The Ship Model Forum

Hello, this will be my second work in progress build thread, first of a large vessel, a cruiser.

The basis for this build will be Corsair Armada 1/700 USS Houston 1942. USS Houston is the proper Corsair Armada resin kit to start with for USS Chicago at the time of the Battle of Savo Island because their USS Chicago kit represents her final fit before her loss in the Air Battle of Rennel Islands in January 1943, after her fall 1942 refit. Houston�s final fit was quite close to Chicago�s in summer 1942 and most of their differences are clearly addressed in the kit�s instructions. Although almost 15 years old, Corsair Armada kits are to my knowledge still the best starting point for Northampton-class in 1/700.

My kit arrived in a good shape, I just had to dip the hull in hot water and then clamp it to the table to fix for the slight �banana� effect. Similar treatment will be required by some other parts. Overall, the kit is of a very good quality with nice details.

Replacement parts that I�ve got ready:

• Main armament: Aber 8"/55 Mark 9 gun barrels (in fact, the characteristic indentation on the Mark 9 barrel seems to be closer to the turret on photos than depicted by Aber, but still better than resin or 8�/55 barrels from Master that are the later Mark 12)
• 5"/25 guns: 3Dmodelparts with Master gun barrels
• 1.1" Chicago pianos: 3Dmodelparts or Flyhawk PE (not decided yet)
• 20mm Oerlikons: 3Dmodelparts pedestal combined with Flyhawk�s PE guns
• SOC-3 Seagulls: Trumpeter
• Cranes, catapults, CXAM and FD radars: GMM US Navy Cruiser/Destroyer PE set
• Railings, watertight doors, vents: Flyhawk
• Anchors, cable reels: Eduard

So this is all of it at one heap:


I am also about to place an order with Shelf Oddity for:

• USN Life rafts
• USN Searchlight
• USN Paravanes
• USN 20mm Ammo box

My main reference sources:

• Pre-war and wartime photography of Northampton-class ships from various online sources, especially Naval History and Heritage Command and Navsource.org
• Modelwarships.com: Calling all USS Northampton class (CA) fans
• Profile Morskie USS Chicago 1942 1/350 Plan Large (pdf)
• Thanks also to Lars Scharff (maxim) for sharing details about his build

Your comments, suggestions and criticism are always welcome - especially if I get them in time during my build

Vladi,

Looks like you have the makings for another stunning build. I can't believe it been 8 years since I built my 1/350 Chicago. Maxim's build was a huge help, as well as a photo Tracy White posted in Navsource of her Bridge showing 2 previously unaccounted for 20mm's. My 1/350 Chicago can be seen here, was a lot of fun. Looking forward to seeing what you can do and will eagerly following along.

Matt

Interesting!

Nice to read that my building report was helpful and I hope it will be helpful again.

The best photos - to my knowledge - can be found on the Australian War Memorial Photo Archive - but most of the details can be only seen, if the original photo was bought.

Thanks, Matt and Lars!

Good point about the AWM site, it is such a pity they do not make available better scans on their website (like e.g. NHHC does). Anyway, I have so far collected 17 photos of Chicago from January till August 1942 (not counting into that details of her torpedoed bow) and in total over 100 mostly wartime images of all Northampton class members. Many of them are quite high res so it is over half gigabyte of data. I hope to be able to live with that although I am sure time will come when I would ask you for help with their interpretation, I am already compiling a list of questions for which I will need to find some answers during the build

As usual I started with installing two nuts into the hull that will hold the ship to a temporary cardboard base for safer handling and to the seabase in the end. I also prepared a basis for the future seabase using the hull, a piece of plastic glass and a wall filler


There will now be a forced break in my build for a few days, but I�ll be back again

I've got that kit in the stash... it will be interesting to follow this thread.

Hi guys, I am back from vacations to my Chicago build. While doing some basic cleaning of parts I started to review my initial list of required modifications to the kit:

• Degaussing cable to be removed
• Two lower levels of portholes to be sealed fore and aft (but should remain still faintly visible)
• Aviation fuel dump line (?) starboard
• Mold-on windows to be replaced - fwd bridge, fighting top, aft bridge
• 20mm positions with their respective splinter shields (11 in total):
  • 2 at the compass bridge level
  • 2 at the forward rangefinder platform
  • 2 aside #1 funnel
  • 2 at the aft Mk19 director platform
  • 1 at a platform on the mainmast above C turret
  • 2 on the quarterdeck
• Supports for front 1.1" quads
• Rounded rear edge of engine room intake vent
• No ribs on fwd rangefinder tub
• Wind deflectors on bridge wings

Comments welcome!

So finally at least some progress here. First of all I cleaned the hull and removed the degaussing cable, which was not needed for Chicago. I also removed mold-on anchor chains and drilled hawse pipes. I spent most time on sanding the hull plating to make it significantly thinner than on the original model as it was much less pronounced according to photos. I also made the rear edge of engine room intake vent aft of funnel #1 round as is correct for Chicago.

