schooner

Thanks for the input Pete & Dgbot, that's great stuff about the differences between building yards and it helps explain why the plating is easily seen on some photos but invisible on pix of other ships, even with good photo definition. I'm going to play around with the tape on some scrap lumber and see how it looks after priming and painting. If I end up doing anything on the model I will keep it subtle. thanks again.

You bet Kevin. Your Victory and Bismarck are impressive, especially to have both going on at the same time. Wish I could tackle something that big but I'm afraid the wife would tell me "There is room for you or the model but not both ... "

I'm going to try to plate it. I've never done it before. The plating on the Libs was pretty subtle compared to a riveted hull, or even to a welded warship hull. On some photos it is invisible but on most you can at least see the strakes, although the vertical weld lines are hard to pick out since they were butt welded with no overlap. I'm going to try to use aluminum tape for the "out" strakes and leave the hull bare for the "in" strakes and then scribe the weld lines. If it doesn't work I'll just strip it off and paint it.

Glad to have you aboard Frank. Your Dunbrody build is amazing! each frame looks like a work of art.

Wow! Great, great work

Main Deck in Final Shape The main deck is now in its final dimensions, so far only as much of the sides of the hull were done as needed to shape the deck. The directions next call for cutting a rabbet around the deck circumference where the bulwarks will be fastened but before I do that I’m going to think over a little kit bashing associated with a couple of the cargo hatches - work that would best be done before the bulwarks are attached and exposed to damage while handling the hull.

Thanks Bob. Your Pequot build brings back memories of another fine old workhorse, the USCGC Fir, which was based just down the street from my house while I was growing up in Seattle. She served 51 years.

Laying out and shaping the main deck After marking the centerline down the main deck the stations for the templates are marked, I’ll show how the templates are used when I get to that point. The deck outline is then traced on both sides of the centerline. As you might be able to see below, there will be a little to take off around the bow and stern but along the majority of the hull almost nothing needs to come off, which is fine with me since I hate to sand. Next step will be sanding the deck edge to shape.

Sanding the main deck It’s time to start making sawdust. The first step is to sand the main deck smooth. I’m no fan of sanding so I do it in 10 minute increments or I get careless and sloppy - those who don’t mind it would make much quicker progress. After using a sanding block and getting what looked and felt like a nice smooth surface I sprayed some primer on to see if if everything was good to go - it wasn’t. There were still low spots and some machine marks so it was time to break out the Bondo auto body filler which is my preferred wood filler since it dries quickly and sands well. My only problem with regular Bondo is the cost since so much of it is wasted. It comes in quart cans but has only 2 small “pills “ of the hardener mix so you really can only mix it twice and a half a can is far more than you can use on an entire model and it can’t be saved because it hardens quickly. Fortunately somebody on this site mentioned Bondo’s Glazing and Spot Putty, which is also sold in auto part stores. It works just like regular Bondo but you can mix just as much or as little as you need since the hardener is in it’s own resealable tube - pretty neat. After applying the filler it will just be a matter of getting a smooth deck then it will be time to play with glue and scissors when I cut out the hull form templates and get ready to bring the deck to it’s prescribed dimensions.

Greg, After seeing the start of this build and being amazed at the detail you put into the guns I somehow "dropped track" on it, to use a gunnery term, around New Years (I forgot about the "follow" button). Thank God I found it again today before it is done and slips into digital deep freeze. I've had a very pleasant hour and a half catching up. This is amazing work at any scale but particularly at 1/350. You've overcome many problems that would have defeated me. Wonderful work and I can't wait for the Dreadnought.

After adding the MACK, the rigging and the HF whip antennas this one is ready to go on the shelf. Time to get back to making sawdust on a wood model.

Great pix, thanks David b

Thanks John, I've looked at the J.O. website as well as some others where folks have posted lots of walk-around photos. Between her and the John Brown up in Baltimore I think I'll have every thing I'll need to add details Tim

Dgbot, you're right, their kit is of the Jeremiah O'Brian, I'm going to modify the kit to reflect the Stephen Hopkins. The only differences between the two ships were the guns they carried. The BJ kit has what probably 90% of the Liberty ships carried. As one of the earliest Liberties launched, the Hopkins was fitted out with whatever could be scrapped together so I will have to scratch build the 4-inch gun, 2 37-mm AA guns, and modify the kit-supplied 20-mm guns into 50-cal guns. These are relatively small details, for all the big stuff like hull, superstructure and cargo booms the 2 ships were identical.

