The Ship Model Forum

Hi Steven,

I just happened to stumble onto this VERY interesting build of yours, looks very impressive! Keep it up and I will follow you through!

Just one naughty question: your freighter is a C3, but Revell's Hawaiian Pilot is 1:380. This isn't unsurmountable, in fact correction to the right scale is quite easy. http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/service/cargo/albla-350-ms/ms-index.html Have you considered that?

KR, Maarten

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

@David: you should find my reply in your mail, I can make use of every bit of reference for these ships!
@Maarten: A nice build, good idea to contact L'Arsenal but once I had decided not to build USS Argus I didn't try to buy their 1/400 etch set. I had noticed this scale difference on the box, but I decided to neglect it, because on my first calculations on Wikipedia dimension data for this class I somehow arrived to a dimension closer to 1/350 than 1/380. It is also possible to compare the length of such a ship to the ABSD on the picture of USS Nashville, it spans 6,5 units so 28.3 x 5,5 = about 165m. The type of ship is not identified, but it has at least a sharp bow profile. I'll show the Revell hull next to it and it seems a unit shorter.





To repair the chipping damage I used Vallejo Granite Grey, this brings some steel colored variation.



Then some Vallejo Gloss varnish to fix the hairspray and prepare the decal process.



The pontoon letter codes and the hull Plimsoll decals are provided for each part and also the ABSD/AFDB number sign, but the water level indication on each wall is left out. This is impossible to replace in 20-fold with its 1mm high ciphering.











Soem Daco Sol and some varnish are spent and then an enamel rust layer can be spilled on the decks and the wall tops.











It is also applied on the deck edges and streaked with a cloth.





I think now some dark brown panel line wash can be used on top.

Just incredibly impressive work, weathering.

Hi, Steven,

lovely work! You manage to squeeze four in itself quite large projects into one dio. I am in anticipation to have a look at the final result during one of the upcoming events in Belgium, Holland or Germany!

Cheers, Walter

Me too!

You're working really fast again, and the results look great!

Curious if you had seen this video. I just bought 2 of these dry docks from Sprue Brothers in the US they were on a lightning deal $84.99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ZFNvy ... iscopeFilm

Thanks for these reactions, the motion video I strangely did not see yet during my many reference quests on the web. Today I moved back in the keel blocks.



I somehow lost one of the combined blocks. I repaired an amount of light poles, floodlights and railings.

Looks brilliant, great job

Very inspiring. I love that you’re captured that the horizontal surfaces are red-lead and not simply rust. Excellent work!

_________________
-- Scott

Thanks, guys. I'm working on a Tamiya tape masking on the freighter..







The lower decks are still waiting.

Yes it's my favourite part of the job as well
I feel your pain...

The freighter was now ready for a coat of Light Grey 5L, when the hull red was masked off course.







Because it seemed slightly possible, I wanted to use Ms. 32/16D, like on the USS Callaway pictures. These are undated on Navsource. The second color after this will be Ocean Grey 5O, then Dull Black.





Uss Lamar (http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/03047.htm) has a better side profile picture, but she arrived later in the campaign, while Callaway is mentioned in the Marshalls Islands operation at the end of january. That's closer to the date for the ABSD/Columbia meeting. It's possible that some details on the ship are more consistent with Bayfield, but I'll stick to that for the construction reference.

I made use of the MARAD website (https://vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/2943) to mask the ship like USS Lamar. On the site a lot more pictures could be found of the Ms. 32 mod paint scheme. I then proceeded spraying Lifecolor Ocean Grey and some Tamiya black with a drop of granite grey for the third color. When unpacked the ship looked like this:

















The stack can be added now, but I need to complete a small part of an inside wall in black paint.





Whitout any weathering the Callaway is dry-fit in the diorama.



I have to thank David P for the rigging plans, they will now come in very handy.

Looking awfully good, Steven!

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Outstanding work so far. Really.

Outstanding progress, I love the camo!

_________________
http://www.3xblackcats.wordpress.com

Thanks for the appraisal, this week the L'Arsenal railing was shaped, painted and applied.

For USS Callaway Navsource states the following armament:


(http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/03035.htm)

The five-inchers were already finished bar one barrel that will be replaced out of my Aber set at the last moment to avoid another loss. For the 18 20mm Oerlikons I got a second set of Master Models guns, that will take some time and will come later on. The single Bofors or the Chicago Piano's are still lacking, all Bofors were needed in the LST project. What I will show here are the double 40mm Master Models guns, coming from a sixpack. These really are the nec plus ultra of ship upgrades, with unprecedented detail as well as ease of construction.



You can observe the PE, the barrels, gun cradles, accompanying director on its own pedestal, the double gun breech printed with holes for the barrels and the shell case ejectors.



In this manual you get multiple views per step, with all detail of the parts present so you don't have to guess on what side the PE needs to be bent.



First you place the seats and the brass ejectors.



Elevating wheels and gun cradle rails are then added.



The directors with 3 PE parts and showing bolts etched on the flange.



No need to drill the hole for the barrel and even the visor is simple and elegant to add. The elevation mechanism on the underside is also in PE.



All is fitting as designed.



I used the Bayfield maquette for the position of the director, even though a 20mm was shown on that location. I don't see where else these cradles can be fit.



The barges have been painted and are ready for soem railing, but I doubt about the colours still. i already showed this foto in the LST topic:

It would be easy to use two more double Bofors then. But first came the painting of the superstructure, after the resin searchlights were added.



My painting stand could hold the entire superstructure and deck.



I painted with Gunze for the grey base, then adding German Grey for the shades and white for the highlights.



To fix the self-adhesive wood deck, I always add extra glue to avoid the deck peeling off after a while.



The largest part is so thin in the middle that it rips in two more manageable parts. The upper deck part needed a small adaptation for the two Columbia-specific AA-gun tubs.



The upper deck is then clamped to glue it.



I then proceeded to B- and X-turret bases. The rest will have to wait until the hull is inclined to paint the boot topping. I wanted to show some pictures of the entire ship on the ABSD nonetheless. Of the small ships, the tow boat is now primed in German Grey.

The boot topping is now painted on the Columbia hull. The superstructure is glued on but I'm still in search for the two plastic splintershields at the rear to complete the railing. Lots of small stuff are now lining up for the painting stand. Even some 20 Master Models AA-guns are not started yet.



This project is eating Tamiya tape.







Because of the ABSD it's not that important to measure the boot topping level, only the hull ends will be visible from the sides.



The large L'Arsenal crates are modulated with Tamiya German Camo Brown 2.



The railing was painted before application.











It's still too clean for an overhaul, so the entire ship will now be gloss coated. Then some rust and grease will be washed on it.