USS Gwin (DD-433) by Egilman - DML/Dragon - 1/350th scale - PLASTIC

[Canute]

It is, EG, unfortunately.

 

And no reports of singed bodyparts. Y'all be careful, ya heah.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

It is, EG, unfortunately.

 

And no reports of singed bodyparts. Y'all be careful, ya heah.

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

[Jack12477]

Yea, I sent 2 boxes of Christmas presents to my daughter/granddaughter in Maryland on Dec 12th via USPS Priority Mail 2 day delivery. Both boxes got to Merrifield VA USPS Distribution Center at 1519 hrs on Dec 13th.  Last update on tracking was Dec 17th status "in transit to next facility arriving late". As of today Dec 31st, no delivery, no new status, lost in Merrifield VA .  Did a Google Maps, it is 56 miles from Merrifield to ltheir local post office 1 hr 2 min by car, 4 hr 55 min by bicycle or 15 hrs 15 min walking.  It  might arrive by next Christmas 🤫🤔🤐🤨😐😑😒

 

Oh, she sent me a box via UPS on Dec 21st, arrived here Dec 23rd.  United Parcel Spacers beat the USPS Pony Express. 😀😀😁

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Jack12477

[lmagna]

I think that much of the commentary and probable revision of the battle in public media stemmed from Captain Gatch himself. In many ways Gatch was from the same self enhancing mold as MacArthur without many of MacAuthur's contacts and influence in high places. I think there can be very little argument that Gatch "embellished" both his personal actions and the effectiveness of the South Dakota in the battle when he reached the US and the "Battleship X" stories were released in the media. Captain Davis of the Washington was openly critical of Gatch's claims, and Admiral Lee while kinder in his wording, refused to back almost all of Gatch's assertations. I don't know how much the crews were involved in all of this but I can see where the crews of each ship would tend to follow the opinions of their seniors. 

 

The South Dakota was commissioned in March 1942. Six months later in early September Gatch runs her aground on an uncharted reef requiring her to return to Pearl for repairs.  She then takes a direct hit from a 500 pound bomb on #2 turret. Almost two months after running aground, in late October Gatch collides with the USS Mayhan while attempting maneuvers to avoid a submarine contact causing damage to both ships that required them to retire from the operational area for repairs.  Two months later in late October she was back in time for the night of 14-15 November that put her out of operation for the next three months and out of the Pacific theater for the next year. Gatch was relieved of command upon South Dakota's return to New York ending his nine months of command. Taken individually all of these incidents could have been dismissed as bad luck or as you say insignificant work up time. Taken together it seems to me to be more of a case of borderline or possibly subpar command. Especially when you consider that with much the same time period for work up after her repairs and under the command of Capt. Smith she returned to the Pacific where she remained for the rest of the war. In that time period she participated in many of the campaigns receiving only one additional 500 pound bomb hit. She was also damaged when handling ammo when a power charge detonated while being hoisted aboard and set off several other charges. 

 

It is hard to second guess history in many cases, this possibly being one of them. Virtually all ships launched or commissioned after December 1941 and some even before that were rushed into service in many cases with green crews and untested equipment. That is especially true of virtually every small combatant built until late in the war. Yet for most they managed to make the grade. The USS Johnson was almost exactly one year old when she was lost taking on the Japanese fleet as part of Taffy 3 in the battle off Samar. She had already been involved in a number of actions and had sunk one Japanese submarine. She had made very good account of herself in all of these actions including when defending  Taffy 3. She virtually single handedly took out the heavy cruiser Kumano blowing her bow completely off and pretty much destroying her bridge with 200 rounds of 5" gunfire.  Add the actions of the Hoel, Heermann, and DE Samuel B. Roberts and you have uncanny results achieved by overpowered ships that were all less than two years old. The Samuel B. Roberts was only six months old.

 

"Big Five into front line battleships, (which they never would be) and the old battleships were not capable of modern front line action"

You might have a hard time convincing Adm. Nishimura and the crews of the Fuso, Yamashiro, and Yogami along with the rest of the Japanese ships at the Battle of Surigao Strait, I suspect they may have had a different opinion.

