USS Indiana BB-58 Scratchbuild in 1/96 - 1944

[Richard J OMalley]

Looks like you can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel .Fantastic workmanSHIP !

[les]

Great work Bill. Maybe I missed it, buy you said that you made diamond plate out of sheet plastic. How did you do that?

[Dave Wooley]

Great work Bill. Maybe I missed it, buy you said that you made diamond plate out of sheet plastic. How did you do that?

Simple , he's a model maker and a good one . The more I look the more I admire .
Dave Wooley

[Bill Waldorf]

Great work Bill. Maybe I missed it, buy you said that you made diamond plate out of sheet plastic. How did you do that?

The diamond plate is sheet styrene with the pattern molded into the styrene. Available from Plastruct.com.

[mark_sch]

Bill,
Looks great!!!!
Mark

[J. Soca]

WOW!! she is turning up to be a fine looking lady Bill


Jose

[Bill Waldorf]

Well, one good turrent deserves another ( Dave Wooleys last post on Kiev)! Heres some photos of the 5" twin turrents on the Indiana. I am again using a small kit from JR Haynes. The kit contains 10 pieces and is made up of cast resin and cast metal. The resin castings are excellent and are virtually free of defects. Same goes for the cast metal parts, very well done. Assembly was simple. I added ladder rungs and floater nets where applicable. About $30.00 each, US. Lets take a look..........

Heres a view of the kit and a breakdown of the individual parts. Also comes with an assembly guide.Turrent body and base are resin, the rest of the parts are cast metal.

Heres the turrent assembled. Holes for the gun barrels must be drilled out. Note I have added the ladder rungs and the floater net basket.

Front view

Rear View

Heres the five turrents on stb. side. Same arrangement on port. Turrents are primed and await final paint work. A few more views below.....

Five more to make, then on to the directors for these guns....Stay tuned, more to come....I continue on............

[Richard J OMalley]

love them floater net basket's

[Capit�o Norbert]

hI Bill
I was looking at its post for many times and I would like to say to it that its models are very well done and the quality that you dedicate to the models is first classroom. references thus for me are one stimulation to continue in the ship modelling. I am very happy of being able to say with you and see more of this wonderfull job
congratulations

[Chris E.]

The Indiana replica will be on permanant display at the Indiana War Memorial Museum, in downtown Indianapolis, Ind. The USS Indianapolis, CA-35, the build is posted at the top of this forum, is there, too...... Thanks for asking........

This is great news for me as the Indiana's new home will be only an hour and a bit from me here in Anderson! If anybody here hasn't seen Bill's USS Indianapolis in person, let me tell you this: The pictures that Bill posted in the build thread are wonderful, truly a sight to behold... they don't do her justice. Seeing a model of this magnitude in person literally took my breath for a bit. I can hardly wait to see this one in person. This build just keeps getting better and better! Looking great, Bill!!!

[sgtmac]

I probably missed this too...
On your five inch turrets, did you hand make all of the external ladder rungs or were these a vendor item? Also, did you create a jig to help line them up? I assumed that they had been inserted into holes before gluing.
Excellent turrets!
Thank you.

[Bill Waldorf]

I probably missed this too...
On your five inch turrets, did you hand make all of the external ladder rungs or were these a vendor item? Also, did you create a jig to help line them up? I assumed that they had been inserted into holes before gluing.
Excellent turrets!
Thank you.

Hello Sgtmac, The ladder rungs are a vendor item from Proto Power West/ A-Line. They are HO scale drop style grab rails, made for freight cars, but work very well here. I need so many, that it was easier to get them pre=formed rather that bend them one by one. And yes, I made a drill guide from sheet styrene. The rungs are attached with medium CA. HTH.............Bill W.

[Bill Waldorf]

Hello again all ! Been awhile since I have posted so here goes. I have been adding a few more final details before I begin final paintwork on the Indiana. Everything but directors, radars, and guns have been added to the superstructure, as well as the main deck of the ship itself. My main focus now is to paint the superstructure. It will be a time consuming affair, but get ready for a transformation! I am going to attempt to paint all the haze grey areas at the same time to avoid color shifts. After that, all the decks will be hand painted by brush with deck blue, as well as most horizontal surfaces. Lets take a look..................

Note the small ready sevice lockers here for the 20mm guns. These are scratchbuilt from square styrene tubing, .010 sheet, and .020 rod. I made 20 of them and they are located near the gun locations.

Here we have a couple of whip antennas, made from .020 styrene rod and a small bead as a resistor. There will be 9 of these around the ship.

Another small addition are these cast metal fire hose racks, 10 located around the superstructure. Also note the small gooseneck vents.

Additional 20mm r/s lockers added here. These are cast metal.

Forward yardarm now completed and installed. Note the small eyelets for the signal flag halyards, and the wind indicators, speed and direction. Also added more support struts.

Additional support struts added the the mainmast yardarm.

One of six mounting screw locations for the superstructure to be reattached in its exact position. These will be hiiden. Note how they are countersunk a little.

The rest of the brass p/e railing added to the structure.

An overall view from stb. side of where things stand now. Again note the mounting screws.

Another view from portside.

Superstructure now removed and being readied for primer coat. Looks bare without it, don't it??

Superstructure now primed and ready for final paintwork.

Another view.....

Well there you have it.......As I said, get ready for a transformation. Stay tuned!! More to come. Almost there!! I continue on....

[bwross11]

Bill,
The superstructure is looking absolutely amazing!! I have a curiousity question; are you going to be painting the decks or leaving them in the natural wood?

Bravo Zulu on a very stunning build and great inspiration.

Bruce

[russclark]

she is looking good bill,i take it you are going to have the decks blue,it will make a nice contrast between navy blue and the haze gray.i see you use white primer is there a reason or is it what ever you had at the time.great work as always

[Bill Waldorf]

Bill,
The superstructure is looking absolutely amazing!! I have a curiousity question; are you going to be painting the decks or leaving them in the natural wood?

Bravo Zulu on a very stunning build and great inspiration.

Bruce

Hello bwross11, In keeping with historical accuracy, all decks and horizonal surfaces will be deck blue (20B). I really like the wood too, but oh well. Thanks for the post!...........

[Bill Waldorf]

she is looking good bill,i take it you are going to have the decks blue,it will make a nice contrast between navy blue and the haze gray.i see you use white primer is there a reason or is it what ever you had at the time.great work as always

Yes, all decks and horizontal surfaces deck blue. The white primer hides well and I can see what I'm covering when it comes to final paintwork. Lot's of airbrushing ahead. The white really stands out so you can see any spots you have missed. This white primer is also a great base for acrylic paints, which I am using. Thanks for your reply.................

[JIM BAUMANN]

I look forward to seeing her in paint!!

The in build pics promise much-- she really does look of very high quality!!


JIM B

[Bill Waldorf]

I look forward to seeing her in paint!!

The in build pics promise much-- she really does look of very high quality!!


JIM B

Ahhh...Promises I keep! Stay tuned..............

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Bill i've just returned home after a brief break away. WOW Stunning work . It's hard to pick out just what makes your Indiana special . I guess the armoured tower and stack because they are complex structures.
Dave Wooley