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

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Will look for one of those scrapers - not a bad idea at all.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank

I think the most useful one would be a gooseneck scraper, though there are also straight ones with both a concave and convex end.

Tom

[BB62vet]

Hard to find exactly what's really useful. I did order a set of Flexcut Profile Scrapers, of which a couple will be useful. We'll see...stay tuned!

A gooseneck scraper with the appropriate curved edge would be ideal, I would think.

[BB62vet]

I got started with the bow area modifications last night. I had a starter pack of various Plastistrut samples and taking the 8�x3 ��x 1/16� thk piece of styrene, I ripped it into 1/8� wide strips on my Jim Saw. Using Plastistrut Bondene Styrene & ABS Plastic Solvent Cement, I began gluing strips to either side of the bow from the flat keel downward, not covering the actual bottom of the hull since it does not need to be altered in depth. Unfortunately, this sample pack has only 1 sheet of each size of their pre-cut parts, so the next sheet (3/64� thk.) will be used for further additions once the strips of 1/16� thk. Have been used up. I check with the station template after each additional strip has been added to ensure that I�m not exceeding the max. width of the hull at that point. Before adding the next LAYER of strips, I will sand down the first layer to get rid of any debris that was left over from the ripping process.

This weekend I ordered 2 tubes of Squadron Products White Putty and that should be in this coming weekend. I wanted to stay with one color on this project and since some of the orig. green putty will be hidden by this modification, I am going to use the white from here on throughout the build.

I also sprayed the Pontos decking with Floquil Flat Spray Finish #130015 and have set it aside to dry. I may spray one further very light coat of finish tomorrow night and that will conclude the deck finishing and it will be ready for installation, as needed.

Lastly, my close-up lens came in, so this picture was taken with the Vivatar 2x close up lens in addition to the std. 55mm lens that came with the camera (Nikon D3200).

[Fliger747]

Certainly another way to accomplish this task! Looks to be a good way to have good thickness control. You could almost avoid the final finish sanding by thin plating! I always liked the floquil paints.

Is there a difference between the colors of putty other than the color?

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

I haven't found any difference between Squadron Product's Green or White Putty other than the color. Perhaps someone else reading this will chime in.

Hank

[Channell]

The green putty is slightly grittier and better for filling larger gaps while the white is easier to get very smooth surface. The difference is not all that big however, I usually just buy whatever the hobby shop has (they always seem to be out of one or the other) and use them interchangeably with good results.

Good luck on your bow work, Hank... excited to see how she turns out.

[BB62vet]

Jason - thanks for the reply! I knew somebody would chim in who actually knew the difference between the green & white putties.

I ran another row of slightly thinner strips last night. It's getting close to having the "bulb" filled out enough to where the remainder will be filled in with the putty. Hopefully, that will arrive Friday when I'm home.

[Fliger747]

Well geeze, the latest mod will have to be to look all the way through the stack!

T

[BB62vet]

Tom F. wrote:

Well geeze, the latest mod will have to be to look all the way through the stack!

WHAT?

[Fliger747]

With regards to the vents behind the awarthships MK 37 director bases. Chuck was right, you can see all the way through the ship! I am a bit surprised those were left open currently on several of the ships as it works against dehumidification of the interior.

The ships were always vulnerable to a relatively minor fire and smoke being sucked into the intakes and disabling the boiler room personnel. Aboard Franklin the greatest casualties were amongst the black gang due to exactly this factor.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

OK, you're replying to the X Bracing/Director Foundation etc. that's being discussed on CASF/IOWA Class.

At least, I won't have to worry about the X-Bracing - I'm going to probably use the kit plastic with a solid bulkhead in place of the X-Brace. In the 67-69 period, NJ also had a lip on the after bulkhead of each side that delineated the lower from upper decks. The kit shows those large ports as portholes when they were actually round air vents. Time to clean those details up and possibly use some cross-hatch PE to fill in.

Hank

and yes, the FRANKLIN had horrible losses in her Black Gang even some tapping when they got to the west coast. What a loss of life.

