steinerman

Hi Friends, Just a question here tonight. A while ago I bought Trumpy's 1:32 F-14D Super Tomcat. I haven't started on it yet but I want to donate this to the local Veteran's hospital here in Grand Rapids when I get it biult, so I am looking to make this as accurate and as detailed as possible. What I would like to know, is what all after-market goodies there are that I should have for this model? I already have, or are in the process of ordering, the following items for this aircraft: - Aires Resin Cockpit kit - Aires Landing Gear Bay Resin Kit - Aires Resin Weighted Wheelset Kit - Aires Exhaust Nozzle Set - Airscale Modern Cockpit Instruments - Airscale Instrument Bezels - Airscale Jet Cockpit Upgrade - Airscale Modern Cockpit Dataplate and Warning Decals - Eduard Big Ed Photo-Etch Kit - Wolfpack Corrected Chin Pod Set - Zactomodels Intake Correction Kit - Zactomodels Phoenix Pallet Correction Kit Are there other items that I should have for this aircraft? There are a couple areas that I'm concerned about - the landing gear and the weapons that this fighter carried? I've seen a real F-14D and have taken dozens of photos of the detail and in my opinion the Trumpeter kit front landing gear kinda sucks when it comes to the landing light. Is there a 3rd party company that sells a replacement? And as to the weapons, I'm not sure what I should have to fully populate this aircraft with accurate weapons. These are just two of the areas I'm not sure about. Anything else you could help me with would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Friends, Larry

Hearty Congratulations to the new bride and groom! And thank you for letting us see pictures of your honeymoon. It looks like you had a fabulous time. The scenery is gorgeous!

OK, here are the last 6. Are you bored yet? There are over 80 separate parts mounted on this splinter shield including helmets, cooling tubes, spare gun barrels, phone boxes, and tool boxes. The long baskets alongside the shield (and on the backs of the big gun turrets) are floater net baskets. They contain netting with flotation around the perimeter and are used mostly in conflict to aid those fallen or knocked overboard. Overall view of the aft deck. View of the stern showing the catapults and recovery crane. The ship carried (2) "Spotter" float planes whose job it was to search out enemy ships and to also "spot" where the big 16" shells were landing. The big 16" guns could fire a 2300 pound projectile a distance of over 20 miles, meaning the gun crews could not see where their shells were landing. The float planes were shot off the catapult by dummy 5" shells and were retrieved by the crane at the stern. Close up view of one of the catapults. These two were nightmares to build! The cradles for the float planes are mounted, but I have not built the aircraft yet. Close-up of the stern. The crane was another %#$@ to build! All the framing had to be built up piece by piece. You might have noticed the rows of slotted racks around the insides of the 40mm gun tubs. These are ammo racks that hold the magazines for the 40mm guns. Here is the stern. I really don't like that ladder up the hull. It's not professional at all. That whole area looks tacky, plus, I need white letters, not black I have to do something about that - but not till later! OK, so that's what it looks like now. Thanks for looking! Larry

