USS Gambier Bay (CVE -73) 1/350 by Hasegawa with Hasegawa photo etch [COMPLETED BUILD]

[Davidp]

this is where i got mine. https://archive.org/details/cve90bogp1945v3

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

on those gaps, i would glue sheet plastic into those gaps, let the glue cure then use a chisel blade the shave that area flush.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Thanks David. I downloaded them into pdfs. I'll look at them this evening

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Finished work for today with sides with gun tubs in place without any mishaps. When the parts had set I dry fit the flight deck and gallery deck on to hull and found that everything fit as planned.
port side viewed

aerial view

Stern

Bow view

The gaps in-between forward and aft sections of the galleries were still there but the good news is with deck assembly on the hull there was not flex visible so maybe a putty fill will hold without cracking.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Davidp
I have a question that I hope you can help with. When painting the camouflage paint scheme a couple of things that I'd like clarification.
1) Painting horizontal decks blue should that include the decks alongside the hull?
2) How far to paint the camouflage all the way to the flight deck or stop at the gallery deck?
3) Would the railings be painted in camouflage color?
4) Any ideas of how to mask the camouflage up and around the gallery sides?
Anyone else any input is helpful

 

[Davidp]

1st, what are you using to to paint with, brush or paint gun?
go thru this link https://www.navsource.org/archives/03/073.htm to see what camo the ship had for the time period you are building. look at railings, guns, life rafts & whatever. radar dishes are not camouflaged so bare metal color with clear coat.
what time period of war as was in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 15A April 1944 as per above link?

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

I'll be airbrush painting. Camouflage Measure 32,Design 15A and I've looked at the above link and the photos aren't clear enough to determine if the railings were part of the camouflage measure 32, design 15a pattern. My thoughts are to paint the camouflage before placing the photo etched railings and to paint them by hand during any touchup and weathering. As for the decks I'll paint all horizontal surfaces the blue as described.
Thanks for reminding me of the Gambier Bay web page as I found most of what I wanted.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Spent most of today getting an X-ray of my back surgery for release from surgeon and then a wonderful lunch. Chicken fried steak two sunny side up eggs and diced potatoes oh so full. Then researching camouflage patterns for Gambier Bay finding this in wikipedia: World War II US Navy dazzle camouflage measures 31, 32 and 33: aircraft carriers with below photo
This matches the color printed poster in the Hasegawa kit with the only exception is color BK is flat black. This answers all my questions about camouflage painting and I want to thank Davidp for pushing me to due more research.

 

[Jimsky]

Willy, the description of your lunch has made me quite hungry...

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Completed page 12 with the small decks below the deck tubs and on the outside of the gallery deck walls. The next step is to attach the deck assembly to the hull but before that all the horizontal decks need to be painted the dark blue.
These are the small little parts with decks
Starboard side looking aft


Port side looking aft


So tomorrow more doctor appoints and a pt session so won't be much work done on the Gambier Bay

 

[Davidp]

Will, spay paint the camo on the model, hand hold the pe railings against the model then use a pencil to mark the camo lines onto the railings then spray paint them. use the paint brush for touchups after the railings are glued in place. you are welcome.

 

[Rob444]

Try this as an option. It will basically weld and fill the gap.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Thanks Rob444

I think I'll try this when I have time to practice and test but it sounds like a really good idea.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

I got a very interesting video from Rob444 that I'll try on a latter job and not here since I had already started filling the gaps.

I have a sheet of .025 styrene that will work to fill the gaps with a little fiddling. First was to finish the gaps so the edges were parallel and sand the gap until the styrene slid into the gap without any force. I wanted to make sure the gap was small enough to hold the shim but loose enough for thin cement to penetrate.

shim in place


The other side was a little more demanding due the aa tub. So Inserted the styrene strip in the gap and marked the shape outline with a #11 knife point.

Cut the part out leaving a slight overhang to be shaved after glue sets. Inserted the part and again used extra thin cement. Once in place and glued about an hour later the parts were melted together like welding.

The picture really shows the shape outline of the shim.

