Trumpeter 1/350 USS Texas BB-35

[wbill76]

Time to set out for the high seas! Full steam ahead!

Next victim is the Trumpeter 1/350 kit #05340 USS Texas BB-35 in combination with a Master turned aluminum and brass barrel set.



The kit comes with a ton of PE all on its own including railings so I didn't feel the need to go all out...that and the fact that it is NOT the same deck configuration as its sister USS New York means that there isn't anything out specifically for this kit yet anyhow!

[Leon]

 Got a front row seat Bill!

[JimD]

My only regret is I didn't get the first seat, but that's cool. I'm here now. Are you still going to go with the AM deck? I really dig that Master stuff so that will be a nice touch.

[deafpanzer]

AWESOME! Another ship... Bill is definitely addicted to big ships now. Grabbing my favorite inflatable ducky now!

[wouter]

Well, since I'm totally in World of Warships lately I'm defo looking forward to this...though I must admit I don't play the American line up...I usually tend to kill American BB's with my Japanese ones

Bring it on Bill

Cheers

[dierk]

Another floaty Bill build - I'm in.

[wing_nut]

Man you are all over the spectrum. makes t hard for me to copy you. In this case I guess I would have to keep hings geographically correct and do the New Jersey. Good thing I don't have that kit in my stash.

[wing_nut]

Me again. Just happen to stop in at the old stomping grounds and found this. Not sure which is more significant. The confidence of the same ship posted nearly at the same time. or the fact the it is by far the longest thread I've seen in a forum in the 10 years since the hobby restart. looks like a ice historical write up though.

cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/167815.aspx

[Tojo72]

Looking forward to it Bill,definitly enjoyed your latest FSM article also.

That gentleman that Marc spoke about does some great ship blogs over on FSM,that's just one of them.

Anyway,have fun.

[TRM]

And so it begins!! Nice to see this one come into port Bill! Git on it!!

[wbill76]

Glad to have you on board Leon! Watch out for Jimmy's elbows...and you may lose your seat if you get up for the bathroom!

Andy, Wouts, Dierk, Anthony, and Todd, wow the gallery's filling up quickly!

Sept 10, 2015 19:46:53 GMT -5 JimD said:

My only regret is I didn't get the first seat, but that's cool. I'm here now. Are you still going to go with the AM deck? I really dig that Master stuff so that will be a nice touch.

I'm going to do a Measure 22 scheme since that's the one she wore the longest from roughly Oct 1942 until Sept 1944. The available decks (including the blue type that I would need for Measure 22) of the USS New York require too much modification to be really useful, so I ended up returning them and will instead be painting the decks myself. I figured it was a case of 'pick your poison'...either spend a lot of time trying to modify the deck or spend the same amount of time painting and detailing.

Sept 11, 2015 7:51:56 GMT -5 wing_nut said:

Me again. Just happen to stop in at the old stomping grounds and found this. Not sure which is more significant. The confidence of the same ship posted nearly at the same time. or the fact the it is by far the longest thread I've seen in a forum in the 10 years since the hobby restart. looks like a ice historical write up though.

cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/167815.aspx

Wow Marc, you're right about the epic nature of that post! He had to have worked pretty fast...the kit hasn't been out much more than a month! I've got the Squadron at Sea book on the USS Texas and will be using that as my go-to reference. Seeing how it builds up already will be helpful too, have that thread bookmarked now so I can look back at it as I move along. Won't be nearly as fast as he was though. As for you doing the USS New Jersey, not having it in your stash sounds like the perfect excuse to rectify that situation!

[armorguy]

Mmm a ship, oh no, I feel the need...must build...one...too !

Have fun Bill !

[wbill76]

Sept 11, 2015 17:59:16 GMT -5 armorguy said:

Mmm a ship, oh no, I feel the need...must build...one...too !

Have fun Bill !

Now that would be cool to see AG! Go for it!

[wbill76]

Got off to a start, of sorts, today with this project. I knew going into it that the hull was going to require a lot of work due to the massively over-scale weld lines that Trumpeter produced. No idea what they were thinking...1mm wide raised weld seams translates into 350mm wide welds on the real deal, so a lot of sanding and adjustment is called for. Got half way done on the port side before calling it a day. Lots more to go!



I also checked the hull fit alignment and there's potentially another nasty surprise waiting for me. See below...that's quite a gap but perhaps once the bulkheads are fitted it will help pull it all together.



