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

[Dr PR]

One coffee cup coming up!

 

First I drilled out a piece of 1/16 (1.59 mm) brass tubing to about 0.050 inch (1.3 mm). Then I drilled two 0.016 inch (0.4 mm) holes for the handle. The handle is 0.012 inch (0.3 mm) brass wire. The wire was soldered into place and the interior filed to remove the wire stubs.

 

 

Then the cup was cut off from the tube, polished and painted. The paint needs to dry more before a second coat is applied.

 

 

Here is the 1:48 scale 3 inch (75 mm) cup next to the real 1:1 thing. I calculate it will take about 120,000 "cups" from the scale cup to fill the real thing.

 

 

 

 

And here is the navigator's cup on the chart desk.

 

In the real Navy you would never place a coffee cup on the chart desk. But the Cape was McHale's Navy, and we went by Cape rules.

 

The really difficult part was painting the Navy seal on the cup. That took a steady hand!

Edited September 23 by Dr PR

[JacquesCousteau]

Very impressive! How did you manage to paint the seal? Is your brush made of a single bristle?

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

You could make it easier to do these details in 1:24 😉 

[Jim Lad]

I agree with JacquesCousteau - very impressive!

 

John

[bdgiantman2]

Great progress, I like the bridge details and the upper level plans shared on here. I thought Navy mugs were supposed to be without handles?? Or was that older times?

[Dr PR]

I don't recall mugs without handles, so that must have been before my time.

 

If I was working in 1:24 the model would be 4' 6" long (1.4 meters). As it is, at 1:48 it is 28 inches (711 mm) long and pretty large.

 

 

 

 

And I must confess, I didn't paint the Navy seal on the mug - that picture was a Photoshopped fake.

 

Here is the real 1:48 coffee cup on the chart desk.

[JacquesCousteau]

1 hour ago, Dr PR said:

And I must confess, I didn't paint the Navy seal on the mug - that picture was a Photoshopped fake.

That's what I get for not zooming in more.... Still an excellent mug!

[Coyote_6]

Now it looks propper Phil!

[wefalck]

Did you use china-mugs in the navy? Thought it would be enamelled metal to reduce the risk of breakage.

[Dr PR]

The dinnerware (cups, plates, bowls and mugs) were all ceramic.

[CDR_Ret]

22 hours ago, Dr PR said:

In the real Navy you would never place a coffee cup on the chart desk.

That was true as well in our operational spaces on a submarine. Cupholders were provided near any flat surfaces. However, in the Wardroom and Crew's Mess at sea, tables were covered with Naugahyde, which was somewhat padded, so plates and cups didn't slide with rolls, and angles and dangles.

 

Terry

[Canute]

Now you need a Chief to carry that mug. 😁

[Dr PR]

More fiddly bits.

 

 

The binnacle was turned out of a piece of 1/4 inch (5 mm) aluminum rod - part of a small wind chime (I didn't have a brass rod the proper diameter). The dome was shaped using a hand drill and files. The binnacle on the ship had two sliding doors that closed in front of the compass rose. To simulate this I carved the aluminum with a #11 blade and a tiny chisel made from a dentist's tool. It was a slow process! The two thin brass rods sticking out were for the two knobs.

 

On the right the binnacle is in position in front of then helm. It was painted with the brushed bronze paint I used on the propeller. A few other small details can be seen. The voice tube from the bridge hangs over the helm station. The tachometers for the engines are on either side of the helm, and a sound powered phone call station is at the lower right. A phone hand set and a few more pieces will be added beside the binnacle and above the windows.

 

 

 

Here is the lee helm or Engine Order Telegraph (EOT). It is made from 11 different pieces. It is 1.14 inches (29 mm) high from the base to the top of the handle (a bronze belaying pin). That is 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 meters) at 1:1 scale.

 

I buffed it up good and then applied a layer of clear acrylic varnish to keep the shine. However, it appears the varnish may have reacted with the brass, and it is a lot duller a day later!

 

I don't know if the EOT was ever used. The ship had a throttle beside the binnacle that the helmsman could use to control the engines. However, I do recall using standard engine orders - Ahead/Back 1/3, 2/3 and Full - when pulling away from the pier, so maybe it was normally used. The throttle might have been used to change propeller speed a few RPM in station keeping while sweeping mines.

 

 

 

The 6 inch (150 mm) 15# CO₂ bottle was turned from a 0.185 inch (4.7 mm) brass rod. The cone is styrene rod.

 

I still have 14 more pieces to go on the forward bulkhead and side bulkheads of the pilot house.

Edited September 30 by Dr PR

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Phil!

