Aoshima 1/700 North Carolina by Hasegawa.
Very nice box art...
USS North Carolina (BB-55) is the lead ship of the North Carolina class of fast battleships, the first vessel of the type built for the United States Navy.
A little information and a few stats on one long side...
Built under the Washington Treaty system, North Carolina's design was limited in displacement and armament, though the United States used a clause in the Second London Naval Treaty to increase the main battery from the original armament of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in quadruple turrets to nine 16 in (406 mm) guns in triple turrets.
More information on the other long side...
The ship was laid down in 1937 and completed in April 1941, while the United States was still neutral during World War II.
Purchasing information on the end panels... Just over $9. Just over seven of your British pounds...
That's got to be good value.
Super stealth colour scheme on the underside...
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, North Carolina mobilized for war and was initially sent to counter a possible sortie by the German battleship Tirpitz, though this did not materialize and North Carolina was promptly transferred to the Pacific to strengthen Allied forces during the Guadalcanal campaign.
Let's have a peek under the lid.
A long.....
... weight. Again?!
In September, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine (That's a bit unsocial) but was not seriously damaged. After repairs, she returned to the campaign and continued to screen carriers during the campaigns across the central Pacific in 1943 and 1944, including the Gilberts and Marshall Islands and the Mariana and Palau Islands, where she saw action during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
Checking out the hull and the deck...
General characteristics
The North Carolina was 713 feet 5.25 inches (217.456 m) long at the waterline and 728 feet 8.625 inches (222.113 m) long overall. The maximum beam was 108 feet 3.875 inches (33.017 m) while waterline beam was 104 feet 6 inches (31.85 m) due to the inclination of the armor belt.
The ship was undergoing a refit during the invasion of the Philippines but took part in the later stages of the Philippines campaign and was present when the fleet was damaged by Typhoon Cobra. She took part in offensive operations in support of the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945, including numerous attacks on Japan.
Following the surrender of Japan in August, she carried American personnel home during Operation Magic Carpet. North Carolina operated briefly off the east coast of the United States in 1946 before being decommissioned the next year and placed in reserve. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1960, the ship was saved from the breaker's yard by a campaign to preserve the vessel as a museum ship in her namesake state.
In 1962, the North Carolina museum was opened in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Paint scheme nightmare for brush painters... Sprue msap
Let's get started.
Obviously we start in section seven with the hull... I used a bit of PVA to attach the weight.
Buildinig up the camo pattern on the hull.
The side protection system incorporated five compartments divided by torpedo bulkheads and a large anti-torpedo bulge that ran the length of the "armored raft". The outer two compartments, the innermost compartment and the bulge would remain empty, while the third and fourth compartments would be filled with liquid. The system was reduced in depth at either end by the forward and rear gun turrets. In these areas, the fifth compartment was deleted; instead, there was an outer empty compartment and two liquid-filled spaces, backed by another empty compartment. To compensate for the reduced underwater protection system, these sections received additional armor plating, up to 3.75-inch (95 mm) in thickness. The complete system was 18.5 ft (5.64 m) deep and designed to withstand warheads of up to 700 lb (320 kg) of TNT. Underwater protection was rounded out by a triple bottom that was 5.75 ft (2 m) deep. The bottom layer was 3 ft (1 m) thick and was kept filled with fluid, while the upper 2.75-foot (1 m) thick layer was kept empty. The triple bottom was also heavily subdivided to prevent catastrophic flooding should the upper layer be penetrated.
And on it goes.
Let's put the funnels together.
North Carolina and Washington were principally armed with nine 16-inch (406 mm)/45 caliber (cal) Mark 6 guns and twenty 5-inch (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns.
Armament
The turret held three guns; below the gun deck were the turret floor, the machinery floor, and two levels of magazines for the shells and propellant charges. Two centrally located ammunition hoists carried the ordnance from the magazines to the gun deck.
Their lighter armament consisted of varying numbers of 1.1-inch (28 mm)/75 caliber, .50 caliber machine guns, Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm.
Secondary battery.
I'll do the small stuff later.
Adding the masts...
I've added all the small weapons...
The guns... So many guns...
The ships in the North Carolina class were equipped with four General Electric geared turbines and eight Babcock & Wilcox three-drum express type boilers.
To meet the design requirement of 27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph), the engine system was originally designed to supply 115,000 shp (85,755 kW), but the new technologies increased this output to 121,000 shp (90,000 kW).
The engine system was divided into four engine rooms, all on the centerline. Each room contained a turbine and two boilers, without any division between the boilers and turbines. This was done to limit the risk of capsizing should the ship sustain heavy flooding in the engine rooms.
Adding the rigging using stretched sprue...
and don't forget the plane...
Adding the weathering and painting up the rigging.
Nearly done... Coming and going, tooing and froing.
Armour
The North Carolina class incorporated "all or nothing" armor which weighed 41% of the total displacement; it consisted of an "armored raft" that extended from just forward of the first gun turret to just aft of the rear gun turret. They had a main armored belt of Class A armor that was 12-inch (305 mm) thick amidships, inclined at 15°, and backed by 0.75-inch (19 mm) Special Treatment Steel (STS). This tapered down to 6-inch (152 mm) on the lower edge of the belt. The ships had three armored decks; their main deck was 1.45-inch (37 mm) thick. The second, thickest deck was 3.6-inch (91 mm) of Class B armor laminated on 1.4-inch (36 mm) STS for a total of 5-inch (127 mm). In the outboard sections of the hull the plating was 4.1-inch (104 mm) Class B laminated on 1.4-inch (36 mm) STS. The third and thinnest deck was 0.62-inch (16 mm) thick inboard, and .75-inch (19 mm) outboard. The first deck was designed to cause delay-fuzed projectiles to detonate, while the thicker second deck would protect the ships' internals. The third deck was intended to protect against shell splinters that might have penetrated the second deck; it also acted as the upper support for the torpedo bulkheads. The conning tower was connected to the armored citadel by a 14-inch (356 mm) thick communications tube. Armor thickness for the conning tower itself ranged from 16 inches (406 mm) on both sides to 14.7 inches (373 mm) on the front and rear. The roof was 7 inches (178 mm) thick and the bottom was 3.9 inches (99 mm) thick.
The main battery turrets were heavily armored: the turret faces were 16-inch (406 mm) thick, the sides were 9-inch (229 mm) thick, the rear sides were 11.8-inch (300 mm) thick, and the roofs were 7-inch (178 mm) thick. Sixteen–inch-thick armor was the maximum width factories were able to produce at the time of the ships' design; by 1939, however, it was possible to create 18-inch (457 mm)-thick plates. These were not installed because it was estimated that the conversion would delay completion of the ships by 6 to 8 months. The barbettes that held the turrets were also strongly protected. The front portion was 14.7 inches (373 mm), the sides increased to 16 in, and the rear portion reduced to 11.5-inch (292 mm). The 5-inch gun turrets, along with their ammunition magazines, were armored with 1.95-inch (50 mm) STS plates.
And we are finished. Let's have a look at what we have now.
I mean, it's not pulling up any roses but for what it is I enjoyed making that.
I think it gives us the sense of the real thing. It might be a good one for a diorama.
Maybe I'll build the visitor center...
I think it gives us the sense of the real thing. It might be a good one for a diorama.
Maybe I'll build the visitor center...
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