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Need drawings detailed pictures/plans of USS Iowa/ Wisconsin rear/mainmast 1956-58?

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  • Need drawings detailed pictures/plans of USS Iowa/ Wisconsin rear/mainmast 1956-58?

    I'm converting a 1/200 USS Missouri Trumpeter kit into USS Wisconsin in her final late 1950's fit before she was decomissioned in 1958. I have someone attempting to recreate the quadraped rear/mainmast with kingposts using CAD and Shapeways 3D printing service in Fine Ultra Detail material. The problem is that the USN General arrangment plans and drawings for USS Wisconsin circa 1956 that are available from The Scale Shipyard are not very detailed, actually they're kind of crude. They don't show the shape or detail of the mast legs, kingposts or radar platfofm attachment points to the mast. Photos on Navsource, google image search or any of the books or refernces I have don't show these details either. I'm hoping somebody here might have photos or plans that show more than what I have on hand. I know that the 1950's mainmast was a starting point for the many modifications made to New Jersey for here Vietnam reactivation, but New Jersey was decommissioned in the 1950's before some of the mods that were done to Iowa and Wisconsin.

  • #2
    I guess not. I was hoping Rusty or someone else might have detailed pictures of Iowa and Wisconsin in the mothball fleet before their 1980's reactivation, or drawings and plans of New Jersey's mainmast before it was modified during her Vietnam reactivation. It would have provided somewhat of a starting point for the conversion to Iowa and Wisconsin's mainmast at the time they were decommed in 1957-1958.

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    • #3
      Tom,

      I'm working with Model Monkey to enable him to come up with a suitable arrangement for the 1956 era WISCONSIN model you mention. As you know, I've been working on a 1:200 NEW JERSEY for the last several years. This also is a conversion of the same kit you refer to. I've done some research on this topic (IOWA Class Main Masts) and as you've noted, there is a severe lack of accurate information available on the various configs of the 4 ships masts. However, there is a pattern to the mods and what I've found is this:

      The 4 ships received updates from their post-WWII tri-pod, after stack supported mast arrangements starting with MISSOURI in 1950 - This was all due to the change and upgrade to their radar/communications suites which required more stable platforms. The quadrapod (4 leg) mast was installed on the others in the 1954-55 time period - no actual data to provide here. The radar that was located on the new masts was the A/N-SPS8a height finder. Now, it gets a bit more complicated. NEW JERSEY and MISSOURI maintained this arrangement into decommission in 1957 and 1955 respectively. NEW JERSEY had her quad mast modified during her 1967-68 refit for Vietnam. It was used for communications only, no surface or air search radar was installed.

      IOWA and WISCONSIN had further modifications the other two ships did not receive. Somewhere prior to 1956, both ships had a single starboard kingpost installed with 85' booms and (3) winches to provide the ship with boat handling abilities since they carried additional large liberty boats on either side of the after deckhouse. A port side kingpost was later added (again, no data on when) to the pair and sometime in 1956 the quad mast and kingposts were once again modified to a single arrangement whereby the kingposts supported the main mast with an I-beam between the k-posts in place of the lower portion of the after mast legs. This is what is shown in the 1956 BoGP for WISCONSIN - I sent you that .pdf several years ago. The service platform at that time (and thru her 1958 decommissioning) was extended forward to support the communications mast with AT-150/SRC and AS-390/SRC at the top. The A/N-SPS-8a radar remained in place during this time period. Here is a photo of the ship in 1956:
      Click image for larger version

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      Trying to draw this up for M_M's use to convert to a 3D drawing for production will take some time, but we're working on it. I hope you realize that without actual drawings that can either be scaled or with given dimensions are non-existent at this point. One positive note here - I am making a research trip to NARA in College Park, MD the end of this month and (time permitting) will try to find any info (drawings, photos, etc) of IOWA/WISCONSIN that may apply to their 1950's configuration. As a matter of fact, it took me well over a year to draw up the correct life raft racks that we had on NEW JERSEY in the 1967-69 configuration (which were also used on the IOWAs in the 1950s) and get them photo-etched for me. I just picked them up yesterday at the post office. I had a small company in the UK make them from my CAD drawings. So, this stuff moves rather slowly. I have been working on my model since 2012, so these things can take some time.

      I hope this helps,

      Hank Strub

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      • #4
        Hi Hank, Steve told me you were helping out with this, I really appreciate it. He told me to ask around on different forums for more resources. This is what I get for choosing to model an Iowa class BB in a year and configuration that nobody seems very interested in. Lol A poster at the Steelnavy forum emailed us both pictures that he had taken of Iowa and WIsconsin during the 70's when they were in the mothball fleet, but they were a bit grainey so I don't know how useful they are.

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        • #5
          Tom,

          Well, it's been a real bitch researching NEW JERSEY (1967-69) and getting enough good info that is useable, so you're not alone in this effort! While exact info on some respects of WISKY 1956-58 are still obscure, much is coming into place. I think I will mention (in case you haven't thought about it yet) a couple items to keep in mind on your model:
          1) the Kingpost/Mast arrangement (as shown in the picture above in my last post) requires 3 winches on either side of the 02 Level arranged as on the plan view of the Booklet of Gen. Plans ('56). We don't have specific info on those winches so that's a current unknown.
          2) the addition of a boom support/service platform on the forward upper area of the after stack. the BoGP gives very basic info, but might shed some light on it's shape, size, etc.
          3) the SPS-8a radar - that's a whole 'nother story!!!

          Anyhow, as mentioned above, I am going to NARA in a couple weeks and will see what info I can troll for up there. I did inquire with my go-to guy at the WISCONSIN museum re. plans/drawings - that was a total wipeout - their only documentation is from the '80s onward. IOWA may have some in their on-ship plans office, but my contact there is not in good condition at the moment so that end of things is a bit dicey.

          Hang in there - all things shall come to pass!!!

          Hank

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