Just came across this photo this week, the camo scheme is different from the others I've seen. I can't find out what measure it is. If you have an Idea let me know! -Matt

Battle Bridge

Well, the semester is over and now I'm able to get back to the shipyard and get back to building this model again.
I was able to build the smoke stack a bit last month but didn't have time to post any pics of it. Included on it are the steam pipes running for and aft of the stack itself. On the front face of it near the top are the stream whistles. The platforms that are half way up the stack are for the signal lights. that's where my grandpa would have been stationed at times. He told us the story of how he was able to signal to his cousin on another U.S. ship on the other side of an island at the battle of Guadalcanal by using the low clouds as reflectors!

I'm not sure what the little house is just in front of the smoke stack, but it might be a sort of steam room housing?

Also are two observation boxes added to the aft of the superstructure.

This big thing I did today was the battle bridge, which was a way to pilot and navigate the ship from the roof of the pilot house. what it had was an outdoor ship's wheel and binnacle and a speaking tube. also a table for the charts.

I'm not sure yet what the large round structure is behind the ship's wheel, maybe something to do with radar, a spotlight, or a horn? other Harris apa's had whatever the hardware was up on a pole instead of the huge tube structure.

I then added the hatch covers to the foredeck and some more supports for the forward upper gun nest.

Now, the hatch layout is pretty much a mystery, and what I made was a guess from this bad overheard shot:

They will be covered with landing boats in the end, but I think this is what they probably looked like. Behind the second crane structure, just in front of the superstructure, it looks like there might be a continuation of the large hatch, but I'm not sure enough to include it. There doesn't look like there was one on the aft well deck, but there were on other apa's.
Next I'm going to continue with the deck structures, housing, and gun nests.
Over and out for now.

Still here!

Sorry that it's been a while since my last post, but i've had to tackle other things in life. That's the way it goes. But I will soon get back in the saddle, the model is on my desk now staring me down. It's just a matter of time before I get back to the ol' shipyard.

Stay tuned in for more!

More superstructure detail

Here's another closeup to the tall gun nest on the aft deck from last time. I can't tell for sure, but there might be another one even further aft near the taffrail.

Below is the large rectangular box structure that dominates the mid-ships. Eventually the smokestack will be on top of it and the sides will be covered with Higgins boats:

Here's that first story of the Bridge tower that has the characteristic ocean liner look to it. 2 more stories to go!

The face of this first story is seen in this great photo below:

I'm fairly certain that those are 2 "mine sweepers" sitting vertically in front of the structure. They would be hoisted out along the ship and set of mines in the water.

Below is the added second story, gain the facial details are from the photo above. Not a lot to go on, but any reference is good reference!

Now here is the 3rd floor, which houses the actual bride room. I got the details and layout from the USS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN. Her site is:
http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/
Even though she was build during WWII and the Bell during WWI, the refit would likely make them somewhat similar in layout and in hardware. Also, it is the closest thing I will likely get to what the Bell's bridge looked like:

But just in case... I'm going to make the roof removable so that I can add more detail if it comes along.

That's it for now, I have more actually done on her but I'll have to post it later since I got a lot of homework to do :)
Thanks for checking in!

Aft superstructure.

I began the superstructure on the aft part of the ship. From the camo plans I could only tell its couture and its height.I figured that the lower part of the stucture would have an evenly spaced walkway arround its outer walls and the edge of the ship, giving me an approximate dimension of the building:

the face of the building can be seen in this photo behind the sailors swabbing the deck:

From this i could see that there was an outcropping on its roof for the ladders, and that there was a recessed section under that outcropping. Also, that the corners were rounded too.

Here i made the roof for the structure and attached the vertical support beams to make it easier on myself:

here it is being fitted to the structure.

you can see here where I added the raised bulwark (a ship's wall for you lubbers)in on the aft above the sternpost in the above pic made to match the photo below:

You can see that there are slight bulges on the roof structure on either side, whch I think was an extension to accommodate the arc of the guns, of which you can see their barrels sticking up.
Here's some added detail on the roof of the structure. The gun nests are clearly seen on the camo plans. If you look at the photos you cant see them under the taller gun nests and the stacks of lifeboats, but I think that they were kept after her early war refit.

this is the only pic of her from above and I think that those nests are viable here.

Also the tall box structure in the middle on top can be made out in the pic above. I believe that it probably matched this configuration on the APA 17 here. This photo was taken in '44 after her refit to add more defensive guns:

lost pics!

Unfortunately I managed to loose all of the early photos I took of building the model!!! I either erased them or stuck them in a folder some where "safe" so as to never find them.
Anyways, after spending 2 days looking for them I decided to just post what I have.

Here's the bow. I made the entire hull from scratch using the old wooden ship technique with streamers of plastic over ribs cut to fit the contours of the hull. What she actually looked like under the waterline is a complete mystery, but I figured that it was something between the Titanic and the USS Arizona, since they were all built within a decade or so from each other. I also relied in theses pics of the USS Texas:

And the USS Delaware:

For above the waterline this plan Benn found was the greatest help!

From there I got this:

So there is the hull with the streamers and the running gear (propellers and rudder). Next post I'll start attacking the superstructure :)

Grandpa "Shorty" on board

Here's a photo of my Grandpa on board the Bell, taken when he was around 19-21 years old (hard to tell since he served through all the years of the entire Pacific campaign). His

His role was a signalman, and trained at the Navy facilities in Illinois for that role. What he would do was to go to the beaches in advance of the Marines (usually after a bombardment) and signal back to the ship the conditions. From there the ship would wait or go ahead and send the troops on their landing craft. From his account, he was on some very hot beaches that saw a lot of Japanese activity and resistance. His new wife, my Grandma begged him to not volunteer for that duty after they got married, so he respected her wishes and remained on board for the last stages of the war.