Dd-793

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

After being so optimistic about the fit of the tripod just a few days ago, I found myself looking at the wall grimly today. So here are a few photos of an object lesson. In 1988 I started a scratch built model of HMS Sheffield. The model was being done in sheet styrene at 1/192 scale. After a hundred hours or so, it was discovered that there was a major gaffe in the beam of the model and it simply was not going to work. At first the thought of throwing it against a wall occurred, but with all those hours it would be such a shame. It wound up sitting on a shelf for years. In 2000 it was time to clean out the shop. Well; toss it or fix it? It was torn down completely and completed late that year, entered several competitions and won several awards. Back then, the tremors weren't a handicap. Think of the masking in that camouflage. The little Walrus has about as many parts as the 40MM quads on DD-793 and the railings are post and very thin line. There is no photo etch on this one. It happened to be directly in the line of sight when I looked at the wall today. So, it was back to the drawings and the third mast utterance is now under construction. The point? Some modelers seem able to build to perfection with alacrity, but there is a wall moment in every one of my card designs. Sooner or later this is going to get done.

Regards rjccjr

[aansorge]

If you can have patience, then we can have patience.


Those railing looks great.

[Don Boose]

Your Shiny Sheffield looks great to me. I'm glad you finished it and that I had the chance to see your images of the model.

I visited HMS Sheffield when it made a port call in Baltimore in 1953 so have always been interested in the ship. I think the British WWII light cruisers were beautiful ships (as were, to my eye, our Clevelands.

Don

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Well, there is progress. The tripod looks to be getting there. The front leg is made of card stock and the rear legs are paper. The strength of the paper legs is questionable and needs to be stiffened to take the weight of the radar assembly. To get the legs into a rounded configuration they are rolled through a progression of brass rods descending in diameter until they are quite thin. When they get to that stage steel wireis used to get even narrower because the brass is too soft. After sharp number eleven blades and a steel ruler, the most useful tool is the bamboo teriyaki skewer. It is inexpensive light and very strong. It makes a fine glue applicator, and a very useful material as well. Once the tripod tubes were rolled, a length of bamboo is cut a bit over long, then split into narrow rods that can be slipped inside the tubes, tested for fit and glued in place with white glue. If you have ever filled the shop with questionable language over thin landing gear struts, consider this technique. Patience is a virtue of which I am sadly lacking. This sort of undertaking is like running a marathon. It doesn't require patience so much as stamina and a stubborn refusal to quit.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

This is a proud to be stubborn day. Funny how you put a mast on a model ship and it starts to look like a ship. Yesterday was the breakthrough. The tripod came together and stayed together. This morning, around 10:30, the struts and SPS-10 antenna assembly went on fairly easily. The SPS-28 was assembled, but the tremors were so bad that I couldn't attach it. Around 12:30 i tried again. Bingo! It's odd what difference a couple of hours makes. Most of the remainder are small items, but are drawn and should go fairly smoothly. Some of the items which I would like to add simply are not possible in this scale. In the hands of a good experienced builder DD-793 should look much better.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

This week was spent redesigning and refining the mast structure. Good photographic documentation is a must for this. Good grief, there are so many support struts. Then there was the decision of what to add and what to omit. Some of the antennae were simply too small to add. Other parts were just not doable in card or paper. Bamboo slivers were the only way they could be done. Even then much of it is very fragile. The tremors were not particularly manageable this week. Hate to keep mentioning them, but they are an integral part of this struggle. Well, it's too far along not to complete.

Regards rjccjr

[aansorge]

very nice.


thanks and hang in there.

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

There is an enormous difference between building a ship model and designing one. You can start by buying a kit or downloading it, take for granted that the designer did a good job, and then assemble it. You look at a picture of a model or the model itself and say to yourself "That's a good build." or "That's not." When you start something like this it is an entirely educational experience. You begin to understand the value of research, which goes on from long before you draw anything, until you finish the model. You simply have to face the fact that it is going to take a very long time to do. For those of you who have ever faced the doldrums of simply not feeling like building and wondering how to get back the spark, it helps to promise yourself "I'm going to work on this every day, even if it means just gluing only two pieces together." You also have to learn to pace yourself. Just walk away from it for a while, but still get those two pieces together. If you are designing, you are going to complicate things for yourself. First time around on a drawing there is always a problem of fit. There is also the problem of learning to actually realize what you are looking at. For example, I started working on what seemed to be a simple cable reel. Nothing to it, nine parts. Wrong! It turned out to be a towed noisemaker to decoy torpedoes, forty one parts. Why did it have that curved splinter shield in front of it? Well, it isn't a splinter shield its protection against heavy weather for the men who have to work the array in foul weather. Attack submarines don't pay a lot of attention to surface weather when they are on the hunt, but the intended victim sure does. Well, it did slow everything down. A lot. Had to take a week off to figure out how to do it. Thank God I never gave up my day job to do this kind of stuff for a living. It's bad enough when you're retired and have the time. The torpedo loading crane turned out to be more complicated too, but that had a quicker solution. There are a lot more folks interested in aircraft and I admire the guys who can handle the compound curves involved. On the other hand, there is a certain fascination, challenge and education that goes with dealing with ships and the sea. They are a lot more complex. Every ship has a story and every crewman has as well. Some more dramatic than others, but there are a lot of surprises out there. That's what maritime history is made of.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

It took the best part of a week and a half to redesign and assemble the noise maker reels. They are now in place on the quarter deck. Although the deck appears to be pretty spacious, the actual fit of components is really somewhat crowded. There isn't much room for the crew to get around, especially in a heavy sea. Except for the five inch practice loader, and the acoustic torpedo launching arrangement. most of the remaining parts are pretty routine, even though there a good sized list of them.

Regards rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
These are posted so that you can see the difference between a mock up and a prototype. The model is now well into the detail stage. There are also two photos of how the ship looked in June of 1980 and how DD-793 looks now, thanks to hundreds of dedicated people who spent an incredible amount of time and effort to preserve her. The forecastle and the quarter deck are nearly complete. Hawse holes are started, though the anchors are not yet in place. The propeller guards still have to be attached. Everywhere you see a white spot something else is still to be added. One davit is complete, but not in place. On the actual ship the boats are not mounted and the davits are stowed differently. The configuration with boats aboard remains to be researched. Speaking of research, hundreds of photographs, both from outside sources and personally taken lie behind this model. It is marvelous to have the actual subject nearby, and photos have been accumulating for years. However even with a wealth of resources this experience has demonstrated some significant realizations. First, there is no such thing as a perfect model. In the design you have to decide what to add and what not to add. People who do this as a day job have far more constraints than a retired old goat who doesn't need to meet a budget or a deadline. Second, any model can only be as good as the homework behind it and the limits of the builder. Try building something like this with the handicap of tremors which are never going to get any better. I have a friend who only has one eye and makes superb aircraft models. Third, no matter how much you learn about a subject, there is no such thing as an expert. There is always something else to discover. The more you think you know, the more you have to learn. There is no way that I can ever do such fine work as some of the people here, but I respect them and very well understand what it took them to come up with such a fine result.
Regards rjccjr