Hi Tim, yes that's Bob, Thanks for taking the time to put us in, Keith ps, i haven't sent the other web these photos you'll be happy to hear. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Dike" To: "Keith" Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:53 AM Subject: Re: CA 36, IJN Akizuki & Houston Hi Tim, Here is a short deal on the photos I sent you. The photos of the Houston came from Bob Ivy in Houston,TX. He called me four years ago for some propellers. He completely scratchbuilt the model in 1:96. It took him four years to the month to build. He is now looking for a new home to put it in. The USS Minneapolis CA 36 is a Classic Warships kit of the USS New Orleans CA 32. I used the NO kit because of the earlier turrets she had that were the same as the Minne's turrets. This model was built on a commission for the grandson of a former crewmember who served aboard her from April 43-April 46. It was decided to make her as Oct. 43. This meant that the MS 8. camo pattern would be used. I have always wanted to build the Minne just so I could do this pattern. Colors consist of 1943 light grey 5-L, Ocean Grey 5-O and Dull Black with Weather Deck Blue 20-B on all horizontal surfaces. The hull was pretty much built right out of the box. The aft superstructure was modified some by adding a few extra areas. The MK 33 directors did not come with the kit and were obtained separately from CW. The forward super was the biggest problem. It had to be completely scratchbuilt. I also turned six 40mm gun tubs from brass and four MK 51 director tubs as well. Both fwd. and main mast are made of all brass rods and tubes soldered. I disregarded the metal planes and used resin SOC planes from WEM to eliminate some weight from the catapults. I find the planes usually brake off during a long trip because the only thing holding them on is the float. This time I soldered a brass pin the cat deck and drill a hole right up through the float to the planes fuselage. They won't come off now during the models flight to it's home in San Francisco. Most of the 20mm gun tubs are made from brass sheet or plastic. Photoetch from the kit as well as Gold Medal and Tom's was used for this project. Most of the splinter shields around the superstructure are brass sheet soldered together. The quad 40mm and 20mm's came from Tamiya. This like the CW 1942 San Fran kit were pretty good builds. I put about 60 hours into this one. I used CW book #2 on the Minne and the internet for research. IJN Akizuki. This is a 1:200 Nichimo kit. Very nice and big, the way I like em. I decided that allot could be done to this model because of it's size, 26.4 inches. This kit is based on early war and there is no radars to deal with. I thought it over a decided not to use any one particular photoetch set mainly because there really wasn't enough areas to justify the purchase of it. All I needed was a pair of ladders for the split deck port & stb. All the molded on grab irons, ladders, railings and anything else that could be made from brass wire was removed. Each superstructure area was assembled, detailed, painted and set aside. I worked the hull next. The upper and lower halves were put together then I plated it. This was done using the paint layer method. All "in" strakes are taped and "out" strakes are left alone for paint. Once these were applied the brace plates were painted as well. The seachest suction and discharge openings are represented by .010 plastic sheet as too the brace plates for the shaft struts and rudder. All the vertical plate lines are scribed on. The model has a molded on degaussing cable which is fine but it has no straps holding it to the hull. After some research I decided to put these on. There is over 500 of these around both sides and stern placed 1/8" apart. After drilling two holes per strap I bent .006 wire to a "U" shape and began putting them in place. The main guns come completely bare, no detail. After some research I begun putting all the grab irons, rails, doors and other openings on them. There was 66 in all wire pieces added to each mount. The stack uptake was divided into it's proper opening of three then all the wire work was done to it as well. With all the details complete I painted the overall model with Testors Model Master "Gunship Gray". The linoleum decks I used Colour Coats Linoleum color. I gave the model an overall light wash to break up all the same gray on the decks and hull. The only photoetch used was the two ladders between decks. all other details is brass including all the railings. These were made with .010 brass wire for the stations and .060 for the horizontal lines. The main deck lifelines are pushed downward between stations to look like there is a sag between them. Overall this was an excellent kit to build and I highly recommend it. It has been around for many years but it's age hasn't made it any more difficult to build. I invested about 120 hours in this project. Tim, Here it is, if it's too long go ahead and cut it up and use what you feel needed. If you need anything else let me know, thank you, Keith