[lmagna]

Your work on the Gwin has been extraordinary. If doing the same model I suspect I would have missed the .50 cal mounts vs the 20s. In many of the pictures It seemed to me that she was equipped with the twenties.

 

Using foam and a torch is a very effective way to make landscape. Years ago in a time far away I "Assisted" my two boys construct what amounted to being a diorama involving a forest area with stream hills and some low area. We used some left over packing foam and the "Landscaping" only took a few minutes with the torch.

 

I have never done a seaway and am looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. 

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Yea, I sent 2 boxes of Christmas presents to my daughter/granddaughter in Maryland on Dec 12th via USPS Priority Mail 2 day delivery. Both boxes got to Merrifield VA USPS Distribution Center at 1519 hrs on Dec 13th.  Last update on tracking was Dec 17th status "in transit to next facility arriving late". As of today Dec 31st, no delivery, no new status, lost in Merrifield VA .  Did a Google Maps, it is 56 miles from Merrifield to their local post office 1 hr 2 min by car, 4 hr 55 min by bicycle or 15 hrs 15 min walking.  It  might arrive by next Christmas 🤫🤔🤐🤨😐😑😒

 

Oh, she sent me a box via UPS on Dec 21st, arrived here Dec 23rd.  United Parcel Spacers beat the USPS Pony Express. 😀😀😁

 

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....

[Edwardkenway]

30 minutes ago, Egilman said:

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...

I've had this happen with several parcel delivery firms, (Amazon, Yodel, and Hermes) our PO are reasonably good  mainly because the postman has bee doing the round for 10+ years. 

One parcel delivery firm even wanted to charge me for the rescheduled delivery 🤯

Your floaty thing is coming along nicely and I'm enjoying the detailed history lesson as well 😉👍

[Egilman]

10 hours ago, lmagna said:

"Big Five into front line battleships, (which they never would be) and the old battleships were not capable of modern front line action"

You might have a hard time convincing Adm. Nishimura and the crews of the Fuso, Yamashiro, and Yogami along with the rest of the Japanese ships at the Battle of Surigao Strait, I suspect they may have had a different opinion.

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...

Edited January 1, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, lmagna said:

Your work on the Gwin has been extraordinary. If doing the same model I suspect I would have missed the .50 cal mounts vs the 20s. In many of the pictures It seemed to me that she was equipped with the twenties.

 

Using foam and a torch is a very effective way to make landscape. Years ago in a time far away I "Assisted" my two boys construct what amounted to being a diorama involving a forest area with stream hills and some low area. We used some left over packing foam and the "Landscaping" only took a few minutes with the torch.

 

I have never done a seaway and am looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. 

Thank you Lou, it is very much appreciated... I'm taking my time on this one as I not only want it to turn out nice but I want to make sure I learn the stuff needed for the new tech these kits represent....

 

So you know what a torch does to styrofoam, I'm going to use it to create the base form of the seascape in the styro before I mount the ship, and will show the steps of the technique, it a really neat and simple way to do a non flat waterway...

 

Working up the history right now will be posting it later....

 

Again I appreciate the compliment, it means a lot...

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

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....

Nothing serious that you will be without with your meds Brother?   hope your OK.

 

OC

[Egilman]

50 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

Your floaty thing is coming along nicely and I'm enjoying the detailed history lesson as well

Thank you very much Ed it is really appreciated....

[Egilman]

10 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Nothing serious that you will be without with your meds Brother?   hope your OK.

I'm fine, it's just that is has to be refridgerated at all times before use, and I don't know if UPS can handle it... Guess I will find out....

[Old Collingwood]

What I will say EG,  your knowledge and ability to  find things out for all of us  is  really nice,   you always go the extra mile  and  will not leave anyone struggling with thier builds  - thatk you brother.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

2 minutes ago, Egilman said:

I'm fine, it's just that is has to be refridgerated at all times before use, and I don't know if UPS can handle it... Guess I will find out....

Bloody take care   - no risks thank you.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

Delivery services have really dropped the ball over the last year or so..... Especially USPS....

