Hey guys. Here's my 1/350 USS Baton Rouge. It's still in progress. I need to touch up some spots, add the photo etch rail and the decorative bunting on the rails.




Kenny

Looking F.I.N.E. fine Gator!

Love the nose detail, mate, keep up the great work! You got a mask available for that?
~Gunny

Hello Kenny

I would like make my compliments for the abosultely proffesional model that you have build. Its a great pleasure to see this model .
It has given me the inspiration to start modelling the two subs which I have ordered of Dragon. They should arrive in abouth two weeks I have ordered the Ohio and Seawolf both on 1:350 scale I hope they will be the same as your quality

regards and keep on modelling

Regards

Wim

Thanks Gunny and Wim. More as I get photos.

Kenny

Outstanding job, Kenny!!! That front end treatement is terriffic!!

Only minor issue is I'm not sure Dragon got the tail section correct. I know for a fact the Improved 688's never had the pair of vertical fins on the ends of the stern planes. I don't know for certain that none of the boats in the class ever got them, but I can't recall ever seeing anything like that in any photos.

But who's gonna look at the back of the boat when the FRONT looks so stunning!!!!

Tom

Thanks Tom. About the tail, I still have some touch up to do, so I may make a pass with the razor saw to correct it.

Kenny

Double check photos, etc. As I said, I know those are incorrect on the Improved LA class, and I've just never seen any photos of any boats with those on them.

Probably "disinformation" provided to DML by DOD :-) :-) :-)

Tom

Hey Tom,

lad you made me double check. It took some doing, but I did find a computer image of the LA class at the US Naval Institute with the vertical fins. I guess they should know. :-) I hope so anyway.

Here's my overall goal with this kit...

Very nice - as others have said, the "nose art" is quite striking!

Kenny,
Looking at the pic of your sub and the pic of the real thing launching.
It seems the red lead ends further up the hull on the launching pic.
Following the line through on the launching pic it look's like the red should cover the base of the top rudder as well/
Love the bow art though!
Tom

Hey Kenny,
I think your idea of building Baton Rouge during commissioning is a great way to add some color and interest to a relatively drab subject (black submarine hulls) . I never had the opportunity to serve on a commissioning crew but I am pretty sure the "nose art" is cloth bunting vice being painted on. In this scale I don't think it would really look different, just throwing in my unsolicited two cents.

v/r,
Cob

Thanks, Kenny. I'm gonna have to do some digging myself. I've got every edition of "Ships and Aircraft" (going back the the "Fahey" versions in 1939), and those are pretty good references.

The Navy is so sensitive about the stern of subs, you seldom see any really good shots. The additional fins may have been something that was tried as an experiment and only on early boats and then perhaps for a limited time.

COB, can you shed any light on the subject?

Tom

You mean like this Cob? Yeah, I now they're cloth, but as you said you really can't tell the difference. And I wasn't gonna temp fate by trying to make one.

Kenny

I went back and did some digging and sure enough in the 13th Edition of Ships and Aircraft, I found a line drawing showing the extra pair of vertical fins. Since the Ships and Aircraft is published by the Naval Institute Press, it's likely to be the same drawing you found. It designates these as "hydrophones". You'd think that they might be high enough for the tops to be above the water when the boat is on the surface, but I've not found one photo yet that seems to show them.

At least not on an LA Class, however in the same edition, there was a photo of the SSBN Ohio, in dry dock and she clearly had these on her tail. It's unusual enought to see stern shots out of water, as the Navy is very sensitive to the technology in this area, especially since classified information about the math on the props (helps with the silence) was sold to the Chinese if I remember the story.

Oddly enough, there's also what appears to be a photo (but may be a drawing) of an early improved LA class with the forward missle hatches open, and despite the fact that every other shot I've seen has the revised arrangement I did for my model of the Boise, THESE are arranged in the same pattern as the Dragon kit, which at least for all the LATER improved LA Class is incorrect.

So what MAY have happened is that DML got some early information to do the kit and got some of it wrong (intentionally or not), OR some early boats DID look that way and later ones were modified.

