1:200 USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 68-69 (Trumpeter MISSOURI kit)

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Thanks, I have Sumrall and I believe I have that page tagged.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Makes one wish for the original photos where you could really pick out the detail. I wonder what sources the draftsmen who did some of the commercially available drawings use for resources. ABC , A. Raven etc.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Well, as of last night I finally have the Foremast/Radars complete. I have the wave guides fashioned but are at this point, not included since they will be installed once the mast is in place. Paint touch up and "fine tuning" the handrails will come later.

Foremast looking from port aft

Foremast looking from stbd aft

This entire unit was created from styrene sheet, brass rods, PE from both the kit and Pontos, and 3 weeks worth of tedious work! Additional supports and possibly elec. cabling will be added upon installation. I've begun to work on the modifications to the conning tower (seen below the mast) that will alter the upper part for inclusion of the ECM antennas, etc. and equipment houses on either side of the conning tower.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Well Hank, can see what has been keeping you off the streets at night! Off to some great scratch building. When painting the radar screens the small paint globs that can clog the mesh can be eliminated by blowing air through them before the paint dries. The whole effect has come out very nicely.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom - thanks for the comments and advice - should have thought of that last night!!! Oh well, a pin point will do the trick.

Hank

[BB62vet]

Well, the mainmast & radio antenna are under construction.

The radio antenna on the right side of the mast leg may need a bit more trimming, but until the rest of the superstructure is in place, this is about as far as I can go with it now.

On to the modifications to the upper conning tower for the ECM houses & antenna.

[Channell]

Looking good so far... looks like this is a top-down build which is nice, shaking it up for us and all! Now to hang the antennas from the ceiling and start adding stuff to the bottoms?

You're a brave man to mod her into the New Jersey... I thought the online modeling comunity would be all over this kit and taking it all sorts of interesting places but near as I can tell, only a handful of us are working on one and posting about it. I wonder how many kits have been sold... I'm sure it's a fairly big number!

Keep up the good work!

[Fliger747]

Looks quite nice Hank, will be happy to see what these look like installed on the ship when you get that far. All brass? My soldering skills are not good enough to do some of the mast work where multiple pieces come together so I did some of the cross bracing with styrene.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Jason,

Thanks for the comments!! Yea, hanging them somewhere to keep me from breaking them!!! One X-mas in 76, 3 of us hung an X-mas tree for the holidays from an apt. ceiling - really cool we got all kinds of comments on it - decorated and all!!!

I'm wondering the same thing - how many members have bought the kit, how many are posting their build, etc. I am posting on MSW, as well, and I don't know of any other modelers on that forum that have bit the bullet.

Tom,

Thanks, too!! Yes for the majority of the mast, it's brass soldered. The smaller parts are brass cryo glued together. I made a plywood jig in order to hold the legs/braces in place; then soldered w/brazing torch.

Hank

[youngtiger1]

Wow, nice work on the mast Hank. I bet the brass parts from Pontos set must have made your mast nice and strong. Btw, is it black on the real ship or are you going to paint over it to create shadow effect?

Btw, I'm going to have and look at Floating Dock for plans to build it into Gulf War Missouri. I'm hoping Pontos will come out with a conversion as they dud in 1/350. I can hope I'm very interested in your build because it becoming very informative for me. I'm no ship expert, so you keep on doing what you are doing. it's gooood

Mike

[youngtiger1]

Btw, since you are working on Big Mo...can you tell how many figures are included in the kit? Also, out of the books you mention earlier in your thread...which one is the best for modeling purposes? TIA.

Mike

[BB62vet]

M-I-K-E, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.....I just love that camel ad

Actually, the entire mast & antenna structures are flat black from the bottom of the stack caps up. So, they are painted now how they will look when finished. Pontos PE parts did not figure in this construction - the MISSOURI kit is WWII era and my build of NEW JERSEY is mid-60's - the only part I used from the Pontos Detail Set was the lower mast pole - everything else was scratchbuilt.

This kit contains NO figures. I believe that is a separate set offered by Trumpeter as a WWII Treaty Signature set in 1:200.

I'm not sure how to answer your question re. reference books - If you are just beginning in plastic ship models, you might want to post this question on the General Forum for others to respond. My build is rather specific and the reference materials I'm using are basically on hand for that singular purpose.

Hope this helps,

Hank

[BB62vet]

Last night's construction was on the modification to the upper conning tower. The ECM equipment houses were begun after altering the 011 Level Platform.

Hank

[Kelly Quirk]

Top notch work Hank! I'm really going to enjoy watching your project come together.

[BB62vet]

Kelly,

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're following my project - I'm on board w/yours, as well. Comparing notes, as it were - certainly helps on one of these models.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Looks good Hank, very clean. Had my square wire show up, thanks a lot for turning me on to that! These projects, even if somewhat different do cross pollinate, adding to the general research and knowledge for building.

Interesting how you built up a base under the shell plating!

Regards: Tom

[BB62vet]

Last night saw further results on the upper conning tower modifications for the ECM equipment rooms and external ducts, etc. The following photos, while rough in nature, show the additions:

Port side with ECM Rooms & duct

Stbd side with ECM Rooms & duct

Tonight I will assemble the modified stbd steam whistle platform & horn (using the Pontos PE parts). This platform will be shortened and lowered as modified in 1967-68. Also, I hope to get the FC rangefinder base modified with the SATcom antenna addition (scratchbuilt) and all PE parts. I have found that working topside down is more logical so you have less chance to forget to add something that should have been put in place first. This also applies to adding back various pipes & conduits that were modified from the kit supplied conning tower. Once again, the mast and RF base are only in place temorarily.

You don't realize how much time it takes to make all the alterations to the kit parts in addition to creating other parts from scratch until you start working on this stuff. My next set of photos should look a lot more "presentable" once railings, paint, and so forth are applied.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Great progress Hank!

Working from photos is interesting, something new and unexpected always showing up. Indeed a little job can take a long time, first you have to figure out the size and shape of what it is you want to add, then go through possible materials to figure out how to build it, then comes the minor task of actually building it! With all that in mind your progress is very good. I agree that the top down is a good system, except one must appreciate that the square inchage of required detail increases geometrically as you progress downward.

Keep up the great work! Tom

[BB62vet]

Thanks Tom!

Yea, it's a different way of doing it, but once this main sub-assembly is complete I will begin on the hull in earnest.

Hank

[youngtiger1]

Hank, great progress. The new tower is looking nice and thank you for the info. Although, I have yet to build a ship but I believe I can build it good. As for the reference, as you mention I'll post in general discussion and see what others will say. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Mike