The Ship Model Forum

Awesome work Larry!!! I'm about half your age, but if I can turn out work that half as good, i will consider myself lucky.

Welcome to another update of y "Monster Mo". I've been piddling around the past few days and finally finished the rest of the 5 inch gun turrets. I'm actually getting pretty good at gluing those damn grab bars on, but man, are they ever a pain in the ass - not to mention time consuming with a capital "T"! The shell ejection chutes on the back are not part of the Pontos set. They came from the Eduard PE set for this ship.





While I was spraying my floater baskets I somehow dropped my bottle of gray paint - the one that attaches to the air brush, and broke the plastic top. Not only did I have a big mess to clean up, I now have to buy another bottle with the little spray attachment hose so I can paint again. Always something, huh!

I also completed the 5 36" searchlights. These came from the Pontos Advanced Detail-up kit and replace the ones from the kit. The only thing I did extra was to add a lightbulb before I glued the lens on and add the grab bars that came with the Eduard PE set. The one picture shows the inside before I glued the lens on.










Now I can go back to working on the floater baskets. Man, those things are small. I still haven't figured out how to fold up nylon mesh (my wife's nylons) and then put tiny pieces of balsa wood on top. Gonna take some figgerin', I rekkon.

Laters, Gents

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

Hi folks!

I rekkin it's about time for another update on my Monster Mo. I've done a bit of tinkering the past week or two and figured I'd update you on what I've learned - and my mistakes.

First off, I finished all the floater baskets - all 34 of them. Well, I can't say "finished". I put the brass parts together. Now I have to figure out how to fill them. I plan on using a very fine fabric that my wife found in JoAnn's Fabrics that she calls Organza. Then I plan on cutting tiny pieces of balsa for the cork floats. Anyway, I found that you have to be extremely careful with the glue or you will plug up the tiny grid. I wasn't doing really well until I started using this wonderful little tool called "The Glue Looper" I bought from Creative Dynamics LLC. This little applicator was a life-saver and if you haven't bought one, you owe it to yourself to give it a look see.



The next thing I tackled were the 16 bitts that go on the deck of the ship. If you look at the ones that came with the ship kit, you will note that they are on a slight angle. However, the Pontos brass additions don't provide for this angle, which is actually on the real part. From the Floating Drydock photos and drawings, I noted the angle to be about 5 degrees.



Going back to my old trig books, I calculated that if you slipped a 0.010" spacer under the inside tip of the brass part, you can very closely approximate this 5 degree tilt. It's not perfect, but it's very close. Another thing I did - or didn't do, was drill out the holes in the base. Instead, I snipped off the tit on the bottom of the brass bitt and filed it smooth. This allowed me to get the tilt I wanted without having to drill a 5 degree hole on the base, which, with the drill press I have, is impossible. Like I said, they're not perfect, but once painted and on the ship, I think they'll be fine.



Now we come to my latest dilemma. The Mark51 Gun directors. I'm not sure how many of you bought the Pontos "Advanced" detail kit that has the Veterans 40MM Bofors, the 36" searchlights, loudspeakers, and fire suppression equipment. In addition, this kit also includes very detailed resin MK51 gun directors. This was what I intended to use.



Well, "Intended" is the key word. First off, they are bitches to build! The handles are about the size of a human hair and there is no way you can grab hold of the body support (part A18) without getting the tips of your tweezers in the glue. A real pain in the ass!





It took me about 30+ minutes to do one part, and by the time I'd done 8 of them, I made a startling discovery. There wasn't enough of the bloody things! There were only 25 pieces in the detail kit and by my count, I needed close to 30. Plus, 5 of the ones I had, had the little ears broken off. WTF!!!!

Now what? I had 2 choices. Buying another advanced detail was out due to the cost, so I could either see if anybody here had this kit and didn't use them, or, I could use the ones that came with the ship kit. I went back and looked at the build logs for this model and was surprised to see that not a single one used the resin ones from the advanced kit. Every photo I could find showed the builder using the plastic one from the kit. Hmmm, since I'd never noticed this before, I thought I'd build up one and see how it looked. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of a sight. That should be there. But, since I used the Veterans 40MM Bofors, I had the Pontos fret #13 totally unused and was able to use the gun sights from that sheet.





While they aren't nearly as detailed as the Veterans resin ones, I actually think they look just as good. The only thing I regret is spending all that time on the ones that require you to pull your hair out and have a glass of wine handy!

OK, I guess that's about all for this time. It's going to take me some time to make 29 more of these little MK51 gun directors and then I have to paint the new parts. So, until next time .........

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

Nice work Larry! I like how you added the shell ejection chutes, that's pretty awesome!

