The Ship Model Forum

Just started this kit the other day. The Dragon kit is amazing! It has been a joy to work with it so far. I'm doing a little conversion of the ship. The ship will be as she appeared in December of 1944 after her refit of two dual 40mm guns aft in Ms32 camouflage. Based off of this picture:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/0542903.jpg

Looking good! You should enter her in the DD group build!


Matt

Here are a couple of images of LIVERMORE in this configuration that may help you.

LIVERMORE in late 1943 (likely September - October 1943)


LIVERMORE on 7 December 1944 after being repainted to dazzle. Note that a mainmast with HF/DF has been added.


Note that this image has been censored ... the Mk 37 director Mk 4 w/Mk 22 has been deleted, but not the air search radar.

Just a small update. Work has been progressing slowly at the moment.

Beautiful work....

Does anyone know why is the deck in a different colour underneath the 5" mounts in the photos posted by Rick?

GTDEATH13 wrote:Beautiful work....

Does anyone know why is the deck in a different colour underneath the 5" mounts in the photos posted by Rick?

I'd like to guess at that.

It may have to do with a pattern made with non-skid paint or strips. In my experience on ships and subs in the modern Navy, the non-skid can wear faster due to foot traffic and it is mostly worn atop the ridges of the texture lending a difference in the shade of the non-skid paint when compared to the rest of the deck. The light area may be a smoother area when compared to the rest of the deck around it.

A second guess might be that this serves as some sort of warning in regard to the rotation of the turret. Kind of like the red warning circles on modern USN ships.

Anyone else?........................

The question had come up before about what, if any, pattern was used on the decks of BENSON-GLEAVES units with Ms 31/32/33 dazzle schemes. After looking at a fair number of photos, I came to the conclusion that most (maybe all?) units stationed in the Atlantic didn't have a deck pattern applied ... just solid deck blue. Also, many of these "post-refit" photos were arranged to be taken on a shakedown cruise where they returned to the yard and there were still many little items that needed to be taken care of. Someone told me and after I checked enough photos I believed it was true that one of the last things done was to paint the deck. With all the yard work and extra traffic using the deck, it made sense waiting until the end of the refit to paint the deck. Also, I noticed that the whole deck couldn't be painted all at once and was done in sections. At least once, I noticed that the crew was applying deck thread from stacks of the pads while the ship was at sea.

I forgot; Two things. As part of the painting process, a primary was applied first, so a lighter color appears in these B&W photos. Also, sometimes the non-skid areas were applied like a coating of asphalt tar, which sort of looks like the case in these photos. Most time the non-skid surfaces were painted over to match the rest of the deck.

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't know about that color difference from the photos Rick posted, but here are a few update photos of my build:





For the nonskid area decals I cut some of the longer sections into pieces to ease in application. The hull is finished now and the decks are glued into place. None of the superstructure pieces are glued down though. I am really enjoying this build. I recommend the Dragon kit.

She is looking great... And the camouflage is superb...

Looking forward to any progress...

P.S. As for the deck colour question, if the deck was eventually painted all over deck blue then it is more than enough for me...

Just a quick update. I've test fitted the pieces on the stern of the ship. I still need to modify the aft gun tubs for two 40mm guns, but that shouldnt be too hard. (I hope!)

Another update, just been working on the camouflage at the moment.

Another update. The forward superstructure is all glued together (but not glued to the deck) and I think I'm done with it besides a few touch ups on the paint. I got the two 40mm twins assembled, now they need to be painted. The 20mm guns are super fidley (for me at least), but look good when finished.

Very nice!

You are doing a great job, but I'm going to point out somethings that are not accurate for LIVERMORE in 1944-45. It is up to you if you want to try and change anything at this point. Note the difference in shape to the twin 40-mm bulwarks, that the walkway was on the starboard side and other details (most you have yet to add).

Rick,

Thanks for the pointers. I noticed the bulwarks on the 40mm tubs in one of the other pictures you posted, but decided to just go with the kit parts. At this point Im not going for 100% accuracy, as I knew I wouldn't acheive that from the start. In all reality I just wanted a build that looked good to me. Thanks for the pointers again, they are greatly appreciated. All things I can take into account if/when I do build a more accurate one.

Well, I'm resurrecting this thread because I plan on finishing the ship this weekend. I got the superstructure parts all glued to the deck. I've almost got the forward mast done and I've started attaching the deck railing. Here's two pics, enjoy!

HI Arizona

nice resurrecting I like the camouflage
good luck for the finishing
best regards
Nicolas

Well, I'm resurrecting this thread because I plan on finishing the ship this weekend. I got the superstructure parts all glued to the deck. I've almost got the forward mast done and I've started attaching the deck railing. Here's two pics, enjoy!

I've had this ship for a while but haven't started it yet. I got mine because I like the camouflage she had, and you've done that proud.
Are you scratch building your mast? I was going to use the kit mast on the Laffey, but quickly found out that once the rigging was added it warped badly, so I followed another build, and made mine out of a piece of rod and tubing. It was easy and made a big difference.

No mater what you do with yours I'm sure it's going to be outstanding.
Again I feel you've done this kit well, can't wait to see her done.
I'm not going to be hurrying my Bataan build by any means, but once that's done I'm going to be starting this one. With my Bataan project moving along the way it is, that may be in a year or two.

Abram - Nice work! I was wondering how I missed this build log until I got to the end and saw that you had resurrected it. I've been lusting after the Dragon Benson kit because of its camouflage scheme but you've done a great job with it here on the Livermore.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Mark, I'm using the kit's mast. I'm still undecided on how I'm going to do the rigging. I'll most likely use paint brush bristles for the signal flag lines, as the ship is still small enough to do so, but for the other rigging I'll need to find something else.