The Ship Model Forum

Okay folks, another barn burner of a card here on The Ship Model Forum:

Another update. I ordered the Pennsylvania stack that Model Monkey designed from Shapeways. It is designed to fit flush on the boat deck, whereas the kit stack is designed to fit through the hole and be fixed into the locator on the superstructure deck.

Here you can see the differences in length.





Here is the hole on the superstructure deck the stack fits into through the boat deck.



So, I have two options, either Mohammed can go to the mountains, or the mountains can go to Mohammed. I chose the later. I really didn't feel like cutting the extension off the kit stack and marry it to the Shapeways stack as that would have limited my options, should I have chosen to use the kit stack for this conversion. In the photo below you can see that the kit stack is ovular, whereas the Shapeways stack is eliptical.



So I made a plug for the hole in the boat deck.



I shimmed and braced it on the underside, in the picture below you can see what I did, it isn't real pretty, but it works.



I am using Plastruct Sheet plastic it is 91104 .040 X 1.0mm



Here you can see the stack sitting flush on the plug and aligned with the superstructure with some PE and kit parts to add the details to it.



I added some "handles" to the incinerator and I also wanted to see how it algins with the stack as the routing of the incinerator stack is slightly different than the AZ. It fits nice and with some cutting and splicing the incinerator stack will fit fine as well.



In the photo below you can see that I have added the PE exhaust "deflectors" in the Shapeways stack. I had to do some trimming but I am happy with the result. The Pennsy didn't have the stack cap like the AZ did.



Here you can see the difference in the stacks. The differences from a distance would appear subtle, but upon closer and second looks the difference is dramatic.



I added some bits and bobs in the observation platforms on either side of the stack. I don't know what was in there but it fills the void.



In the photo below take at Mare Island in February '42, you can see that there are what look like tool boxes attached to the stack. The anti aircraft platform was expanded during this time and the .50's were replaced with four 20mm guns in single mounts: you can see the WWI style helmets in the railing as well. I am not sure if those tool boxes were present during August of '41, but; I think I will add them as there was a water cooled .50 on either side and I am sure the gun crews would have tools and cleaning gear handy during that time as well. So some square and rectangular pieces of plastic will go on there prior to painting as well as eyelets for the stack stays.



As you can see, once again, the differences between the Pennsylvania and Arizona are noteworthy not only in their subtleties but also in their dramatic differences.

Stay tuned for more modeling excitement right here and keep those cards and letters coming.

Excellent work, and good info on the stack cap. Like you said, the differences are subtle, but if you know the ships you can tell.

Looking good Mark! I love it!

Mark, so does the new funnel include rivet details too? It's definitely an improvement on the kit stack...

Channell wrote:Mark, so does the new funnel include rivet details too? It's definitely an improvement on the kit stack...

Hi Jason: It doesn't have rivet details, but it does have some circular support details near the stack. I forgot to clean it up and noticed it after I painted it. It doesn't look too bad from a few inches away but I am sure the macro lens will pick it all up. I would highly recommend cleaning it up per the instructions on the Shapeways site. I thought I had as I have had it for awhile. Care needs to be taken as well as some of the whistles and vents are very delicate.

Thanks Abram, Steve and Jeff for stopping by and your compliments. Duly appreciated. Yes, the Shapeways stack is an improvement over the kit, but then it is totally different from Arizona.

Okay, I calling the stack complete. I did some dry brushing with Testors MM Light Ghost Grey to pick out some of the details. I think it turned out pretty good. As mentioned previously, I had thought I had sanded this down prior to detailing and painting. I hadn't. From normal viewing distance and due to the dark color I think it turned out pretty good, sanding notwithstanding.



In this one below you can see some of the printing tracks, for some reason, I kind of like it and as mentioned from normal viewing distance it isn't noticeable.



Now on to the more mundane

Hi Mark Great update. The Printed stack is so much more realistic than the kit supplied one. Looks good.
The printing tracks seem to give it texture and the appearance of slight "oil-canning" an enhancement I think.
The dry brushing has brought out much detail that would be lost in a sea of dark grey without it. Nice effect!

Beautiful execution of the mast. Really.

Mark,

This really looks great! And good info down the road for me!! The fact that the two ships stacks being this different is very interesting - esp. from the modeling standpoint. Your method will be studied, for sure.

Got the platform templates and did comparison - I'll email you about these.

Later,

Hank

@ Mark: Thanks for scoping it out and your comments. I like the stack that way too. As mentioned, from normal viewing distance it isn't noticeable, adds a bit of 'grit' to it.

@ Dan K: Thanks for checking in. It was a challenge, I am happy with it and am ready to move on.

@ Hank: Thanks and hope that the info will be helpful.

Okay, I wasn't going to post these as there is a lot of clutter, but; I got anxious to see how the three sub-assemblies would look on the hull.

