The Ship Model Forum

I finally put a few bucks down and bought a "Kit" for this ship. As seen in the photo below, some "assembly" required!
Cheers: Tom

Fliger747 wrote:I finally put a few bucks down and bought a "Kit" for this ship. As seen in the photo below, some "assembly" required!
Cheers: Tom

Tom,
A magnificent start!!!!

Hank

The scale will be 1:120, same as the APA. I'll begin by ripping the sheet into three widths, one for the deck (5") , one for the flat bottom (?) and one for rib widths, (4.56"). Other pieces will be used for the flat sides, main and 01 level superstructure etc. When the hull gets put together the ship will be lunched, not launched, a better usage for a bottle of Champaign. As with the APA, I really began with the pilot house and flying bridge and will have some photos of progress on that in a bit.
A visit by Admiral Daniel V Gallery after the ships return from Okinawa after the end of the war. She looks pretty ship shape!

Tom

Current progress on the pilot house: Consists of seven parts, fwd and aft deck house segments, PH roof deck, (Strathmore paper) Flying bridge bulwarks (Incl searchlight platforms, round tubs and inclined ladder.
Interior of wheelhouse will have some minor detail. spoked wheel, Eng order telegraph, binacle and compass repeater. Interior color open to debate, have seen white to black...

Tom

Hooray! Thank you for the separate topic. This will make finding and saving details of your work for a future project much easier.

My wife's cousins' paternal grandfather was on board the USS Achilles ARL-41 in the Pacific. I think that he received a Bronze Star for his actions during a kamikaze attack-not sure if it was off the Philippines or Okinawa. I would eventually like to build a model of the ship for her cousins, but may stick with trying to do something with the basic hull from the ancient Lindberg LST. Several years ago, I picked up a wooden hull of an LSM started by a modeler somewhere in Florida. It was in an estate purchased by the owner of a hobby shop in Pensacola and at first I though it was an LST-but later checking the dimensions and shapes-it is an LSM. However-it might be converted to a smaller scale big brother!
The Achilles and a sister ship were converted into ARLs in Australia and I have not been able to locate any photos of her other than when she was commissioned as a LST. Since it was a front line type conversion, I have doubt that it included a lot of the conversions made for the stateside ARL conversions-but I assume that the workshops, cranes, and davits would have been the same.

Will be following closely as you progress, especially when it comes to the booms and cranes. I don't have a 3d printer, but maybe you could share some of the drawings in future posts.

Dave

Static model: weight maybe around 4 lbs? Not really too much of an issue for something that is beached.

ARL 41 saw a lot of action, being converted for forward area usage at an early date but retaining the designation of LST 455 till later in the war, the reason for her having a high number but early conversion date. It's hard to estimate what the extent of the conversion was, though certainly experience with her led to design evolution of the ones produced stateside. Her Captain at one point won a Navy Cross after a bomb hit in the stern. I am sure that the crew enjoyed the delights of wartime Sydney, never to be underestimated.

Cheers: Tom

I printed most of the pilot house equipment (simple setup), wheel, eng order telegraph, wood grating, binnacle, compass repeater etc. I suppose I could add a voice tube from the flying bridge? Today will probably design the O1 level deckhouse which goes under the pilothouse. I laminated from Strathmore a double thickness O2 level deck which includes the bridge wings. Getting all this together will undoubtedly present some as yet unknown challenges! I do have a photo which shows the flying bridge (taken from mast with no canvass cover) so will attempt to discern what might be appropriate to model there.

I also ripped the 5" wide plywood for the main deck and need to make the miter cut for the break in the shear forward. Looking at some discrepancies from hull lines between some LST ones and Sphinx cross-sections, Sphinx showed a very hard chine at the turn of the bilge so I ordered the hull lines from FDD to peter resolve the actual shape before cutting the ribs. NARA also has listed some BOGP for several ARL's so I enquired about ARL-11 (12 not listed) which would be a great help if I can obtain them.

In one of my dad's photos wooden benches are shown at the front of the O1 deckhouse, perhaps there is a shuffleboard court I haven't yet discovered? Given that these ships were SLOW and took some time to get from A to B the very talented carpenters certainly had time and materials for extraneous projects, such as the sailing sloop VJ.

Tom

If a bridge is going to fly, it needs wings! These are laminated from heavy (Archival) Strathmore Bristol Board, sealed with paint and the edges sealed for filing and sanding with CA. Note the few details for the pilothouse interior.

Currently working on the O1 Deckhouse which goes under the pilot house complex.

Tom

Tom,

Your pilot house interior looks great - it's nice to know those items are there even though they're almost impossible to see. Good work so far!!

Hank

Hank:

Printing the 01 deckhouse with appropriate compartmentation. However the WT doors are not open. Because of the size, printing in two sections. Joining these pieces, plus the bridge bulwarks (not yet designed) may be a little complex. From photos of Poseidon she had the First Luff's "veranda" decked over (not shown on the Sphinx plans), a lovely spot underway! The Captain's cabin, toward the aft of the O1 deckhouse is surprisingly small and accesses the bridge through a compartment forward and an interior inclined ladder to the charthouse.

Cheers: Tom

The O1 Deckhouse, compartmented, from Starboard Aft. Printed in two pieces as it is too large for my small printer, joined with lap joints.

Tom,

That looks good! Can't see the seams, so you must be doing something right!!

Hank

It will get a thin coat of gazing putty to treat the seam when the O2 deck is joined and lightly sanded as necessary.

Tom

Tom,

What is a "First Luff"? This is a term I am not familiar with. What is its origin?

Phil

An enlisted mans slang for the First Lieutenant. An interesting position as the office holder might well not be a Lieutenant. A useage I expect we inherited from RN and the days of sail. A �luff� is wind reaching the back side of a sail causing the canvass (or whatever) to flap. When beating into the wind one uses the first luff on the leading edge of the sail to determine how close to the wind you can bear. I have no idea if this is actually related to the useage.

Regards. Tom

Also that "lieu" is pronounced like "leff" in the RN and RCN (probably other Commonwealth navies too), so the pun (if that's what it is) works better.

A good possible explanation. Nautical terms can be obscure in their origin. Sometimes these terms slosh over into the world of landlubbers. For example hard liquor is rated by "proof". RN (a leader in many things of old) tested the "proof" of their alcohol by lighting it. As it turned out 50% would usually burn, so that became 100 "proof".

Cheers: Tom

In contrast to Pascal's masterful use of 3D printing, I often revert to my larger woodworking tools. In this little adventure my 500 lb cabinet makers saw and another rather large scroll saw etc. The aft most part of the Poseidon's main deck house is quite simple in configuration. I printed the deck plan with the Silhouette machine and used it as a template to cut the deck out of plexiglas. A little lube is necessary, as well as a slow blade speed to avoid melting the material in the cut. The backing for the bulkheads is wood, cut into appropriate width on the very accurate table saw. This is the same technique I used as the basis for the superstructure of the APA.

A as yet to be determined facing to be used on the bulkheads. I might (might) experiment with the permanent adhesive materials that I can cut with the "Cameo". Otherwise possibly Strathmore paper or maybe thin sheet styrene, if I can find some.

Cheers: Tom

The Aft Main Deckhouse from Plexiglass and plywood. This is where the "Officers Country" and wardroom were located Some ships also had quarters for a Flag Officer, though probably more useful for storing 3.2 beer for ships rec on Mog Mog (Ulithi).

Cheers: Tom