The Ship Model Forum

My next project is going to be Trumpeter's 1/350 USS Alabama BB60 painted in Measure 12R (revised?)
This build will be mainly OOB with Gold Medal Models' PE and I will most likely replace the 20mm guns with
aftermarket ones.

I will be using Trumpeter's kit #05307 of the USS Alabama.








I will be using Gold Medal Models' PE # 350-41 Massachusetts/Alabama



Reference's

Navsource
Warship Pictorial 32 - South Dakota Class Battleships - Classic Warships Publishing-Steve Wiper
USS Alabama on Deck #5601- Squadron Signal Publishing -Al Adock
USS Alabama #34006- Squadron at Sea-Squadron Signal Publishing-David Doyle
USS Battleships #4004- In Action part 2-Squadron Signal Publishing-Warships #4-Rob Stern

More on these books later.

The Alabama will be painted in Measure 12R *(revised?) used Testors New Acryl Paints
Navy Blue 5N
Ocean Gray 5O
Haze Gray 5H
The Measure 12R Revived is noted in Classic Warships "Warship Pictorial 32" South Dakota Class Battleships. They are the same colors as Measure 12M (modified) and I don't know what the differece between the two are. Alabama has all three colors on both the hull and superstructure.

The kit's painting and Marking guide references only Navy Blue and Haze Gray and it leaves out Ocean Gray.



Now on to getting the upper and lower hull together.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Hey Gordon..I'm with you...have the Alabama started also..I'm water lining mine... using Master 20mm's, Alliance Model Works 5" 38/s, also a lot of L'Arsenal parts..directors, etc.. Looking forward to watching along with your build...If I can ever figure out how to post, I'll put some of mine up..by the way thanks again for the 1.1" gun you sent....Doug B

Looking forward to this, Gordon. Good looking ship and that's a sharp camo pattern!

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

I'm looking forward to your build as well, Gordon!!

This one has been on my shelf too long and I've decided that it will be next after my Merit CV5 build (especially since I live in 60).

TOMLABEL

_________________

almost done with my 1/350 NJ. USS Massachusetts is next. looking forward to your progress for tips and problem spots.. Got all the after market goodies and research material for BB59 and I'm only a month or so behind you.

_________________
MSG (RET) Tim MacCartney
US Army

On the ways
USS Massachusetts 1/350 1945
USS Missouri 1/305 1945
USS Missouri 1/350 1991
USS Enterprise 1/350

I love your work and am looking forward to your build of her!

12R and 12 Modified difference that I have found is mainly on the hull. R uses what a friend refers to as a zebra style pattern. 12 Mod is the same colors but done as a wave pattern seen here:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020822.jpg

Not that this will do anything for your building the model....

_________________
Gabriel

Doug, Martin, Tom, timmad and Gabriel
Thank you for your kind comments and intrest in this build.

Doug, glad I could help with the 1.1" gun and look forward to you posting pictures of your Alabama with all of the goodies.

Tom, I'm building this ship while I wait for the Merit CV6 to come out.

timmac, I hope you will post pictures of your Massachusets build when you get it started.

I have got some work done on the Alabama with the help of Paul Budzik's tip in the "Calling all USS South Dakota Class fans " forum of cutting the lower supports off of the upper hull.

The upper and lower hull are now together. My upper and lower hull pieces each has small dimples in them at the bow.



I sanded the joints smooth but there are several spots where the molded plastic has some defects in it. They have been filled with putty. I used Squadron White Putty (out of the tube it looks grainy and dry, so I mixed a small amount ot Testors' Liquid Cement in to it to help it be more pliable.





4-11-2015

I've got the hull sanded now it's on to working in the deck pieces.





The three deck pieces are just dry fitted at this time and I don't see any real problems with them being installed to the hull.



now on to the decks

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

ALCON,
I am gong to the Alabama to take reference pictures next week. If anyone needs any special areas photographed or measurements taken please let me know.

_________________
MSG (RET) Tim MacCartney
US Army

On the ways
USS Massachusetts 1/350 1945
USS Missouri 1/305 1945
USS Missouri 1/350 1991
USS Enterprise 1/350

Very much looking forward to this build. Great subject and we'll get a great tutorial here with good back-and-forth discussion over details and paint schemes.

Please take lots of pictures for us and talk us through any Trumpy headaches you encounter, Gordon!

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Good, good...there certainly haven't been enough SoDaks built around here. After all, they were the coolest Battlewagons ever built

Need to finally finish mine up; I've been in a rut for the past few months.

_________________
I would like to have seen Montana...

References
#1

This book covers all four ships of the South Dakota Class.
It has 72 pages loaded with color and b/w pictures. The pictures are
very clear and the details are easily picked out.

The pictures on pages 24 and 25 clearly show the three MS12m colors, 5N Navy Blue, 5O Ocean Gray and 5H Haze Gray on the supertstructure.