Here's post #2 of this set: A lot of people have asked me what I'm going to do with this ship when I finish it? Truthfully, I have no idea! I definitely am going to enclose it in a protective case to keep the dust off, but other than that, I haven't decided. I'm thinking of possibly displaying it for a while and them possibly donating it to the Veterans Home here in Grand Rapids. Who knows - that's a long ways down the road. The light gray deck is in place just so you can see where turret #2 is located. Nothing has been done to this part - it's just as it came out of the box. Aside from all the brass parts, the entire ship was this color. Everything except the decking (which is real wood, by the way) has to be painted either Haze Grey or Deck Blue. Here's a closer look at the foredeck and anchor chains Adding the 6 chain stops was a real pain in the you know what! The little red things with white handwheels are high pressure fire suppression water valves. As I said before, the deck railing has not been added, nor has the 20mm AA guns and flagstaff at the prow. This is a close-up view of the foredeck just behind the anchor chains, showing the various detail on the main deck. First are the windless and brake controls, then the (2) 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, various hatches and vents, and then the (2) quad 40mm Bofors gun positions, along with their respective gun directors. The storage boxes are ammunition lockers for the respective guns, and the torpedo shaped things behind the 40mm gun tubs are the (2) paravanes This is a shot of turret #1. There is a structure that is located between turrets #1 and 2 on the main deck that has not been added yet. It won't be added until Deck #1 is glued in place. I glued fender washers under the deck and magnets inside the turrets to hold them into place. That way they can be rotated and removed if necessary. The gun barrels are brass, believe it or not. Yeah, I know, why would you pay for brass gun barrels and then paint over them. I'm sure all of you know why!!! This shot shows the back side of the breakwater and the equipment located there. Also, note the helmets for the gun crew and the loudspeakers mounted on the rear of the 40mm gun tubs. A lot of this detail was added by me and did not come with the kit. I have a set of plans for this ship that are 9 feet long that shows all this extra detail. Here is turret #2. It has a 40mm gun position on top of it where turret #1 does not. You can see why!! Also note the 20mm AA guns on either side of the ship. The small diagonal tubes mounted on the front of the splinter shield are spare gun barrels. Cooling tubes for hot expended gun barrels are located inside the splinter shield, as are more crew helmets. The two valves just aft of the splinter shield are refueling ports for when the ship is refueled at sea. all this is extra detail that does not come with the detail kits. Overall view of the starboard side of the fore main gun battery This is the part I'll be working on next. There is a ton of brass detail that gets added to the sides, along with wooden decking similar to the main deck. I also plan to grind off some of the doorways and show them open with brass doors. The (4) rectangular protrusions along the sides are where the 5" gun mounts are located. There are 10 of them on this deck and the one above. This is just astern of Deck #1 and the location of turret#3. There's a lot of detail around here including 20mm and 40mm gun positions, winches, hatches, vents, hose reels, and fire suppression equipment. The long, grey device on the side of the ship swings out and ladders lower to dock small boats that come alongside. OK, this is another 10 photos. There are 6 more which I will post in the next one - #3

Howdy Ladies and Gents, It's been a while since I posted pictures of my battleship. I thought I'd update you on where it stands now so I got out my tripod, cranked up the f-stop on my camera, and took some decent pictures for once. NO, I didn't do all this since my last post! This series of pictures (26 in all) will bring you up to date to where I currently am. From now on however, my posts will be a lot less frequent because a) it took me 2-1/2 years to get this far, and b) I AM working on my Monogram 1:48 B-17 at the same time. I just don't have anything interesting to post yet. So, here is my "Plastic Toy Boat" as it stands today. Hope you find it worthy: Here it is - 4-1/2 feet of pure enjoyment. At least for me. I love doing this. My big thrill is building models. Once they're finished, yeah, I take pride in them, but sitting there looking at them isn't like the work of building them, right! There are (2) 20mm antiaircraft guns and a flagstaff that are supposed to be at the very bow of the ship. Because I keep the ship covered with plastic for dust purposes, I haven't mounted these yet for fear of knocking them off. Note the railings along the hull are also missing. They won't be added until the ship is almost complete. In this next photo You can see where I made a big mistake. There is supposed to be a ladder made up of individual grab-irons up the hull at the stern. With the handling and messing around, half of them have been knocked off, reglued, and knocked off again. I'll fix this, but I'm going to wait until near the end so it doesn't get damaged again. The screws are real brass and the silver rectangles are anti-corrosion plates. On the Iowa Class battleships, the inboard screws were 5 bladed and the outboard screws had 4 blades. Also, the starboard screws turned clockwise while the port screws turned counterclockwise. You always thought a battleship was gray, right? These are the actual colors of the USS Missouri in September 1944, when Japan surrendered on the deck of this ship The chain hanging down from the bow is called a "Paravane" chain. Paravanes are towed from the ship and are used to bring floating mines to the surface where they can be detonated by gunfire. A view of the foredeck up to gun turret #1. The deck in front of the capstans is steel and the remainder of the decking on the ship are teak boards. OK, that's 10 pictures for this post. More coming on post #2 of this set.

Hey Ron, I'm not that fast a worker! These are photos I've been taking right along as I work on my build. It's taken me over 2 months to do the 3 big gun turrets, but I've actually been working on the ship for 2-1/2 years so far. The next photos I post will show the hull and the detail on the main deck. That took me months to do!