 

John

[Dr PR]

Terry,

 

The wardroom tables on the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 had smooth plastic tops covered with table cloths. The tables were supposed to be bolted down, but some had been repositioned without fastening. This wasn't a problem until we were chassed out of White Beach, Okinawa, buy a typhoon that made a sudden appearance (before weather satellites). While turning to put the wind on the starboard bow (northern hemisphere) we took some 30+ degree rolls. This was while the wardroom was seating for Sunday morning brunch.

 

I had been topside taking photos of the storm and had just stepped up to the wardroom door when the ship took its heaviest roll. There were crashes from one end of the ship to the other as equipment broke loose from bulkheads and furniture slid around. This is what I saw when I opened the door - breakfasts and broken dishes on the floor and people and furniture sliding around on spilled sugar and cereal.

 

 

The South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin were hit by a series of storms that lasted a month and a half. We rode through five typhoons and a tropical storm in three weeks (and dodged two others)! After Okinawa we gave up and went to Yokosuka, Japan, for repairs.

Edited September 23 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

Ken,

 

It would be appropriate to have a Chief for the coffee mug (I don't know if I ever saw a Chief without one). However, the highest ranking enlisted man on the Cape was a 1st Class Bosun's Mate.

Edited September 23 by Dr PR

[Coyote_6]

That EOT is simply a work of art.  Lovely!

[Dr PR]

Steve,

 

Thanks!

 

I am printing the "faces" of the instruments on my laser (actually LED) printer, on ordinary printer paper. Then I cut them out and glue them to the instrument body. This works OK for the wooden parts. But the dial face on the EOT came out a bit the worse for wear.

 

I soldered all the parts together, including a pin for the EOT handle to attach to. Then the paper "dial" face was glued on. So far, so good. But when I soldered the handle onto the pin (briefly) the dial face became heated and distorted. It looks like some of the ink flaked off, so you can't read the lettering any more. It was probably the solder flux that distorted the printing.

 

But it will be inside the pilot house and almost invisible, so it will work OK.

[Dr PR]

I needed one more detail to finish the forward bulkhead of the pilot house - a phone. The Navy used sound powered telephones (current was generated by the microphone in the handset) for internal communications because they required no external power.

 

The sending and receiving unit could be an ordinary looking telephone handset or a separate microphone and earphones.

 

There were three handsets in the pilot house and on the bridge. I carved this one out of a 6 mm (~1/4 inch) piece of boxwood. It is pretty crude, but good enough for this use. The handset is housed in a cradle

 

It took about six hours to carve this one. I need two more!

 

 

You can see the handset on the right in these photos, next to the phone system call unit (hand cranked to generate the ring signal.).

 

 

At left center is the radar unit. two pairs of tachometers for the engines flank the wheel, with the phone system to the right and a bell below the telephone call unit. On the shelf in front of the wheel are the main gyro (left), magnetic compass (binnacle, center) and the engine control (throttle) on the right. Above, from left to right, are the gyro amplifier, the small windshield wiper control, the rudder angle indicator, clinometer, voice tube, clock and propeller shaft rotation indicator.

 

 

In these photos I have placed the front bulkhead and side bulkheads in the alignment jig to show how the pieces fit together. Not much is on the port bulkhead - just a sound powered phone call unit (less the handset). On the starboard bulkhead are an amplifier and control unit for the radios, and a heater. The CO₂ cylinder will fit at the angle in front of the heater. The Engine Order Telegraph will be positioned on the deck beside the heater.

 

I suppose I could add some more wiring here and there, but it wouldn't be visible, so I guess the pilot house interior is complete - except for one more telephone handset on the port bulkhead beside the chart table.

 

I guess I will use the Syren 1 - 1/4 inch wheel, even though it is 25% oversized (should be 1 inch or 4 feet at full scale) and ten spokes instead of eight. No one but me will know the difference.

 

I will now take a break to do the taxes as Treasurer for a non-profit. That could take a few days to two weeks.

Edited September 25 by Dr PR

[Jim Lad]

Bad luck, Phil; now we all know the black secret or the wheel! 😀

 

That wheelhouse looks very nice indeed. I hope most of that detail will be visible on the completed model.

 

John

[Dr PR]

John,

 

The doors on the sides of the pilot house will be open, and the interior will be visible through them. The side windows will offer a bit of a view. But the front windows will be hidden under a canvas cover over the open bridge.

 

I suppose if you use a dental mirror or fiber optic camera you could see most of the detail.

[Dr PR]

Thanks to everyone for your comments and likes.

 

Here is a bit more progress:

 

 

I have started assembling the O1 level superstructure.

 

The sides of the pilot house are attached to the after pilot house bulkhead and the after bulkhead on the deck house.

 

Here are a few views of the pilot house details before the forward bulkhead is attached.

 

The deck was covered with brown linoleum tiles. I won't try to replicate the tile lines or the random pattern - they are too small to see at this scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of photos of the deck house on the hull.

