MSB 6 by Gbmodeler - FINISHED - 1/96 scale - 1952 United States Minesweeping Boat

[Gbmodeler]

This is a model of a 57' mine sweeping boat from the 1950s.  About 50 of these boats were constructed and used in Korea and Viet Nam.  My father served on MSB 6, out of Charleston, SC in the early 1950s.  While information, plans, and photos of these boats are skimpy, there is information available.  The most detailed technical data I found on the internet is located at the Library of Congress web site at: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/tx/tx1100/tx1140/data/tx1140data.pdf

[Gbmodeler]

Model construction began with some line drawings and historical photos off the internet.  I reconstructed the hull lines the best I could from these sources, but did not have any real plans to work with.  Being a small model of a small boat, hull construction went quickly...

Bulkhead on false keel construction.  The model is only about 165mm long.

I had to carve out a hole for the large electronic cable reel, which will be built later, and which is a predominate feature of the boat

After the frame was completed, I started work on the deck.  Planks were scribed by hand and colored with lead pencil.  Then, the whole deck was lightly stained with a pine color.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Gbmodeler
To caption photos

[Gbmodeler]

Continuing with the hull construction...

 

The deck was glued to the top of the frame and held in place with rubber bands while the PVA glue dried...

Before the deck was attached, a thin strip of wood was glued to the middle of the frame on both the long and short decks.  This provided camber to the deck when it was applied...

I forgot to mention that the frame was cut from thin basswood plywood (3-ply).  The deck was from a solid sheet of 1/32" thick basswood.

Before planking, the deck was protected with blue masking tape.  I know my fingers will get glue prints all over everything if I don't protect it...

Edited June 18, 2022 by Gbmodeler
Add captions

[KeithAug]

An interesting little vessel, I will be interested to see how she turns out. The wide spacing of the aft frames might make planking a little tricky. Is there a reason for the spacing?

[Gbmodeler]

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

An interesting little vessel, I will be interested to see how she turns out. The wide spacing of the aft frames might make planking a little tricky. Is there a reason for the spacing?

Thanks KeithAug.  The shape of the hull does not change much from midships to the stern.  It's such a little model, fewer frames were needed to achieve the overall shape (and strength needed). 

[Gbmodeler]

I have to admit, this was the easiest planking job I ever did.  Since I planned to smooth and fill the hull anyway, I wasn't too worried about accuracy.  I began making 3mm wide strips from 1/32" basswood sheet.  After fixing the garboard strake, I just added the planks without tapering anything.  They went on beautifully, with only one tapered cheater needed amidships at the curve of the hull.  I then coated the hull with acrylic wood putty, diluted with tap water to make a thick slurry. After sanding everything smooth, I applied "Mr. Surfacer 1000", found any blemishes, and sanded them out.

 

Here's the finished hull, with trim pieces starting to be added...

Edited June 19, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[Dr PR]

Cool!

 

I was Engineering/Supply Officer on MSI 2 (inshore minesweeper) It was 112 feet long. The write up about the MSB didn't mention MSIs, probably because the Navy only made two of them and they were worthless.

 

I don't think I ever heard of MSBs. One reason is that they cancelled my orders to minesweeping school in Charleston and sent me (Ensign Fuzz) directly from OCS to the ship with no training! If I had gone to Charleston I surely would have seen the MSBs.

 

You might be able to find records from the boat yard where they were built (John Trumpy & Sons, Annapolis, Maryland). Check with the museum at the Naval Academy. I found the complete blueprint set for the MSIs in the National Archives. One of these days I want to build a model of the USS Cape MSI-2.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Dr PR

[Gbmodeler]

8 hours ago, Dr PR said:

Cool!

 

I was Engineering/Supply Officer on MSI 2 (inshore minesweeper) It was 112 feet long. The write up about the MSB didn't mention MSIs, probably because the Navy only made two of them and they were worthless.

 

I don't think I ever heard of MSBs. One reason is that they cancelled my orders to minesweeping school in Charleston and sent me (Ensign Fuzz) directly from OCS to the ship with no training! If I had gone to Charleston I surely would have seen the MSBs.

 

You might be able to find records from the boat yard where they were built (John Trumpy & Sons, Annapolis, Maryland). Check with the museum at the Naval Academy. I found the complete blueprint set for the MSIs in the National Archives. One of these days I want to build a model of the USS Cape MSI-2.

I have not heard about the MSIs, so thanks for the info. 😃

[Gbmodeler]

Along with the planking and trim, I shaped and added a keel made from 1/32" basswood sheet.  The propeller shafts were made from piano wire, while the shaft brackets were made from little bits of the 1/32" basswood.  Years ago, I learned that cornstarch mixed with super glue was a good filler for air-holes in resin models.  I've been using that for recipe in other applications for years, and really like it.  Here, I used it to make the tubes the propeller shafts run through at the end of the brackets (a glob of filler was put around the shaft and filed to shape after the slurry dried)...