#2

This book starts out with the ships that were named "Alabama"
from CSS Alabama to SSBn731.
There is 36 pictures dedicated to WWII pictures and over a 100
pictures of the Memorial era any of which are relevant two WWII also.
There are drawings and pictures of all the guns, radars and aircraft
that were used on the ship.


#3

This book also has color, b/w picures and drawings of the ships guns and aircraft.
It has about two hundred WWII related photos and 19 of the memorial ship.
The pictures in this book cover the Alabama from it's keel laying to becoming a memorial.


#4

This book has eight pages dedicated to the South Dakota Class Ships with six
pictures of the Alabama. The pictures are rather small and for the most part not
very clear.


#5

It has a nice short build article on the Alabama.

4/19-2015
op/ed page
Almost all of the pictures in these books can be found on the Navsource web site.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Jim,
Great looking Alabama you have there, thanks for posting the picture. Now you do need to finish it.


Todays update:
I have glues the three main deck pieces together and they fit nicelly on the hull. They have not been glued to the hull yet.



The main deck and the O2 level deck were quite flexable so I reinforeced them with some large plastic
strip.


The vents on the O2 level deck need a little attention paid to them before I can glue the O2 level on.
The aft vents on both the port and starbord side need to be removed and the hole in the bulkhead that
is left by there removal needs to be filled. I used a piece of .060x.080 and a piece of .010x.100 to make the .090 size I needed to fill the holes.



The vents on the O2 level 5" gun plateform/housing need a little attention also.
The port side forward vent needs to be removed and the cener vent needs to modified.


The starboard side center vent needs to be modified and a vent needs to be added to the forward housing.



I have been working on some sub-assemblies also and so far the fit of the pieces has been pretty good.

Thanks for looking.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

This weeks update includes 16" gin turrets, vents, portholes and water tight doors.
The replacements w/t doors are from the GMM PE set.
The vents are from L'Arsenal's "Structual Parts Set #2 AC350-53
The w/t doors have been relocated and portholes installed on the aft 02 level of both port and starboard side.
Six small vents have been added to the port side aft bulkhead and the upper aft port hole has been added.
The three vents have been relocated on the starboard side bulkhead, a porthole has been added on the aft end of the bulkhead and the center porthole has been relocated.




5/10/2015


Mk 37 Directors have been modified






Thanks for looking!

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

This will be really interesting for me to follow, as you're taking the "build first, then paint" approach to constructing this ship.
I've done the opposite with my Alabama, and I can see the headaches this may eliminate (....but also, create!)

The USS New York is next on my list, so maybe I'll give this method a try. Good job so far!

Lastly, maybe you've noticed by now that turret #3 will not rotate without hitting the superstructure. Do you move the barbette axis out a little bit to solve??

_________________
I would like to have seen Montana...

Jim, No I did not no that the #3 turret would not rotate until your post and I did not do anything about it. The gun will be trained aft.

Progress has been a little slow over the last two weeks.

The 16" guns are now built and waiting pe ladders to be installed. Barrels to be added after painting has been completed.


The 5" guns are also ready for pe ladders to be added and the barrels for these will also be added after painting is completed.


The 40mm guns are ready for pe railings to be added and the barrels will also be added after painting.


I worked on some director tubs and started both the main and foremasts.


I made the two aft deck housings to replace the kit's single piece housing.


An overall shot to show my progress.


Now everything needs to be washed.

I haven't decided what to do with the rafts yet.

Thanks for looking.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Gordon,

Off to a great start, I think you are almost as addicted to MS12 as I am

Keep up the great work!

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Matt,
Thank you for your comment on the build. Like you, I do like MS12m painted ships.

I haven't got alot done in the last three weeks as this update will show.

I was able to get 90% of everything primed, props, rafts painted and the 20mm guns started. I started
working on the camo paterns for the 16" and 5" guns.
I have the 16" turrets figured out but as you can see in the photos the 5" guns need a little more research.












I bought a set of Gator Masks for the hull camo scheme



Now to get motivated to start painting the Alabama

Thanks again for looking.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Painting on the USS Alabama has begun. In the past two weeks I've gotten the lower hull painted red, the boot stripe painted on and the hull, suprstructure and small parts pinted Haze Gray.







Thanks for looking.

Now it onto masking for the Ocean Gray.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Looking really good there Gordon, watching with much interest.

_________________
Jim Varnell
ABH2 USN/RET.
89-00
Eastern NC Modelworks

Up coming projects:
1/700 scale rebuild of diorama project 960 square feet.
(Table 1 underway)Feb.2017
1/350 USS ALASKA CB-1(started Aug. 2017) 70% completed

Looking good so far! I've always liked the South Dakota class, they make very cool models with all the camo patterns and the tunnel hull design. I'm hoping the South Dakota will end up as one of the future 1/200 models from Trumpeter, but if not I'll build one anyways! haha

Keep up the good work!

Nelson

_________________
-Nelson
Current Project:
1:200 U.S.S. Arizona
1:350 U.S.S. Chicago SSN-721

Future Projects:
All of them!