1/350 USS Indianapolis CA-35 (Academy) COMPLETE

Well, I made an executive decision and ordered the Deck Grey 20 (Vallejo 995 German Grey, which is IPMS's Vallejo equivalent). I figured that since the Indy was repaired/overhauled mid 45 and the measure color change was made in Feb 45 (mostly due to the lack of blue, so my research has uncovered), that I'd go with the grey.

Steve

Steve,

I'll be keeping an eye on this build, I have the same kit.

Are you going to use any AM for the build, or you doing OOB?

OOB. It looks pretty detailed already. I looked at the PE sets, and I still may go for the hand rails. I did order Eduard's 1/350 Scale US Navy Sailors though.

I'm starting the Indy tonight. Here's a pic of the bagged parts, and while I'm not installing any PE, I am going to populate the decks with wee little PE sailors. Since they are flat and 2D, I'm going to apply a touch of white glue to add a little depth. I also plan on displaying it in heavy seas, and 1945 measure 22 paint referencing the "Camouflage Instructions - Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts, Assigned to the Pacific Fleet." C-S19-7(631) of 26 February, 1945.).

Will be tagging along on this one.

This should be a good one 

I have the hull together and the deck on. Tonight I'll spray the deck color, according to the 1945 Measure 22 stats "Apply Deck Gray (20) to decks and other horizontal surfaces exposed to weather.". 
I am pleased with the look and the fit of the kit so far. It has been outstanding. 

 Steve

Edit. the kit is longer that I had expected. You see it pictured on a TV tray.

Ship camouflage 1941 - 1945

Well, we had our open house today. There were some interested parties. We'll see. Good news, I have the garage set up and the temperature was 63 today, so after our open house, I did a little work on the Indy.
I sprayed the Deck Grey 20, which is supposed to be equivalent to Vallejo's German Grey. I was convinced that it was WAY too dark.

However, I did a search and found a picture of the Indianapolis model at the Indiana War Museum. Now I'm happy with the color.
 
Next, I'll start on the superstructure. Come on PE. I figure I have maybe another week or two waiting for it to arrive from Australia.

I decided to build the 20 mm AA guns first. I have 32 more to build.
 

Steve

Good Luck on the house.

The look  of the build is outstanding so far.  Those huge 20mm s will, no doubt, be a treat.

I am very impressed with the kit so far. I can't wait to get the PE in (I broke down and bought some) to see which parts need to be kept and which need to be tossed. I'm a little hesitant to continue until I get then. The guns and such are pretty safe, but I can't be for certain.

I finally received the PE from Australia today, so I can get back on the Indy.

Yikes! I have to use the microscope at work to see these ladders to bend the 4 little tabs. There are several more to do, along with the 20mm gun sights.

Unbelievable. This may take a while.

OK here's crazy man's update for tonight. 
The life boats, davits, aft gun tubs, and whatever those barrel racks are?? (maybe someone else knows, I never have) were completed tonight. The instructions call out for me to install the davits and life boats now. Are they nuts? They would break off and get lost if I looked at them wrong, let alone the whole building and painting process. Duh.
Check out the life boat propellers. I believe they are the smallest I have to fiddle with on this PE set. A whole lot of good they did in the end though.

Steve

MC,

 I think the barrel racks may be depth charges, though I've not heard of cruisers carrying them they kinda look like them.  They appear too short to be torpedo tubes.

Groot

Nice work on those little details.

Groot,

I thought they may be depth charges as well, but after a search, DC racks look more like rails that 50 gal barrels can roll on. Stickpusher believes they may be smoke canisters. I can't find any photographic evidence either way. Not yet anyway. Things like this are a mission to me. I won't stop until I find an answer.

Im building the 1/700 Indy and working with the PE is a challenge

Bill

wjbwjb29

Im building the 1/700 Indy and working with the PE is a challenge

Here's tonight progress. I built up some life rafts, watertight doors and installed the PE to the #2 turret.
Tomorrow night I think I'm going to build up the AA guns and finish turret #1 and #3. Wait till you see the AA guns. I'm going crosseyed. Thank goodness for the Optivisor.
 