Liberty Ship SS Stephen Hopkins - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1/192 scale Kit Contents Although this kit has been in the BlueJacket inventory for quite a few years, it was updated just a couple of years ago to take advantage of new technologies and materials. Difficulty Rating BJ uses a 1-9 ranking to help customers figure out if a kit is within their skill level. They rank this kit “8” with the elaboration: “Construction experience with more complex kits is helpful.” I would not recommend this kit for a first time build mainly because the instructions tell, and sometimes show, WHAT to do but not always HOW to do it because prior experience is assumed. If you are interested in trying this kit I recommend you call Bluejacket and have a talk with them about your previous builds, they may recommend a simpler (and less expensive) solid hull kit to get you up to speed. Instruction Book The 28-page instruction book contains: a list of recommended tools (just simple had tools, nothing most folks would not have on hand) recommended construction sequence with explanatory sketches a parts list that should be used to inventory the kit on arrival (mine had everything) Plans 3 sheets of plans show the ship in both plan and view, fore or aft views of sub-assemblies where needed, rigging plan, and multiple copies of the hull lines which you cut out and glue to cardboard as templates for shaping the hull. Hull When I opened the kit the hull was wrapped in brown paper, I left it wrapped and put it aside while I looked at the plans. Looking at the stern area I thought “How am I going to shape the rudder area???!!!” since the rudder post sits on a integral projection of the hull that looked complicated to bring out. Fortunately when I got around to unwrapping the hull I found the rudder rest already carved. The basic hull shape and dimensions are in place. There are machining plugs at the bow and stern which are easy to remove, after that it is just a matter of sanding the hull until the templates for each station fit properly. The hull is 27.5 inches in length. Laser Cut One of the updates to the kit involved more use of laser cut wood. In addition to the expected pieces which are stacked to construct the deckhouses there were several pleasant surprises. Although the printed catalog photo of the finished kit do not show them, there are now etched hatch covers showing all the individual hatch covers. After discovering this I’ll be leaving most of the hatches uncovered and even trying to open a couple of them up. Another nice surprise was the bulwarks. I don’t know if they were always in the kit but I had assumed that like many solid hull kits with bulwarks I would have to carve down the deck leaving the bulwarks as a thin “fence” around the deck. On a model of this size that’s a lot of wood and I am a poor hand with chisels - I might as well use a chainsaw since it would be quicker and no worse than my chisel work. Fortunately the kit provides the bulwarks, with the scuppers in place (there are a ton of them). The bulwarks are simply attached to the deck edge along a rabbet. The last surprise is that thin facing pieces with portholes in place are provided to cover the exterior of the deck house. Drilling portholes has always been my bane, I either get tear-outs or have 1 or 2 that are out of line with the rest of them, now I don’t have to worry about that. There is also a sheet of laser cut plastic for gun tubs and other fittings. Photo Etch There is just a little PE supplied with this kit which is not surprising - it is used for delicate parts and there was nothing delicate about Liberty ships. Having just finished a 1/350 scale USN frigate with hundreds of tiny PE parts it will be nice to get away from that stuff for a while. Brittania Metal Fittings There are quite a few Brittania and brass metal fittings provided, all of them well cast and largely free of flash. This kit does not have any resin fittings. Misc. Parts There are wood dowels, wire, brass rod for fabricating parts and a sheet of rub-on letters specific for the Jeremiah O’Brian, and rigging thread. All told, it looks like there is everything needed for a nice model.

Dgbot - This will be a solid hull, it comes from Bluejacket about 85% to shape so it it just a matter of sanding it to final shape and dimensions, I will post a photo of the hull and other kit parts soon. Piet & Brian - welcome aboard, kit pictures to follow Robin b - I think you are referring to the USS Belinda, which was a fictional troop transport from the book and movie "Away all boats." I enjoyed both. This ship will look similar but smaller and without all the landing craft.

Wacko Wolf, Slog, Greg & David B, Thanks for your interest in the build, glad to have you onboard. Tim

