Egilman

I think your misunderstanding this point... they would never be front line battleships in the role they needed battleships in the navy at the time... They needed fast battleships to keep up with the carriers, the old WWI and peacetime battleships, (the big five, Tennessee, California, Colorado, Maryland and West Virginia) were dreadnaught type ships and built on an old requirement and as such could only do 21-23kts... Their throw weight was almost as good as the newer "Fast" battleships, but they were overloaded and slow, with much weaker armor.... Only three were upgraded with modern fire control equipment and they stopped on the fourth cause even with it they weren't going to be part of the main battle line anyway.... In an open ocean fight they wouldn't have lasted very long, yes they would have given as well as they got, but with aircraft in the mix...... Nishimura's Force "C" consisted of the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, heavy cruiser Mogami, and destroyers Shigure, Michishio, Asagumo, and Yamagumo. Surigao Strait really isn't a good battle to judge. At 22:36, on the 25th of October 1944, PT-131 was operating off Bohol when it made contact with the approaching Japanese ships. The PT boats made repeated attacks for more than three and a half hours as Nishimura's force streamed northward. No torpedo hits were scored, but the PT boats did send contact reports which were of use to Oldendorf and his force. Nishimura's ships passed unscathed through the gauntlet of PT boats. However, their luck ran out a short time later, as they were subjected to devastating torpedo attacks from the American destroyers deployed on both sides of their axis of advance. At about 03:00, both Japanese battleships were hit by torpedoes. Yamashiro was able to steam on, but Fuso was torpedoed by USS Melvin (DD-680) and fell out of formation, sinking forty minutes later. Two of Nishimura's four destroyers were sunk by mines; the destroyer Asagumo was hit by a torpedo and forced to retire, but later sank after hitting a mine.... So all the 7th fleet faced was one old damaged battleship, one modern but damaged heavy cruiser and one relatively undamaged destroyer, none of them having radar, none of them actually getting a shot off at the 7th fleet battle line.... It was a slaughter.... The Fuso was a burning wreck before she ever came into range of Oldendorf's battleships and two or three of his battleships didn't even fire a single shot, the Pennsey comes into mind off the top cause she couldn't even locate a target to shoot at, the Wee Vee, California and Tennessee did most of the shooting using their radar guided guns, the Maryland only fired one salvo... Admiral Nishimura's battleships were the older dreadnaught type ships built about the same time ours were..... They were useful as gun platforms, shelling shore targets, or trapped naval targets that couldn't maneuver or return fire, but in a running open ocean gun fight against battleships built after 1930? with modern guns and ammunition and fire control? Dead Meat.... Technology had outstripped their survivability...... The example of the Hood and Pearl Harbor thoroughly demonstrated that.... But then the navy knew this in the early '30's and had designs on the board for the Fast Battleships just waiting for the money and political will to build them.... Surigao Strait was an example of a suicide attack mission that should never have been made, and Nishimura made that point to his superior Kurita before carrying out his orders...

I feel it brother, I've had that happen to me several times, then there's the get to my PO, gets sent back to the hub, gets sent to a different PO, gets sent back to the hub again, get sent to my PO and I get a delivery notice, it isn't delivered and winds up back at the hub AGAIN...... Made it across the country in two days, took a week for the locals to get it delivered.... Two days ago I received a call from my pharmacy, they were having my medication delivered Dec 31st and wanted to make sure I would be here to receive it.... Told them I would be.... I was here all day specifically waiting for it... Checked the front porch at 5:30 there was this little note on the door that they attempted to deliver it at 3:30... no doorbell, no knock, no call.... So's I call their number give them the notice number and they can't deliver it until monday the 4th now... meanwhile it needs to be refridgerated.... Time sensitive medication, this is UPS.... yeah OOPS..... Delivery services have really dropped the ball over the last year or so..... Especially USPS....

Oh no, gonna be especially careful......

Yep, that is becoming the new norm isn't it...... Oh, and for some reason I just remembered to check in the workshop to see if I still have some butane fuel for the torch, It's required to make the sea base... It's been a long time since I've played with fire....

yeah, a whole battalion of them......

You got a good woman there brother....

https://www.model-space.com/us?gclid=CjwKCAiAirb_BRBNEiwALHlnD_5t0iACEvoeqkMW88xkqZHz7OWKNNJd0DqOIIIrHVdqnwluCXIGyRoCm3oQAvD_BwE

We all get enamored of the quality of the current designs over the last decade or so, so it's not a big deal.... test fit and check was the mantra of the day and should still be... Excellent work brother... Looking good....

