A 1:700 scale 1944 Mare Island Navy Yard

[JIM BAUMANN]

EXCELLENT colouring and feel!

I look fwd to seeing it and meeting you both at Telford!



Jim Baumann

[Cadman]

looking forward to this!

[uaw233]

I'm totally speechless ...!
This is indeed a super model. Just class.

Tschau Olaf

[j.mahieux]

Hi uaw233
I look to your Minesweepers and your York, What�s a beautiful work!!!!
Thank you for your comment! My English is so bad yours!!!
One more time for Tim . . .



Jean

[j.mahieux]

Hello All!

Back after a long intermission it�s time to revive this thread on Mare Island.
Among our new items is an improved version of the Delta King one of the ferries which were used to bring workers to the Yard, including female workers, the so-called �Rosie the riveters�.

As for the real ships this kit�s design has been a challenging task, mainly due to the lack of good documentation. Both Delta King and her sister Delta Queen have been designed and built in Scotland, then disassembled and shipped to Stockton, California, where both have been re-assembled, launched and commissioned in 1927 (See page 12 of this thread for the historical background).
When commissioned, both ships were twins but after different refits and use they soon began to distinct each other.

When designing the Delta King kit I felt very inspired by the original wooden structure, as you may see on these pictures:









On the original ship, bulkheads were made of wood but each deck was a planked steel platform.



Also a third ship of the same kind was acquired by the Navy, the �Port of Stockton�. Unfortunately I found only partial views of her in the NavSource archives. She�s very close to the Delta�s except she had an additional roof on the aft deck.



The main challenge with this build was the numerous decks stacked one over the other with a deep pronounced sheer. Our first build was designed the same way as a plastic kit: beheads with a deck above, then bulkheads with another deck above and so on.
A modified built (not published!) was a complete failure which highlighted this design defects. Successive stacking and miss-aligned parts added error to error to give a poor result.

With this third design I choose to start with the whole side bulkheads in one single part for the three levels. Surrounding outer and inner decks just fit into the sides with small tabs and slots. This allows each deck to be correctly positioned and the sheer fully restituted.



In another thread ( viewtopic.php?f=59&t=83034 )
, Bruno showed you his build of this Delta King, with lovely wooden deck stickers added. This wasn�t planned originally and Bruno did have fun with this small improvement. In my build, I tried to keep the original concept of full PE, which implies some differences.









The ship�s heavy rigging, despite being somewhat oversized is correct in showing the tensioning devices. Maybe a new design with thinner parts will look more accurate in a �build 4.00� version (errr� maybe Bruno will go mad about this)

References used:
� KING & QUEEN of the River � by Stan GARVEY (1995)
Nav.source
http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/3406.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/3407.htm
Archives
http://www.cincinnativiews.net/steam_boats.htm
For � Port of Stockton � : http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/3402.htm

To be continued

Jean

[NCMac]

Bruno & Jean,

I don't even know what to say... This is the most spectacular diorama I've ever seen. Both the technical skills to create the models and the artistic skills to build them just defy any words I can offer.

Your continued refinement of already unbelievably good models further defies words.

Spectacular, I just can't think of any other word.

Mac

[j.mahieux]

"Look man, it's getting boring to run across this huge Yard !
"Dude, I'm riding faster than you with my bicycle"





A big thank to Paul Ragghianti, who supplied us with pictures of this
strange vehicle... :

Ooops! Sorry the strange vehicule has a copyright!!

This was used to carry workers throughout the Yard.
Another big thank to l'Arsenal for their "Austin", which has been
somewhat... adapted... to its new use.



and for the scale



� suivre . . .

[JIM BAUMANN]

most excellent-- I am REALLY looking forwadr to seeing this at Telford this year!!!



Jim Baumann

[Sr. Gopher]

It gets better and better every time I see this!

[j.mahieux]

Hello All
Here is two newcomers in the ponds of Mare Island, APL or "BARRACK barge", goes out of hotel floating reserved for the unfortunates of duty during the duration of the works on their ships (on a shipyard).





Some of these barges met in the other end of the Pacific from 1944. Some will still be in service during the Vietnam War, with a flat form for helicopter (flat shape is already engraved, it will come on another post).
The barge in the background (in progres) is paint in " measure 31 / 16L ", tropical camouflage for her exclusive usage.
On these barges, I wanted to make out a will for the first time in photo etched " the effect can ", that is the deformation of sheet steels under the pressure of the water, creating the armature under jacente visible. On a plastic model, it asks for a long work of sander with an unpredictable result and dangeurous for the kit. On PE parts it is enough to rub the outside of the hull with a round and smooth object to highlight the armature engraved on the internal face. Now Bruno mastery perfectly the engraving and I can draw the most delirious objects, the engraving is impeccable!







A small cruise?





� suivre

Bruno et Jean

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow....way cool.

[Devin]

Impressive as always. The method of creating the "tin-canning" effect is quite ingenious.

[Dan K]

Simply outstanding work, as always

[j.mahieux]

Hello to all, thank you for your nice messages. It is always encouraging of credit note of such messages, especially on a job of (very ) long breath as that.
� suivre . . .
Jean and Bruno

[j.mahieux]

Hello All!

Back on page 13 of this post we presented you with our first try for an ARD
(Auxiliary Repair Drydock)
After an long stop our project comes back with a lot of improvements.



