Beginners luck

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

As you will see I am new to model boat building !!

I recently obtained a huge 60in vintage scratch built model of USS Tennessee / USS California / USS West Virginia !!!! I am sure it is one of these !! Although my research was limited to Jane's fighting ships of WWII. However, I am unsure which of the three she is. The ship has no ships number or reference material and she is in need of some TLC, because a previous owner plastered the ship with thick glossy paint.

Before I start any restoration I would like to obtain further reference material about the class and I would appreciate any pointers in the right direction.

Dave Kearns, Retired RN

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

USS TENNESSEE – USS CALIFORNIA – USS WEST VIRGINIA

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hello David

Welcome to our sedate little backwater, if you post some pictures of your model we will do our best to pin it down.

All the best

Paul

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

Thank you Paul,

I will take a few photographs and list them tomorrow.

Regards Dave

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

Had problems working out how to upload the pictures !!

Now I have created an album I will try again !!

The hull is made of grp, superstructure from balsa lined plastic, possibly styrene, deck made from ply.

The motor is a whopper !, any idea of type, voltage and age would be of great help.

If it is West Virginia, California or Tennessee did any of these ships have one level upper deck perhaps during refits !!

Any help please.

Dave Kearns Retired RN

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

Sorry, forgot to add , the hull is approximately 62 in long , to give an idea of size the pictures were taken on my extra large king size bed.

Dave

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

These three ships were all reconstructed after Pearl Harbour to essentially the same design with minor differences. The model is obviously simplified and the hull is incorrect as the forward part is not indented below weather deck level where the embrasures for the old secondary armament were mounted.

I have done a quick Google search on each ship i.e. 'USS West Virginia rebuilt' and it looks to me as if the model was probably intended to represent the USS California looking at the disposition of the 40mm AA armament and the superstructure arrangements around the bridge and funnel area but it is difficult to be certain.

There are profile and plan drawings of the rebuilt ships on Google and you could try to match these with the layout on your model which might confirm that it is supposed to be the USS California.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

David. Very nice. A bit of damage, not much. A rub down, fill where necessary and paint, you should be good to go!!

​Hazarding a guess, that is a windscreen wiper motor, a commonly used item years ago. In which case it will be 12V. HOWEVER, unless someone positively identifies it, it could be anything!! Unlikely to be more than 12V I would have thought. A ploy would be to get a wattmeter on it, on 12V and see what current it draws to give an indication of output (when in the water). Is there an ESC in the boat or is it on/off or does it have a resistive board?

​If it runs OK I would leave it there as doing something else is probably not worth the effort. HOWEVER, it is a very large and heavy boat and the performance on this setup may be poor. It takes a long time for something this big to slow down, and it has considerable momentum when hitting the bank/other boats/geese etc, so I like to have "sufficient" power available.

​Probably worth getting the insides right first, sorting out hull cracks and so on, then attention can be paid to the paintwork. It is all too easy to damage the finish when doing industrial grade repairs to a boat this chunky!

​Ashley

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

I agree with Ashley, it's probably an old windscreen wiper motor, and very satisfactory they are for this kind of job. I too would leave it in, at least to try out. One thing I would do is solder a bar across the two stern tubes, just behind the pulleys, they seem to be unsupported against the pull of the belts, and will probably flex. If soldering doesn't appeal, a hardwood bar epoxyed in will do the same.

Only the rudder servo is connected, so some speed control is needed, and it's worth getting a modern 2.4 gig transmitter / receiver as well, they are much less prone to interference from these old motors. The old capacitor on the motor can be changed, or removed, that one is long past it's best. I suspect the relay is not now connected to anything, and might have been for reversing. It too can be removed.

My only concern is that the motor might be a wound field motor, i.e coils instead of permanent magnets, that might explain the relay. If it is, forget the above and swap it. They can be used with modern equipment, but it's not a simple plug in and use thing. If you can't recognise a wound field motor, hold a screwdriver on the motor case, if it sticks strongly, it's a normal motor.

