Continuing Saga …

Thought I'd give an update. Michele's chemo finished one month ago and she's steadily getting stronger. We're walking over a mile now. No sure hair has started growing again, but we're sure it will.

Work continues on the turret. I'm assembling the upper parts and still designing all the below decks stuff. I know this ain't trains, but it is modeling and it is O'scale (1:48).

Gun house shell is done waiting to be joined with the innerds. The ladder rungs are 3D printed, but kept breaking all the time. As they broke, I'm replaceing them with phos-bronze 0.015" wire. There are no drop rungs that I could find in 1:48… HO yes, O no!

The box that the turret sits on is the upper handling room. This assembly is also finished waiting for final assembly.

This space receives projectiles and powder cartrdiges from the magazine two decks below. There is also 50 rounds stored here, which is the other name for the space "Ready Service Room".

The powder brass cartridges are store in sealed aluminum cylinders. They are stripped of the storage container and then set up in another hoist to the gun house above. The cases are dropped down a hole in the floor to compartments below to get them out of there. I still have to made that hole.

The is the projectile hoist fully painted that moves them from the UHR to the gun house. One side is up and one down so there's always a shell waiting to be loaded. They load between 15 and 22 rounds a minute (every 3 to 4 seconds).

I finished adding the hoists to the gun house yesterday. It was very tricky and I had to keep trimming their floor panels so they would sit properly. I printed the 1:48 diamond plate. It was an experiment that worked.

The left side is the pointer's station (elevation) and the gray machinery is the motor/pump hydraulic set that drives a hydraulic motor that drives the elevation pinions for both guns.

The right side is the trainers (traverse) station with it's motor/pump unit. Everything in these turrets and the big guns are hydraulically powered.

Between the 2nd and 3rd decks is this… the splinter deck. It runs over 300 feet between the 2nd and 3rd 16" turrets. It's only 3 feet high. I modeled just a small sample that sits below the guns and above the magazine I'm building. The curator says it's a "lot of fun" crawling through that space. I can just imagine. It's purposed is to capture any spalled shrapenl that can be created if the heavily armored bomb deck above is hit. It prevents the debris from penetrating to the magazines and engine rooms.

I'm now laying out the decking and compartment partitions old school scribing and snapping styrene sheets of various gauges. This is the magazine floor.

This is the final design. I've sent the base measurements to my friend in Albuquerque. When I get this base I will order the cut plexiglass.

The porthole designs are wrong. On the ourside, they just a raised gray rim with an drip catching eyebrow over top.

Lighting will be really important to show the hidden spaces. It's also why I'm doing an AV program to show WIP pictures to identify things people can't see well.

I printed a really neat ladder for the upper deck decoration. This was another experiment since I perforated the steps and they printed. I thickened the railings so it would survive better. It was hard to find a good reference on this. Most of the museum ships' ladders are no longer WW2 vintage.

You're all up to date. Rest assured there's a model RR Project coming. I still wish I had my own laser cutter. The wattage needed for cutting appears to be 40W and above. Solid State cutters are still in the $1,000s and too rich for my blood.

Myles, First of all, thank you for the continued good news about Michele's recovery.  One mile walking sounds great!  I'll keep praying!

There are several ways to consider the turret project to be appropriate here.  The first thing I noticed was in the first photograph the grab ladder rungs look like they could be on the side of a freight car.  That ladder in the last photograph could be used on so many industrial structures.  Another thing is you are showing us how complicated parts can be made with 3D printing that can open up all kinds of ideas for a model train and layout modeler.  Lastly, I don't know that any of these assemblies would be transported by rail, but just think what interesting flatcar loads they would be.  Wonderful modeling!!

Thanks all and Mark, thanks for the very long and dedicated support.

I am in process of writing a book on 21st Century Modeling: the Fusion of 3D CAD, 3D Printing and Traditional Modeling. I was originally going to put some of this in the four articles scheduled to start next February 2025, but it immediately drove the word count way up. So I decided to write an article about it and again, the word count soared. So I'm writing a book where word count no longer matters. I'm about 1/4 done so there's much more to go. It can be applied to every kind of modeling we do including everything about model railroading.

