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

[taskforce48]

I am without words...... Just absolutely stunning work.

Matt

[MartinJQuinn]

That's one fine looking battlewagon!

[cba@3dmodelparts]

"The assembly was not with(-out) incident."

[Dan K]

I dropped WeeVee's mainmast AFTER the cagemast was nearly complete. Look more closely.

Thx for the kind comments, all.

CA mainmast almost complete, but another mis-step there as well. Sigh. Will try to post on this tomorrow.

[marijn van gils]

Great work Dan! Very sharp and clean as usual.
The end is slowly coming in sight...

[Dan K]

I dunno. I had hoped for some simple builds after finishing Taiho. It's been a bit of a grind at times. Like now.

_______________________________________________

Initially, CA�s mainmast worked out very well. If anything, the spotting tops were a hair cleaner and neater than those for WeeVee. I was very happy with the result.

Sadly, gluing the mainmast to the ship did not work out quite as planned. I�ve been using a slower setting CA (Slow-Zap) for gluing the spotting tops to the masts, and the completed masts to the ships. Theoretically, I�m supposed to have 30 � 60 seconds to position and set the mast. Can�t say that was exactly so. Seems more like 5 - 10 seconds, just like the medium Zap-a-Gap. In this particular case, the mainmast froze to the deck before I had the yardarms properly aligned to the axis of the ship. I was off by a degree or 2. Not a great photo of it but you can see it if you look where the forward yardarms lie in comparison to the deck underneath.

Cue frustration and unhappiness.

[Dan K]

There was no feasible way to remove the mast without damaging the mast or the deck and equipment around the mast base. Using debonder would have destroyed the paint finish, nor been able to reach the inside of the mast�s base ring. So, I couldn�t be sure that the ring would be at all removable. I certainly couldn�t pry it off.

So, I slept on it and came back to it the next day. Honestly, it was only noticeable from directly above. I was going to live with it, but every time I set up California to rig the halyards, I balked. Just couldn�t do it, no matter how much I�d thought I�d convinced myself it was ok.

Eventually, I decided on surgery using the lower portion of an extra mainmast. This way, I wouldn�t have to rebuild one from scratch. I cut off the top portion from the underside of a ring and glued it to the replacement lower mast. I then removed the remaining lower portion of the original mast from the base ring. Finally, carefully, I positioned and glued the new mast (without a base ring) onto the old base ring. Once satisfied, I let it dry, painted it, then rigged the halyards.

[Vladi]

Hi Dan, glad that it worked out that way!

[MartinJQuinn]

I had hoped for some simple builds after finishing Taiho. It's been a bit of a grind at times. Like now.

But you have persevered! And my brow beating has gotten you to (almost) finish two USN battleships. Who'd a thunk it?!?

[Dan K]

Lucky me. So, basically, you are the cause of my continued aggravation, correct?

Speaking of which, all is still not well with CA's mainmast. Now, the leading port side yard arm has dropped after rigging. It has to be corrected, and all the rigging removed and replace.

Just shoot me.

[Neptune]

Why shoot you? Punishing you by giving you bad ideas is so much more fun (to watch)

All in all still a very impressive job, on both ships! I'd be happy reaching 10% of your level (dropped yardarm included)

[MartinJQuinn]

Lucky me. So, basically, you are the cause of my continued aggravation, correct?

There's a line already formed of folks claiming the same thing...

Why shoot you? Punishing you by giving you bad ideas is so much more fun (to watch)

Gives the rest of us hope when even a master has pitfalls during a build!

[Dan K]

Punishing you by giving you bad ideas is so much more fun (to watch)

I'm definitely on the wrong side of this situation.

There's a line already formed of folks claiming the same thing...

Perhaps, but you're clearly at the head of the line.


Repairs and corrections are proceeding slowly........

[Dan K]

CA�s yardarm was fixed and the halyards rigged. Then, the aft main deck catapult and aircraft handling crane were completed and installed. The aft cargo (?) booms were installed after these pics were taken.

[marijn van gils]

Beautifully sharp work Dan!

I never these ships carried their catapults in such akward locations...

[Dan K]

Thanks, Marijn.

The default stowage position for the deck mounted catapult seems to be fore and aft, but I could show you just as many photos of the catapult canted to starboard, though not quite as much as I've set mine. I wanted it to clear the barrels. Otherwise, some detail is obscured.

[marijn van gils]

Good choice, it looks very interesting this way!

[Dan K]

Another quick update � The 5 inch 25cal battery

Below is a comparison of the 3D MP, Finemolds, and kit versions of this mount. I feel the FM version the best scaled and detailed. And, even though I have brass barrels for them, I�ve chosen not to add them. I don�t think they add enough detail to justify damaging the sighting tube along the top, not to mention the effort behind replacement.

I�ve also been working on yet another set of small boat racks specific to WeeVee in this timeframe.

[Dan K]

5"25cal batteries and additional boat racks installed. Photos could be more clear, I suppose.

First, on WeeVee

[Dan K]

And on California. Some touch-ups needed.