Joseph Dunlap wrote:
Just a ridiculous mistake.
"Just a ridiculous mistake" seems to be the theme for this kit.
I don't have specifics for boot topping for the class. The US Navy's
1943 Painting and Cementing Guide states in Chapter 3:
Quote:
The lower edge of the boot-topping area on other surface vessels shall be the designer’s waterline and the upper edge shall be 6 inches above the full-load waterline.
Not really helpful to us....
I have pictures of a 1945 Booklet of General Plans that lists the L.W.L. (Loaded Water Line) as 33'0" but I'm not sure what the difference between L.W.L. and the "full-load water line" as used above is.
Now, on to something I said in the review.
ShipCamouflage.com has long stated that the four sisters were in Measure 14 (except Santee) in 1942 and 1943 but I stated that I thought Sangamon was in a lighter gray.
This picture on her
Navsource page just looks too light to be a medium-ish gray to me, even with it being a crappy copy of a copy of a copy. The referenced photo is of Sangamon in September 1942 at the start of trials. Once again referencing the painting and cementing guide
Quote:
SECTION 4-A.
SURFACE VESSELS.
Before trials, the vertical surfaces above the upper limit of the boot-topping paint shall be painted haze gray, formula 5H, and, in general, horizontal surfaces shall be painted deck blue, formula 20B.
OK, so maybe she was Haze Gray in trials - what about Operation Torch about a month and a half later?
This photo is of her steaming to Torch in company with DD-455 Hambleton, which was in
Measure 22 at the time. Hambleton's 5-H looks pretty similar to the gray on Sangamon, so I feel that it is likely that Sangamon is effectively in
Measure 13. I have no documentation to prove this at this time; this is just my opinion.
For those wanting to do do other ships, the Trumpeter 1/350th kit is a good starting point (minus all the stuff they missed, of course) for the other ships of the class through Operation Torch but there may be modifications necessary after that. At least two of the ships had damage to the forward catwalks and flight deck from a storm on the return voyage and Santee immediately had the supports forward and catwalks modified in ways the other ships followed with later. There are detail changes we can see but we're holding off on building the full list and chart until we can get to the departure reports at NARA to get the full list.
I've been going through the war diaries making summaries of the daily activities so some progress is being made until then.
_________________
Tracy White -
Researcher@Large"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-
Barbara Tuchman