The Ship Model Forum

In between work, commute, etc., I haven't had much time at the bench. However, I did manage to get the two support legs for the aft tripod painted. After repeated measuring, trimming and filing, I also got them to fit. I have some touch up work to do, then I'll add the railings to the searchlight platform before permanently adding the aft spotting top.

why is it that the mainmast center post appears to be on an angle compared to the forward mast center post

I'm pretty sure that's due to the camera phone lens. Happens all the time in my own photos.

Looking great Martin! I have not attempted a Brass Tripod build since a Northampton Cruiser a while back, it's amazing how 3 legs can be so stressful to keep in alignment.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Matt

DavidP wrote:do you have the forward spotting top in reverse because your yardarms are at the back not at the front like in this picture?

Thanks. Jeff Sharp also pointed this out, one page back. I was working off older, closeup pics, and when I looked at this photo, I completely missed that they have moved the yardarms. Oh well...I'm not f**king with it now.

taskforce48 wrote: I have not attempted a Brass Tripod build since a Northampton Cruiser a while back, it's amazing how 3 legs can be so stressful to keep in alignment.

Haha - right? It's nerve-wracking!
AFTER I added the searchlight platform and glued everything into place, I realized that I missed the small platform for the inclined ladders.
Fortunately, I was able to pop that into place without any difficulty. I couldn't find a set of Infini inclined ladders that would fit (they were either too short or too long), so I dug through the spares box and found an old GMM ladders set, and used a pair of those, which were "good enough". I also used some left over PE from the Hobby Boss Alaska to said platform. All of this work consumed two nights at the workbench. I noticed a gap around the base of the mainmast, so I filled that, along with a few other spots. Once that's cleaned up, I need to add the railings around the director and searchlight platforms, then do some touch up work. I also need to buy more .50 caliber MG. I only have enough for the birdbath, and forgot about the one's on the forward platform. Doing a lot of forgetting lately - the brain ain't what it used to be!!

Photos of Oklahoma show vertical ladders on the legs of the mainmast tripod, along with some cabling. I tried to replicate that with PE and .10 brass rod. When that was done, I finished railing the mainmast rangefinder platform, and the small platform between the MG platform and the spotting top. I used Infini 2-bar railing on the rangefinder platform, and left over 2-bar railing from a GMM set for that small platform. Next, I'm have to discern the placement of four small "cages" (as I'm calling them) that sit under the SL platform.

Then there is lots and lots of touch up work - everything looks a bit sloppy at this point. Which is always a mojo killer...

On the plus side, I found a second set of 4 .50 caliber AA guns from L'Arsenal tucked away with another standard battleship, so I have enough for Okie.

Seriously impressive dedication to this project and getting as many of the minor details as possible right! Nice work my friend.

sgtryan13 wrote:Nice work my friend.

Thanks!

Finished adding all the railings to the aft tripod last night. I've got an inclined ladder and a few other parts that need to be airbrushed 5L. Once those are painted, and the ladder is installed, the spotting top (dry fit in the last photo) can be permanently attached to the mast. While some of the touch up paint on Okie was drying, I broke out a new bottle of Humbrol 121, which was the color I had used for the decks on California. The area around the forward superstructure got some 5D overspray on it. I tried to do it the easy way, and touch it up by hand painting it, but it looks like sh*t. So, I'll have to do it the right way, by masking the area off and airbrushing the deck.

Coming along nicely. All of the sweat and swearing is paying off!

Once upon a time, I had delusions of having this build completed for the 82nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack.

Progress has been slow, between my long-a$$ commute, work, reviews for this website, and the fact I've pivoted to other projects for a bit, as I sorted out the ships boat and raft situation.

The kit supplied boats are unusable, so I bought 3D printed replacement boats from Shapeways (even though I swore I�d never buy from them again) because they were the only place - at the time - that I could source the proper boats I needed. Had to wait a few weeks for the order to arrive, only to have it come with the parts loose in the package, and with some broken. Complained, got a reprint sent to me (fairly quickly too). The replacements arrived the same as the first order - loose and broken.

Using PE from Toms Modelworks AZ boat set, I managed to replace broken parts, dress them up, and get enough "useable" boats to use. I also started making life rafts, in different sizes, which came from L'Arsenal. I won�t use all on the rafts on Okie, but at least they'll be done for future builds.

While waiting for the boats to arrive, I pivoted to some other shelf queens - first it was a foursome of 1/700 WW2 Royal Navy destroyers, and then a trio of 1/700 WW1 Royal Navy battleships. The trio is is what's currently on the bench. Being that I have the attention span of a squirrel, that could change at any moment.

Another manufacturer now produces the boats I need, so I placed an order and I'm awaiting delivery. Once I get them, I'll compare them to sh*t from Shapeways and see which one's I'll use. I also have to figure out the placement of all these rafts. Maybe then this build will get kick-started. Or, maybe not.

