Early US Battleships

[maurice]

Maybe there is some hotshot topographical mathematiker in the group

Wouldn't know about one of them. How about someone who's followed up on some links?
Warship Models Underway Message Board 2.2.3 - Cage mast
http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/521145-post22.html
The rings appear to have been joined to the straights at the points where the straights crossed each other
http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/117229-post77.html
Which makes the GPM frets look a bit doubtful
Plus of course a hyperbolic surface ain't developable
HMAS Sydney II post #88 et seq

[JHS]

Darren, if you do not mind going to a medium other than card, there are two options available. Samek makes all of the early USN dreadnoughts in resin. The masts are provided in photo etch so they are not the right shape. All of them used to be available from Freetime Hobbies. GHQ Miniatures makes all of the early USN dreadnoughts in 1:2400 scale and they have the correct shape to their cage masts. They are little gems.

Unfortunately, card model producers have not been very adventurous. Endless German and Japanese warships, not nearly enough British or early 20th century USN.

The best way to get the cage masts is via a jig. I was disappointed GPM did not provide a card one with their 1:200 California.

[deckape]

Originally Posted by JHS

Darren, if you do not mind going to a medium other than card, there are two options available. Samek makes all of the early USN dreadnoughts in resin. The masts are provided in photo etch so they are not the right shape. All of them used to be available from Freetime Hobbies. GHQ Miniatures makes all of the early USN dreadnoughts in 1:2400 scale and they have the correct shape to their cage masts. They are little gems.

Unfortunately, card model producers have not been very adventurous. Endless German and Japanese warships, not nearly enough British or early 20th century USN.

The best way to get the cage masts is via a jig. I was disappointed GPM did not provide a card one with their 1:200 California.

Another great source is Edward Wesswessor plan in the scale of 1/32 he has drawn almost every type of battleship from the Spanish American war to WW11 below is a sample from his plans I have built from this is the USS MARYLAND 1941.
Boats

[talls6]

Thanks Guys,

JHS - I was prefering to stay in the Paper medium at this time. Perhaps later I will resurrect my Plastic/Resin building skills.
Boats - Thanks for the tip on the plans. I don't think I am talented enough to scratch build something like you do.

Darren

[MrConk]

I made a purchase in January of the "Western River". No problems at all, in fact service was quite good.

[MrConk]

Originally Posted by RConnolly

I made a purchase in January of the "Western River". No problems at all, in fact service was quite good.

This comment I made seems out of the blue. My apologies. It was a comment regarding a Digital Navy question posed by "talis6" on 1/18/06. I'll get the hang of this stuff yet.

[Royal Navy Fan]

If you don't mind resin kits, Niko Models manufactures many of these ships in 1/700, and Iron Shipwright makes them in 1/350. Unfortunately, I don't know of any in paper.

Bill Morrison

[Scott K]

I finally came across part one of the article on restoring the builder's model of the USS Constellation battlecruiser, by Ed Wissweiser. It was in Scale Ship Modeler, November 1987, Vol. 10 No. 8. Unfortunately, the info and diagram for recreating the cage masts was not in part one, but must be in part two. It inspired me to go looking online again. The old thread I found in Finescale Modeler's forum was recently updated with two posts that gave me enough information to finally figure out cage mast construction. Two circles X distance apart, and 48 divisions marked around each. Each has two pipes running between points 45 degrees apart from each other. It was enough information for me to lay one out in 2d, using proportions from a plan of a Michigan class dreadnought. Maybe possible to build with a jig and a large enough scale. Someday...

[RyanShort1]

That's pretty neat - and scary, too.

[Golden Bear]

Hi Darren! It is always nice to find somebody new to me that has interests in ships of this period.

There are a lot of difficulties on the path to designing a model for a particular ship. You need lots of good resources - plans and photographs mostly. I have been interested in these ships for decades. However, the technical problem of making a cage mast that looks "right" is close to insurmountable. Their members would be frighteningly thin at scale and their shape is awkward. I've been playing with options but have not yet come up with anything that satisfies me. At this point, I would settle for something that is not perfectly accurate but that gives a decent impression of the mast.

Another difficulty with these ships is that they changed quickly from one form to another. So the resource gathering part of the exercise is complicated quite a bit.

As I am growing older I have decided to concentrate on the earlier ships since they are not as overwhelming to work with as would be the dreadnought era ships. Although my brain somehow does not want to admit to this constraint. I still ache to make a model of Condorcet.

Take care.

Carl

P.S. I'm not certain that you mentioned my model of the Iowa. This model was sponsored and supported in its development by Michael Mash. It is pretty much entirely up to his drive that I was able to finish its design.