This is a head on shot with the radar attached





I also wanted to see how the stack would sit on the deck with the superstructure on it for fit, alignment and if any trimming needed to be done, now was the time. It fit nicely.



I also wanted to see how the main mast and the Shapeways cranes would fit with the vegetable locker and the trans deck bulkhead in place. It fit nicely as well.



I can now proceed with confidence knowing that these critical pieces fit together nicely and..........it motivates me to continue on.

Kudos Mark!

Those subassemblies do work well on the assembled decks. Very interesting to see how it all works together. I hope I'm as successful when I get to this point!

Hank

They look great all together Mark. Could you do me a favor? Can you take some pictures of where the main mast attaches to the deck? How close is it to the boat cranes? Thanks.

Thanks Guys:

@Abram: I will get some pics tomorrow and post them for you.

I agree with Hank's statement about it coming together and how it "all "" fits in.

I Started prepping the gun deck on my 1/350, shaving off the gun shields and boat stands and such. And also was looking at how you rectified the area with strip plastic where the Arizona mast legs were to go and was checking out some of the pennsy photos when I noticed this. http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013839a.jpg and http://navsource.org/archives/01/038/013803g.jpg
There is an ectra portion of deck along the lower portion of the Crane post..level with the upper deck and it ecstends (sorry lost my key function) over to the mast leg and has 2 sets of stairs...one up to the superstructure deck and one down to the main deck.
Also in this pic http://navsource.org/archives/01/038/013803g.jpg The stairway leading down to the main deck..look at the cook in the doorway..is a single staircase as opposed to Arizona's twin stairs. It shows even better in this Pic..http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013865.jpg
I realize these photos are from Feb 42 but I think that feature would have been present at the time of Pearl also.
Had these caught your attention? I just saw this myself for the 1st time

Replying to Gott_cha's last post -

I just looked at Chesley's 1935 plans and that area of the 01 Level enclosing the boat crane kingspost does show a single ladder to the main deck at the after side of the kingspost. And - the deck extension around the post is all squared off. The plans also show outboard of the kingspost two ladder from the 01 level to the main deck - the photos posted show this with a single ladder - so, this is obviously a change, probably done in the subsequent yard periods at PSNYD prior to Pearl Harbor.

So, I will note this as I hadn't paid much attention to it up 'til now. For my purposes, the 01 Level will need to be modified as shown in the 1935 plans with the small deck extension around the kingspost and a different ladder arrangement.

This was a good catch, Gott-Cha - minor detail, but a good one!

Hank

Hank I never really saw that before today even though I've studied these pic's many times.
Just goes to show that even though they are Sisters...they are not the same ship.

** as a side note....have you or Mark came up with a workable solution to the "funky Z " shaped vent behind Turret # 3?

Gott_Cha wrote:

Hank I never really saw that before today even though I've studied these pic's many times.
Just goes to show that even though they are Sisters...they are not the same ship.

** as a side note....have you or Mark came up with a workable solution to the "funky Z " shaped vent behind Turret # 3?

Yes, "sister ships" is for all intents and purposes a misnomer - in reality, the only thing that makes them sisters is that they began life as a class of ships; once in construction they began to take on differences as I've mentioned before: availability of materials, on the site construction changes, a whole host of possible reasons such as why one has external bracing for gun tubs and another one doesn't (for example).

As for the "z" vent - I think Steve Larsen has put the PENNSY vents on his 2016 parts schedule for design, etc. That is one item I haven't gotten to as far as anything yet. It doesn't look overly difficult, but the Chesley 1935 plan does barely show it and due to the position of the Turret 3 Catapult, obscures part of the vent top. So, once again we're left with where does the bottom of the vent actually penetrate the deck - the Mare Island photos don't show this either - best guess is "somewhere". One could surmise that given the location & distance of the two side vents from the Turret 3 barbette, that the Z vent was also positioned in the same relationship and simply goosenecked to make it work. I was going to mention an alternative, but my train of thought just had a major train wreck - must be old schnauzer's disease

Anyhow, when I get finished working on the main mast platform drawings, I may give this a shot and see what I come up with. One other note on the vents that I just noticed - the two side vents @ Turret 3 - the stbd side has a square vent cap while the port side vent cap has the inside fwd corner cut at a 45 deg. angle. I picked this up from the Mare Island photos 1090-42 (port) and 1105-42 (stbd). Just another subtle difference in equipment on the ship.

Hope this helps,

PS - didn't try to steal your thread, MGunns I'm so-o-o unworthy

Hank

Okay, here is a photo of the main mast legs on the main deck in relation to the kingpost legs.

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Photo bucket doesn't seem to want to play today. When it does, I will upload a better photo of the 01 level platform between the kingpost and the mainmast foreleg and a small detail of the "Z" vent along with the square vent top on the port side with the notch. Until that time and until photo bucket wants to play, here is what I have.

Here is the "Z" vent tucked behind the #3 turret along with the deck on the 01 level