They were used to confuse us U-Boat Captains…I saw one of these off of the Azores a few weeks ago and was surprised and baffled for a few minutes until I realized it was a dummy stack (no smoke)…I slammed two fish into her side at 2,300 meters and she blew like a Roman candle…
Jeez it’s getting dangerous out there! Think I’ll sail WEST! Gonna have to get out the Whitley from the FAA GB, and yes I know it’s really RAF Coastal Command, and go hunting U-Boats!
More great pics Fred. Notice how the engine room ventilators all stayed at the stern? No doubt that’s what gave away the game to Kapitan Manny.
I’m going to stick to the T2 for this model, but another good one would be the AO series with that GREAT Measure 32 camouflague. Very very busy deck, and some cargo looks good on there too. I would need much more info, so I’m going to start leisurely collecting it. That’s what is portrayed on the old Revell box cover, a fleet oiler which Mission San Juan Batista never was. Your picture is interesting, because it’s the first AO I’ve seen built from a T2. The previous ones I’ve looked at were based on T3’s, whatever the difference is I don’t know.
T-3s were generally about 30 ft longer, except one version was actually shorter than a T-2.
http://www.usmm.org/tankers.html
Another pic there of a full load of P-47s on deck.
The Revell model measures out, at the stated scale of 1/400, at 520 feet overall, which is pretty close to a T2. So a T3 would be an elongation of 30 feet at scale, or 0.90 inches. That can’t be ignored.
The next step in the next ship model project; there, I’ve declared it, would be a T3 based Fleet Oiler in Measure 32 camouflage, just like the John Steel illustration on the box of the old San Juan Capistrano, which was always a T2 tanker.
Sorry Revell, but I own this kit box top.
I’ve identified the following scratch items so far:
Forecastle anchor capstan which is a half relief mold in the deck of the kit.
Walkways.
Engine room skylight.
Bridge front all decks, with camber.
It’d be nice to make two of each, in order to ammortize the effort a little.
And it relieves me to stay true to prototype on the T2 Mission Carmel, and pursue the very interesting AO build later.
One last thing- the drawings show a pronounced rake to the masts on the T2, but it’s hard to see in photos. Was that rebuilt to vertical?
Next step- T3 drawings! This might take TWO more kits, but I’m good with a razor saw and BONDO!!!
How come nobody has mentioned the non-plastic T-2 tanker kit at 1/16th scale, released by Bluejacket Ship Crafters of Searsport, Maine ? At $285. without s & h, this kit is a bit expensive, but BlueJacket is known for their quality products.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
Crackers [angel]
I’ve re-done two of these T-2 anchor windlasses now, one on the Ideal-x and one on the Houston build. The half molded ones on the kits aren’t that bad, but you want to use real chain instead of the stuff molded flat on the deck. (the railings on Ideal-X should have been two-bar. Oh well.) The chain I used is probably a tad too big.
Re the masts, if you click on that first link which I posted earlier to the photos of the Bennington, the second picture down is a nice beam-on view. (I think that is near Port Angeles, WA, with the Olympic Range in the background) The masts look raked as it shows in the drawing. By the way, the drawing visible in the picture you posted shows a plain mast, but it seems vent lines were added alongside the masts in nearly all versions, like the kit parts show.
The catalogue of plans from the Smithsonian has two pages of T-3 plans available. One is T3-S-A1 Tanker. The other is T3-S2-A1 Tanker AO conversion. Bill, I’ll be happy to mail you these pages if you want.
According to the catalogue, all these T-3s were built by the Bethlehem Sparrows Point yard in Baltimore.
For the engine room skylight, is the kit’s totally oversized? I suspect so.
