H.G. Watkins - BB43 USS Tennessee

Here's my problem... Aft deck fit great, but the forward deck is coming up skinny. I think the deck itself is proper, but the hull sides and formers are in error. Since I've attached the sides already my hands are tied. I'm going to have to make some subtle deck modifications and reprint.

Areas circled in red are way short.



 
Tennessee needs to lose weight

Gosh! Something like that would nix the project for me. No technical skills to redraw & recolor. Good luck.
 
Lemonade from Lemons!!!

Well... Thought I would redraw, but that didn't work to well. I made edits to the forward deck a couple times and it just didn't fit the mis-size.

So to make a long story short. I cut the formers in the areas where it didn't fit. Then put the deck on with some addtional edge material to meet halfway. Not pretty, but I think the handrails will distract from the tiny little lap on the deck.

I learned a lesson on this one... Always check the deck fitup to the formers before attaching the hull sides. I've been burnt once, never again.

This "adjustment" will result in some more edits to the superstructure, so my fun isn't over just yet. :roll:



 
S

sdk2knbk

Not pretty? It looks good to me. You want not pretty, you should take a look at my Agincort hullsides/deck joint.

Scott K.
 

Jim Krauzlis

Active Member
I'll be darned if I can find any of those gaps you are talking about...she looks pretty awesome to me!

I gather it's a pretty common practice of ship model designers to have the decks installed before the hull sides, and it sometimes appears they plan on that sequence when designing how the parts to fit together. That being said, I still can't see those gaps you are talking about, so I'd say the railings won't have to do much distracting.:grin:

Keep up the excellent work, she's coming along quite nicely.

Cheers!
Jim
 
More to show

Thanks for the kind comments Jim. I've never thought about doing check fit-ups before proceeeding. This mishap has taught me that. I guess you assume everything just fits well until it doesn't. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Slow getting this update up. Took a quick trip to Charleston SC and went by Patriots Point last week. Toured the Yorktown, Laffey and Ingham. A great museum for ship enthusiasts, I would endorse everyone interested to get by that place if you have the chance.

As for the Tennessee. Upper decks, superstructure and main battery barbettes coming into focus. I'm not sure that I like the card that I've printed this model on. The black lines tend to fade or even crumble when I fold along lines. Very upsetting. :mad: I've had to whip out the gray markers way too much on this build. I usually reserve them for use on edges and mishaps, but I find I'm coloring on virtually every piece.

Well, more to come of the superstructure shortly.



 

barry

Active Member
Decks

Wish my mistakes looked like that mate I didn't think you would get this far with it. Looks great.

regards
 
Tennessee superstructure

Wow! I didn't realize that the superstructure was so narrow.

I am really enjoying your progress reports. One of these days, I may try a scratch build if I can obtain decent drawings. In the meantime, I am taking notes.

Good work.
 
@ Barry - Thanks, I wasn't so sure myself for a while. :wink: It did slow me down a bit, but I'm off and rolling again. And at least things have worked out satisfactory.

@ Gregory - Yeah, that struck me too. I thought there was a lot more bulk too. It appears that some of these upper platforms will widen it a bit, but that's about the size of it. I'm not sure just how accurate this model is. I have a 1/350 resin Tennessee in the box, that I'm thinking about pulling out just to review this very item. Thanks for the kind comments, I think this Watkins model would make great templates for a scratch build.
 

Jim Krauzlis

Active Member
Nope, still can't see those gaps!:grin:

Beautiful work, mate...really an enjoyable build thread.

Please do keep at it, you are treating us all to a superb build!

Cheers!
Jim
 
Thanks Jim. Yes, now that I've past the first big hurdle in this build, I've got some serious momentum building and some real desire to keep forging forward.
 
Hello all,

More progress to show. Good start on the superstructure with many platforms and rails. The fitup on this model is erroneous at times, but it's still a pretty good build. It's really starting to look like the Tennessee now. Getting excited.





 
Yep Pete... Got a West Virginia and Oklahoma as well. It was a very competitive Ebay auction, let me tell ya. Had to pay $100 for the threesome.

More progress to show. Upper Superstructure coming together with navigation bridge and main mast. Now I'm trying to identify what Mast equipment the Tennessee had in 1943. The paper parts look ok, but I've got some photo-etched radars and arrays that would look much better.

Time to dive into some research...





 

Jim Krauzlis

Active Member
If I might ask, how did you find them listed on eBay...what were the search criteria you used?
Been trying to find a few of these kits out there, only lucky once...
Glad you got them and can't wait to see your build threads on them as well.
Cheers!
Jim
 
Jim,

I search almost daily, so I would credit it to luck (and persistence) more than anything.

I use the search terms "paper model" and "card model" the most, then sort by category to get to the ships... Only every once in a long while will you see a unique ship model. Most of the time it's the usual stuff (GPM, JSC, MM, etc.) but sometimes you'll see a Watkins or other obscure model. But it takes tons of patience and daily searching.

Thanks!
 
Tennessee

Your model is coming along nicely. I really look forward to your posts. How much time have you been spending per day on ships? In my case, sometimes, especially when I am near completion, I will work 8 hours for several days. Usually, though, I just look at it and do something else.
 
Thanks Gregory...

I've been splitting time between Tennessee and Vittorio Veneto. I'd say about 8-10 hours per week total. I've got a wife and couple of young children, so the domestic responsibilites cut into my modeling time quite a bit :wink:

I split that time between both models, and not always 50/50. Right now I find myself working on the Tennessee more because it's at a very entertaining stage right now. The Vit. Ven. is in the vast waste land of deck element construction, so I've been working on it less of late. Although that stage is wrapping up and I'm gettting started on the superstructure, so that will tilt the scales back more 50/50 by next week.

I find that working on two at once is entertaining because of this very issue. When mundane items or construction rolls around, I can always shift my interest or focus to another build.

I'm envious of you Gregory. There are days that I wish I could work 8 hours on my builds. When my wife goes on the occasional trip out of town, I almost push that limit. :roll: When I hit retirement maybe I'll have enough time so that I can reduce this huge pile called my "ship stash".
 
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