Between work, commuting, life and distractions of other builds, I've made only incremental progress on Oklahoma. As I'm still waiting on new 3D printed ships boats to arrive, I worked on the searchlights. I had originally planned to use the very nice Black Cat searchlights for this build, but found that they were too big for the platforms. They "sort" of fit, but wouldn't be able to turn if they were 1:1 scale, so I bought a set of 3D printed replacements from Eduard. These aren't as nice as the BC versions, but they are still pretty good. Once they were airbrushed, I painted the inside of the "lens" flat aluminum. When that dried, I slowly built of layers of Testor "clear parts" white glue inside the lens. When I was satisfied how they looked, I attached them to the SL platform on the main mast. When I painted the Eduard SLs 5L, I also painted a stray inclined ladder that needed to be added to the mainmast, then attached that when it as dry Finally, after seeing the comments about the foretops yardarm, and realizing those were in the wrong spot, I tried gently using debonder to remove the assembly. That was to no avail, as the yard, which was place into a hole drilled into the side of the spotting top, didn't want to budge. Instead of wrecking the assembly, I'm going to leave it as it. You can see I ended up removing paint from the yard and the spotting top trying to remove it. That has since been touched up. Next step: gloss coat the model, then weathering.

She's coming together beautifully Martin!

Matt

taskforce48 wrote:She's coming together beautifully Martin!

Matt

Thanks! She wouldn't have gotten this far without that Kraken Hobbies dude!

New boats from Swordfish Models arrived, so I was able to get back to Okie, after a diversion to some unfinished 1/700 projects (which will remain that way for now). The boats are pretty nice, though almost every rudder snapped off when I was removing them from the print raft. While those got a coat of paint, I built the deck catapult, then painted that too, along with the trolleys from Eduard, that come with their Kingfishers. I also started adding inclined ladders and railings, both from Infini Models.

First, the inclined ladders, including a pair on the superstructure that I had missed. Some of the ladders look askew in the photos, but not to the Mk1 eyeball. And then railings, starting with the boat deck. Last night I started on the main deck railings. Trying to keep in mind these are chains, so limiting any bends, as chains wouldn't bend like a pipe railing. That's as far as I got. I plan to keep plugging away until the whole deck is done, then add some resin chocks from Corsair Armada.

Good to see the railings advance

Good progress Martin !

>>>.... Trying to keep in mind these are chains, so limiting any bends, as chains wouldn't bend like a pipe railing....<<<

an often overlooked fact on many models; especially at casemates--where the rails often span straight
across the deck curves...

JIM BAUMANN wrote:Good progress Martin !

>>>.... Trying to keep in mind these are chains, so limiting any bends, as chains wouldn't bend like a pipe railing....<<<

an often overlooked fact on many models; especially at casemates--where the rails often span straight
across the deck curves...

Thanks Jim! Yes, I've been trying to mindful of that. I caught myself when I started trying to curve the bow rail!

Over the course of a few nights, I was able to finish the railings, and add resin chocks, from Corsair Armada.

First, the railings. Then, the chocks. Which are probably not 100% accurate, as they are all "open" style chocks. Next, I have to finally figure out the placement of the 30' whaleboats that hung off each side of the aft end of the casement deck. Once I've figured that out, and created the support and boat cradle, it will be onto the placement of the rafts.

Then lots and lots and lots of touch up...

In trying to figure out the arrangement of the two whaleboats, my first attempt started out like this, with a plan to add PE boat cradles on top of those horizontal beams: Not only did the boat not seem to fit, when dry-fitted, but the configuration didn't look right to me, so I kept looking through pictures and going back through the CASF NV class thread. I found a few attack and post attack pictures of Nevada that cleared things up for me, especially this one: After seeing that, I ripped off what I had started with, and created these instead. The long beam will sit on the brass rod, with the ends of the cradles attached to the sides of the casement deck. Those were painted last night. Hoping to find time to try and attach them today.

Friday night was our local IPMS club's monthly meeting. I dry fitted everything and brought Okie along. Still a lot to do (including tons of touch up), but she's starting to look like a battleship.

...but she's starting to look like a battleship.

Indeed. And, a nice one at that.

Looking at photos, I noticed some missing ladders on turrets 1 & 3, so I added them, from leftover PE.

Turret #3 with ladder in place: I also noticed that the rafts on the turrets are hung from straps. The straps are attached to rails on top of the turrets. There are no rails, so I rummaged through the spare PE box again, and found some leftover GMM railings, then cut down a section to fit on top of turret one. Took me f**king forever and a day to get it to stay, but here�s where I�m at: I just have to make sure it is secure enough to hold the straps & rafts.

All the rails on the tops of the turrets are in place (and in need of touch up). I made straps - which are probably too wide, might have to redo them - from copy paper, and have started painting them. Meanwhile, I started adding the rafts to the turrets. Once those are dry, I'll slip the straps through the rails in glue them in place, hopefully giving the impression the rafts are hanging from them. Two views of the rails on turret #1 Adding the rafts to the turrets