USS Basilone DD-824 by schooner - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1:192 - from USS Gearing kit

[schooner]

Boy ain't that the truth! When I finish this puppy I plan to spend 2 days cleaning it, then take lots of photos and then REALLY clean it, removing all the plastic bits, shavings, dog hair, etc that I never see when looking at it with what I though was decent eyesight.

Tim

[schooner]

FWD01 Level Details

 

The primary scratch details remaining for the 01 level are the two antenna stub masts. Both serve as the anchor points for the bottom of 3-wire HF fan antennas and the port one also has a UHF stovepipe antenna mounted on it:

 

The stub mast had ladder rungs on them for maintenance of the antennas, fortunately Gold Medal Models’ 1/192 ladder fret has individual handgrip rungs along with a nice template for drilling their holes:

 Trying to drill 2 sets of holes on a piece of 1/16” styrene rod was beyond my capabilities so I just used the template to mark their locations. Here’s the finished 01 level with the stub masts, line reels, 5/38 Practice Loading Machine, MK32 Torpedo Tubes, and the section of “pipe railing” (for lack of a better term) outboard of the fueling connections, used to keep the refueling hose from chaffing on the sharp deck edge:

Next up will be detailing the DASH hanger.

 

[schooner]

Secondary Conning Station

 

The first detail added to the DASH hanger is the secondary conn, where the ship could be controlled in the event the bridge was damaged. Usually located well away from the bridge and outside for good visibility, the secondary conn had minimal equipment.

 

I started by making the windscreen. The blueprints show it as a section of railing with a canvas covering. Bending a piece of PE railing was easy. I planned to make the canvas covering using some tissue paper wetted with diluted white glue so that I could get the “ribbed” effect seen on canvas wind screens.

I was out of Elmer’s glue so I found some similar stuff that my wife has on hand for crafting. While brushing the glue onto the railing I was surprised at how well it formed a thin screen between the PE sections so I decided to let it dry and just paint that. I was further surprised that when it dried it was crystal clear so it looks like I have found a new glazing material to use on windows (in this photo it looks a little cloudy - it was not completely dry yet).

 

Here’s the painted screen along with the equipment that will make up the secondary conn: Kit-provided magnetic compass binnacle (shortened somewhat to bring it to scale), a gimbal mounted gyro repeater, S/P phone panel, and a set of repeaters for things like shaft RPM, rudder angle indicator, etc. After test fitting this last piece I decided it was too big and redid it in styrene instead of wood.

Here’s the finished product mounted on top of the DASH hanger:

Edited May 13, 2015 by schooner

[schooner]

DASH Hanger

 

The remaining details added to the hanger include life rafts, railings. ladders. a pipe rack, floodlights, loudspeakers, night illumination lights and an electrical power cable reel:

 

Next up will be the forward stack and nearby lockers.

[justsayrow]

Tim, your build really illustrates how breaking a model up into finely executed sub assemblies which are then brought together makes for a great piece. Love following this build!

[schooner]

Thanks for the kind words. When I decided to use this model to try for more detailing than I usually do I knew that I would have to do as much detailing as possible off of the model so that I wouldn't constantly be breaking stuff off as I rested my hands on something to steady them. The only drawback to doing it this way is I spent a long time with little apparent progress being made but now that the the sub-assemblies are being added the pace has really picked up. I just realized I will have to order the plexiglass display case soon so that it will be ready when the model is done. 

[schooner]

ASROC Deck

 

Added the stacks, ASROC Launcher, control station and various vents and lockers:

 

The railings will be added after the motor whaleboat and davits are installed.

Next up will probably be the flight deck nets.

[Old Collingwood]

Great work their tim she is looking so authentic and true to scale,  i am dreading doing all my small bits and pieces at 1/350 scale on my build,  esp the 20mm orli's  they are so tiny....

 

OC.

[schooner]

Hi OC,

 

Detailing at 1/350 is beyond my capabilities so my hat's off to you. My next project will probably be a 1/350 kit of one of the ships I served on. It has  been years since I worked on a resin kit and I can't believe how much they have improved, particularly the kits from Orange Hobby. There is an amazing amount of cast detail and at least 7 sheets of PE just for a FF! The kit's helicopter alone has about 30 parts. So although my next build will be highly detailed, all the work will be done by the manufacturer for a change.

 

Tim

[ccoyle]

The detail on this model is astonishing, as is the rate at which you are adding it!

