My replacement 20's arrived today.  Still warped, but not as bad as the first order.  They didn't request them back, so I'm playing with straightening what I have.  Broke off one barrel, so now have 5 to get 3 good ones.  Think it'll work out.  After I get rid of the shields on them they will be ready to go.

@Nick,

That PT boat looks outstanding! The pre-shading really turned out well.

@Mach71,

This is a really interesting project you have, and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. 

Nick & Mach71: Wow, those look good guys!!! 

Your doing a great job, very intresting to watch.

Yup. How far.

I'm glad its a $29 13 inch kit and not the $100 mobieus kit.

I actually put glue to plastic today.

1st the kit comes with a nuclear reactor and and it has a removable hatch. 

The hatch had a handle that need to be removed.

And its glued.

I picked this up at the OMSI to read.

Your're really moving along Nick.

Mach71, depending on how far you want to take it, it may be quite the project.

Fast work there crown! Looking very nice!

No construction yet, still doing research. I printed out some side drawings of the Blueback compare with the kit.

It's not bad, but not exact. The nose looks very slightly more pointy on the Blueback vs the Skipjack. In this photo it looks kind of blunt.

The proportions don't look bad, the Blueback might be a tad larger diameter for scale. But not much. The Blueback also has flatter sides above the limber vent.

I guess I need to figure out how far I am willing to take this.

her are my latest pt pics.

light prime with tamiya flat white

did some preshadeing with flat  nato black.

some motteling with flat black

painted with hull red and field gray (Tamiya)

GMorrison

I'd add a couple of comments about wood decks. They do look good and will hide unwanted seams, which is otherwise really hard to do with cast-on plank detail.

You'll be keeping your natural I assume. I have stained that with a very translucent light gray. Those stains are usually called "Nantucket" or "Driftwood" etc.

Be sure to test fit before sticking it on. Sometimes while the overall fit is fine, tight spaces such as between the bases of gun turrets bind a little, much easier to remedy before installation. The deck should really fit loosely and sit flat of it's own accord.

I think buckling or pop-up occurs when the installation uses clamps, pinching, weight or tape to force it down flat. The glue that these come with just isn't that strong, and the nature of the join exerts force to simply peel the layers back apart.

 

Say GM, with my not having used wood decks before, this will be helpful.

Yes, I was planning on natural, but just as you suggested I wanted to tone down the natural with a light gray wash of some sort. I will look into the stains you recommended!

Good info!

I'd add a couple of comments about wood decks. They do look good and will hide unwanted seams, which is otherwise really hard to do with cast-on plank detail.

You'll be keeping your natural I assume. I have stained that with a very translucent light gray. Those stains are usually called "Nantucket" or "Driftwood" etc.

Be sure to test fit before sticking it on. Sometimes while the overall fit is fine, tight spaces such as between the bases of gun turrets bind a little, much easier to remedy before installation. The deck should really fit loosely and sit flat of it's own accord.

I think buckling or pop-up occurs when the installation uses clamps, pinching, weight or tape to force it down flat. The glue that these come with just isn't that strong, and the nature of the join exerts force to simply peel the layers back apart.

Kentucky Colonel

Speaking about the hull plate stiffeners or what ever they are called. I've seen them in several sets of PE for 350 ships. I've seen some say to scrap off the plastic parts and put the thinner PE parts in their place.

 

modelcrazy

The wood is EXTREMELY thin, almost like paper. I believe you can stain it, it is actual wood. No cutting needed but in 1/700 scale some of the deck detail, like stirage boxes and such will lose some hight detail, not really noticable though. Do try to find one for the Wisconsin, a deck for the New Jersey, Missouri and such won't fit because each ships deck were a little diffrent.

Artwox, Blue Ridge, Pontos make excelent quality decks, Hunter, from China, is fine and the fit is perfect, but you may need to apply a little extra glue to keep some small areas from bubbling up. Their glue isn't the highest quallity but the price reflects that. Hunter will sometimes add some deck details such as anchor chain and PE hose reels.

 

The wood is EXTREMELY thin, almost like paper. I believe you can stain it, it is actual wood. No cutting needed but in 1/700 scale some of the deck detail, like stirage boxes and such will lose some hight detail, not really noticable though. Do try to find one for the Wisconsin, a deck for the New Jersey, Missouri and such won't fit because each ships deck were a little diffrent.

Artwox, Blue Ridge, Pontos make excelent quality decks, Hunter, from China, is fine and the fit is perfect, but you may need to apply a little extra glue to keep some small areas from bubbling up. Their glue isn't the highest quallity but the price reflects that. Hunter will sometimes add some deck details such as anchor chain and PE hose reels.

modelcrazy

If you're intrested, you can find a wood deck near $10 and up with shipping. I've tried several manufactures and they all work well and look great.

