Regarding T2 tankers

Progress to date:

I've painted the hull in Measure 32 with Pattern 3AO. This was interesting to research. All eight AO's in this group were pretty much exactly the same pattern.

I've built two of the three masts, the hose handling booms and their kingposts, the 3" gun kits and a 5" gun, and the 20mm's. The catwalks are not really finished up, but I tossed them in the picture. This all heads for the light gray spray later.

Man, that is sweet!!!

The Revell San Juan Capistrano, reissued as the Esso Glasgow. A member of the venerable old collection of flat bottomed ship models. In the end I scratchbuilt just about everything from the deck up, except the stack and the basic blocks of the deck houses. Guns are little resin goodies, the rest all built from metal and plastic sheet, rod and wire. Plus PE rails.

I was inspired by the old John Steel artwork of the AHM boxing, which as a kid really impressed me, like the rest of the Picture Fleet in that golden age.

The Sebec, AO87 fleet oiler around 1944. She's running at full tilt to keep up with those fast cruisers and destroyers sailing west towards great sea battles.

Thanks for looking.

Captain Bondo, Ret. and looking for the rum bottle.

Very, very nice, Bondo. Beautiful!

Fantastic job!   It was a long time coming, but worth the wait.

Fred

Well, well, well...good things come to those who are patient.  I love your tanker and want to sink it.  The ship and water effects are really nicely done. 

If I had to nitpick (and I always do) I'd say that the shape of the base may not have been the wisest choice.  Something about the angular lines of it and the open spaces on the empty corners.  I've always liked oval bases for seagoing dios... 

Thank you Eric. It's a good observation. I respect your diorama skills a lot, so point taken.

I tried a layout of an oval on the back side of the plywood, and it looks like it will fit. Easy enough to do with a sabre saw. I'll just need to figure out an edge treatment. Scavenge and save the wood trims for another project.

Again, nicely done---very cool camo...when I get mine ready for a base I'm gonna have to pick your brain on the wake and wave effects...

I sailed on a T2 tanker for a short time in 1980. It was the SS Austin of the Trinidad Corp (formerly the SS La Brea Hills, built at Marinship in Calif).  This ship was stretched some time in the '60s. I can't find any info on where the stretch was added, but it added a little over 100'.I am building the Revell kit also & would like to modify it to reflect this configuration. If anybody can help, I would be most grateful.

I took many pictures from the deck of the ship as well as from shore as she sailed by. If anybody is interested, I can post them. There is a lot of good closeup detail in these pictures. Unfortunately, at the time I was shooting B/W.

i think she would have been stretched between the bridge area & the engine area.

Could be. Photos would help a lot. The pump rooms are all the way fore and aft, so everything in between is pretty much a constant.

From Victory Ships and Tankers by Sawyer and Mitchell:

1948: sold commercial (same name). August 1962, new midship section built by Iino SB & E Co LTD, Maizuru, and fitted by Maryland SB & DD Co., Baltimore (measurements: 633 ft 5 in oa x 75 ft 3 in, 15,354 GRT, 25,553 DWT). Renamed AUSTIN. July 5, 1970, discarded midbody arrived at Hamburg in tow for scrapping.

http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id599.htm

ddp59

From Victory Ships and Tankers by Sawyer and Mitchell:

1948: sold commercial (same name). August 1962, new midship section built by Iino SB & E Co LTD, Maizuru, and fitted by Maryland SB & DD Co., Baltimore (measurements: 633 ft 5 in oa x 75 ft 3 in, 15,354 GRT, 25,553 DWT). Renamed AUSTIN. July 5, 1970, discarded midbody arrived at Hamburg in tow for scrapping.

http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id599.htm

Yeah, I've seen that, but it's not very specific. Here is a link to some pictures taken in the '70s:

http://www.usmaritimecommission.de/pictures.php?code=A2096b

It looks to me like the stretch was between the bridge and the aft section.   Careful measurement of the photos and comparison to the kit should show for sure.   I do recall some stretched T-2s that had length added forward of the bridge, but it was obvious, and funny looking.