Al, Here's what I was able to find about your father's ships, hope it helps: SS Sahale 1) Looks like you can get a photo from the Army Heritage and Education Center at: http://usahec.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16635coll20/id/80714 2) mentioned in article about racial problems in 1942 at https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2211&dat=19420411&id=Bh0mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sv0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4829,1171630&hl=en 3) Ship’s Purser decorated for heroism in Sept 42 at http://www.usmm.org/heroes.html 4) Reported near torpedoing at http://uboatarchive.net/ESF/ESFWarDiaryMar42APP4.htm SS George F. Patten (note different spelling of last name) 1) listed in a USN convoy escort War Diary from Dec 1943 at: https://www.fold3.com/document/270948074/ 2) A local Mass newspaper with news from the troops in Jun 1945 mentions the ship as being in the Atlantic on pg 3 of the following (just above “Plummers News” at the following: http://spindle.trajnet.com/resources/v3-8.pdf 3) From: http://ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf Built at North East aShipbuilding Corp yard in Portland Me Hull # 802 Laid down 3/29/1943 Launched 5/22/43 Completed 5/31/43 Completed Service Mar 1970 Scrapped 4) involvement in a 1951 lawsuit at: http://www.leagle.com/decision/1956616144FSupp472_1525/UNITED%20STATES%20v.%20MOBILE%20TOWING%20AND%20WRECKING%20CO. SS Casimir Pulaski 1) from: http://ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf Built at Southeastern Shipbuilding Corp in Savannah, Ga Hull # 1053 Laid down 4/13/43 Launched 6/25/43/completed 7/16/43 Went to US Reserve Fleet at some point 2) probably a photo of the ship at https://www.jstor.org/journal/georhistquar 3) Included in a Merchant Marine officer’s memoirs at: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Memoirs_of_a_Seagoing_Soldier_in_Wor.html?id=jX84twAACAAJ 4) photos from a sailor who served on the ship in the Naval Armed Guard at: http://www.armed-guard.com/nanni.html SS Marine Devil 1) Not a Liberty, but a larger C4 ship, listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_C4-class_ship 2) service mention at: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Military-History-669/2011/6/dad-service-eto.htm http://cbipage.tripod.com/c-home.html http://www.45thinfantrydivision.com/index12.htm 3) Photo available on Google under “SS Marine Devil”

Hi Alde, Believe me I know how hard it can be to find pix of individual ships. Have you tried Googling each ship's name with SS in front of it? The attached URL lists all the ships and what ultimately happened to them but not their operational histories: http://ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf If you get a chance please post the names of his ships and I will see if I can find anything. Part of the problem I think is that although the government built the ships most of them where then turned over (leased maybe?) to individual shipping companies and the govt has no records thereafter. I found a book "the Liberty Ships" by Sawyer and Mitchell on Amazon as a used book for a few bucks but it doesn't give much more info for most of the ships than what is in the website above. As far as finding out where each ship went during the war that would probably be a research nightmare, given that the Navy only cared about them when they were in a convoy (many sailed independently at times) and most shipping company records were probably tossed when they went out of business. Tim

Hi John, I ran across the John Barry treasure news story when I was doing my research, sounds like there is still quite a bit coin onboard, hard to believe they were able to get it from so far down. Your right - SS does stand for steam ship Tim

Welcome aboard BV, Merchant Sailors like your dad were the unsung heroes of the war, especially those on the tankers.

Wow, nice build log, wish I would have found it sooner. I grew up just across Salmon Bay from Ballard where the Cudahy was built and I had a chance to work on some tugs in Seattle when I was younger. You are doing a great job on her, love the engine! Tim

Great to have you onboard Steamschooner. Coincidentally, the aerial photo above showing the 11-way shipyard, is the Kaiser Portland Yard.