Finished the day painting the parts that will be sky grey.
First making certain that all the parts have been assembled
Next finding the parts still on the sprue that need to be painted sky grey
I have some 3" double sided tape that I attach to a cardboard strip

The backing is a vinyl material and very east to remove from the tape

With sticky side up I placed all the loose parts ready for painting.

parts ready for painting. You can see I've used this cardboard before and the last paint was flat black
Painted parts

Bottom of flight deck and aa tubs the top will be the navy blue as all upper horizontal surfaces.

Next step is attaching the flight deck to the hull. Should be interesting as I also have the wooden flight deck to add at this step. Big day tomorrow

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Not much to report with all the doctor appointments and a nice weekend of visitors. I did glue the flight deck and hull together but in retrospect I feel that was a mistake. Following the manual really doesn't take into painting the camouflage. So now the plan is to paint the waterline, red paint and lastly the primary grey before starting the measure 32 15A camouflage.
Hull painted using flat black for the waterline and a primer for the anti-foul red

First step next to add the tape for the waterline. Mask off the top and spray the red.

 

[Kurt Konrath]

You asked how to mask the gallery deck for camo painting.

There is a product called Micro-Mask which is liquid, you paint on surface and then cut with sharp blade tip, and peel what is to be painted.

I have used in past and you apply at change of color and back up near with tape to cover the main area, I use about a 1" wide band and cut leaving about 3/4" left to tape over. When done, just peel it off and allow the colors to dry.

You can find at most hobby stores or online at Micro-Mark or Amazon or the company who makes it.

Microscale Decals: Micro Mask - 1 oz bottle - (Like masking tape in a bottle)

www.microscale.com

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Time for another decision. I made the waterline by spraying a strip of flat black in the location of the waterline. Next i I put a 3mm tape at the waterline the masking the area above the waterline and sprayed the red anti-foul below. I use Tamiya acrylic paint. The anti-foul color is made of 2 parts flat red (xf-7) and 1 part nato brown (xf-68). When the red has dried it was masked and the above the waterline was painted with sky grey (xf-19). When dry all the tape was removed leaving:

Now the decision. I like the as launched paint scheme but the model shows the measure 32-15a and I'm not sure which to paint. I'll just have to ponder on this for awhile.

 

[Kurt Konrath]

Lower hull paint looks great.

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Thank you Kurt for the kind remarks.
I have been researching camouflage for the Gambier Bay on the web looking for modelers who describe how they painted camouflage. It seems to be a catch as you can method amongst modelers so I proceeded to the web looking how the navy painted camouflage and found many pages referencing the subject but these were most informative and specifically for the Casablanca class including the Gambier Bay being mentioned as a group receiving measure 32 design 15a camouflage.
Naval History and Heritage Command
Photo # 80-G-170033 Camouflage Measure 32, Design 15A, for CVE-55 class -- starboard side
Photo # 80-G-170034 Camouflage Measure 32, Design 15A, for CVE-55 class - port side
Each photo has a scale at the bottom for reference. I reduced this scale to 1/350 for comparison with the full size color poster in the kit. Taking measurements and comparing to the kit poster revealed that the kit poster is very close to actual size and shape of measure 32 design 15a dazzle.
All that is to say I'm going to paint the measure 32 design 15a dazzle on my Gambier bay.
Well the last look as launched

First added color and the second color overall as the grey is also part of the measure 32 design 15a

Let it dry until tomorrow and then add the lighter grey

 

[NMBROOK]

Looking very sharp Will, very nice indeed. I am quite partial to camp on ships, just haven’t build a model of a vessel that had it, so far………

Kind Regards

Nigel

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Long day working on the darker grey pattern trying to make it fit into the flat black pattern. I realized that my method of tracing the patterns was far off from the kit poster so I had to either paint the hull again or make the next pattern work with the flat black. I finalized that I might as well just forward and if I don't like it paint the hull and start over. With all the line patterns in the mold the better method will be to measure using the molded lines which is what I did with the dark grey pattern. So I got it painted and now i'll study for awhile and see how to proceed.

Three colors completed:

Too dark so a light laminating the side

The pictures don't pick up the grey blue but it really looks like the poster. Looking at the pictures I think I'll bring the flat black up further