Calling all USS Boston CAG-1 fans!

[Cliffy B]

Sorry Seasick but CAG-1 had SPQ-5s installed during an overhaul in July of 1960 while CAG-2 had them from the get go.

[Seasick]

That's good.

[jfkcsi]

Hey randy
I just joined this site and have a some questions for you as I am behind
on the Boston build.
1- where did you get the wood deck and how did you go about cutting and securing it to the ship?
2- the blast bag baskets on the 8" mains,do they come with the kit or did you scratch build them?
3- do you intend to make blast bags for the 8" mains?
I am asking as I just bought the Boston off ebay and await it's arrival.I looked for it else where and found that YMW is no longer in business and Pac front hobbies now holds all the molds with no eta on production.
Mine will be of the Canberra as my father served aboard her. I have over a thousand pics of Canberra and Boston as well as film footage for reference,you are welcome to copies if you wish.
I would appriciate any and all help you can give as I'd like to build a nice one...yours by the way looks absolutely fantastic so far.
thanks so much
Jerry(jfkcsi)

[RandyM]

1a. Scaledecks.com... HIGHLY recommended. I don't remember exactly which deck I purchased, but will look at my notes when I get home. Since no one (to my knowledge) makes diecut decks for Boston, I bought a single sheet. The most economical way of doing this was to purchase a size which forced a splice - in this case directly underneath the forward 3" mounts. Since they essentially cover the width of the entire deck, the splice is all but invisible.

1b. Creating a template was actually easier than might be expected. First I photographed and removed all raised detail from the deck. I then sanded off most of the factory-supplied deck detail (meaning I left some of the detail on everywhere - I just wanted to "dull it down" somewhat), leaving a nice smooth continuous surface which is raised off the hull by about 1/16" everywhere there is supposed to be wood planking (poorly worded description - when you look at the hull you'll see what I mean). Next I created forward and aft templates by first taping a piece of regular old copier paper to the hull, then using the tried-and-true "rub with a pencil" tracing method we all learned in kindergarten. If you do this correctly, you wind up with an inner "line" which exactly represents the area to be "decked." Finally - and be very careful to maintain the correct top/bottom relationship between template and deck on this step - I taped both templates to the deck piece and cut them out. The scaledecks material yields a very fine line if a suitably new blade is used.

1c. I used gap-filling CA to attach the deck pieces to the hull. First I lined up the pieces without glue, applied tape to one end to act as a hinge, flopped the deck over, applied CA, and held my breath. Note that if like me you choose to paint the hull prior to attaching the deck, you will have a substantial amount of work already invested - hence the holding your breath part.

2. I do not know if they come with the kit - I do not believe they did. I don't recall at the moment whether I used A/M or scratchbuilt them - will again check when I get home.

3. All photos I have of Boston show blastbags fitted, so I will have to tackle this. YMW saw fit to not include them, and I sort of suck at this type of "freelance" scratchbuilding, so I'll have to see how they turn out.

Congrats on your purchase. I will be very interested to hear your initial impressions of the kit - I had a bit of an interesting experience with mine, and would appreciate another data point.

[RandyM]

Jerry:

Sorry for the delay...

To answer your remaining questions,

1. the decks I used are the 5x14 "Tinted Wood" product from ScaleDecks.com.

2. The turret baskets were either from L'Arsenal or Alliance Modelworks - if you would like to know precisely, let me know and I'll dig that info out.

I'm always interested in photos!

Randy

[jfkcsi]

Hey Randy,

Thanks! and yes if you wouldn't mind I'd like to know which one had the baskets.
I noticed a couple of things on canberra as well as boston

first thing is a set of vents on the stern just above the ship's name
second is the bridge canberra has four skylight windows in the overhead of the bridge roof.
see as how both are sister ships.
if you check ancestry.com they have a section for navy cruise books lots of good pics
the boston has a few...though you might have to sign up for a free 14 day trial to get the stuff and cancal before the time is up
so you don't get charged....that's what I did..LOL!
I am going to try and load a couple of shots here.
if you want more send me an e-mail jfkcsi63@yahoo.com
Jerry

[DrPR]

Jerry,

The "vents" in the stern are actually recesses for stern lights. These are formation lights and probably a wake light.

I'll bet the bridge "skylights" are actually just openings. The original ships had open bridges during WWII - really nasty for standing bridge watches in typhoons, etc. After the war these were partially enclosed with windows across the front. Some ships added wooden frameworks with canvas overhead. Later some ships replaced the wood and canvas with metal roofs over the center bridge, with open bridge wings.

I don't know if these changes were planned Navy wide, or if individual ships just made these changes when individual Captains decided to make them.