Next I �sealed� the two lower levels of portholes fore and aft. As these were still faintly visible on available photos I filled them with an acrylic putty (Vallejo) and then rubbed with cloth dipped in alcohol to make them slightly depressed. I am not sure if this will be enough for the deleted portholes to be noticed on the finished model though. I also added some of the other portholes that were missing on the kit.

I noticed that while the plan (Profile Morskie USS Chicago 1942 1/350, August 1942) showed the second level of portholes plated over amidships, these seem to have been still open at the time of the Battle of Savo as witnessed by the few available photos (the portholes amidships were plated over only after her late 1942 refit).

On the other hand, most of the �open� portholes appear to be closed by shutters, that makes much sense in the combat zone. However, this means that the drilled-out portholes as usual on the model would not appear right. Question: Does anyone know if the above issue was ever addressed by someone in 1/700 (and how)?

The hull of Corsair Armada�s USS Houston before and after corrections above.

I acquired some Shelf Oddity USN detail sets for my Chicago build few days ago. The quality is just awesome!
I will definitely get also their USN rafts but these were out of stock temporarily.

Vladi wrote:I acquired some Shelf Oddity USN detail sets for my Chicago build few days ago. The quality is just awesome!
I will definitely get also their USN rafts but these were out of stock temporarily.

I don't think it's possible to appropriately praise the aftermarket parts being produced by Shelf Oddity. I used some WWI searchlights on the Stosch and love them.

Really looking forward to further progression on this build I, too, am obsessed with Guadalcanal subjects!

Hi Chris, thanks . I am just a bit afraid that this build may be a bit delayed because of my new Kinugasa set, as that will be (hopefully) more straightforward than the Chicago. I am considering developing some extra photoetch details here but that will definitely need some time to be done.

Vladi wrote:Hi Chris, thanks . I am just a bit afraid that this build may be a bit delayed because of my new Kinugasa set, as that will be (hopefully) more straightforward than the Chicago. I am considering developing some extra photoetch details here but that will definitely need some time to be done.

I'm considering a Guadalcanal group build if you're interested. I don't know if I'll do it here or FB. Or both.

Well, why not? But what are you aiming at? Just bringing together people interested in the subject with those really knowledgeable? I think this forum is already great in doing that, although mostly by ship classed and not by period/battle. FB is easier to upload images and add comments but there are already load of different groups, some of them very active and some less (like the Group Build PTO lately). The problem is that you then receive many duplicate posts from similar groups and there is no way to see all reactions at one place. It�s also kind of "shine and die"

In fact, I�ve been a Savo Island group build by myself for the past couple of years already

Looks great! Don�t know how you could pull off the closed portholes in 1/700, be interesting to see how you tackle this.


Looking forward to more,

Matt

For the porthole covers, Five Star makes a PE set - number 700124: http://fstarmodel.com/pd.jsp?id=402#key ... &_pp=0_312

Hello Timmy, thanks for pointing me towards the FiveStar set, that�s excellent! I will definitely get it for my build.

I just received a welcome package from 3dmodelparts with Mk19 directors
(photos show original Corsair Armada resin part - very good quality considering it�s age and technology! - to the left and 3dmodelparts to the right)



... and 1/700 Naval figures - excellent quality and very price-effective (dubbed "velcro" by my wife and kids )

SO ..... I�m back here again after a long silence. Apart from being busy at work the reason was also that I wanted to improve bridges and some other parts of my Chicago. Not being particularly good in scratchbuilding I decided to try designing these parts in PE. I omitted more general parts that I have already got from various manufacturers (like catapults, railings, cranes) and concentrated rather on parts specific to my build and also some other parts that I lacked in the past (like parts for the SOC-3s). I ended with a full 145x95 mm PE sheet plus SOC-3 replacement wings on an extra piece as they did not fit into the large sheet. I am not fond of messing with chemicals so I had it produced professionally by Hauler. I think my first attempt looks quite good - with the exception of one part that I failed to attach properly to the sprue so it was lost during production. Now it�s time for some testing I started with the bridge yesterday. Not 100% perfect yet, there�s an unpleasant error in holes for the aft two parts of the tripod mast (not seen here) but I think it�s not bad for a first attempt.
Finally a dry fit on the hull: To be continued (hopefully soon)

Think that sums it up.

Matt

Well, that was convincingly hardcore of you! How much did the PE cost?

Thanks, guys!

Bouncy70 wrote:Well, that was convincingly hardcore of you! How much did the PE cost?

Do you mean in dollars or design hours???
The sheet you can see above is 1/4 of an A4 format, I made details for other projected builds as well.
Manufacture of one A4 sheet of 0.1mm brass costs $35 total incl. shipping. Would turn out cheaper per copy if you make multiple copies of the same design.
I don�t want to even think how many hours I spent designing it though

Vladi wrote: Do you mean in dollars or design hours???

Dollars, of course. Nobody wants to hear about the design hours. Far too painful