The Ship Model Forum

First of all I forgot to add a photo of my PE sheets version 2. I separated them into three sheets: USS Chicago 1942 specific parts to the left, Miscellaneous USN Treaty Cruisers parts (early WW2) to the right and SOC-3 parts (upgrade to Trumpy) bottom right. BTW I think they might be useful for modifying the Tamiya USS Indianapolis kit into Chicago, too (provided you won´t mind the 3m difference in hull length):
Now about my latest advances. As mentioned before, I decided to replace the catapult towers in the end (my previous attempt based on the resin part turned out too short and after I repaired them to the correct height windows and brims were too low). So I cut off both towers as a whole and replaced them with 4.75mm diameter polystyrene tubes sanded down on their outer edge and equipped with my PE windows, brims and doors (ladders to come). They look much better to me now
I continued with adding PE parts to the forward and aft walls of the well deck. The forward part was a bit tricky to design as I found no photos showing the final configuration clearly but after some discussions with Mike C and more hours spent staring on photos I ended up with what I hope is a reasonable approximation.
The other end of well deck was a similarly an open question as I found no definitive answer on the version of the hangar door for the time of the Battle of Savo Island (see CASF Northampton class thread). I designed all three versions in PE and I decided to use the horizontal jalousie version (“B”) in the end that seems to have been common on class units at the given timeframe as witnessed by 1942 photos of Northampton from the LIFE magazine discussed in the CASF thread. The centerline structure was designed according to the same photo series. It is quite a complicated piece to fold from PE for its miniature dimensions in 1/700 so I decided that the outmost parts will be done from a styrene square rod instead of PE (not in the photo, will be added later).
Next came the aft bridge. While dry-fitting PE parts onto the resin hull I realized the bottom part (molded on the resin hull) was approx. 1.6 mm too tall. This was apparently noticeable when viewed from the side – the bridge overhang aft should be just above the aft main gun turret according to photos but there was a large gap there. So I had to cut the upmost layer of the resin part. I continued by gluing the aft mast pole into its place and constructing the aft bridge.
While designing the second version of my PE parts I noticed one interesting detail – contrary to pre-war photos Chicago had a new position for flag bags aft extending out of the crane platform as on the photo below. So my part is now hopefully another step closer to the original. Flag bags themselves are not shown on the photo yet, will be added after rigging is finished. Also supports under the extended "wings" will be added.

I wish you sold these PE sets as I for one would buy a few sets.

Vladi, excellent work.

I dont know how you guys do these full PE builds. Patience level - god.

Really nice, crisp work, Valdi.