That's a nice improvement Ben. They looked good before but I can see how much sharper the folds are in the replacements. 

Ben, are the two sets from diffrent manufacturers?

With lessons learned on the first fire control towers, I used the replacement PE to "tweak" a new pair. I think the new ones are much cleaner and have square and sharp angles compared to the first set.

NEW ONES:



FIRST ONES:



Range Finder:





Just some very minor clean-up and finish the second round turret with MG platform. I also have a new idea for the MG platform using PE and plastic (image soon). Thats it for now....

Stay safe, strong, healthy, and hopefully employed during the beer virus.

Ben

Great job there on shaving a little off Ben, looks much more like the photo! 

PE looks excellent Ben.

Excelent!

Thanks Gamera...

Baby steps with the million piece PE, this time more on the control towers and work on the range finder platform. This was what the rear fire control tower looked like in my last post, notice the rather high profile on the top round house:



Not satisfied with the height of the third tier I carefully sanded the PE down. In the process the walk-in access door got compromised just a little. The window treatment I added was removed as well. I finished the build-up of these knowing I had another set coming (it arrived today). Here it is cleaned up better; the round house lowered; and more PE stuff on both towers. I also closed the center windows on the rear of the front towers and front of the rear tower according to real photos (see below). I see in the first photo that I need to seal the tops of the fire control towers a little better, but here is where I am after a couple hours today:





This is the range finder platform with many added PE parts (and much more to still come):





I cannot believe how long this stuff takes. Tomorrow I hope to get started on the other (new replacement) towers as I have a couple more ideas, wish me luck....

v/r,

Ben

Ben: I dunno but it looks friggin' cool to me! 

Ben you're giving a great tutorial, keep it up!

I would say yes, it looks too tall. The height below the windows is where it appears to need adjusted. If you've got another one coming then I'd say adjust it. If you're playing the cards you're delt I would do as MC says and not worry about it because those of us who haven't seen the picture would never know 

Supper detailing PE, nice. Yes, Eduard PE is thicker than other manufacturers and while that good/bad their instructions are #1 IMO.

The top od the tower dose look a wee bit tall be you need to know something about the Penn class BB to recognize that.

Your really making me want to work on the wreck version, but I just have too much on the bench.

Thanks Steve, Scott, and Gamera, your encouragement is appreciated in this build. 

I am finding that the Eduard PE is much thicker than other brands I have worked with, that it is both good and bad. Good for retaining its shape and strength when folded. Bad as it takes more effort to fold it properly and because the smooth rounding arcs are very difficult to produce compare to another brands thinner and easier to mold PE. I may try some mild heat annealing to soften the brass temper for the round items (?).

Regarding the floors in the rage towers, I checked every single part on every PE tree twice. Those second story floors (part #70) are not in the Eduard pack under any number to location. That part of the build was only a minor setback though. The problem is with the big windows and empty / unpainted interior. Not sure why I did that other than a brain fart. Lesson learned for me..... the Arizona build will go on....replacement PE is in the mail.

Here is an idea I had for the second tower, thin plastic sheet on the inside to replicate the window armor:

 

Second story floor added

 

Since the windows are going to be so small, I will curtail the detailing in here and paint it black (the wrikled window armor in the first floor was fixed)

 

Phase one of this tower is done, how does it look to you? Better I hope....

 

With the exterior still far too plain, I added some ribs above and below the lower windows (as shown in the original ships photo above). Im not totally sure about the ribs I added as it may be better to do the same effect with a slightly different shade painted on a decal and cut into a pinstripe then added to the exterior. I believe mine is out of scale, it was just an idea anyway. It can be easily removed.

The round house top portion was a PITA as they placed the seam right at the door so only two very thin pieces above and below the door hold the hard to bend ring together. Trying to keep the brass round without breaking or distorting that door jam is very, very difficult (14 attempts). Also the Eduard instructions show to use the kit part for the top of the round house but they require the removal of the top half of the tower windows (below the roof) and the little bump on the top center of it. When trying to glue the roof in place while still trying to keep the brass in the correct shape and also keep the roof level on top the brass, it did not want to cooperate. Since after the removal of the bump and windows the roof was basically a flat piece, my solution was to glue the brass to a similar thickness of sheet plastic. That would enable me to hold the brass in a near perfect circle while it dried. Once dry I simply trimmed the excess plastic from the roof, shaped and sanded it... done. 

 

Here it is just sitting on the top of the ranging tower. I think it looks to tall when compared to the ships photo. Is it me... or is it tall?

 

Keep in mind, I have another Eduard PE set coming. I plan to build both of these again, but better / cleaner next time I hope. I think I'm remembering why I do not do much ship building (smile).

Till next time....

