1/350 USS New Orleans CA-32 (1945)

[Dave Hill]

The completed assembly dry-fitted to the hull.

Dave

[taskforce48]

Bravo!!!! Encore Encore! In the great words of Wayne and Garth "We're not worthy!" Fantastic build, this will be a show stopper when done Dave!

Matt

[Elvis965]

Nice stuff, Dave...as always!

Bob

[J. Soca]

simply sparkling!!, very,very neat job Dave

Jose

[PetrOs]

Thats cool! And a lot to learn from!
Interestingly, I am making San Francisco now, in her november 44 fit with MS 33/13d colors. her hull is being masked for painting now

[Dave Hill]

Thanks for the feedback guys!!!!!...I'll post more updates ASAP!!!!!!

Dave

[Dave Hill]

Hi all!!!!!

Update: Funnels and searchlight/drill gun platforms

The construction of the funnels was per the kit instructions with just a little modification. The molded on detail was sanded off and replaced with PE...the grills in the kit's funnel caps were cut out and PE grills were added...the pipes on the back of each funnel is .050" styrene round rod with the ends hollowed out...the pipes for the forward funnel siren platform was made from .020" styrene rod. Finally, PE ladders were added to the funnel fronts and supports for funnel mounted whip antenne were made from bits of brass cut from scrap fret material.







Dave

[Dave Hill]

The searchlight and drill gun platforms should be the last major scratch built assemblies of this build...the parts were made from .020 and .010" sheet styrene. The framework for the searchlight platform which took over an hour to build was made from .020 and .010" round rod.







A side by side with the San Francisco and New Orleans' assemblies.

Dave

[roy allen]

Hi Dave,
Nice bit of scratch building there.
What are the small holes for in the funnels near the top, rigging or something else.

Roy

[Dave Hill]

Right you are Roy!!!...they will be mounting positions for the funnel rigging...I didn't think they were that noticable I used a .0135" or #80 drillbit.

Dave

[MartinJQuinn]

I'm running out of superlatives Dave...

[Dave Hill]

Hi all!!!!!

Update: Finishing the funnels and drill gun platform.

The funnels painted 5-H





Dave

[Dave Hill]

The complete drill gun platform with re-worked searchlights...I drilled out the part and added a drop of 5min. epoxy to simulate the lens. The 20mm ammo storage boxes were made from .080" squae rod. A storage locker for the drill gun's dummy 5" ammo was made by building a box with .010" sheet styrene.






A quick mock up to check the fit of the platform between the funnels, the 20mm's and other details will be added at final assembly.

Dave

[Capt652]

Great work Dave!

Nice attention to detail in your work. I like the gusset plates where the cross braces intersect. All the scratch built blends very nice with the nice paint job...

Keep the pictures coming!

[Dave Hill]

Thanks Timm,

The framework for the searchlight platform was more work than I anticipated...keeping all the angles uniform, and the "X" braces were all seperate pcs attached to the square plates...nearly made me pull my hair out!!!!!!!...but now I think the end result was worth the headache.

Dave

[roy allen]

I like that Dave

Roy

[Dave Hill]

Hi all!!!

Update: Catapult and towers

I started first with building the PE cat per the instructions and adding a small pc of .040" round rod for the pipework on the inboard side of the catapult. Next came the towers...first job was to modify the kit part by adding a section of windows to the towers...I don't know why Trumpeter didn't mold these pcs with windows, referance photos and even the box art clearly show them. My plans only show an overhead view of the towers with the locations of the windows noted but no side view, so by looking at photos of NO I just winged it. Next I needed to figure out how to make the windows...both PE sets don't include these windows so I made some by useing the "bottoms" from the depth charge racks of the GMM PE set and formed them into a curve.



Now that the window panes were made I needed to figure out what to use to simulate the glass, while thinking about how to do this, I spotted the clear vacume formed packaging from the liquid cement I just bought, so I cut out a small strip and formed it into a curve the same way I make gun tubs, I then painted the PE and attached the clear plastic with CA.




Cutting out the window opening




The assembled towers detailed and roof top painted 20-B


Dave

[Dave Hill]

The completed catapult and towers.







Dave

[Dave Hill]

A quick mock up to see how the major componets fit in conjunction with each other...with so much scratch building I figured something just would'nt look right, but finally she's looking like something...Now to take her all apart put everything in storage till final assembly.








Dave

[Capt652]

Looks FANTASTIC Dave!! Your scratch building skills are awesome.