WOW that one REALLY stinks. How will you know if your meds will still be viable on the 4th?

 

49 minutes ago, Egilman said:

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.

Oldendorf used the ships he had exactly as they and every other Dreadnaught from 1906 on had been designed to do. Form a line of battle and smash the enemy. In fact this could be said of all line of battle ships throughout time. Using his advanced scouts, (PTs) to locate and harass the Japanese and along with his destroyers herd them into the area where he was waiting, the results almost could have been nothing short of the complete slaughter that it was. It was an almost prefect example of crossing the enemy's "T" a maneuver always desired but seldom accomplished in naval warfare. Outside of the opening contacts involving the PTs and destroyers speed in that narrow confined seaway. Oldendorf then used the superior speed and firepower of his cruisers while operating under the envelope of the battleships to destroy all that was left. The only difference if the fast battleships had been there would have been that they possibly could have operated in unison with the cruisers and brought the battle to a quicker end with their 16" guns. All of the advantage was with Oldendorf. The Japanese had to come to him and all he needed to do was pick his position and wait. Speed was not a requirement. If the battle had happened in a more open area then he could have still carried it off with the ships he had but it could have possibly been harder to maintain contact if the Japanese chose to break away. Remember that even the old battleships had been considerably upgraded in the antiaircraft department after Pearl Harbor and were no slouches when it came to  taking on aircraft on their own.

 

It could also be said that Pearl Harbor changed the role of the battleship, at least in the Pacific, that very same high speed had for most of the war delegated the fast battleships to the role of protector. They were designed as battleships but were used primarily as anti aircraft platforms and floating batteries and seldom seemed to be around when a battleship was needed. The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal being an exception. But one also has to remember that it was pretty much against American policy to deploy their fast battleships in the restricted waters of Guadalcanal in the first place. The Washington and South Dakota were just there out of necessity doing what would have normally been assigned to cruisers had any been available. 

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, lmagna said:

WOW that one REALLY stinks. How will you know if your meds will still be viable on the 4th?

The company that makes it, (and ships it to me) has assured me it will be fine as long as it is kept cool. The real issue is can UPS keep it cool and they have assured me that they can, there are specific procedures they have to use when shipping meds and they've been doing it for decades... Unfortunately, their recent record of service forces one to question that claim... It's frustrating from the standpoint that the dispensing pharmacy called days earlier to make sure someone would be here to receive it and I was..... I was waiting on it all day... They didn't make much of an attempt to notify me that they were here. (none that my wife nor I am aware of)

 

I'll be fine, I still have a two week supply of it (as of today) so if it gets delivered warm I'll have a chance to contact the issuing pharmacy and get it replaced....

 

But yeah, it sucks for sure....

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, lmagna said:

Oldendorf used the ships he had exactly as they and every other Dreadnaught from 1906 on had been designed to do. Form a line of battle and smash the enemy. In fact this could be said of all line of battle ships throughout time.

There is no doubt of that brother, the circumstances of the situation forced that....

 

6 hours ago, lmagna said:

Using his advanced scouts, (PTs) to locate and harass the Japanese and along with his destroyers herd them into the area where he was waiting, the results almost could have been nothing short of the complete slaughter that it was.

I really wish this was so brother, unfortunately is isn't, Surigao Strait has a maximum width shore to shore of only 25 miles, on average it is ten miles wide.... The navigable channel is only 5 miles wide at it's widest. both side of the channel are too shallow for heavy ships to maneuver in but deep enough for destroyers to have a field day... 48 hours before the attack which we knew was coming, Oldendorf had the navigable channel mined and stationed his PT's as early warning (and they actually put a torpedo into the Abukuma) and destroyers into the unmined shallows creating a shooting gallery.... All that was left was to move his battleships into a cap over the end of a very narrow tube.....

 

 

6 hours ago, lmagna said:

It was an almost prefect example of crossing the enemy's "T" a maneuver always desired but seldom accomplished in naval warfare. Outside of the opening contacts involving the PTs and destroyers speed in that narrow confined seaway.

