Posted by - murphyl6
Post date - 03-24-2007, 10:50 PM
I finished part II but was too lazy to post photos. I have progressed a lot further than I would have liked. I was going to just pick and peck at this project but for some reason, it occupies a lot of my time. This is irritating as I have other things to do that are supposed to be more important. But like a dose of heroin, I can’t leave it alone. So rather than go back and try to remember what I did for part II, I’ll just post the latest stuff. It’s not a sexy warship so I wasn’t about to blow $300 on a resin tanker kit or $500 on some out of print Lindberg tanker kit. Can’t be too hard to scratchbuild, right? The hardest part was saving up the money to buy the balsa wood and sanding sealer. The next hardest part was sanding the beast to the correct shape. After about an hour or two, she looked the way she was supposed to look and I painted the bottom hull Tamiya Semi Gloss Black.
This deck is removable. Apparently, it was rigged out occasionally to enable the oilers to carry supplies in addition to their fuel load. Half of the photos I have of the Tolovana show her with the deck on. I’ll leave it “loose” that way people can remove it to “enjoy” the pipe laying I did between angry breaths and the occasional sip of Glenlivet.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01638.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01638.JPG)
Midships has the oil piping laid out with normal aluminum rod and old guitar strings taking the place of the pipes.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01640.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01640.JPG)
My spares box did not have the plethora of weapons that I thought it did. Well…it did, but not in 1/350th scale. So I have to scratchbuild them. Here’s the first 3 inch gun. There’s around 20 parts here including gunner’s seat, elevation wheel, gun sights, breech and shell guard. The splinter shields are normal brass PE scraps. The ship carried two three inchers forward and two aft.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01641.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01641.JPG)
The only problem with scratchbuilding is knowing when to stop. Right now we’re up to 200 parts or thereabouts. I’ve built the bottom level of the bridge. Next level up will be the 20mm gun gallery and bridge windows. Top level will be the 40mm gun tubs and the radars. Oh and there’s also the two huge cranes, mast and all the bits, cleats and chocks. Wow. Betcha didn’t think there was that much to a tanker, eh? I know I didn’t…
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01644.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01644.JPG)
The midships gun tubs have the 20mm guns which consist of the pedestal, shield, barrel, breech and some sights. The slanted tube on front of the gun tubs is an open pipe for the gunner to put hot barrels in after he does a barrel change out. The catwalks are all scratched using scrap pieces here and there.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01645.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01645.JPG)
One of the reasons I’ve been working so hard on this ship is that it is practice for my next scratch-building project which is a 1/72nd scale Sumner Class destroyer. A lot of the skills I’ll need, I’m learning on the tanker. And seeing how a large balsa hull reacts to gallons of sanding sealer and several pounds worth of brass and metal has also been quite enlightening. And having said that, now that I have crossed the hurdle of knowing whether or not I can do this, I could probably now build all the ships I’ve always wanted but never been able to find. Like virtually all of the modern Royal Navy or a USN sub tender.
For those even faintly interested in scratch-building your very own T-2 tanker, let me know and I’ll email you the plans I pulled off the web. Had I chose to just do a generic tanker, I’d be done by now. The layout was little more technical than the average Liberty ship. However some of the classes had extensive weapon fits, etc. Tolovana falls into that category. Well that’s enough for now.
Cheers,
Don
This deck is removable. Apparently, it was rigged out occasionally to enable the oilers to carry supplies in addition to their fuel load. Half of the photos I have of the Tolovana show her with the deck on. I’ll leave it “loose” that way people can remove it to “enjoy” the pipe laying I did between angry breaths and the occasional sip of Glenlivet.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01638.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01638.JPG)
Midships has the oil piping laid out with normal aluminum rod and old guitar strings taking the place of the pipes.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01640.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01640.JPG)
My spares box did not have the plethora of weapons that I thought it did. Well…it did, but not in 1/350th scale. So I have to scratchbuild them. Here’s the first 3 inch gun. There’s around 20 parts here including gunner’s seat, elevation wheel, gun sights, breech and shell guard. The splinter shields are normal brass PE scraps. The ship carried two three inchers forward and two aft.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01641.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01641.JPG)
The only problem with scratchbuilding is knowing when to stop. Right now we’re up to 200 parts or thereabouts. I’ve built the bottom level of the bridge. Next level up will be the 20mm gun gallery and bridge windows. Top level will be the 40mm gun tubs and the radars. Oh and there’s also the two huge cranes, mast and all the bits, cleats and chocks. Wow. Betcha didn’t think there was that much to a tanker, eh? I know I didn’t…
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01644.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01644.JPG)
The midships gun tubs have the 20mm guns which consist of the pedestal, shield, barrel, breech and some sights. The slanted tube on front of the gun tubs is an open pipe for the gunner to put hot barrels in after he does a barrel change out. The catwalks are all scratched using scrap pieces here and there.
http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/thumbs/DSC01645.JPG (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/500/DSC01645.JPG)
One of the reasons I’ve been working so hard on this ship is that it is practice for my next scratch-building project which is a 1/72nd scale Sumner Class destroyer. A lot of the skills I’ll need, I’m learning on the tanker. And seeing how a large balsa hull reacts to gallons of sanding sealer and several pounds worth of brass and metal has also been quite enlightening. And having said that, now that I have crossed the hurdle of knowing whether or not I can do this, I could probably now build all the ships I’ve always wanted but never been able to find. Like virtually all of the modern Royal Navy or a USN sub tender.
For those even faintly interested in scratch-building your very own T-2 tanker, let me know and I’ll email you the plans I pulled off the web. Had I chose to just do a generic tanker, I’d be done by now. The layout was little more technical than the average Liberty ship. However some of the classes had extensive weapon fits, etc. Tolovana falls into that category. Well that’s enough for now.
Cheers,
Don