_________________
Doing a terrible job of building model boats since 1988...

Current Build
USS Oregon
USS Iowa (mothballed)

Planned builds
USS Wisconsin
USS New Jersey
USS Alaska

Larry,

I was also using the resin ones and mine were also broken... I was gluing them and did just exactly what You have done - I remodelled the kit ones.

This looks fantastic, glad You handled this problem! Lonf live Pontos...

_________________
All the Best,
Wojtek

Completed Models:
HMS Dreadnought 1/350
USS Missouri 1/200

Work in progress:
U-Boat U-552 1/48
USS Arizona 1/200

Gee, it's been almost a month since I updated anything here. My, how time flies when you're having fun! Here in Michigan though, when October comes around we have to contend with draining hoses, blowing out lawn sprinkler systems, getting the furnace checked, and all that fun stuff you have to do before the first frost - and oh yeah, I forgot - leaves. Bushels and bushels of leaves. They never stop falling! I have 3 mature trees in my front yard and every year at this time I seriously contemplate cutting them down.

Even so, I've still managed to work on my ship a fair amount. When you see the pictures, though, you'll say to yourself, "Heck, he hasn't done anything." That's basically because I've gone back and redid a lot of what I'd done. For one thing, I discovered that I had my boot topping about 6 ft too low, and about 18" too narrow. Also, I really didn't like the color of the lower hull. I thought it was a little too rust colored. So, I went to work with sandpaper and completely redid the lower hull and the boot topping. Then I added the navy blue on top and finally the haze gray part on the bow. After a lot of tinkering, I got it to where I liked it, then sprayed it with Krylon gloss, added the dry transfers, and resprayed it with Krylon clear matt finish.

I did have a couple "gotchas", though. One, I went to put on the dry transfers that was supplied with the Pontos set and had a dickens of a time, The letters and numbers all came off the sheet every place I didn't want them to. I salvaged 2 of the "63" numbers, but the rest was unusable. I didn't like the numbers that Trumpeter supplied - I thought they were too big, so I went over to my local hobby store and got a sheet of numbers for HO model railroading. They are perfect! I did use the name at the stern from the Trumpeter decal set, though and it looks fine.

The other problem I had was with the hull plates falling off. Obviously I didn't glue them to the hull properly because every time I laid the ship on its side (on a towel) to do some touch up or sand an imperfection, some of the hull plates would end up on the towel. If you do put these on (from Eduard) be careful not to knock them off.

So, I finally have the hull to a point where I'm satisfied with how it looks and can start on adding detail to the deck. Here's what I ended up with:







It's not perfect, but then neither am I. But, I know where the imperfections are. The people who I show it too don't seem to see them, and I'm sure not going to point them out.

The other thing I've done in the past month has been to complete all 32 of the MK-51 Gun Directors. Like I said earlier, most of the resin ones from the Pontos Advanced set were broken and after trying to make them look decent, I abandon the effort and used the ones from the kit, along with the Pontos side handles. I also added gun sights to them which improved the looks a thousand percent.

What's next? Well, I'm starting at the bow and working my way back adding detail. I broke down and spent about $70 and bought a set of 1:92 plans for the Missouri from Randy at The Floating Drydock. (These things are HUGE, by the way - over 9 ft long!!). Anyway, with these, along with his digital Missouri plan book, I can add as much or as little detail as I want.

One thing that has been bothering me is how to add helmets to the gun stations. Steve (Model Monkey) said they would be way too small for him to do, so since then I've been looking for a way to simulate helmets. Well, I discovered that the oxygen tanks are about the right diameter for a helmet, and if I cut the top tits off and cut about 1/16 off the rounded top, I could come up with a reasonable helmet if I painted it olive drab. So, I bought 3 sets of gas cylinders from Steve and I'll use the ones from the kit for helmets. And no, I'm not going to write US NAVY on them!

Anyway, that's where things stand now. I'm really enjoying the builds that are taking place now. I really admire all you who are doing such a magnificent job with 1:350 ships. I'm having enough trouble with my fat fingers on the big ship, let alone the work you guys are doing! And I'm following Jason's 2nd attempt at the Bissy really close. So far he's doing a bang up job!

Until next time - Adios

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

Gotta micro-decal them helmets Larry. How can you expect tiny sailors to shoot all those fabulous guns you made without knowin' which navy they work for!?

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Navy helmets were gray.... Makes life easier!

Dang! And here I just went and bought a bottle of olive drab paint.

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

Greetings, fellow idiots - oops, I mean modellers!