The only people who call this an example of tactical brilliance, the rarely accomplished tactical maneuver of "crossing the "T"" only understand the firepower enhancement establishing such a position brings. This wasn't Lord Nelson splitting the larger french battle line on the open ocean at Trafalgar....  This, (really sorry for this description) was more akin to the St Valentines Day Massacre or the battle of Wounded Knee..... Half his ships were lost to mines, and the Fuso, although claimed by the destroyers, the official US Navy history isn't so sure she wasn't lost to a mine as well..... No real way to tell the destroyers were firing their torpedos by radar plot cause it was a moonless black night and they never caught sight of the Japanese ships.... The same for three of Oldendorf's battleships, the Pennsylvania and Mississippi never fired a shot cause they couldn't locate a target with their optical gunnery system and the Maryland fired one salvo at the burning blowtorch that was the already destroyed Yamashiro...

 

Oldendorf didn't cross the "T", he set up a killing field... Don't get me wrong, I would have done the exact same thing in that situation.... But the truth actually is, there was nothing heroic or brilliant in the battle at all and that is what the whole "Crossing the "T"" description tries to impart on it..... Look at it this way, aside for the exaggerated "T" argument used to describe the battle, what is the other glowing description used?

 

Five of the battleships from Pearl Harbor were there...... the idea communicated is "Final Revenge for Pearl Harbor".... I point out another thing that doesn't make it into the common history, Oldendorf was sending out desperate pleas for help to Halsey who rightly estimated that he had sufficient power to handle Nishimura's small fleet without problem, so Halsey ignored him... UNTIL he received a message from Oldendorf that his OBB's were low on ammo!!!! (through extensive searching through records I don't believe an actual original written copy of this message has been found in the archives) Three of his OBB's were low on ammo the Tennessee, the California and the Wee Vee were low on ammo, he still had the Maryland, Pennsylvania and Mississippi that were fully armed combined having fired only nine shells in the entirety of the battle....

 

It's another one of those situations where the written public history doesn't fit the actual happenings.....the Battle of Surigao Strait was the hang a target at the end of the shooting gallery and see who can shred it first type things....

 

The official historians are trying to spin over the truth, Oldendorf doesn't get the credit for the doing what he was supposed to do and gets exaggerated credit for what he didn't do, and the message creates an aura of impending disaster that prompted and woke up halsey to the danger so he courageously sends all his fast battleships south to meet the enemy... (and cover up the biggest blunder of the war)

 

Problem is even though the truth is now out there and is kinda well known, the public releases spinning the truth are what the newspapers got and spread far and wide burning that story into the public memory.....

 

Sometimes I don't like being a historian, I'm always reminded that sometimes the hype becomes the history....

Edited January 1, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

5 hours ago, lmagna said:

It could also be said that Pearl Harbor changed the role of the battleship, at least in the Pacific, that very same high speed had for most of the war delegated the fast battleships to the role of protector. They were designed as battleships but were used primarily as anti aircraft platforms and floating batteries and seldom seemed to be around when a battleship was needed. The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal being an exception. But one also has to remember that it was pretty much against American policy to deploy their fast battleships in the restricted waters of Guadalcanal in the first place. The Washington and South Dakota were just there out of necessity doing what would have normally been assigned to cruisers had any been available. 

Very Very true brother, it was plain that the age of the "Battle Line" tactics taught before the war were dead.... The airplane was the death of the battleship... exactly as Billy Mitchell predicted in 1919

[Jack12477]

I got tired of all 3 delivery services dropping packages on the  uncovered front patio and NEVER ringing the door bell and leaving. Found 1 package by accident soaking wet in downpour.  So I got a cheap battery powered motion sensor for $20 at Lowes and installed it by front door so now I get a chime if someone comes to door.  

[Canute]

EG, hope the weather effects are minimal on your meds. That is very sloppy work. 

 

Our delivery services really stink these days. The Amazon folks walk up my 300 ft slalom driveway to my back door, drop it at the "mail room" door and walk back to their truck. If I didn't see the fella walking up the hill, I'd never know of a delivery until I got the delivery made email. Granted my goods are glues and such, but too cool or wet could affect other items. Chuckleheads.

