayed on the Kowloon side, but it's an easy city to get around in.

Is there a good (free) software for bot hull design?

Hot off the printer: I printed two stokes litters. One can't at thins time print the chicken wire, but the framework looks pretty good and sure looks like a stokes! Yet another thing to litter the topsides with!

Not stealing the thread here, BUT....

1966 - WestPac - USS STODDARD - spent a week in Hong Kong and with one of my shipmate's local family friends, visited several border areas adjacent to Red China, and also a communist dept. store in Kowloon (although we weren't aware of it's ownership) - were in uniform and caused quite a stir. They had an ivory display of carved statuary on the 5th floor which dated to the Ming Dynasty - it was simply indescribable - all hand carved - a small group of fishermen. Had an overnight and ate at a 1st class restaurant (7th Heaven) where meals were prepared at the table - something you usually don't experience at a Denny's!!! LOL!!!! We got out of Dodge as the communist riots of Nov. 1966 were beginning to unfold. Two years later, USS NEW JERSEY was turned down for a port call due to our recent gun line involvement along the Vietnamese coast, etc. I was looking forward to getting back there.

Back to thread.....

Hank

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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

Hey Tom, what scale are your stokes litters and your 12" searchlights? If they are by chance 1/200, would you consider selling some? I'd love them for my Missouri.

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Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Larry:

For this project I am working in 1:120. I did print deck binoculars in 1:192 which came out OK. I put those and some sky lookouts and Mk51 directors I printed in 1:192 on my Missouri and Alaska. I haven't as yet tried printing the searchlights in 1:192. Such delicate items often need re engineering, as even in 1:120 some parts such as the U frame are super delicate and don't always print successfully. As I recall Missouri today carried a pair of those on the flag bridge and at the fwd flag bags. There may have been others I didn't see.

I'll let you know if these can print at that scale..

Tom

Here is a photo of the stokes at 1:120 and also some 12" lights in 1:144. I am currently printing test lights as 1:200, we shall see!

Hank,

Small world. I just got an email through my web site from Bill Halvorson who was on the Stoddert 71-74!

I remember that Red Chinese department store in Kowloon. I got a copy of Mao's little red book there!

I remember Kai Tak. I took a 45 minute flight on Cathay Pacific from Manila in 1970. As we were taxiing out for takeoff the stewardesses were going down the aisle handing out drinks. When we started to roll they locked the wheels on the drink carts and held on to seat backs. We were just finishing a full meal with desert and coffee as the plane approached Kai Tak. Same drill - as the plane touched down the stewardesses were going down the aisle collecting dishes and cups!

However, this has nothing to do with the APA project. Sorry Tom.

Phil

_________________
A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

No worries! I am sure I have been to the same store you mention in Hong Kong. It's a bit West (1 Block?) of the Peninsula and about two blocks back uphill? When I lived and guided in the Arctic (Circa 1978) I had a client and his son, who owned a large supply company, importing for large HKG hotels . He lived in HKG and had a simple address 17 Hutchison House , HKG. He had been a Navy supply officer during Viet Nam and knew the in's and outs of Asian supply. Married a local gal and made a fortune!

I'll presume you guys knew where Wanchai was...

That must have been the BENJAMIN STODDERT (DDG) - I was back in college in 70-72!!! But, it IS a small world when you think of all of us who possibly crossed paths in the 1960s in various corners of the Orient & Pacific at one time or another. I remember seeing in HKg a 1965 RIGHT HAND DRIVE white Buick Riviera - and a hot babe (local) behind the wheel!!! My dad had a '64 beige model and it was a fantastic car - fast, too!! Well, not with him behind the wheel!!!! LOL!!

Another impressive place was Yokohama, JN - the shopping areas were more like intersections where EVERYTHING was a neon lit store with all sorts of people shopping day & night. Quite a contrast to our malls and shopping centers. Also, the co-ed rest rooms - need I say more???

Hank

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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 Singapore. Interesting that Singha Beer is from Bangkok and Tiger Beer from Singapore. I liked the SIngha better. Never made it to see the famous big guns of Fortress Singapore, but did make it to that icon of stuffy British Colonialism, the Raffles Long Bar. You guys ever make it to the Kangaroo Pub in Kowloon across the street from the park?

