Gun Cruiser Group Build

[Bob Dedmon]

MichelB and Pieter,


Bob,
Chicago is looking good so far, any luck on the brass barrels? Those turrets... er... I mean Gunhouses look pretty good. I went to post some pics of where I am at on my build and something went wrong with the camera as I downloading the pictures to the computer, now my camera is dead

Matt

no, no luck, I went with the kit parts, with a little work they turned out ok. I compared (visually) the photo of the Chicago with your shot of the different barrels. I hate to say it but the kit barrels look closer to prototype than the turned barrels. Take a look (split screen) of the shot of Chicago with the Tuscaloosa and your shot of the gunhouses with the different barrels and see the difference. I don't know if its just a photo effect or if they actually are closer to the originals.

[taskforce48]

no, no luck, I went with the kit parts, with a little work they turned out ok. I compared (visually) the photo of the Chicago with your shot of the different barrels. I hate to say it but the kit barrels look closer to prototype than the turned barrels. Take a look (split screen) of the shot of Chicago with the Tuscaloosa and your shot of the gunhouses with the different barrels and see the difference. I don't know if its just a photo effect or if they actually are closer to the originals.

I thought that at first when I compared them to the photos, they did seem a little on the thin side but I compared them to some 1/350 blue prints and the were spot on Optical illusion maybe? Still I invested the money in them and it took me 20 minutes to get them set up vs the week or so having to straighten and file and sand the white metal ones, which when I was done would probably look just as thin as the brass ones. Oh well, still think yours turned out good and looking forward to updates.

Matt

[Daniel Chavez]

Here's some progress pics from the last few days. I use a folding dinner tray as a work area as I have no permanent work area for building...yet! So, with 4 curious cats and a VERY inquisitive and "helpful" 2 year old son, I have to put everything away at night before going to bed.

I've been working on cleaning up the hull, replacing the aft deck with Evergreen and extending the planked area further forward (as per diagrams), and trying to make something presentable out of the mess called the forward superstructure! My skill levels are limited, but I really have to try to help this poor kit! I've caught myself sitting staring at her, shaking my head and muttering that EVEN I can't make this any worse!!

We shall see about that!!

Any advice or decent references would be appreciated!

Daniel Chavez

[drdoom1337]

For those in the know, would the Deutschland class be considered cruisers or "pocket battleships" as they're called. Reason being is, I really want to give the 1/400 Lutzow a go with it's ridiculous camouflage scheme, as opposed to the 1/350 Admiral Hipper.

[taskforce48]

I feel that they would fall into a separate category than a true cruiser, I think they are as similar to traditional cruisers as a Battlecruiser like the Hood or the Scharnhorst would be.

Matt

[Bob Dedmon]

After looking, I did find that these images actually made it to the hard drive,

The first image shows the difference between the kit supplied white metal parts and B&D brass barrels installed

comp1.jpg

The next couple are a comparison between the B&D Mk 9 barrels and the Masters Mk 12

comp2.jpg

comp3.jpg

The last one is a comparison between the Northampton class Gunhouse with the Mk 9's and a San Francisco Turret with the Mk 12's fitted.

comp4.jpg

Hopefully more to come

Matt

being slightly bored at work I looked at the shots of the Mk 9 vs the Mk 12...it looks like all I'd have to have done with the Mk12 barrels was/is add the largest segment of the barrel at the proper length to replicate the barrels...maybe I'll try that with Louisville and/or Houston when I get to them (hopefully next year). I may have some more shots to post later this week. I had to back track a bit with the funnels, I removed them to add the catwalk near the top and still need to repaint them. The superstructure is mostly finished except for the weapons and the railing between the 40 MM tubs and the center. Things are moving along, I'm thinking I need to rework the water for the base on this build to improve on the water.

[taskforce48]

Well, I think I got my camera up and running again, only problem is most of my build time was spent on fixing it Anyway, here are a couple of shots of where I stand now with the Chicago, everything is just dryfitted at the the moment. The portholes in the hull all look filled in but this is not the case, they have just filled with dust from when I was sanding the Hull to get rid of some rough spots. I will be filling a bunch in but the Chicago still had quite a few of them in August of 42.

Here we see some further detailing to the forward gunhouses courtesy of GMM and WEM. The brass barrels really freak out my camera's auto flash for some reason?

Here we see the overall look of where I am at right now.

Looking forward to seeing where everyone else is at.

Matt

[Dave Hill]

Great start Matt!...Lookin' good

Dave

[drdoom1337]

I found my '44 Indianapolis resin kit and I have a big question. How do you fix a banana warp that keeps coming back? I baked this hull three times and screwed it down to a wood board but it's just banana'd again. This is frustrating.

[Mark McKinnis]

I found my '44 Indianapolis resin kit and I have a big question. How do you fix a banana warp that keeps coming back? I baked this hull three times and screwed it down to a wood board but it's just banana'd again. This is frustrating.

That sounds bad!

If it stays straight with it screwed down on the board, then cut the board to size and build it up from the start as a diorama. Maybe you can do your water first and paint the Hull at the waterline and go from there.

Just a thought.

Good Luck,
Mark

[drdoom1337]

I found my '44 Indianapolis resin kit and I have a big question. How do you fix a banana warp that keeps coming back? I baked this hull three times and screwed it down to a wood board but it's just banana'd again. This is frustrating.

