USS Quincy was the second ship of the Northern Group of Allied cruisers guarding access to the Guadalcanal invasion area on the fateful night of August 8-9th, 1942. Like the other cruisers of the Northern group, she was completely caught by surprise by the Japanese onslaught. The presence of floatplanes onboard proved lethal that night as they quickly caught fire and illuminated the target to the enemy. She was the first ship of the Northern group to sink after having fired only 3 salvos but being hit by as many as 54 shells and 3 torpedoes. Still, she managed to punch the most serious hit to the Japanese by hitting the map room on the bridge of flagship Chokai, missing Vice-Admiral Mikawa and his staff officers by only a few meters. She slipped under the surface in 48 minutes since the first shots have been fired on the Northern Group, losing 370 men dead and 167 wounded.USS Quincy is already the 4th ship in my
Battle of Savo Island collection. I started building her in May 2016 and finished on December 3, 2017 (but I sidelined her in favour of building HMAS Canberra in the meantime).
My build is based on the Trumpeter USS Quincy kit with numerous modifications:
Hull & deck• Multiple portholes deleted, remaining portholes drilled out
• Anchor capstans moved forward
• Turret #1 barbette cut out and repositioned 3.9mm backward
• 8“ gun barrels replaced with turned brass from Master
• 5“/25 gun mounts replaced with 3Dmodelparts modified with turned brass barrels from Master
• 5“ splinter shields, 20mm tubs and hull sides in the well deck area thinned down using a milling cutter
• Shape of quarterdeck 20mm gun tubs modified using styrene sheets
• Aviation fuel dump line added to port
• Tom´s Modelworks New Orleans class PE set (searchlight tower, funnel cages, propeller frames) and Gold Medal Models USN Cruiser/Destroyer set (catapults, radars…) plus PE details from various sets by LionRoar, Flyhawk and Eduard
• Flyhawk PE 1.1“ Chicago pianos
Superstructure• Forward superstructure height increased
• 20mm gun platform repositioned ½ level upwards
• Holed PE bars added to bridge wings and various supports added
• Scratchbuilt small deckhouse aft of the searchlight tower
• Modified deckhouse fore of the hangar deck
• 3Dmodelparts Mk33 5“ gun directors (early open version modified from the Mk28 version) and Mk51 directors for 1.1“ quads
• 20mm mounts replaced with 3Dmodelparts and their 20mm guns modified with Flyhawk PE
• 20mm ammo boxes added (styrene)
• Floater net bundles (wrapped in canvas as shown on her last photos) made from alu-foil
Other• Funnels drilled out, internal dividers made from styrene sheets, PE ladders and rigging added
• Catapult supports modified with PE details (their inner sides differed from earlier New Orleans-class)
• Masts replaced by soldered turned brass
• Carley floats bottoms replaced with PE net, survival kits added, scratchbuilt liferings
• 3Dmodelparts crew
The only more significant problem of the Trumpeter kit that I was aware of but did not adress was the slimmer shape of funnels that applied to Quincy and Vincennes. I checked available photos of Quincy and Astoria side by side for the difference and it was hardly noticeable. And, unfortunately, Model Monkey only came out with his 3D printed replacement funnels too late for my build!
My model was airbrushed using Lifecolor paints and weathered with oil paints. Decals for the SOC-3 Seagull floatplanes included in the Trumpeter kit were far too large so I used decals from the excellent USS Yorktown class CV Markings 1942 set by Starfighter Decals and the smallest ones from GMM Naval Decals set.
I plan to take some more photos with a new „night battle“ backdrop (under preparation now) so I will then add some here, too.
References• Modelwarships.com:
Calling all USS New Orleans class (CA) fans and especially submissions by Frank Fowler and Dick J
• Lester Abbey: New Orleans Class Cruisers (Shipcraft #13)
• Pre-war and wartime photography from various online sources, especially
Naval History and Heritage Command and
Navsource.orgMany thanks to Jon Iverson, Richard Jensen, Marijn van Gils and Bruce Ross for their advice on various details!
Please see my
Flickr album for more hi-res photos of my build.
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