USS Juneau CL-52

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
Nothing ever goes easy around here. Two weeks back, for some reason the computer decided not to accept photos from my I-phone. That was OK, the trusty B500 camera did the job just fine. Today, the I-phone problem was resolved. Good, but... Now the computer no longer recognizes the camera. That's going to take a while. Meanwhile work goes on. Detail work on the forecastle area is coming along. The vents, winches, chain, trunks and closed chocks have been added. Base plates for the mooring bitts are down, but the bitts themselves are problematic because they are so small. Maybe they will work more easily if they are printed out on paper. We shall see. Photo 1r shows the furniture forward. Photo 2r is a top shot. The card chain really doesn't look right. Thought is being given to replacing it with actual chain. Photo IP 2r, another top shot, shows the mooring bitt plates and closed chocks in place. The last photo shows the same area from the side. It is very frustrating not to be able to do a clean cut on tiny parts anymore. Just to think that a mere thirty years ago, I could do freehand canopy frames on 1: 72 aircraft. Well, I can't gripe too much, at least some building is still possible.
Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
CL-52 has progressed to the point where a list to keep track of small assemblies has become necessary. There are twenty eight closed chocks along the sides of the hull, and fifteen sets of bitts. Each chock now consists of two pieces. They had to be redrawn several times to get the proportion and color right. They are now in place. Several approaches to the bitts were tried. Card would not work for the posts. The parts were too small and unwieldy. After chasing several unsatisfactory attempts around under the work bench the whole approach had to be rethought. What finally worked was a six piece assembly with the posts made of rolled paper. The first success is now in place. Fourteen more to go. Then on to peloruses, searchlights, gun sights, reels and vertical ladders. The list keeps growing longer and longer, like Pinocchio's nose. Photo 1r shows the stern area with chocks and the quad 1.1 inch director in place. photo 2r shows the quarter deck up to the wing turrets. Photo 3r shows the midship section. The chock between the twenty mm tubs needs adjustment. Photo 4r shows the bridge area. Picture 5r shows the bow. The next week or two will be dedicated to finishing the bitts. The last shot is a port profile, it's starting to look as it was intended. It ain't pretty, but it's a win.
Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

While setting up a post to "old stuff" Sunday afternoon, the screen suddenly went black. That's never good. The fans were still running so there was power. So after waiting a couple of minutes a boot up was attempted with the expectation that the machine would tell me that it had it had shut down wrong and did I want to start up normally, or what? Nope! Nothing. There was power, it scanned through the disc drives, then shut down. Uh oh! Motherboard. Several more tries. Blood pressure not likely to be good. Guess who hadn't backed up the CL-52 drawings for several weeks. Not good at all. Time to call my son-in-law. Several days later, he drops by. He's a landscaper. He never went beyond high school, but never, ever underestimate the power of a good landscaper. This one builds computers for a hobby. He came in, popped the cover off the tower, looked inside and said, "Hmmmmm," then vacuumed the hell out of it. Looked in again and said "motherboard's OK, might have a fried hard drive. Let's see." starts typing like crazy. Next thing, the screen comes on with a whole lot of inscrutable diagnostic language. With his fingers crossed he says, "The fans aren't laboring now. "Maybe ....." I'm standing there running up the prices of computer parts. The machine starts to load. Blood pressure comes down. Life resumes a normal pace. Price? Lunch. Aren't smart landscapers amazing?

