1/350 USS Juneau CL-52 (ISW/BWN)

This is a hybrid of the as yet not released ISW Atlanta kit and the old BWN kit built as Juneau at the Battle of Santa Cruz on 10/26/42. About the only BWN parts I used are the PE primarily the main deck railings.  The 4 piece BWN hull was a disaster and totally unusable.

Thanks are due to many people for my work on this model. It would not exist without the very kind cooperation of ISW. They provided both the hull and then all other parts when it became obvious that BWN superstructure etc. parts would not work on their kit. As I said on the CASF Atlanta site my opinion this kit is light years beyond its predecessors in quality and ease of construction. It has a few minor errors not worth listing here but I will be building at least one more in the future. Tony Puig did the anti skid mat decals for me and can be reached at japuig2@aol.com.   Peter Demonte provided several details for the ship to include the location of 2 of the 1.1 directors, the other 2 were not yet installed when lost. Rick Davis has posted several CLAA photos on the CASF site including Images A-I on page 27 and the superior clear and clean shots on page page 30. Image I seems to show a dark camo pattern on the lower hull similar to that on the model. I chose to believe that  photo plus the light color CLAA—an official USN photo in the Samuel Morrison Guadalcanal volume on Guadalcanal-- and the light color ship ID’d as Juneau at  the San Juan site as accurate evidence the ship was not repainted. Last but not least the Santa Cruz vets who were there—Maurice Beckner, James Johnson, Edward Lavin and Richard Nowatzki, crewmen on CL52/CV8/CL54 and CV 8 respectively. A WWII photo of Mr. Beckner is included with the model photos

For anyone curious as to why I chose to believe the ship was not repainted you can view pages 13-30 on the CASF site. Very briefly 80-G-304513 visible on pages 13, 19 and several others shows traces of camo on the superstructure bulkheads below mounts 2-3, the forward 1.1 shield, the forward director, the stacks and especially the aft superstructure. So I believe some sort of camo was still there. The San Juan site above shows a light colored ship as Juneau. The other CLAA at that site on 10/26/42 has since been ID’d as San Juan. The 4 vets above all used terms like “whitish”,”very light grey” to describe the color of the ship. Maurice specifically told me the ship was not repainted after its superstructure paint job at Argentia on 6/15-16/42. The model reflects the floater net, blast bag and other details visible in 80-G-304513. As for camo on or off the ship I note with interest the info kindly provided by taskforce 48 on the 11/9/16 2232 CASF site post as follows: James Grace's "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal", and on pg 166 this caught my eye,"On the Fletcher, Stanley Shrier was pointing out the Juneau's camouflage scheme to another man when the explosion took his breath away" Wonder why Mr. Shrier was pointing it out?  Countng the 4 I contacted that makes 5 eyewitnesses confirming camo on the ship.

As for the model, for anyone else wishing to do a similar one I made a few mistakes you should be aware of. On the aft mast I forgot to airbrush black on it before I put it on and installed the rigging. I also forgot to put yardarm lights on the short yardarm. I had to use a small brush to apply the black paint once I reached that stage, not as good an effect. I used mostly Model Master Acrylics except for the 5” mounts where I used Tamiya XF 19/66 before the kit arrived. I later replaced the XF 66 by brush with Model Master  FS 36495 (F) (beware of 2 other MM light greys with different numbers that have a blue tint),which I also used as the off white color for the hull and superstructure. MM haze grey is the other color on the superstructure. I made the mistake of using the 2 Tamiya colors for the haze/ocean grey colors on the starboard bow, they did not mix well with Model Master, I had to brush the MM haze/ocean grey colors over them. You can see the difference on the port side vertical stripes on the port bow. The deck/navy blue are also Model Master, acrylic deck blue no longer available.  Overall I liked Model Master paints when airbrushed, I was not real happy with attempts to fine tune the superstructure light grey by brush.  The bow is flat white. There is a narrow black stripe on the leading edge of the false bow. For camo details I relied on 19-N-31264 the 6/1/42 NYC broadside photo and port side photos on the site. I flipped the starboard forward superstructure pattern on the port side. Due to its complexity and lack of any photo of the port side I would suggest using a builder designed pattern more like the port aft pattern for anyone else building the Juneau. Overall I would score the camo accuracy of the model as follows—R hull @90, R superstructure @ 60-80 due to complex pattern/small curves next to impossible to duplicate, L rear superstructure @ 70-80, L forward superstructure impossible to grade no photos of it found yet.
Signal flags starboard side for Maurice D. Beckner last surviving crewman, now 99. Port side RIP 697 all crew on board when sunk now deceased.

I have photos that can be used for making camo masks in 1/350 contact me if you need them. Martin Quinn also has them.
The name plate is self explanatory. The ribbons include the Purple Heart based on my research that indicates all survivors were either wounded in the sinking or suffering from exposure when rescued. All those lost obviously qualify. That makes 100% of the crew.
The night photo with the full moon in the background—no full moon on 11/13/42—I did to give some idea what the ship may have looked like if illuminated by IJN searchlights.

The camo and the use of MM paints I had never used before made this a difficult model for me. I did not keep accurate track of time spent on it but I am guessing at least 500 hours.

The following detail kits were used:

• 3D Model parts 20MM and 1.1 inch guns
• A Line? anchor chain—several brands collected over the years I used the smallest one.
• Albion .004/.1mm nickel silver rod for all rigging except the signal lines, they are EZ line. Via Red Frog Hobbies.
• Alliance Model Works 5” turrets with and without blast bags, boat crane, bollards.
• Anti skid mat decals custom made by Tony Puig at  japuig2@aol.com
• Bob’s Buckles for insulators on rigging.
• Daves Card Creation flags for all models since San Diego
• Eduard’s red life rings.
• Fine Molds IJN Destroyer and Small Ships for the 2KW Signal Lanterns used on both yardarms.
• G Series -- CVL 22 USS Independence props
• Gold Medal Models Floater net baskets
• L’Arsenal –Paravanes, Floater net basket inserts (Part of CVL22 detail kit?—no memory of how I got them) (North Star Models also make inserts), medium life rafts.
• Model Monkey MK 37 directors with radar from spares.
• Niko 5” practice loaders
• North Star Models anchors
• Paper Lab— 24/36” searchlights, whaleboats and target directors.
• Sea Master Series 024 Russian Cruiser Varyag—Tapered aft mast other mast broke.
• Sea Master yardarms for the boat/paravane booms
• Veteran Models—Kreigsmarine Fire Control Set, Light Flak Director, closest thing I could find to a MK 44.

This model won 3rd place for category 21,  BB/CA/CL/CV 1/401 and larger Mosquitocon in Wayne NJ on 4/1/17

Gallery updated 11/8/2016

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