• Modelers Alliance has updated the forum software on our website. We have migrated all post, content and user accounts but we could not migrate the passwords.
    This requires that you manually reset your password.
    Please click here, http://modelersalliance.org/forums/login to go to logon page and use the "Forgot your Password" option.

Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3, 1941

morobe-pt-boat-base.jpg
David comes through again! From the first picture with sailors working about the dock, you can see the tank sections on the outriggers look to be about 8 feet tall, or .137 of an inch each, or .274 overall in 1/700 scale. I was making 1/4 inch tall tank assemblies, so that's pretty close! I just have to bulk them up a little to make top & bottom sections as an assembly.

There is Model Mischief afoot, Dr. Watson!
 
20220701_192146.jpg
Here is the Morobe river/Mios Woendi PT dock, so far. I divided the 1/4 inch tanks in two by scribing. I had delusions of grandeur about adding the triangular gussets to the tank corners, but I got over that silliness pretty easily. "In this scale?!? HAhahhahahaha!"
My dilemma now is, do I cast the new drydock like it is and exhort customers to add the walkways on top of the outrigger tanks, OR do I install the walkways, fill the voids with .010 styrene card, instructing customers to carefully remove the fillers between outrigger tanks and the top walkways? :ph:
What do you guys think?
 
The real credit goes to David Waples for digging up the needed reference pictures and Ronnie Schultz for his input as well!
I added .010 strip to 2 sides of the .060 styrene square stock to make the tanks 4 scale feet wide (.0685 inches) then marked and scribed the centers, rather than adding 8 .010 pieces of strip and gluing them to each tank section separately.

Many of our members do the same things I do. Mike, Piet, Terry, John, Paul & Saul to name a few. I don't do anything special. Just the "nuts and bolts" of getting the proper sizes and shapes of pieces to make assemblies. Mine are just a smaller scale.

Dedication and patience are hallmarks of TLAR Models. I strive to make the most accurate master/castings possible of even the most obscure naval subjects. Hence the "Do-Over". The first 'dock is still cool, but not accurate for World War II. This isn't truly just bitty-scale lunacy. Projects like this help a guy study for a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

3 weeks ago I didn't have any idea there was a floating pontoon drydock in the South Pacific. In a few more weeks there will be one any model ship enthusiast can add to his waterline collection. Figuring out the best (easiest) way to mold the 'dock so it is easy and fun to finish is the next step.

Thanks again for looking in!
:capsmiley:
:oldguy:
:salute:
 
20220702_105732.jpg
Finishing the walkways and gluing .010 blanks in between the outrigger tanks made the best sense. These should let the RTV mold be easy to cast and relieve and still be thin enough to remove and sand smooth without harming much of the engraved the tank details.
 
20220703_174147.jpg20220703_182957.jpg
Finishing the Pontoon Drydock 2.0 with runners under the outrigger tanks to let the air out of the mold when casting. I get the idea that the walkways on top of the ballast tanks were wooden, but not the idea they were precisely planked. I took a stab at the pictured gas-powered generator on one side of the dock. :bm:
Both 1/700 drydock Masters are ready to mold. They are each in their own handy little cup mold.

20220704_025913.jpg
See here the improved, enlarged, finished YS/YR barge. Rubberbabybuggybumpers and everything! On the actual model masts will hold SO and SCR-517 radar antennas for tuning. A few other stray boats were cabbaged on to for filling the mold.
They will be included as a bonus in TLAR Models 122D set. Drydock, Barge, (PT) Bottom and Boats.
122E will be docks and piers. Leftover bits of wood deck stuck on to scrap plastic. Not much goes to waste in the Nut Department.

I hope there isn't an "F" to all these PT boat base accessory sets. 5 seems like plenty!

What? No flying boat set?
Skywave 1/700 P-boats are still readily available. :bat
MARS? PBM? Pan Am Clipper? C'mon man.
Shush! :smack:
Thanks again for looking in again and again and again.................
:silly:
:dance:
:stinker:
 
Both of the pontoon floating drydocks, the improved barge and sundry small craft and the Gaffney Peachiod (before the invasion) went to mold tonight! The pressure pot is holding at 64 psi. Tomorrow morning clearing the molds will commence. The first castings next week will prove madness or genius!
20220705_215837.jpg
TLAR Models set 1121E. Docks and Piers. The least glamourous of the parts for the PT Base series is very close to going to mold.
20220708_191040.jpg
My first "Textbook" arrived today to begin my studies for Naval Architecture and Maritime Engineering. I am near sure I would shamble about boatyards and piers in my retirement anyway. I hope to make a fine living doing so among sea breezes and palm trees one day.
I found I cain't BOP much while I model, but it is fun to try!! Joe kills The Blues! Not so unlike Stevie Ray Vaughn did so recently!
God rest you, Freddy King!!
 
20220709_103705.jpg20220709_103711.jpg20220709_103729.jpg

"Do Over" seems a rising trend in the continuing story of pontoon floating drydocks. A fair amount of violence and an "Adult Language Interlude" (To quote David Angelo) was required to remove the first castings from the new drydock molds. They were stuck tight. I cleared the Masters from the molds at 0400 Sunday morning. The Masters "popped" just fine and were undamaged. I cast the 4 new molds around 0800 the same day.

20220709_103628.jpg20220709_105431.jpg
The other 2 new molds cast well and performed as expected. A model molding mystery!
Bearing in mind that the reaction of the RTV silicone rubber is an endothermic one and that larger amounts of Mold Max cure faster than smaller amounts, I can only deduce that in my glee to play with the new "toy" I made, I did so before the smaller dock molds were fully cured. :facepalm:

After we returned from Teresa's Marion birthday party, and her agreement to be my shiny, new Fiancée and the following celebration, I tried to remove the last bits from the now fully cured molds. DENIED! Both molds are a total loss.:smack:
138 grams of RTV was not wasted because I learned something! My Sweetie asks if I was going to give up, with a sly grin.
She knows full well I never give up!

Special thanks to Carl Musselman for helping me solve my model molding mystery!
It doesn't hurt to watch his entertaining and informative "Carl's Rubbers" video every now and again!:Drinks:
 
20220710_152949.jpg20220710_152957.jpg
I wasn't happy with the complexity of the undercuts for the round-downs on the little docks in the shallow molds. I wondered aloud about making them separate parts on pedestals to simplify the castings. Teresa says "Well, it IS a model isn't it? " It sure is, Honey!
"Drydock-Do-Over" mold will make 3 parts rather than 1 complete assembly! Perhaps you want your dock to be longer? Fit the round-downs and be a Happy Guy! The same round-down Masters will be used on the other more modern Pontoon Drydock, to save production time.
20220710_161011.jpg
I hope to have some successful castings in time for the National Convention!
Thanks for looking in again!
 
Thanks Guys! Our engagement is not a modeling subject, so I won't expound much on our Modeling forum about the details.

The new Morobe river PT pontoon drydock went into the pressure pot in shiny new RTV an hour ago. The other mold holds the big dock section for the Docks and Piers set, the new, armed diesel/electric Smuggler submarine, the Minnow Flight II IUSCG patrol sub, a couple more Quonset hut castings and another Philippine island building. NOT another Tiki-Bar. It could be a supply building at the end of the pier on the big dock section? :bm:
 
Chris, congratulations on the engagement! Way to go! Good luck at the Nationals; I wish I were there to see you again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top