I have a question. Actually, I need advice. Take a look at this picture and tell me - how do I attach the chain stops to the anchor chain? I'm using larger chain (10 links/inch) for the anchor chain and smaller chain (18 links/inch) for the chain stops. I know the real ones are attached using a pelican hook and a locking pin, but I don't know how to model that, even in 1/200 scale.



Any suggestions?

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

You could just cheat and enjoy the benefits of living in the future...


https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZK3PX ... arketplace

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Sounds like a plan, Jason. But, I want a little more information on the anchor chain. I'll have to contact the vendor. Is it just normal chain or does it have the bar through the center of the link?

Thanks for the idea, though. What the hell, it's only money!

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

All US Navy anchor chain had the bar through the links (stud link chain) - even on smaller ships.

You can find pictures of the anchor chain rig on a Cleveland class cruiser here, about half way down the page.

https://www.okieboat.com/Free%20steaming.html

The rig on a battleship was the same, only with larger links (the CL links were 15" long, made from 2.5" diameter wire, and weighed 50 pounds). You can find a lot of information about anchor chains, pelican hooks, etc. if you search on line.

Here are more images of the anchor chain rig. Note the swivel links and how the pelican hooks fit over the links.

https://www.okieboat.com/Copyright%20im ... 24%20C.jpg

https://www.okieboat.com/Copyright%20im ... 24%20C.jpg

Phil

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

Ya know, there's nothing more unforgiving that a close up photo to point out your goofs. Here I was, all ready to post these pictures and then sit back and say "Loookie what I've done". Then I took a closer look at the pictures and saw that the little strip of decking in front of the wildcats wasn't stuck down properly. Nothing like a little dose of humility to take my ego down a notch or two.



On a lighter note, though, I think my idea of using the tops of the compressed air bottles for helmets turned out halfway decent, except they're so damn small I had a hard time positioning them. Same for the fire hydrants. These came from the Pontos Advanced Detail kit and they are small with a capital "S". I think the valve handles might be a little too big, but that's what came with the kit.





That kit also had some loudspeakers, but they were terrible, so what I did was to cut off about 1/16" of the tips of the plastic 5" gun barrels and use that for loudspeakers. It's not flared, but hey, at that size, I could give a rat's ass!



With the exception of the anchor chains and the chain stoppers, I have everything detailed up to the point where the teak decking starts. I decided to take Jason's advice and ordered the anchor chains and chain stoppers from Shapeways. I just got an E-mail saying that they were shipped today (10/27).

I have to tell you folks, the set of plans I bought from Randy at TFD are worth their weight in gold. They're not cheap (I bought the 1:96 scale set - over 9 ft long!), but they show everything except the banana peel that a seaman dropped on the after deck. If you're thinking about adding extra detail, you really owe it to yourself to get a set of these drawings! They are awesome! Between these plans and the E-book on the ship (also from TFD) you can detail to your heart's content.

There's not a lot more to tell, other than the bow jackstaff and the 20mm guns are not mounted permanently. I just wanted to see what they would look like.

Next step - keep working my way back, starting at the wildcats and going back to turret #1.



Have a great weekend, friends,

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

Looking great, Larry! keep up the good work. I think the Shapeways chains are worth the price (so long as they're good printings) as the bow in this area is a focal point and they'll definitely be noticed by people looking at the model.

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Good grief! I just went and looked and it's been almost 6 weeks since I've posted any progress on my ship. Sorry about that, fellas, but you know how it is when you have a house and a wife and you're retired. But, the house and landscaping are all ready for winter, my wife's Honey-Do list is pretty much caught up to date, and about half the Christmas decorations are up. The ones outside are all up, thankfully!

Also, one thing that took a fair amount of time this past month was a Nativity village that Katie and I decided to build for our church congregation. We wanted to do something for our church family that they could enjoy for years to come. We are a small church - about 45-50 attendees a week, so everybody pretty much knows everybody else. Here's a couple pictures of how it turned out. Katie and I are quite proud of it.





Now, let's talk about the "Monster Mo". As you can see from the pictures that follow, I haven't done a great deal on it. I have made some progress, however. Jason, I did take your advice and order the anchor chains and chain stoppers from Shapeways. I did have a little problem, though. When I received them (They come in this little plastic rectangular enclosure - see below), I opened it up to see that one of the chains was fused to the side of the enclosure.



Apparently, some dimension was off and the printer printed the chain right into the side of the box. Also, the chain links were all filled with plastic. It was just one big blob. I sent an E-mail to Shapeways, along with some photos, and they right away apologized and submitted an order to replace the ones I had. That was all fine, except another two weeks were wasted waiting for the replacements. They do look good, but let me tell you how fragile they are! I mean, you look at the chain stopper links cross eyed and they break! If anybody else decides to go this route, be prepared to have at least a couple of the chain stopper chains break on you as you cut them loose from their carrying container. It WILL happen! But, if you're careful, you can glue them together and you will hardly notice the goof.











