Trumpeter 1/700 USS Tuscaloosa CA-37

[Dave Ward]

Having a lazy day and thinking what to build next - I'd decided to build a floaty thing. I got this from China, from Aliexpress, at about 2/3 the price in the UK ( delivered )

A member of the New Orleans class heavy cruisers, the Washington Treaty cruiser was commissioned in 1934. Saw service in WWII, in Europe & the Pacific - one of the few USN ships never to receive war damage! Laid up post WWII & scrapped in 1959.
The Trumpeter model can be built as a full hull, or waterline - I'm going to build waterline. The camouflage seems to be a variation on Measure 12 - I can do a bit more research here - https://www.shipcamouflage.com/usn_ca.htm - I do have the USN colours in my paint box. The USN went a long way with their camouflage, even the ( wooden ) decks being painted/stained.
I'll put up some sprue pictures tomorrow of the 188 parts, and no PE!
Dave

[rtfoe]

Hi Dave, I have the San Francisco in both 1/700 and 1/350 Trumpeter. Look forward to your build.

Cheers,
Richard

[Dave Ward]

Hi Dave, I have the San Francisco in both 1/700 and 1/350 Trumpeter. Look forward to your build.

Cheers,
Richard

Richard,
the cruisers were originally almost identical, but modifications like the fitting of new radars, 40mm quad bofors, 20mm cannons, and removal of the 1.1" quad AA guns at differing dates caused them to look slightly different These mods were made as the cruisers came in for refit/repair. Unless you have a photograph of a ship at a specific date you can't really tell which ship is which - same goes for the camouflage! The Tuscaloosa is easy, as she only was in the Atlantic until December 1944, ( gunfire support at D-Day ) and seemed just to have one refit before heading to the Pacific, January 1945.
Do you favour waterline of full hull?
Dave

[rtfoe]

Richard,
the cruisers were originally almost identical, but modifications like the fitting of new radars, 40mm quad bofors, 20mm cannons, and removal of the 1.1" quad AA guns at differing dates caused them to look slightly different These mods were made as the cruisers came in for refit/repair. Unless you have a photograph of a ship at a specific date you can't really tell which ship is which - same goes for the camouflage! The Tuscaloosa is easy, as she only was in the Atlantic until December 1944, ( gunfire support at D-Day ) and seemed just to have one refit before heading to the Pacific, January 1945.
Do you favour waterline of full hull?
Dave

Thanks for the info Dave, waterline for 1/700 and full hull for 1/350 depending on the end display but seascape dios are too big for the 1/350 for me.
Looks like I might be able to do the Tuscaloosa from the San Francisco by switching the armament around.

Cheers,
Richard

[Dave Ward]

Thanks for the info Dave, waterline for 1/700 and full hull for 1/350 depending on the end display but seascape dios are too big for the 1/350 for me.
Looks like I might be able to do the Tuscaloosa from the San Francisco by switching the armament around.

Cheers,
Richard

Yes, I reckon the parts are identical for all the New Orleans class - the decals have all 3 names on there - the only difference in parts may be the aircraft supplied - The Tuscaloosa has 2 x SOC Biplanes..............
Dave

[rtfoe]

Yes, I reckon the parts are identical for all the New Orleans class - the decals have all 3 names on there - the only difference in parts may be the aircraft supplied - The Tuscaloosa has 2 x SOC Biplanes..............
Dave

I think I have some spare SOC biplanes in the stash of PitRoad stuff.

Cheers,
Richard

[Dave Ward]

Sprue shots....................


Two SOC Seagull biplane spotters - decal sheet common to several models.............

Instruction are the normal Trumpeter b&w line diagrams

Colour profiles - camouflage measure 12
next post a few detail shots

[Dave Ward]

A few detail shots

Quad 1.1" AA guns
Details aren't bad, but will need a fair clean up before use, quite a bit of flash, the moulds date to 2007. There aren't any PE parts, but at 1/700, I'm ambivalent about their use. US warships had their decks painted or stained 'deck blue', so no problems about painting a wooden deck!
I'm going to do a simple seascape base, using plastic card & DAS air drying putty, as I've done before. The Tuscaloosa spent most of WWII in the Atlantic, so a grey sea will be probable
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Cut a piece of plastic card, to act as a base, then edged it with some wooden moulding ( dolls house materials ) mitre cornered attached with superglue gel + kicker

Card just big enough to show a bow wave and a stern wake - I'll glue the ship waterline baseplate.

I'll have to scarify the surface a bit, so that the clay has a chance to bond to the plastic. The DAS will be added in very thin layers, with a day or so drying time between ( in a cool room ). I've found by experience that way will prevent cracks & shrinkage when drying!

AK US Navy paints, and a new packet of DAS ( my old packet finally dried up, but it was about 3 years old ).
For those not familiar, DAS is an air drying natural clay, easy to work and easy to clean up.
After drying it can be sealed with dilute PVA, and painted normally
Dave

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
You. Certainly do jump from one genre to another. Looking forward to your build especially that paint job.
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Hi Dave
You. Certainly do jump from one genre to another. Looking forward to your build especially that paint job.
Jim

Jim,
I'd done 3 cars in a row, so it was past the time I should change genres................
The paint job on this is comparatively easy - irregular splotches - some of the other 'Measures' have straight edge panels that really need masking.
This is the Light Cruiser USS Richmond in Measure 32........................

Dave

[Dave Ward]

USS Tuscaloosa in Measure 12 ( modified ) pictures taken in Iceland 1942
Darker splotches over lighter paint - the Trumpeter call outs are Midnight Blue over Blue Gray - neither of which are USN names. The definitive website ( in post #1 ) just gives pairs of colours, so a little experimentation may be needed.

Dave

[Dave Ward]

I scarified the base with a scriber.......................

This just gives the clay something to key into
The clay is applied - a small chunk is pressed onto the surface - trying to keep an even thickness - I use my bare hands to do this ( as you can see by the finger prints! )- I have found that the clay sticks to my surgical latex gloves! The clay washes off easily, with just soap and water

I gradually filled up the base, making sure the clay went to the edges.

Not too concerned about the surface texture, once this has dried up for a day or so, I can add the surface waves & smooth the surface, with small amounts of clay.
This now goes in a cool place for 24hrs+ , if you apply the clay too thickly, or try to use heat to speed up the drying, then the clay will crack and fall off ( from past experience ).

What isn't a good idea!
I managed to spill a Latte Macchiato onto my keyboard, I hurriedly rinsed it & thought I'd got away with it, but no - intermittent errors.......... I had to dig out a spare keyboard. I'd been using the old keyboard for over 3 years, and adapting to another keyboard really slows my typing down :sad: I'll give it another rinse, take the keys off & see if I can revive it............
Dave

[adt70hk]

Nice start Dave.

Hope you manage to rescue the keyboard. Did that with a laptop once the day we went on holiday, with a cup of tea.....

I yanked the battery out double quick, turned it upside down and once the worst had drained out, removed the keyboard gave it a rinse and when l went on holiday praying..... VERY fortunately it was all ok.

ATB

Andrew

[stillp]

Good work on the dio base Dave. Not so good on the coffee drinking though...
Pete