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

[BB62vet]

Mike,

Thanks for the nice comment! By all means, when you get ready to start, ask the forum as we've mentioned regarding reference materials - I'm sure you'll get plenty of positive feedback.

Hank

[BB62vet]

What to do with the Huge Box the model came in???

Well, how about making it into an airbrush spray booth -

The top is glued to the bottom and I will cut the front side of the bottom to make a wider lower opening. This now provides a place to do spraying and gets it out of the way. The cardboard separator makes a neat shelf for placing small parts for spraying. It is glued/taped into place. I may add a couple cardboard side pieces in order to contain any wild spray on either side of the booth.

And all for a lot less (zero $$) than buying a commercial one!!!

Still working on the upper conning tower - hope to have pix later this week, perhaps.

Hank

[Channell]

I was gonna keep my box to use as a coffin when I die... my family will appreciate the savings on funeral costs.

[BB62vet]

Jason wrote:

I was gonna keep my box to use as a coffin when I die... my family will appreciate the savings on funeral costs.

You still can - only mine MIGHT go up faster due to the paint infused within - a real Vallhalla of a funeral pyre
As Eric the Red may have said - GOT MATCH?

[Fliger747]

Hank!

Quite clever and a good useage of available resources. Looking forward to updates.

Regards. Tom

[BB62vet]

Update � 03/28/14

Well, Murphy�s Law bit me on the ass big-time Wednesday night. Somehow I managed to topple the superstructure & foremast from the model to the floor and the damage to the foremast is almost non-repairable. The superstructure only had a minor injury overall and that�s been repaired. It will require some touchup painting, but that was going to take place anyway a couple nights from now.

Bottom line, I�ve started to build a NEW Foremast. Rather than repair the existing one, I�ve decided to go from scratch once again. Only, this time the platforms will be made from brass bar, rod, and PE, rather than solid styrene, and will incorporate PE grating which is closer to the actual masts than my solid styrene plastic ones were.

So, I�ve already soldered together the framework of the lowest platform and have sized and cut the upper and lower masts from brass tube. These will be drilled for the various support legs rather than depend on cryo to hold everything together.

Since I may not have PE grating that is large enough, I may have to make the platforms out of various pieces cut to size. Since there is grating available for the WWII inflatable raft baskets which won�t be used on the model, I will have enough to complete the 3 platforms I need. I hope to be able to salvage the various radars on the damaged mast rather than making all of those again.

Today�s photos show the 1st platform frame w/the lower and upper masts in place. It looks nasty now, but when painted I think will be better the 2nd time around. I�ve also taken time to ensure that the support legs are as close as possible to the actual mast � something many photos I have for reference are still hard to decipher since very few photos are close ups from different angles of the mast. One most helpful is actually one I took in 1969 looking up at the mast from the port 03 level. This photo shows the various platfoms on the mast and their grating, as well as positions of the yardarm and it�s components.

I should have a new order of 1/32" sq. brass rod by next weekend, so I'll work on the lowest platform this week and getting the masts prepared when I am able to complete the other 2 platforms.

Hank

[Fliger747]

The platform looks especially nice! On mine I used a fabric ribbon net which I stiffened with paint that looks pretty convincingly see through. Sorry to hear about your mishap, but as often happens the second version is better!

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Thanks, Tom for the support. I think the floater net grating will work. The difficult part is that there is an opening next to the mast pole thru the platform, but even my photo from below doesn't show this clearly, so I'm going to have to review other mast platforms if I can find them and see what's the common practice - I think it's a circular opening.

Hank

[Fliger747]

I'll have a look as well, but also pretty sure they are circular openings.

Cheers. Tom

[Fliger747]

Hank: A picture posted on Kelly's thread looking down from the fwd director shows the typical stuff that might be found at the primary or secondary conn, compass repeater, shaft RPM indicators, a radar hood etc. The question is was all that equipment still located on that platform at a later date? Possibly more stuff to add!

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

The 08 Level Conn does have navigational equipment mounted on the inside of the fwd. bulkhead - it would probably mimic the equipment found on the inside of the 03 Level Nav. bridge fwd of the armored conning station. I don't know that we actually had a radar hood up there but will see if I can find a clear photo of that conning station to confirm. It probably did not change much from the photos posted on this forum of the IOWA as a museum ship (location??). I know there is a photo in our cruise book that shows Capt. Penniston conning the ship from there on our last cruise up to Bremerton for decomm. but I don't think it is a detailed photo.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank, the photo in question was taken from the 011 level, probably from the M38 director. Referred to as the fwd air defense station. Wonder if that equipment was still there in the late 80's? If so something additional to build!

Cheers. Tom

[Fliger747]

Hank

Cliffy B posted a great photo of the bow numbers on the CASF thread which incidentally shows the padeyes to great effect.

Regards. Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

I was thinking you were talking about the 05/08 level conning stations. The 011 level Air Defense Station, as I recall, was fairly clear of any nav. equipment. I'll consult some of the overhead shots of NJ taken when she transited the Panama Canal in 1968. They aren't real clear, but I may get lucky! I'll look on my plans tonight to see what the 67-69 General Plan calls this platform.

Hank

[Fliger747]

I have not a clue what this platform is called today! Alaska had a similar use for this level with sky lookouts. I would expect that there might be little up there today. Did Pontos make any of the rather complex sky lookout stations for their set?

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Well, I forgot to look at the description of the 011 Level platform last night. No, Pontos did not make anything for this level other than the usual handrails for the Main Battery FC base, etc.

I'll make a not to check this out this evening.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank:

Saw a great photo at night (In Stillwell's "Battleships" book) of NJ in drydock with that huge boot topping, never seen one that big! On the cover is NJ steaming along off Viet Nam and strangely the lifelines are haze gray and not black! Her barrels in front of the bucklers did appear somewhat brassy with the honey coating of cosmolene. Wonder if that was a duty of the gunners mates or the bosun's mates?

Have to appreciate this forum as so many unusual points come to light!

Regards: Tom

[Cliffy B]

Gunner's mates greased the barrels. From talking to BB-61's Weapons Officer ('86-'88) he said his guys used to "paint" intricate scalloped designs on the greased portions that looked like they belonged in a fancy mansion

Take a look at photos BB-64 today, she still has her original boot topping. BB-63 is a good example of the "painted out" boot topping. The top of the boot is supposed to be at the 37' mark (fully loaded). BB-63 has hers painted down to about the 24' mark (light ship).

[BB62vet]

Cliffy B is correct on both counts - GM's are responsible for all maintenance of the weapons and this would include greasing the barrels!!!

Tom, you are correct on the haze gray stanchions - but, with black steel wire for the lifelines, etc. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a LOT of fancywork was done by the bos'n mates to cover pipes, stanchions, vents, etc. with small stuff and generally painted white. This adorns all sorts of companionways, ladders, railings, etc. All was removed at decomm.

My copy of Friedman's Naval Radars arrived today - Zilch!!! Nada!!! Nothing on IOWA class radar other than the usual WWII stuff we all are familiar with. Absolutley NO mention of NJ and her unique 1967-69 radar/radio/ECM suite. I'm NOT a happy camper

Hank

[Fliger747]

Too bad about the radar data. The photo of B62 I was looking at was on the cover of Stiilwell's Battleships by Metrobooks. Nice photo but the lifelines are gray which seems pretty strange, wonder if the photo is wholly origina. The stanchions are of course haze gray. On BB63 the lines are black, with the top line much heavier than the lower two. Of course the museum ship has netting all over to help childproof the area.

Too bad all the fancy work was removed, it did have the useful application of improving grip on inclined ladders etc.

Cheers. Tom