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USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=312820
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Author:  NOVA73 [ Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:35 pm ]
Post subject:  USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello to all of you,

This ship will be part of a diorama including 10, 12 different ships. The theme of this diorama will be the preparation of a landing operation (I have not yet made the choice of the theater of operations).

The ships of the diorama will be :

- A liberty ship in military version (trumpeter kit + Arsenal detail kit and a lot of home-made cut-out pictures)
- Two LST (AFV kit + Infini model detail kit)
- Two destroyers
- An AM type hunter (scratch 3D printing and home-made PE)
- Three LCI (L) in different versions (scratch 3D printing and home-made PE)
- Two Canon class escorts (Kit Back cast model)
- L'USS GAGE APA-168 (Haskell-class attack transport) (scratch 3D printing and in-house PE)
- One Ashland Class Dock Landing Ship (LSD) (scratch 3D printing and homemade PE)
- Two LCTs (5) (Black Cast Model kit)
- and if I make the choice of an operation in the Pacific an LSM.

I already have all the plans and several hundred photos to document this diorama.

I will make one post per ship. Then a final post for the realization of the final diorama. The dimensions of the diorama will be about 120 cm by 50 cm.

Now let's come back to the title of this post (APA).

Here, I make the step towards modelism 2.0.

With the latest technological advances and capabilities of the new 3D printers, I decided to make a scratch ship with printer 3 and photo cutting.

I already master the creation of photo cutting and I have already made the diorama cranes on Russian ships in 3D printing.

The first challenge is the hull design with FUSION 360. It took me 2 weeks to get a first acceptable result. But I still have to solve two, three small problems.

On the bow and stern of the hull. The smoothing function of FUSION is very capricious and I still have some subtleties to discover. But I think I'm on the right track.

First the drawing of the contours and rails used to smooth the surface:

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I redid the drawings multiple times. But with each version there was progress. So I persevered.

Then the smoothing function and the function to split surfaces:

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Puis dans FUSION, il y a une fonction pour vérifier que la surface de présente pas de déformation :

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more in the next episode.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  NOVA73 [ Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello,

No, I don't have the complete plans for this vessel. I am still looking for them but they are hard to find. If you have any leads I'll take them.

However, I do have the plans for the LSD 22, LSD 25 and LSD 26 of the Casa Grande class.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Very interesting, my 1:120 APA US Randall 224 is made with mostly traditional methods (No commercial pats) but I am backfilling with some small 3D bits. Not using Fusion 360 yet, but would like to make some new LCVP's. My hand built ones are decent but a little "fat".

Have fun, a very involved ship! Mine is over in scratch built projects! Cheers: Tom

Author:  Rick_H [ Tue Dec 01, 2020 3:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

The Navy's Booklet of General Plans for the Haskell class APA is at https://www.hnsa.org/wp-content/uploads ... apa170.pdf. This is not perfect for model building but can be helpful, anyway.
Best wishes,
Rick

Author:  Fliger747 [ Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

More detailed drawings are available on the USS Lowndnes website. Navsource photos are also useful, though not generally the distant whole ship photos, but the ones taken onboard showing some particular activity.

Good Luck!

Author:  NOVA73 [ Sun Dec 06, 2020 11:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello,

I finally finished the drawings of the hull.

It has been more than laborious. But this is the first one I've drawn. For the next one I now have the method which is going well.

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Pascal (Iceman29) helped me a lot with his advice and experience. Many thanks Pascal.

I noticed that we have two different ways of doing things. For my part, I do the smoothing section by section vertically. Whereas Pascal, on the other hand, does full hulls rather by horizontal smoothing.

My method has the disadvantage of having to go back on the couples to hollow out the hull section by section.

Another problem encountered. It is not enough to create bodies (volumes), but to be able to print a part made up of several bodies, you have to merge the bodies into one.

And here there are some impossibilities in a very random way for me. In most cases it is enough to move (the bodies must overlap to be merged) one of the pieces to the other of a few hundredths and the job is done.

But in some cases nothing can be done. It is therefore necessary to redo the piece with another drawing method.

I started to draw the first bridge. I will create the pieces to have an overview of the assemblies, but finish the details of the latter in separate drawings. I had the same method when I drew the Russian crane.

I will draw all the parts and then go to print. But for me, the hardest part is done with the drawings of the hull.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Iceman 29 [ Sun Dec 06, 2020 3:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Nice Job, Alain ! :thumbs_up_1:

Indeed the rest will be a little simpler, Fusion is well adapted for industrial parts, less for complex shapes such as a ship's hull. But you did very well, the next one will be easier.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Looking good! I see in the well deck by the #1 hatch you have some objects located where the inclined ladders go to the 01 level. These were sometimes along the axis of the ship and sometimes awarthships. I will be interested to know at what point a printed ship will begin to proceed to individual parts from a single printed item?

Cheers: Tom

Author:  NOVA73 [ Thu Dec 10, 2020 9:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello to all of you,

Attached is the work of the last few days. I have made a lot of progress on the different parts of the ship.

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The idea being to make in print like the parts of a plastic kit. I'm not going to do too many details, because I would add details like on a normal kit with a lot of home-made photo cutouts.

The hull will be printed in two parts of the same length. Otherwise each part with different colors will be printed separately.

I have to validate the thicknesses of the decks and visible walls. Currently the decks are 0.5 mm thick and the walls are 0.35 mm thick.

While checking the plans, I found that I made some misinterpretations. I will make the changes later.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  NOVA73 [ Thu Dec 10, 2020 11:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello,

To date, I've gone for the full hull option. But if this evolves, the hull and the main deck will have a thickness of 2 or even 3 mm.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

This is lookng pretty good so far. On the level of the bridge, many of the ships had a bulge in the superstructure on the port side which made room for the CIC. In this case the extra width was added on the Port side to allow for a walkway, not on the starboard as you have it.

