1:200 USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 68-69 (Trumpeter MISSOURI kit)

[Fliger747]

Hank

Did NJ have the later MK 37 with the cupola? Or the earlier one?

Cheers. T

[BB62vet]

Tom wrote:

Did NJ have the later MK 37 with the cupola? Or the earlier one?

She had the earlier ones w/o the cupola.

Here are a couple shots of the Mk. 56 directors in place:

I tried experimenting with one of my spares painting the plexiglass panels on the upper sides of the operators station - too much hand movement for a clean application, so I did not continue with the units on the model. My Hat's Off to Steve Larsen for creating the 3D printed designs for the Mk. 56 directors. He did a fantastic job with the reference material I provided him. These are available on Shapeways.

Hank

[Fliger747]

The base of the MK 56 is especially nice. Coming together. I imagine you are getting to the end of the major scratch portions of the superstructure.

Amazing how different the ships are from each other.

Cheers. Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom wrote:

The base of the MK 56 is especially nice. Coming together

.
Yea, Steve did a great job on this portion of the director - he really captured the motor details and other equipment located there.

The only major superstructure item left to make is the 4-legged main mast and it's radio antennae. I have part of it already made, but it doesn't fit, so I may start over rather than trying to correct something that won't work. I may also try to find styrene rod/tubes that are closer to the req'd diameter - the brass tube I was using is just a hair too thick. The 5" mounts are still in their bags - I haven't started on them yet.

Hank

[Fliger747]

I have used styrene for cross bracing, but the stuff is overly flexible. I wonder if other stiffer plastics are available? If you needed thinner brass, the styrene would be about like an al dente noodle. I did make the aircraft crane for Alaska of very thin styrene, but it has the typical fine crossbracing typical of such items.

I have had to re do a few items like that, but glad I did.

[steinerman]

Wow, Hank. That's awesome work! Looking fantastic!!!

[BB62vet]

Thanks, Larry - I appreciate the kind remarks. FYI - I felt about like you do when I started this back in 2012 - in fact, maybe moreso since mine was going to require much extra research and scratchbuilding to accomplish what I set out to do. But, I've learned a lot from many sources and this forum, especially!!!

Tom,

I'll dig thru my bag of brass, metal assorted tubes to see what may suffice on the mast legs. This is where having the actual drawings with dimensions would be so helpful. Sadly, they may either not exist any longer or are simply in some hard to locate microfisch library at NARA.

Hank

[steinerman]

Hank, a question, if I may. I'm looking at the bottom shot of your post and it looks to me like your fire hoses aren't the cast-on ones. They look like something that you might have made yourself. Can you tell me how you made them, because I want to make the ones on my Monster MO as well.

Thanks, Hank

[ModelMonkey]

....My Hat's Off to Steve Larsen for creating the 3D printed designs for the Mk. 56 directors. He did a fantastic job with the reference material I provided him. These are available on Shapeways.

Tom wrote:

The base of the MK 56 is especially nice. Coming together

.
Yea, Steve did a great job on this portion of the director - he really captured the motor details and other equipment located there.


Hank

Thanks, Hank and Tom! It was my pleasure, thanks to the great resource material Hank provided.

[Fliger747]

On my 1:192 Missouri (modern) I made fire hoses by folding paper back and forth over a form (with glue) and then slicing off proper width pieces, worked pretty well.

[BB62vet]

Larry wrote:

Hank, a question, if I may. I'm looking at the bottom shot of your post and it looks to me like your fire hoses aren't the cast-on ones. They look like something that you might have made yourself. Can you tell me how you made them, because I want to make the ones on my Monster MO as well.

Larry, I used the Pontos PE fire hoses and folded/glued two singles back-to-back to form a thicker fire hose that had some depth. This was AFTER sanding off the molded hose unit on the kit part. Once the PE hose was set, I painted it flat white and on some where I could, I did a thin haze gray line across where they etch the bar that holds the hose in place - Use your Optivisor by all means!!! This is basically what Tom did using the paper.

Now, having said that you may want to first count how many hose stations you will need before doing this. I'm pretty sure MISSOURI in 1945 had more than we did on NEW JERSEY in 1968. You don't want to find out you don't have enough.

Hope this helps,

Hank

[sgtryan13]

This is coming along beautifully! A hell of a feat with this kit as is, let alone updating it to a later configuration.

[BB62vet]

SG13,

Thanks so much!! It's been both an interesting project and a PITA at the same time. I love the research, just wish it produced better results. As I'm finding out, the gov't deficiency in record-keeping and preservation is as elusive as keeping track of the Hildebeast's emails.

[Fliger747]

Wiping your model, as with a cloth, can be destructive.

[BB62vet]

Define "Wiping"!

[Fliger747]

Using the Hildebeest definition

[Harquebus]

Depending on when the acrylics arrive (probably next week), I may try some other parts, as well. As long as I can find matching colors there shouldn't be a problem. I'll admit that enamels have a tendency to dry up in the bottle before all used and that presents a problem. I suppose that acrylics are no different; does anyone know the shelf life of acrylics vs enamels?

I have heard that Gunze Mr. Color paints will reactivate if they have dried in the bottle by adding thinner. They are described as synthetic lacquers but they do not attack styrene like normal lacquers do. I have never seen these available in brick and mortar hobby shops but if they do indeed reactivate, that makes them a good investment no matter the cost.

See the description in the blue section: http://codyscoop.com/ht-paint.html

[Fliger747]

I used he Mr Color hull red for my Missouri (modern). Took some unfortunate experimentation to find the proper lacquer thinner for it. I do not believe that the stuff can be usefully restored if solidified, The material tends to polymerize which is not a truly reversible process, though the solvent effect of thinner on lacquers does dissolve some of the material. This is why lacquer does stick well from coat to coat. however I don't believe that one would reconstitute a material that could be used for airbrushing. Perhaps could be used for some brush touchup. Maybe a little like using watercolors? I have (now) the Short and Snyder USN color chips and will probably mix my own colors for Alaska using Golden (brand) high flow Acrylics. I used these for top coating the upper hull for Missouri. Being a zillion miles from a hobby store obtaining for instance yet another bottle of some necessary color. Both Alaska and Missouri are fairly large models.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Thanks Harq & Tom for the acrylic paint comments - will keep in mind when the time comes to start painting the hull.

[BB62vet]

Have been working on the Main Mast and building the Model Monkey Mk. 37 Directors. Here are a few pix of the latest construction (no Mk. 37's yet):

And better shots of the bridge and Mk. 56 Director:

And finally, the Midship Mk. 56 Directors:

I will be back to work on the lower LF radio antenna next week in addition to the Mk. 37 Director construction. I have no close up photos of this antenna, only shots at a distance. Lots of guesswork on this item!

Hank