 

 

 

 

 

The front and top of the O1 level are not attached yet, and are just sitting there. The O1 house is not attached to the main deck level house. Likewise, the main deck level deckhouse is not glued to the hull. There are still a lot of details to add to the superstructure and it will be easier to work on the parts off the hull.

 

The next step will be the bulwark around the open bridge. For that I will remove the O1 level house so it isn't in the way.

 

 

 

 

You can see one of the characteristics of minesweepers - a high pilot house up forward. This helps to see mines in the water ahead. Lookouts were posted on the O2 level above the pilot house to watch for mines. They carried M1 Garand rifles, and I was stationed there with a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). We were to shoot at any mines we saw, primarily to mark the location for the 50 caliber machine gun crew at the bow, and so the helmsman could try to avoid the mine. If we got lucky we might even detonate the mine, or sink it. We never fired at a real mine while I was aboard.

[Jim Lad]

Very traditional tactics, Phil - trying to sink mines with rifle fire! 🙂

 

John

[Dr PR]

Well, it was better than swimming out with a hammer and beating on them!

[TBlack]

Phil, Your memory of who did what with what, plus where various equipment was attached and their model numbers is quite remarkable. You must have been an excellent junior officer. I imagine that your DD214 is festooned with compliments.

Tom

[Dr PR]

Tom,

 

I would like to take credit for remembering all of that - especially the equipment model numbers - but I am working from blueprints with complete lists of everything from type and numbers of screws to the make and model of the radar. To be honest, I don't remember much of it.

 

You made me curious, so I looked at my DD214 and all it says was "discharged," "honorable," and "strength adjustment." The war was winding down and the Navy had too many junior officers. Basically it said "Thanks for your service, good bye, and don't let the doorknob hit you in the rear."

[Nirvana]

Phil that pilot house looks amazing! Very nice detailing.

[SaltyScot]

Wow! I haven't checked in in a little while and look what you have done. So very neat and clean, Phil. 

[Dr PR]

Here are a few more small details.

 

The ship had several lights on the external bulkheads to illuminate the decks at night. I had the approximate dimensions and a 3D CAD file from the Okieboat CAD model. All I needed to do was make them in styrene.

 

 

I used two sizes of styrene tubing - 0.100 and 0.125 inch (2.5 and 3.2 mm) diameter (left). I chose tubes instead of rods because they would fit concentric around a center rod and I wouldn't have to machine all of the dimensions. The base was turned and shaped with files to get the rim around the light. I didn't have the appropriate size rod so I rounded a piece of 0.0625 inch (1.7 mm) square styrene for the tubing to fit onto. After the glue set the end of the "bulb" was rounded with files and a 0.022 inch (0.6 mm) hole was drilled through the lamp base for the wiring.

 

The next step was to cut pieces of a 0.100 inch (2.5 mm) angle for the mounting bracket (right). A bit of 0.015 inch (0.4 mm) styrene was shaped and glued into the angle. A small piece of 0.030 x 0.060 inch (0.8 x 1.5 mm) styrene was glued to the top of the lamp assembly, and the mounting bracket was glued onto this. The pieces were painted and this finished the lamp assemblies. I know I will need six or seven of these but I made a dozen. I will choose the best for the model.

 

 

The photo on the right shows a lamp mounted on the port bulkhead of the O1 deck house behind the pilot house. A two colored Polarity Light is mounted above the window over the chart desk. The wiring for the lights is 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) copper wire. Ideally there would be a short "stuffing tube" around the wires where they enter the light housings, and another where the wires penetrate the bulkheads, but I couldn't figure a way to make these repeatably at this scale. The deck house sides have been painted with an acrylic base sealer, two coats of grey acrylic paint, and sanded. I will add another coat of paint, sand again, and finish with a clear satin acrylic varnish.

 

Here are a few more photos of the pilot house after the front bulkhead was attached. The compartment was 9 feet (3 meters) wide with just enough room for the helmsman at the wheel and the navigator at the chart desk and radar.

 

 

 

I am adding details to the exterior of the O1 level deckhouse and am about ready to put the O2 level deck over the house. This will also involve making the footing and attachments for the mast.

 

There are actually relatively few wiring details on the exterior of this ship. It has wooden bulkheads that were framed much like ordinary house construction, and most of the wiring was placed inside the walls. This is in contrast to metal ships with thin (3/8 inch or 10 mm) steel plate bulkheads where much of the wiring is routed externally.

 

There were railings around the O2 level on top of the deck house, and a few assorted odds and ends on the O2 level.

Edited October 6 by Dr PR

[Jim Lad]

I see from your model photos that the 'Cape' was largely an outdoor job for the watchkeeping officers - not much room in that wheelhouse once you add a beefy quartermaster! 😀

 

John