USS Whitehurst One to who knows DE.

[Song Jung Gun]

Very nice hull!
Cheers: Song

[Fliger747]

Thank you Song!

I was fortunate to have a very good set of hull lines that were included in the TFD DE Disc. The hull sections also came with a tabulation of the frame locations which allowed construction of table of accurate spacing along the ships length. My program has a blend feature which I used to fill in the spaces between the frames, a somewhat uncertain process and requires great accuracy in tracing to achieve a good hull form as there is no ability to push or pull any out of fairness. As iterated previously I should achieve a facility with a more advanced type of program for hull design.

Yesterday Printed the rudders and shaft struts which I will add after I get the hull in shape. Hard for me to avoid adding topside details before finishing the hull, those details start making it look like a ship, but make things more difficult. Destroyers and DE's have the props extending below the base line so it's best to avoid adding them till near the end of construction. As the process goes I accumulate a large supply of ship fittings, armaments etc which currently reside in their own slots own a large fishing tackle box.

Currently designing the midships deckhouse, the aft deckhouse printed fine but will get painted before adding all the extra details such as the Quad Bofors and MK 51 director. Both these items have already been designed back in the APA project and only needed minor re sizing from 1:120 down to 1:144. Same story for other ship fittings such as bitts and chocks and the Orlikons. First go around for the Hedgehog projector.

The bridge area is quite complex with levels and partial levels so will be a challenge.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Stack printed in Frozen Rapid Black Resin and lightly dusted with auto primer, Aft Superstructure and quad Bofors from same material.

Scale 1:144. Currently printing mid superstructure.

Tom

[Iceman 29]

Great precision!

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Excellent details!!! And the b/w photos do suit!! Well done!!!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Thanks Gentlemen!

Under the Wah Hail chapter of model building, The midships superstructure printed fine detail wise but the overhanging gun tubs want to warm upward. This seems similar to the issues I had with booms wanting to assume a banana shape. So I am trying a nearly vertical print which will run for nearly 20 hours. If this doesn't work out I'll print the tubs separately as I did for the 1:514 version.

Currently designing away on the rather complex bridge structure!

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

First print of the bridge area in light auto primer. This one has a couple of issues so I will make several changes and re run.

Though the hull now has rudders, shafts and struts in place, the bow and hawse pipes need work, then attach a waterway, bitts and chocks and it will be mostly done.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Your bridge looks really good - I esp. like the door detail - I may have to flog the yardbirds at HMS Fitting and Drydock as they're falling down on the job

Relly good work!!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Thank you Hank!

I have used both the in place and separate add on W/T doors. The TFD DE disc has some scaled drawings of the doors, the dimensions being especially useful. I transferred the image on screen to a JPEG using print screen and photoshop and then import as a background layer to the DSM file I am working on. This allows me to essentially trace the door image which is big help.

On the bridge there are quite a few voice pipes and I used your 1:144 ones, though there are some quite convoluted ones. There are two from the top of the director platform which lead to the director compartment below and also to the CIC.

A project is to add the waterways, some supposition as to how to do this? Plan A is to use a thin strip of impregnated paper or styrene and adhere it to the deck. I have designed some jigs to space these an equal distance from the edge of the deck as they are attached.

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

What do you mean by "waterways?"

I assume you are referring to the coamings at the edges of the decks. These prevented water from sloshing over the sides of the decks and onto the decks below. They had scuppers and downpipes to deliver the runoff to the lower decks.

On the Clevelands the coamings were 3 inches high, made of 3/8 inch plate. I think this was Navy standard construction in WWII. They might have bee 1/4 inch plate on smaller vessels. I have puzzled over how to make these on my 1:96 Oklahoma City build. I suppose it might be possible to make the superstructure out of styrene and glue 0.004 inch thick styrene strips flush with the bulkheads. However this will be difficult to do without leaving a noticeable seam.

I don't know of any styrene that thin. Evergreen makes 0.010" x 0.030" styrene strips, but these are 2 1/2 times the scale thickness. I might be able to roll them out thinner but that would also distort the width of the strips, and plastic that thin is very fragile.

Another alternative I have considered is making the basic structure out of styrene or wood and covering it with 0.003 inch brass or stainless sheet, with the side sheets extending 3 scale inches (0.031 inches) above the deck. This wouldn't have a seam and the metal would be much stronger.

You won't be able to get scale thickness at your scale if you try to 3D print them, but you could cheat and make the coamings trapezoidal in cross section - wider at deck level than at the top - so they would have greater strength and still look very thin.

Phil

[Fliger747]

A sad fact Is that any scale smaller than about 1:48 we have to begin to compromise exact scale. Sometimes we can do very well, but at even 1:144 compromise is aplenty. The waterways I am referring to in this case are the main deck edge ones. With perhaps a more precise hull design program I could have printed them in, with a slight increase in thickness, but the limitations I have result in some need for sanding and filling. I�ll experiment a little with them and see what is the most viable scale rendition. CA or varnish saturated paper is perhaps a somewhat better material than styrene having better stiffness. It does a reasonable job of simulating applications of thin STS plate. Regular bond paper is somewhat North of one thou which at 1:144 is les than an inch by a comfortable margin. The issue is cutting it accurately to the proper height. Less than 1mm!

