LPH-11 USS New Orleans by Spaceman Spiff - Iron Shipwrights - 1/350 - RESIN

[ddp]

approx. how much is the bottom of the bow & stern raised in relation to the midships? had the reverse issue with my 1/429 scale OBB's so i ran them thru a belt sander that resolved that issue as now the keel is flat from bow to stern.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Not sure - I’ll measure when I get home and show pics. All of that will be hidden under the water/waves. I’ve made an at-sea dio before using celluclay  - forming/shaping and covering with diluted white glue. Painted/dry brushed and covered with future. Looked pretty good. 

 

Tonight I’ll tape down flight deck and start that process. Once it’s built to shape, then I will relocate doors, platforms, etc. 

 

i really like that idea you gave me. 

[Landlubber Mike]

I've done the hot water trick (and hair dryer trick) on thinner resin parts and things worked out just fine.  My parts again were much much thinner and had a bit of flex to them. Your resin looks a lot harder with little flex, and anyway the hull looks way too thick to get any bends out of it at this point.

 

First question though - do you know if the deck is supposed to be perfectly flat, or is there supposed to be a slight camber to the deck at the bow and stern?  That could be why the hull is shaped the way it is.  Though, in your pictures in post #44, the top of the hull doesn't seem to have a smooth line - straight or curved - but had what looks like little valleys that don't conform to the general line of the top of the hull.

 

That being said, if the hull is the problem (i.e., the deck is supposed to be perfectly flat), I'd try to sand the middle section down a bit so that the deck fits a little better.  I'd then glue down the deck with two-part epoxy.  Once cured, I'd glue in plastic card shims, use a two-part epoxy putty like Tamiya's to get all the tiny gaps filled, and then sand everything so that you have a smooth hull.

 

If the deck actually needs to have a camber to it (i.e., the hull is correct), I'd try the hot water technique to get a curve in the deck.  Then I would use a strong two-part epoxy to glue down the deck while it is clamped to the hull.  

 

Good luck!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks for the input! The flight deck of the LPH’s were flat. The hull definitely is the issue, so it looks like sheet styrene and milliput is the way to go. Will have to relocate doors etc to match new height

[ddp]

Mike, deck is supposed to be flat & camber is side to side not front to back. have a look at this link.

LPH-9 USS Guam Booklet of General Plans (196X) https://archive.org/details/lph9bogp196x

 

Spiff, you are welcome. take a look at that link i just posted.

Edited July 11 by ddp

[GrandpaPhil]

If you have an actual bathtub, you can fill it with really hot water and submerge the model in it and apply pressure to take the bend out that way.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Minor update time. After a bit of head scratching it came to try shims and milliput. I thought about the belt sander idea but far too much of the built-in things would have been removed to get it even. I happened to have some evergreen styrene I-beans and they turned out to be the perfect size to get the deck to sit even. So far, the “shims” have been glued in, as shown in the photos. Still gaps to work with but milliput is super easy to work and shape. Oh, and to keep my sanity, I am also working on 1/35 figures for a diorama, as in this WWII German soldier. Enjoy. 

[Canute]

Good work with the Evergreen shims. Those older resin kits can have issues like yours shows, Spiff. And the German soldier is looking good, too.

[mikegr]

Is there a dent on the hull or is just a photo issue?

[Spaceman Spiff]

7 hours ago, Canute said:

Good work with the Evergreen shims. Those older resin kits can have issues like yours shows, Spiff. And the German soldier is looking good, too.

Thank you! I was just messing around with it and said why not…the right side only (aft) gets the shims and both sides forward get it. Not perfect, but once I get it all set in it should be just fine! 
 

i work on the soldiers in between just to keep me from throwing the ship against the wall…

[Spaceman Spiff]

4 hours ago, mikegr said:

Is there a dent on the hull or is just a photo issue?

