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USS Texas (1892) Predreadnought

The ochre color is still on the bright side, but much better. The boats will not be used. They are old clunkers I have laying around. Just trying to get an idea of the ship layout.
20210530_211443.jpg20210530_211432.jpg20210530_211504.jpg
 
I am trying to figure out where they ran the signal flags?...no yardarms, evidently, and the masts are far from the bridge.
 
Went back to photo...there are yardarms, I just missed them. Always interesting to try to figure out where the signal lines belay.
 
I have no idea where all the ladders and hatches go. (I think there are from three to five ladderways shown on the plan, so that's a beginning at least). Same with the ventilators, nowhere on the plan, and photos differ depending on when the photo was taken (why? seems odd). I am looking at other models and plans to get an inkling of maybe some general placement rules, but each ship is so varied with gun and superstructure placement and details that I am inclined to think the captain ordered them up (!) I am sure that is not the case, but as "captain" of this model, I may make some executive decisions about these things soon.

Annoyingly, historic photos rarely show stern views, and of course with no drones or planes at the time there are no aerial views looking down on the deck layout. I need a time machine to go back to 1895 and take a tour to scout it out. I could say to the crew, Hey I can give your captain a model for his ward room. Just let me roam the decks for an hour and she's yours!
 
Found some of the locations for these parts on a separate plan. Not a sharp plan, so still some guesswork.
 
I did a search on EBay for a postcard of Texas and found this link for a model on sale. The first image is of an actual photo that you may not have.
www.ebay.com

1/350 ISW 4137 USS TEXAS 1898 Battleship Complete Resin, & PE Brass Model Kit | eBay

This is a poured resin hull in 1 piece, solid resin. complete kit with resin, photo etch Parts. Also Available as a Waterline kit. Never before available in scale. MODEL KIT! ASSEMBLY REQUIRED!
www.ebay.com
 
Paulpk said:
I did a search on EBay for a postcard of Texas and found this link for a model on sale. The first image is of an actual photo that you may not have.
www.ebay.com

1/350 ISW 4137 USS TEXAS 1898 Battleship Complete Resin, & PE Brass Model Kit | eBay

This is a poured resin hull in 1 piece, solid resin. complete kit with resin, photo etch Parts. Also Available as a Waterline kit. Never before available in scale. MODEL KIT! ASSEMBLY REQUIRED!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
Yes, thank you Paulpk. I have that in my photo collection. What is strange is that they darkened the hull so much, which in reality was white (as in Great White Fleet and all other historic photos of the ship.)
 
Next task: put the strips around the deck perimeter to accept the rails. I am also working on the ventilators. I used my mold from Potemkin, but these are too high for Texas, and I have to cut them down... not going well as the metal wants to break up.
 
Soon I will have to start thinking about the sequence of placing the final details such as stanchions and so forth, in the context of doing the rigging. With only one funnel, the rigging is much simpler than my Potemkin. Still, the rigging gets banged around trying to reach in and place other parts.

I am also lacking my model's "surprise," to place in the hold for posterity. Must order that soon. Usually a coin or paper currency with the date of launch...or...? Someone 100 years from now may find it, but maybe never (?). For Potemkin it was an Imperial Russian item dated 1905, the year of the Mutiny. I got the idea of a surprise from my late friend Fred Tournier.
 
Painted my "sea" on the base board for the model. I added a float for the anchor. I have no idea what these large metal tubs thay held the anchor were called, but I figured it would lend scale. Not shown on this picture. If you know the name, please let me know.

I am working on the boat blanks at the moment. These will be used to vacuum form the myriad boats found on these predreadnoughts. With crews of 700 to 1000, it takes lots of boats!
 
I have five types of boats for the Texas, and these can be replicated over and over with slight variations for all my predreadnoughts, which are all 1:160 scale (2 to 3 ft long is plenty long for me...I don't own a museum...yet!).

Anyway, when I went to collect the carved boats, to smooth them and add the keels for readying them for vacuum forming, I noticed I was missing the dory. It either fell in the trash or stuck to one of my planers and fell down somewhere.

It makes me think of how much time we modelers spend looking for things! For a 400 hour model, I suspect I spend 75 hours looking for tools or lost stuff. And I am highly organized. I think I might learn something from the site's German modelers on this topic!
 
Today a setback. My homemade vacuum former did not work at all. Maybe I can mold the boats some other way...
 
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