lmagna

Hi Steve It is with mixed feelings that I watched your video. While is is great seeing the Vance in the water at last, it is also sad to see her go. It has been an interesting build to follow and brought back a number of memories of builds and launches of my own. Good days. Your choice of pond/lake is fantastic. I don't know how parking is and how far you needed to carry the Vance but the scenery is fantastic and the whole area looks like a great place to pull up a chair and do a little afternoon of just leisurely sailing. Kind of looked like you guys had the whole area to yourselves. Looking forward to your next build, I am certain that you will again make it interesting and informative.

Good to see you well and back at it OC.

Great work on a unique subject Denis. Certainly worth signing. Congratulations

Impressive model and further proof that you are a master of this medium Dan!

Boy! I get a little busy and forget to check in for a few days and you go and finish the ship without me! She is looking good in the water. I at first thought she was sitting just a little shallow but before I opened my big fat mouth I took a look at some pictures of the real thing and sure enough they tend to ride with either the top of the rudder just out of the water or just barely under water. Right about where you are. Did you think of manually tipping the ship 45 degrees or more to the side and see how quickly she recovers? In the limited space you had she looked quite stiff with almost no roll at all. Another nice thing you can do in a pool like that is have some one get into the water and create waves and see how she does, both broadside and head on. Like Bill, I am interested in how much the final full sailing weight ended up as, and some more videos of her really underway. SUPER job Steve.

So it looks like the secret is out!

Yes it has. Been a little busier than expected trying to get my life back together after my time down with the ankle. I'm still pretty slow and so is progress. Not going like a ball of fire like you and your Arizona. It is amazing how many things need doing after what amounts to a short time. My wife mentioned another one to me today that to be honest I had forgotten I had promised her just a few months ago.

Looking forward to your build Kevin. I built this kit back in 19?? when it first came out by Matchbox. In fact I still have it. A little worse for wear from years of simulated North Atlantic conditions under RC control and even more years of storage and one crash when the storage shelf came down. But just like the real thing she is pretty tough and has fared supremely well all things considered. No PE or wooden decks back in those days of course so it will be interesting to see how your improved version turns out.

Chain Stoppers Great progress Denis. I should probably give you a call to see how your laugh is progressing first hand. Then I can grade it on a scale of one to ten!

Some captains were notorious for re-rigging their ships to their own specifications. With the exception of the Providence, John Paul Jones was a prime example. He did little or nothing to alter the Providence as he did not consider himself a well versed seaman on fore-and-aft rigged vessels. He instead relied heavily on John Rathbun, an expert on both the Providence and fore-and-aft rigged ships to obtain the best out of the ships abilities. This was not the case on all of his other ships, most notably the Ranger and later the Alliance. In all cases, it is reported that Jones' improvements made the ships better and faster sailing vessels. But no matter how things may have been desired I would think that form would have to follow function and no matter how radical the captain's desires may have been they would still have to be understood by the Sailing Master and the crewmen who would have to locate and handle the lines. Just a personal thought. I don't even pretend to be an authority on rigging or sailing of any type.

I think I found a number the other day at 1:100. One set was possibly Preiser or Walther and was 100 mixed pieces. I think it was under $4 on ebay. Yoiu could get a few packages of these and should be able to make up enough women clothed in pants to get the job done. It has the added possibility that you could also find some crew figures as well. I think I also found some nude female figures that you would have to dress but at least they would not be wearing dresses that are almost impossible to alter at that scale. Great work and steady progress. Can't wait until launch day. Have you found a little bottle of champagne yet? Well at least a good can of beer.

Great work Danny I do not think I would want to be around when those bombs were dropped. Helicopters as a rule are kind of low and slow aircraft. Bombs tend to be a high and fast type of weapon. I have read of more than one case where the dropping aircraft almost got it's own tail plucked when the fuse of the bomb they dropped at low altitude had been set too short! There is a BIG difference between 1/10th of a second and 10 seconds when you are already close to the ground and the bomb does not have that far to travel! The exhausts you built were probably cooling, or diverting exhausts. Helicopters are a BIG target for shoulder fired heat seeking missiles. It's been fantastic following your build.

