Hey gang… I’m back.
My last post was in August 2023. For those that weren’t following this next project, here’s the final result.
The model is a cutaway of the entire 5"38 Caliber Mark 28 Iowa-Class Secondary Battery from gun house to magazine three decks below. It will be joining my model of the 16" gun system in the Ward Room of the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial berthed at the Camden, NJ Waterfront. Right now the Big J is in a dry dock at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to have its bottom painted for the first time in 34 years. It will return to Camden before the 4th of July. I will be delivering the model in the first week in August. This model, was supposed to incorporate the 1:35 Takom 5" turret plastic model, but it was no longer available and I already committed to the ship to build this, so I changed scale to 1:48 and scratch built the entire model.
No commercial parts whatsoever. Every part was drawn, printed, crafted and/or assembled by me. I had only a few dimensioned drawings. Ryan Syzmanski, the Big J Curator, was able to feed me pictures and measures that I needed for more esoteric features.
The magazine is located three decks below and offset towards the ship’s interior and well within the armored citadel that characterizes these ships. It was a challenge to show it while maintaining this relationship. Drawings I’ve seen eliminated the 2nd deck making it look like the magazine is much closer.
But that model is built and my attention is turning back to the apache.
Today, I got the fuselage closed and was pleased by the general fit of the Takom kit. it was much better than the Kitty Hawk Seahawk I had completed earlier.
Almost no filling is going to be needed on the model. The tail fit nicely as did the joint at the front.
Likewise, the two bottom panels went on very tightly, Tamiya-like.
Lastly, I assembled the wonderfully-detailed the 3D printed Reskit Chain Gun. I’m pretty good at 3D printing. These guys are working at another level. I would like to see what machinery, setting, etc. they’re using. I get some amazing prints, but they are just a tad better than my best. That said, it’s a fairly brittle resin and you have to be very careful removing the supports. One of the guard rails broke and I repaired it with Bondic. Bondic is a similar UV resin as they use to make the parts and welds parts together or fills holes. But you must have a way to shine the curing UV light on the resin. If it’s buried in the joint, it will not cure. The heat shield of the barrel is actually proud of the barrel!
This very delicate part will NOT go on the model until very near the end. Otherwise, I will break it!
I want to finish this model so I can bring it to my friend from the old neighborhood during the same trip as we deliver the ship.