Academy 1/350 USS Indianapolis w/ Pontos set

[RichardP]

Straight forward out of the box build except with most of the detail removed and rebuilt from scratch when the Pontos set doesn't cover it. So, not really.
To me it's OOB in as much as I'm not really looking to add what is missing or make corrections, even though there will be large reworks (and I know that as I am 2 months in to this), I'm accepting the kit shapes as is. I'm hoping this will really speed up build time as I can use the kit as a template for changes. I'm also dropping my mantra of trying new stuff on every build.

So far....

Forward Superstructure

Main deckhouse

The portholes looked too low so have been moved. I've started lining portholes with brass tube throughout to get good circles and sharp edges, which made this easier (as you can see by the filler right underneath, that would have been trickier if it were just a new hole). Because of the way the molds were designed (90Deg to the centerline), the detail on the sloping forward faces stands proud at an odd angle so has been replaced. Ladder rungs have been added using copper wire. Doors are from the generic Flyhawk USN II set.

Splinter shields have been replaced by paper, topped with a paper lip and with paper supports. If you look at the base of these you can see the difference in width to the original molding as defined by the grey filler area (Mr Surfacer 500) between the shield an the stainless PE deck overlay supplied by Pontos.

The 40mm platform has been replaced by this styrene sheet and given support gussets. Molded surface mounted pipework has been replaced with brass wire and fixed with copper wire 'brackets'. The brass is still loose at this point so that I can set the exact height once the wood deck(Pontos) has been attached. The black spots underneath are holes drilled through so that when I epoxied the PE deck overlay the glue had somewhere to run.

Pilot (??) House

Complete new decks made from 5thou brass sheet using the kit part as a stencil. Brass is about 30thou thinner than kit parts so housing blocks have been shimmed with 30thou styrene. Result: doors look much less 'jammed in' and deck spaces feel much 'safer' with added top rail height. Still in progress.

Rungs added to main mast legs.

Dry fits shots:

Hanger Area

This structure is pretty much finished before painting; additional detail will be added after that.

[RichardP]

Hanger Area (cont)

This is the replacement brass for the overhanging portion of the upper 5" deck copied from the kit part. The stainless is another deck overlay from Pontos; attached with epoxy this makes positioning so much easier.

This is the remainder of the original kit part and the bulwark part that fits underneath. The overhanging areas have been completely removed and the area to be covered by the new brass deck has been cut off and lowered by the thickness of the brass (and SS overlay). The central protruding part has been reworked as it had a nasty for-aft taper which seemed unnatural so I squared it.

Lots of stiffeners added to ensure the split deck is flat...

Since the 40mm tubs were part of the kit deck I've had to start from scratch. They are fixed to the kit support housings (again shimmed); the housings had a nasty taper again (to make them easier to get out of the molds I assume) so the walls have been made square. The doors were not on the kit so they are artistic license.

Aft Deck House area

Early days on the lower 5" gun deck.

I tried drilling the widows on the fire control center but it was easier to rebuild.

Just like the 40mm tubs the fire control base had to be redone.

[RichardP]

Aft Deck House area (cont)

Again, this is as far as I can go without paint.

Dry fit:

Bow

I tried drilling the hawse hole through using the kit positioning but that did not work. Turns out the location on the hull side was wrong so a new lip was made and know it works. Might need some more attention when I try an anchor in there.
There's a nasty dimple near the waterline which has been filled/sanded - you can't tell but I've sanded to stem area a bit to sharpen it up.

And now we are here:

The Pontos set also includes two armor plated for the hull side which are finely detailed but I'm not sure how I'm going to restore the overlaying pipe work yet.


-------------------------------


I'm also working on a seascape on the side.

Nowhere near finished yet, I periodically add a feature and let it dry and re-evaluate before continuing.

[Dan K]

Beautiful work, particularly for OOB

[ModelMonkey]

Brilliant!

[gborman]

Outstanding work sir! I'm currently working on the Academy/Pontos combination as well. I really like the paper approach to the splinter shields. If you don' t mind sharing/educating a less experienced modeler, I have couple of questions....

