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  #11  
Old 03-28-2022, 09:51 AM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

There were two large breakthroughs this week. The weather deck finally got corrected for size and proportion. It now fits the frame and works for length and beam. Moreover, it is also marked for the locations of superstructure and fittings, so the detail drawings can begin. The second breakthrough was that the difficulty of the deck edge was solved along with the knuckle of the side plate forward. Here you can see two plates tacked in place. They do not fit exactly, but the way to do it is figured out. Rather than taper the deck to fit the sides, the fit works better if the side plates are curled to suit the deck. Now, with some detail arrangement, the hull can come together. When you start a project like this, you usually have no idea how to do most of it. Information is incomplete, inaccurate, or lacking completely. Problems start immediately. If you really want to get there, you have to get used to painting yourself into a corner. It forces you to find solutions. Of course you are going to make mistakes, but you fix them and move on. Some problems you can fix right away, others have to wait until you have more information. Right now, there is no clear idea of the color scheme of the ship at the time it sank. The solution is to design with a probable color scheme, but to map out the parts in black and white. That way, when the color data is confirmed, it is much simpler to apply color solutions to the black and white outlines. Eventually it will all come together. Here you can see the frame with the unglued colored deck sitting on it. The black and white deck is sitting on the full sized profile. In the other picture, you can see two test side plates. They are marked in orange to test how they will fit against the bulkheads. When the fit is mature, the orange will be deleted and details will got on to the side plates.

Regards, rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-037.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-038.jpg  
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  #12  
Old 04-04-2022, 09:32 AM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

The drawings for the side plates have been cleaned up and adjusted for fit. The first photo shows the preliminary plates tacked on for trial. Those were removed. The new plates are glued in place on the starboard side. Port side will go on this week. The weather deck is simply set on top of the frame for the moment and will no doubt have to be adjusted for fit. The normal procedure would be to attach the weather deck before doing the sides. This is somewhat different. The other photos show the deck edge with a distinct reflection indicating the deck edge curvature. So, this system seems to be working. Once the sides and deck are fitted properly, the stern plate, hawse holes and anchors will be drawn.

Regards rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-001.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-003.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-005.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-007.jpg  
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  #13  
Old 04-11-2022, 02:57 PM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

The deck plates are now in place and the edges glued in. The length still needs adjustment and there are a few bulkheads, which aren't quite right. The deck camber needs to be aligned, but it's a matter of trimming. The two middle plates are the culprits. The joint for the plates one and two is not correct for the base of the forward deck house. Right now the hull isn't satisfactory, but it least what needs to be corrected is evident. Actually it isn't too bad for the first attempt to do the mock up. Some preliminary work on hull fittings and deck houses is underway. All of these drawing corrections will be the focus of work for the next several weeks.

Regards rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-006.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-007.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-008.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-009.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-010.jpg  

USS Juneau CL-52-011.jpg  
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  #14  
Old 04-26-2022, 11:29 AM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

There was a lot accomplished this week. The stern plate was finally convinced to fit. The deck plates were redrawn and fit properly now. Some of the superstructure drawing is under way. Considering the early stage of the hull at this point and that fact that there was no way to prove the Montbatten Pink paint scheme, the decision was made to go with an early war haze gray vertical surfaces scheme. There is photographic evidence of that. The existing parts have been re-colored in Haze Gray. That didn't take very long. Since the hull was attached to the base by intermittent dots of glue, it was easy enough to pop the old hull away from the base with a snap off blade knife. There was hardly any damage to the base and with a little sanding it will be perfectly reusable. The bulkheads need adjustment anyway, so it is actually easier to start the hull over with the correct color scheme. If the superstructure drawings were further along the undertaking would be a lot more difficult. After the DD-793 experience these snags are more or less to be expected. In the photo's, notice how clean the board is, and that the stern plate is 1941 Haze Gray.

Regards rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-006.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-007.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-009.jpg  
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  #15  
Old 05-07-2022, 09:30 AM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

Spent most of the time since the last update researching and drawing, although, the new hull is under construction. It was not so much a case of re-coloring the parts. It was more of an adjustment of the drawings due to new information. There is a good clear image of CL-52,taken on September 16, 1942. In it, the SC-1 search radar antenna is clearly on the main mast aft and the saddle turrets have canvas shrouds at the base of the guns. The other turrets are clear. There is also a quad 1.1 gun mount at the stern. Since it is roughly two months before she was sunk, it is evident that the ship had haze gray vertical surfaces. The aerial photo of her taken on October 26 seems to show the same color scheme and it throws doubt on the Montbatten pink scheme. The gun covers on the saddle turrets are now gone, since the ship was in action. That color has a brighter reflectance than haze gray. There is a smaller radar antenna on the top of the foremast. The new drawings have been changed to accord this information. The bulkheads of the revised build are much neater than those of the first attempt. The photos clearly show the difference between the two color schemes. Having now amassed a great deal of information about the Atlanta class, it is somewhat amazing how many differences there are among the various kits and illustrations of these ships. It didn't facilitate this effort much. Good thing I don't have to work for a deadline, or do this for a day job.