In carrying on with my idea of starting at the front and working my way back, I'm now working on putting the ammunition racks around the insides of the two front 40mm Quad gun tubs #1 and 2. Let me tell ya, this is another exercise in dexterity that will tax your brain - and send you racing to pour another glass of wine! I have to admit that the first one leaves a bit to be desired, but by the time I got to the top row with the 11th and 12th rack, I had figured out a method that seemed to go fairly well. I should have the 2nd one done in a day or two and after I get them painted and installed I'll take a couple more pictures.





(Crap! I just noticed one of seamen lost his helmet off the gun tub. He'd better find it or he's going to be in big trouble. When those quad 40's start hammering they are LOUD!!)

Hopefully, now that I have most of the "real life" work done, I can manage to try to do what Jason does, and that's do something every week. I want to tell you guys, I get a LOT of ideas from looking at your build logs and see how you do things. I just saved a lot of pictures from Wojtek's log. Good grief, what a beautiful job he did on that ship! And Jason, I so wish I had your talent. Your Bissy #2 is turning out to be a work of art! I can't believe how much effort you put into your models to make them look as accurate as possible.

I do have a question, though, before I shut up: What ever happened to Bob Melvin? Has anybody heard from him lately? I haven't seen any postings from him in probably over a year and was wondering if anything happened to him. I hope he's OK.

OK, I'm outa here gents. Have a good weekend and don't do anything I wouldn't do! HA!!

Steiner

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

It's hard to keep up the pace on these big monsters. I put my build on break for a few weeks myself... all that tiny PE made my carpal tunnel syndrome flare up and I needed a break. Good thing we aren't building on a schedule!

Those chains don't look half bad, Larry! Sucks you got a bad printing but it's good that Shapeways worked with you and got you a decent replacement anyway.

Also cool that you two were able to use your time and talents to benefit your church. I'm a bit sacrilegious myself so I would have used anime characters with giant swords and put a 1/2000 battleship in the manger though... guess I'm lucky that I have a good wife to keep me in line when I inevitably go feral from time to time.

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Not a lot of activity this past week, but I thought I'd let you see what I did manage to do, which was add about an inch and a half of detail to the forecastle. I will tell you this, from now on I'm going to take pictures of everything I do and examine them carefully. You can sure see any problems and errors a lot better. I see two glaring problems after looking at these pictures. I'll list them after you look at the pictures, in case you can't see them.








Did you see the mistakes yet? The first one is rear door on the starboard 40MM gun tub. It's way too close to the railing and you can't open it. It needs to be moved inboard.
The second one is at the inboard starboard wildcat control. It's leaning and needs to be straightened.

Next comes the breakwater and the associated items around it. According to the TFD plans I have, there are a couple chain jacks situated behind the breakwater. I guess I'll have to try my hand at scratchbuilding them, as I can't find them anywhere. It shouldn't be too difficult. They're rather simple items.



Till next time, Friends -

_________________
Larry Steiner


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

This is GREATTTTT!!!!!!11

Good grief!! I just realized that it's been over two months since I posted an update. Time sure does fly when you get to be an old fart like me. I did take a several weeks hiatus from shipbuilding over the holidays and then there was a period where I did nothing but shovel snow and try to keep warm. But lately I've had the urge to start working on my ship again. I'm not sure how long it will last because I need to start on taxes and my Better Half wants me to paint the downstairs bedroom. Always something, right?

Anyway, here's some photos I took showing where I'm at now. Yeah, you're going to find some mistakes - the camera is a very unforgiving instrument. One thing I especially don't like is how my first attempt at chain jacks turned out. They look way too big and not at all to scale. I need to redo them but haven't gotten around to it yet. Too many other things to do first.










After I finished adding all the spare gun barrels, cooling tubes, helmets, phone boxes, tool lockers and tension frames, I counted a total of 71 separate pieces glued to the sides of the large splinter shield. Steve Larsen, if you're reading this, that's where all the compressed gas cylinders I'm buying from you are going. The tops of them make perfect helmets!




The next thing to do is to correct a few errors I see in the photos and fill the floater baskets. I have some material called "tole" that Katie got me from a fabric store that I sprayed light brown to simulate the netting. Now I just have to figure out what I can use to simulate the cork floats.

OK Gents, that's all until next time. Now we have to light a fire under Jason to get him started back on his Bissy #2!

_________________
Larry Steiner


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