- Based on your experience, how well does the paper accept painting? My initial though is a potential for "fuzzing" or lost of shape when wet.

- The brass work is excellent! What is the method you use to cut the sheet/shapes so cleanly? (No curling at all!)

Thanks! and v/r,

[RichardP]

The paper gets soaked in CA glue during the assembly so it sets hard and is easily painted. I have a number of set squares and blocks that I can use to set paper strips upright against a deck edge, around a curve etc. Once the deck and paper are in place it's easy to apply CA at the join and let the CA soak in to the paper. Once the two are bonded I just brush more CA wherever there is 'raw' paper and let it seep in ) - do both sides. The only downside (compared to styrene or brass) is that the finish will be slightly rough so it will need finishing; I brush on Mr Surfacer 500 and gently sand using 600 or 1000 grit. That's why the paper has grey splodges in the photos. As an upside, it's really easy to get precise curves this way and the paper has no springiness and once soaked in CA holds it's shape well; just don't force it around corners.

The lip around the top of the rails is really easy, just place the assembly upside down on paper and clue around the edge, make sure the area along the top of the rail is soaked. Trim off most of the waste with a really sharp blade and finish by gentle sanding until the lip is the width you want.

With regard to the brass cutting, I have tried metal snips and it is utterly unworkable so I now use a metal grinding wheel in a mini drill:

It's crude, it's loud, it's messy but you can quickly cut through the sheet and the gently grind away the brass with only minimal warping - holding the sheet between two flat pieces of wood so only a small area to be cut is free helps. It's also quit precise - I can get to about .010" from the final shape before finishing with needle files (fine-ish cut) and wet'n'dry. I've found that when I have the finished shape some vigorous polishing of each flat side with fine grit paper to deburr also helps flatten any irregularities.

PS I have had a lot of practice at this

[gborman]

Sir, Thank you and Wow! Your are very generous with you time and explanation. I'm tracking with you on how you're doing the 'paper work'. In my mind, I was going down the path of a modified 'doping' technique used with model airplanes. i.e. Using tissue and finger nail polish remover to tighten. (Showing my age here - making balsa wood planes when I was a kid.)

Like you, had no good results with tin snips, nibblers, etc. when it comes to metals. I'm following your 'sandwich' technique - I'll have to play with this for bit, see what I'm able to do.

Again, Thanks! and looking forward to following this thread, especially when you get to some of the more intricate assemblies.

To you and others on this forum, I'm extremely impressed by the level of detail that is instilled in subjects and I attempt to recreate on my own. As an extreme example, I've 'kit bashed' three different suppliers of individual 40 mm quad kits/parts to make my Indy AA suite. Something not right here.....

Again, Thank you! and v/r.

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Richard

great personal work ,helped by the pontos set special mention for your sea
cheers
Nicolas

[RichardP]

Reworked the rear of the main deckhouse to open up the two recessed door areas. Molded, the doors touch all the edges as the solid molded hoods took up so much space. Hoods have been replaced with paper items that has allowed the recessed to be drilled out to full height and relined. For some reason the Pontos set does not provide PE platforms for these two areas but does for all other platforms on this face, so paper substitutes added.

40mm Tubs at stern replaced like the others with brass tube for the director stands (the molded ones had a nasty step in them).

Pontos PE added to the fore-funnel (a real joy to use with very nice fits), a new vent pipe from brass tube and the edges of the kit funnel cap thinned; nice design by Academy/Pontos as the black cap piece fits very nicely in the top of the funnel and the PE grill pretty much drops inside of that. The footrails from Pontos were a really good fit too. I've added some small loops from copper wire for rigging the funnel stays after painting.

The rear funnel structure has had the edges of the cutouts thinned and a funnel base added inside - you shouldn't be able to look straight through as the kit would have you do. Also shows the deck supports added to the overhangs.

[zs180]

Richard,
this is most impressive work.
Your unmistakable style is instantly recognisable.