As you can see, Texas is a big girl! Barely fits inside the photo booth's light tent.

[Leon]

 Looks like you have your work cutout for you on this big girl Bill!

[TRM]

Off and running! Great to see things coming about! Tough bit on the welds. I am still baffled the way some companies address these. Look like you have thing under control!! Party time at the docks!!

[wbill76]

For sure Leon!

Sept 11, 2015 19:50:25 GMT -5 TRM said:

Off and running! Great to see things coming about! Tough bit on the welds. I am still baffled the way some companies address these. Look like you have thing under control!! Party time at the docks!!

They got dinged for it pretty good in the online reviews of USS New York but didn't do anything to fix it on USS Texas...too late I guess. It's not like they don't have the proper mold technology to do it in-scale either. When I did their HMS Dreadnought, the welds were perfect. Maybe the CAD guy got a little carried away with his scale conversions on this one? Either way, the weld seams are heavy enough to use to make waffles if you were so inclined.

[TRM]

LOL...waffles, something like that!! Might be one of the CAD drivers is into that hyper-accentuated Japanese stuff. I suppose consultants or some good reference shots were out of the question!

[armorguy]

Hi Bill, it's not exactly a ship I have in the pipeline but it will be a delicious project :



I look forward to start this one but other projects need to be done first (Churchill, Viking, Chevrolet C15A).

Have a blast with your ship, I'll check in on a regular base !

[wbill76]

Sept 12, 2015 3:19:22 GMT -5 armorguy said:

Hi Bill, it's not exactly a ship I have in the pipeline but it will be a delicious project :



I look forward to start this one but other projects need to be done first (Churchill, Viking, Chevrolet C15A).

Have a blast with your ship, I'll check in on a regular base !

Should be a fun time when you get to it AG! Meanwhile I will just have to listen to some shanties and pretend I'm holy stoning for the next couple of days on these seams.

[sturmbird]

Sept 10, 2015 19:05:47 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Time to set out for the high seas! Full steam ahead!

Next victim is the Trumpeter 1/350 kit #05340 USS Texas BB-35 in combination with a Master turned aluminum and brass barrel set.



The kit comes with a ton of PE all on its own including railings so I didn't feel the need to go all out...that and the fact that it is NOT the same deck configuration as its sister USS New York means that there isn't anything out specifically for this kit yet anyhow!

Several years back an old girl friend and I went over to Texas to basically sober from a ten day series of hurricane parties. Anyway, along the way we found ourselves in the Huston/Beaumont area. Got to tour the Battleship Texas, as well as the Gato class submarine and a destroyer escort that had not been rebuilt. All three were worth the trouble to walk thru.

The Texas was originally a coal fired ship! Converted over in the 1920's I think. Anyway they had a lot of photos of the ship in it's various configurations, but there still a lot of tell tale evidence to it's age. My favorite was in the pre-WWII cage mast configuration. From photos, I think the conversion would be major.
gary

[wbill76]

Sept 12, 2015 15:48:04 GMT -5 sturmbird said:

Several years back an old girl friend and I went over to Texas to basically sober from a ten day series of hurricane parties. Anyway, along the way we found ourselves in the Huston/Beaumont area. Got to tour the Battleship Texas, as well as the Gato class submarine and a destroyer escort that had not been rebuilt. All three were worth the trouble to walk thru.

The Texas was originally a coal fired ship! Converted over in the 1920's I think. Anyway they had a lot of photos of the ship in it's various configurations, but there still a lot of tell tale evidence to it's age. My favorite was in the pre-WWII cage mast configuration. From photos, I think the conversion would be major.
gary

I've never had the chance to visit USS Texas in person although it's on 'the list' of potential places to go if I'm ever back in the eastern part of the state. The Texas had a pretty interesting career and looked very different when she was first launched vs. how she ended up when decommissioned in 1948. The Trumpeter kit essentially has her as she was from late 1944 when she was transferred to duty in the Pacific from the Atlantic. Backdating her to the pre-1926 rebuild configuration with the lattice masts would be a major undertaking in many respects as her secondary armament was radically altered and shifted up on the hull and the torpedo blister armor belt added. Her boilers were also converted over to oil at that time as you mention and smokestacks changed from 2 to only 1. It was a very major change for sure!