[Fliger747]

I originally had the X bracing in there, the result of an inaccurate drawing, or one too generic to the ships. It wasn't till late that I had visited the ship and taken many photos that a correction was made to that area. Yesterday in the paint etc section of an old fashioned and extensive hardware store I saw a largish can of an epoxy filler, without opening it the appearance was of the micro-baloons so beloved by the RC Airplane folks for a lightweight and sandable filler. It is what I used for my bow modifications, and was super easy to sand. However I did cover it with a super thin fiberglass, also a RC product. Not sure that such would be easy to blend with the rest of the plastic hull.

There is no one right way to do these things, which is part of the challenge. Looking fwd to see how yours comes out, especially the removal part.

Regards: Tom

[BB62vet]

Both the kit plastic and the Pontos PE are basically the same - dual oval openings on the lower with the X bracing above. What I'm planning on doing will be to cut out a piece of PE brass from the sheet and after sizing it, cryo it to the outside of the X brace thus covering it. In 67-69 a life raft pack was located over the upper side of that area and I'll do likewise on the model.

Yea, hard to see. I'll also need to scratchmake the angled bulkhead braces that were added just before and after the dual oval openings.

[Fliger747]

Hank

Will send you a photo or two of those close up. Pretty simple except there is a flat piece on top at right angle to the web part making a rim. As my superstructure is not yet permanently attached I have probably knocked them off a dozen times.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Last night began work on laying the wood decking and getting the lower conning tower ready for locating. Also, as you can see, the nav bridge is beginning to take shape.

Comm. tube inside the F.C. Director base has been rebuilt and passageway opened on fwd. bulkhead.

When I get back Sunday evening I will continue with getting this level complete and will post the results. As I have been told, the Pontos decking is, while a bit fragile, not all that hard to work with - you just need to take patience, make sure of your starting point and pre-fit once the piece is cut from the sheet before removing the backing. The adhesive on the decking seems to be sufficient to hold in place very well. I am going to look for a small plastic burnisher; last night I used a short piece of brass rod to tap down corners, etc.

B-r-r-r! it's cold this morning!!!!

[Mgunns]

Hello Hank:

Good progress on the bridge area. Glad to see that decking is working for you. Looking good.

[Fliger747]

Looking nice Hank! I presume the "door" is also just an oval opening on the aft end. Though it could have been modified the one on BB63 does not appear to have ever been modified from a door to the present rimmed oval. Satisfying to see the decks come together. I hope that you can find some era suitable photos to find detail to add to each level as you go along.

Back home now and able to make some progress soon on "Moe".

Keep up the great work! Tom

[BB62vet]

Mark,

Thanks for the nice comment!

Tom,

I can substantiate the fwd door openings on the 05 level, but only somewhat the after openings. Yes, they are only an oval opening with a steel rim around the opening, nothing more. I may have to fall back on the 1945 NavSource photos in PSNSYD to verify the openings vs doors. Trumpeter did not get this right.

Hope everything on the home front is normal - makes for a long weekend when things are askew!!!

Hank

[chuck]

There are a couple other passage ways trumpeter got wrong.

1. The oval fore-aft passage ways through the base of the beam mk-37 on the flag bridge level appear to have never had water tight doors on them. Trumpeter added a set of water tight doors to close them off.

2. Trumpeter added another set of fore-aft water tight doors on the base of beam mk37 directors one level up. This has to be wrong because the forward door would open onto nothing. Anyone opening that door to step out would fall 1 deck straight down.

3. There is structural brace between the forefunnel and the signal flag locker with a oval passage through it. Here is a picture of it on the Iowa:


Navsource picture of Missouri shows she had it too. So I think it likely all 4 ships had it. Trumpeter completely missed both the brace and the passage way.

4. At the rear of the superstructure, just below the base of the aft mk38 director tower, there are two rectangular passage ways athwart ships, one just ahead of the base of the mk38 director tower, one just behind. Trumpeter also closed them off with watertight doors for some reason. navsource photos show they were open.

Also, various overhanging bridge wings, 40mm tubs, and 20mm platforms all had supporting stanchions under them. Trumpeter missed most of these.