Fred

I think the bow looks funny.Seems to have a much longer forecastle. The bridge looks pretty much the same, except the first deck got enclosed and the fillets in the bulwarks that swept up look like they got chopped.

bondoman

I think the bow looks funny.Seems to have a much longer forecastle. The bridge looks pretty much the same, except the first deck got enclosed and the fillets in the bulwarks that swept up look like they got chopped.

In many of the pictures I took, it seems as if the focs'l is longer. The reference cited above mentions a mid section being built. I can count the tank inspection ports on deck & they number to 9P & 9S, which seems normal. Also notice that on the aft portion of the ship, they enclosed the weatherdeck  on most of the 01(?) level.

Btw, I tried to figure out how to attach pictures to this but was unable. Can anybody help?

Thanks

Several years ago I became quite interested in Navy oilers...I first bought the Revell Mission Capistrano and converted it into the fictitious fleet oiler USS Catawampus (AO 123). I stripped and rebuilt the main deck and all the catwalks and piping; rigged four booms, two of which are rigged for a span-wire unrep; and installed a cargo deck forward of the after deck house. It turned out pretty good, I think. I had access to some excellent photos of a Mission-class oiler mothballed in Richmond, I believe. The link was sent to me by a friend, but maybe I have it somewhere. I got a copy of the plans for the USS Cimarron (AO 26) and scratchbuilt it in 1:350 - it'll be awhile before I tackle something like that again. Good luck on your project. I'd like to see some of your work.

I saw your fictitious AO-123 today and it was beautiful.  Naturally, the judging staff didn't call you out on the fact that it was fictitious because nobody had any reference material at hand.  One was or another, the model greatly deserved the First Place you received.  Congratulations!

Rick

bondoman

 

The one modification, actually two, are as follows. // And second, I'm going to make a new front for the superstructure that has the correct camber to the bridge decks and the correct ports. I'll have a CAD and pdf file of that for anyone who would like it. It's a trace from the drawings I bought, thanks for the tip Fred (onyxman), from the nara. It's a photo etched piece of brass. The structure behind will be the Revell wedding cake with flat decks, but will look fine from either side.

Bondoman,

I'm at this point now. I was contemplating scratch building the bridgehouse for the same reason, but I'm having trouble finding the prints. I wrote to NARA about a month ago but got no response yet. Perhaps you could tell me how you got yours. In any case, I'd be interested in having a copy of your .pdf/cad file. I'm working off of closeup pictures I took while on the Austin, but I didn't take enough pictures. BTW, Auke Visser says he is going to make a page on his T2 tanker site devoted to my pictures, early next month.

So far I have cut the hull in half & stretched it a little over 3" (the Austin was 633' LOA). I have cut all of the superstructures from the existing deck & built a new deck. This was easier than removing all of the piping on the original deck, which the Austin didn't have. I have also lengthened the focs'l. All of these dimensions I have interpolated from photo's I have taken/downloaded & known dimensions. I will try to upload some pictures & post a link here in the next week or two. I still have to modify the aft superstructure, which is shaped different as well. I also need to determine the spacing for the tank inspection ports.

She really looks sleek when "jumboized". A very nice looking ship.

My e-mail is: laxet@ca.rr.com

If you are interested in carrying this conversation off-line, I am open to that.

Thanks,

Dale G Elhardt

Here is a link to my T2 pictures & some pictures of my build so far.

http://www.home.roadrunner.com/~laxet/

Very nice project. Building a new deck is certainly a good idea for the T2 kit. I would do that next time. Betwen carving off the rails, and removing all of the impressive but incorrect piping, about the only thing left is the hatches for the holds, and various rather poorly shaped companionway sheds and the pump room risers.

I think I lookied it up, but what was the Austin designed to carry? I'll pm you, and we can exchange email addies. I can certainly send you scans of sections of drawings. There's also an order form for NARA, you need to order them by mail. I'll send you a copy.