During the down time a lot of work got done on CL-52. All four 1.1 directors went on, all closed chocks and the smoke canisters. In the built, but not yet applied, department one complete depth charge unit. Five more to go. Thinking now is do the remainder as units, rather than all the parts at the same time. It's a maneuver to avoid terminal ennui. Photo 1r shows the starboard wing director in place. Photo 2r show both directors. Photo 3r shows the rear director with access ladder and smoke generators in place. The last shot shows the third quad 1l1 director in the tub with access ladder.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
This was a bitts and pieces week. The computer has been very subdued since My son in law gave it a stern talking to. You can actually hear that the fans have been quieter since they don't have to try pushing all that dust around. He mentioned that most computers die from overheating because the fans can't cool them anymore. This one has five fan's, which is probably why the motherboard survived. All the CL-52 data is now backed up, along with a bunch of other folders.
So far, photographs show that there thirteen bitts along the hull, two more are suspected, but can't yet be confirmed. There may be two more in the vicinity of the after stack, but there's no proof. From a modelers point of view, thirteen, at six parts per bitt, are plenty. There are two pieces of card for the base, two for the caps and two pieces of paper for the posts. The idea of using plain paper for the posts and card for the rest, worked out very well. Though it did involve a lot of time, chasing very small parts around under the work table while issuing a good deal of uncivilized language. One technique that turned out to be very useful for this pursuit, was to place a small flashlight down on the floor and slowly sweep it like a searchlight. The shadow serves to highlight small parts lurking there. In fact several small parts that were lost over the last few weeks were discovered. Of course they were useless now. Well they wound up in the spares box. You never know when Godzilla is going to strike.
Photo 1r shows four bitt assemblies under construction. Four pillars are in place and drying. The remaining four are at just above the knife blade. Trying to get both pillars aboard the base at the same time is an invitation to certain frustration. That's a lot like trying to assemble parts in an open top jeep while going cross country. Photo 2r shows five of them on the forecastle deck. Photo 3r shows one bitt just beneath the 1.1 inch wing tub and another further aft. Photo 4r shows the quarter deck. There are six bitts in the area. The first K-gun and davit are now in place, but some redesign of the spare depth charge pillars is necessary. It's pretty cramped in this area and it must have been very difficult for the crew to work there.
Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
This has been a three steps back week. When the first depth charge unit was put in place on the prototype, it immediately became evident that it was way too large, starting with the depth charges themselves. Frustration noises (Aaarrgh!, or something like that). Then down to work. The entire K-gun arrangement was revised. Well, the davits were OK. Photo 4r shows the original, you can see that the arrangement, before putting on the spare depth charges, is way too big. Photo 2r shows the old and the new. The redrawn depth charges take up much less volume. Photo 3r shows a K-gun, a reduced depth charge and one of the originals for comparison. Photo 1r shows a redrawn charge next to my pinky finger so you can see how small it is. The last shot shows a complete unit in place. Most plastic models show the installation as having four or five spare charges. If need be, others can be installed. Research photos shows shop the K-gun with davit behind and three spare charges. Maybe four is the right number, but I can't verify this. Remember, this early installation did not last long, before the updated rack system came into use. After CL-51 and CL-52 were sunk the other ships in the class discarded the K-guns altogether. They may still have been on the first two ships at the time of sinking, but every other ship in the class discarded them upon refit. We shall see what develops when the other two units on that side are installed.
Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
Last week it looked as though the depth charge davits were OK. This week, well, not so much. Fortunately it was an easy fix. They were simply too high and just needed to be cropped. The drawings were adjusted accordingly. Test fit, adjust and redraw. That's what making a prototype is all about. During the week one complete side of the K-gun battery was satisfactorily installed. The K-guns and davits for the other were assembled and set in place just a while ago.

The tremors are acting up this week. Yesterday morning they wouldn't allow me to get anything done. Today they backed off a little. Most of the time they are fairly moderate, but periodically there is a spasm and anything within several inches gets suddenly whacked. Not good for assembling small parts. I'm an absolute menace trying to drink a mug of hot coffee in the morning.

This K-gun assembly gives quite an impression of exactly how cramped this area of the ship was. Imagine a crew moving around a snaking vessel in a moderate sea at twenty knots or so, trying to work the loading and firing of a k-gun without getting crushed or tossed overboard. This can be especially taxing if someone is dropping bombs or strafing you at the time.

Photo 3r shows the starboard array in place. Photo 7r gives a good impression of the cramped arrangement. Just to give an idea of proportion, an average standing sailor would be about half the height of a five inch turret. Photo 1r shows all six K-guns in place. Photo 4r is a port side view of the entire model. The last shot is an angled view from the stern. Card is peculiarly sensitive to temperature and humidity. Items such as gun barrels, whip antennas, masts and especially K-gun davits can be aligned when you leave the shop in the evening, but the alignment elves go to work at night and the parts have wandered around in different directions by morning. You may have observed that rigging seems to have the same tendency.

Regards, rjccjr

[Michael Mash]

The photos show many nice details and a lot of work.

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Well, I managed to get the depth charges in place, then went back to check the photos. One of them shows four ready service pylons near each projector. So, six more had to be crammed in there. That got done. It's awkward because the K-gun mortars are at an angle slightly toward the stern. Depth charges of early WWII had a 600 pound explosive charge. The projectors were angled toward the stern to insure that the charge was well clear, to avoid damage to the ship. Photo 1r shows everything in place. Photo 2r shows some adjustment, but it's so crowded in there that when you adjust one item, another goes askew. The K gun angles need adjustment, but it's all there. From a builders point of view the whole thing is cramped and messy, but that is all the tremors will allow me to do. Perhaps there will be a few days when they aren't so bad and decent adjustments can be made.

Attention has now turned to the mass of small items and most recent activity is focused on drawings. Of particular note are drawings of the boats below the ships crane. There appears to be four separate designs nested just below the crane. That means separate designs for each boat as well as the device use to separate them. Photographs are very conflicting as to how many boats were carried and when. Goings are likely to be slow for the near future.

Regards, rjccjr

[aansorge]

A busy place, that fantail. Why do I wonder how many injuries resulted from too much in too small a space?

[rjccjr]

Hi All;
Every now and then the old mock up gets hailed out simply to check progress of the prototype. Photo 1r shows the two models from forward. You can now easily see the difference in details and structure. 2r shows the stern area. after installing all those depth charges and other equipment, the difference is even more dramatic. It's encouraging as well as informative, because when you are prohibited by physical limitations, it's easy to feel frustrated. On the other hand, I'll be eighty six on the day before Halloween. I'm fortunate just to be alive. This week has been a reel adventure. Seven of the little devils are now in place, three forward and four aft . Photo 3r shows the forward installations. Four and five show the after reels. What went in this week has been verified from photos. There are several others around the ship, but they have to be hunted down. Of course they are not quite the same shape and size as these. Back to the drawing boards. There are several other items which have been noticed while scanning photos, including assorted spare depth charges strewn he and there. At least they don't require more drawing.
Regards, rjccjr