Dd-793

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

This was a busy week. Installments included four searchlights, two peloruses, two more torpedo cradles and a compass repeater just forward of the after stack. Several approaches to card railings were tested and none were satisfactory. In the old days they would have been done with bamboo posts and thin line. Just can't do it anymore. About all that remains are the ensign and a few lines from the yards, but it is going to have to be a very good day to do that. Anyway, here is what DD-793 looks like right now. All of the parts mentioned are visible in these shots. You wouldn't even notice the binnacle except that it showed up in a photograph taken looking down from a mast platform.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

This is about as far as the project is going to go. Trying to fool with rigging is only likely to cause trouble. Between tremors and advanced stage arthritis in both hands. It simply isn't going to work. Took it out to the back yard to photograph it on a bright day and it looks like it was intended to look. Every one of these projects is an experiment and a significant learning experience. This one taught a great deal about the value of extensive photographic coverage for getting proportions correct. Everything that is part of the ship is on the model. It was a lesson in determination as well. While several other projects are in the design stage, it's about time for a rest.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. It took some doing, but the rigging on the mast got done. Worked a little every day since the last update and knocked more parts off the model than were attached. DD-973 just didn't look right without an ensign. The rigging was intentionally kept simple. There are a lot of lines, but many of them are temporary or seasonal. You couldn't see most of them if you were looking at the ship at sea. So, the line for the ensign was installed and eight lines for the signal flags. Those are all that were really necessary. The ensign line is thread soaked with a fifty percent solution of PVA glue to get rid of the fuzz and keep a slight sag. The ensign itself was drawn for print on paper, right side left side and a space for the fold. After printing you just glue one side, set the line in the crease and fold it over. When it's dry, you can crease the flag, cut the line to size and attach. The flag lines were made from stretched sprue. It's easy to draw it out by holding it over a lighted candle until it starts to melt, then pull a long length to the desired thickness, cut to size and attach. The problem isn't preparing the lines, it's attaching them. Getting them on a model when you have tremors is like trying to land a B-29 on an escort carrier. I'm equally dangerous trying to hang Christmas tree ornaments. The hand railings were left off. It is simply impossible for me to do them. Frustrating, but never the less impossible. Several small parts such as signal lamps, whip antennas and small mast braces needed to be replaced, but that is easy enough to do. The forty MM directors are not really satisfactory and should be redrawn, but they will do for now. All that remains is to finish the small part replacement and do a little touch up painting. There are a couple of new projects underway. CL-52 USS Juneau is well underway. Enough research has been done to do the ship accurately and the primary drawing for the hull has been started. Fortunately much of the weaponry and equipment on DD-793 can be used for this project. Another project is the USNS Barrett, later used as the training ship Empire State. A decent set of drawings from the booklet of general plans has been located and the dimensions are available. There is also some time being devoted to developing a 1/48 scale X-20 DynaSoar on a Titan booster, and the Space Ark form "When Worlds Collide."

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Added eight sets of floater net racks and eight sets of bitts. The bitts are incredibly tiny and took forever to assemble, but it got done. The mock up was started on February 18, 2020 ,and the prototype was completed today. Unassembled, the kit is twenty pages of letter size card sheets and one sheet of paper. A parts count and instructions are lacking, but they probably won't get done since it's very unlikely that anyone else would want to tackle it anyway. The drawings need to be cleaned up to reduce the parts count since there are extra pieces. That's easy enough to do. I'll probably never build a finished kit model. Doing a World War II version would be easy enough, but I'd rather get on to designing CL-52.

Regards, rjccjr

[aansorge]

A neat ship is a fleet ship.


DD-973 looks to be both.