Ben

Ben, GREAT work!!! I've been watching and learning.  But I've got a question. I have had Eduard PE before and they have "numbered" them wrong before. But one thing I remember usually they will put the parts close together ever if they are numbered wrong. In the photo those 2 parts on the left side of the upper half of the tower look very close to the parts for the floor. They are #3 in the photo. Maybe they are for something else and look the same.

Ben: That looks awesome to me! I swear I think I'd rather shoot myself than muck around with that much PE...

Scott: The photos look fine to me and the model and the shadowbox look great! And good luck on the Kansas!

Ben,

The amount of detail you are doing on that kit is insane.  Its going to look fantastic.

I have been away a lot, but I got the Lex done as far as I can go until I get the everything to make the shadowbox, may be a while since I cannot go back to my folks for a while. I was going to visit mom nest week, and to also borrow her Nikon D5600 so I could take some decent pics.  The old cell phone is showing its age.

I am soo happy that my Lex now looks underway.

Now I'm back onto the Kansas.

Ben, you're doing exceptional work, you're an inspiration.

Seems like every time I move forward I take another step back as well...

I've cleaned up the rear area of the hull deck where it steps down to include 5 PE doors. I got my replacement cleats and bollards, and finished all of the detail to be added to the main guns. On the main guns I finished the tucked bag look, added the remaining details to include the range finders, mantlet detail at the barrel openings, details on top of the turrets, ladders, etc. (14 PE parts and three metal barrels for each main gun, or 56 PE parts and 12 barrels). All that remains will be the catapult on turret # 3 and of course paint.

 

My step backward occurred when building one of the ranging towers, specifically...

I was folding the PE (it is one piece, see first photo below) and there is a call out to add the floor for the upper half of the tower, part #70 (see 2nd photo). 





I looked over the five sheets of PE and not only was it not there, but #70 was for a completely different assembly (error by Eduard, see photo below). 



So I decided to make my own part from thin plastic sheet to the tower does not look like a two story hollow box. After one hour of careful cutting of the floor and delicate assembly of the control tower (13 folds of the one part) I thought I had it done,.... nope, not really. Looking at it you can completely see through it and its empty. What I should've done was not only add the one floor but also add the window blinders/armor (?) and some interior detail as I have done with the other PE parts, what was I thinking? So here is my hollow PE control tower folded but incomplete for what am wanting to accomplish.



This is how the control tower should look:



Beside the control tower in the first photo is the first level of the superstructure. When comparing it to the previous photos I've shown of it you can see the folded boxes on the rear of the platform and the signalman platforms. You can also see where I removed the plastic front wings of the structure and added PE replacements as well as other items. The good part is all of that is OK and does not need to be reworked (8 pieces of PE). Thank goodness I purchased another PE set from Eduard! That will give me the extra parts needed to recreate a correct control tower the right way this time. lesson learned on the first one.

I also got some other little PE things folded, here are a couple sneak peeks:





So much more to do... till next time (and another look at a correct control tower)...

Ben

Drums01 no rush... That baby is looking good! You'll be real proud of this one next year 

Well now, that looks excelent!

I had a couple hours, so I thought this was a good time to work on the interior of the superstructure. Just to recall, I do not want people to see from one side of the PE through to the other (like nothings there). in reality, there are interior rooms and stuff. The normal solution is to cut and add a single strip down the middle of the inside and paint inside the room black. While that is an option and definitely looks much better than the empty box look, I came up with another idea....

Since I am planning on leaving some of the compartment doors open, I wanted something more realistic. When complete, I will be painting inside the PE  a light gray or white color with the regular sea gray deck flooring (like in the real ship). With three sets of PE to use on this kit, I will have several extra doors and other small details. So, my vision is to lightly detail inside the PE compartments to include some of my little people. With all of that said, here is what I accomplished today:

Here is the Flag Bridge with the plastic Conning Tower. I've already removed the kits Signalman Platform on both sides, removed the rear solid handrails, removed the plastic Flag Bridge and have the empty PE Flag Bridge replacement sitting on the deck. PE replacements for the Signalman Platforms and the rear boxes will shore things up later.


This shows the removal of the plastic Conning Tower (crude hole in the front). The replacement PE Conning Tower sits just beside the removed piece (much better detail, but a pain to shape).


Here is a view of the Flag Bridge Internal walls. This replicates the open bridge area, the Flag Plotting Room, and the Flag Commanders Office.


And here is the replacement group sitting together on the Flag Bridge platform. The light showing through the Conning Tower will not be there once the platform is placed on the superstructure deck.




Here are some similar PE replacements with their interior walls completed:

Emergency Cabin and platform. The front section is the chart house and the rear area is the Admiral's Emergency Cabin.




Navigation Bridge with the Pelorus Platforms. The front area is the Pilothouse and the rear area is the Head. I hope to add a PE ships wheel in the pilothouse with little people.