Steve

RobGroot4

MC,

 I think the barrel racks may be depth charges, though I've not heard of cruisers carrying them they kinda look like them.  They appear too short to be torpedo tubes.

Groot

Check this out Groot. Stickpusher thought he remembered what they were and found this wed page. Learn something new every day.

"They are indeed smoke generators. Look at this page and scroll down. I know that my memory was not playing tricks on me"

http://www.bosamar.com/pages/bosc14

OK, I may have been a little too ambitious with the amount I could do in an evening. This AA gun took me 2 hours, and I have 5 more to complete. I also have numerous other guns to complete.
I broke off the muzzles of 2 guns and they are almost impossible to reattach.
Does anyone know how Academy's customer service is?

You looking at seats, sites, ammo racks, elevation cranks, and tracks

Sometimes you just wanna throw in the towel on repetitive gun construction.

Plenty of other things to do, come back to it.

When you go to finish paint it, the whole thing except for the flexible seals should be gray.

Any chance to square off the ends of the barrels?

This is going to be a superdetailed model/

Yeah, I forgot to square them off before taking the pics, It was getting late and I still wanted to post the pics. I will probably try to drill out the barrels if possible (obviously just enough to see a hole).  I will likely finish the other 5 quads and the 8" turrets, then work on some superstructure for a break.

Thanks for the color advice, That keeps me from having to do research on B&W photos.

If I remember correctly, the actual barrel tube of the Bofors gun was dull, unpainted brass. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable can correct me on that point - or dig up a color photo.

For some reason I want to say the barrels were grey and the ribbed part black rubber.  If you google "WWII bofors gun" and look at the images you can find photos with both standard grey or a gunmetal looking barrel.  The ribbed part is definitely black.

MC, I'll definitely check out that site when I can, I always though shipboard smoke can from the stacks.  Fascinating!

Groot

I finished all 6 Quad Bofors tonight. I have several duel and single to make still. I think I'm going to take a break from guns for a little bit and work on some superstructure tomorrow night. There's plenty of PE for that as well.

I know all the barrels don't look perfect, however some of the muzzles were broken off when removing them from the tree. I found out the hard way, they are very brittle and very hard to reattach. If anyone builds this kit in the future, be aware of this.

I've been playing that game with a 1/350 U-Boat.  Short connection points + soft plastic = lots of broken delicate parts.

Your gunmounts look pretty solid to me.  I certainly can't tell where they broke.

Groot

Thanks Groot,

Here's some superstructure work. I'm planning on working the bridge and masts this weekend. Looks like I'm starting to make a dent in the PE sheets. 

Boy, I can see why the PE sets for ships cost so much now. It's not so much the manufacturing and materials, it's the time it took to measure and engineer ALL those wee little parts. I was working on the smoke stacks this weekend (I did't get much time between a grandson's birthday, showing the house and family issues) and the grate along the top of the stacks have 13 triangular braces. I could barely see them through my optivisor, let alone pick them up with my tweezers and just dip the edge onto a drop of glue. I don't know if anyone will ever notice all the tiny work I'm putting into this thing, but it should add to the the overall look. I will post pics of those insane smoke stacks when I complete them. Maybe tonight before bed.

In the end, my wife, you guys on the forum and I will know the extent to which I'm going. Ya'll just don't have to hear my string of curses like my wife does.

I also looked, in vane, for a base that would be suitable for the ocean scene. I could't find any long enough to do the "water" justice. Oh well, I will have to make one myself, which shouldn't be too hard. It will just be heaver than I would like. Some plywood and molding for the sides, and I think I have it. I'll start working on that soon and take some pics of that progress as well.

Hey ;

    I am so glad you decided to join the rest of us to continue doing things that totally " toast the ole optical orbs ". Methinks thou art doing a capitol job matey ! When'll the bridge be done so's I kin take me rightful place there ? AAAAAARGH !  Oops wrong ship ! He! He! Darned Great Job !