Conversion complete(this time for sure): USS Arizonas pre WWI

Joe, how thick is the rods that makeup your cagemasts?

You can see lots of B&W photos of the Arizona at NAVSOURCE.ORG.  

My belief is that pre and post WWI, the Arizona was painted in a light gray paint scheme using Standard Navy Gray #5.    She was repainted in Measure 1 in the Spring of 1941, consisting of Dark Gray (5D) on the hull and superstructure upto the funnel tops.   Everything above the funnel tops was painted light gray (5L).

The short answer is too thick.

The longer answer: In blender .357mm but I think the actual printed width is likely closer to .5mm as I overexposed each layer by a second due to earlier print failures. You get a bit of bloom/swelling the longer you expose a layer.

I've made a version that is about half as thick and am kicking around the idea of sending it off to shapeways to see how/if they come out.

that is something to think about.

take a look at this link. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=385456

I see that olderModeler is starting the same conversion I did, and you were showing him how you dealt with the concave stern issue, but I'm not sure what I was looking at. Were you sanding down to the top level of the tape?

Edit: Just looked again and enlarged the photos. I think I see what you did now. I was thinking of filling in the concave depression - you chose to sand down the edges of the depression making it less pronounced. Interesting.

Nice of that site host images for the posters. That’s a great idea!

i did not sand in the way you think except to roughen the surface of the plastic hull for better glue adhesion. look at my pictures closely as you should see part of the correction process that you are not seeing clearly & wonder why i did that a way.

I see now, I missed enlarging the last picture. I see what you did now, very clever. I'm sure there was some filling and more sanding after that last picture but it looks managable. I originally thought the white strips were just tape!

that is just the 1st layer as the next 3-4 layers goes parallel to the keel. each layer is sanded & shaped before the next layer goes on. no putty involved at all.

ddp59

Joe, how thick is the rods that makeup your cagemasts?

 

what are you talking about what i had said?

Joe!

         Oh My Goodness! Whatta Beutimus model of the Arizona!

 Joe, there was an article in FSM some years back about cage masts. (Before Printers)I did two in Evergreen .005 thickness and one in the same in soldered wire. Being as how I was set up for working with wire from some client's ships it went well. I still liked the cleanliness of my plastic ones better!  T.B.         P.S.She looks Bigger in grey! See what Color can do for you?

Thanks T.B. I'm happy with the look. The mast rods are still at least twice as thick as they should be but they're probably about as good as Revell would have done back in the day. (I know that's not a crazy high bar but I do take some comfort in reaching it) I mostly used the info from this site: usni.org/closer-look-cage-masts and feel my results are definitely in the ballpark when compared to the pictures shown.

I would have liked to have seen your masts made of wire. That would be a project to be proud of. I entertained the idea of trying that, but my secondary purpose for doing this conversion (or any of my 3D printed work really), was the hope that I could sell kits for it on ebay someday, after I retire... On that level this was a flop - way too many failed prints on both the deck and masts, I could never charge enough to break even.

I am looking forward to doing the wireless rigging, If I can pull that off it should look pretty cool. It is pretty intricate and I’ll do it last after the lower string work. But I need to take a break, the wife only has so much tolerance for time spent on my hobbies – especially ones that aren’t likely to show a profit!