The Ship Model Forum

Good to see you back at this.

Glad to see you back at it!

Matt

Sometimes in our hobby, you get on a "roll", and I seem to be on one now with Okie. After going over the deck with another burnt umber wash, I continued to rail the superstructure with 2-bar railings, as well as inclined ladders, both from Infini. I was making good progress, and had almost the entire superstructure done, when I ran out of rails. After the last inclined ladders were added to the back of the superstructure, I test fit the funnel, Mk19 directors and forward turrets, just to see how she looks. Still a lot of touch up work to do, like the stray glue spots, paint work, etc. While I wait for an additional set of rails (that I ordered last night) to arrive, I'll most likely concentrate on the forward spotting top. That will need to be finished, installed, and rigged before I can permanently attach the funnel. I'll be posting some questions about her rig over in the CASF Nevada class fans topic shortly...

Off the main topic, but I really like your Alaska, one of the most beautiful warships ever built. I'm a little familiar with her as I have mostly finished a scratch built 1:192 waterline version. Otherwise, nice work indeed!

Thanks for sharing: Tom

Thanks Tom. Alaska has fought me every step of the way - or at least that's how it feels. I'll be glad when she's done. Hope you've submitted pics of your Alaska to the gallery! Would love to see her!

Decades ago maybe, someone who had done an Alaska, described her as a festival of small detail. Somewhere along the story of this project, I began 3D printing and replaced many items aboard. The 5" mounts are on their third iteration, the originals being resin cast ones of my design, replaced by Model Monkey mounts and finally being replaced with maybe two generations of my own 3D printed ones. I originally also cast all my own 20 mm Orlikons, but these and the Bofors were replaced by Pontos one's left over from Han Strub's New Jersey, but then I replaced all of the light AA with my own 3D printed items. One set that I got from Hank that I didn't supersede was the catapults and float planes (Seahawks). I have to admire that you have gone for the dazzle scheme, something beyond my interest in mastering. Other parts? The directors of all types and their radars except for the MK38's are on their third generation parts, designed and printed by me.

I've never done a ship in a "seaway" so that's a hangup at present. I did decades ago build a display table for her from Walnut, Birch and I think Cocobolo.

Anyway very nice project you are working on, a nostalgia piece really of the pre war battle line. I remember a somewhat heated as these things go discussion on this forum years ago of what colors did the battlewagons wear on Dec 7.

Best regards! Tom

Fliger747 wrote:Decades ago maybe, someone who had done an Alaska, described her as a festival of small detail. Somewhere along the story of this project, I began 3D printing and replaced many items aboard. The 5" mounts are on their third iteration, the originals being resin cast ones of my design, replaced by Model Monkey mounts and finally being replaced with maybe two generations of my own 3D printed ones. I originally also cast all my own 20 mm Orlikons, but these and the Bofors were replaced by Pontos one's left over from Han Strub's New Jersey, but then I replaced all of the light AA with my own 3D printed items. One set that I got from Hank that I didn't supersede was the catapults and float planes (Seahawks). I have to admire that you have gone for the dazzle scheme, something beyond my interest in mastering. Other parts? The directors of all types and their radars except for the MK38's are on their third generation parts, designed and printed by me.

Thanks for the kind words. I am a sucker for a good camouflage scheme! And I love the "festival of small detail" description! Ain't that the truth!

Doing the seascape isn't that hard, its just tedious. you should give it a go. There are good pointers in the tips and tricks section. Also look for Chris Flodberg's article in the April, 2016 edition of Fine Scale Modeler. That's what I use as my seascape starting point.

Heh - funny you should mention the weapons. Other than building an open hangar, the Alaska build was supposed to be "out of the box". Well. I had the Master Models brass barrels, so, ok, I'll use those. But everything else was pretty much going to be from the kit.

Well, the floatplanes suck, so I bought resin replacements from L'Arsenal. Now, over the last two nights, as I've been painting and touching up the 20mm and 40mm guns, I realized that they also suck, and I can't live with them as is. I just placed an order for replacements this morning.

Fliger747 wrote:I remember a somewhat heated as these things go discussion on this forum years ago of what colors did the battlewagons wear on Dec 7.

Hahaha! That argument still persists! I have my own opinions, but in the end, I don't care WHAT they were painted, I just want to know HOW they were painted.

The quad Bofors and Orlikons printed OK for my 1:192 Alaska effort and for my 1:512 I got surprisingly OK Bofors, Orlikons and 3" 50's. Pretty delicate items. I suspect they would print OK at 1:350 though I have never worked in that scale. The 20's era Battlewagons do have the advantage of not having much AA to clutter the topsides. One of the reasons Hood is so elegant is she lacked that clutter.

Keep up the nice work! Tom

I've started a new job, with a fairly long round-trip commute (yes, I need to be on-site), so workbench time has been limited. However, I did manage to add more ladders to the superstructure, using the booklet of general plans for placement. The inclined ladders are from Infini, the vertical ladders are spare GMM. Also noticed a cracked splinter shield in one of the photos, which will have to be repaired. I also started working on the yard arms for the forward spotting top. I drilled holes in the sides of the spotting top and slid brass rod into the hole. As I could find no plans showing the length of the yards, I had to eyeball it. Once those were super glued into place, I added the first set of braces from slightly thinner rod. Next up, I'll add the next pair of braces, going down in size again, and then the mast. When that's done, I'll move onto the mainmast top. The additional set of USN railings from Inifni showed up, so I should have enough railing on hand to finish the job. Hoping to find time, during this long holiday weekend in the US, to get some work done.

Crisp work, M.

Coming along nicely Martin. Looking forward to future updates.

DavidP - yes, that's pretty much what I did. Thx

Dan/Mr Church - thanks for the comments.

Got the forward spotting top pretty much completed last night. If I can find a 1/350 PE anemometer, I'll add that. Or I'll try and cobble together some sort of facsimile. Or not.

Other than that, she's ready to be painted. I'll wait until the main top is finished, as there's a few things I want to paint 5L, and will do them all at once.

Love it! Great work so far
Really can't wait to see this all come together.

Matt

Thanks Matt! You are too kind.

Made some progress on the main spotting top last night.

Looking at photos, I kept seeing braces coming off both sides of the spotting top, so I decided to try and replicate them with thin brass wire. I first drilled pilot holes into the ST, then bent some rod and adjusted the length until they fit, then CA'd them in place. I also drilled holes for the yard arms and attached those with thicker CA, then put everything aside to dry for the night. I would have gotten more done, but that Kaplan guy came over to use my photo booth to shoot some pics of his 1/700 PH battle-wagons.

Clearly, a most inconsiderate individual.

Dan K wrote:Clearly, a most inconsiderate individual.

Indeed!

Main spotting top is now 99.9% done. Have a few tweaks to do, then it's time for paint.

Very nice and crisp work!

marijn van gils wrote:Very nice and crisp work!

Thank you!

DavidP wrote:Martin, did that "most inconsiderate individual" bring food or drinks or both for using your photo booth?

Pffft! I had to feed HIM!

Hey Martin,
There is some OUTSTANDING work going on here.
I thought it was 1/350 until I went back to the beginning and looked at some of the pages.

You "eyeballing" of the photos is totally successful in determining dimensions and proportions.
The Force is with you. Trust The Force.

DavidP wrote:
Martin, did that "most inconsiderate individual" bring food or drinks or both for using your photo booth?

Pffft! I had to feed HIM!

As you should. My august presence alone should suffice.