[schooner]

Thanks Chris!

I'm a little surprised about how fast this is finally going after a year of seemingly minuscule progress.

Tim

[schooner]

Flight Deck Nets

 

The kit provides some nice PE safety nets for the sides of the flight deck (they were not added to the aft part of the flight deck until several years after the time I am depicting). The instructions call for installing them in the raised (vertical) position but since I will show the DASH on the deck I chose to mount them in the lowered (horizontal) position, which would require some modifications. Since PE is inherently thin if viewed side-on the PE would appear under-scale for thickness. I decided to line the PE nets with brass wire to give them more depth:

But after making the wire frame I thought I might try adding my own netting using some fine plastic netting from the craft store (I think it is intended for floral arrangements). As you can see from the attached photo the netting should be very fine, almost invisible.

Here’s my first attempt after spray painting (2nd from the top below) - not too good, the paint made a mess of the netting. Next I tried adding the netting after spray painting the frames (the 3rd from the top in the photo below), better but the frames still looked bad so I threw out the spray paint, painted the frames by hand and then added the netting (bottom one in the below photo) - much better. The craft store mesh is to scale and as an added bonus the openings are diamond-shaped, just like the real things!

After making and installing the nets I wanted to add the “guy wires” (for lack of a better term) that support the nets in the lowered position. I decided to drill a hole in some small strip plastic and insert a piece of 3X fly fishing leader material, cut off the small piece of strip stock, paint it and install it. Here it is being assembled and after installation prior to trimming:

Here’s the finished product:

Next step will be the whaleboat and davits.

Edited May 30, 2015 by schooner

[schooner]

Whaleboat Davits

 

After a too long break for vacation, home repairs, and trying to tease out a final few trout before the heat sets in its about time to get back to the model.

 

The MWB has been set in place, keel rests scratched and the davits rigged. The “falls” between the blocks are just painted fly line since it would have been beyond my patience and skills to try to fit working double blocks in such a small space.

 

Next will be an attempt to rig monkey lines above the boat and rig the guy wires on the radial davit arms.

[Emelbe]

Hi Tim

 

Very nice!!!!  Once upon a time when the eyesight was better and I wasn't so hamfisted I wouldn't have minded a go at a project like that.  Looks like I'll have to make do with admiring yours.

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[schooner]

Thanks for looking in Martin. I'm close behind you for eyesight but working in a scale like 1/192 sure beats 1/350 for helping with that.

Tim

[schooner]

Fan Antennas

 

With a lot of home renovations going on lately it has been tough to find some modeling time - hopefully the hurricane will keep me indoors and at loose ends long enough to get some more done.

 

The Gearings had several sets of 3-wire HF fan antennas. I decided to do the ones between the aft stack and ECM tower now so I didn’t whack something trying to reach that area later.

 

The wires are made from thin flyfishing leader material. It took a long time to track down something to use for the insulators. I tried some glass beads (shown on left below) but they were over scale. I then though of using insulated wire whose insulation material I could slide over the “wire” to simulate the insulators but after striking out at several electrical supply shops I found some online. It was cheap but the necessary wire stripper was not. After stripping off a length of insulation I cut it to length. The piece in the middle below was OK but going down one more size in wire gage diet the trick:

 

The “fish plates” where the wires join is just a piece of strip plastic with small holes drilled in it. The connecting wires (not sure of the technical name) is just a strand of the copper wire whose insulation I had used. Pix of the antennas before and after painting:

[WackoWolf]

The detail gets better and better each time. Thanks for sharing with us, and keep the pictures and post coming. 

[schooner]

Whaleboat Davits (cont)

 

Home repairs, travel and trout trout fishing have proved a big distraction so it’s time to try to catch up.

 

I wanted to show the MWB with the “Monkey Line” bags which held knotted lines that the boat crew would hold onto during the raising and lowering of the boat in case of a sudden drop. They often spelled out the ship’s name or hull number. Here’s what they looked like:

I printed them out on paper, folded them and glued the back and front together with the top open and shaped with a toothpick to hold them open.

 

Here’s the final product with the davit vangs rigged:

[mtaylor]

Tim,

That's a great bit of detail on the monkey ropes that most would overlook.  I know I would have. 

[schooner]

Fantail Details

 

Basilone’s fantail was pretty cluttered with winches, hatches, vents etc ….

