would seem to indicate that the entire ship was painted gray - including the weather deck. Others have said that the weather deck was painted deck blue. I am of a mind to paint the whole ship gray. I’ve three shades of gray in my paint stash and would like your opinions as to which of the three is the most accurate (or, from a modelers’ perspective, the most attractive) choice.
As my model currently stands she’s been primed, had some filling and sanding done, has some deck furniture attached and, because I might like a hint of darker color beneath should I choose to “weather” the weather deck with a few scrapes and chips, the weather deck has been painted an undercoat of deck blue.
I’m building her as a waterline model and have a base ready to use Sculpey to make the waves but I want to have the hull (and the smaller deck pieces) painted before I permanently attach the ship to the base. So I’m ready to air brush but would like opinions before proceeding.
Most of the Liberties and Victorys I have seen were all one shade of grey unless brand spanking new ! Now many of the Victorys never went to war . But were built , then Mothballed . So small shipping lines Bought them and painted the decks either Deck Blue or Deck Red (a dark rust red ).
Most of the Libertys that did survive for a while including the well known ones , were painted with deck Grey But , I believe a lot of them in Atlantic service that did survive the war were gray ( one shade ) all over . I do hope this helps you .I do know for fact that the " Ocala Victory " a ship owned by Olympic Steamship of Seattle in the late 60s had Dark Grey decks and Haze Grey overall . T.B. P.S. The first color looks closest to what I remember . Oh ! Don’t forget there was a lot of salt scrubbing on them so you sould have a mess of color down low and around the stem . Just light variances to indicate sea time .
Liberties were operated by the Maritime Commission and not the US Navy, so the Navy refused to give them paint or access to the new camouflage colors at first. It wasn’t until maybe mid 1943 that enough commercial paint manufacturers had the paint formulas that they threw up their hands and gave up on keeping the formulas secret. So, until that point at least Navy Deck Blue is not likely on a non USN operated ship. After that it’s more possible, but I’m not sure how likely. Not really what you were asking for, but I wanted to throw it out there.
My understanding is the 5 O Ocean Gray is generally a good match. I’m not saying they were painted that color, as Tracy notes it was a commercial product.
And yes they were held by their ankles and dipped in Gray.
I also have some 5O Ocean Gray in addition to several bottles of 5H Haze Gray. I think I’ll just go with a combination of both of them. Perhaps make up two batches - one more on the “haze” side and the other more of the “ocean” tint and use them to create a little variation in the colors here and there on the weather deck. I’ll try to keep the hull. boat deck, bridge deck and the top of the house consistent.
…nor any tanks hanging from the 2.5 ton SWL booms. When you see how much soot staining runs out of the deck scuppers, which are different from the big freeing ports, it’s clear to me that wasting a lot of effort on getting deck color correct is futile. Decks were gray-ish, rust, soot and dirt colored.
Hatches were covered with canvas over wood planks. The wood might hold some jeeps but I’m not sure. It certainly would not hold an M4 Sherman Tank which weighed over 33 tons. I don’t think I’ll have any tanks being hoisted by a ship’s boom either [:)].
Back in the day I saw forklifts break a wheel through those wooden hatch boards. Dunnage was usually necessary to distribute weight for trucks or cars.
I am planning to put jeeps and a couple of different kinds of WWII trucks over the hatches with the assumption that beams would have been added to hold their weight. I haven’t been able to find any 1/350 scale WWII aircraft at a reasonable amount of $ but, considering all the other aformentioned vehicles that I do have, I’m not too concerned - I’ve plenty of cargo to put on the weather deck. I’ll be portraying her as she set out on her maiden voyage with lots of war materiel.
This is the most comprehensive article I’ve found on her - the S.S. Stephen Hopkins:
It’s a rather long article so read only if you’re very interested in the subject matter or if you’re simply bored to tears [|-)].
My friend’s dad, George Cronk, was the only officer to survive. He was one of the 15 crewmen aboard the lifeboat who made it to Brazil - drifting for 2,200 miles. Four of the 19 who originally were on the lifeboat did not make it. Quite a story.
Sorry I cannot add nothing to the discussion but I did want to let you know how nice your ship is coming along. Are you going to make a diorama or just build her as a waterline model? Please post more pictures as you progress, I have been thinking about picking one of these up but I do not think I have seen a WIP on a Liberty ship on the forum, although if I remember correctly, Marcus built one before he started his Dreadnought.