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Research goes on forever. Thought the DD-793 project was finished, but discovered that the staff at bow and stern were removable items depending on the need. For example, if the ship is in port, the rear staff was used for the ensign. If the ship is at sea, it was usually removed. The bow staff came and went depending on the circumstances, usually gone at sea but present in port. The canvas covers over the five inch guns were used to keep water out in heavy weather, but removed if the turrets were in action. Life rings were of different colors and location depending on the time. Canvas shields over railings came and went as needed. This is why I'm a huge fan of photographic documentation. Ships change from day to day, whether in service, in storage or as museums. You should see what a mess DD-793 was when she first arrived at the Boston Navy Yard. The restoration to date is a huge tribute to the people who worked on her over the years. Photos do not lie, but sometimes you have difficulty determining what you are looking at and why it is that way. Only recently did I discover that no operational U-boat had red lead outer paint below the water line and deck furniture like mooring bitts was removed when the vessel left port. The further you go back in time the more difficult it is to verify the look of a ship. Once you get before the age of photography it becomes much harder. Art work contemporary to the age of a ship is always dubious because it depends on the eye of the artist at the time. Think about it. no one can prove what the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria actually looked like. A model can only be as accurate as the research behind it. As it turned out, the bow and stern chocks were slightly enlarged, and the staffs left off since the model depicts the ship at sea. Doubtless some "expert" will comment that absence as ignorance on the part of the builder. Oh well, you and I will know better.

Regards, rjccjr

[dhanners]

Fine job! Looks great.

Re: Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.... Not only do we not know for sure what they looked like, those aren't even the ships' actual names. La Niña was actually La Santa Clara; La Pinta was the ship's nickname but its original name has been lost to time; and Santa Maria was La Santa Gallega.

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Being in the middle of a blizzard at the moment , it seemed a good time to start this build thread. Research for a model of USS Juneau CL-52 started in January of 2018. At that time, DD-793 was well under way and as an effort to avoid the doldrums it has always been a good idea to start another project while working on the first. Nothing other than amassing data was going on. Starting the actual drawing of a future model was far in the future. Just this week active drawing began. All of this is aimed at getting the size right for developing the basic hull shape. The rest is a matter of proportion. At this point there is no way to estimate how long the project will take. The usual method is to get together a mock up for general fit and clearance, followed by a prototype. The process of model design starts with drawings of a waterline base, then a weather deck drawing, then the development of bulkheads, followed by side plates for the hull. During this stage the drawings are intended to start with a side and top view. Dimensions for waterline and weather deck length and beam of the actual vessel are converted to inches. These are then tested at several scales and the final scale of the model is determined. In the case of CL-52 1/192 scale was selected. The segments are drawn to be printed out on letter size card stock. The size of this ship is somewhat greater than I'd like but it would be in the same scale as the previous two DDs. It will be over thirty-three inches in length. Some of the common items such as smaller weapons, ships boats, doors, and deck fittings from those can provide easy translation to CL-52. It is hoped that these and the twin five inch turrets drawings will save a great deal of time. The first step is to draw the water line plan view, the weather deck plan view and the inboard profile. Getting these to match in scale requires a considerable amount of math in order to get all three items to match in scale. Once these are done the distance between bulkheads can be determined and the bulkheads themselves generated.

It is now two days after the storm. Just finished digging out from two feet of drifted snow and the mountains deposited in front of the cars by municipal plows. The only muscles still useable without significant protest are the ones used to type this text. I'd still be sore even if I was a mere youth of sixty-five. Anyway a good deal of drawing has been done. There is now a decent profile, waterline plan and weather deck. It will still take some fiddling around to get the scale right, but the project is under way. At the moment the color of the profile is light Monbatten pink. The weather deck is dark blue. The dappled scheme frequently seen had been discarded and the ship was either medium gray or Montbatten pink by the time she was sunk. The final color scheme of the model will not be decided until the prototype is started. Upon examining of the last pictures taken it looks like CL-52 was part way through a change of color schemes. There's plenty of time for research about this.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

The model DD-793 just went into the USS Constitution Museum model ship show for 2022. It was just drop off day and the furniture remains to be rearranged. This is the 42nd annual show. It is the first on site show since the start of COVID shut down and will be open to the public from March 26 until April 30. The mock up of the model was just started when the shutdown occurred. Anyway, if you happen to be in the area, drop by. The real thing is sitting outside. The dry dock is a piece of history itself. Gorgeous day for the beginning of spring.

Regards, rjccjr

[FRD]

Why 1/192?, that seems like it might be an odd scale, I'm contemplating a Gearing class destroyer but I was going to put it out at 1/250 or would 1/200 be better?