Designed for, I don't know. She once carried asphalt to Hawaii. While I was aboard, we carried crude oil, Av Gas, Reformate (Shell Oil's additive for gasoline) & maybe bunkers (I can't remember).She was just a plain old oil tanker.

I finally got a response from NARA, but they basically wanted me to buy their index unless I knew specifically which pages I wanted & how much they cost & they wished me luck.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I have the index. I'll scan it Monday. But I'll need your email address; pm's don't support attachments.

bondoman

I have the index. I'll scan it Monday. But I'll need your email address; pm's don't support attachments.

laxet@ca.rr.com

Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

Hi Bondoman. I was wondering if you had gotten the opportunity to scan the index yet. Thanks again.

My e-mail is : LAXET@CA.RR.COM

email sent!

Outstanding! Thank you so much.

In the meantime, Auke Visser has put a bunch of my pictures on his web site (including a mystery ship), along with a newspaper clipping I sent him about the collision of the Fort Worth in L.A. Harbor. The Fort Worth was a sister ship to my ship, the Austin. I think the court finding is quite interesting.

http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id827.htm

You're welcome! I wish I had the whole book, but i only have those pages that a friend gave me, so I'm glad to pass along the small favor.

My name is Greg Hayden and I live in Vista, California, about forty miles north of San Diego airport and six miles East of the Left Coast surf. I have read this whole thread and would like to attach some T2 pictures I took, but gee I cannot see how? I have never seen this interface. I am a frequent contributor to shipsnostalgia.com and used to their interface.

I sailed a half dozen or so T2's, and regarding stack deck aft cabins, none were exactly the same. At least by the time I got there. I sailed my first T2, the Leon Falk Jr ex-Cities Service Oil Company Winter Hill in 1961 and continued to sail them off and on until about 1973. I began my 16 year sailing career on the Great Lakes in 1960, went offshore in 1966 and swallowed an anchor in 1975.

One thing I will mention now, that forward deep tank is a 6,000 bbl fuel oil tank. There were three duplex steam recip fuel oil transfer pumps in the forward pump room. They were used ONLY to transfer fuel aft. Two were larger and alike and considered transfer pumps and one smaller considered a stripping pump. When transferring fuel aft, especially in the tropics, that forward pump room became a steam bath.

T2's had two 3,000 bbl fuel tanks aft. Those ullage trunks immediately forward of the aft house are atop the forward end of these two fuel oil tanks. T2's did NOT run tank vents up masts. Tank ships in general did not do this. Fuel oil tank vents that run up the masts are on cargo ships. They vented each relatively small double bottom tanks. If you wanted to vent T2 cargo tanks up a mast you would need 72 inch diameter pipe for each tank.

When loading or discharging cargo the ullage truck lids were cranked open at about a 45 degree angle. They could be opened nearly 90 degrees but that was not necessary. One of the pictures I have is of the pumpman and bosn Butterworthing tanks on the Pecos TAO-65. It clearly shows a close up of the ullage trunk and the tanks real pressure/vaccum vent piped to the side of the ullage trunk. It also clearly shows the reach rod pedestals for valves in the cargo tanks. These valves did NOT have real long stems. Instead they were reach rods with swivel joints. The deck pedestals are actually the top of a gate valve. In the tanks the reach rods fit where the hand wheel would be.

Oh there is lots more but I will stop now and go look see if I can find info on how to include images.

Greg Hayden

Greg

Select the REPLY button.    The screen will refresh with a Post Message box in which you enter your text.   You probably have seen it since you posted this message.    At the top of the Post Message box is a menu bar.  In the middle, to the left of the smiley face is an icon which looks like a film strip.    Select that icon and a dialog box comes up which will allow you to insert the URL of the image/media.    Select the INSERT button on that box and it closes, inserting the phot into your message.     You can insert multiple media files in a message.

Look forwad to seeing your photos