 

1. Do they take stain and or washes?

2. I imagine using these elevates the deck height. Do you have to remove or knock down the plastic deck?

If you're intrested, you can find a wood deck near $10 and up with shipping. I've tried several manufactures and they all work well and look great.

modelcrazy

Bakster, they almost look like hull plate stiffners. It will nake someone more knowledgeable like GM to decifer what they are.

That makes sense, Steve. Whatever they are, they appear to be grossly out of scale when compared to the actual ship. My plan is to knock them down to where they are barely visible. Heck, I could get rid of them all together and I don't think it would be out of keeping for the scale. I will try to leave a semblance of them.

Regarding the ports, I can't find any explanation for why the manufacturer did them as they did. In truth, I am not even sure they are a planned structure. For all that I know, maybe they are sink marks. This is a one-piece hull, maybe it produced challenges for the making. Anyway--I don't see a good reason for leaving it as is and I will fill them in.

Speaking of grossly out of scale, so is the decking. Ugh! I'll have to do something about that decking. Unfortunately, the superstructure is molded to the deck and that will complicate things. I am getting ahead of myself though.

Btw... I received the new set of brass tubing and I am happy to report that they are the perfect size. I will begin fabricating the guns whilst I repair the hull.

From the USS Wisconsin shipyard, this concludes my 8/9/2019 report.   

It'll be great to see you start my friend. Take the time you need, you have plenty of it.

Hey guys, this GB is really off to a great launch.  I need to get my current project out of the yards so I can start on this GB project.  I am pretty excited.

Great work there guys! 

GH: Congrads! Hope the replacement parts do the job! 

That's fantastic GH,

I like Shapeways, the prices are decent depanting on the artist as well.

Just heard from Shapeways on the warped 20's.  They looked at the pics and are re-printing them at no charge.  Should have within a week or so.

Now that is great customer service.

Bakster, they almost look like hull plate stiffners. It will nake someone more knowledgeable like GM to decifer what they are.

GH, Thanks for the update, I'll have to make plans next time I'm in Portaland.

Nick, That's it, get outa that comfort zone, you'll be fine.

MC..she is at OMSI on the Willamette, just upriver from the Morrison bridge on I5.

You guys are getting a great start on projects.

nice pics of that sub. Well those builds are moving along Im  definitely out of my comfort zone with sea going vessels .I will give this my best shot..

And here is the image showing the vertical bars. You may need to enlarge it to see better detail. 

modelcrazy

Bakster, it looks like the artist took some liberties with his artwork, but the picture you provided give a great look at the hull, including the hull plating. I don't have a clue what those bumps are that look like rivits. Just to be clear, they aren't rivits. I may have to do some reserch to see what they might be.

Hey Steve-- I found a few more images last night and one that seems to show the vertical bars. Access to the forum dropped out and I was not able to post them. In the images the bars are barely visible. They are much flatter than what the kit produced. I think the kit way over-scaled em. Regarding the bumps/rivets, and I am still unclear about it. They might be the drainage ports, but if they are--they seem to be located in the wrong place. Still not sure about that one. It's looking like some body work is in the offing. I will post the images tonight. 

Sorry guys, I tried to respond last night but the site was off line, as Elizabeth said would happen.

Bakster, it looks like the artist took some liberties with his artwork, but the picture you provided give a great look at the hull, including the hull plating. I don't have a clue what those bumps are that look like rivits. Just to be clear, they aren't rivits. I may have to do some reserch to see what they might be.

Mach71, I didn't know the Blueback was in Portland. Definitely Portland BTW, try driving a simi truck in that city . Some good refrence there.

GM, great idea using a piece of angle as a flight deck stiffner. I hadn't thought of that before.

Monday night I finally had a chance to sit down at the bench.

Top: the first of two back-to-back angles glued to the underside of the flight deck. Aircraft carrier models can get crooked if the flight deck is securely clamped down on the hangar deck sidewalls, as those are never all level. I prefer to make the flight deck rigid, attach it, and fill in any visible gaps.

Middle: in similar fashion, the upper hull and hangar walls are all assembled, braced and made square.

Bottom: the lower hull is three parts. The rear two thirds actually fit well to the upper hull. I try not to do too much spreading or compressing as the stress will lead to warping later. Mike Ashey suggested that he caused himself problems by not dry fitting the sections without any force.  I'll glue the several sections together with the splines as shown, clamped flat to the bench so that the keel is straight and level. Then I'll attached the rigid assembly to the upper hull.

Bill

Sorry about the life issues Steve, Hopefully things will turn soon.

I really like your water! looks great!

I've been doing research, I stopped by the Blueback in Portland today.

One question down. The tail has the "H" configuration I had read about. The diagram lists them as sonar/hydrophones.

The sail is more complicated than photo's I've seen online.

The bow looks very rounded