1/96th USS Alaska (CB-1)

[Brad Newland]

Hi guys,

well... Me, my hull, my superstructure, and my workshop have all been in separate places of late. Tonight is the first night that we have all been together in quite some time � �so.. I finally was able to put all the painted fittings on the deck:





Traci discovered that I didn't carry the Black pattern up far enough on this one.. hopefully that'll get fixed tomorrow







heres all the stuff that is awaiting painting... (thankfully.. I have a beautiful wife that's pretty handy with an airbrush.. and I'm thinking I may just be able to sweet talk her into painting some tomorrow)



and finally, all the stuff positioned on the model. �





thanks for looking in!
Brad

[Brad Newland]

Hello all,
been a while, but I'm back at the Alaska- hoping to finish her soon. This week I made the Mk37 directors..

I started out by hollowing out the directors- Might not save a crazy amount of weight, but.. every little bit helps down the line.



made the portion of the support for the radar that you see here. I use the piece in Scale shipyards photoetched Mk12/22 set- but cut away the leg portion, replacing it with .020 legs.



then move on to placing all the supports:



after this is all done, I built up the radar screens:



and then installed them on the directors:



and here it is, sitting on its barbette- which needed a visor installed over the peep holes. (which for some reason looks HUGE in this picture...)



well- thats it for now- thanks for looking in!
BRad

[ModelMonkey]

Brilliant!

[Brad Newland]

Hey guys,
Made a little progress- not a whole lot, the ice onthe lakes has been awful still- which seriously cuts into any free time I may have. but, did get these few items done.

first- the shell collection bins for the some of the aft 40mm tubs. these where pretty complex, as part of them are curved to match the gun sheilds:





Heres the radio antenna trunks- kinda of a neat little part- I had fun making this one:



and finally- the boat crane stowage cradle (and the boat crane itself- dont think ive put a picture of that up yet either)





and last- a sunset from the other night. hope that spring may actually be coming


thanks for looking in
Brad

[DrPR]

Red sky at night, sailor's delight!

Nice work!

Phil

[Brad Newland]

Hey guys,
so I decided I needed to move in a little different direction, the Mk-8 Radar for the MK38 Directors seemed like a good choice. I tried to scratchbuild one for my Indiana, and while I was happy with it... I felt I could do better. so this is the second generation.

first off, I had to make a template for drilling all the holes in the faceplate



then here it is after I installed all the brass rod pieces



and then putting the something in the middle to support the waveguides



and then finally a more finished look





still have a little bit to do... but I thought Id share while I actually have the internet service to do so.
thanks for looking in
Brad

[ModelMonkey]

Lovely. Thanks for taking us to school, Brad!

[Brad Newland]

Hey guys,
its been while- but thought id like to get her a little more finished before Rocky Mount. I got a package from lee the other day containing the cast parts for the rangefinders, so thought id finish off the turrets.

This is TII- its different from the others in that it has a footrail around the edge of the turret top. (which makes me scratch my head.. why not all three- you fall off ANY of the three its gonna be a bad day) anyways..







hoping to get some paint on them once I finish up the other two.
thanks for looking in,
Brad

[DrPR]

Brad,

Nice work.

I suspect those aren't "foot rails" on turret 2. They may have been there to lash down life rafts, etc.

Does turret 1 have rods on the sides near the top? They would be there so canvas awnings could be attached to the turret in port. You might also find them on the superstructure above the main deck along the sides of the ship anywhere canvas awnings were strung. They were called "jack rods."

You have to look closely in photos because they can look like wiring - but the rails stand out from the bulkheads and shadows give them away.

Phil

[Brad Newland]

Phil,
thank you for the reply- I was actually really starting to wonder if anyone even looks at these posts. To answer your question- yep, Im sure that its only TII. Floating Drydock has a really nice DVD of pictures that have hi res pics in them- its pretty clear. As for it not being a footrail- That's what the turret drawing calls it out as. seems odd to me that its just on that one though. the height of the other two are such that falling from any of them would make for a bad day. However- it is a pattern the navy carried over to other ships, namely all four of the iowas.


In the meantime, managed to finish off the Mk38 directors. these turned into a much bigger project than I had planned. and became mini models in their own right:







so I dug in my "plate of parts"for stuff that still needs to be painted... and thought I'd put up some pics while you could still tell what they're made of. some are all brass, some bondo, some styrene, and some are a combo of the three. theres quite a few that have twins, and will make their way out to "Scale Shipyard" so others can get a molded version if they wish.



heres a couple pics of what the aft superstructure looks like after the addition of doors, lockers and vents:







and finally- some brass tubs I made for the Mk-51 directors that sit up here.

[DrPR]

Brad,

I certainly do follow your posts - and all scratch building posts. Your work is beautiful!

What did you use for the deck plating with lightening holes?

Phil

[Aop Aur]

Wonderful progress, as usual! Your scratch-building is a joy to watch!

Aop

[steinerman]

Wow! What an impressive build! And what a major undertaking!!! 1:96 scale obviously give you lots of latitude to do some really neat stuff detail-wise, but this is way above my lever of expertise.

Super Job!

[Song Jung Gun]

Hi Brad,
It's brilliant your USS Alaska.
I want to follow you from wood.
Song.

[Fliger747]

I liked the 1:192 scale for my Missouri and Alaska, but it is obvious that much more can (and has to be done) in the larger scale, roughly 8 times the mass! My current project is a Haskell class APA in 1:120. A bit of an off scale I am told, but this merely encourages scratch building!

An imposing project and nicely executed! And yes, I am sure that Song will build a worthy version of thins beautiful ship!

T

[Brad Newland]

Phil,
I bought that from McMaster carr- it fairly expensive... but it worked for what I wanted it for...

Been a while since I updated this- so heres a quick one:

I wanted to get the 5" mounts done before the Rocky mount Run, added the grab handles and baskets to the rear- and the foot rails to the tops..







painted the 12"turrets :


and some pics of how she looked just before we left for North Carolina:









and- finally a shot of her in the water again:

[Dan K]

Rides great. Beautiful.

[ModelMonkey]

Beautiful.

[Fliger747]

Looks great in the water and otherwise! Looking toward the top of the page at the 5"38 mounts, I notice one of them has the barrels at different elevations. In these mounts the barrels were locked together in elevation and could only be decoupled for for servicing and repair. Check out with your calipers vis appropriate dimensions, the barrels look too thin, there not being enough taper to my eye. Probability of my being wrong? High...

Good work! T

[Neptune]

Awesome looking vessel. Envious of that splendid paint job you did!