Next, the hold for the cable reel was located and cut out from the deck, paneled with basswood sheet, and trimmed.  Bilge pipes on the sides were made from brass tube. 

I have accumulated 20+ years of left-over photo-etch parts from armor modeling.  Whenever I need something, I look through the tons of photo-etch for an appropriate part.  In this case, antenna rings from some long forgotten tank model serve perfectly for rudder post holes...

Edited June 19, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[Gbmodeler]

The pilot house was the next thing to tackle.  Again, using 1/32" basswood sheet, it was "built-up" after closely studying drawings and photographs I found on the internet.  The pilot house door on the starboard side was the first problem.  How do I get a structure, squared and true, with the gap created by a place where a door has to go?  The problem was solved by using an inner wall.  I put an inner wall on the port side too, to add greater strength to the structure.

Here's the door gap, and how the inner walls were used.

The bottom of the pilot house had to be shaped to account for the camber in the deck.  I use a 1/2" dowel with sandpaper glued to it to give me a large round file.  

The pilot house is all windows.  This was a challenge to keep everything at the proper angle, or straight...


 

 

She slowly came together...

After assembly, but before attaching the roof, I primed and painted the pilot house.  This was so I could put "glass" in the windows.  Adding window glass would be easier with the roof off.  A clear plastic tomato container volunteered to be the "glass". It was cut into flat strips, dipped in clear acrylic floor polish, and hung up to dry over night.  Window panes were then cut from the strips and glued in place. Sorry I didn't take any photos of that process...🫤

 

With all the windows, I figured you could see into the pilot house after it was done.  More old photo etch served as a dashboard, and a helm was found in the spare parts...

 

Grab rails were crafted from brass rod...  

Edited June 19, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[Gbmodeler]

Here's the pilot house after the "glass" and roof were applied.  You can also see the finished door...

[Gbmodeler]

The next big challenge was building the large reel for the electronic mine sweeping cable.  I find it difficult to draw or make perfect circles, and that's exactly the shape of the reel!  Constriction started with a wood disk cut from the 1/32"  basswood sheet.  A circle gauge helped me get the disc close.  Then, carefully measured spokes for the reel were attached, made from styrene rod.  The same rod was used to wraparound the outer edge of the spokes.  The result was not perfect, but presentable... .  Again, old photo-etch was used for the reel hubs.  To represent the smooth cable, I used black insulated copper wire.  The reel is mounted on piano wire and can really turn (don't know why; it doesn't have to for the purpose of the model).

The outer rod was placed after the initial set of eight spokes were attached.  The second set of eight spokes were added later...

A wood dowel was used for the core of the reel...

 

 

The double exhaust stacks for the gas-turbine were also a "head-scratcher."  Although the boat was powered by twin diesel engines, a gas turbine was used to produce electricity for the electronic mine sweeping gear.  I first tried to make the conical tops out of rolled sheet styrene, but that didn't work.  So, I ended up carving them from wood dowel.  The lower tubes are also wood dowel.  Some styrene strip was used for trim...

 

These were the three big challenges I worried about the most: the pilot house, the reel, and the gas turbine exhaust stacks.  The rest of the boat's details might be tedious, but I really love the detail work!

Edited October 10, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[Roger Pellett]

Very nice work on an interesting subject.

 

Unfortunately mine warfare seems to be one of those things forgotten about by our navy until there is a crisis.  The fleet of minesweepers from the 1950’s was built in response to the Navy being stymied by mines sowed by North Korea off Wonson during the Korean War.  I spent the summer of 1964 as a Naval Reserve Midshipman aboard a coastal (MSC) and an Ocean Going Minesweeper (MSO) operating in the coastal waters of Japan.  

 

The large reel on the boat that you are modeling held an electric, not an electronic cable for sweeping magnetic mines.  The idea was simple;  an engine powered a generator that passed a current through the cable towed behind the vessel. The field from the electric current set off the mine- hopefully far enough behind the ship to avoid sinking it.  The passage of the “ship” and its supposed size could be mimicked by varying the voltage or current in the cable; I don’t remember which.  This was done by varying the speed of the engine powering the generator with a cam that varied the throttle setting.  I believe that there were different cams to mock up different situations.  When sweeping, the sound of the engines running the generators speeding up and slowing down in the cam driven pattern could be heard throughout the ship.

 

Roger

[Gbmodeler]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

Very nice work on an interesting subject.

 

Unfortunately mine warfare seems to be one of those things forgotten about by our navy until there is a crisis.  The fleet of minesweepers from the 1950’s was built in response to the Navy being stymied by mines sowed by North Korea off Wonson during the Korean War.  I spent the summer of 1964 as a Naval Reserve Midshipman aboard a coastal (MSC) and an Ocean Going Minesweeper (MSO) operating in the coastal waters of Japan.  