Yes careful cutting is needed... I have received news that the needed AM splinter shields will be on the way in a week or so, after christmas backorders are done, very nice resin prints.... So I went ahead and cut the parts getting ready for the replacement parts.... A razor saw is your friend for this kind of work, unfortunately this puts the build sequence on hold for a bit... So I went and bought the HD foam for the water base from the local big box store... And will start the process of figuring out the scene... More on the scene (based upon that April 18th pic), the history of what the ship was doing at that point, and the known weather conditions at the time.... Onwards.....

They are gorgeous OC, (pricey as well) but I'm installing .50 cal splinter shields/tubs, they are visibly smaller and in slightly different but noticeable positions.... Hence the need to change them.....

Absolutely brother, although different classes of ships, they had the same guns, the same fire control system, the same power plant, same armor etc. etc..... Their capabilities were almost identical..... As far as the crews having a jaded eye towards each other, some of the personal stories that made it as far as official recording seem to want to lay the wreath of heroics at the feet of the SD's command staff and such trying to get the actual commanders to forget the immense tactical blunder the conn made at the opening of the battle.... They generally run along the lines of the Washington wouldn't have had such a spectacular showing if it wasn't for the SD's deliberate sacrifices setting them up for her..... Basically saying that the blunder was a intentional act of bravery and the SD should get the credit for being the hero of the day.... I'm sure my friend given your experiences, you have heard people trying to explain an absolutely bonehead move as the right and heroic move/action to superiors.... I know I have.... (and monday morning quarterbacking always enjoys a much clearer line of sight) And like all great heroic moments the history behind the "official" history, (the "monday morning" after story) tell little bits of the story a bit different..... The ship constructors got into the act as well claiming that the South Dakota, the newest battleship in the navy at the time, was rushed into service before well before she had a proper fitting out period.... as a result, when time came to perform in combat, she had problems.... (namely the balky #3 turret traverse) Much like the Prince Of Wales still having workmen aboard in the Bismarck example.... She had, I think it was, a 4 month working up period after commissioning, insufficient time to work out all the kinks... Normally a battleship usually works up to fighting trim over nine a month to a year period before being sent into service.... (the Washington's workup period was 14 months, the Indiana's was a year) It was claimed in some channels that she was rushed into service too quick...... Those arguments make a lot of sense given the SD's performance, but are not part of the "official" public record as well... They quietly suppressed those stories and claims and got to work repairing her and returning her to service as airing all that info and investigation was viewed as counter productive.... (the arguments went like, "I understand all that, but we are here, how we got here doesn't matter, where do we go from here" was the order of the day and a big part of the military mindset in war) But every battleship sent into service after the SD, got a full year of trials before being sent into action.... That result of the battle experience to me tells the tale.... My opinion, they sent the SD into battle too early, much like the POW being ineffective during the Bismarck action for the same reason... They were pressed for ships especially battleships given the time it was taking to rebuild the Big Five into front line battleships, (which they never would be) and the old battleships were not capable of modern front line action... So a decision was made that put front line operations over tried and proven construction doctrine, and it eventually caught up to them and caused a fiasco which is another thing they wanted to keep quiet.... There is a lot to study about what transpired and it is hard not to make the argument that the SD's experience was pre-ordained by an administrative decision almost a year before the battle ever took place... But like I said, it is not part of the "Official", "Public" historical record, but it is all there in the official archives.....

