Calling all Iowa-class (BB-61) fans

[chuck]

Port director base_MG_6138.jpg

Another trumpeter idiosyncrasy. Trumpeter featured molded watertight doors where the oval passage way are now Under the directors. Why trumpeter thought there should be a watertight door between two areas that are both open to elements is not clear.

[Navy2000]

Most likely they didn't understand the drawings that they were using.

Duane

[Fliger747]

Perhaps a bit of humor about the w/t doors, but actually such are in the design of the Fletcher class destroyers, the main deck breakwater abaft the bridge had a W/t door, and was open on both sides to the weather. A bit different situation however.

Yes, before they go through all that expensive tooling they should have had someone to QC the thing that knew something about the subject. However probably the operative philosophy was "No one will know the difference".

T

[mconnelley]

Hello:

I agree that a database would be useful. I'm not sure what the best format would be, since there's a lot of information that ought to be incorporated. There are a few dimensions to consider, such as which part of a given ship, year, and which ship. If a spreadsheet format is chosen, then it may be best to have a separate sheet for each ship.

Regardless of format issues, I would suggest using something that allows many people to edit a document and is broadly used, such as Google docs. It may also be possible to build a wiki into a forum such as this one. Either way, it shouldn't be not a "job" for one person, but rather many people who know different things can each add their knowledge.

Cheers
Mike

[chuck]

I think it is helpful to paste photos or at least link photos in the table of differences to show particular arrangements in different ships. Picture is often clearer than a thousand words.

If we use spreadsheet, I suggest the workbook be organized according to parts of the ship, the foredeck, the aft funnel, etc. within each sheet, arrangements on parts of the vessels in question might be arranged chronologically by ship. So for example, one column might show, with dates, how the bridge structure around the conning tower in the new jersey evolved, another showing that for Iowa.

[BB62vet]

Only throwing a bit of organizational hints here, nothing more:

Re. a Knowledgebase for IOWA Class battleships:

1) Use Excel - everyone is familiar with it, no surprises here. The spreadsheet can be divided into tabs for each category and so forth. Perhaps a page for each ship, categorized the same, etc.

2) Photo or photo links would be good. As Chuck said, a picture is worth a thousand words.

3) While I despise Wikipedia because of its very essence of being uncontrolled UNtruths everywhere, the general idea of multiple sources of information is, in itself, a very good resource in this instance. Some sort of monitor would be needed for verification - dates, photos, quotes, references, etc.

One might organize this such as hull & engineering, weapons & fire control, decks & equipment, electronics and radars, etc.

Just a thought...

[James M]

I decided to open up all the vents on superstructure of trumpeter's 200 missouri, and cover the opening with very fine wire mesh from a reusable metal coffee filter.

On either side of the aft stack of trumpeter's Missouri, there is a raised line tracing a square with semicircular top. It is smooth inside the square. I am guessing this is meant to represent a ventilator opening, but it lacks scribed grill used by trumpeter to represent other bulkhead vent openings. Can anyone verify there is a large square vent with semicircular top near the base on either side of the aft funnel on the missouri?

Here's a picture that shows the vent with the arched top


From Navsource:
http://navsource.org/archives/01/061/016177.jpg
Its a large picture and you can zoom in on it.

James

[Fliger747]

Another material that works well for vent screening is a fine gauzy ribbon such as found at Michale's or Jo-Annes which one can stiffen with a light dilute coat of paint and then cut to size. I like this better than the wire mesh as it lies flatter than the wire weave.

T

[chuck]

Thanks. The coffee maker is broken, so I have this fine mesh coffee filter available. It actually is extremely fine, fine enough to filter very finely ground coffee, and fine enough so you can't see the mesh without magnifying glass.

I used it on several projects. It's main virtue is if spray paint clogs up some of the fine holes, it is still stiff enough that you can use a cotton swab dipped in thinner to clean off the excess paint. Years of contact with hot water and ground coffee also darkened the copper so even if the paint wears off, it still doesn't show a copper color.