 

The large reel on the boat that you are modeling held an electric, not an electronic cable for sweeping magnetic mines.  The idea was simple;  an engine powered a generator that passed a current through the cable towed behind the vessel. The field from the electric current set off the mine- hopefully far enough behind the ship to avoid sinking it.  The passage of the “ship” and its supposed size could be mimicked by varying the voltage or current in the cable; I don’t remember which.  This was done by varying the speed of the engine powering the generator with a cam that varied the throttle setting.  I believe that there were different cams to mock up different situations.  When sweeping, the sound of the engines running the generators speeding up and slowing down in the cam driven pattern could be heard throughout the ship.

 

Roger

Great information!  Thanks!

[Gbmodeler]

So, the detail work begins with hatches on the main deck.  Plastic strip and my endless photo-etch supply are called to service for the panels flush to the deck, etc.  Photo-etch and basswood bits make the raised hatch and combings.

 

Basswood is also used for the small cable reel station.  Again, careful study of photos from the internet provide a basis for construction.

 

 

The framework for the small cable reel station....

 

Cable reels under construction from plastic sheet and tubing...

The final product;  the tan tubes on top of the structure are rollers...

The cable station is not yet glued in place, so it looks a little off center in this photo...

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[Gbmodeler]

At the stern end of the boat sits a framework of rollers and pulleys that are used to play-out the cables.  My photos show these had different configurations, probably due to modifications or improvements made over time.  However the basic framework looks the same.  With the small scale I'm working in, and because this structure is relatively small, complex,  and made of metal, I decided to make it out of styrene.  The following photos show a little of the construction and how it will appear on the boat, although it is not yet glued-on.  I also have to touch-up the paint a little....

[Gbmodeler]

One of the little details needed are air vents.  They were small on the real boat, and really tiny in 1/96 scale.  However, the vents were clearly visible in front of the pilot house, and sat on small dorade boxes.  Here's how I made the air vents from styrene tubes...

 

Two sizes were needed to make the flared vent...

 

Using a round file I formed a half circle notch on one side of the large tube...

The smaller tube was glued into the notch at a right angle.  Then, filler is used to build-up a bulb around the joint...

The vent is then filed and sanded to it's final shape...

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool technique!

[Roger Pellett]

I believe that the arms on the pedestal on the boat’s stern are for handling cables to sweep Contact Mines.  Attached to these cables were a series of U shaped cutters.  The opening of the U faced in the “upstream” direction of the towed cable.  One leg of the U held an explosive charge that propelled a chisel to strike the other leg of the U (called the anvil).  The outboard end of the sweep cable was attached to a duck board designed to splay the cable out.  A float controlled the depth of the cable.

 

As the boat moved forward, the sweep cable would hit the moored mine’s anchor cable.  The mine anchor cable would slide along the sweep cable until it became trapped by one of U shaped cutters. A trigger mechanism in the cutter would fire the explosive driving the chisel through the mine cable.  The mine would float to the surface to be destroyed by gunfire.  A good marksman might hit one of the mine’s contact horns causing it to explode.  Otherwise a hole in the mine’s shell would cause it to sink harmlessly to the bottom.

 

Unlike contact mines, magnetic, acoustic, and pressure mines did not float.  They laid on the bottom.  

 

Roger

 

 

[Gbmodeler]

The pilot house roof has some equipment and railing.  I decided to make the railing out of small brass rod.  The majority was bent (painstakingly) to shape and installed.  Then, the supporting stanchions were located and fitted using super glue.  Other bits and pieces came from various sources (HO scale diesel horn; 1/35 scale Panzer 3 spotlight; and "what-ever-it-is" from the Lindberg lightship model).  They all represent roof items seen in photos of the real boats, in both size and location.  I just don't know what the "what-ever-it-is" is on the real boat...

Edited June 24, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[mtaylor]

That "what ever it is" appears to be signaling device to the engine room for speed.  I think telegraph is right word but deep into engine powered craft I'm not sure.  As the deck areas get populated this going to a nice model of a rare topic around here.

[lmagna]

Your "Whatever it is" like Mark says is an engine room telegraph. I am not certain that it is the device that would be located there though. On  many small ships like this it would be much more common to have a second magnetic binnacle located in this position. 

[Gbmodeler]

Thanks for the comments on the WIS (Whatever-It-Is)😃.  I can't tell from the photos.  Although I used an old  "telegraph" part to represent the WIS, the real WIS looks more like a  large, perpendicular tube in a cradle as seen in the color photos at  https://www.minedivision112.com/early-history/  Maybe it is a binnacle.  Anyway, I will probably change my WIS after I try to study it more...  Anybody's thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[Gbmodeler]

I thought I'd weigh-in on anchors 😁.  I really couldn't find any after-market parts that would be both the proper size and type.  The US Navy boat anchors appear to have been (are) a fluke style.  Anyway, experimenting with wire, plastic strip, brass rod, and styrene sheet (the thickness of a thin sheet of paper), I got the results I wanted.

