USS Cairo Test Build

Z

Zathros

I cut off all tabs for papermodels, unless they form the backbone and bulks heads on the insides, then, they offer a very strong structure. For the outside, I prefer to make 90 degree pieces to act as tabs, but they can more easily be positioned for better results. :)
 

fishBait

Member
But even Heinlein can be proven wrong once in a while. He did not grow up in the world of papermodels and the internet: Can not justify TANSTAAFL, bunch of free lunch around here.

fishBait
 
Z

Zathros

Heinlein was a libertarian/fascist. Great author. A libertarian/fascist nevertheless. Reminds of of the right wing nuts that quote Ayn Rand. A drugged out loathsome person. Yet, people hold her as,some kind of example, but they 8use her bizarre utopian societies for their arguments without ever noting the was an abhorrent alcoholic, drug abuser. Her personal life was one that a conservative would hold as "everything wrong" in anybody else. I can't stand people who need to sum up life in formulated phrases with the sole purpose of exalting some elites who steps on the backs of other, then complain their backs were soft. L.Ron Hubbard is another crackpot, drug addicted loser. The list is long.
 

fishBait

Member
31) Carefully cut out the top side details. This one happens to be a test run on the pilot house. All of the folds on the pilot house are mountain folds except for the tabs which are valley folds.

32} With the exception of the hurricane deck central hatch area, we will assemble all of the hurricane deck details before attaching them to the hull. The central hatch total scale height is about the thickness of our cardboard, so it is a simple cut and paste process.

33} The pilot house, wheel cover, and aft captian's cabin have been assembled. The forward wheel house complex cabin has been cut out and is ready to assemble. Being a big fan of test fitting, the aft captian's cabin is being test fitted to the wheel cover. Continue assembling the hurrican deck details.

34} The pilot house, wheel cover, and aft captian's cabin are turned over to show the formers.

35} Homemade jig to allow tabless and no overlap assembly of the stacks. I will report on how well it works.

36} Test fitting our components on the hurricane deck.

We continue assembling the hurricane deck details until finished.

fishBait
 

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Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
This project is coming along very nicely. The attention to detail that you are putting into this build thread is uncanny.
This thread has GREATLY interested me.
 

vbsargent

Member
I am really enjoying seeing this model come together. I have to say that the metal texture is really nice, gives a great impression.

@Zathros- love it! So true. Too many people with blinders.
 

fishBait

Member
The experiment with the jig to make the smokestacks was not a complete failure, but was not of enough value to keep it.

37} At the far left are the two remaining compartments of the wheel well complex. One is right side up while the other is turned on its back to show the formers used for regidity. Clockwise, next is the very small hurricane deck storage locker followed by a ventalator pipe needing to be cut out.

38} The ventalators are comprised of two parts each. From left to right, cut out the ventalator pipe and the ventalator horn, form the horn on a toothpick, and glue. Form the pipe on a round toothpick and glue.

39} From left to right, bend the pipe at right angles and glue the bent part. Glue the pipe and horn together to form a ventalator.

Next time, we assemble the smokestacks and railing, then start mounting the sub-assemblies to the hurricane deck.

fishBait
 

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fishBait

Member
40} The smokestacks, railing, and one of the four lifeboats are assembled. The smoke stacks are assembled using a home made brass jig and are not overlapped, but have butt joints. The railings were reprinted on paper and glued back to back since both sides show. I am not really happy with the lifeboat. It went together fairly well, but does not really shine. Most, if not all pictures and drawings show white lifeboats. White means raw paper, it just really looks plain. Must think on this.

41} Time to start putting her together. The order is not really critical, but a little thought helps make it more enjoyable. Start with the most complicated first, then work from smallest up. This makes distubing mounted parts less likely. So, wheel well complex first followed by the forward storage compartments, then the pilot house.

42} Another view.

43} And one more.

Getting close to the finish line now.

fishBait
 

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Z

Zathros

This ship must have been a nightmare to see if it was coming up to attack you. It really is a beastly ship. With the cannons sticking out in this photo, you can really sense the power. The massive nature meant that it carried a lot of ammunition and stores. It sad that the ship has been vandalized, with pieces stolen. It should be inside a building. Your model raises awareness. I love the kind of historic awareness a model like this generates. This is excellent. :)


Uss_Cairo_h61568.jpg
 

fishBait

Member
This ship must have been a nightmare to see if it was coming up to attack you. It really is a beastly ship. With the cannons sticking out in this photo, you can really sense the power. The massive nature meant that it carried a lot of ammunition and stores. It sad that the ship has been vandalized, with pieces stolen. It should be inside a building. Your model raises awareness. I love the kind of historic awareness a model like this generates. This is excellent. :)

I agree with you. Having been there to see it, it is now under a shed with Rangers, so I hope is is now well protected. We used to live in a city in the midwest. At the time, there no existing ww2 o-47 aircraft in existance. Someone found an O-47 piled behind an old tin shed at one of the small airports. Of course, it made the news. That plane had laid there for over 25 years and was not bothered. Within a few days, the crowd hit trying to get a piece. However, the Smithsonian had anticipated it and sent a security team down to guard it until the recovery team got everything ready and arrived. Therefore, you and I (or our grandkids) have a chance to see a restored O-47 some day.