 

Fascinating review of Surigao. Yes, the USN set up a kill zone and destroyed the Japanese force. It was not a well executed maneuver of crossing the T as all the "Gun Club" members wanted. Has there been a more current study published?  We (NATO air and ground forces) did similar planning in West Germany during the Cold War, attempting to funnel the Warsaw Pact hordes into areas we could bring our forces to bear effectively.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

I got tired of all 3 delivery services dropping packages on the  uncovered front patio and NEVER ringing the door bell and leaving. Found 1 package by accident soaking wet in downpour.  So I got a cheap battery powered motion sensor for $20 at Lowes and installed it by front door so now I get a chime if someone comes to door.  

Ours just drops them over the fence into the yard, sometimes we are lucky if they put them in a plastic bag...... Is it any wonder that amazon set up it's own delivery service? {chuckle}

 

And, that is a good idea brother, I think I'm going to do that as well, getting tired of all this crap....

 

Thanks...

[Egilman]

41 minutes ago, Canute said:

Fascinating review of Surigao. Yes, the USN set up a kill zone and destroyed the Japanese force. It was not a well executed maneuver of crossing the T as all the "Gun Club" members wanted. Has there been a more current study published?  We (NATO air and ground forces) did similar planning in West Germany during the Cold War, attempting to funnel the Warsaw Pact hordes into areas we could bring our forces to bear effectively.

There hasn't been a current study that I'm aware of and if you look at the NHHC's site they are still running the same story they fed to the newspapers way back in '44.... as they say the victors get to write the history... (and spin up their less than stellar moments/little white lies/dirty little secrets) can't have the public knowing the truth can they.... (at least not until all the people who were participating are gone)

 

All war planning today does the same thing, but it's much much easier to do today with the tracking and guidance equipment we have now.... Especially weapons delivery...... All the naysayer were claiming that we would be overwhelmed by hoards of soviet tanks coming thru the Fulda Gap, and from the early '50's thru the mid '60's that was for the most part true.... But since then not a snowballs chance in hell of that happening... (although the naysayers are still thinking up reasons that we will get our butts handed to us by the enemy)

[Egilman]

Ok some history, when I decide to represent a specific scene I usually pick an image that represents what the subject is doing at that point in time....

 

This is the image I'm attempting to model.....

 

We know the ships name and the date so we can do all the research and model the ship as to her condition and fit on that date, but what else does this image tell us.... 

The ship is traveling eastward, she is rolling with the westerly swell and the records tell us it's the North Pacific Ocean... You look at the line of waves behind the ship which are driven by the wind so the wind is coming in over the portside from the north... The beaufort scale tells us that the wind is probably 10-15 kts, sea state is force 5.....(choppy waves some whitecaps) The flag on the ship is standing out full in the breeze so she is doing at least 20 kts....

 

It's early morning given the sun angle and is shining full on her bow, that is what tells us she is on an easterly course as is the USS Sabine AO-25 in the background....  we know that is the Sabine cause she is in Ms. 11 overall Navy Blue paint.... That means this picture was probably taken from the USS Cimarron AO-22... The other destroyer you see in the pic coming about is a Sims class but too distant and indistinct to tell which individual ship.....

 

This is Task Force 16.3 formed on the afternoon of April 17th when the Tankers topped off the Carriers and Cruisers and started their dash into the launch point. These ships are part of the Doolittle Raid group..... So what are they doing..... they have done their jobs and are returning to Pearl at approximately 15 knts....

 

Right now, the rest of the ships from TF 16, the two carriers Hornet and Enterprise, three heavy cruisers the Salt Lake City, Northampton & Vincennes and one light cruiser Nashville, are returning at 20 kts after launching the bombers from the deck of the Hornet and are approximately 700 miles to the east.... The rest of TF 16, the eight Destroyers; Balch, Fanning, Benham, Ellet, Gwin, Meredith, Grayson &  Monssen, and the two fleet oilers Cimarron and Sabine are returning home awaiting the striking force to catch up to them.