I’m kind of leaning toward just the chunk of Walnut I bought and a sea base. A few days ago though I ordered a WWII Navy tug in 1/350 scale so…I’m just not sure. I don’t really think I want to present her with the dock and loading cranes, etc. Just too much for my miniscule skills and I’d have to get a larger piece of Walnut. If I end up using the tug it’ll be as if she were just shoving off but with no dock on display. I don’t know if there ever would have been a Navy tug working with a Merchant Marine vessel but, if I think it looks good and there’s enough room on my board… who knows.
Mike
P.S. I airbrushed the hull and deck today. I also airbrushed the hatch covers on their sprues. I wasn’t going to post more pictures until I’d gotten a little further along but if you’re interested I’ll post a few when I’ve attached the hull to the base in the next week or so.
Although that picture clearly shows the deck a darker shade than the rest of the ship I’ve decided to paint everything the same shade of gray. I do believe that in many of the Liberty Ships, both vertical and horizontal surfaces were painted a homogenous shade of gray.
Delighted to know that the WWII merchant marine sailors will have veteran status! They certainly deserve it.
Here’s a small update. I’ve not yet decided on whether or not to include the tugboat but I’ve placed the ships on my board just to see how the spacing would work out if I do include the tug. I’ve now painted the Liberty Ship hull and deck and attached and painted the hatch covers. I’ve heard lots of different opinions as to what color the canvas was on board but I decided to mix my own interpretation of WWII canvas, accurate or not.
As an aside, I’m now out another $25.00 for another tug kit. In my zeal to emulate what a Brit modeler did with his tug - he did a fabulous job of cutting out the front and side square windows on his model - I attempted to do the same but botched it beyond repair [:(]. Live and learn. My new tug will get painted windows!![:D] I also broke off the top deck overhang on the tug. I did glue it back but noticed that there seemed to be some structure missing underneath the overhang by way of curved supports on either side. I can’t see where they came with my model but the supports are obviously in the pictures on the Alliance Modelworks site as well as the photos by that Brit modeler. If the new kit doesn’t have any then I’ll just assume they were made from scratch?
The canvas cover is bent down over the sides of the hatch coaming as you show. The lower half of the coaming could/ should be hull color as it’s exposed structure. Those ribs over the hatches are Trump’s overscaled versions of steel bands that were cinched down over the canvas to hold it all down. I think in reality they where maybe 9" wide by less than 1/4" thick. I’m with you- there isn’t much one can do about it, but I plan to paint the top surfaces of mine gray.
Good clean modeling there, and I see you have a small pile of my favorite modeling tools.
Thanks for the information regarding the canvas covers. I’ve now painted the edges the same gray as the rest of the ship and have, whether accurate or not, painted the “ribs” a metallic gray hoping to represent stronger steel structure than “bands” which will carry the weight of trucks and aircraft placed on them.
I’ve also been working on the little tug. It’s giving me fits. It seemed so simple that I figured I’d have it finished in a week. Well, that was wishfull thinking on my part. I’ve managed to mangle a few things and, hopefully, I’ll be able to repair my mistakes. Anyway here are a couple of pictures showing how the two ships stand as of the moment.
After a disasterous air brushing experience with the gray I almost threw this little guy in the trash. Then I thought to myself it’s so small that it’ll hardly look terrible when viewed as a whole with the Liberty Ship … so, with the exception of having to seal the decals and “rust” (which probably wouldn’t be on a Navy tug but I’m taking artistic license here [:D]) I’m calling this little tug done. I’ve taken a few more photos with both ships placed loosely on the board which I’m attaching here.
Lets backup for a minute. The hatches had removable steel beams running across them probably on five foot centers. These support the hatch boards which were removable heavy plank probably 2 1/2’x5’ made of pieces of lumber banded together. Over this went the canvas which was carried down the vertical sides of the hatch coming and wrapped around a batten. This was held in place with wedges in a groove in the coming. Remember the expression “batten down the hatches”? There were no steel bands over the top of the hatch cover. Light vehicles such as a jeep or car could have been stowed on the hatch but there was no real way to tie them down.
The pictures you see of amphibious ships -AKAs and APAs- with boats stowed on the hatches don’t show the whole story. They were stowed OVER the hatches on cradles at the sides of the hatches.
I am speaking of course from the practice of the Navy what civilian shipping lines may have done after the war is a differnt story.
urate (or, from a modelers’ perspective, the most attractive) choice.