WOW I had no idea. I have been on a couple of Gato subs and even though I know that items were removed to make it easier for people to get through it was still a little cramped. The Albacore seems down right claustrophobic! The last time I saw anything like the bunk space, can't really call it a bunk room, was the city morgue! As I am currently pretty much still learning to walk again I wonder how well I would have done getting around? The only good part seems that there is not enough room to fall down in! I still think that the killer for me would have been the heat. We have been "Suffering" with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s, (F) around here and the mid to low 60s at night. It is all I can do do function! I had to go out to do something in the cars last night about midnight and by the time I was done was sweating a little! I know it takes a little more energy and strain for me to get around these days but I was still shocked. I am almost certain that your temps would totally immobilize me. Back to the sub. I was also impressed by the galley. It is almost impossible to think that in a space that is probably smaller than many apartment kitchens the cook was able to feed a crew of over 50 men for weeks on end! I always get a kick out of the head on subs. It is possibly the only place where you need a PHD in engineering in order not to "Get it all back" so to speak. I have had the privilege of going on board the Constitution. Loved every minute of it, even though I am almost certain that the other members of the family were bored to tears. I was even able to "sneak" into the great cabin and look around for about ten minutes until the guy giving the tour realized that I was not with the other people and told me that it was a private tour and that I was not allowed! Who knew? Thanks for sharing Craig. I enjoyed not only the sub but also the other areas and your family. Kind of makes up a little for being kind of cooped up a little this summer.

Why the Reuben James? At least the DE Reuben James.

I think you will like the cloth bags MUCH better than Ziplock anything after you get the proper weight sorted out. You didn't even have to sew them yourself, (Even though I would once it is all measured out and no longer needs to be changed). Just stack them in the hull like sandbags or a cargo of grain and they will probably not go anywhere even in rough weather. Good save on the lamp. Having spares is always nice. With a little work and time I suspect that you could repair the lamp you have been using as well and then you could have two. People around here keep saying that you can not have enough clamps. I would say at my age you can not have enough light! I would say something about the dust on the lamp but then I would have to prove that my lamp is not just as dusty! Can't do that so I will shut up!

I forgot about the weather you are having out there. I can bet it was hot inside. A steel can painted black sitting in the sun all day with limited airflow! They probably would have had to scoop me up and pour me into a bucket!

Great job. I wish I could get ANYTHING to look that good!

If you look in your research article, it says that it is estimated that in the 7 hour long 1st battle of the Java Sea at least 164 Type 93s were launched in 38 attacks. All of these attacks were at what would be considered long distance and for the most part the allied fleet, (ABDA) did not even know they had been lunched and did almost nothing to avoid torpedoes as they had no idea of the range of the Long Lance and the torpedoes left no wake, so the warning was at best minimal. The result was two light cruisers and one destroyer lost, all Dutch. On the next night an additional 35 or probably more type 93s were launched in I think two close ranges attacks. It is a little hard to be certain as the Japanese were very poor record keepers on matters like this. but the result was two cruisers sunk, (The only targets available) and at least two friendly cargo ships sunk. Several of the hits against the Houston and the cargo ships were made when they were stationary in the water. Again it is to be remembered that this was at night in an enclosed limited maneuvering area from very close range! It has to be noted though that almost all of the attacks made by destroyers were done while receiving 5" star shells into their hulls and superstructures along with at least a couple of 8" hits from the Houston. The reason for the star shells was that that was the only ammo she had left after the prolonged battle of the day before. The ranges were so close that the guns were shooting under local control and the crews could see people burning and running from the flames caused by the star shells hits on the Japanese ships Most of the torpedo hits on the Houston were obtained after she had completely run out of 5" and 8" ammo and was dead in the water shooting only .50cal guns. As poor as this launch-to-hit ratio was, the allied, especially the US numbers relating to torpedo hits was far worse!

