Hank

Popeye, My project at hand is actually converting a shed to a model workshop. THEN the shipbuilding will continue! Kevin, Ditto - got to have a PLACE to build things and right now that's not the case. I'll happen, it's just going to take $/time.

Old Collingwood & Kevin, I appreciate the nice comments on NEW JERSEY - Thanks very much. I will hopefully be back in the "shipyard" once I get a shed converted to a model shop and that is slowly in progress at this time! Hank

Popeye, Thanks so much - I do appreciate the kind remarks. Good luck with your NJ kit! Just remember that Patience is the best virtue when modelbuilding! Hank

Thanks, Chris! Much appreciated. Retirement - h.mmmmm- haven't figured it out yet! Working on it!!! Hank

The model is now complete (04/2019). It's been a few years since I've updated this topic and also had some other major changes in life: 1) We moved to a smaller, ranch style home in Nov. 2018 (Mocksville, NC) and I no longer have a model shop - at least at present - I will in the near future, but that is a work in progress. 2) I retired from Grifols Therapeutics Inc. in April 2019 and am currently working on home projects at both houses - hoping to the get the old one ready to sell and make the new one more livable, etc. We just returned from the May Wooden Boat Show & Model Exhibit in Beaufort, NC at the NCMM and I am posting some completed photos of USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62): This model took 7 years (give or take) and was a major project both research-wise and construction-wise to build. Anyhow, it's done and I'm sticking to that!🤩 FYI - To those who may have left comments since my last post in 2016, I apologize for not responding - my build is on The Ship Model Forum and I simply didn't have time to keep up with 2 modeling forums at the same time.

OC, I'll do that the next time I'm perusing other modeler's builds. Hank

David, In this case, it's a slam dunk - it's hard to describe without pictures, but the manufacturer really did a job on misshaping the hull. With as much detail as there is in the kit that's pretty much correct, one wonders why they messed this part up so bad. But then, this isn't the only kit in 1:200 they've screwed up. I would think that once you've created a part in any given scale in a 3D CAD file - and while I can't say for certain that this is how Trumpeter designs their kits - scaling up or down is a snap, literally. Yes, additional internal changes may be needed to beef up the integrity of the part, the actual shape should conform to the plans that you originally used. Unless, someone simply didn't care to check his work or the corp. management cut their development funds and they just went with a first round design that had not been verified. With wooden ships/boats it's a bit harder to tell whether or not the lines are fair & true. Hank

Ulises, Thanks - just what I needed to know! Scott, Thanks for the nice comment! Unfortunately, Trumpeter didn't get it right and it seems their other 1:200 hulls are no better. My other build using a Trumpeter ARIZONA kit as a conversion to PENNSYLVANIA also has inherent flaws. However, as I am planning on making a waterline display, this should not be a major factor as those flaws are for the most part below the waterline. Hank

Here's a question I guess I should post to the general crew - Notifications - what exactly do you do with them? I mean, it's nice to receive them, but ....I'm not getting it, I guess. Do I respond, or what?...and How? Please educate me on these - anyone! Hank

Kevin, To be truthful, it hasn't actually been discussed in several months. HOWEVER - it is on my BB Bucket List and time allotted, could happen one of these days! I've got a summer of med. procedures being scheduled (brain transplant, etc. - nothing dire, just need to be done) so this COULD be a fall or next spring type event - or ....later. Being in the active work force, I simply can't plan things too far in advance. The Admiral....you all understand - but, I'll keep you in mind. These sort of things DO happen from time to time, just takes planning (and $$!). Hank

Kevin, Thanks for the support! The hull is 1/2 way there - I still have the stbd. side to grind down to shape. Once that's done, I can establish the waterlines, bootopping, and start work on horizontal hull plate layout - this will be a bitch since these curvatures are guesstimates. A few of us have talked about a trip to Norfolk to take a survey by boat and record measurements of the actual ship's plate lines. It's still up in the air. Later, Hank

Yea, I've seen it. Entertaining, but hardly realistic. I did like some of the various interior shots of MO. Special Effects were really neat!

O.C., Thanks for the kind remarks. At this point, with (sort of) 2 models in progress, it's hard to stay fixed on completion of one when there is interest in both. Perseverance, I hope will rule the day. Hank

Well, it's been a while since I updated this build. I've made quite a bit of progress - the superstructure is now for all intents and purposes completed. With the exception of the whip antennas, which will be added at the appropriate time, I'm now concentrating on hull work. In addition, I've started slowely construction of a kit bash to produce an early 1940's (pre-war) USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38) using the Trumpeter 1:200 scale ARIZONA kit as the basis. To continue with this build: The kit hull is a disaster - both forward lower hull and after lower hull are misshaped from the git-go. So, a year or more ago I tackled the forward end adding styrene strips/putty as necessary to achieve a close resemblance to the proper shape. This is shown in the following photos. I have recently begun grinding work on the after hull to reduce down the incorrect shape to it's proper appearance. I am half way done with this having the basic shaping completed on the port side. I will continue the stbd side in June. For a while it looked like another modeler's 3D Modeling design might be a possibility as a replacement for the after 19" of the kit hull. This was not to be, so I came up with a less high tech, but fairly accurate method for hull shaping on my own. While another modeler did a POB replacement for offending areas of the after hull, I am taking a different approach and FILLING the hull interior with Bondo, allowing it to dry completely, then grinding the exterior down to shape using templates at the various hull stations according to the original ship's drawings. The photos (in no order) - completed superstructure showing 5" gun mounts, lower after area modified, lower bow area modified, and another shot of the port side superstructure. My photos are small shots of specific areas, I don't have an overall superstructure on my flash drive. Credits to other's involved, etc: The Mk. 37 and Mk. 56 FC Directors were products of Model_Monkey, 3D printed by Shapeways and available online in his store. He is a friend, fellow vet (USA) and modeler, and we are in cahoots on several other items for ship modelers - I helped his design of the Mk. 56 director. The 5"/38 dual gun mounts are also his products as the kit mounts are incorrect for this class of BB. The ship's ribbon board was a reduced size rendering for me by Mike Gaughan (Cliffy_B on SMF) of Virginia Beach who has a photo program to take and reduce photos to miniatures, retaining all the proper sizes and colors. He is also a volunteer on USS WISCONSIN in Norfolk, VA. So, here are a few shots of the model: