Digital Navy - USS Arizona - 1/100

[eibwarrior]

Hull details

Little progress to show today. Some bilge keels and all the hull side belting (strips). This is slow, tedious work thanks to the lengths and the edge coloring with pencils.

I only have two more bilge keels to attach before moving on to the rudder and prop assemblies. :mrgreen:

 

[Teamski]

Sweet work!! I could only imagine how monotinous it is..... She is a biggie.... I can't wait to see how big the turrets will be!

-Ski

 

[cardmodeler]

Holy mackerel!!! That thing is huge! Where you gonna put it when you finish it?!? Sure is looking good so far!

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks guys.

Ski... The turrets will be about as big as a good sized cantelope, with barrels about 7" long! No tedious work at that size. If anything, I'll be able to put more detail in them than any turret I've done to date.

Cardmodeler... Placing it was a secondary thought to building it. My wife keeps asking the same question too. For now, it resides in my studio floor. I'm looking for a massive wall mounted shelf as we speak. :mrgreen:

 

[Teamski]

Ski... The turrets will be about as big as a good sized cantelope, with barrels about 7" long! No tedious work at that size. If anything, I'll be able to put more detail in them than any turret I've done to date.

Maybe you should get an old .22 rifle and use the barrel for your 14" guns, hehehe......

-Ski

 

[barry]

Looks perfect to me

 

[eibwarrior]

Rudders and shafts

Ski... Yeah, they'll rival some real firearms in size. I'm planning on using aluminum or some other tube as a "former" to roll the barrels around. This will give the muzzle a very realistic look.

Thanks Barry. Glad you could check in.

I have some progress to show tonight. Some step-by-step shots of the rudder and propeller shaft/mount construction. This went extremely well for what I expected to run into. The fit was fairly good and so was alignment. Here are some shots from paper - to laminated - to constructed...

Rudder assembly ready to be tackled.

Rudder assembly complete. I used some styrene round to hinge the rudder. I nice scale shot of the 1/350 version of the rudder assembly for comparison.

Rudder mounts and shaft bearings ready to be assembled.

Assembled mounts and bearings. They went together nicely.

A couple of shots of the shafts, mounts and rudder assembled and mounted to the stern section of the hull.

All that's left to do "under here" is the actual props themselves, then I can head topside! Topside at last! :thumb:

 

[The Hermit]

looking good

least you didnt forget to put the rudder and screws on

i kinda did
lol

so i think ill leave them off for now

i know i will be building a 2nd one with all of the improvements im working out

and im ordering some of the 1mm and 2 mm card from paper model store
im going ot give it a go using it as formers and see if i like it better than what i get local

 

[NYC Irish]

How did you upscale it, graphics edit to small sheets or pay a copystore to print @250%

John John

 

[airbob]

Ebi,
Wow!, this is real clean in fit and line!!!...and an excellent job on the below the water-line hull and propulsion units!:thumb:...Thanksgiving greetings from north-central Tennessee!!!:wave7:

 

[barry]

getting to be a real pro mate as Bob says excellent job looking forward to the rest

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks all for the kind comments. As always, it's your feedback that keeps my boilers stoked.

Hermit... You're not alone. There are some things I would do differently on mine too in hindsite. I'll call this a "big" learning experince for my future upscales and DN models. I can incorporate everything I learn in a big scale DN Yamato! Psst. Don't tell my wife.

John John... I went to a local blue printer who had color reproduction capability. I do a lot of business with them through my work, so they gave me a break, but it was still very expensive. Around $12 per sheet at 18" x 26" in high res. I shopped around, but that was the best I could do. I thought about breaking it up in smaller sheets, but I wanted this model to be my best effort and possibly museum quality by the end. Still have my fingers crossed on that goal.

Airbob... Thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes. The best to you and your family this Thanksgiving from East TN. I'll have some props for you to look at by Friday.

Barry... Thanks for the kind words. I know you remember my first efforts well, so that means a lot coming from you.

 

[eibwarrior]

Golden Props

Well, the props came together in great style. Good, and typical construction technique. The printing color was a bit odd. They look closer to orange than any other identifiable color. I would attribute this more to the upscale printing. Some color clarity gets lost in the translation.

I've whipped out the old reliable acrylic enamel and painted them gold though. The thickened coats of paint make them look more "worn" and realistic anyway.

Now that the bottom is complete, I'm going to go back over it with some of the Ms. Nimock's acrylic print sealer (matte) that Hermit suggested. This should give me plenty of UV protection and help prevent fading. I also hope it will tie some of the various hull shades together and make it look a little more uniform.

Decks are next up.

 

[David H]

Mmmmm nice props.

We have had a few nice props of late, these are the biggest!

My offering was the smallest... but same scale.

D

 

[jkrenzer]

Excellent propellers. I hope you don't break them too often as you continue the build. I have always waited to last to install mine.

One comment though, I believe there should be two each left and right handed screws.

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks all.

jkrenzer... I had thought about waiting to build them later, but the size of the model prohibits turning back over easily after I get further into the build. I'm going to take great care in handling this point on, and hopefully not destroy them.
Good catch on the left vs right handed screws. I got some modeling "tunnel vision" and built as they are laid out. The horizontal lines on the hubs are all right handed. Darn it! This will bug me to no end. I see a backup and redo in my near future...

 

[jkrenzer]

Once the ship is upright they won't be all that noticable anyway.

I have a goofy way of installing props. I finish the ship, then set it on the coffee table. Lay on my back with the stern over the edge and super glue them in place. Rudder(s) too. I havd to fix my Portlands propellers a half dozen times when I installed them early.

P.S. Check out the Fuso from Digital navy on the modelwarships.com page from today. He modeled her as a cut-away.

Amazing.

M o d e l W a r s h i p s . c o m - G a l l e r y

 

[The Hermit]

wow the cutaway is worth noticing, simply amazing

 

[jaffro]

How about constructing some sort of "roll cage" or protective covering with thick cardstock or wire, then holding it in place with rubber bands during the rest of the build. (to protect the props)

Not sure if the idea that popped into my head has made any sense the way I explained it, but it's definitely something I'm going to try if I ever take on a model this size and need to protect some fiddly hard work, before taking it apart with one clumsy easy bump.

 

[eibwarrior]

Thanks for that link to the Fuso. That's amazing work. Must have done a lot of research to build that cut away.

Jaffro, if there's a way to break it, I'll find it.