The Ship Model Forum

About 10 years ago, I built Imperial Hobby Productions "as designed" Lexington-class Battlecruiser as USS Saratoga (CC-3). It was a nice kit, and I enjoyed building it.

With the appearance of 3DModelparts new realistic cage masts, I decided that refitting the photo-etch cage masts on Sister Sara would be a good first place to use this new product. In chatting with Carl, the owner of 3DModelparts, it became apparent that I'd have to replace the spotting tops too, so I placed an order for cage masts, spotting tops, and both 5in/51 cal secondary guns and 3in/50cal AA guns. You can see my thought on the 5in/51cal guns here.

I haven't done too much work on the refit, mostly removing the old cage masts, taking the new parts off their "plugs" and doing a lot of dry fitting. But, I did take a bunch of photos, which show how the new cage masts - even unpainted and just dry-fitted - improve the look of the model.

Next I carefully removed the original cage masts and spotting tops. Here they are compared to the 3D printed cage masts (without 3D spotting tops) The cage masts dry fit on the ship:

Next I started playing with the spotting tops and dry fitting them to the tops of the cage masts. i didn't realize the California and Tennessee had slightly different spotting tops than CO/MD/WV. Carl and I decided the Lex's would have had CA/TN style tops, so I went with those: Here they are dry-fitted to the tops of the masts.

While playing with the 5in/51cal guns tonight, I decided to use Carl's 5in/25cal guns instead, as that is what I had on there already. (I may place a pair of 5/51s in the forward most position on the 01 deck). I test fitted one of the 5/25 cals and put it in place of the original white metal guns (which seemed to be copies of Skywave parts): These 3D printed 5/25cal guns are much finer and to scale. They will be a huge improvement over what is now there.

Next chance I get, I'll take a closer look at the 3in AA guns and see how they stack up to the kits parts.

Once I get a chance to break out the airbrush, I'll paint the cage masts and start assembling them for installation. I'm going to use the Toms Modelworks set #775 as part of this upgrade.

Interesting stuff, Martin!

What material(s) are the 3D-printed parts actually made of, and what kind of adhesive would you use?

That's a brave move!

The guns will be a big improvement indeed, and the better shape of the cage mast will make her look much smarter.

Looking forward to the 'before and after' with paint!

Cheers,

Marijn

Good stuff Martin! Your CC-3 build was one of the things that inspired me to make my own. She's going to look even better with Carl's parts (not that she didn't already). I look forward to seeing your progress.

One question, is Carl making custom cage masts for you? I though the current set was sized to the Maryland, which has the aft cage mast starting at the quartetdeck level and therefore two decks too tall for Sara. Or did you cut it down and was that easy?

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Goodwood - it's a type of resin. Nice detail but I do find it on the brittle side. Carl could probably fill you in more on what exactly it is that he uses.

Vlad wrote:One question, is Carl making custom cage masts for you? I though the current set was sized to the Maryland, which has the aft cage mast starting at the quartetdeck level and therefore two decks too tall for Sara.

Yes, Carl made these custom made for this kit. I believe he is considering marketing them as a set for anyone who has this model in their stash.

The ship as you originally built it looked very good and now the new parts look even better. Superb!

You've given many of us a great reason to return to some of our old favorite models and give them a facelift. Or even backdate some tripod-masted battlewagons.

@Vlad,

This was a "custom", in which I paused the printer during a build of tall masts and snipped one out of the matrix. I would liken the procedure to getting a fly out of a pan of freshly poured cake batter just as it was set in a hot oven. Not recommended.

These can be made as a batch of "specials", now that we know how high to go. Better than cutting down a full-sized mast, which can be tricky.

@All

The 3DModelParts material is a customized acrylic blend; it results in a material which is still somewhat brittle, just not quite so much as most hobby resins (epoxies, polyesters, etc). This material has some "give". You should be able to drop a cage mast (or any of our parts) off a table and have it bounce without breakage. You then might not be able to find them, which is one reason they're day-glow orange. That, and the desire to use a complimentary (contrast) color to aid in best bringing out our battleship grey and blue paints...

The forming process is more similar to making PE than either resin casting or injection molding. But ickier. There can be a slight residue, even after our cleaning, which is why we recommend a rinse with paint thinner or alcohol (the parts, not you; with rubbing alcohol, not beer) to clear any residual waxiness. Although not porous, the material has a slight microscopic "tooth" to it, and takes any hobby paint well.

If there's enough interest, masts for the CC-1, BB-49, and other classes can be printed as sets. Note that Brandon at FreeTime has a range of sizes, by ship class, going from CO-class all the way back through re-fitted predreadnoughts suitable for most of the kits out there.

As for weapons for the battlecruisers, I haven't gotten to a 6" gun yet; there's a lot in the pipeline, including that 4"/50 twin for a flush-decker...

Regards,

-Carl

With everything going on, I haven't had much time or motivation to work on this project, but after a long day in the yard, I decided to do some more work tonight. Using the 3D Modelparts accessories, I assembled two 5in/51cal, six 5in/25cal and six 3in/50 cal guns for Sara. I also got the cage masts and photo-etch ready for painting: Along with upgrading all the secondary guns (minus the casement guns), I've also decided to rob a Trumpeter Colorado of her 16' main battery turrets. I assembled one and put it on Sara (and forgot to take a photo). It's smaller, more to scale and just plain better looking than the the kits resin turrets, so I'll use them. Whenever Trumpeter releases the 700th Tennessee class battleship, I'll but one and replace the CO turrets from that kit.

Next step is to paint all this stuff - especially the cage masts and spotting tops. Once those are done, I can add the PE platforms inside the cage mast and then add the spotting tops.

These 3D Modelparts are small, but they sure look very nice.

beautiful additions Martin the level is enhanced
cheers
Nicolas

The new additions look great. They make the original guns look downright clunky. Glad you are bringing this one to us.

Here is a picture of the Trumpeter turret compared to the IHP "final design" resin turret that was originally on the model: The resin turrets seemed a bit oversized. On the original finished model, I had the aft turrets trained out, because "C" turret would have hit the cage mast if facing aft. The Trumpeter turrets look a bit more to scale. I'm assembling the other three I pilfered from the Colorado kit tonight.

Here is how she looks as of tonight.

I guess it's true these ship models are never really "finished." The ship looked great to begin with, Martin, but your reworking is taking it to a new level. Amazing how big the planned ships of the '20's and '30's would have been if not for the Washington Treaty. Looking forward to seeing more! Thanks for posting!

Nice. And the comparative turret pic is most revealing.

Nifty little project. Looking good.

Those are some excellent improvements and those pigeon nests are so much better than the originals.. Keep it up man




Jose

Thanks for the comments guys.

Well, now that my hockey team coughed up a hairball and won't be contending for the Stanley Cup, hopefully I'll have more time to build. I started assembling the main battery turrets last night, sans the 16 inch guns, as I had to let the rest of the assembly dry first. Now, I just need to find the time (and motivation) to fire up the airbrush...

Ok, only two months since I worked on this. While I had the airbrush out today, did some work on this as well. The forward cage mast and both spotting tops all need another coat of standard grey. The Trumpeter turrets need their tops painted as well.