Trumpeter USS Indianapolis CA-35 1945

gene1

It really looks great rick. How will you paint it? Spray the blue deck from above & the side gray from below. That is a great idea to glue it together first. My I-58 is the AKV too. Real nice kit.

 

Im not sure on the paint . This is my first ship build . 

Rick 

This is a nice clean build.

I'd like to make a couple of suggestions that will save you some work.

I assume you are modeling her at the time she was sunk. For Measure 22, all vertical surfaces above the lowest point of the main deck, including the hull sides, are Haze Gray. All horizontal surfaces, including the wood deck areas, are Deck Blue. And the guns are various combinations of gray and black.

That is going to be difficult with so much pre-assembly done of the bridge structure.

My own approach, for what little it is worth, is to paint the deck color and then mask it. It's easier for me to mask a lot of flat area than to mask a lot of complicated shapes and details.

I hope this is taken as helpful advice, not critique.

Again, this is a good clean build, nicely done.

Bill

Our Mr Morrison is astute here (he usually is).

One advantage you will have is that USN upper surface painting has hard demarcation lines, which should hlep the painting.

That being said, you really need a ton of reference photos to know how various things are painted, as practice varied from ship to ship, despite USN regs to the contrary.

For eample, "quad forties" are meant, by regulations, to be painted to match the surrounding ship.  So, they ought to have horizontals in Deck Blue and verticals in the appropriate gray.  The barrels of the 40s are typically a dark gray (NATO Black works), and the springs are black.  But, on some ships, the barrels were either deck or vertical color (or both, half & half) with the muzzle cones in dark gray.  Somethings the entire mount was in vertical gray and none of it in deck color. 

Oh, and one side of the ship might be different than the other (or if an item had been replaced due to battle damage or an update).  So, you need good reference photos.

The 20mm Oerlikons are even less consistent.  Base and shield are usually vertical color, wit hthe barrel a very dark gunmetal.  But, not always.  reference photos.

This is why ship modelers are often surrounded by various sticks covered in blutak holding sub-assmbled "bits."

Also be glad this is not an IJN ship, they has a mix of steel, wood, and linoleum decks (which were in a natural russet red-brown color).  This can make "pagoda" masts a definite chore.

The build looks great, as learning curves go, you are on track.

CapnMac82

Our Mr Morrison is astute here (he usually is).

One advantage you will have is that USN upper surface painting has hard demarcation lines, which should hlep the painting.

That being said, you really need a ton of reference photos to know how various things are painted, as practice varied from ship to ship, despite USN regs to the contrary.

For eample, "quad forties" are meant, by regulations, to be painted to match the surrounding ship.  So, they ought to have horizontals in Deck Blue and verticals in the appropriate gray.  The barrels of the 40s are typically a dark gray (NATO Black works), and the springs are black.  But, on some ships, the barrels were either deck or vertical color (or both, half & half) with the muzzle cones in dark gray.  Somethings the entire mount was in vertical gray and none of it in deck color. 

Oh, and one side of the ship might be different than the other (or if an item had been replaced due to battle damage or an update).  So, you need good reference photos.

The 20mm Oerlikons are even less consistent.  Base and shield are usually vertical color, wit hthe barrel a very dark gunmetal.  But, not always.  reference photos.

This is why ship modelers are often surrounded by various sticks covered in blutak holding sub-assmbled "bits."

Also be glad this is not an IJN ship, they has a mix of steel, wood, and linoleum decks (which were in a natural russet red-brown color).  This can make "pagoda" masts a definite chore.

The build looks great, as learning curves go, you are on track.

 

I got a book on USS Indianapolis , but the photos are black white 

Rick 

I model as an excuse to buy books. Because she was shopped in late 1944 and again in July 1945, there are a lot of good sunlit photos taken at Mare Island.

Yes they are B/W. That makes them most useful for things such things as AA gun fit out.

But other things such as aerials, boat fit, the color of the turret tops and so forth are extremely useful.

Keep in mind that any ship is a large steel structure floating in a very corrosive atmosphere. Despite the best efforts of the deck gang it is doubtful that it ever was completely covered with a coat of fresh paint. You probably would find areas of weathered paint and red lead somewhere on the ship. Add to that the various mods that were made on an ongoing basis. That makes it extremely difficult to say this is the ship on a specific date unless you have a comprehensive set of photos taken on that day.

Your doing a good job with the PE Rick.  Nice pictures. 

Thank you all for the replies 

Started working on one the mast . I'm re building the mast with brass tubing and flat stock

Rick

infofrog

but the photos are black white

Yeah, that can be frustrating.

Howeve, ther eare plenty on online resources to get you to the overall colors, like 20B, 5N, etc.

But, you spend a lot of time on VavSource and the like pouring over photos to pick out the details.

Like this photo:

Note the turret tops.  They are darker than the sides.  Note that they aproximate the deck color.  We know that the the decks are in 20B Deck Blue. 

(To muddy the water I have seen persuasive arguments that the turret tops are dark gray, like Ocean Gray 5-O, instead--I don't have a dog in the hunt to opine either way.)

Note how the life rafts match the surfaces they are upon, which is entirely common. As a modeler, you can add various tints to the base color to give some "difference" to such items.

The quad forties at the bow are under covers, again, entierly typical for tied up to piers, if under-helpful for modelers.  This is where the other photos can help.  In Measure 22, an upper deck 20mm would be mostly painted Haze Gray, and the barrel a dark metalic gray (mostly--these were charcoal parkerized in USN service).

Unlike many armor kits, or aircraft kits, only two Portland Class cruisers were ever built, and one was sunk.  So, you need photos to know what each one looked like specifically.

It can be intimidating, but, you get a cool model, and a pile of books and references, too.

CapnMac82

It can be intimidating, but, you get a cool model, and a pile of books and references, too.

 

There is no place quite like Mare Island. I get over there at least once a month. Back in the 60's we spent weekends there; my godfather was XO on the Simon Bolivar, Gold commander on the John C.Calhoun there.

My name is Bill and I am a plastiholic.

Round 2 has a Lindberg Cleveland Class cruiser, like the USS Vincennes in the background of your navsource photo. Just bought one.

Worked on the mast , add some support beams

Rick

You've garnered another follower.

  Very nice assembly.  I especially like your excellent work on the PE.

Most of the members here have great references for this ship. Ask away if you want any photo's of specific sections added. Although we can't copy Book pages, there is a host of stuff on the Web in the public domain.  I bet many of us still have images collected from sites that are no longer online too.

Wish there were good color Photos of the Ship.  Everything I have seen was "colorized".

   Nino.

Nino

You've garnered another follower.

  Very nice assembly.  I especially like your excellent work on the PE.

Most of the members here have great references for this ship. Ask away if you want any photo's of specific sections added. Although we can't copy Book pages, there is a host of stuff on the Web in the public domain.  I bet many of us still have images collected from sites that are no longer online too.

Wish there were good color Photos of the Ship.  Everything I have seen was "colorized".

   Nino.

 

thank  you for the reply . Good info 

Rick 

getting some more work done on the mast . Starting to take shape

Rick 

Very nice work on the Main Mast. Making it from Brass certainly will add strength when you rig her.....Cheers Mark

surfsup

Very nice work on the Main Mast. Making it from Brass certainly will add strength when you rig her.....Cheers Mark

 

Thank you 

More photo etch and brass support beams work

Rick 

lovely neat work rick , enjoying this build .

The front parts D4 A19 D4 , I hate glue fittings like this with no support . I add small plastic card in back for support

Rick

finished step 15 . Plus add Photo Etch

Rick

Starting to build up quite nicely.....Cheers mark