The Ship Model Forum

Once in a long while the 3D printer can be used to make something useful; to dismount the SK radar I had to cut the 2 mm wooden shaft. So I made a collar 2 mm internal diameter and 3 mm long to splice the radar back in place. Curing now! A butt to butt glue joint wouldn't have worked. An alternative would be placing a pin in drilled holes, but centering them accurately would be difficult.

Cheers: Tom

Tom,

I don't recall seeing an actual Plimsol line on a US Navy ship. We did have an "asterisk" like mark at the normal load water line (an "X" with a horizontal dash across the middle). The WWII Clevelands did not have a Plimsol line, nor did the CLGs during the Vietnam era.

Warships (combatants) didn't have much change in the waterline during operations. The fuel and ammunition we loaded was a tiny fraction of the overall ship weight. Supply ships did see a large change, and I expect the APAs also had a large change between unloaded and fully loaded. Oilers in particular saw drastic changes between empty and fully loaded. The Plimsol lines were common on merchant ships that saw large load changes, so I suspect that the Plimsol line might have been used on transports. However, I examined photos of AEs, AOs and AOEs that we replenished from in Vietnam and saw no sign of a Plimsol line.

The Plimsol line shows the maximum load line and changes in draft due to different water densities (warm, cold, salt, fresh, etc.) and different load conditions.

Phil

On a merchant ship: Bureau Veritas, Lloyd Register.

Gentlemen:

Thank you for the information. As I expected. I haven't ever seen one on a naval vessel, but that means little!

Cheers: tom

Plimsol marks are tied to the Load Line Convention and the resulting Load Line Certificate of a vessel. This certificate has the real lay-out of the mark as it should be welded on the hull, with distances, height of letters etc. included. Warships are not subject to this convention and therefore don't need a Plimsol mark. As you can see the certificate is issued by the classification society, again something Warships don't normally use/need (although this has recently changed).

Thank you gentleman for the additional maritime knowledge. As always appreciated.

Today's activities: Pistol match, lousy score but enough to win. I also found I could import to my stencil cutter files of 2D projects exported as a DXF. That's useful as it is a more capable (and I know how to use it...) software. The stencil object was doing Heli deck markings for Missouri. We shall see how that goes.

Tomorrow, rifle shoot, pretty confident on that one.

Cheers: Tom

Tom,

What stencil machine are you using? I have seen some that use only prepackaged cutsie junk art files sold by the stencil maker, or to use only a simple drawing program that comes with the machine. Totally useless for modelling! I haven't seen one that allows you to import files.

Phil

Phil:

I am sing the Silhouette "Cameo 4", a larger version of the machine used by Pascal. I am not pleased by the basic software that comes with the machine, though it is useable in design. However one can use any font that you can use with your computer and the "USN Stencil" is quite satisfactory. In addition I can directly import and use a DXF file as a 2D export from my 3D program I use for the 3D work. So for numbers and letters I can type them right in and resize as necessary. For more sophisticated design I can use the regular 3D program which I am by now very familiar.

Tom

Hi there Tom and all,

Your hull stencils are as convincing as can be in full light; in normal daylight, they have to be a dream come true.

Fliger747 wrote:Phil:I am using the Silhouette "Cameo 4", a larger version of the machine used by Pascal. I am not pleased by the basic software that comes with the machine, though it is useable in design. However one can use any font that you can use with your computer and the "USN Stencil" is quite satisfactory. In addition I can directly import and use a DXF file as a 2D export from my 3D program I use for the 3D work. So for numbers and letters I can type them right in and resize as necessary. For more sophisticated design I can use the regular 3D program which I am by now very familiar.

OMG, definitely I am no longer suitable for this life anymore. I will never be able to keep path with all this modern technology...

Nice going from accross the seas,

Willie.

Willie:

Many good things about traditional hand craftsmanship. I was a little surprised that Song has adopted styrene construction. However his roots in craftsmanship shine through. No matter what methods you adopt, the craftsman patience and ability will always be evident.

Today was the small bore rifle competition and I was lucky enough to shoot a perfect score, 200/200/20X. One small error is enough to loose your place!

