The Ship Model Forum

Most of the ships I have built to date could be found in a fast carrier task group. Time to branch out to the "others". I immediately found there are few kits and little published reference material. Not only will I have to scratch build, I have to scratch plan.

The first project is AO-22 Cimarron, a T3 oiler. Characteristics are 553'LOA, 75' beam, 7256 tons, 18 knots. To the best of my ability to interpret photos she was armed with 4 5"-38, 2 twin 40mm and 10 20mm.

Floatingdrydock had 1/192 plans of a sister, AO-27 Kaskaskia, but they show the ship as converted (1939?) and she was armed with 5"-51 and 1.1" quads - certainly gone by 1944! The plans were great for "ship features", locations and sizes. I also have a 1/384 "Wiswesser" plan, and while highly suspect, it was fairly accurate for armament. Hull lines are not included in the FDD plans, but I have a 1/350 ISW CVE 26 which used the same hull.

The ship blocked out (the bow shot shows the plastic "sanding guide")

Jim

Some details and curves.

Roughed out

Wow Jim. I can't wait to see how this one unfolds.




Bob Pink.

Very cool.

Very nice!

I'll be watching this build with great interest! I too looked for an oiler in 1:350 scale but found none. And to build completely from scratch is beyond me. Keep the pictures coming.

For those interested in USN oilers, there's a great set of plans for USS KAWISHIWI AO-146 online here: http://navy.memorieshop.com/Design-Details/Plans.html

Links from : http://www.usskawishiwi.org/

Also a PDF of USS Navasota AO-106 is here http://hnsa.org/doc/plans/ao106.pdf

reigels,

Thanks!!! Plans always help.

Jim

Hi Guys,
Jim,
You sure make that look easy. You know what you're doing! In a single word................
Awesome!
Have you pinged Keith Bender about oilers and related deck details? He has been extremely helpful to me in the past.
Reigels,
I've seen Kawishiwi in person. That's a pretty big ship.
Tony

Very neat looking methodology!

look forward to seeing more oics

JIM B

Got the hull to the point where you say "how will it look primed?".

As usual priming told me there is more work!

Jim

Hi Guys,
Jim,
What primer did you use?
Tankers were pretty darn important and look pretty darn cool. Great job!!!
Have you considered doing one tanker lightly loaded; with the screw and rudder partly showing?
Tony
ps how's the weather in AZ?

Tony,

The last primer is a cheap, hot, generic gray rattle can from Auto Zone called "Touch & Tone". It holds well on resin, brass & plastic (other parts were primed today) and is a "no fail" base for the Dunn Edwards enamel that I mix for finish colors. The first primer on the wood was a white brush only wood primer from Dunn Edwards that fills and sands nicely (bought for a cabinet job). The red on the before shot is Bondo.

After the T3, I plan to do 2 T2's, but they all will be low in the water. I want to portray them as a group, loaded to capacity, with hoses hung waiting for their customers. The rigging will be a challenge, I hope to be up to it.

AZ is low 80's but with more wind than normal. Am enjoying it now since hell is on the horizon. Talked to my brother in Illinois who is expecting 4 to 6 inches of SNOW, I will take 4 months of hell rather than any more midwestern winters!

Jim

Hi Guys,
Jim,
I really like what you're doing. Well thought out and well executed.
The aforementioned information will be useful to many I'd say.
80+ here too. Not a cloud in sight.
Much cooler along the coast; only 15-20 miles from here.
Might your rigging end up being a mix of fishing line and fine drawn wire? Maybe even some small guage insulated wire for the larger dia hoses?
Keep up the great work, Tony

A test run of what for me is the hard part (65 and ham handed). Comments welcome, pro or con, I have gained a thick skin.

The goal, as always, is to look like the picture from 1 - 2 feet away.

Jim

That looks really, really good, Jim.

JimRussell wrote:A test run of what for me is the hard part (65 and ham handed). Comments welcome, pro or con, I have gained a thick skin.

The goal, as always, is to look like the picture from 1 - 2 feet away.

Jim

Excellent work.

Slow going!

Still making parts. The false deck will hide a lot, so I shot these pics to document what the main deck looks like.

Jim

Looks great - Nice straight port holes. Any trick to share?

Jim if your going to put that much detail into it then I will have to check in often for updates. Great work.