fishBait
 
Z

Zathros

That's shows both sides of people. I am happier the people who know prevailed. Those that would pillage the craft will also be able to appreciate it. If they want to experience it, they can do what we do, build models, and hold them in your hands, and run on the decks and through the ships with our eyes and imagination, satiated, and wiser. :)
 

fishBait

Member
44} This is what we will be working with tonight. We have a twist drill, toothpick, basswood strip, our two smoke stacks with protruding toothpick nibs and a couple of N scale turnout ties. Now for the purist, I know that all of this can be accomplished with cardstock or worm rolled paper; but being a firm fan of toothpicks, I opted for this solution. For items to be mounted on a flat surface, I like to put a toothpick nib in the part (see the smoke stacks), drill a hole in the surface and glue the toothpick nib in the hole. The ventilators are mounted in the same manner. Provides a firm, secure mounting. For masts and tapered poles, I like to use a toothpick. The N scale ties provide nice post material. I mount both in holes drilled in the flat surface (deck). For the long run between masts, a cardstock strip would be ideal, but I had the basswood strips at hand. Starting with the hardest to reach inside parts, I started mounting the masts and upperworks.

45} The foremast has been mounted along with the main mast. The square posts and cable in front of the wheel well complex has been added on both sides. The first extra posts under the long beam have been added as well as the beam.

46} Another view of the forward upperworks. The smokestack holes have been drilled. The cable rigging on the square posts is clearly visible.

47} The aft upperworks has been added as well as all the supporting posts The smokestacks and crossbar have been mounted. Note the decorative trim on the main mast and formast bottoms. Trim will be added later to the aft mast.

48} This head on forward view shows the decorative trim on the foremast nicely. The short support post on top of the pilot house and the smoke stack crossbar are showcased as well.

49} I will leave you with this one which I feel shows the USS Cairo in a very flattering pose.

She is coming together nicely.

fishBait
 

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Z

Zathros

WOW!! Excellent! This is one heck of a model, design, and build! I am very impressed (I don't impress easily). If this is an indication of what's ahead, just WOW! :) :patriot1::thumb:
 

fishBait

Member
50} These are the gauges used to make sure the various masts and posts are the correct height. There is a guage on the parts sheets for each different height mast and post. Also shown is one of the newly designed lifeboats.

51} This shows one of the gauges in use. In reality, the guage would be held tight against the mast/post for the \best accuracy.

52} The side post have been mounted and the railings installed. The USS Cairo base is a first cut try of a simple base. A new one has been designed and will appear in the next post.

53} A head on view of the ship. The wires on the side posts will not be installed until the davits and rudders have been installed.

53} A stern view of the ship. When the rudders are installed, the rudder control cables will be installed along with them.

I have run out of glue. Not being in a town, but living out in the wilds of Texas; I will hitch up the buggy and see if old Nelly can make it down to the settlement. Then if Hump's General Store has some glue and the creek don't rise, I should be back in business by Monday.

Cheers,

fishBait
 

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fishBait

Member
55} I assembled the four lifeboats and made ready to produce the davits which posed a real problem. From the available literature, they appear to be circular in cross section, very slender, mild taper towards the upper end, and transition from straight to a partial arc at the top. The graphic shows a davit created front and back as a normal papermodel part. I was hoping to be able to glue the parts back to back and strengthen the part. The davit is less than 1/64 inch wide therefore making the davit very weak and floppy. Making the problem even more complicated is the strut in the middle of the davit. In the real world, this is a V strut, so the back to back davit has to diverge into a V.

I tried four different designs to create a good looking sturdy davit, all unsatisfactory. Now, one of my methods through out my career has been: Denken sie aus der Kiste!
or in other words, Think out of the box! I knew I had seen that shape several times, just where. Then it hit me, one of my fishhooks (see a lot of these, look at my nickname). Cutting out a section of an Aberdeen #1 hook produced a very close replica of the davit. I could make the V strut using two of the eye sections. A very nice sturdy davit resulted.

56} Time for the rudders. The parts sheet has front and back images, but we are faced with the same kind of problem. the rudders would be very thin and the long control arm would be very weak. Having a number of N scale turnout ties on hand, I framed out one side the rudder part, in fact I filled it in so that it was solid. I then glued the other side on top of the ties and trimmed and sanded. Making a cardboard sandwitch may be just as satisfactory.

57} The resulting rudders are shown here nearly ready to install. Before installation, the rudder control arms must be trimmed to length and the rudder control cables installed. A small hole was drilled at the top of each control access arc and a small sliver of balsa (1/64 x 1/64) was glued in the hole. Black sewing thread was glued to the stern armor just outside each ladder. The thread was ran around each cable bearing and glued to the balsa sliver.
(** Note the installed davits! **)

58} Another view of the rudder control cables.

59} The balsa slivers have been trimmed to the correct height and the rudder control arms are cut to the correct length. The rudders are then assemble to the ship.
 

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Z

Zathros

I have learned more about the details of this boat through your pictures than anything I have seen on the web! Excellent! :)












.
 

fishBait

Member
60} In the interest of time, only one lifeboat has been stowed in the davits. This allows display of the technique and shotens the test build. The side lines have been added. The national colors are shown atop the aft mast.

61} A forward view giving a good view of the side lines.

62} An oblique aft view showing the lifeboat in her davits, the other side line, and a good look at the nationsl standard on its rope.

63} The overall impression of a powerful ship, ready for action.

DRUM ROLL - TATTA-TA-TATTA=TAT!

TRUMPET BLAST - DADA-DA-DAHHHH!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Pook Turtle soup for your pleasure - The USS CAIRO. This concludes the test build of the full hull USS Cairo. Parts sheets and instructions are being updated, will be forwarded to our test builder and will soon be available for download on Models n' Moore. There will be one more post to discuss the waterline version differences.
 

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