We again encountered some documentation issues to get something accurate.
They were two types of ARD.
ARD-5 to 11 were 482feet long and 71wide.
ARD-12 to 32 were 492x81feet
Both are very close in shape and only slightly differ in size, but the
larger ones had a greater overall capacity.
On ARD-5 to 11 the dock was longer and fore superstructure placed further
forward.



We found plans for ARD-12 to 32 by the Floating Drydock but, being a copy of
the original blueprint which was somewhat faint and deformed, this has been
a delicate task to work with them.
Picture coverage on NavSource was good with numerous quality shots which
helped also.

Some years ago, Corsair Armada issued a good kit of this ARD (larger type)
but without photo etched detail set.

So was our challenge: to completely re-design this ARD. First I (Jean)
re-did the entire design from the plan and pictures to draw photo etched
sheets to produce a PE + wood master hull.
However, after some trials, Bruno asked for another way, this one being not
satisfactory.
Bruno will explain below the building method he finally used to build a PE +
construction board master.
Somes pictures . . . (in progress)











I'm not a naval building expert but those ship looked somewhat fragile to
me. Handling them would have been a challenging task.
Crossing the Pacific with those empty docks would have been everything but a
pleasure, for sure.

To be continued...

Jean and Bruno

[bgire]

Hello Folks!

Here is the making of the master for our ARD

Jean supplied me with is design films for three etched sheets full of parts to build the master structure (decks and frames).
My task was to etch the parts, build a master, make a silicon mold and cast copies for both of us.

This time our master is made of a .2mm thick photo etched structure (decks and frames) of which the voids are to be filled with small blocks cut from construction board. This has been my favorite method since 2004.
The whole hull is then covered with etched walls (outer hull and the dock inside).

For the first time I wanted to have a hull as accurate and straight as possible, so I decided to have the filling blocks machined with a computer aided milling machine (i have one in my classroom)

Starting with Jean�s drawing files, I extracted the correct shape for each block, including thickness.



The file is converted into another format suitable for the machine and opened into it�s dedicated software. Here the grid zone shows the construction board small plank in which the parts will be machined.



Now surfaced area (in red outlines) are placed to fix the various thicknesses to be machined.



The CAD step is over. Now I�ll define the type of tools (cutter) to be used, and the tools cutting trajectories





This is an example for surfacing. I select a 3.17mm dia cutter in the �virtual� magazine and the soft automatically select the proper motion and cutting speeds according to the material.



Now I select the cutting depth. Here, this is a surfacing process: the cutter will move along a �squared spiral� from the center of the given area.



The software now compute trajectory, cutting speed and cutting depth



Done! The screen displays the tool�s projected trajectory (in green)



Same again with the other surfaced areas, then each part outlines



When done I start a simulation check to make sure my project is OK.
The software now computes the overall timing which is about 10 minutes.



Simulation complete: everything is OK.



Now it�s time to proceed with the real thing.
The construction board small plank is secured with double face tape on the machine board.





Starting to cut. First the tip of the tool slides to contact a sensor which tells the exact position (down to .001mm). This is called the origin point.





End of the surfacing step. The machine stops to allow a change of tool (I�ll do the part outlines with a 2mm dia. cutter)



Outlining each part



And DONE after 10mn.





A dry fit on the PE structure to check for accuracy



Here is a small movie to show that machining a more lively way:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/b ... verted.mp4

Assembling the master.
Here�s a dry fitted bow



With its filling



I go backward from the bow. Each filling block is put in place, then secured with super fluid super glue.







The hull is complete. Now come traditional sanding, putty, sanding, putty again, another sanding and polishing.
A reminder about this method: as construction board is softer than the metal frames I go with a �blind� wet sanding until I hear the typical �rattle� noise which tells me I�m home.
I get a dimensionally extremely accurate hull shape quickly and without any check or measurement� just watch for the noise.



Now it�s the turn of the outer PE cover.
After etching the hull and dock sides I�ll have to do some preliminary work.
�Mad� Jean designed a very realistic �canning� effect on the hull (the hull plates bent inward by high sea): he did a relief full standard 3ft framing on the back side of the hull plating.
My job is to get embossed shape from the front side, exactly the same way the water would do.



For my etching alloy, I use nickel-copper (the so called �stainless�) which is stiffer and more elastic than brass. This is a good point for very tiny parts, but not suitable for embossing.
This alloy must be annealed, that is: warmed red hot and allowed to cool very slowly to get a mild alloy.
Warming is done with a mini gas torch.





Doing the canning. I used a traditional guilder burnishing tool for that very easy and amusing task.



Fitting the dock sides











Finishing





Bitts are overlong as these are master parts which will mold a positioning hole in the silicon.
Cast hull bitts will be treated as brass inserts.

A Mr Surfacer spray to check for defect and fill the small voids between parts and it�s done.








Doing the mold in silicon (I call this pink silicon� silicon carne)
Note the construction board stick, which has three functions:
- Save some silicon (I used 200grs)
- Makes the whole mold straight and more rigid... and a straight hull
- Prevent the silicon mold shrinkage (about 2%) which would make an undersized casting









The master and first casting



Now it�s Jean�s turn to add the two sheets of PE details he designed and I etched for him.

_Bruno

[MichelB]

Wooooooooooow

[Sylvain Auger]

This dio is beyond amazing!!! It's always a pleasure seeing what you can do with PE!

Cheers

Sylvain

[EJFoeth]

I was beginning to worry there was an easy way to make masters

[Sr. Gopher]

This project still gets better and better!