OK, I had my shower and I'm nice and clean (relatively speaking!) so I'll post another set of pictures. These 16" gun turrets will be the last of the subassemblies before I start work on the hull. I'm not going to bore you with all the construction detail photos of the assembly of these turrets. You can see the detail on the final pictures. Suffice it to say they took a lot longer to complete than I anticipated. But, I finally made my way through all three turrets and when I sat back and took a look, I decided they were worth all the hard work. Here are the completed 3 turrets: Note that Turret #1 (the one closest to the bow) does not have a 40mm gun platform on top of the turret. This is because of the relative location of turret #2 to turret #1. As #2 traverses from one side to the other, it's gun barrels would strike anything that was mounted on top of #1. The "bloomers" are the flat black boots around the base of the 16" rifles. Some folks call them "Blast Bags" but the official term is "Bloomers". All 3 turrets have floater net baskets attached to the rear. These are nets with floatation devices around the perimeter. They are used in the event of damage during conflict and are thrown overboard to assist crew members who are in the water Here is an in-close shot of the detail of the bloomers, the attachment rings, and the shell hoists. This is turret #2. It has railings around the top which the other 2 do not. Here is a detailed view of the starboard side of turret #2. Here I have added the life raft hold-downs, ladders, and all necessary railings and grab-irons. Also note the MK51 gun director for the 40mm gun platform. In combat a crewman will enter the small enclosure from the rear and man the director. Also, note the hook on the outer end of the shell hoist. I had to scrounge in my spare PE to find hooks for these hoists. One thing to notice in this shot are the crew helmets on the side of the 40mm gun tub. They aren't in the kit and they don't appear in the Pontos set. But, if you study the plans from The Floating Drydock, they indicate where the helmets are stored, as well as the locations of the loudspeakers, phone boxes, stokes litters, and all kinds of minute detail. I've added as much as I can and the overall effect is quite pleasing. To show just how you have to improvise, the crew helmets are made from the tops of 1:200 scale gas cylinders that I bought from Model Monkey at Shapeways. They are very close to the size of a helmet. I just broke off the little teats at the top, painted them dark grey, and cut them off with a razor blade. The floater nets are made from a small piece of toulle, a fine open weave fabric used on veils, etc. I sprayed it light brown, rolled it up and placed it in the bottom of the basket. Then I placed small pieces of Evergreen plastic rod, (also painted brown) on top to simulate the floatation. The black rectangles at the bottom of the turret are ventilation grilles. I just noticed I have to straighten up the right hand lower catwalk. It's all wonkey. Here is a close-up of the 40mm gun tub atop turret #2. The perforated detail around the inside of the gun tub are ammo racks. THere are 3 rows of them and every 40mm gun platform has these racks around the inside perimeter. Also note the inside ladders (partially hidden). Just in case you're interested, turret #2 has 41 plastic parts and 137 brass parts. And yes, the handles on the MK 51 gun director are indeed painted brown! OK friends, that's all I have for now. Next, we'll be working on the hull and the main deck. Take care, and thanks for stopping by! Larry

Hi peoples, Guess it's about time I posted a few more pics of my "Monster Mo" and let you see what else I've done on this beast. Still working on sub-assemblies which are in reality little kits in themselves. The first thing tonight are the 5 inch gun turrets. There are 10 of these on the Missouri, 5 on either side, and they are used for close-in artillery. As far as the model goes, each turret contains 45 separate parts, 14 plastic and 31 brass parts. A lot of these are the grab-irons used as ladders. These buggers are tiny, and are bitches to glue in place so they line up properly. The chutes you see on the back are shell ejector chutes and are not supplied with the Pontos Detail set. They are, however, included in the Eduard Big Ed PE set. The gun barrels are brass. You have to cut the plastic ones off and glue the brass ones in their place. Then you paint them so you can't see the brass.??????? The gun barrels do elevate separately, but I decided I wanted then to elevate together, so I glued them together. Once those were finished, I turned my attention to the big 16" gun turrets. These guns can fire a 2300 pound projectile a distance of over 20 miles with amazing accuracy. Quite an accomplishment when you consider this was 1944 and computers were unheard of yet. This next photo shows the start of the assembly, with the life rafts, periscope and range finders attached and detailed. Also, the attachment rings for the "Bloomers" were added. "Bloomers" is the Navy term given to the flexible rubberized canvas blast bags that is around each of the big rifle barrels. As with the 5" guns, the kit supplies plastic barrels and you have to cut them off and replace them with brass barrels from the Pontos kit Then you paint the damn things so nobody can tell they're brass. But you know, so I guess that's what's important! OK, you're probably wondering why there are magnets glued to the insides of the gun turrets. When I assembled the main deck onto the hull, I glued large fender washers to the underside of the deck where these turrets go. Once the turrets are finished, they will be held in place by the magnets and will rotate without falling out. This is 9 pictures and 10 is the max. I'll continue in the next post after I go take my shower. Later, Friends