 

Now the scene, the ship is 350 ft long and is fully captured in the image... the frame length is 431 feet which means 42 feet of ocean on the bow and stern of the ship is also seen, this is our seaway.... The ship is riding the crests of two swells one the bow has just cut thru and the other just under the #3 5" mount the low spot between the two crests is right under the forward stack.... The depth of the swell is approximately 10-12 feet.. The crest at the #3 mount is about 2-3 ft below the main deck level and drops at the forward stack to below the boot topping probably showing a bit of hull red... In scale that is about a 5/16ths inch rise to the swell, it will be a bit higher at the bow when the stem throws the water aside as she cuts thru... Along the ship there is some foam and spray but not much airborne as this is the lee side of the ship. the swell is slightly angled to the bow off the ship probably 5-10 degrees to port......

 

The ship hull is just under 12" long measuring up 431 feet at scale gives me roughly 15" leaving me an inch and a half at bow and stern, I'll bump that up to 16" for a bit more surface.....

The hull is a inch and a quarter wide so giving a scale I would need 5" of seaway beamwise for an angled presentation which is more attractive than square to the board so I'll set the width at 6"

 

I'll cut a piece of foam at 16x6 inches to make the seaway.... Next up, firing up the foam cutter and then, lighting the torch....

 

EG

Edited January 1, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

Well time for another update....

 

Getting all foamy here... (next time I'll do this first rather than assemble the hull first)

Cutting the foam base...

Checking size and presentation position

At this point we go back out to the shop to fire up the torch, But the admiral asked a question about flammability of the foam and yes it is flammable if you get too close... So, she suggested that I try the heat gun which gets hot enough to melt paint off the wall and see if that would work better.... Anything is worth a shot for safety's sake..... {chuckle}

Works like a charm in fact, easier to control than the torch as well....  (she does come up with a good one every once in a while, it's why I married her) The black marks on the foam are the ridge points I want to keep parallel and fore and aft marks for the hull so while I'm shaping the surface I can keep to the pattern I described earlier... go slow and steady and if it starts to deform to fast take the heat away, you want a gentle shrinking of the surface, too much and it becomes a globby unuseable mess....

 

The results....

Deeper in the middle slightly down at the bow and stern... looking good here...

Now we have to insert the hull into the foam...

 

Marking out the hull....

Carving, you will want a tight fit at first to get the shape right, eventually opening it up for a slightly loose fit for positioning later.....

 

About half way there.... You can begin to see the effect the heat has on the smooth surface of the foam, it creates a rippled surface that looks like wave action. (but in scale) Once the hull is in the foam in the correct position, you can start to finish the foam surface off as a seaway.....

 

Next step finishing the mount and detailing the seaway....

 

Onward.....

 

EG

 

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

Almost done carving... lets see what she looks like....

 

I think she needs to go a bit deeper especially at the stern....

 

Yep definitely, the stern need to sit down in the water more....

 

Onward....

[Egilman]

I think I'm done carving.....

 

So let's see how close I came to the subject.....

I think once I add the splashing action along the hull it going to be close.....

 

Onward....

 

EG

[Jack12477]

5 minutes ago, Egilman said:

going to be close.....

You know "close" only counts in horseshoes or hand grenades 😇  {chuckle}    

 

Looking good so far EG ! 

[Old Collingwood]

Always a risky job doing sea scapes  (hence why I have never done them)  but i Like your approach here  creating a swel  from the forward movement, you are doing fine brother.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

On 1/2/2021 at 3:27 PM, Jack12477 said:

You know "close" only counts in horseshoes or hand grenades 😇  {chuckle}    

 

Looking good so far EG ! 

Yep but I do believe that ocean waves count as well.....

 

Thank you brother it's really appreciated....

[Egilman]

On 1/2/2021 at 6:57 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Always a risky job doing sea scapes  (hence why I have never done them)  but i Like your approach here  creating a swel  from the forward movement, you are doing fine brother.

 

OC.

Well, it is free form sculpting in a sense... but once you've figured out what your going to do, it's rather easy my friend.... I just have to remember how I made mountains and rivers when I was working on the railroad..... Pretty soon I'll be breaking out the toilet paper.....

Edited January 4, 2021 by Egilman