What to do with 1/400 fire hose racks?

Those are the type of racks that were on the ship I was on except the half moon rack was painted red and the hose was a dark gray

Hi;

 I got to tell you. I won't use P.E hose racks.They look too flat! So if you can find resin or shave some off another kit, don't bother. No one will notice UNLESS you are going to compete with it.  T.B.      P.S now that most of my ships ( Tramp Steamers and Tankers of all types) are either H.O. (1/87 or N.(1/160 ) I use everything I can to detail them .  

I wouldn't bother. The PE is not ship specific anyways.

I believe you have these:

They are wall (bulkhead) mounted. They already have the connection to the "main". 

     I cannot find any Ships photo's in my collection that match these.  I thought I recalled a Destroyer Escort with this style rack but did not locate it.

    It will add some detail to the bulkheads so unless you find a good reason not to, I recommend using them...BUT It is your call.   

Paint'em first!  ... And maybe add some thickness to the Main pipe to make it look more 3 dimensional.

    Nino

http://marine.lpsphoto.us/en/blyskawica-gdynia

I couldn't find any fire hose racks. Usually it's a give away if there's a valve or hydrant right next to it. Lots of other interesting details. The pattern of the watertight doors is unusual to me anyways.

The racks vary a lot, but pretty common is a D shaped basket, open side up. The hose gets coiled and dumped into it.

Nice subject, look forward to seeing it built.

Don't worry. Unless you've served on a warship...and most of us haven't...a lot of the detail is new and strange until you've started seeing countless old photos to be able to pick them out.

Google 'warship fire hoses' and you'll see photos of typical installations. They're usually prominently mounted on exterior bulkheads at intervals, to be able to reach key areas. If you can find drawings of your ship or similar types, you can often spot the hose racks once you know what you're looking for.

Good luck...and please be sure to share your build if you'd care to. We'd love to see it.

You may have to go searching for reference photos.

Some racks hold folded hose:

Other racks are a reel one hose-width wide.

Various kinds are used on board ship.