Today printed some 12" lights in 1:200 and 1:144, currently printing some Stokes in 1:144 to see what they look like. Maybe one could take some of that light open ribbon material and fit a mesh by hand, I don't think it's printable.

Cheers: Tom

Wan Chai? Silly question.The place where you could get your hair cut, watch wound and toes curled all at the same time!

And the Raffles? Stuck up isn't the word for it! It was 100F outside and we wandered into the bar for a beer in shirt sleeves. But when we wanted to go to the dining room we couldn't be seated without a coat and tie - and there was no air conditioning. But they did seat us outside under the palm trees, and that was nice. We had just ordered cocktails when it started to rain. So they begrudgingly seated us inside, but in the back by the kitchen door.

A waiter came to take our order and one of the fellows ordered a fifth of Piper Heidsieck champagne and two dozen escargot. The waiter assumed he was ordering for the entire table and waited. My buddy said, in his hoity-toitiest tone "That will be all," and waved his hand to make the fellow go away.

A junior waiter came back and said they were out of escargot. Another of the fellows ordered two dozen iced teas with lemon (the Brits don't ice their tea and don't use lemon) and a dozen oysters on the half shell. "anything else?" the waiter asked. "No, that's all" the fellow replied.

That waiter left and I think they sent a dish washer to take the rest of our orders. I don't remember what I had so it wasn't that great. But we had fun tweaking their snoots.

Phil

PS: The first fellow always drank a fifth of Piper Heidsieck with dinner, and the second fellow always drank two dozen iced teas!

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Good story! The Brits were never famous for their cuisine till they started adapting imports from the far flung Empire. Hong Kong, one can get some really excellent cuisine from around the world. Shanghai as well if you had local friends to steer you down the correct channel. No AC is part of the true colonial experience. I think the name of the CHICOM store was "Wing On"?

There were a couple of movies made with William Holden in Hong Kong, and fun to watch as some things had changed a lot (no skyscrapers) but other things like the Star Ferry and much of Wanchai (tea harbor) hadn't changed a wit.

Currently printing some 1:144 items I'll forward to Hank for his Stoddard and experimenting with some 1:200 stuff I could use on Alaska and Missouri. However sometimes things need to be re designed, as the parts become vey fragile and have issues with being able to be removed from their supports. I think my printer undersizes small parts like rail or the supporting parts of say a signal lamp. So this seems to become a significant apparition at smaller scales.

Tom

Phil:

Comment on rails. The rails I designed as .40 mm in 1:120 actually mike out at 0.18 mm when printed. Which is pretty much in scale.

If you use this technology for the superstructure railing a little experimentation will be necessary.

T

Today's "progress"? Helmet racks. Many of the director and gun tubs had racks to cary stacks of crew helmets. Printing some of those and some dipole antennas, power blinks out for a millisecond. Not a good thing in the printing process. However the short stumpy racks had already printed if not the tall wispy dipoles.

Cheers: T

Tom, Thanks for the advice! I wonder why things come out undersized? That seems like a very big problem to me!

I have read a bit about 3D printing on the Internet and for some printers there is a pretty wide range of materials that have different desirable and undesirable properties. AS you said, some experimentation will be necessary.

Phil

PS: The World of Susie Wong

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Suzi was one of them, the other was "Love is a many Splendored Thing" when he falls in love with a Chinese Doctor and runs up against stuffy colonial attitudes.

My rails come out the right length and height dimensions, it's just the rail diameter shrinks. It was really apparent when the rather clunky tubes of the stokes still printed nicely in 1:200.

Tom

Single sheve pulley. The idea was to have the rings not intersect, but it didn't print that way. Currently printing a slightly larger one with exaggerated holes, maybe that one will work. Also as a trial, printing a stud link anchor chain, we will see if that works! Also made a dipole antenna. The circle at the base will either slip over a wire mast yardarm, or if slit, expands for a birds foot grasp for security.