[wbill76]

Managed to get the first hull half done today in terms of sanding down the waffle-iron weld seams. One of the casualties in the course of doing that though is the vertical plate lines/joins. After giving it some thought, I decided to scribe in some division lines. A metal ruler as a straight edge and a sharp new thumbtack did the job nicely. I had debated using some super-fine copper speaker wire to do the same thing as a raised pattern but I don't think it would survive all the masking and painting that I have to do on the hull to create the Measure 22 scheme. Better to err on the side of caution...besides, I can always add the wire after I've painted if I decide I don't like the look of the scribed dividers and the scribed lines will ensure I can at least faithfully recreate the pattern if I decide to go that route.



One half down, one to go!

[DeafStuG]

Very nice starter kit. 

[wbill76]

Thanks Jeremy! This is the first kit I've had to put in so many hours on at the start without even gluing anything together yet!

[Leon]

WOW....Nice work on the scribing Bill!

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon! Have to see what more I can get done today while watching some football on the TV. Might help pass the time a bit.

[sturmbird]

Sept 12, 2015 16:45:37 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Sept 12, 2015 15:48:04 GMT -5 sturmbird said:

Several years back an old girl friend and I went over to Texas to basically sober from a ten day series of hurricane parties. Anyway, along the way we found ourselves in the Huston/Beaumont area. Got to tour the Battleship Texas, as well as the Gato class submarine and a destroyer escort that had not been rebuilt. All three were worth the trouble to walk thru.

The Texas was originally a coal fired ship! Converted over in the 1920's I think. Anyway they had a lot of photos of the ship in it's various configurations, but there still a lot of tell tale evidence to it's age. My favorite was in the pre-WWII cage mast configuration. From photos, I think the conversion would be major.
gary

I've never had the chance to visit USS Texas in person although it's on 'the list' of potential places to go if I'm ever back in the eastern part of the state. The Texas had a pretty interesting career and looked very different when she was first launched vs. how she ended up when decommissioned in 1948. The Trumpeter kit essentially has her as she was from late 1944 when she was transferred to duty in the Pacific from the Atlantic. Backdating her to the pre-1926 rebuild configuration with the lattice masts would be a major undertaking in many respects as her secondary armament was radically altered and shifted up on the hull and the torpedo blister armor belt added. Her boilers were also converted over to oil at that time as you mention and smokestacks changed from 2 to only 1. It was a very major change for sure!

I've been on the North Carolina, Alabama, and the Texas, and you really see a historical transition taking place. The North Carolina was my first one, and the first thing I noticed was how low it sat in the water. The Texas seemed to set higher. Don't remember a lot about the Alabama, as it was getting late. (Plus Brenda was asking a lot of questions about the B52) When you walk around the Texas, the first thing you'll notice is the lack of 5" turrets, and all these guns on the side of the ship. Sorta like something from WWI. Then you start to notice all the cast brass floret ornaments all over the place. They were not painted when I was there. Your right about the hull weld seams. Not very noticeable. I may be wrong here, but the hull was reconfigured in it's last rebuild, and there was extra armor added to the sides. One other odd thing about the Texas now that I think about it. The grey paint seemed to be much darker than anything I've seen the Navy use before.
gary
P.S. I found my BB35 Texas hat last night!22

[wbill76]

After spending several hours (10+) over the last three days correcting the hull weld seams, I finally got a chance to glue some parts together on this project!

Step 1 in the instructions calls for the hull halves to be joined together in combination with the bulkheads and deck supports. These fit somewhat loosely with a little bit of play which is a good thing considering the hull gap that I pointed out earlier. The hull fits snugly at both the bow and stern but needs a good deal of coercion to meet in the middle. I started by inserting the bulkheads in position and then used a couple of sliding clamps to bring the halves together in the middle. I did a quick test fit of the deck inserts to make sure they would sit properly later on and to ensure the bulkheads sat properly with their alignment. I had to place the clamps carefully so that they didn't cause the bulkheads to warp or buckle slightly at their top edges. Once that was sorted out, I applied some liquid glue to the bulkhead mount pins so they wouldn't shift again. Then it was time to glue the main hull join. For that task I opted to use a slightly thicker liquid glue produced by Mr. Hobby called Mr. Cement. This was run along the seam from the inside of the hull and then rubber bands added as I worked a section at a time from the bow to the stern to ensure everything played nice.

The Texas is now in traction and will stay that way overnight to ensure everything sets nice and tight before removing the bands and clamps.

[Leon]

Nice to see you got the gap issue sorted Bill!