Academy USS Indianapolis Build

That one bit of movie dialogue lifted the USS Indianapolis sinking from a little known tragedy, as most similar sinkings are, into a piece of folklore. John Milius (the writer of that portion) and Robert Shaw (played Capt. Quint) gave those men the recognition for their sacrifice.

lol  thanks for the laugh, Subby!

Can't you hear the words of Capt. Quint of the Orca....... Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

Now, let's all sing.....

Show me the way to go home.....I'm tired and I want to go to bed.....I had a little drink about an hour ago And it went right to my head.......Where ever I may roam.......On land or sea or foam.....You will always hear me singing this song...........Show me the way to go home

GMorrison

As long as I am in full windbag mode, on the subject of paint color. Go by what is indicated on this website:

http://shipcamouflage.com/

In USN Warship Camouflage/ Ship Camouflage Database/ Heavy Cruisers (CA) you can see what measures she was painted in and when. For instance her last scheme was from December 1944, in MS 22.

Camouflage geek and researcher here! Updated information for you - for her last mission she was in the 1945-revised Measure 22. This was ordered in February of 1945.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Academy will release a "deluxe" edition of this kit in the not too distant future, as they have done with their Graf Spee, Warspite, and Oliver Hazard Perry, that will include PE and possibly wood decks. And that will probably come in for around the same price, or a bit less then the Trumpeter kit. But to echo the advice above, I suggest you look at a Tom's Modelworks PE set. Their stuff is the best bargain for the money and will greatly enhance the finished build. And likely costs around the same as you spent on the kit and not $50.

I used to justify ship prices and the price of detailing sets by saying that I spend far more time on ship models than any of the other genre I build.  So in terms of dollars per hour of building enjoyment I can afford to spend a lot more on a ship.  However, I have seen a big jump in airplane kit prices lately, with some airplane kits more than many ship kits.  I wonder if those aircraft are really that detailed and complex.  I still believe even spending as much or more on an accessory kit (have done that on last ship build and latest one I am about to start) for ship models is still financially an okay deal.  Ship models keep me occupied for a long time.

You might reconsider the PE decision as in the end you cannot go back and add it. Maybe just buy a stock railing set from Toms or Gold Medal.

As long as I am in full windbag mode, on the subject of paint color. Go by what is indicated on this website:

http://shipcamouflage.com/

In USN Warship Camouflage/ Ship Camouflage Database/ Heavy Cruisers (CA) you can see what measures she was painted in and when. For instance her last scheme was from December 1944, in MS 22.

MS 22 is described two pages back. That'll give you the colors and where they go. There's even a picture of a ship painted that way. You'll get lost in this website if your interest is in WW2 ships.

I have found that most sets of instructions, in particular Trumpeter, are generally just wrong. I have no experience with Dragon and they use good sources, but it's generally best to look it up.