[bwross11]

Tom, you're right about having to have some compromises in the modeling.

For what its worth, since I work predominantly in 1/144; I use .01" x .02" strip stock for the channel wall you're referring to. I will put a small dab of CA on every .75"-1.0" to essentially spot weld the piece in place to form the "wall". Then I'll go back with a liquid glue and run a bead along the bottom of the wall to complete the attachment. Seems to work pretty good, I have had to resort to a chiesel blade to get some of it off to make modifications.

I think the DE is turning out great.

Bravo Zulu

[Fliger747]

Thank you Bruce! That was pretty much what I had in mind. I designed some jigs to ensure a constant spacing from the edge of the hull. We shall see. Certainly a little experiment will be necessary.

[Fliger747]

I've been traveling a little around Alaska, to get in some pre deep winter tourism. One useful thing was to be able to acquire a few items from the nearest hobby shop which is about 400 road miles from my house, including CA accelerator, which I have been long without and "Valley-Jo" acrylic thinner and a few other items.

Be able to get back to work on the hull, doing the area around the hawse pipes, deck edge waterways, bitts and chocks and whatnot. See about simulating plating lines (very subtile).

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

I have thought a lot about how to create plating.

Valeriy Vilyald in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, has used a simple but effective technique in his 1:75 scale build of the cruiser Varyag:

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19333- ... /#comments

He finishes the hull with body filler/primer and then uses tape to mask off the inner strakes. Then he adds another thick layer of primer to build up the outer strakes. After everything is dry he removes the tape mask. It works nicely for him - but he is a master modeler and everything he does seems to work beautifully!

Unfortunately we haven't heard anything from him in over three weeks. Russian missiles destroyed buildings and utilities in Zaporizhia. I hope he is OK.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Phil:

I hope he is alright as well. Tough times in that part of the world. Lots of pain, lives and lost treasure for little or no gain.

I used that method for the stern above waterline plating on my Missouri. As much of the hull has only minor compound curvature I may be able to cut tape to plating width on my rotary cutter. It has the advantage that one really only needs to tape the alternate rows, depending on the curves. Several photos and drawings show the approximate pattern if not a dedicated plate pattern. The detailed bulkhead cross sections do show some additional detail. Hopefully all will agree. The high build primer-fillers are good for this, especially if over coated with a harder layer as the primers of this type are soft to allow easy sanding.

I looked at his model building technique for his hull, very nice building flat in two sections, allows for a very straight production. Access to a laser cutter a real help.

Best regards! Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

Valeriy's technique works if the plating is the simple over, under, over alternate strakes. I sometimes think that most modelers think this is the way is was always done - but it isn't.

On the Cleveland class light cruisers, which I am most familiar with, only a few strakes follow this pattern. It is actually quite complex. Some strakes are overlapped by the strake above but overlap the strake below, clinker style. Where they overlap they are riveted. A few strakes are butted together at the top and bottom edges and welded. At the bow below the upper strake the plating has five vertical strakes butt welded together with no overlap or rivets. Most plates are approximately rectangular but some of the plates around the prop shafts have as many as seven sides. And there are some differences between the port and starboard sides.

All the plates are butted together horizontally at the front and back edges. Near the bow and stern they are welded together, but midships they are riveted to backing plates. Above the water line backing plates for the rivets are external. Below the water line all backing plates are internal.

This is why I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to model the plating!

Phil

[Fliger747]

Phil:

Indeed plating can be somewhat complex, a good example is where the Iowa's just forward of the #1 turret transition from 60# to 20# plate. The 60 # plate is joined at the vertical ends by riveted butt straps which are not at frames and the construction technique and the overlap completely different forward. Some interesting kinks at the demarcation between these zones. On the DE's plates appear to be butt welded to form horizontal plate rows, a little different than per se a Fletcher where midships zone uses butt straps in a method similar to the Iowas for the heavier splinter resistant plating used to protect the machinery spaces from strafing. So far guesstimating at least the more vertical hull plating width at about six feet. Perhaps, if I can find the one's that I have seen that show the hull cross sections with plating, some scaling may be possible. Due to lack of information, I will not attempt to duplicate the bottom plating pattern. I have seen info on the weight of the plating in various strakes, with the bottom plating and the very bow being heavier, likely for structural reasons.

In the meantime printing small pissant pieces such as the stern chock and light assembly, vertical shields for the smoke generators, MK 51 director, bridge area rails and whatnot. In my parts box I did end up with a MK 63 director as Whitehurst sported after her Pearl Harbor repairs.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

I did find a drawing showing the strakes top to bottom, however looking at photos and a detailed cross-section, the upper is about 6' wide and the next one around 5'. They do, in the cross section, overlap in a regular over/under pattern. Running a second plate line tape would be appropriate here.

Tom

[Fliger747]

Doggone the torpedoes (mines), ring up 230 RPM.... Strake'n masked and painted. The effect is very subtle, as intended. The real ship doesn't look like it's put together from Legos. Removal of the tape leaves a fairly sharp line, which will subdue properly. I attached the closed chocks (necessitating printing more) which fall outside the waterway.

T