Welcome Sophie! Glad to have you on board. I'm a bit of a newbie here myself so it's nice to see another newcomer. Your Panther looks awesome!! I've been toying with the idea of getting the 1/16 Abrams but I've got too many projects going now to justify buying another one. But, if I happen to see a great deal - who knows! Keep you the good work Larry

I haven't had a lot of time to mess with this, but I'm still sanding, patching, and sanding........ The fit isn't all that bad, but still, there's a fair amount of work involved. But the main reason I wanted to post was to show you my new toy!! Soon I'll be able to play with the big boys! Problem is, my wife says I can't start it until my B-17 is finished. Should I listen to her or not? Once I start, I'll start a build log. Damn, that looks like it's going to be a lot of fun!! Later gents - and ladies! Lar

Now that's what I call a major undertaking! You've done a super job so far! Can't wait to see more! Larry

Thanks for the comments, but no, I'm not going to oil can the sides. I'm not even going to emulate the hull plating. I tried to scribe the plates but it turned out to be a total disaster, so I puttied it over, sanded my goofs down and repainted. I figured that with all the detail above deck, nobody would notice the hull anyway, and so far I'm right!

Amazing, John!! That paint job and weathering is beyond awesome! That last picture is so real you would expect to see it in front of your local armory! Great work! Lar

Hey Ron! Let me be the first to clue you: IT AIN"T EASY!!!! It's damn tedious work and it takes patience, patience and more patience, along with an ability to improvise when a tiny part snaps off your tweezers and gets eaten by the carpet monster. And oh yeah, a glass of wine helps tremendously as well!

Hi Squizzy! How are things down on the other side of the world? Yes, I do have the Paul Stillwell book and you're right - there is a lot in it. But, it's mostly history and I didn't seem to see a lot of detail about the ship itself. Besides that, I also have the Stefan Draminski book of 3D drawings from Kagero, but you have to be careful because not all of the detail there is 100% accurate. I also have a PDF file on a CD that I ordered from The Floating Drydock (www.floatingdrydock.com). This is over 300 pages of photographs and plans for the Missouri and if you're building this ship, I strongly recommend you get it. There is a ton of information in there you won't find in Stillwell's book. It goes into detail about things like the stanchions, the breakwater, details of the various vents, decking, and all sorts of little goodies like that. Also, The Floating Drydock (TFD) has numerous plans for naval vessels. The best ones I've seen yet for the Missouri are are the TFW series of plans drawn by Tom Walkowiak, who used to own TFD. I have known Tom for years and he does an excellent job. I have both the 1:192 scale plans as well as the 1:96 set. ( The 1:96 scale set is 9 feet long - 2750mm) There are 5 sheets to the set and any detail you can possibly think of is shown on these plans. They are exterior plans only. They do not show anything below or inside decks. These are an invaluable source if you plan on doing any extra detailing on your model. I don't know how the moderators of this site are about listing other forums, but another invaluable source of information on the Iowa Class battleships can be found at www.modelwarships.com. They have a forum called "Calling All Ship Fans" and if you go there and click on "Battleships", they have a thread called "Calling All USS Iowa class (BB-61) fans". Right now there are 197 pages of reference material regarding these 4 ships (Iowa, Wisconsin, New Jersey, & Missouri). Be warned that a lot of the earlier posts are missing pictures due to Photobucket's asinine pricing structure last year, but there is still a ton of valuable information there just from reading through it and looking at what photos there are.