[Fliger747]

Sounds good! I brush mine with a thinned paint, though airbrush works. Clogging is an issue but before the paint dries I hit it with a compressed air stream. When I paint it I stretch it between two blocks. I have seen the coffee mesh, but all of mine are still in comission.

Cheers. Tom

[Cliffy B]

Request for anyone close to BB-63 or are planning on a trip soon.

Can someone walk through Officer's Country forward of the Wardroom and photograph EVERY stateroom door showing who lived there (plaque on door) and the location (bulls eye, plaque above door, etc...)? I took some of them when I was there years ago but I missed many. I'm trying to figure out who lived where and she's the only one of the class with any references left that I know of. Any idea if BB-61 or 62 have any of them labeled?

We have little to no info on BB-64 and I want to make educated guesses as to who lived up there. I know some were unassigned but some weren't. From comparing photos from BB-63 and plans from the 1950s that actually had a lot of the stateroom's labeled I can infer that they kept them almost the same.

Any other staterooms that you can find while roaming around will be of use as well.

Any and all help is appreciated as always,
-Mike

[Russ2146]

I'm guessing you mean the officer's billet to which a particular stateroom was assigned, such as XO, Eng. Off., Gunnery Off., etc.

[Fliger747]

Yes I remember those but didn't take any photos, I remember the ships navigator, and a few others, but couldn't spot them by memory with accuracy as I wasn't anything more than curious at the time. I wonder if you could contact them directly for an info share?

T

[Cliffy B]

Yes, that's what I mean Russ. Out of all of the paperwork we have on the ship there's nothing about that. We did find copies of the ship's phone book but only 8 are listed and only 3 of them are in Officer's Country. I'll see about contacting the sisters. Wanted to see if any of guys had any info or wanted an excuse to go back to a BB first

[BB62vet]

CliffyB - that would be a great trip!!! Doubt if the company will pay for it

As for NEW JERSEY - I did go up there quite a few times, but honestly, can't remember whether their names were on the stateroom doors, or not. I think contacting the ships directly might be your best bet. It would be quite a long list, given 1 ship/4 commissions, 1 ship/2 commissions, and 2 ships/3 commisssions.

Good luck with this!

Hank

[RandyM]

James... I really *REALLY* hope you are correct re: Missouri waterline ca 1945. Here is my hull with a seven-foot tall boot at the bow, tapering to three-feet at the stern.

[James M]

Photographs, Navy drawings and several experts tell me this is correct.
I started to pay a lot more attention to the details in photographs after I started my Iowa.
It's amazing how much I missed and had to go back and do over. It's been worth every minute of studying and modeling.

Your hull looks really good.
I like the colors. What did you use?

Can you find the time to come back to LA for a visit.
We need to go visit the Iowa and get the shaft info from them. They have Lee's shaft arrangement drawing.

James

[RandyM]

Good-enough for me!

Above the stripe are out-of-the-bottle Model Master 5h and 5n enamels. The boot is Tamiya NATO-black acrylic. Below the stripe is a super-secret mixture of MM Hull Red Schiffsbobenfarb, rust, and Italian Red enamels. It gets its semi-gloss from the Italian red, which will be toned down with overall clear-flat once everything is good to go.

You're SURE bout that waterline, right?

Forgot... I have the first proto 5-inch assembled and working, at least manually. A trip to LB is in order, I'll be in touch.

[BB62vet]

RandyM:

That really looks great!! I'm going along with James M on your waterline scheme - I simply cannot put my finger on where I've seen the waterline dimensions spelled out, but they match what you've done here.

Mine will be based on photos, plans, etc. from 67-69 where the waterline was a constant width from end to end.

Later,

Hank

[Fliger747]

Is either the top or bottom of the Boot Top parallel to the baseline?

Cheers: Tom