Regards, rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-general-plan-haze-gray.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-general-plan-m.-pink.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-001.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-002.jpg  
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  #16  
Old 05-08-2022, 07:15 AM
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Michael Mash Michael Mash is offline
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It is fun to see a large scratch build like this one. At 33 inches, I consider this rather big.
My largest work was 29 inches at 1:250 scale (USS Arizona Digital Navy kit). Of course, there are all the variations you encounter while researching the details and history, as you mention. After looking at lots of old photos and drawings, my impression is that most ships evolve and change on a regular basis. That makes it a challenge for modelers. When finished, this one should be an impressive conversation piece.
Mike
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  #17  
Old 05-18-2022, 02:06 PM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;

The first hull was about to be tossed when the idea occurred to simply use it as a test bed for the lower level deckhouses. They would probably be redrawn for adjustment anyway. At least the general fit could be tested without having to keep ripping things apart. The pictures show the difference between the Montbatten scheme and the gray scheme. Picture 003 shows the deck house drawings before being assembled. There are no detailed fittings as yet. The port holes are now lighter for contrast. There are four separate houses now in place. The old hull is rough, but it's good enough to take the deck house assemblies. There is one more to go. You can also see the forecastle deck now aboard the new hull. The fit is much better. The lack of available photos is going to slow things down considerably. There is far less in formation than there was for DD-793. It is a pretty big model, but drawings in the same scale for armament and common fittings were already done for DD-850 and DD-793.

Regards, rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-002.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-003.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-004.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-007.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-009.jpg  

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  #18  
Old 06-03-2022, 03:59 AM
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Beachead Beachead is offline
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Wow, looks great. It's been fun watching the construction.
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Greg
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  #19  
Old 06-07-2022, 12:38 PM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;
In this update the level one deck houses are fitted to the new hull. They have been redrawn for better fit, but are not affixed to the deck since more adjustments need to be made. Part of the quarter deck is redrawn to accommodate the base of the after deck house. At this point the deck levels are drawn to go up one level at a time even though the structure appears seamless in photographs. There is some overhang of the roofing over each deck house. Part of the problem arises from lack of information about the first two ships of the class. Both were built by Federal Shipbuilding , Kearny, New Jersey and had very short careers. Both were commissioned after the start of the war and sank on November 13, 1942. The remainder of the class had significant differences. Good photographs are few and obtaining prints of the booklet of general plans, even if they are available, are well beyond my meager resources. This makes for slow going with a lot of guess work. Still, the show will go on.
Regards, rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-6-5-22-1.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-6-22-1.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-6-22-3.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-7-22-2.jpg  
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  #20  
Old 06-15-2022, 11:58 AM
rjccjr rjccjr is offline
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CL-52 update

Hi All;
There is sufficient superstructure now to attempt to fit the five inch batteries. Drawings for the upper levels are under way, but will take some time to figure out. When dealing with deck levels which are split sections, it's important to insure that the roof sections are at the same height to accommodate the next level. The original deck drawing had turret bases which were too wide. Rather than replace the entire deck, it was easier to print a set of buttons to cover the footprint. The drawings are now adjusted for the problem so the next prototype will be more accurate. Regarding the five inch turrets, for this stage it was decided to adapt the old drawings in a simpler form. A unit without the rotating plates or elevating mechanism would get the entire assembly down to twenty parts. A full mobile turret has forty four parts. The simplified turret doesn't take very long to build and six complete turrets can be printed on one sheet of card. The mobility isn't needed for simply getting units in place for the component clearance stage. The adaptation didn't take much time to drawn and the first turret is shown set in place in several locations.
Regards rjccjr
Attached Thumbnails
USS Juneau CL-52-6-7-22-1.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-12-22-3.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-14-22-33.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-15-22-2.jpg   USS Juneau CL-52-6-15-22-4.jpg  

USS Juneau CL-52-6-15-22-7.jpg  
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