Scratchbuilding a WW2 USCG 83' Cutter in 1/24

[roy allen]

really nice bit of detail there Bill looks great

Any chance of showing off some of your vac forming methods, i would be very interested as it's something that i have never tried my hand at.

Roy

[tweety777]

Nice looking model!

Won't the machine guns be affected by the heater?
If the machine guns are affected by the heater i'd day they won't be stored next to the heater.
Are you sure they've placed them their?

Greetings Josse

[ingura]

...

[cmomm44]

Nice looking model!

Won't the machine guns be affected by the heater?
If the machine guns are affected by the heater i'd day they won't be stored next to the heater.
Are you sure they've placed them their?

Greetings Josse

That is where we had them racked right next to door of PH----5 Riesing sub-machine guns----I gave Bill the location and he kindly put them in for me---

[Bill Waldorf]

The machine gun placement is correct. I got the info from the Master Chief onboard during WW2. He was THERE, so I assume it is correct. This man has an amazing memory at 88 years young! Has helped tremendosly during this build. He is a very fussy man! Thats OK, we wanna get it right. Doing the best I can. I believe what I will produce will be dam close to the real thing. How many of you out there have someone that was onboard any ship or boat during WW2 guiding things along??? I suspect not many. I am lucky I guess. Enough said.............More to come ........ stay tuned.....

[Bill Waldorf]

really nice bit of detail there Bill looks great

Any chance of showing off some of your vac forming methods, i would be very interested as it's something that i have never tried my hand at.

Roy

Hello Roy, Yes, I'll get into vac-u-forming soon. I'll demonstrate as soon as I mold something new. Got lots going on right now so please be patient. Thanks..............Bill W.

[Bill Waldorf]

Bill The quality of your workmanship is simply stunning . I very much like the way you have built up the rocket projectors .
Dave Wooley

Thanks Dave....Your comments are always appreciated. 1/24 scale is not very forgiving as I am finding out. You can't get away with much in such a large scale. I am finding this is more involved than I originally anticipated. Theres alot of stuff on an 83 foot boat in 1/24th!! Try it and see!!! Just kidding.. I am plugging away.....Stay tuned....Kiev looks top notch, as per your usual expertise!

[Dave Wooley]

Bill The quality of your workmanship is simply stunning . I very much like the way you have built up the rocket projectors .
Dave Wooley

Thanks Dave....Your comments are always appreciated. 1/24 scale is not very forgiving as I am finding out. You can't get away with much in such a large scale. I am finding this is more involved than I originally anticipated. Theres alot of stuff on an 83 foot boat in 1/24th!! Try it and see!!! Just kidding.. I am plugging away.....Stay tuned....Kiev looks top notch, as per your usual expertise!

Hi Bill Your welcome. Just had a word with Russ on this very subject of relative scale and how it can be more demanding than the smaller scales . As they say the bigger the fitting the more detail is exposed and wow some of that detail that is revealed is very challenging .
Dave Wooley

[109]

Bill,

I envy your speed and accuracy in modeling! I looks so simple ... I am lacking this kind of talent! I am a lame duck ...

All the best,

Bernd.

[Bill Waldorf]

Hello again all Now that most of the sub-assemblies for the boat are completed, I decided to begin final assembly. Been busy with regular job, and this boat becomes more involved as I go along. It is however, coming together. Lets take a look at the progress to date......

I have now permanantly attached the pilothouse and spray shields to the deck. A few more details have been added to the pilothouse such as nav. lights, horn,RDF antenna, etc. As on the actual boat, a section of quarter round was added around the base of the shields and the pilothouse.

View here from portside. Note the seachlight / signal lights. These are a purchased part while the mount is scratchbuilt from styrene. Ships wheel is cast metal. Grating on flying bridge is laser cut basswood from Bluejacket. All railings here are fabricated styrene rod. Large grey box is life preserver stowage, scratcbuilt from leftover decking material and styrene. Large cowl vents are from a Haynes PT boat, in resin.

Dead on view looking forward. The addition of the smaller details adds much interest I feel. Note the deck camber.

Close-up of the flying bridge so far. A bit more to add.

Heres the forward radio antenna mount. Made from aluminum and styrene telescoping tubing. Note the guards.

The mainmast assembly. This was scratchbuilt using hardwood dowel for the main shaft, brass tubing for the yardarms. The ladder rungs are small paneling nails. Square tube at lower end of mast is a cable protector. Cable runs from radar dome, down the mast, thru the protector and then runds on deck into pilothouse. Cable yet to be added. Radar dome is three separate pieces. The bottom is a resin casting, mid section is butyrate tubing, while the "dome" is shaped balsa.

Base of the mast, fabricated from styrene.

Now that placement of most items on the boat is nearing completion, I decided to try to model the water base. At this stage, the model is still removable from the base as final paintwork has yet to be done. Water not completed yet, but the following photos will give you an idea of the overall picture. I figure the boat making about 10 knots or so, thru relatively calm seas.

More to be added to the water such as spray, froth, etc. I'll do that later once the boat is completed. It is getting there!

Thats it for this update. On to final paintwork, decaling and more details! Stay tuned, more to come.........I continue on.............

[JIM BAUMANN]

JUST STUNNINGLY GOOD !!

The sharpness and scale fidelity is simply breath-taking--

REALLY impressive work Bill!!

[DrPR]

Bill,

You mentioned that there are a lot more details to model at very large scales. As your photos show, even ordinary wiring is large enough at 1:24 to include in the model. Bolts, nuts, washers and even small screw heads would be visible (a 1/4 inch screw head is 0.010" at 1:24). If you were totally obsessed with detail you could even model the wooden plugs in the deck boards.

Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which small details to include, and what is just too small or insignificant to model?

This is not an idle question. I am considering a 1:24 model (maybe 1:48) of a 112 ft minesweeper after I finish my current project. I have the original blueprints for the entire ship, so I can literally count the bolts!

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Bill Well what can I say . This is a model built by a master craftsman with an exceptional eye for detail and the seascape is just as it would be.
Dave Wooley

[Dave Wooley]

Bill,

You mentioned that there are a lot more details to model at very large scales. As your photos show, even ordinary wiring is large enough at 1:24 to include in the model. Bolts, nuts, washers and even small screw heads would be visible (a 1/4 inch screw head is 0.010" at 1:24). If you were totally obsessed with detail you could even model the wooden plugs in the deck boards.

Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which small details to include, and what is just too small or insignificant to model?

This is not an idle question. I am considering a 1:24 model (maybe 1:48) of a 112 ft minesweeper after I finish my current project. I have the original blueprints for the entire ship, so I can literally count the bolts!

This is the holy grail of modelling the ultimate question . The answer is simple build to your full potential , even then you may not be be satisfied but you have the satisfaction you have done the very best you can , you can not ask for more .
Dave Wooley

[Bill Waldorf]

Bill,

You mentioned that there are a lot more details to model at very large scales. As your photos show, even ordinary wiring is large enough at 1:24 to include in the model. Bolts, nuts, washers and even small screw heads would be visible (a 1/4 inch screw head is 0.010" at 1:24). If you were totally obsessed with detail you could even model the wooden plugs in the deck boards.

Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which small details to include, and what is just too small or insignificant to model?

This is not an idle question. I am considering a 1:24 model (maybe 1:48) of a 112 ft minesweeper after I finish my current project. I have the original blueprints for the entire ship, so I can literally count the bolts!

I guess you "draw the line" where you want to. In this cutter build, I have added as much detail as the drawings permit. Those along with photos of the boat. Even with that info, there probably is alot more I could do, I just can't see it, well enough to duplicate it that is. Getting down to screw heads is a bit much, imho. If you have the research materials at hand that show lots of things, then use them. It all boils down to ones own ability, and how far one wants to go with any givin subject. I try to do the best I can with what I got. Think of it as if you are looking at the subject from some distance, rather than right on top of it. It is not always all the parts individually, rather the sum of those parts to create the whole picture.

[Capit�o Norbert]

Bill I WANNA To say just one thing: superb model. very well done. magnific touch of life you add
the realistic effect of the water is the best i saw..

[Bill Waldorf]

Hello again all I have now finish painted the boat, and I've fabricated and added more details. I have also worked on the water a bit more. The further I go with this the more interesting it becomes. I am becoming attached to it. They sure crammed alot of stuff on these boats. It's no wonder their top speed dropped 5 knots or so. Lets take a look..........

I'll start off with the 20MM gun mount. This is a combination of two small kits, one from JR Haynes, the other from Dean's Marine. By combining the two, I got the correct configuration for the boat.

Another view. I have since added a different sight, not shown here.

10 Man liferaft here. One on the other side as well. This was completely scratchbuilt. The raft itself is a resin casting, the slats on the bottom are styrene, as well as the water container and first aid / ration box. Oar is basswood. Rope was added using waxed cotton cord. Finally the decals were added, letter by letter.

Heres the 5 man rafts, slightly smaller than the others. This is from Macs Mouldings. I added the mesh on the bottom. I'll also add oars and other items to these as I did to the larger ones.

To the left of the raft we have a "Handy Billy Box". This is basically a cover for a water pump used to suction seawater in case of fire. Note the suction hose. Just a piece of electrical cable with some brass tubing at the end.

Couple of boat fenders, one shown here. Made from hardwood dowel, shaped to suit.

20MM ready boxes here. These are made from a balsa block, wrapped with styrene. I then added the lid, a Vac-u-formed part I made. The tube on this box is called a dip pot, to cool the gun barrel. The hold downs on the lid are small cast metal anchor chain links. The bracket on top of the lids is to hold ammo canister. Theres 37 pieces to each box.

Here are the rocket boxes forward. I've added stenciling from an aircraft decal sheet. Anchors are cast metal from JR Haynes.

Some rope coils by winch area. Adds a bit more interest.

Another one astern.

Heres some overall viws of the boat.......

As I stated above, I have been fine tuning the water a bit. Heres some overall views of my tinkering.......

Well, there you have it. Getting close to completion. Stay tuned......More to come.....I continue on.......Comments welcome

[Ticonderoga]

Bill,

Your build is truly amazing, I do not know how you do it. The entire model looks like it is in motion, I would swear that she is underway, very, very impressive. (not to mention the quality of the photographs as well!!)

Thank you for sharing and continuing to inspire rank novices like myself.

Andrew

[Sten Ekedahl]

I had to look very carefully at those pics because I was shure I thought I saw the water moving! Impressive!!! BTW, the boat isn't too bad either...

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Bill WONDERFULL build . I like the way you have stated what each of the fittings are used for , this gives a better understanding of not just the model but the full size vessel. Also your attention to the effect of the hull in the water , very difficult to apply to such a large model and achive such good results , but you have done this very skillfully and the results show this. All in all you maintain a constant level of accuracy and a clear understanding of the subject with that genuine ability to instill life into what is a large scale static model.
Dave Wooley