1/72 USS Moffett DD362 (13.07.1944)

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:21 pm

Hi Guys, a small up date,

This is the beginning of the two director platforms, I cut the inside out of timber, then shaped the litho plate to match.

I then cut a base and a top and glued them in place, also 6 angled supports, all were glued in position.

Next I drilled six holes in the top of the platform, I bent two wires to shape, and got 6 stantions ready.

Everything was glued in position, also the canvas dodger folded round the outside.

The second director was built the same way except there are no handrails just solid litho plate covered with a dogger.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:07 pm

Hi Guys, This is a stern shot of all work up to saturday, on the stern you can see the depth charge racks, I have borrowed them from an old 1/72 scale flower just to see what they looked like.

Starboard side bow shot, all the small armourments are in position.

Port side bow shot.

Port side stern shot, the depth charge racks I will be building are not as tall as these on the stern, but a simular pattern.

A close up of the bridge, you may notice the flag locker, one either side, also the steam pipes on the second stack, 3 pipes and 4 outlets, also all the guardrails round the orlicans are back in place to the right higth

enjoy, ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:15 pm

Hi Guys, Im building the base,s for the torpedo tube launchers,

I first cut some plastic pipe 23 mm wide, then cut some discs out of litho plate, and some out of plywood.

Next I cut some small tri angles out of litho plate 16 in all.

First I glued the ply to the litho plate , the ply being on the bottom, next the plastic was glued to the litho p and 8 of the angle plates were glued in place.

2 complete.

4 discs marked out.

1 Litho disc and 1 plywood disc cut to size.

First I cut the 4 discs to shape and in between 2 I put a copper disc with slotes filled in to it, this is part of the turning section, this was glued in place on each plastic base.
Next I glued the plywood disc to the litho one and left to set for awhile, then the edge was folded over and trimmed, this is the top section in place.
I then added the hatch and ladder to each.

Both items place in position either side of the second stack.

Next I cut the 7 doors and 7 back plates to raise them from the superstructure and glued them in position.

Then I added the ladder.

A full shot of the ship todate as of 13th Nov 2006. 106 days from the start of build.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:59 pm

There,s only a few items, very little in 1/72,

John Haines 1/72 scale 20mm Single MK4 Gun---- $7.75

H-R Produces -------------------------------------$2.20

times that by 7 and there,s a big difference in price.

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:59 pm

hHi Guys, Im going to make 2 small air vents for either side of the second stack.

First I marked and cut out 2 left and 2 right sides in litho plate.

Then exactly the same in plywood and glued them together.

Then I folded the base and front edge at 90 degree,s.

A piece of litho was bent to shape, the flat part is the base.

The two sides were glued in place on the base.

2 Assembled drying off.

2 Front covers cut out and bars fitted.

Front covers fitted, assembly just hardening ready for final clean up.

Vent placed in position but not glued down, this will be after painting.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:07 pm

Hi Guys, I continue with the large vents,

Again I cut out the ply but this time the two sides are not the same hight, there is a camber on the deck so we have to compensate for that.

Ply and litho cut to size and glued together.

The litho is cut at the corners and on the round, this helps with the folding.

All sections folded in.

Two sides and front glued to base.

Placed in position to see if it stood upright on the deck camber.

The curved back and front grill all glued in place, vent placed in position.

enjoy, ARH

Post by **Dave Wooley** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:52 pm

There was studious interest in Rons Litho covered USS
Moffett at our Ship modelling Society bi-monthly seminar.

Members taking a close look at the forward section
of the superstructure of Moffett

To the fascination of members Ron explaining the ideas and methods behind the construction of his USS Moffett

Dave Wooley

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:32 pm

Thanks for the pictures Dave, I enjoyed the day, how quick it went, the talk went down better than I thought, the lads were very enthusiastic, nearly two hours past very quickly,

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:55 pm

Hi Guys, Most of you know Moffett is a working model, so you have to be able to get inside to fit batteries and other things, this means removing the superstructure.
I have been fitting ladders as you can see, this set is o/k because they come away with the superstructure, but the set below that comes up to the well from the deck below would be very vunerable to being broke when moved.
You have to compromise with the build and add things that are not there, so the square section on the deck is the landing area for the top of the tread well.

Ladders fitted, you may notice the spacing between the treads look large, I am going to fit treads in between each step , they will look better.

Superstructure put back in position, the frame now acts as a stop for the structure.

Smoke stack back in place , also the large air vents.

Ladders and handrails in place at the back of the bridge, also the ladders going down to the stern deck.

Enjoy, ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 4:46 pm

Hi Guys, As you may know I am trying to keep the top weight down on this model because it has a shallow draught and is narrow in the beam, not the best things for a sailing model.

So I am fabricating all the turrets, not casting them like ID and NC.

First I have cut the 3 bases from 1/64 ply.