Here are most of the parts and tools (not counting very thin plastic glue and cyanoacrylate):

 

Here's a finished anchor:

I started by tapering a small square styrene strip by shaving it with a hobby knife...

 

Then I used wire for the head ring, and brass rod for the stock...

Plastic sheet made the flukes...

Little slivers of plastic sheet were needed to finish the flukes...

Anchors Away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by Gbmodeler

[mcb]

Hi,

 

Nice anchor and the railing turned out well too.

 

Good Luck,

mcb

 

[Roger Pellett]

The “thing” atop the Pilot house is most likely a speaking tube and a pelorius to take bearings. The man conning (directing) the boat would have stood inside the railing where he had a 360 degree of things going on.  He would have relayed commands to the helmsman within the pilot house.  On the larger MSO’s the same system was used.  The watch officer was on the open bridge the helmsman and lee helmsman below in the pilot house.

 

The engine room telegraph did not directly control the engines; it relayed engine commands, speed and direction, to engine room personnel who would carry them out.  On a small vessel like this, the engine room would have probably been unmanned while  underway with engines controlled directly from within the pilot house.  An engine room telegraph, therefore, would not have been used.

 

The larger MSO’s were equipped with controllable pitch propellers.  This allowed the engines to be run at a constant RPM.  Both speed and direction were controlled directly by the lee helmsman in the pilot house.  This is a distinct possibility for these smaller MSB’s too.

 

Roger

[lmagna]

After giving the WIS some further thought I remembered what kind of ship we were talking about and what their normal duties were. While many costal and inland working vessels at the very least have a binnacle located on a raised location a mine sweeper has to know EXACTLY where they are at all times when they are working. This can be as exacting as just a few feet one way or another. One of the methods is to take bearings from known shore objects and triangulating their position on a chart. While this can easily be done with just a compass it is much more accurate if one uses a device that is more specifically designed for the purpose. In this case I now think that the WIS is a telescopic alidade. These devices can take many forms from simple sights like on a rifle to the one I think is being used in this case, or even more. I am not certain if this design is electronically coupled to a charting computer in the pilothouse below but it could be.

  

Hope that helps.

 

(Sorry Roger your post didn't show for me until after I posted mine. Looks like we are saying much the same thing. I need to learn how to type faster!)

Edited June 25, 2022 by lmagna

[Shotlocker]

GB,

 

Nice looking vessel you've built! I've also not heard of an MSB even though I was a radioman operator onboard three different

MSO's on the east coast. One comment about the cable on the reel - the cables on board our ships all had segmented floats on

them. The photo is the stern of the USS Alacrity, 1969, as an example. Sure don't know if those river boats had them tho'.

 

Gary

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

While I don’t have the T shirt to prove it, that was my job during my summer Midshipman cruise aboard USS Loyalty MSO457.  This was before computer chart plotter technology.  Minesweepers worked in groups, steaming in echelon when sweeping mines- think of several lawnmowers cutting grass. One boat acted as a guide with each successive boat maintaining station on it.

 

Underway, I stood watch as Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD).  As this was my first time “at sea” I assumed that my job would be to just stand there and look important!  When I reported to the bridge, I was stationed at the pelorus with a hand held range finder and told to maintain a certain range and bearing on the guide.  This involved measuring range and bearing, and then figuring out in my head how to adjust speed and heading to maintain correct station in the formation.  Engine orders and heading corrections to do this were relayed to the crew in the pilot house below via speaking tube.  Needless to say, the first few tries were a disaster and in the several weeks at sea I never became as proficient as the captain would have liked.  During foggy conditions which were not uncommon off the coast of Northern Japan we did the same using radar.

 

While my Midshipman training included maneuvering board calculations, I never saw one used in practice as there was no time to do so.  The experienced ship handlers aboard could order maneuvers including station changes in the fog by visualizing the tactical situation in their heads.

 

Roger

[Gbmodeler]

21 minutes ago, Shotlocker said:

GB,

 

Nice looking vessel you've built! I've also not heard of an MSB even though I was a radioman operator onboard three different

MSO's on the east coast. One comment about the cable on the reel - the cables on board our ships all had segmented floats on

them. The photo is the stern of the USS Alacrity, 1969, as an example. Sure don't know if those river boats had them tho'.

 

Gary

 

 

Thanks Shotlocker!  I haven't seen the segmented floats before.  In the photos I've seen of the MSBs, the cables look smooth🤔...