USS Cape (MSI-2) by Dr PR - 1:48 - Inshore Minesweeper

[Dr PR]

John,

 

Are you referring to the triangular light gray thing outboard of the cap rail close to Fred's elbow? I have puzzled over that also. It appears to be the corner of the venturi. The forward section of the venturi is bent inward like something had hit it, bending the outboard edge upward. I don't recall this happening. Because we got underway infrequently I can't imagine when this happened.

 

The ship had just had the venturis replaced when I first went aboard, so it wasn't old damage.

 

It wasn't a side light. Unlike every other ship I have seen, the Cape's side lights were tiny, like bicycle tail lights! Or like the wing tip lights on a small airplane. They were on the outboard side of the bridge bulwarks a bit below the cap rail.

[Nirvana]

Phil, your eye for detail is plainly amazing.

[Javelin]

Hi Phil, I believe John is talking about the device next to the pelorus inboard of the cap rail.

I assume there is a voice pipe to the engine room with a brass cap and perhaps a sort of telegraph with brass rotating angle?

[Dr PR]

Roel,

 

You have a good eye for detail! There is a rotary switch just aft of the pelorus on the bulkhead. A voice pipe - with a cap instead of a megaphone horn - is just aft of the switch. This went to the voice pipe on the navigator's desk, for use when taking bearings to objects to locate the ship's position.

 

We didn't have a voice pipe to the engine room. We could just open a door or two and shout - it was a small ship. Actually, we used sound powered phones and the Engine Order Telegraph.

 

I have looked through the blueprints (at least those I have digitized) and can't find reference to he switch. I'm sure it is listed somewhere in the several hundred pages of blueprints, but I don't know what it was for. It might have been added after the ship was built.

 

There were several changes from the initial construction, and some of these are apparent when comparing the Cape and the Cove. The blueprints show a 12 inch (30.5 cm) searchlight just aft of the voice tube, and there is one at that position on the Cove (and another on the port wing). But the Cape had both searchlights on the O2 level where they would be more effective. One of the things I am doing as I build the model is trying to verify that things actually were where the blueprints show them.

Edited Saturday at 05:45 PM by Dr PR

[Jim Lad]

It's the round fitting inside the bulwark near the peorus - looks a bit like a fishing reel (from your descriptions of life on the 'Cape' it could well be a fishing reel)!

 

John

[KeithAug]

A very pleasant catch up Phil. I loved all the internal and external fittings "most of all the cup". I am amazed 13 years of accounts tallied exactly - shows an eye for detail as one might expect from your work.

 

 

[Dr PR]

Keith,

 

Thanks! Glad to see your Cangarda build underway again.

 

John,

 

The round thing is a weatherproof rotary switch. Only the top plate is round. The bottom part is octagonal - a standard US Navy switch box. And it all rests on a "D" shaped support. My guess is that it is a light switch. Minesweepers had a virtual Christmas tree of lights on the mast to signal all sorts of things from anchored, to sweeping moored mines (port and/or starboard), magnetic mine sweeps, acoustic mine sweeps, formation station, and such.

[Coyote_6]

Phil!   I love all these operational details from a guy who's "been there".  It just really brings the model to life.  She's coming along beautifully!!

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for the clarification, Phil.

 

John

[Dr PR]

 

This is a kit of parts for two bridge wing chairs like you can see in the photo in post #389. I have one more photo that shows a chair from the front. From these I photoguestimated the dimensions. The bases were cut from 0.030 inch (0.76 mm) brass sheet. The arm rests and back pieces are 0.032 x 0.032 inch (0.8 x 0.8 mm) square brass rod. The seat support pieces are 0.032 x 0.032 inch brass "L". The square rod and "L" were made by Special Shapes Company (stock numbers S-1 and A-1). Unfortunately the company is no longer in business making these small parts and I have found no other company that makes parts this small. I bought these pieces about 15 years ago when a local hardware store closed.

 

Here are the finished chair frames.

 

 

The assembly was pretty tricky. It took about five hours to solder together the eleven brass pieces for the first chair. Working with such small pieces can be difficult - several parts popped out of tweezers and were never seen again. Just finding a collection of repositionable clamps to hold the parts in place while soldering is an adventure in itself. Getting enough heat sinks in place to prevent the heat from the current solder joint from flowing the short distance to another joint and unsoldering it is a challenge! Some of these joints were soldered up to five times to get everything in the correct positions.

 

This is just good practice for the real challenges that will come when I start on all that complex minesweeping equipment on the stern. One thing I learned is that I need a lot more small heat sinks!

 

The seats will mount to the bridge bulwarks with the triangular supports under the seat. They will be painted grey and wooden cushions and arm rests will be added.

Edited Monday at 06:29 AM by Dr PR

[KeithAug]

I spent some time wondering how chairs with 2 legs work but fortunately I figured it out before asking  and thereby exposing my stupidity. As you know I have some nice wooden chairs to make that I worry will be quite delicate. Brass ones seem to have their own challenges though. Nicely done. Following your prompt I did find some dollhouse chairs at 1:25 scale but none of the styles were an adequate match.

Edited Monday at 04:31 PM by KeithAug

[Dr PR]

Keith,

 

With the Cape's $1200US per year operating budget we couldn't afford all four legs. But two legs worked OK in McHale's navy!

[Jim Lad]

That's a very nice piece of blacksmithing in brass, Phil. I'm glad you remembered to make them mirror images!

 

John

[Dr PR]

John,

 

I did screw up the first one. I soldered the upper parts on rotated 90 degrees from what they should be! Instead of facing forward it faced inboard!! It was a long day.

 

Not much more to report. I am working on parts for the peloruses. But I had to post some pictures for Keith showing how two-legged chairs work!

 

 

[Jim Lad]

The finished chairs look really good in place, Phil.

 

John

[Coyote_6]

They look the business!

[Dr PR]

Here are one assembled pelorus and parts for a second. The gyro repeater is already assembled from three pieces of concentric brass tubing from 0.186 to 0.250 inch (4.7 to 6.4 mm) diameter. The center piece is a 0.154 inch (3.9 mm) brass rod.

 

The other parts are made from brass tubing from 0.125 inch to 0.311 inch (3.2 to 7.9 mm) diameter and brass plate 0.030 inch (0.76 mm) thick.

 

The trick with any part like this with many pieces that are to be soldered together is to figure out a soldering sequence so that when adding another part an existing solder joint doesn't melt and let the thing fall apart. The gyro head was assembled separately, and then the stand was soldered together from the top down.

 

 

 

 

It just needs a good brushing with a steel wire brush and a coat of paint. Grey, of course! Then I'll glue a compass rose into the top of the repeater.

Edited 8 hours ago by Dr PR