1/700 Seaplane Tender Dio

[Cliffy B]

I need some help deciding on my build.  I'll be whipping up a USN Heavy Cruiser based somewhat on a prelim design for the Alaskas.  She'll have been built at the same time as BB-55 and 56 along with one sister.  I'll be depicting her about 1946-48 in the North Atlantic.  I'm thinking about a split 1945/1950's style layout IE Bofors and twin 3"/50 RFs as a transitional fit as if production was strained.  Think that will lend some visual variety plus I don't have enough 3" mounts for a full fit 

Question, camo?  Should I go for a recent postwar scheme, IE camo but Holystoned wood decks?  Should see be underway, anchored, maybe laying off a beach with guns trained out and landing craft streaking by?

Ideas for whiff floatplanes?  I'm thinking about SC-2s or maybe P-40s, F4Fs, F6Fs, TBDs, etc...  Ideas?  Maybe some visiting FAA birds to add to the variety?

What do you guys think?  Any and all help is appreciated as always.
-Mike

[ysi_maniac]

Alaska is just a beauty, imo. 

Floatplane: Love P-40, but what about a float version of A-1?

[Empty Handed]

Sounds good!

Floatplane: Love P-40, but what about a float version of A-1?

Nifty! So would that be an ASD-1 (Attack-Scout) or SAD-1 (Scout-Attack) in pre-'62 parlance?

[Cliffy B]

Thanks guys!  I'm altering my subject a bit...The CA will go to the back burner as I need to put a lot more thought into her design before I build her.  I'll be making a BB instead, one that was drawn up in the mid 1930's but never left paper.  Same time period and possible the same AA battery disposition as well (might stick will all Bofors, don't know yet). 

Onto the float planes!  I'll be adding 1-2 P-40s (more on their design later but they'll be neat  ) and maybe a Kingfisher/Seahawk for comparison.  Think there will be some visiting FAA machines as well...feel free to guess what they'll be 

I looked at all of our floatplanes from the war and then at the other birds we used and came to the conclusion that only small fighters would make good floatplanes.  None of our floatplanes exceeded about 9-10k lbs.  All of the attack birds were at least twice that if not more.  The P-40 is almost perfectly suited for a USN float plane.  Its dimension's, weight, and range are perfect!  Some others possibilities are Sea Furies, P-47s (probably be BEASTS to handle), F6Fs, F2Gs (gull wing float plane...would it work?).

I want something with some performance but also as much or more range then the stock float planes.  They were horrendously outclassed and basically screwed if that had to dogfight so I want to fix that!  I know the SCs were basically on par or better than P-40s but this is whiff world and I want something different!!!!!!

Look for some profiles of the bird(s) too 

[apophenia]

No reason that a Corsair with twin floats wouldn't work. Still, a P-40 with Seamew floats would be a beaut! Maybe re-use the XF13C designation?

[Cliffy B]

Ahhh...Metallica and beer!!!  Well I held off on the beer tonight as it doesn't go too well knives but Metallica got my creative juices going.

So, after that last few GBs I've realized I forgot the cardinal rule about any form of artwork; KISS!  Not the band...keep it simple stupid!  With that in mind I took a step back and have re-oriented my project idea into one I've always wanted to do and that would satisfy the rule.

Behold!


What you see are the beginnings of a small seaplane tender and her flock.  Its a USN AVP-10 class, a B-25 seaplane, and a Boeing PBB Sea Ranger.  The AVP-10s were basically diesel powered, floating repair shops the size of DEs with the firepower of a full size fleet DD and a mess of spare parts, consumables, bunk space etc... for her flock of flying boats.  Usually about 4-6 of them would be paired with 2 of the larger AV-4/7 class tenders and service a full Patrol Wing.  The AVPs also pulled double duty as AA and ASW escorts for the AVs of which they were certainly capable of doing.

Always wanted to make a B-25 on floats.  Picture one with a similar arrangement to the C-47 float conversion.  I'll have her anchored a bit away from the AVP with some service boats fueling and arming her.

The PBB will be receiving a similar treatment as the B-25.  If you don't know about them,  they were the largest twin engine flying boats we ever made and would have been great in service.  What killed them, along with some other projects, was they used the same engines as the B-29s which was a complete show stopper during the war.  A few were built and there are plenty of photos around.

Forget to put it in the photo but I also started modifying an old Skywave P-40 to serve as one of my SFC-1s.  I only have 4 P-40s so I'll see how well the first one goes before I decide to do more.  I'd like to have a pair of them on a barge alongside the AVP getting some work done while they're mother cruiser goes off on some night ops.

Everything you see if scratch built from styrene with some basswood added to the AVP.  The B-25 is from Trumpy, hence the annoying clear plastic.

Note to self: always put on Metallica when at the bench! 
Greg, had the live album from June of 2006 at Rock Am Ring playing if you're curious    Its the one where they play Battery and Master of Puppets and then announce "20 years MoP!!  And for you....the ENTIRE album"  You hear the crowd digest that for 2 secs and then explode    Good stuff!