Apple Pages has formatting already set up for books and you can upload into their eBook library for free. If you sell any, they take a cut, but that's okay. I will let you all know when it's available. I asked Allan Miller if OGRR was interested in publication, but they no longer produce books. I'm thinking about asking them if they'd market it for me.

It is a beautiful Saturday and we went for a walk at the new Louisville, Waterfront Botanical Garders.

A couple more images… Gun house interior is effectively finished. Every part you see except the white styrene sheet for the gun house subfloor, is drawn and printed by me and most without any dimensions to work from. No commercial parts whatsoever. At the start of this project I honestly didn't know if I could pull it off. There's so much going on in there it's amazing you can fit any sailors inside, and yet, there were nine. I found a source of 1:48 sailors, but they're expensive.

In this image you can see just how complicated the real thing looked. I've captured that feel. This is just about how I'm going to get the gun house shield in place. My gun barrels are not glued. They will come off to get the house in place. You also get it on by raising the guns to their full elevator of 85°, but my barrels won't raise that high.

And one more image to blow you model railroading minds. This is the New Jersey today in dry dock at the Philly Navy yard in the same place where it was born in 1942. My wife and I will be hoping to visit sometime in May. It's an expensive ticket, but we're being comped due to my donation work for the ship. It simply staggers my mind to see just how big of a constrution the Iowa class ships were. All those tiny people were the same size as the folks that built it. The bow to the keel is 72 feet plus the blocking makes it close to 80 feet and to the top of the air defense tower was over 150 feet. You don't get a chance to see something like this very often. The stem line is almost a razor's edge plus 900 feet in length and 212,000 hp got the ship up to 33 knots. It actually did 35 knots in sea trials. Pushing 45,000 tons 40 mph through water is a big deal.

I'm now thinking about doing one of the engine rooms. I'm a gluten for punishment. I don't think that's ever been modeled either. And again, I have no idea about what reference material is out there. Almost the entire insides of the ship (250 feet of it) was taken up with four boiler and four engine rooms each driving one of the four prop shafts. Ryan said I could pick which one I wanted to model. They were all laid out differently. We'll see. I have to do "Early Sunday Morning" for the layout before I tackle that. I'm not getting any younger. I started the railroad in my 60s and 80 is just around the corner. There will come a time where I won't be able to do this stuff any longer, so there's no time to waste.

This topic is straying away from the main purpose of this forum.  OGR is charged dearly for the bandwidth and thus the reason why we want folks to talk about trains.  PLEASE try to understand.  I don't want to have my moderators to start editing and deleting posts in this otherwise fantastic forum that I for one have been following for years!

Yes… it strayed. Of course you do realize that I've been producing this thread for 12 continuous years and, because I don't build RR constantly, but take a break to keep from getting in a rut, I post these odd-ball things to let folks know I'm still alive and thinking about them. I will refrain from doint this in the future.

@Trainman2001 posted:

Yes… it strayed. Of course you do realize that I've been producing this thread for 12 continuous years and, because I don't build RR constantly, but take a break to keep from getting in a rut, I post these odd-ball things to let folks know I'm still alive and thinking about them. I will refrain from doint this in the future.

Nice that you let others know you are still "kicking" and am glad you understand why we need to keep the purpose of our forum "on track" with our model train hobby.

Despite not being train parts, the detail you are showing on the ship parts really show what is possible.  So much more detail work that could be done. I bet a fully detailed roundhouse with tools and equipment would be awesome if done with the type of details you are showing

Miles,

I have not followed for a while. I am glad to read about your wifes' recovery. About your upcoming article for OGR and seeing the incredible things that you have been producing. I am very happy for you my friend.

Thanks guys! Al! Good to hear from you. BTW: The 3D CAD and printing I'm doing for the current project is essentially the same as I've perfected in doing model architecture for the RR. It's the capablility that's the theme, not the output.

Personally, I prefer both!!  I too, haven't followed for awhile since I've maxed out my three layouts. Nothing like modeling trains and Iowa class battleships.  Showing what's possible with your 3-D printing is both informative and inspiring.  Your work is amazing.

Jerry

Loved the Iowas since my 9th birthday when it was my first model (of hundreds that followed). I was imprinted on its shape, elegance and power. Thanks for the kind words! You should keep following just for the fun of it. Never know what might inspire you.