Yeah they assigned it to mechanical failure due to blast shock.... Problem is there are three other battleships with that exact same design in the exact same location that never had the same failure from gunfire blast.... They claim that the mains were wired shut, (they were, it is what caused the mains fuses to blow) and that is as far as they would admit... But the damage was so extensive she had to go all the way back to Norfolk for repair which took almost six months... There is a lot not being said in that damage report..... I was reading anecdotal yard stories that a lot of the wiring in the gunnery and communications systems were puddles of copper with bits of scorched insulation inside miles and miles of conduit.... electrical/electronic equipment that had to be completely replaced, equipments that was top secret and were built by hand... It was a real mess... Also one of the inadvertent unfortunate things that came out of it, was that the South Dakota and Washington crews from that battle forward didn't have a lot of love for each other.... A perfect example of what lack of communication can do to a situation... The SD crew thought the Washington disappeared from the fight and left them high and dry to take most of the punishment from the enemy, (what really happened was an inexperienced command group in charge that turned the wrong way illuminating their own ship to the enemy... But the crew didn't know that... To the Washington's crew, the SD turned tail and ran from a fight after firing just a few salvos leaving the Washington unprotected and alone to press home an attack against a superior force.... They didn't know that the SD took a pounding from 6",8" and 14" gunfire that caused extensive damage to her superstructure and killed some 50 sailors and lost all ability to return fire, that she was nothing but a target and retreat was the proper decision and nothing Admiral Lee said repeatedly to the crew of the Washington would change that underlying thought.... For years afterwards there was tension between the two crews that were there...

He was allowed to resign his post, in lieu of a CM, it was kept quiet and out of most of the basic reports made public.... (I read that somewhere years ago, but for the life of me I can't remember where, my mind says NARA but I really cannot remember for sure)

No need to be, it's your choice as always..... Now I'm off to the peanut gallery... (hmmmnn, I wonder if I can hoist a comfy chair up there?)

Oh yeah I remember, Ken, your the guy that makes plastic look like cast UHMD resin..... (or, in the alternative, give us the location of your miniaturizing machine) {chuckle} You ought to teach this stuff..... Very Very nice

Even heat and gentle massaging of the kit parts or replacement with thin flexible acrylic.... You should be able to bend the acrylic around the warped pieces to get the right shape, and you can pressure bend them into the right shape for gluing.... The other option for creating windshields is again using clear acrylic to make the replacements, the same as above, using .005 styrene rod or quarter round, build a frame around the opening and then install the flexible acrylic windows just like the real thing.... paint the styrene frames rubber to look like the black gasket that is used in real life to install them..... Two best suggestions I have used.....

VERY sharp paint!!! Excellent!!!

Very Cool!!! A 4-6-2 "Pacific" Locomotive which runs on rubber bands on 8' of track.... The real deal..... They were used all over the world and were the last steam engine used for passenger service... The world speed record for a steam powered locomotive was set with this type, 125 mph.... Locomotive & tender was usually about 70 ft long (depending on design) and the kit is 22" from their website.... That makes it approximately 1/38th scale.... Impressive.... Most impressive.....

Ok, Time for another update.... Research this time... This is a pic of what I'm modeling, I'm trying to come as close as I can to this pic, a moment in time so to speak.... I'm using the Dragon Uss Livermore kit which represents her late 1942 armament fit of 8 20mm guns or 7 20mm's and a 1.1" chicago organ... She has to be converted to a 1941 King Board modified 12 .50 Cal MG weapons fit... For this the Kraken models '41 USS Kearney update set for this kit has been purchased, it give me the 6 MG positions on the after deckhouse and 2 positions on the pilothouse roof... But the kit is set up for all 20mm's which means the two 20 mm on the O1 deck level behind the #2 turret and the two 20mm's outboard the aft stack have to be replaced as well.... The kit parts..... The 20mm tubs have to come off..... This is what they should look like.... The red circled splinter shield in the foreground does not overhang the bulkhead underneath and is the same size as the ones on the pilothouse roof so part A8 has to be modified... Looking back down the side of the ship you see the midship MG position next to the aft stack, the splinter shield is the same size as the two on the fore part of the ship and doesn't extend as far out as the 20mm tubs do on part B1... They will have to be modified as well to make a proper King Board modified USS Gwin..... Going to try and duplicate the splinter shields from the Kraken update set as this will give me the size I need.... And hopefully I don't screw up the parts when I modify them..... More later...

So it's rubber powered, does it actually roll down the tracks? or does it just turn the wheels as a display of the mechanicals?