[Brian da Basher]

I'm going to really enjoy this one, Cliffy. I've got some of those little planes in the stash so I'll be interested in how it all turns out.

Looking forward to your next update,

Brian da Basher

[apophenia]

Looking good  :)  I can't wait to see your floatplane B-25!

[father ennis]

I find what you are doing with a few sticks and pieces of wood amazing ...  !!!!!!  I wish that I could work with wood the way you do.  I've seen others who could ,too but it's beyond me how you can do this ...

[Cliffy B]

Evening guys!  Had a busy and rather annoying set of weeks and the bench got neglected.  Did a little bit tonight though and proved that Metallica cures all 

The hull is finished, sanded, shaped, and puttied!  Always feels good to finish that step.  Started the superstructure with so small 0.4mm thick strips that 3.2mm wide; exactly the height of the decks  :)  Got lucky having that pack in the box.  Since I built it in small sections I had to wait for them to dry in successive steps so it was slow going.   Still have to do the rounded bulkhead which should prove interesting.  After that I can add the deck and then build the bridge.

The ship in the background is a 1/700 Tamiya Fletcher-Class DD for size comparison.



Onward to the aircraft!  After wasting 2 floats I figured out how to make them.  Secret was to waterline the floats!  She'll be in the water so why bother with the complex undersides?  I waterline my ships, why not my float planes too right?! 

The SFC-1 Osprey lives in plastic!!!!  Found an old CVE kit that came with a sprue of USAAF fighters for deck cargo and it had a quartet of P-40s in it    I added the float from a Trumpy SC-1, sanded off the inline engine and added some plastic under the tail to represent the enlarged tail.  Still need some shaping on the front in but its coming together.  she'll be on a barge alongside the tender getting some work done.


Glad you guys like it    If any of you want to know more about how I do it just ask.  Its really not that hard.  :)

[father ennis]

Soooooooooo very.easy for you but not for us ....       Love what your doing  !!!!!!

[ChernayaAkula]

Love it!  :) The planes both need 1/72 renderings!

[Cliffy B]

I was forced to modify the project again (yeah what else is new I know).  The planes will all still be there but the AVP won't.  Ran into some engineering issues/problems and now there's no way she'll be done in time.  That's what I get for trying a new building method 

So anyway...here's the participants:


Left to right: a PC-461 class subchaser, a US Army ST-Class Tug, a USN YF barge with an SOC Seagull and a PBJ-2 aboard, and the PBJ-1S Seaplane.

The PC and YF are completely scratch built while the tug is from a Dragon Carrier kit, and the planes are Trumpy.  The P-40 met with some unfortunate accidents and needs to be rebuilt 100%.  I'm rather angry about that now so I'll come back to it later.  The PC's superstructure is just dry fitted for now until I measure out its proper placement.  Thinking I'm going to have to knock down that old Skywave 3"/50 now since its obviously too darn big...   

The PC and tug will be in Ms.16, the Thayer Blue scheme for arctic service wile the YF is in it's traditional black hull and deck blue deck.  Black hulls signified that the craft was non-self propelled.  The aircraft are currently sporting Light Gray undersides and Extra Dark Sea Gray upper surfaces.  The PBJ-2 has some darker gray (Engine Gray) patches on top but I don't think they show up too well in the photo.  The SOC and the PBJ-1S will get Dark Sea Blue patches.

Notice the PBJ-2 is missing one wing and the other is folded alongside? That's because she belongs to an Essex-Class CV and is used as a heavy bomber    The one wing isn't attached yet because it will need its national insignia applied before gluing.  Said wing is laying in front of it along with its nose gear that decided to pop off at the wrong moment....

Premise for the dio will be the tug is pulling the barge/planes past the PBJ-1S (getting serviced by a boat from the AVP) towards the AVP and the PC will be bringing up the rear on its way to the repair basin.  She'll have a gash in her starboard side from a collision.  Said gash is actually a fluke due to some putty not wanting to stick and leaving a very credible gash in her hull; awesome! 

Final presentation will have the ships dry fitted to the display base as I whole intend to finish the AVP later on and will need to leave the water surface unfinished until I do so.  The water surface is painted watercolor paper and I'll either add a very thin layer of gel medium or just gloss coat the whole thing for calm water.  Either way, I want the ships all glued down first otherwise they'll be a royal #@@#%$#^ to attach.

Any and all comments, thoughts, ideas, etc... are appreciated as always,
-Mike

[apophenia]

Always nice to see the auxiliaries portrayed  :)  Love your dio idea for showing the wheeled PBJ heading past the floatie version. Very clever!

[Cliffy B]

Just an update...this will NOT be finished by midnight tomorrow.  Mods please move this to the appropriate section.

These last 2 weeks were busy, busy, busy so I wasn't able to finish it.  I'll come back to it later on.

[elmayerle]

My own  thoughts on floatplane versions of the P-40 or Corsair are that they'd be twin float designs with the floats picking up the existing main landing gear trunnions as this drastically reduces the amount of extra structure you'd need to add since they could be braced from the same structure the gear actuator used.