The Ship Model Forum

The Admiral has ordered my shipyard closed for several days while it's employee (me!) self-DOGEs in compliance with the Fed. mandates for down-sizing and efficiency. When "The Admiral" speaks, (i.e. her Cat speaks!!), I listen!!! One doesn't want to run afoul of "The Cat". Besides, with temps up in the low 70s here, it's obviously time to get things in the Tomato Patch cleaned up and ready for Spring planting. And also ( ) time to clean out "The Admiral's" flower garden beds!!

Currently, I'm getting close to wrapping up this Yard Period with the replacement of the stern UHF antenna platforms (P/S). And lastly, spot gluing the new 5" gun mounts in place will finish this very successful maintenance period. I should have some final photos to post after the work is complete.

As the DOGE reports are due on "The Admiral's" desk shortly, I'd better get my butt in gear

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

My Yard Availability period is now complete - a resounding success!! The following items were replaced during this short period:
(10) 5"/38 Dual Gun Mounts
(6) Mk. 56 Fire Control Directors
(4) 5" ZUNI CHAFF Rocket Launchers
(2) 6 pdr Saluting Cannon (added)
(2) UHF Antenna Platforms
All of these parts were 3D Design/Printed with a much higher level of detail than my own scratch built, original kit, or 3rd party purchased parts had which has given the model a much more detailed look. This was one of the main goals of this mini-project. Here are some photos of the completed overhaul -




Compare these photos with the earlier photos I posted prior to the replacement of these parts. Only thing left now is for requesting assistance from "The Admiral" for help in replacing the display case and then moving the model back to its proper location. I'm hoping that after self-DOGEing, the processing time for this request will be in days rather than weeks!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

are you certain it is 6" saluting guns not 6 pdr saluting guns?

Hank:

The re done 5" mounts came out quite well. Following your example I am yet (third version?) replacing my mounts on Missouri (1:192) as the very nice ones I have on there are the same as Alaska's and the wrong mod, having training buffers etc. They came out very nicely and the "hangup" is paint. For this ship I mixed my own colors and of course that paint batch is long deceased. Mixing paint runs in the PITA category of hobby experiences. I use a slightly different method of attaching them as there are magnets under the deck and I simply use a small recessed screw at the bottom. They seem to adhere strongly, are centered and rotate easily. When I do paint them I'll need to do the greased recoil sleeves!

Tom

We can always count on the Forum Troll (DavidP, FFG-7 or whoever else this asshole claims to be on any given day) to find something (typo in this case) to complain about on other modeler's threads. And by the way, proper English sentence structure would be starting sentences with a capital letter.

You're NOT WELCOME on my threads, PERIOD!!! Go bother someone else with your petty BS!

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Tom,
Thanks for the nice comment! They ARE appreciated!! Isn't it great that when upgrades are needed, we can provide many of the (3D) parts ourselves?? As for painting, I agree - it's normally a PITA and one of the necessary "chores" in this hobby. As for the recoil sleeves, I was using two Testor spray colors, gold and gunmetal, sprayed one after the other while the first one was still wet; light coats, both. My gunmetal spray can is pretty much empty although I do still have one partial bottle of that color. The combination gave a somewhat "dirty" goldish result which was very close to the actual 5" gun barrel. These current barrels were done with the gold only but will have to suffice as is.

On this particular design of the mount, I used a 2mm dia. pin on the bottom and drilled out the according hole in the mount base on the model. I've spot glued each mount to keep it in place as once the display case is replaced, I don't want the mounts to fall off if something (such as a sneak Commie rocket attack) were to topple the model, etc.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

such unbecoming of a moderator to name call & swear at another member on this site. I have never done that on the 2 sites that I had & am moderating for.
I asked a simple question & you go into pissy mode. what your blood pressure tho I most likely have that beat.

This person was not appreciated before when he was under the guise of DavidP and is currently not appreciated by numerous people under his current nom de guerre .

Alaska mounts had some fairly unique baskets on the aft bulkhead to catch ejected 5" casings, wonder if these are possible in 1:196. Many details in the various mounts that are now possible on a ship by ship basis. Same issue with paint mixing as I have her done in the neutral greys.

Tom,
Could very well be possible. With your new, higher res printer, you should certainly consider designing them and see what happens. Nothing to lose, right?

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

I haven't seen any scaled drawings of those mount baskets and need to double check to see if they were present in the period I am portraying the ship.

Tom

Tom,
My guess is that items such as those baskets would only be shown on construction drawings related to that particular ship (class). In this case I've seen photos of both CB-1 and CB-2 that had those installed during construction. CB-3 wasn't far enough along before she was cancelled.

I have found several photos in the Warship Pictorial #43 (Alaska Class Cruisers) which show those baskets. I guess that in this instance whatever you came up with would have to be something original. Unless of course, you decide to fly east to NARA II and spend a few days researching the original microfilm...

Those photos I located are on pages 7, 14, 15, 18, and 21. I'm not positive, but I also think from looking over the photos in the booklet that not all the 5" mounts had those cages. I am only seeing them on the side 5" mounts both fwd and aft of the aircraft catapult; nothing located on the centerline fwd or aft mounts. I think I also saw one photo which had the catch bag installed around the cage, but don't quote me on that!! One other (possible) detail that appears to me (am I seeing things??) is that a single vertical row of hand grabs on those mounts have been installed closer to centerline on the rounded back face of the mount in order to accommodate those cages. In addition, it also appears that the vertical row of hand rungs on either side of those four mounts were not installed at all. That feature would certainly be different than the typ. Mk. 28 gun mount. Upon closer inspection of the photos (1944), none of the five-inch gun mounts had the vertical row of hand rungs on either side. That might also be a modification you may consider while adding the cages, etc.


It doesn't look to me to be too difficult to design those cages, actually rather simple affairs. From the photo on page 7, it appears that the cage was centered around each of the 2 casing ejection hatches on the rounded after side of the mount.
You should create a new thread on the ALASKA forum and give it a go!!!

I hope this is of help...!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

Looking so far at the photos I am not sure that the Alaska had the casing cages during the early 1945 period for which I am modeling "her". Will research further.

Tom

Tom,
I just added a post to the CB-1 thread on the CASF forum. I wasn't aware of your late war (1945) configuration. But, if you look at pg. 50 in the Warship Pictorial #43, the cages ARE in place - that photo is dated 21 Feb 1945, so that might fit into your model's time frame. FYI - that photo is hard to pick up details but using a magnifying glass I did see the cage!!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank:

Cages are now in place on all four beam mounts. I don't think the centerline mounts had them though I could see where the aft mount might have used them.

Looks as if the bosun's just strung standard netting from their supply locker when needed.

I agree, the side (4) mounts did have cages; none on either the fwd. or aft mount.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48