APA project

[Fliger747]

Thank you Hank! I have since "improved" on these a bit and printed out the height finder. My "job" on the APA, which I am avoiding, is to complete repair of some of the running rigging I destroyed. To quote a gentleman who did a wonderful build of the 1:200 Missouri "I hate rigging".

Cheers: Tom

[Iceman 29]

Nice pieces Tom!

[Fliger747]

Thanks Pascal!

I printed a few more parts to go with this and sprayed some warpaint on. I am reasonably happy with the radar and heigh finder, but possibly could open the mesh up a bit.

[Song Jung Gun]

Hi,Tom!
It's wonderfull!!!!
Cheers; Song

[Fliger747]

Thank you Song! It's not a traditional construction, but still requires the breaking down of construction into various pieces of relatively simple shape, something that you are very good at!

Best regards! Tom

[Fliger747]

Scales:

I embarked on this APA project in the 1:120 scale. I got a lot of raised eyebrow comments, it's not a common scale, no aftermarket parts an whatnot. Perhaps that's it's charm. That forces one into a challenge of building everything! It's a good challenge, hand carving anchors? Assembling a few dozen hand built pieces to make a 40 mm twin? I like the 1:120 scale, for we inch maven with a caliper, it's an easy conversion without a slide rule, tenth inch=1 foot! I think you can ferret in almost as much detail as 1:100 without the size. More detail than 1:144 etc. But that's an individual calculation. We get to visualize in a scale and a transition tales a bit.

Pascal Izemann drug me over to the dark side (black resin) of 3 D printing. Is this scratch building or should it have it's own geek refuge somewhere else? In my hand I hold a 1:144 MK 37 director I just printed, I'll pass this off to my friend Hank to evaluate. He already has one for his ship he served on, Stoddard, DD 566. It's upscaled for some 1:192 ones I made for Alaska, but the upscale works very well, reveling more verisimilitude.

Song is my scratch building hero, working in wood, stark in it's lack of makeup in the way of paint.

I like the improvement in my 3D pieces. Ideally any two parts we make for a ship via different means, wood, plastic, casting, 3d or whatever should look the same. Of course they do not. As part of my experimentation wit MK 37 radars, I variously printed bare frames and full interpretation of the radar in 3D. I have also adorned some of the 3D bare frame with a very fine ribbon mesh and that looks quite good as well. Different that the full 3D or even PE. In model making and viewing there is as with the movies, a required suspension of disbelief.

Having trod the decks of warships underway, if not n harm's way, I still have a seaman's appreciation to the tools of the trade which are the fittings and rig. I participate in the Flight sim world, the greatest value there is trying to replicate historical aircraft in a truthful way that even museum's cannot. If I can give you a pretty truthful way of experiencing the flying of say a F4U 4 Corsair or a 737-200, then't's been useful expertise.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

A Christmas Day short treatise on Modeling in 2020!! Excellent!!! I could almost parallel your thoughts regarding the 3D conundrum that faces modelers today - is it modeling or something else? Well, that's for the museum pundits to worry about. I think at our "pay grade" it simply provides a new medium to use to accomplish the task at hand.

But, on the bright side - I can also see where it provides a sharable means for modelers in erstwhile locations to collaborate on projects while miles apart. Something that is/was rather difficult using traditional modeling materials, etc.

I look forward to continuing our shipyard assistance program into 2021!!!

Later,

Hank

[Fliger747]

Best Christmas wishes to the season's survivors and hopes that 2020 wan't just the gentle slope at the top of a big hill. In keeping with the spirit of the age, my cooking gas ran out right in the middle of cooking Christmas Dinner. A trip out to the workshop for a mountaineering stove got things underway agin, sort of.

For printing I ran out of gray resin and switched back to the more obtainable Rapid Black. Actually it seems to print with sharper details. I made a new batch of 20 mm ready boxes and the dogs showed an eye bolt at the top. Surprisingly they printed the really small holes nicely! I modified my 1:192 MK 37 directors to the cupola type that Missouri had, just need to find a good drawing of the SPS 25 radar.

May modeling and other projects help sanity in these (as my Chinese friends say) "Interesting times".

Regards to All! Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

Here are some images of the SPG-35 on the Mk 37 director:

https://www.okieboat.com/CAD%20radars.html

Here are some of the pictures I used to make the model.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Phil:

Thank you, additional information is always valuable. My USN Naval Gunnery manual Vol. 2 has a number of illustrations of the interior arrangement of each station of the MK 37, a pretty common unit! It shows binoculars attached to the slewing sight in the cupola, removably it appears. Earlier versions seemed to have the ring sight similar to as seen on the mount captains station for the 5" 38's. You obviously have put a lot of work into researching the Okie City radars. Guam and Missouri had the cupola style MK 37's, Alaska had the earlier units.

MY back to the future ongoing work on Alaska and Missouri have raised some questions. I made some delightful if tiny 20 mm ready boxes for Alaska (she has a lot of Orlikons) then, (mistake) consulted the plans. The fairly detailed FDD plans which I constructed her from, show nary a 20 mm ready box! Looking through photos I discovered two on the main deck at the base of the stack, against the bulkhead on the Port side. Can't confirm any on the starboard or any others? About half the 20 mm's were on pedestals above the main deck, perhaps they were stored in the pedestals and passed up or over via chain gang? I see something that looks like a small bulkhead hatch on the one's on the 01 level outboard the stack.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Here is my revised MK 37 for Alaska with cupola, slewing sight (w/o) Binoculars in 1:192. Also includes Director officers's knucklehead seat and supporting pedestal etc for the slewing sight.

[Iceman 29]

What is your sonic setting, Tom?

Nice print!