The H-60 is a bigger bird than some realize.... Nice paint job, yellow is another color like red that is, hard to paint... Beautiful job Jack, Hard to tell the difference from the pics of the real thing..... Well done.... (just don't forget the camera next time)... {chuckle}

Yeah it's PET so I don't know how well it will glue either.... it's like 4.00 for 10 feet so it's fairly cheap..... I do know that heat softens it.... so maybe some fashion of an ironing process between wax paper will flatten it if simple gravity doesn't do the job... But hey, it looks like braided hose and in the right sizes.... I'll still be looking to see if they make it in different materials.... I see they have the metal coverings as well they will flatten I'm sure but probably more expensive..... but I didn't check the sizes in that category.... Here ya go, tinned copper woven flats.... https://www.wirecare.com/category/braided-sleeving/metal-shielding-sleeving/tinned-copper-flat/mfn0-13sv-flexo-tinned-copper-flat-1-8-silver-10-ft-cuts https://www.wirecare.com/category/braided-sleeving/metal-shielding-sleeving/tinned-copper-flat/mfn0-19sv-flexo-tinned-copper-flat-3-16-silver-10-ft-cuts A bit more pricey over the PET.... And yes they do 3/16ths which is about what a flattened 3" hose would be in 1/24th.... easily paintable into any color you want....

Bet you can find what you need right here Craig... https://www.wirecare.com/category/braided-sleeving?gclid=Cj0KCQiAoab_BRCxARIsANMx4S7tug-EzWTW5-4cOZh3GfRlBTI5cKgU_5T8daisY6lLlqmvR0RUOhIaAn6wEALw_wcB Checkout the FLEXO® PET TIGHTWEAVE goes all the way down to 1/8th inch..... Perfect for 3" line.... 13 different colors in the non tightweave FLEXO PET section which goes down to 1/16th inch.... Looks like just the ticket.....

Sounds like a good idea brother, it would have to be a very small groove, just enough to lay the glue in and set the railings.... Thankfully I don't have to do that with this model.... It is so finely molded that they included the scuppers along the main deck... Scuppers are the deck edge waterways to aid in the deck draining and directing water off the deck... This class of ships needed them cause they were very "wet" ships especially in a moderate or higher seaway.... Dragon was very thoughtful in molding them onto the main deck part edge, (the molds for this kit are outstanding) the focs'l didn't have this scupper but it's edges were rounded at a 15" radius at the focs'l break, narrowing down to a 4" radius at the bow.... The focs'l deck part is molded so tight that is leaves a slight edge right along the top part of the radius from the break to the stem... Perfect for laying the PE rail against without showing a glue line.... The Bollards are mounted to the edge of the deck and the Sheaves attach to the break in the hull which means the railing runs between them, bollards to the inside and sheaves to the outside... So, we have an edge to glue against, and parts that will act as supports to hold the rail vertical designed right into the kit..... Did I say that this was a very very well designed kit? Makes it a slow build yes, with all the fine parts, but a very well thought out build sequence as far as locating the details when it is time to add them. (although the instruction layout makes it quite confusing sometimes and requires a bit of study to understand everything that's going on) It's a challenging build, I probably should have started with something simpler like my Banner Arizona, but I'm here now so I'll do the best I can.... Besides I've learned and devised a few new techniques along the way... Keep on having ideas brother, (this was a good one) it's what makes us better modelers.....

Thank you my friend!!! It's appreciated very much.... I do like to research and I believe that is a big part of building models is to learn about the history of your subject.... Like last week, I learned why the Gwin wasn't at Midway till after the battle was over.... After the raid, she went along with TF 16 on it's aborted run to Coral Sea battle. When TF 16 arrived back at Pearl, they were already in preparation for the coming battle of Midway. While TF 16 was getting ready to go to Midway, they were rushing men and equipment to Midway in any way they could.... We all know of the valiant Marine Buffalo Squadron that was sent to Midway and their heroic sacrifice there. How they got there was aided by the USS Gwin who upon arrival at Pearl was immediately assigned to escort the USS Kitty Hawk AKV-1 who was tasked with rushing the Buffalo's & Marines to Midway the last week of May returning to Pearl the day before the battle and immediately turning around to rejoin TG 16.2 where, upon arrival, was assigned to assist the Yorktown in her struggle to survive.... She had repair parties aboard the Yorktown and was standing to when the Hammond was torpedoed and the Yorktown was dealt her death blow.... She carried over 100 survivors from the two ships back to Pearl... My hole in her movements, (how she got to Midway and why she wasn't in the actual battle) has been filled.... I was researching the USS Kitty Hawk's camouflage on another forum... This process, looking for one answer leads to another you were looking for on a completely different subject, never ceases to amaze me.... I find that having a good understanding of what the subject was involved in helps with rendering the accuracy of the model immensely... (at least getting it close) Again thank you.....