Crackers, at $285, I think the Bluejacket people will have to make their way in the world without my assistance. [;)]
Fred
bondo, why use 2 kits to make 1 ship when it can be done with 1 kit? just cut the model in half on the straight flat part of the hull & put an scratchbuilt styrene insert in between the 2 cut sections. i’ve done that twice now in converting 2 airfix 1/600 ajax hulls into hms exeter & hms york. had to widen the hulls by 1mm & lengthen the hulls by about 11mm. used 1mm(.040")styrene to make a new lengthened profile of the ship, cut the hulls across the middle then glued them in the correct spots on either side of the profile & enclosed gap in the middle with 1mm plastic plates. once glue dried i then sanded it smooth & just have to make 2 new keel bilges on each ship.
onyx, is it possible to get a copy of the plans, even scanned versions?
Hey Bondoman, you can humor me all you want, love this thread and all the information contained within… look forward to your build!
ddp59, I’ve done similar surgery to reduce the length on a hull by cutting a section out and joining the halves again.
The plans are available from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, 'The Maritime Administration Collection of Ship’s Plans (1939-1970)
You can get the whole catalogue, but it’s kind of expensive, about $20 if I recall. If you PM me I’ll copy the page you want and an order sheet and mail them to you. The plans are quite cool and run $10 to $20 or more, generally 1/192 scale, so they are a large sheet. Bondo has one of the T-2 plans and you can see it in the picture he posted earlier in this thread.
Fred
Last night, returning from a patrol, I ran into a T-3 Tanker with a Victory Cargo Ship in trail…thing is, I was out of “fish” and had a very limited amount of ammo for the deck gun…had to watch them sail by—I almost cried (okay, I did)…in any event, I did sink 10 merchants and 2 warships (frigate and a corvette) on that patrol…
I think you need to turn up the “realism” scale on that game.
You know, that’s a good idea. I’m used to doing this kind of stuff to airplanes, but all those compound curves… And after all these are (will be) waterline, so no keel issues.
Fred’s referring to the order forms. I’ve got a copy and I’m going to order the T3 drawing, the overall is probably enough. They are too big to scan at least for me.
LMAO
Fred see my PM
So did you get hold of the deck guns and hatches yet for this build? I had gotten hold of some 5 inchers and 20mm guns (enough for 2 T2’s)plus a few PE hatch sets and portals and hose reels. So when you get the templates resized are you going to have them available for those that want to redo the bridge and other areas? And does the plans have the deck hatch and hose reel layouts?
BTW the guns on the T2 kit actually scale out to 1/350 scale at the very least on the high end.
I am a U-Boat Capatain and my ship ID manuals are not the greatest, so could you guys help me out?
What the difference in a Small tanker, a T-2 Tanker and a T-3 Tanker?
Also, what is the differences in a Coastal Merchant, Small Merchant, C-2 Cargo, C-3 Cargo, Liberty Cargo Ship and Victory Cargo Ship?
Any help would be appreciated as I go out on my 24th patrol tonight out of Brest…
Manny, a quick search on good ol’ Wikipedia will get you the T2, C1, C2, Liberty, and the Victory. The coastals and “smalls” are just nondescript vessels of a general configuration. I couldn’t find any reference to the T1.
A C1
C2:
Liberty:
Victory:
Loose lips sink ships![8D]
Seriously though, from a target solution aspect, the biggest difference could be in speed. A Liberty will be straining to get 11 knots, while a Victory and the rest can do 17 or more.
In my inconsequential Navy carreer I had a course in Maneuvering Board which included torpedo solutions. I loved it. Of course nobody has launched torpedoes that way since WWI, if even then. The torpedo becomes ‘Own Ship’ and you have to plot for zero CPA. (closest point of approach)
I had a bout of playing the Silent Hunter game. With a high degree of realism, it’s a wonder those guys ever hit anything. Then it really chaps one when the darn things fail to explode!
I don’t think Kretchmer himself was as successful as Manny here though.[;)]
I have not looked at the guns. Mine has a 5"/38 gun at the stern and a 3"/50 at the bow, so I need to figure that out. The 20s that came with the kit actually are pretty cute, and I’ve got some PE shield kicking around somewhere. Tank hatches are shown, no deck piping. Hose davits and liferaft racks, which need to be added.
Yes the template will be available for the asking.