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Most of the ships I have built to date could be found in a fast carrier task group. Time to branch out to the "others". I immediately found there are few kits and little published reference material. Not only will I have to scratch build, I have to scratch plan.

The first project is AO-22 Cimarron, a T3 oiler. Characteristics are 553'LOA, 75' beam, 7256 tons, 18 knots. To the best of my ability to interpret photos she was armed with 4 5"-38, 2 twin 40mm and 10 20mm.

Floatingdrydock had 1/192 plans of a sister, AO-27 Kaskaskia, but they show the ship as converted (1939?) and she was armed with 5"-51 and 1.1" quads - certainly gone by 1944! The plans were great for "ship features", locations and sizes. I also have a 1/384 "Wiswesser" plan, and while highly suspect, it was fairly accurate for armament. Hull lines are not included in the FDD plans, but I have a 1/350 ISW CVE 26 which used the same hull.

The ship blocked out (the bow shot shows the plastic "sanding guide")

Jim

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jim

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Some details and curves.

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jim

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Roughed out

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jim

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Wow Jim. I can't wait to see how this one unfolds.




Bob Pink.

Very cool.

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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

Very nice!

I'll be watching this build with great interest! I too looked for an oiler in 1:350 scale but found none. And to build completely from scratch is beyond me. Keep the pictures coming.

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Timm Smith
Learn something new about the ship or your job every day. Ignorance is not bliss aboard a warship in wartime. Ignorance could cost the life of yourself, a shipmate, or the loss of the ship.
- Personal Information Booklet CV- 38

For those interested in USN oilers, there's a great set of plans for USS KAWISHIWI AO-146 online here: http://navy.memorieshop.com/Design-Details/Plans.html

Links from : http://www.usskawishiwi.org/

Also a PDF of USS Navasota AO-106 is here http://hnsa.org/doc/plans/ao106.pdf

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-- Scott Reigel
Back home again, in Arizona

reigels,

Thanks!!! Plans always help.

Jim

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jim

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Hi Guys,
Jim,
You sure make that look easy. You know what you're doing! In a single word................
Awesome!
Have you pinged Keith Bender about oilers and related deck details? He has been extremely helpful to me in the past.
Reigels,
I've seen Kawishiwi in person. That's a pretty big ship.
Tony

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Very neat looking methodology!

look forward to seeing more oics

JIM B

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....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
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IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Got the hull to the point where you say "how will it look primed?".

As usual priming told me there is more work!

Jim

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jim

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Hi Guys,
Jim,
What primer did you use?
Tankers were pretty darn important and look pretty darn cool. Great job!!!
Have you considered doing one tanker lightly loaded; with the screw and rudder partly showing?
Tony
ps how's the weather in AZ?

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"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

Tony,

The last primer is a cheap, hot, generic gray rattle can from Auto Zone called "Touch & Tone". It holds well on resin, brass & plastic (other parts were primed today) and is a "no fail" base for the Dunn Edwards enamel that I mix for finish colors. The first primer on the wood was a white brush only wood primer from Dunn Edwards that fills and sands nicely (bought for a cabinet job). The red on the before shot is Bondo.

After the T3, I plan to do 2 T2's, but they all will be low in the water. I want to portray them as a group, loaded to capacity, with hoses hung waiting for their customers. The rigging will be a challenge, I hope to be up to it.

AZ is low 80's but with more wind than normal. Am enjoying it now since hell is on the horizon. Talked to my brother in Illinois who is expecting 4 to 6 inches of SNOW, I will take 4 months of hell rather than any more midwestern winters!

Jim

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jim

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Hi Guys,
Jim,
I really like what you're doing. Well thought out and well executed.
The aforementioned information will be useful to many I'd say.
80+ here too. Not a cloud in sight.
Much cooler along the coast; only 15-20 miles from here.
Might your rigging end up being a mix of fishing line and fine drawn wire? Maybe even some small guage insulated wire for the larger dia hoses?
Keep up the great work, Tony

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"You guys make this hobby fun!"
"Some of my dearest friends I have made right here on Modelwarships"

A test run of what for me is the hard part (65 and ham handed). Comments welcome, pro or con, I have gained a thick skin.

The goal, as always, is to look like the picture from 1 - 2 feet away.

Jim

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jim

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That looks really, really good, Jim.

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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

Excellent work.

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On the workbench:

Various 1/700 aircraft.
Juan Carlos I LHD 1/700.
HMAS Canbera LHD 1/700.
FGS Type 122 class FFG 1/700.
LSD-41 class LPD 1/700.

Slow going!

Still making parts. The false deck will hide a lot, so I shot these pics to document what the main deck looks like.

Jim

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jim

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Looks great - Nice straight port holes. Any trick to share?

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-- Scott Reigel
Back home again, in Arizona

Jim if your going to put that much detail into it then I will have to check in often for updates. Great work.

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Timothy Dike
Owner & Administrator
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