Hello everyone,
I don't normally do full build logs but this one's fairly unusual so I thought I'd share. This is my project to build USS Portland CA-33 as she appeared in 1942, using Tamiya's Indianapolis as the starting point and converting with 3D printed parts by ModelMonkey (https://www.shapeways.com/designer/model_monkey?li=pb). Note that I didn't buy every single upgrade part ModelMonkey sells for the Portland. There are for example turrets and gun shields that I'm not using. The selection of 3D printed parts I bought are what I consider "essential" to get an accurate conversion while minimising effort and cost, your mileage may vary. In addition, I'm not planning this as a super-detail build and while I will strive to make her as accurate as possible it will also not be an exhaustive log of what you need to make perfect Portland (due to time and research limitations). Hopefully you'll enjoy the build for what it is and be inspired to try something similar, either with Portland or with other 3D printed parts and conversion sets. The technology has really blown the hobby wide open in terms of options!
So without further ado, let me show you some photos. You will not believe how hard it is to take pictures of parts that are transparent! These don't really do justice to the exquisitely fine detail present in the ModelMonkey conversion set. The walls are thin, all windows and portholes are open, there is bracing structure on the underside of the bridge levels, basically the parts are everything you would want in terms of accuracy and detail! The purpose of this is not to write an essay build review of the parts themselves, suffice to say I consider them and excellent investment and the pictures will speak for the rest.
Firstly, as you can see I was very eager to start before taking a picture of the parts. The hull halves are glued together to the base as per kit instructions. I did this first because it made my life much easier measuring the location of the 3D printed parts by test-fitting. Note I've cut off the rear of the forecastle deck, sanded flat various details on both fore and aft decks and marked off on the hull the areas that need to be removed. Portland had a shorter forecastle than Indianapolis because she was not fitted as a flagship.
A close-up of some of the parts, the bridge is particularly impressive. Although I've progressed significantly with assembly, I'll try and take some better pictures with a real camera (not my phone) before I paint her up.
Further modifications to the kit forecastle deck and the 3D printed aircraft handling deck/forward funnel piece. Note that the 3D printed deck section comes full width. To save myself a lot of trouble (and given how incredibly thin it is) I chose to simply glue it down on top of the kit hull + maindeck instead of trying to make it slot in the groove between the hull halves as a replacement for the kit main deck. This deck however extends forward into the forecastle, so I had to sand the corners down to allow it to slot into the hull forward, and make some bulkheads from plastic to close it off, otherwise the viewer would be staring into the hull. I also cut a slot out of the kit forecastle deck so that it fit neatly either side of the deckhouse supporting the funnel. You can see the major changes circled red here:
Aircraft handling deck test-fitted here:
And forecastle deck test-fitted here:
The following picture shows all the above as well as the forward superstructure parts up to the navigation bridge level glued in place. One thing I noticed at this stage, that really blew my mind, was the the 3D printed aircraft handling deck was thicker in the middle than at the edges. Yes, it's printed with the DECK CAMBER designed in!
Unfortunately the rest of the kit doesn't match, but oh well. Notice also I sanded additional notches to the rear of the deck, so that the curved fairings at the front of the hangar side walls fit correctly. For fitting purposes, I measured this whole section from the bow going aft, using the forward superstructure 3D printed parts to align the aircraft handling deck via the tripod mast leg sections. The fit is very good overall, the locations of the catapults come out almost exactly on top of the location holes for the kit parts. However I noticed when test fitting the hangar that this will leave a small gap between the end of the aircraft handling deck and the hangar doors, where I will have to raise the kit deck to match the 3D printed camber. That's a story for another time though!
Another angle of the forward superstructure assembly showing the excellently detailed open bridge windows.
That's it for now. Feel free to ask any questions about working with the 3D printed parts, one of the reasons I am doing this thread is because the technology is still quite new and not many people are showcasing using it, so I want to share any experience I gain doing this!