Phil

[RandyM]

Jerry:

FINALLY (been traveling/working/etc,) I have more info for you. The baskets on turret 2 are from Alliance Modelworks set #NW35014, US Navy vessels Saftey Nets, Liferaft and Rope Floats. The mounts for the baskets are simple strip stock, as the ones in the set didn't really match photos.

Randy

[jfkcsi]

Hi Randy,
It's been awhile, hope you had a great Christmas and new year.
Me I moved back to Texas and hadn't had a chance to do anything with my Canberra model.
How is Boston coming along...any new pics and info.
Jerry

[RandyM]

My Christmas Modeling Sob Story...

(First, Merry Christmas - or whatever you might celebrate - and Happy New Year)

I took 2-1/2 weeks off over Christmas, expecting (and advertising to the family) that I was going to spend 50% of that on models. First, I got pretty sick. My wife will tell you I make a pretty lame patient, so for about a week I was pretty grumpy. As Christmas approached the family asked me to put a train around the tree (HO trains are a second hobby of mine, though not nearly to the extent of scale modeling). So that took a few days.

Finally, I took a day to "reset" my model bench. Cleared/cleaned it off. Dusted Boston off, and hauled out my notebook to catch up on where I was when I last worked on her. Realized that I'd left off with the Kingposts which - on this kit - are an absolute nightmare in terms of actually installing them on the ship. By then, it was time to start preparing for work, so the short(?) answer is, "nope, no progress." BUT... I'm ready to get back to it this weekend.

Randy

[RandyM]

Working on the aft end of the 'house. More railings; launchers are completed and installed, as are the SQ5 radars. Also detailed the 04 level with lookout positions, searchlights, Mk56 directors, and the aft Pelorus stand. Finally, at the upper-left of the image - just to the right of the stack - you can see the first completed kingpost.

PS: I don't know if anyone else is experiencing these issues, but the forum is acting "weird" - lots of duplicate windows/controls, the Insert Image function doesn't work, etc.

[Timmy C]

Randy: Yes, forum is bugged up due to a recent patch. See here for workarounds for some things: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=146153

[Guest]

Randy;
The build is looking really good. Just picked up one of these kits on E-Bay with lots of extra's.. How many pieces of deck did you use.. saw them at free-time for around $38.00 a section... The deck detail on the casting is great, but the real stuff looks so much better.
Maybe when they re-release the kit in the near future some aftermarket company will solve this issue by making an deck for this ship..

[gtbred]

She looks great. Hopefully i'll be able to finish Chi-town Monday.

[RandyM]

Bruce,

I received your message and replied, but the reply seems to be "stuck" in my outbox. Given all the various other problems I'm experiencing with the forum I thought I'd just try the brute-force method (NB: why hasn't someone fixed all these issues???). If you already received my PM, please disregard.

To answer your questions, the deck is Scaledecks Tinted Wood, 5x14" uncut. This amount of material doesn't leave quite enough for a complete disaster recovery/do-over, but the deck on this ship is so simple, it's really pretty hard to screw up that badly (is that a word?). I chose the Tinted Wood because I personally prefer lighter-colored decks, even on warships. I've attached a close-up photo of the material. For reference, the planks are roughly 0.030" wide. There are no "length" joints, but again I think the decks that include these details usually overdo them, and the net result is too busy. Note the variance in colors across planks. It's subtle-enough so as to not be too noticeable from a distance (12") - as it should be - but it's there if you look for it.

The non-scratchbuilt bulkhead details are mostly from Alliance Modelworks. In particular, the cable runs are in set #NW35020. I think I used two sets, which I bought last year for under $10 apiece.

-Randy

[Timmy C]

PMs are listed in the Outbox until they are read by the recipient.

[RandyM]

Installed the SPS43 radar and associated conduits; the mainmast; the (odd-looking) CRCX radar; and the Mk34 and Mk37 directors (the foremast is just posing at the moment).

[RandyM]

Began the "second layer" details - all the stuff that's really easy to break off. All the masts and radars are in place, and I've begun on the auxilliary antennas. The bow antenna was a bit of a challenge. I keep wondering whether I would recommend this kit, and I keep coming up with "If you HAVE to have a CAG in 1/350, or if you REALLY want to challenge your skills, patience, and discipline, then THIS KIT IS FOR YOU!"

No excuse for the poor images - I'm somehow not in the mood to look at this ship right now.

[el Cid]

Hey Randy,

Your hard work and attention to detail is paying off, she's looking great. Thanks for posting your photos; looking forward to more.

Cheers,

Keith

[RandyM]

Thanks much, Keith. Spent some time last night finishing up the forecastle. Finished the windlasses and chain guides, more antennae, the jackstaff (curiously not included in the kit), various deck fittings, and the first maindeck railing... so the end MUST be in sight, correct?