I used the 3D design program I have adopted for 3 D printing to design some stencils for the Missouri Helicopter Deck markings, going OK so far. It is possible to save the designs as a .DXF file which can be used by the cutting machine directly. A big advantage as I am both better with it and it is more capable.

Regards: Tom

Current progress on heli deck: Still missing area edge and centerline stripes. I found that a little spray will negotiate through the paper towel masking so some black touchup will be necessary.

Finished the heli deck, at least till I decide to "improve " it. Doing the stencils for the "Missouri" on the stern. However the freebie USN Stencil font has some issues... As with many "free" items they disable them in some way. In this case there are some characters that will not cut correctly without modification. Below is an example and to get these to work properly I had to go into one of my design programs and correct them. The internal bars cut and do not allow a clean character.

Tedious as the font does not remember these changes.

Whilst messing around with making stern lettering for Missouri and Alaska (1:192) , black for Missouri and White for Alaska I wondered about hull numbers. As far as I can find Alaska was so secret it carried no hull number? If it had a 2 it was Guam, if none it was the other one? I have an idea which I will explore about making a two part set of numbers for a numeric press on. Because of hull plating and other irregularities I am not sure a stencil will block the irregularities well enough for airbrushing.

Cheers: Tom

If there is a chance of paint bleed under a stencil or tape, model railroaders use a simple trick. First spray the stencil/tape edges with a light coat of the background (hull) color and let it dry. If there is bleed through it will be the hull color, and it will seal the edges of the stencil/tape. Then spray with the number/letter color. After it dries remove the stencil/tape.

Phil

Good idea Phil! I have been giving a light coat of Krylon 1310 matt which seems to help a little. Painting and finish is a complete field of it's own, not one I am expert at. The experiments continue!

As to the hull numbers, I suppose the only one's who might (GAS) were the scout plane pilots who would endeavor to cozy up to the right ship.

Regards: Tom

Further experimentation: Mz. Ri, a redoubtable warship of long service life getting some extra decoration by way of heli deck striping and shaded hull numbers. The numbers are a combination of a white number and some nestled up black bits that when cut look very much like Arabic writing.
Still experimental, but I think a step in the right direction.

Tom

Phil:

I can create images in photoshop and import them into the 3D design program. In the case of the shaded letters above I typed the letters into photoshop and then traced and shifted the numerals to create both the main number and the separate shaded portion. This could be sent to the Silhouette software as a .DXF file, which being already rasterized allows a direct printing without further modification. The cutting software allows import of a great number of formats but not all allow direct usage. A good 2 D drawing program such as Corel Draw or one of the Adobe products would be useful though drawing in my 3D is still useful.

Useful file formats: jpeg, gif, png, bmp, tif, sag, pdf, ai, eps, cdr. Utility depends on a raster or a vector format.

Tom

It looks good!

My next project will be an extension of the APA. The ships workforce was sorely tasked with resources, manpower and materials to keep the ships boats operational. Experience showed that the ARL was a very valuable type to accompany the invasion fleet with a large and well equipped workshop keep the invasion supported. They also assisted many other types from the LDM's to PT boats, acting as a general resource and mother ship.

I numbered the two LCVP's ARL 12 carried in her assigned compliment, imaginatively numbered 1&2. Besides these boats, beyond her authorized compliment she carried a 40 foot and a sailing sloop. Also included in the unauthorized assets was a jeep, won by the Captain in a card game.
The boats were numbered with a cut stencil sealed with the "Fill" (Suggested by Dr PR) method of first applying hull color, then several coats of white lightly brushed on (suggested by Willie).

Tom

With the above photo of Missouri's stern one can see how little hull depth the Iowa's have aft, an issue with the Trump (y) 1:200kit. With this shape, necessary for clear flow to the screws to utilize the power, the twin skegs assume a significant structural importance for longitudinal strength.

The Haskell APA's could do somewhere around 18 knots on 8000 SHP, the Iowa's 33 knots (depending on load) on 212,000 SHP. The Sacramento AOE's with half an Iowa power pant could do 28 knots. Those few extra knots require a longer ship for lesser wave making resistance and a lot more power. The 900 ton airplanes I used to fly took as much (more) power as an Iowa for takeoff but we could go a bit faster (M.92 certified and M.99 tested).

Cheers: Tom