Here is one of the main guns being filled with glue to show "tucked" blast bags. Once they are to the desired thickness I will place the PE brackets around them.



With any luck I should have this done my the end of the year.   

Till next time...

Ben

DRUMS01

I used the wood deck to draw the position of the walls, thus ensuring they will be tight against the wood overlay.

Looks great Ben! Ought to take care of the 'see-though' problem. 

Ben...

Making a "marginal" kit into a masterpiece anyone would be extremely proud to build/own.

Ben, Placing a bulkhead behind the doors and windows for a corridor wall certantly won't hurt, painted grey I suspect. Most of my 1/350 ships are too small to see that detail well although, I know some builders go as far as adding wipers to the bridge windows.

Thanks GMorrison and Mongoose, I have completed the PE base of the superstructure and added a center line wall under the deck:

I used the wood deck to draw the position of the walls, thus ensuring they will be tight against the wood overlay. When adding the walls I also used two of the 5" gun turrets to ensure correct spacing of the PE. Here you can also see some of the folded PE behind the hull too.

Center wall under the second deck which also gives it some rigidity for the future build above it. The reason for two is to make it more realistic for the rear doors to be open (spacing of the wall from the door), as well as space for the 5" broadside deck guns.

Here it is just setting on the PE. Still lots more cleaning to do before the primer coat. And yes... the walls in the center of the superstructure are angled. I was going to straighten them but it really will not be noticable once the rest is assembled. I also need to add some PE for the hawes ports that I drilled on the bow of the ship and the curved section of the hull by the step down in the rear deck. 

After the PE there will be some putty, primer, and hopfully a top coat, waterline, etc., then the real fun begins...

Ben

GMorrison

This same issue comes up when port holes are drilled out.

Usually a simple black divider in the centerline does it.

 

Same here Ben. I used the black dividing wall for my FFG build when I opened up the turbine intakes.

This same issue comes up when port holes are drilled out.

Usually a simple black divider in the centerline does it.

I have no friggin' idea Ben but I'm ready to watch and learn as you work. 

Yes I am referring to the interior space of the compartments, as seen through the windows or doors. If I show any doors open I will have to make inner walls. Likewise, if I want to have some detail to match the PE, then I will have to make some inner walls so it does not look llike an empty box with holes.

And before anyone asks, the answer is NO, I am not going to make furniture or add LED lighting to the compartments, people perhaps...

I suspect by the time I am done, 3/4 of this model will be PE, modified, or sctratch. I really did not anticipate this when I had the initial idea. This is a much larger meal to chew on. But I am learning that this is what modeling is all about for ship builders.

Ben

My goodness Ben, I'm afraid you've exceded my knowlage with the paint, turet top numbers and blast bag questions. I'm pretty sure the bags were white or light grey but as far as their position in storage 

Now on the PE and window question, are you refering to what or if you can see in the interior?

That is what I was going to do if I want the blast bags to be hanging out and "baggy". The Banner Arizona has rather large holes around the barrel turret junction. The turrets are also molded without a bottom; can you say ugly gap?. To solve this I cut and drilled a small thin plastic sheet to fit inside the turret and around the barrels. They will rest up at the front turret plate. To begin a "tucked" blast bag I am using tape around each barrel to simulate the tucked blast bag before inserting it into the turret and plastic sheet. Here is how they look at this point:

Now all I need to do is mix my putty. punch out a small oval and center hole and apply it around each barrel. I am either going to us the putty or white glue, not sure which one just yet. 

I have also cut what seemed like half of the Arizona off the kit. Basically most all verticles and alot of molded in details that are going to be replaced with PE. Heck, even each stair opening on every platform had to be modified to accept the PE. Here is a photos of the basic WIP (cutting, removing, PE folding):

In this one you can see that the upper hull and main deck have been assembled. You can also see where the kits lower walls of the superstructure have been removed and that I have started adding the PE replacement walls. In this shot I've also leveled the decks with each other and trued the sides of the hull to the deck, removed the bullards as I am replacing them with PE, corrected the port holes as they were numerous sizes and depths, plugged the holes on both sides of the hull that would've taken the kits plastic steps as they are being replaced with PE, fixed the leading edge of the hulls armor plate, etc., etc.

What can't be seen in this picture is the new deck. I have trimmed it ever so lightly in key areas to fit around the turrets and remaining details. The new deck will make this look much better. It was very difficult getting it to match the anchor races. TIP: If you do this kit or use an after market wood deck, lay the deck first, then the anchor detail over it.  (stupid me)

I've decided to show the 5" waist guns below the superstructure in the closed-up and locked position. To do that I will use tape to replicate the fabric covers over the round blobs provided in the kit then add the brass barrels.

I hope to be putting some paint on her soon.

Ben