1/700 West Virginia 1941 & USS California 1941 (Pit-Road/TR)

[Dan K]

I switched back to the foremasts and cobbled WeeVee�s together over the weekend using the Blue Ridge cage mast. Some scratch-building of platforms in the back was needed. Mine are not perfect, but close enough. The most important thing to note is that, unlike the original spar yardarm, the trestle yardarm did not attach directly to the back of the foretop, but to these small platforms. The first photo of WV and TN illustrates that point nicely.

Take note that that the trestle yardarms from Trumpeter/Pit-road and Five Star are undersized. Conversely, the Tom�s version is oversized, but it lent itself to being cut down. It�s also thicker brass than the other two, and potentially more supportive of rigging, so the Tom�s piece was installed. I managed to bend everything a few times, had to replace the yardarm, but it worked out.

The same is true for the braces supporting the spotting top. The Five Star versions are nice, but are configured in a way that does not accommodate the curve in a proper cage mast. The Tom�s version does, but I had to trim off the inner struts. With two per support, I found it too hard to bend both without warping the support itself.

I�ve subsequently filled the two, small vertical seam slits in the front with white glue as well as tweak and straighten some railings.

[Dan K]

First coat of paint applied. A seam or two needs more fill.

[Vladi]

Looking great, Dan Merry Christmas!

[taskforce48]

Outstanding job Dan! As much as I love seeing the in progress, I can't wait for these to be done and see the finished product.

Happy Holidays,

Matt

[Dan K]

Much appreciated, and Happy Holidays to you both as well.

CXAM-1 for WeeVee done, save for a little tweaking. From the Tom's set

[Dan K]

Today�s update: WeeVe�s foremast painting was completed and it was installed. As were the 24� searchlights mounted on the bridge, save one higher up that needs to be painted in 5-L. Then came rigging the yardarm with halyards.

I can see at least seven sets of paired lines per side in most photos. There are probably more but I think seven sets per side is enough in this scale. 7 x 2 =14 lines per side x 2 = 28 lines. That�s plenty in this scale.

Interestingly, the pulleys on the yardarms are set up so the lines run fore and aft, whereas in Japanese ships (which I tend to build) the lines run side by side through the pulley. The fore and aft arrangement makes for easier placement through the yardarm, but the spacing is very tight below around the flag bags where I ended the lines. (Note: In the real ships, the lines ran down to a thin, horizontal bar placed just forward of the flag bags running perpendicular to the axis of the ship. In this scale, it would have been extremely difficult for me to thread and tie off the lines without bending the bar constantly. I just simplified things.)

I was half way through the rigging when the bridge base lost adhesion to the masking tape it was sitting on. It tumbled in very slow motion to my hardwood floor. I could not intercept the bridge before it bounced off the floor. Interject your favorite expletives here: ______________ ; I�m quite sure I covered them all.

[Dan K]

I put everything aside for a few hours, then took a breath, and glued it all back together with CA glue. Fortunately, the broken mast fit back perfectly with its base. The only hint of the disaster is that some of the inner halyards are no longer quite as taut as they had been. It may be possible to subtle bend the PE they are tied off to in order to add some tension. We�ll see.

I then completed the remaining halyards, glued the bridge to the ship, then glued on the forward 3� mounts (Blue Ridge - excellent), some .50 cal MG (Blue Ridge � excellent), the CXAM-1 radar and a boat stack. (WeeVee is posed in some of these pics with a semi-finished mainmast.)

[Vladi]

Great work, Dan! Disasters happen, good that this one was not that tragic in the end. Fingers crossed!

[Quincy]

Glad to see it was a fixable disaster, Dan! Thats why I keep a bottle of Jack under my desk!! Your Wee Vee looks super sharp so far!



Bob Pink

[Neptune]

That's a nasty break you had there. Glad it came out so well after repair. I suppose the "warm" feeling you probably got, when you saw that piece tumbling down is quite familiar to most of us
Great work so far!

[Dan K]

Thx guys.

Lately, I have begun to wonder what my finished ships would look like if I didn't break them so much.

[MartinJQuinn]

Thx guys.

Lately, I have begun to wonder what my finished ships would look like if I didn't break them so much.

Says the reigning winner of the IPMS USA National Convention "Best Ship" Award.

[Dan K]

I'd forgotten about that. Seems so long age now.

Nice knife thrust there, Ming (the Merciless). Fine, I'll just shut up about it.

[Pieter]

Love the paintwork on those cage masts.

[taskforce48]

Outstanding work Dan! Just like the real WeeVee, suffered tragedy and came back better than before!

Keep it up!

Matt

[marijn van gils]

Auwch!!!

Nice save though! Nobody will ever notice this 'childhood trauma'

[Dan K]

I value your support, gentlemen.

And now, California�s update:

The fore and main tops for California (and Tennessee) were not quite the same shape as the following Colorado class ships in that the sidewalls were narrower. Neither the Trumpeter/PR kit parts nor the Five Star PE parts for the Colorados are correct in shape. Fortunately, 3D Model Parts does offer a correct, 3D printed version.

One challenge was in opening up the main battery top level to allow access to the machinegun platforms mounted for and aft. (Note: 3D MP doesn�t supply these as part of the spotting top. One has to use the kit part, and they are too long. Some trimming is required. ) Frankly, I hadn�t thought about these openings at all until I noticed that Abram Joslin had created openings for Tennessee here : viewtopic.php?f=60&t=288902&start=20#p909689 . So, thank you for that, Abram.

Very careful and gradual filing is needed to make these apertures due to the fragile nature of the printed resin. I destroyed one foretop in the process.

[Dan K]

Another challenge is in providing proper braces for the underside support of the tops. Because the sidewalls are narrower, even the Tom�s struts are too wide. I had to cut out a portion of the connector between the struts and attach each strut separately. I also managed to drill tiny holes along the top to run a guy wire from the spotting top to the tip on each yardarm. These can barely be seen (in black).

The first time I glued on the top, it ended up slightly crooked, even with slower acting CA. I removed it with debonder, cracking off only a little bit of the cagemast lip at the top. Fortunately, that went back on with no problem. But, I needed to redo the foretop yet again. Third time was a charm, mostly.

Separately, it turns out my scratch-built CXAM is too large, so now it�s time to get a hold of that Tom�s version.

[Dan K]

Update: It�s been too long since the last one, and I�ve forgotten half the things I wanted to comment on. You�ll forgive me if this post seems a little disjointed.

Mainmasts

For the tops, I used the Five Star Secondary Spotting Top part for West Virginia, and the 3D Model Part version for California (because it has the narrow shape of the earlier class). I then had to choose between the kit, FS, & 3D MP parts for the Machine Gun Platform (aka The Birdbath) that goes atop both secondary tops. I decided the 3D MP version would work the best � thinner sidewalls than the kit part, but not as difficult to create as the FS part.

I used the Tom�s searchlight platform on the masts (Blue Ridge version). It turns out that both the kit and FS searchlight platform parts are suited for the photo etch cage masts, but not the 3D printed ones. The PE versions are just straight cones and therefore wider, so the kit and FS parts have too wide an opening for the properly concave printed masts. As a result they sit too low on those masts. Using the Tom�s part corrected that. I also used the 3D printed 36" searchlights from Blue Ridge

The assembly was not with incident.

I also preferred the yardarms that come with the Tom�s set. However, I reinforced them with brass rod, to better take the tension of rigging.

[Dan K]

I then rigged the halyards for WeeVee. I�ll post for CA soon.