But since the front end of your boat is so striking it really doesn't matter about the back, and I'd just leave it alone!

Can't wait to see the final job.

Tom

The 688s never got the stern plane stabilizers. The confusion is with the Ohio class FBMs. I have spoke with several 688 class veterans of all "flight" varients and they all agree. The Ohios did however have the outboard stabilizers and still do. I do belive that Dragon corrected this mistake in later issues of this kit by including a new tailpiece.
Nice job it is a really good looking model. Hey how many people really know anyway???

I've never head them called "hydrophones" They are vertical stabilizers and they are there to improve the hydrodynamic characteristics of the boat especially in a high speed turn. They are not visible when the boat is on the surface i.e. you wouldn't be able to see them.
v/r,
Cob

Hey guys. No update yet. Between a sick wife and car, cleaning the garage out and filling a customer's order, I haven't even had time to think about plastic. I think I'll leave the vertical planes on the tail. No need to test the model gods with cutting on a painted model. :-) :-)

Kenny

Thanks, COB.

It seemed a bit strange, but that's what the line drawing said. The 13th Edition was published in 1984, and at that time, none of the Improved Los Angeles Class had been commissioned.

However, the text does describe the upcoming modifications to the location of the control planes from the sail to a retractable type forward as well as the addition of 12 VLS Tomahawk tubes.

On going back and looking at the drawing, it's entirely possible that the text "Hydrophone Array" pointed at the vertical fins MAY even just be a typo. Further forward, inside amidships is a square which also has the same text pointed at it as well as a similar square adjacent to the sonar dome forward. Perhaps the text refers to the location of a stern mounted array in the vicinity of the (phantom) vertical fins.

But since this area is mysterious by intent, only a former crew member would be likely to know.

Tom

There aren't any hydraphone arrays in the vicinity of the screw because the noise produced by it's movement would make it impossible to hear anything. Hydraphone arays would be located along the hull and the bow where it is quieter. That is why subs have towed arrays, the long cable gets the array away from the noise of the screw where it can pick up sounds.

v/r,
Cob

Verrrrrrryyyyyyy nice Ken.

The stars and blue field....painted?

Or fishing lines as we used to call our "Floating antennae" on the early Boomers. On the 601 or 616 while I was aboard anyway we didn't have towed array.. I believe the 640s were the first Boomers to have them. We would have to turn occasionally to "Clear Baffles" to see if Ivon was on our tail.. I do believe the 608s & 616s were updated with this later on but I don't think the 598s ever were.
We used to cut our floater with our screw on almost every patrol on the 601..A little too much up or down bubble and "zip" off it went.
Talking with a friend today who worked at EB in the 80s, He said the 688s didn't have the stern plane stabilizers. He said the Ohios do and he thought that some Sturgeons had them too. But they may have been in the original plans or on some boats then removed but he never saw a Flight 1 2 or 3 with them. The stern planes on 688s do however have the towed array do dad on them..

So it sounds like the line drawing (and an early one at that) contains two mistakes, first it shows the vertical fins, which while they are on the boomers and may have at one time been considered for the Los Angeles Class, apparently never were built that way.

And the other is the typo pointing to those fins with the notation that they are a hydrophone array, because as COB mentioned you'd need to have a towed array to avoid being overloaded with prop noises.

I suspect that at least several of the later Improved 688s (Columbus and Boise) as well as the Hampton had the ability to have the towed array from either the port or starboard, as they had a rearward extension on the end of both planes.

The other thing the Dragon kit omitted (perhaps because it was added after the model was released) were the two extensions below the planes where the pods containing the decoys are located.

It's great to be able to have former crew members who can add so much personal information to the discussion!!!

Tom

Yes they are Steve. Oh the fun I had putting the stars on and taking them off.

Ok, so as far as the vertical stabs go, deep 6 'em. Roger wilco. Glad we got that settled. My head was starting to spin.

More photos when I get 'em.

Kenny

and even more praise for the "nose art" - well done! The other bits look great too! Fine job.

yeah, but you know what they say Ken, no pain no gain.

I would say that in the end it was worth the trouble.