That sounds bad!

If it stays straight with it screwed down on the board, then cut the board to size and build it up from the start as a diorama. Maybe you can do your water first and paint the Hull at the waterline and go from there.

Just a thought.

Good Luck,
Mark

Mark,

I gave this a shot, still no dice, the stern starts to pop up. I might just ebay the kit I'm not a huge fan of Indy to be honest, and I could probably pick up a Richelieu with the money.

[Bob Cicconi]

Here are two in-progress shots of the Itsukushima, and an initial photo of the Iron Shipwrights 1/700 Brooklyn (armored cruiser) that I'm also building for the group build. The Brooklyn will keep me busy for a while, as almost everything needs to be scratchbuilt, cast, or modified!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f79/b ... CF2562.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f79/b ... CF2561.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f79/b ... CF2559.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f79/b ... CF2599.jpg

[Quincy]

Lookin' good Bob!!


I think I'm going to go with either the Tsugaru or Okinoshima for my minelaying cruiser build.




Bob Pink.

[JTninja]

The Indy arrived at Christmas, PE soon after. Orders the warship pictorial for it, will arrive soon. Couldnt resist a mock up..

[Bob Dedmon]

Here is the latest update on my 1/700 Chicago January 1943













I used Lion Roar 1/700 40 MM quad mounts less the shield...they seemed to work ok though they were a bit of a pain to work with. I scratch built the axillary stacks for the funnels and had to modify the catapults to get them to fit. Water and tripods are next.

[JasonW]

Echemmmmm....when is Keith Bender going to jump into this pool and make us all step up our games?

He isn't allowed to play in the shallow end anymore!

PS - That is a nod to Keith's considerable talents, and not a knock on anyone's skill level

Hmph, if you guys are in the shallow end, then I must be in the kiddie pool where the water doesn't go over the 2 foot mark.

[taskforce48]

Here is the latest update on my 1/700 Chicago January 1943

Bob,
She sure is looking good! I thought some of these parts were small in 1/350, but in 1/700 I would be bald in no time.

The Indy arrived at Christmas, PE soon after. Orders the warship pictorial for it, will arrive soon. Couldnt resist a mock up..

JT,
Good kit, I started it many years ago with the Tom's PE but it was just too small for me. Hey who doesn't enjoy a good mock up to get them motivated?

I think I'm going to go with either the Tsugaru or Okinoshima for my minelaying cruiser build.

Bob P.
Either way should look good!

Here are two in-progress shots of the Itsukushima, and an initial photo of the Iron Shipwrights 1/700 Brooklyn (armored cruiser) that I'm also building for the group build. The Brooklyn will keep me busy for a while, as almost everything needs to be scratchbuilt, cast, or modified!

Bobby C.
Looking good as usual!

Mark McKinnis wrote:
drdoom1337 wrote:
I found my '44 Indianapolis resin kit and I have a big question. How do you fix a banana warp that keeps coming back? I baked this hull three times and screwed it down to a wood board but it's just banana'd again. This is frustrating.



That sounds bad!

If it stays straight with it screwed down on the board, then cut the board to size and build it up from the start as a diorama. Maybe you can do your water first and paint the Hull at the waterline and go from there.

Just a thought.

Good Luck,
Mark


Mark,

I gave this a shot, still no dice, the stern starts to pop up. I might just ebay the kit I'm not a huge fan of Indy to be honest, and I could probably pick up a Richelieu with the money.

DrDoom,
That sucks about the Indy, wish I would have caught that Ebay auction as that was a steal. Have you settled on a Cruiser yet?

Great start Matt!...Lookin' good

Dave

Thanks Dave, this is very encouraging words coming from you! I hold your builds to be very inspirational!

Ok now onto the update, Christmas kind of slowed me down a bit but I think I am back on track now.

I started the long process of filling portholes.

Very simple process but just tedious and time consuming

Some of the windows on the bridge were cast as solid resin

So I decided to try my luck at removing them

Luckily, they came out pretty easy except for the last one that I tried. That one came out easy too along with a piece of my finger

So here is what the assembly looks like now with the windows removed.

What do you suppose this is going to become?

I wasn't too happy with the white metal gun director that sits atop the fighting top, so I tried my hand at scratchbuilding a new one and voila!

Please disregard the "Glue Booger" stuck to the botom of the Mk.3, I didn't notice this until after the photos were taken but will come off easy

Here is the answer to the question earlier

The white metal fighting top was just being a nightmare to clean and it was solid so it didn't look right. So I put together a new one, it may not be perfect but I think it looks better than the kit piece.

So here is an overall shot of where I stand today. I did go and cut out her display base and secure her via a screw through the #1 barbette.

[Quincy]

Nice work Matt!!





Bob Pink.

[JTninja]

JT,
Good kit, I started it many years ago with the Tom's PE but it was just too small for me. Hey who doesn't enjoy a good mock up to get them motivated?

Yea, the PE is very small and the instructions are confusing at best The kit itself fits nearly perfectly, Ive been very happy with it so far. I recieved the Warship Pictorial for help, and by doing so, Im being forced against my will to correct the ship for a '44 build

Chicago looks great so far!

[Dave Hill]

Nice bit of scratch work on that gun director and fighting top Matt!...what did you use for the window frames?

Dave