[Fliger747]

Pascal:

Sonic Mini Bottom lift 6
Layer 0.04 Lift dist 5
Bottom 10 Bottom lift speed 50
Exp time 4 sec Lifting speed 50
Bitt exp time 30 sec Retract speed 200
Light off delay 7
Bitt light off delay 7


This is with the Phrozen "Rapid Black".

Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

The binoculars were removable. I served as Director Officer for a while (lots of sea stories - don't get me started) and I would remove the binoculars from the stand when I just wanted to look around without rattling the fellows in the director. I could rotate the director with "handle bars" just below the binoculars. It would spin pretty fast! With the binoculars on the stand I could see what the pointer/trainer or the radar was aiming the director at, and give spotting corrections for direct fire.

I have noticed that many Mk 37 models omit the "bloomers" on the optical rangefinder arms. The rangefinder was stabilized to correct for ship roll (and pitch), so the arms rotated up/down relative to the director body. The bloomers (rubberized canvas) covered the openings in the side of the director shell. They were strapped around the cylindrical rangefinder arm and extended to cover the entire rectangular opening.

The cover over the Director Officer's position was rubberized canvas on metal hoops that hinged at the side of the opening frame. It folded back behind the position when the director was occupied.

For more information about the Mk 37 and how it worked with the gun systems see:

https://www.okieboat.com/Gun%20Director.html

Phil

[Fliger747]

Phil:

As usual good information! The Naval Fire Control manual (mid 50's) I have gives very detailed info on the MK37 operation by each position. My latest version omit's the binoculars, but without a head protruding form my director I wouldn't imagine them remaining in position. 7 x 50's?

I have currently omitted the "blast bags" (ha) on the cross stabilized rangefinder arms as such 3D is currently not in my inventory. years ago I did gun house bloomers using a form painted over with latex, which is an OK technique, but lacks some degree of archival permanence. The WWII early versions seemed to have used a ring sight. I also currently have not executed the "ragtop".

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Phil:
I have currently omitted the "blast bags" (ha) on the cross stabilized rangefinder arms as such 3D is currently not in my inventory. years ago I did gun house bloomers using a form painted over with latex, which is an OK technique, but lacks some degree of archival permanence.
Cheers: Tom

This is one of the aspects of U.S.N. museum ships that seems to be almost universal - leaving intact the metal "cocoon" that covers each of the Mk. 37 FC director arms. I'm guessing that this is more a time/cost/maintenance decision than anything else. Like anything else aboard ship, the synthetic material that make up the director arm covers would require scheduled maintenance in addition to their basically inaccessible locations. The exception being USS KIDD which has refurbished their Mk. 37 externally. USS CASSIN YOUNG also shows her refurbished arm covers. THE SULLIVANS does not. I don't recall any of the battleship museum ships having done so, either.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Rubbery items are problematic for aircraft restorations as well as those snow tires that have been sitting around for a long time. Some items seem to be more vulnerable than others, my daughter's airplane has 36" "Alaska Bushwheels" which are very vulnerable to UV deterioration, people even park their planes with covers over the wheels. The smaller Goodyear 26" high (but not as high) flotation tires have gone many many years without UV or other deterioration. I will say that such modern items have improved greatly, that what we used to call "fan belts", it was common to carry a spare. Break one of those serpentine items today and it can be major surgery requiring a good tool kit, not just a crescent wrench and a pry bar any more. Good thing they are better.

APA progress last night? Designed and printed "Pyro Boxes" such as are on the 03 level behind the bridge. A better and more detailed unit than the ones there at the moment. The dogs holding the top down are eye bolts and the hollow actually prints at the 1:120 scale. Lots of "other stuff" to accomplish today, but maybe some photos later.

I'll have to revisit my Missouri photos and see what the current display is of rangefinder arms. Alaska in "reserve" had a flat plate blocking off the slot and a fat cylinder around the arm.

[Fliger747]

Maybe some day I will be able to translate more accurately real world items into 1: to whatever items. Today I have been diverted by the new children's tool (adults work with sharp blades) and re working my 1:192 Alaska and Missouri. Both get a new set of Mk 37 directors and appropriate radars, barbettes and whatnot. Irritatingly Alaska circa 1945 and Missouri circa now are different paint schemes and can't have their bits and pieces painted at once. So every day I find some particular item that could use improvement , research and spit out some small item or two to print, cure, and adapt to each ship. For instance many of Alaska's 40 mm tubs have some mysterious 1'x1'x3' hinged top boxes attached outside the tubs, so I am printing a number of those. Alaska has only two (amazingly) external inclined ladders. They must have been internal or the swabbies mimicking the days of sail were climbing the many external vertical ladders,

On Missouri I am liking the printed 1:192 inclined ladders better than the PE ones, Lozzathem... Replacing to or planing to replace many PE rails, which seem to get bent just by looking at them. At least the printed ones snap back. Though in 1:192 vertical ladders are a little overscale, I like the 3D look compared to PE and I can match them easily to the location. For instance MO has an inclined ladder awarthships (new version) behind the topside armored control station that is not a standard deck height. A good candidate for 3D.

Lovely to be able to hijack your own thread! Back to the Eh Pee Eh soon

[Fliger747]

12 inch searchlight in 1:192, something like 8 mm high. Note the handle at the back printed OK.

Inclined ladders in 1:192. For these I increased the designed diameter of the hand rail to .32 mm from .28 mm which printed much more successfully. Looking all the world like some sort of dried Krill...

Tom

[BB62vet]

But, does it smell fishy???

Tom, those look good! I can see the difference in the color of the resin - I guess this is the "black" resin you mentioned? It looks rather translucent. But, it also shows the detail very well. Sort of reminiscent of the older Shapeways plastic parts.

Hank