Thanks I did not realize how much attention was applied to the fore deck and gear while leaving harbor or under underway. While I have seen plenty of pictures of seamen spraying down the anchor chain while it was coming aboard I had no idea repainting was also underway at that point. I always thought that was a chore reserved for when the ship returned to port and could normally be approached at a more leisurely and thorough time frame..

Great area with beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing. I bet getting to see the Albacore was a plus! Did you get to do the walk through?

I know you are gone already Craig. Somehow new posts don't always show up for me for a day or two after they are posted. But just in case you are looking in I hope you are having a good time and building lots of memories. I hope you remembered to pack your camera and can share a little with us stuck-at-homes when you get back.

I can guarantee that this model will RC with no issues of fit or weight. Like you said it may be a little nerve racking top take out on a windy day with a large chop but even that can be easily handled with a little forethought in the building of the ship. Over the years I have converted several plastic kits to RC. I think the smallest was possibly the Revell harbor tug. It ran almost every month summer and winter with virtually no issues for about two years until a guy with a much larger boat ran it over and sank it in a pond that was far too murky to allow finding it. (This is not the one I built but someone else's work) There are a couple of small boat videos that follow this one. The next larger was the slightly larger Lindburg harbor tug although the superstructure was highly modified to look like a local tug here in my city. Then there was the Lindburg Atlantic fishing trawler, the tuna clipper,(Again highly modified superstructure) the Lindburg shrimp boat and the lindburg mine sweeper. The mine sweeper was twin screw as well. Then there was the Coast Guard 95' Patrol boat that I did in traditional CG colors and also in Vietnam deployment colors. The Revell USS Burton Island Wind class icebreaker also made an excellent RC boat but was never much good at actual ice breaking! I also did three supmarines, Revell Gato, Nichimo U=Boat, and the original Aurora Skipjack. The subs were cheating a little though because they don't need to float all that well and when built right are pretty watertight. But unless the water is clear you spend a lot of your time trying to sail an upright stick around the pond while trying to hold it at periscope depth! All of these models worked quite well and were all well under 30". Their only problems were that they all were small SCALES. 1/100 and smaller. This made many parts in the boats pretty fragile and I was always making new parts from brass rod and sheet to replace the kit plastic stuff. The other part is that they get small real FAST. Most sailing looks best when you are twenty or thirty feet or closer. The same is certain to happen in 1/350 scale. I have never seen this ship in RC operation but I have seen 1/96 battleships running and they get pretty small quickly as well so one can only guess what will happen with 1/350. I think you may spend a lot of time hugging the shore and practicing docking or getting used to looking at your ship at a scale 30,000 yards on the horizon!

Just a suggestion if I may that is worth every penny you paid for it! If you can identify the water discharge ports along the hull I would start with the weathering there and make those places the first "streaks" either a different color than the remaining hull or more rusted if you insist on having rust on the hull. Then I would go to places that are hard to maintain while at sea but receive the heaviest wear. The Hawse pipes where the anchor and chain will almost certainly tear away the paint. The steel plating under the areas of the fore deck where the anchor chain drags when the capstans pull them in and let them out. The area of the capstans where they come in contact with the chain. The area at the cut water of the bow where the bow wave is formed and mixes heavily with air as the ship moves through the water. This is a high friction/non maintainable area of the ship as well and even US Coast Guard ships which are ALWAYS showboats will show some paint wear in this area when returning to port. I am sure that others can come up with more and better ideas as i am in no way ANY KIND of expert but I would think that the areas I mentioned would be a better candidate for rust streaks Than the few portholes on this ship that would probably be well painted and are made of bronze or brass anyway.

Looks like some very high quality progress J.

I agree. On some ships at certain times in their lives, there may be signs of weathering or even heavy weathering depending on size of the ship, location and seasons and other factors. But as a rule most military ships seem to be fairly well maintained over all. This is even more pronounced when dealing with capitol ships and especially true with the Missouri class ships. I don't think I have ever seen a picture of one of this class of battleships with anything seriously out of order even in close up pictures. The one exception is the Kamikaze hit on the starboard side of the Missouri. They never bothered to repair that damage.