CG's Whitehall

[crazygary]

While waiting on some "subbie" bits, I began building my Dumas 1/96 USS Whitehall.
She's PCE 856 ( Patrol Craft Escort ) and, apparently, had seen some sub-chasing duties
in the South Pacific during WWII.

Began with Level 01:
Die cut balsa, and some sort of die cut styrene.

Assembled the bridge next:

Also die cut balsa, and "styrene", but I didn't care for much of the die cut styrene pieces,
so I made new parts from .040 sheet styrene! Mo' bettah!!!

Here is the bridge deck:


I replaced a lot of the sides with .040" thick styrene, as well! The die cut parts aren't real
crazy about being bent or radiused!! The deck itself, is die cut plywood.

A couple of pix of the bridge and bridge deck placed together:


Joined the hull halves together with a bead of thick bodied CA, and left to dry completely!
Binder clips and a few spring clamps keep things aligned nicely!



Next will be to reinforce the inside hull seam with the provided fiberglass tape,
and wet it down with thin CA. Once that's set, I plan to go over the entire seam with
a layer of brushed on epoxy! That'll seal her up pretty well!!

Not sure how often I'll be adding to this thread, as once my sub parts arrive,
I'll be back to my 1/144 Gato build!

But, she'll be a nice addition to my few existing "targets", and should operate
pretty well within the confines of my pool!!?? (Film at eleven!! LOL)

CG

[Mcgowan1]

She looks a nice sized ship there CG and looks like you are enjoying yourself. I reckon she will come together nicely for you but only one thing, you must have a good sized pool there matey as she looks a good size at 1/96, what are her actual dimensions please? What colour scheme will you be doing her in? Any camouflage work involved or just the straight US Navy grey etc.
Cheers Armo

[crazygary]

A little progress being made! Hull exterior has been trimmed of the assembly flange, and interior has been reinforced with the included fiberglass tape, and a coat of epoxy brushed over the seam:

Still need to putty the bottom seam of the hull, but wanted to get her a little more structurally sound before "manhandling" her! The center hull support and bulkhead are in place and anchored ( no pun intended! ) down with thick CA!

The 3 main deck sections have been trimmed and fitted. Only the forward deck is permanently attached:



Had to see what some of the superstructure was gonna look like, so I just placed a few of the sub-assemblies up topside just for a "looky-loo"!! Hah!!
Resistance is futile!!!


Raining today so, won't be painting on my 1/144 Gato. Therefore will while away some hours playing with me "target"!!

Back later!

CG

[Mcgowan1]

She is starting to look like a Warship now CG looking really good and so far a lot of work doing it correctly that's the way, No rush bit by bit, I like it a lot. Now I know where to come when I am ready to build a Dumas or my Trumpeter Target.
Will be watching so keep up the good work matey.
Mcgowan 1

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Nice looking work. However ...

... I see a lot of Green Stuff. That stuff is crap. Get a tube of Nitro-Stan. You'll never look back.

M

[crazygary]

Thank ye much for the positive comments. Much appreciated!

The only reason I used the "green crap" is 'cuz that's what the "engineer dude" at Dumas
recommended! Seems to think that Bondo won't stick to plastic?? Huh?? I've always found
Bondo products work pretty freakin' well on plastic! Oh well!!

Also have a tube of Bondo scratch and glaze putty which I like, but will certainly pick up on
some o' that thar Nitro-Stan!

Had the forward deck fit a little better than a "hamburger", I wouldn'ta needed ta fill it in the
first place, but, I digress....Hah!!

Thanks again, Mates!!

CG

[crazygary]

A little more progress accomplished yesterday, after checking off one more item on the
dreaded "honeydo" list!! S'all about priorities, although not necessarily MY priorities, but.!

I managed to "sandwich" the stuffing tube between the expanded a.b.s. keel parts, which
wasn't quite the "no-brainer" it should have been! Huge difference between "expanded a.b.s."
and styrene! One is flat and fits very nicely, the other is like trying to line up the burger with the bun
and have it appear aesthetically pleasing!! Hah!! Guess which one we have with the kit????

Will require filling and sanding to make it right, but should not be a big deal! Here's what it lookslike right now:


Hull has been duly slotted to accept the stuffing tube inside the hull. The "fit" of the assembly,
or lack thereof, necessitated that a notch be cut into the lower part of the bulkhead so the danged
thing could go all the way in, like iss s'posed ta:


Filler and epoxy coating to follow.

Since everything fit together "like-a-glove" (NOT), her motor mounts will have to be "fiddled with"
to get things aligned without creating problems!

Die cut, expanded a.b.s.!! Really???????????

All for now, y'all!

CG

[Mcgowan1]

Those stuffin tubes are not fun to fit a most times methinks CG but she is coming along and you sound as though apart from the normal moan and groan that you are enjoying yourself
she is comin together slowly matey keep going keep going,
Mcgowan1

[crazygary]

The next round of "show-and-tell"!

Prop keel is finished, and she's got a coat of primer all over, so I can
see exactly what I've got:


Rub rails and bilge keels are installed. The bilge keel strips are "interesting" to accomplish!! Hah!!


Some of her internal workings in place:
Motor: checkAlthough, the motor mount isn't quite the
"no-brainer" that the Dumas plans would have you believe!! It's pretty much
dependent on the stuffing tube angle, which in turn is dependent upon the fact that
the stuffing tube strut pieces are formed from expanded A.B.S.!! Caca stuff!! Hah!!

Servo: check This assembly is actually pretty O.K.! Just know that a standard servo is
to freakin' big, as the horn will not clear the underside of the rear deck!! Forewarning is a little bit of fine type ya gotta
be looking for!! How do I know this??? Hmmm..........!

O.K.! Next up will be whatever the instructions say, and YES, I actually pat attention to them, well....kind of!! After all, they're
strictly for people who don't know what they're doing, right??????????

Until next time....I'm still

crazygary

BTW: This is really a fun build, for anybody who may be thinking about this kit!

[Mcgowan1]

Great work CG forgin ahead and good to see not too many complaints this time. cheers she will be in the briney before you know it. I see you are getting a lot of comments must be a lot of submarines being built at the same time as you are doing this Kit.
Mcgowan 1.

[crazygary]

I'm afraid that "targets" are the "red-headed-step-child",
unless ye happen to be the "parent" of a couple!! Hah!!

CG

[crazygary]

Back again! Outside influences have kept me at bay for a while, but, she's in Oklahoma
for the next 2 weeks!! LOL

Hull is painted and needs a bit of cleaning up and a good coat of matte clear, but not until her superstructure
is in place.

Just a few progress pix here:


The paint scheme is Measure 22 Graded, from 1942. I saw it on a build on the RCG website and
liked it a lot!! ( Thanks CGBob!) Above the black boot topping, I used Intermediate Blue, as it was on hand and "relatively close" to navy blue, and the
upper band is Ghost Gray! All horizontal surfaces will also be in Intermediate Blue!

Here's her fantail and aft lower hull showing the stuffing tube and keel:

BTW, those bilge keel pieces are a real P.I.T.A. to pull off, but well worth a few random brain cells!!

All for now! I'm in the process of doing a little filling on the superstructure assembly seams!
Dumas's expanded PVC die cuts leave a little to be desired!! Hah!! All-in-all, though, a pretty
satisfying build so far!!

CG

[Mcgowan1]

Excellent, I like the colour scheme you are using CG I think they used that on the BB63 Big MO. Good job on the aft section nice and the fitting is very good no gaps that I can see.
Keep at it matey I want to see more to come.