That is a step. I’ll need to sand it down. One mountain at a time lol

[Spaceman Spiff]

Small update. The flight deck is on. Normally I wouldn’t do it this early, but so much has to be done at gap filling, etc, I felt I had no choice. Will replace all molded doors/hatches and relocate walkways, etc. While the shims helped some, as one can see there are so many gaps. And, of course and being on par with this piece of crap, the display side is beyond terrible. Plastic sheet will cover areas around elevator/hangar deck - will just have to cut it to shape. Still too much work on something that shouldn’t take this long. 

[patrickmil]

Creating a masterpiece out of a bad kit takes time, but it looks like you have it well in hand. Good work on getting the deck down!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks! Experimented with a bit of milliput for the gap filling last night- a bit of a learning curve but I think it will work just fine. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

A little more progress. I have gone the route of milliput and Perfect Plastic Putty. As you can see, one part is sanded, and the other isn’t yet. I’m happy with it so far. Attached are pics of the real ship and the instructions. You can see the poor instructions - bad kit and worse instructions which don’t even  show every piece included with the kit. The instructions would have you put the walkways lower than they actually were, so I will relocate them up near the deck. Which, with all the odds and ends, would hide a bit of my rework. Light at the end of the tunnel. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Quick updates with no pic, however. My idea of milliput/putty sucked for the most part. I do have very thin sheet styrene that I’ll cut in strips and glue to the edge of the flight deck. Since I have to relocate the catwalks to their appropriate places, it should fit perfectly and look a lot better. Stay tuned. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It seems like my modeling time is limited…teens will do that lol. Small update. I cut strips of thin styrene sheets and glued them to the edge of the flight deck. Once I put the catwalks on along with all the odds and ends, it will look halfway decent. Hopefully. Now, the next big issue is the elevator area. Not only is it jacked, but the guide rails are off. See photo. My plan is cover the area with sheet styrene and cut the opening to shape. I wasn’t kidding when I said this kit was a real piece of work. 

[ddp]

what is the thickness of the resin at the top of that opening & then look at Sheet 4 - Outboard Profile Port & Sheet 10 - Main Deck.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I’ll measure it when I get back to my table. I can’t open the drawings you sent as the file is too large. 

[ddp]

what computer/device are you using as i can open it on my desktop computer ok?

[Spaceman Spiff]

I don’t have a pc/laptop at home and can’t do it at work, so it’s my iPhone lol 

[ddp]

how big of a file can your iphone handle?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Not sure but it won’t download that. I’d love to get those drawings.

Edited September 13 by Spaceman Spiff

[ddp]

in that link i posted for the drawings of the Guam, on the right hand side you'll see "DOWNLOAD OPTIONS" & in that "DOWNLOAD OPTIONS" you'll see "SHOW ALL", when you click on "SHOW ALL", you'll see 15 files, forget the "cover photo" unless you want to download it but see if can download individually the other "jpg's". post results.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I got it the downloads to work - thank you! 
 

A little progress here and there. Slowly coming along. The white is sheet styrene cut to shape. The catwalks down the flight deck will blend the bottom in. There is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel! 

[ddp]

you are welcome.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Minor, minor update. After much filling, sanding, priming, filling, etc, and a hurricane, I managed to get a small amount done last night. The walks are starting to be put on. With the exception of one I will have to make from scratch, all walks are there. Starting to take life!

Edited October 10 by Spaceman Spiff

[Spaceman Spiff]

Small update. All port walkways are on. Have a lot of PE and small items which will be added later and make it look the part. Hopefully it will look good under paint. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Work on the starboard walks and platforms. Based on old pictures,  I had to splice the rear walk and add the curved section, hence the different colored resin. The white walks/platforms were built using sheet styrene. There was no kit part for the crane base, so I made it out of styrene. The included pic shows what I built (red arrows). Hopefully it turned out ok. Just a few more walkways/platforms to add, piping, etc, and she will be ready for the next step. Thoughts? 

Edited October 25 by Spaceman Spiff

[ddp]

you need to cleanup the top of the starboard elevator hanger opening if you haven't already. the crane base has an overhang on it as you can see a shadow caused by the overhang in the photograph. can you post that photograph again horizontally instead of vertical without the red arrows?