Then cut 6 sides, 2 for each turret.

The sides had a small length of timber glued to it, and the sides were glued in place on the base

The front was cut and the timber again glued on, this helps with the strength of the joints.

Fronts fitted in position.

Viewed from a different angle.

Backs cut and bent to shape, if you keep the grain in your ply vertical it helps to bend it easier and retain its shape, then glue in place.

The litho is marked out for 2 sides and the back, and cut to shape.

Litho bent to shape.

litho glued in place, 2 sides, back , and front, placed in position on the bow of the hull.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:45 pm

Well Jim, Anything I do would look big to you, please take off your visa.

I have seen that picture before, I took one of it at ELLESMERE SHOW 2 years ago, nice bit of modelling.

I was hoping to see you all at the show, should have been going with Dave, but it was our 2 monthly meeting the following day, the CIC likes to go out one day over the week end so I had to drop Telford, I had a talk arranged for two months so I could not miss that, the lads were looking forward to seeing MOFFETT, none of them had seen it since I started it.

Hope to be there next year.

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:24 pm

Hi Guys, Im here again with an update, this is the stern turret , all 3 are at the same level of build.

I begin to put on the roof, agin my 1/64 ply is cut and bent to shape, and then glued in position.

Next I cut a block of wood to shape, this will fit inside of the turret.

This is the front section of litho cut and shaped.

Timber glued in position, this will carry the front section of the roof, also the litho plate has been shaped and glued in position, also the front section has been fitted.

Viewed from a different angel.

Two placed on the bow section to see how they look, the stern one I notice is now on the bow , they do change about a little as im building, trying to show you different angels.

The same sort of thing on the stern, all 3 at same build level.

There,s a lot of work in the three turrets so we will be on them for a few days, when im finished any one should be able to build a scratch turret.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 6:41 pm

Hi Guys, The next thing I started on was the turret base, this is made from ply and litho and plastic,
3 ply discs were cut and the same in litho, these were glued to each other forming 3 covered discs, on the large base disc I cut square pieces of plastic and superglued it to the base.
The next large disc was glued on top, and the smaller one glued to that, after everything was set , the edge was sanded to an angel.

Here the first full roof section was cut and glued in place.

3 Turrets in various stages of the build.

2 Turrets with the tops finished, doors and hatches fitted on both , the indents on the doors and hatches are done from the back of the litho before fitting.

The ladders were cut and drilled and glued in position, also a small plate at the base of the ladder.

The first turret had a long angle bar and 4 short ones glued to it, I think these are sections that can be taken out to get to the front of the guns for maintanance.

Viewed from a diffent angle, the second turret still needs some filling doing to the top of the slope.

enjoy, ARH

Post by **Dave Wooley** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:39 am

Hi Ron I have to confess I was wondering what you were going to do regarding the barrels. Launch day April 15th 2007 a good day to look forward to.
Dave Wooley

Richard J OMalley · Post by **Richard J OMalley** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:41 pm

excellent work

Richard

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:21 pm

Hi Guys, I took these photo,s on sunday, I did post one large one in picture post, here are the rest of the photo,s before I continue on with the build.

enjoy. ARH

Bill Waldorf · Post by **Bill Waldorf** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:16 pm

Superb job on the Moffet, Admiral. That litho plate is an interesting medium. Look forward to the paint job. I see you used HR Products 40mm guns. I have used them before also in 1/72. They were ok. With HR, the smaller the scale, the worse the quality of the part gets. I ordered them for the Indiana build. Haynes are too expensive. There are lots of 40mm quads on the Indiana. I hope they will work ok. I'll make 'em work!! Anyway, nice job on the DD. I am watching you..........

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:26 pm

Well Bill, I had heard the larger the better they were, yes johns are to expensive, he does very little in 1/72, if fact there,s very little 1/72 anywhere, I see your model is comming along great, got my eye on it, thanks for the post.

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:31 pm

Hi Guys, A little air vent and a small locker.

The 3 parts are the stand the vent is located on, made again from litho, cut and bent to shape.

Assembled and glued in position.

These 4 parts make up the air vent.

All glued together and grill in place, the grill is 1mm diamond mesh p/e

Placed in position.

This is a locker, made in the same way , but built around a solid block of wood, you can see the air vent on the right of the picture.

enjoy. ARH

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:13 pm

Hi Guys, This is my idea of how to make those small boxes that are all around a ship.

I first take a piece of timber and cut it just under the size I need, I then super glue it to a piece of litho and then trim when dry.

Then turn it over and do the same.

Turn it on its side.

This time on its end.

Completly over, now its almost covered.

Put 2 little feet on the bottom.

2 in place on the top of structure, the top of the box has a folded down front piece and hinges.

You may also notice a third box on the deck, also the port hole have been put into the side of the structure.
These are all the little things that need to be built on a larger model.

enjoy, ARH