Liberty Ship SS Stephen Hopkins - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1/192 scale While mulling over what kit to select for my next build I was giving some thought to taking a break from warships and BlueJacket’s Liberty ship kit caught my attention because of the amount of rigging on it: Although I never served on any type of cargo or replenishment ship I figured “How complicated can it be?” Doing some photo research I came across the next photo of BIG CHAINS hanging from the masts of the SS John Brown and realized there is a lot I don’t know about cargo rigging and that this might be a good way to learn about it so I will be building BlueJacket’s kit of the Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brian, which is still operating in San Francisco (BTW, I eventually found out that the chains are called Bull Chains). The next decision was what Liberty ship to model. With over 2700 Liberty ships built between 1941 and 1945 there is an embarrassment of ships to choose from but after a little research the choice was obvious. Although the Stephen Hopkins had a very brief life, being sunk on her maiden voyage, she would be a contender in any contest to name the greatest fighting ship in American history, despite being an “SS” vice a “USS.” It’s an amazing story, one that I’m surprised Hollywood hasn’t pick up on. So I won’t be taking a break from building warships after all . . . You can read her full story at http://www.armed-guard.com/hoppy.html, but in brief, after fitting out in San Francisco as one of the earliest Libertys, the Hopkins crossed the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, steaming alone and entered the South Atlantic where on 27 Sep 1942, in low visibility, she encountered at the range of about a mile two ships laying to. The ships turned out to be the heavily armed German raider Stier and the blockade runner Tannenfels. With a crew of 340, six 6-inch guns, torpedoes and numerous smaller caliber weapons the Stier had the armament of a light cruiser, in fact ten months earlier the similarly armed raider Komoran sank the cruiser HMAS Sydney off the West coast of Australia, although the Komoran was sunk also. The Stier opened fire immediately and the Hopkins’ Master decided to fight it out rather than surrender as most ships in her position would have done. The Hopkins’ single, obsolete 4-inch gun was moved by hand cranks and manually loaded but her Naval Armed Guard had been practicing at every opportunity and it began to show. The Hopkins quickly knocked out the Stier’s steering and repetitive hits along the waterline soon caused fires to break out in the Stier’s engineering spaces and she went dead in the water, as the Hopkins did too, with her boilers disabled. Both ships continued to drift and fight at about a thousand yards distance, like something out of the War of 1812. The heavy firepower of the Stier began to tell and after about 20 minutes the Hopkins was afire and sinking with two-thirds of her crew of 55 dead. Engineering Cadet Edwin O’Hara, from the US Merchant Marine Academy, made his way to the 4-inch gun after the engineering spaces were abandoned. He found the gun crew dead and the magazine destroyed but was able to locate 5 loose shells and single-handedly fired them at the Stier just before before he was killed. Nineteen survivors from the Hopkins managed to launch the one undamaged lifeboat. Meanwhile the Stier’s crew was unable to control the fires spreading out of the engine room and she had to be scuttled. Her survivors were recovered by the Tannenfels, who made no effort to aid the Hopkins survivors. Under the command of the 3rd Engineer and without any charts or navigation instruments except a compass the Hopkins’ boat set out to cross the Atlantic to Brazil. Amazingly enough they made it 30 days later with 15 men still alive. The ships were built in 18 purpose-built yards, which themselves were constructed in remarkably short time, turning mudflats into complex shipyards in just a few months. Locations of the yards were based on available manpower, however untrained, and political considerations to “spread the wealth” of government contracts across the coastlines. The Libertys were based on the then yet-to be built British “Ocean” design that was, in turn, based on successful coasters. The goal was to design a ship that was both inexpensive and quick to build, simple enough in design that inexperienced shipyards and workers could build them, that could make 11 knots and carry a significant amount of cargo. They departed from the British design in that they were largely welded, most of the accommodations were in a large deckhouse, rather than divided among the foc’sle, midships and aft.. Their boilers were water tube vice Scotch, and were oil-fired rather than coal. Without having to accommodate coal bunkers they could be fitted with heavier masts rather than king posts. Although by 1941 the advantages of turbines over reciprocating steam engines were well known, the technical skill required to build turbines was much greater and the small number of plants capable of producing them were all dedicated to warship construction so the decision was made to go with reciprocating engines. The Ocean design was further simplified to minimize the amount of curved plates in the hull and wherever possible bulkhead penetrations for piping were avoided by running them outside the skin of the ship. Cost saving measures included waiving a large number of US regulations related to Merchant ship safety, comfort and, ominously for the Hopkins, fireproofing. The ships had little in the way of forced ventilation and had the reputation of being hot and uncomfortable in most climates. Although the building time varied between shipyards , the common trend was that as they gained experience the time required to complete the ships steadily dropped. The first few could take up to 5 months to launch, although most only required a few weeks. The record was set by the SS Robert E. Peary, while admittedly a publicity stunt involving a lot of pre-fabrication and unlimited manpower, required only 4 days, 15 hours from keel laying to launch. By the end of the war an average of 3 Liberty ships a day were being launched. If you are interested in learning more about the Liberty ships this URL will take you to a decent study produced by the American Bureau of Shipping: https://www.eagle.org/eagleExternalPortalWEB/ShowProperty/BEA%20Repository/News%20&%20Events/Publications/WorkhorseOfTheFleet and this one will take you to a one-hour, color, wartime documentary film about the ships and the shipyard in Richmond, CA where the Hopkins was built: https://archive.org/details/cubanc_00004# I'll be using the following references: SS John W. Brown, a working Liberty ship berthed in Baltimore. Although she has some modifications from her conversion to carry troops and as a school ship in NYC she is still in remarkably good condition and largely unchanged from her WWII days. I was able to spend a few hours onboard, take a lot of photos, and watch the cargo booms at work. She takes day trips from ports along the East Coast. A Call to Arms by Maury Klein. Although the book covers the entire US WWII industrial mobilization, the chapter on shipbuilding is well done. Ships for Victory by Frederic C. Lane. Thank God I was able to get this from the library rather than spend any money on it. If 900+ pages of meeting by meeting and memo by memo descriptions of bureaucracy at work excites you then this is your book. Even while skimming it I was worried that I would pass out and then drown in the puddle of my own drool. The book provided some insight into the welding problems encountered in the early program but that was about it. Websites devoted to the SS John W. Brown, SS Jeremiah O’Brian, and SS Hellenic Victory all have extensive onboard photos to help with details 5) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/55-17/ch3.htm is a webpage that has extensive info on cargo rigging, it will be my primary reference for rigging. In the next post I’ll give an overview of what comes in the kit

With the add-on of the lifelines, helo nets, and the helo the only thing left is to add the MACK and the rigging.