Chas

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

According to my Janes, West Virginia was a Colrado class which was rebuilt after Pearl Harbour and given a profile very similar to California/Tenessee, but retained its 8 16" guns in 4 turrets, so a major spotters clue there. I suspect that it could be either of the 12, 14" ships, and the main thing will be to get the numbers and paint job right.

The capacitor on the motor looks like an electrolytic type. If it is, it is likely that the motor will only tun one way, electrolytic capacitors are polarity sensitive, the sensitivity showing as smelly smoke when connected reversed. Or it might be a field wound motor with the capacitor just across the brushes and the field winding controlled by the relay. It might be a good idea to pull the motor and fit a pair of more modern ones. A couple of 545s shouldn't break the bank and should give realistic performance on 12 volts.

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

To , Paul, Colin, Ashley , Chas and Malcolm,

Thank you all for your much needed help and advice. I've certainly got much more research to do before starting this project. I will just keep any changes in keeping with the original model and Tennessee class ship.

The hull looks sound but I will see what I find below the layers of paint !! I've got a retired Reme electrician next door so I will throw the motor at him and see what bouncers back !!. The superstructure is in three sections and all three sections are thick with gritty dog hair paint and probably too far gone to strip and restore, so probably a superstructure rebuild is in order.

I acquired 4 ships in total from a carpenters estate so I have plenty of work to keep me busy.

Thank you again.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Missed the number of guns on West Virginia – silly me. So I will still go with California on the positioning of the 40mm gun tubs.

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop, Website Editor on 09/08/2017 19:22:13

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

hi there

looking art that motor reminds me of years ago before the internet and Ebay were every invented we used to buy a magazine called Exchange and Mart – can anyone remember it? You could get 100s and 1000s of goodies to be bought a sold and in among them were surplus electric gear from the Armed Forces and one of the favourites were bomb site motors – we modellers used to look for them – they were small and compact – the only drawback was they were between 18 and 24 volts; very low amps and this motor reminds me of that.

One new trick I have learned lately, from my son, to remove paint use Dettol – and it has to be the brand Dettol – soak the parts from which you want to remove the paint in Dettol in a sealed container – and it takes the paint off the plastics without doing too much damage.

The model looks well worth restoring back to its original former glory – as the original builder had intended.

Just my thoughts anyway

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

Thank you for the Dettol tip bluebird, I will give it a go.

I will try to keep the model in keeping with the original design, but I can't get that secondary gun platform forward of the 5's port and starboard out of my head – dream, dream, dream. As soon as I get some sort of decent plan of California or Tennessee, I will probably extend and add to the forward deck area to incorporate this cut-out, for want of a better description.

The original model only has two screws , but what I can gather from Jane's WII, Tennessee and California had four !! so there will be a lot of head-scratching when it comes to sorting the motor and drive, I know the easy way out would be to fit 4 new electrics , but if the large motor works then it will be used, I hate to bin things.

I have purchased a copy of Profile Warship 21 USS Tennessee, hoping to get more info on the class.

California or Tennessee, I will put it to the vote and take my lead from you types that know lots !!!

Regards Dave

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

You may simply find that the model is insufficiently detailed to distinguish between the two prototypes in which case you can take your pick!

With regard to the forward hull shape it will be more of a question of taking a slice out of the existing bow rather than adding anything on! It rather looks as if the original builder just ignored the original embrasure deck level. Once you get the Profile publication things should become a lot clearer.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

It would probably be very time consuming to fit 4 props, even if the shape of the hull allowed for it. Almost certainly the inside would need hacking about to boot,
Best stick with two is what I would do.

Ashley

[David KearnsParticipant @davidkearns97890]

Update. I have now received lots of plans and pics of both Tennessee and California and have started to plan the refit. A REME greenie friend is going to test and overhaul the motor for me , when he is not busy surfing in Cornwall !!.

​Busy during the winter months scratch-building the "ANN M", got the hull chiselled out most of the fittings and superstructure constructed.

thank you for all the comments and advice.

Dave

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