Ships varied so I can't say that some ships weren't built to this configuration. The drawings of the different decks and location of the various equipment are best seen on the USS Lowndnes website. Much more detailed than the ones available on the GP section at HNSA.

Nice job on the hull! Tom

Author:  Fliger747 [ Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

I am glad that you seem to have conquered the hull shape! Something that is currently beyond my experience. Indeed it would appear tho be optimal to add many smaller structures to the printed hull. The chances of having some smaller details misprint are high and best to not risk a large item which might take a lot of time and material.

Keep up the good work! Cheers: Tom

Author:  NOVA73 [ Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello to all of you,

Thank you for your encouragement and advice. I watch Tom's post a lot. It helps me a lot in my work.

Below are the latest developments in the APA project.

Since the last post, I have finalized the hatches on the deck, the different handling masts and the deck winches.

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I tried to understand what was poorly modeled. I've never been on a boat and I don't understand marine terms. When I searched for the CIC, I deduced that it was at the Bridge Deck level. So I redid the modeling of this part.

The exercise of interpreting the plans was far from being the easiest. Fortunately I have the pictures of the USS LATIMER model made by Pierre Marchal to help me in this task.

You'll notice the windlass in front. Pascal (Iceman29) gave me these drawings. Many thanks to him). I simplified it because he had done a huge amount of detail work. Many of these details would not have come out at my 1/350 scale.

I'm still going to make the winches and handling systems for the LCVPs, then start printing the hull and detail drawings of the different parts.

Have a good end of day

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Tue Dec 15, 2020 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Alain: Looks good! The tubs for the 4 20 mm's just above the bridge probably do not extend in a complete circle, but are open to the bridge area . CIC is Combat Information Center and would be on later ships. The following excerpt from the Lowndes plans shows the bridge deck with and without the CIC.

Attachment:
cic.jpg
cic.jpg [ 221.69 KiB | Viewed 1608 times ]


In the well deck just aft of #1 hatch it appears you have openings in the deck here for inclined ladders? The ladders here lead upward to the boat deck through the openings in the deckhouse. They were variously situated fore and aft or awarthships (Across the ship).

Cheers: Tom

Author:  NOVA73 [ Tue Dec 15, 2020 2:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Thank you Tom for your advice and feedback.

For the CIC, were the changes made before or after 1945?

If it is after 1945, I will go back to the previous version, because I want to make the ship in its 1945 configuration.

I have another question for you. On the plan, is there a Capstan P/S on the back beach? Do you have a picture of this type of equipment? . On the net, I did not find anything to detail this item.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Tue Dec 15, 2020 9:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Alain:

As far as I know the capstan on the fantail (aft most main deck) is a smooth drumhead type for handling hawsers (large diameter lines). Plans show a streaming anchor stowed against the forward bulkhead of the aft deckhouse and there is a large reel of rope (hawser) situated next to the #5 hatch which could be utilized if for some reason it was necessary to use an aft anchor. These will look much like the drumheads such as seen on the sides of the winches, except oriented vertically. You will see such units on the forecastles of many warships to handle mooring lines, usually situated just outboard of the wildcats used for the anchor chains.

Cheers: Tom

Author:  NOVA73 [ Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello to all of you,

Here are the latest drawings. Mainly the elevators for the LCVPs.

Another 1 to 2 days of drawings, then I go to the printing of the hull.

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Good end of day to you.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  Fliger747 [ Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Looks very nice Alain! On the stern, the large winch head is shown on the Port side on my reference drawings with a smaller one on the starboard.

Attachment:
apa aft half.jpg
apa aft half.jpg [ 285.92 KiB | Viewed 1362 times ]


The nicely done "lifts" for the LCVP's are called Whelan Davits. At max capacity each davit could hold 3 LCVP's, the bottom boat rested in a cradle and the boat above it rested in a cradle that swung out of the way and the third boat could be carried with the boat swung overboard held by the lowered davit.

USS Gage was the last surviving Haskell Class APA from WWII. Her disposal had delayed because of possible historical significance. However so much of her equipment was purloined for other museum ships, it was not possible to really restore her so she was scrapped in 2009.

Cheers: Tom

Author:  NOVA73 [ Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

Hello,

I have completed the modeling of all the parts of the APA.

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I will now take the pieces in separate drawings in order to make the details. I will try in 3D some parts (like LCTV supports and others) that normally I would have done in Photo-cutting.

I plan to make them in 0.5 mm thickness and see how they will look on the assembly.

I will start the printers this weekend, starting the hull. Then I will make the parts that will be assembled on the hull.

It is necessary to validate the tolerances of the assemblies, because by experience with the Russian crane, the tolerances with 3D printing are relatively random.

Once the first prints are made, I will start drawing the photo-cutting plate(s) that will go with the ship. There will be quite a lot to do and I think it will take me much more time than modeling the ship.

I'm still posting the progress of this project, although seeing the audience of this post it really interests very few people.

But well after the impressions, I'm going to go back to traditional modeling.

Happy Holidays to all of you.

Friendly.
Alain.

Author:  EJFoeth [ Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USS CAGE APA-168 au 1/350

It is certainly interesting, but with 3D work I feel people are walking away from modeling building towards kit development. I really enjoy drawing in 3D and it requires skills, but not really on the same level as actually building something. Even with drawing etch work ("2D printing") you have to be more careful and assemble the model too. I'm on the fence of buying a printer because some details are so tedious or difficult, but on the other hand you do surrender quite a bit to the PC. It depends a bit if you want a model, or want to build a model. I enjoy the latter! :smallsmile:

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