 

I scratched most of the details like the boat winch:

 

The bits, bollards, and horizontal hatch are kit supplied. The stern light array, winches and their bulwarks, vents, towing pad eye and the 55 gal drum and jettison rack are from scratch.

The only items left to add to the fantail are the lifelines and the prop guards. One item I decided to leave off is visible just to the left of the 55 gal drum in the first pix - a large and ugly garbage chute.

Edited December 13, 2015 by schooner

[Nirvana]

Tim,

I just finalized reading through your build log, my hat off to you. Outstanding job.

I have a couple "scratches" I like to do, to my dis-advantage gathering info regarding the two in my "line" is extremely hard to find.

Looking forward to see more from your USS Basilone.

[schooner]

Thanks for the kind words Per. Scratching details on a modern ship is easy since there are so many photos online.

Your America is coming along beautifully, very crisp and sharp . Not many models, mine included, can handle the pitiless eye of high resolution photos but yours' certainly does.

[mtaylor]

Tim,

 

I'm curious.. is that really a 55 gal barrel or is it a liferaft?   If it's a barrel, what would be in it?

 

Did anyone else notice in the first picture that the officers and (I'm guessing) contractors aren't wearing life jackets?   That gave me a chuckle.

[WackoWolf]

I also notice it, but it didn't click in my brain untill you said it. Getting old LOL. Good catch Mark.

[schooner]

Mark,

 

It is definitely a 55 gal drum. I'm 99% sure it contained gasoline for use in the portable firefighting and dewatering pumps. Gasoline aboard ship is liquid death and the USN avoids it whenever possible and always stores it on the weather decks.

 

The photo was provided to me by a Basilone sailor who was able to identify several of the folks in it, kind of brought it to life a little.

 

As far as the "khakis" not wearing life jackets it is the old story of "do as I say not as I do" - some things never change.

Edited December 14, 2015 by schooner

[mtaylor]

True... some things never change...   :D  

 

Thanks for feedback.  It does make sense to keep gasoline somewhere that if does catch fire, damage will be minimized.   Maybe that's why I never liked carriers...  a floating petrol station or a floating fireball waiting to happen, maybe.

[schooner]

Mainmast

 

After adding the radar antennas and the yardarm lifelines it was time to step the mast so the end of this build is in sight…

[schooner]

Foc’sle details

 

The kit provides brass chain for the anchor chain. Looking at it I thought it might be a bit under scale but after looking at photos of the Basilone’s anchor chain I realized that it was actually just a little bit over scale.

I was surprised to see how small the anchor links were on the FRAMs. On the Frigates and DDs I served on, although the ships were about 1/3 larger than the FRAMs, their chain links were at least 3 times as large, big enough that you needed some beef on you just to lift one. As you can see in the photo below the FRAM links were only about 6-8” in length, about the span of you thumb to little finger. But after checking my 1952 edition of Knight's Modern Seamanship I learned that anchor chain size (i.e. strength) is based on the sail area of the ship and the force the wind it will generate on an anchored ship. My ships had a lot more sail area and hence needed bigger chain.

I fabricated some chain stoppers out of brass wire and managed to get them into a reasonable working facsimile with a hinged bail:

The only other details are the towing pad eye and the capstan and it’s controls:

The “guyed” whip antenna on top of MT 51 was made out of steel piano wire, cooper wire, wood, thread, and white glue. It took several iterations and some un-Christmas like language to finish it up. I've noticed that my cheap camera and poor photography skills tend to produce a fisheye effect on close-up photos that make things (like this antenna) appear to be tilted, not sure how to correct or avoid it, guess I may have to get a better camera...

 

Next up will be rigging the mast.

Edited December 24, 2015 by schooner

[schooner]

Rigging

 

While getting ready to rig the forward 3-wire HF fan antennas I did some photo research and figured out that the antenna wires were so thin that they barely showed up even on close-up photos of the FRAMS. Finding some thin thread was no problem but for the sake of accuracy and consistency I had to re-do the aft fan antennas.

Here’s the re-do in progress, the original, thicker ones are to port and the thinner revised ones to starboard:

 

The forward mast rigging included the signal halyards which were helped by some small 1/350 scale PE hardware I bought from L’Arsenal, the flag halyard, and 3-wire fans forward and starboard aft:

Next up will be the HF whip antennas.

[mtaylor]

Tim,

The thinner thread does look better and more realistic, IMO.  Good fix.