The Ship Model Forum

For those that don't know the 105 mm M7 Motor carriage was a self propelled artillery piece, so named the priest as it had a cupola at the front for a 50 BMG that resembled an old time pulpit.

Nice gun in situation!

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Pascal

•Battleship Bretagne 3D: https://vu.fr/FvCY
•SS Delphine 3D: https://vu.fr/NeuO
•SS Nomadic 3D: https://vu.fr/tAyL
•USS Nokomis 3D: https://vu.fr/kntC
•USS Pamanset 3D: https://vu.fr/jXGQ

Hi,Tom!
It's very nice gun and structure.I'm happy to see your work.
Regards; Song

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Life is short model-warships is too many to make!!

Thank you Hank, Pascal and Song for your kind comments!

Best regards! Tom

In a long term project (are there any short ones?) one advances their techniques. Sometimes it is worth while re doing previous items. In this project I re did all the boats, re did all the AA and the 5" DP etc. Latest re do is the front of the pilot house. I never was happy with the portholes. Yesterday I printed a new face for the PH with P-holes, which for a first print, actually fit. I glazed the port holes with the Testor's window maker. I was bit surprised at how long these took to clear. It's OK, but if there had been room clear plastic behind might have been flatter and better. As these are about the only port holes readily visible on the ship it does add to the overall effect by re doing them. Certainly a better way to fill port holes is Pascal's clear resin printing. Some future project!

Hank has been working on bridge gratings for his Stoddard so I decided to do an experiment and print a couple of test pieces with a .33 mm opening. They came out fairly well and now are gracing the bridge wings.

I'll get around to attaching the new piece sometime today.

Cheers: Tom

Front of the bridge as redone via 3D printing, mostly to get better porthole definition. Many 3D details printed here: inclined ladders and rails at the top; vertical ladders; deck binoculars; 20 mm Orlikons; loud speaker; ready ammo boxes; stokes litter; flag bags; some pipe rail (not visible). Curved bulwarks on the top deck are from Strathmore paper which I like because of the way you can get it to stay curved and how well it attaches with wood glue (PVA).

Stack is a piece of copper plumbing pipe and the top plexiglass turned on a lathe, mast works brass tubing. Basic superstructure is from basswood and decks 1/16" plexiglass.

Tom

Very nice improvements!

_________________
Pascal

•Battleship Bretagne 3D: https://vu.fr/FvCY
•SS Delphine 3D: https://vu.fr/NeuO
•SS Nomadic 3D: https://vu.fr/tAyL
•USS Nokomis 3D: https://vu.fr/kntC
•USS Pamanset 3D: https://vu.fr/jXGQ

Tom!
Very good!!!
Regards: Song

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Life is short model-warships is too many to make!!

Thank you gentlemen!

Another item that made some rounds of replacement are the W/T doors, which I originally cast from resin. Many of the originals still grace the ship, but I was able to generally make the 3D doors somewhat thinner. In the above photo the tower for the range finder is also copper plumbing pipe! There are numerous gun tubs strewn around the ship, if I were to do this again I would probably print a lot of those. The tubs for the sky lookouts are somewhat amazingly made from .45 ACP brass casings, trimmed and split in half, with a straight styrene section between. These were a bit fussy to make and now I would definitely print them. On Alaska I did replace some of the small MK 51 director tubs with printed ones as the small diameters are difficult to form precisely. In that scale some people have done good work with brass sheet, which is thin (to scale) and stays formed. The king posts have spaced foot and hand rings, which I would now print. I did some of these on Alaska and Missouri around the MK37 directors which worked quite well. Due to the forest of rigging, I don't think I can get in there now. On the forecastle there is the hand carved anchor chain (Song was my inspiration) and I might print that if I was doing it now, but it's (along with the winch) hidden under the forward Quad 40.

I was going through some of my Dad's WWII photos from the Pacific and came across a photo he had at anchorage of USS Grimes APA 172 with some fairly non standard numbering! Curious, I looked for additional photos on Navsource and yes, Grimes was quite non standard, with her name in 2' high white lettering on the bow by the numbers! In another photo a raft of Fletchers, most with white lettering, but one has the numbers in black.

They had a sailboat on board, produced by the ships carpenters, not as grand and sleek as the one in the movie "Away All Boats", her name was "Vee Jay" and she was stowed awarthships about 50' in front of the bridge. Since the photo of her sailing is B&W I can't tell, but possible she had a red sail. The possible inspiration for the boat in the movie?

The Alligator Navy could be casual, there is a photo of the bridge crew, including the Captain, on the flying bridge, in the tropical uniform of the day, bare chested.

Cheers: Tom

The sailing sloop "Vee Jay" somewhere at an anchorage in the Pacific. So it was not unheard of for ships to have such non regulation items, at least in the Alligator Navy. Somewhere I also have a photo of the purloined Jeep, won in a poker game.

Grimes APA 172 at anchor nearby, from my dad's collection, somewhere in the Pacific. Pretty non standard numbering. Check her out on Navsource. When the Kamikaze's came about, everyone was a potential target. Certainly the picket destroyers were a convenient target. They were often accompanies by a LCI or some such, perhaps as a rescue ship on the scene.

I wonder if they used big numbers and letters to make it easier for the boats to find them?

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Grimes interestingly has her name on the bow as well as the large numbers, perhaps as a bow to some dyslexic coxswains? In a smokey invasion beach, with hundreds of boats milling around and a dozen or more APA's, getting to the right ship would be very convenient. To quote one of Herman Wouk's characters "Designed by geniuses to be run by idiots". USA during the war had a great manpower advantage, most German's or Japanese had never driver a vehicle, let alone developed mechanical aptitude or experience. I read an interesting story about a sailor on NJ, nested alongside Missouri, comes back from liberty and finds someone in his rack... Fight ensues... Wrong ship. And yes the brown shoes would sometimes land on the wrong ship!

: )

Having both LCVP's and ships "wheels" available for ship to shore operations greatly improved scrounging opportunities. Chances of a clean get away greatly improved! Such alteration of normal in channel allocation of supplies and equipment was essential to smooth functioning of the fleet support apparatus.

Here, the ships Jeep on Okinawa.

Army jeeps, before, after, from the below decks paint shop...

Tom,

Nice looking Jeeps!!! I see that you're going to be a competitor of Hummer, no doubt!!! You had mentioned the USN Markings - I think simply "USN" and a ser. no. - I don't recall any stars or such, but then I wasn't around for the Big One.

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

I'll go for a ride in a Jeep. Great!

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Pascal

•Battleship Bretagne 3D: https://vu.fr/FvCY
•SS Delphine 3D: https://vu.fr/NeuO
•SS Nomadic 3D: https://vu.fr/tAyL
•USS Nokomis 3D: https://vu.fr/kntC
•USS Pamanset 3D: https://vu.fr/jXGQ

Since it's a made up SN, guess we'll use the Captain's wife's birthday? Such small decal work currently beyond my skill set.

Tom

The M36, "Son of Jack". In primer, minus turret which is still just an incomplete file. I always though these were handsome vehicles, somewhat Panther like in appearance. Though on a M4 Base chassis, they are cut down and quite a bit lower.

Yes, off in the weeds, but apropos for tracked vehicles.

Cheers: Tom

What 3d software are you using to create these prints?

I just started trying to learn Blender and jealous of you guys who are so far ahead of me