[LE BOSCO]

Nice work Richard
cheers
Nicolas

[ModelMonkey]

Richard, please tell us something about the technique you use to fix exterior piping to the bulkheads. It looks extremely realistic.

[Quincy]

Wow Richard! Just, WOW!!!!




Bob Pink.

[RichardP]

The pipes are relatively easy to do, the hardest part is probably bending brass wire to the right shape when the pipes have kinks. Yes, it's a bit fiddly but I have had much worse challenges dealing with small PE.

Simply trim off the molded pipe (the location will still be visible) and drill some 0.3mm holes right through where you want the brackets to go. Cut a length of 40swg copper wire (2-3") and thread both ends through the hole leaving a largish loop on the outside - do all the holes at once if possible. Thread the brass replacement pipe through these loops and gently pull them all tight which'll clamp the pipe against the side. Slacken off the copper so that you can push some spacers behind the pipe (I use paper folded in half but you can use thin styrene as well) and tighten again. Keeping the copper wire pulled tight, best start in the middle to stop the brass from tilting at one end dob some CA on the hole and wire then trim the waste; I usually pull at a right angle from the hole so that the wire runs against the inside surface for a larger contact area. Before removing the spacer, apply a tiny amount of CA to the pipes by the copper wire to hold the two , if the pipe is a way off the wall (as in foot/hand rails) I use fine edges to crimp the copper together behind the pipe

You can see some of the copper wire stubs inside the structure in this photo, the loose ends of the copper wire have been pulled dow, which is the obvious way to do it:

If the hole is visible after, which it can be, I paint some Mr Surfacer 500/1200 into the hole with a fine brush, leave it a few minutes and the clean off the surface around with a brush dipped in lacquer thinner, ensuring that I haven't filled any of the gap between the brass and the wall.

Brass wire is readily available from sizes .006" and up from Detail Associates or Albion (I've been using .008", .010" and .012") and copper wire can be found in all sorts of fine gauges online; finding a convenient non-industrial quantity is a little more challenging but 100-200m reels are pretty cheap. 0.3mm drills I get on EBay from China in packs of 10 - since I'm drilling through thick plastic they get changed regularly, not so much that they break but because they go dull. 0.3 is a good size, slightly big certainly but easy to thread and much more resilient (I find) than 0.2mm.

[ModelMonkey]

Brilliant description of a very good looking effect, perfectly done. I'll give it a go. Many thanks!

[RichardP]

Last of the housing 'boxes':

One of the problems at this stage is that although the in progress pictures with all the different materials look quite good, showing all the changes, as soon as paint gets on there and the color becomes uniform, well, not so good; so many small CA gobbets, lumps of crud etc. If you're going to super detail to encouraging close viewing, why spoil it with a mediocre finish?


I've taken to spraying assemblies with Humbrol Light grey (64), more as a 'sighting' coat than a primer (I have terrible problems with proper primers on small assemblies, ending up adding even more crud - I find Humbrol enamels are easy to spray on thin, seem to stick really well to most materials and sands well not too long after application).
Almost as much time is taken tidying up the finish as was devoted to building in the first place.

[marijn van gils]

Absolutely fantastic detailing work!!!
Many thanks for sharing your techniques also.

The sea looks very good also. I only feel you have a lot of excess empty space in front of the bow. From the photo's, it looks to me like you could hack off about half of that. But the photo's could be deceiving me of course.

Looking forward to the next steps!

Marijn

[EJFoeth]

Excellent workmanship; I'm particularly impressed with the lipped paper bulkheads

[RichardP]

That's a very good point about the seascape. I admit to being pretty much clueless when it comes to settings and dioramas. here's a quick side-on shot.

The ship is pretty central in the base length wise (it was supposed to be very central but it turns out I can't measure and do simple math right) with a slight twist to the side.

The idea was to play up the 'open seas' rather than the previous undersized attempts I have done that have barely allowed a wake pattern let alone some open water.

It's a work in progress, mostly continuously toying with different paint applied in different ways and just seeing what happens and playing with acrylic media for surface effects.....I have no qualms about sawing some off the front end