1/350 scale USS Solace LHD Amphibious Hospital Ship

[seadude]

Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting in this thread more, but work at my job is keeping me very busy and there's little time for modeling when I get home. This project is on hold until next year. Sorry for the inconvenience, folks.

[NARSES2]

No problem, real life comes first

[Joe C-P]

Agreed - this is a hobby, not a career. Most of us have had those times in our lives.
Do make certain work doesn't rule your life, please!

[seadude]

Just a small note to say that I may be ditching this project. I still want to do it, but maybe not in 1/700 scale. If I have the money during tax refund time, I want to buy the bigger 1/350 USS Wasp amphibious assault ship model kit and convert that instead. 1/350 is bigger and allows for more detail. 1/700 is too small for my eyes as I already am getting cataracts.
If I can't get the bigger Wasp kit from tax refunds this Spring, then I'll go back to building the 1/700 kit I started.

[kerick]

Work out the overall plan in 1/700 then go big!

[seadude]

UPDATE! 

I just bought the 1/350 Gallery Models USS Wasp kit last night as an early birthday present to myself.    It should arrive sometime next week. It will most likely be a long time before I build it as I have to finish a friend's Enterprise aircraft carrier first.

Since I'm doing a what-if amphib hospital ship, I need to ask the following: What would I NOT add to this kit? What parts would not be needed on a hospital ship? For anybody who has built the Wasp before, what parts from the box would I not need? Please be specific and list part #'s if you can. A review of the kit can be found here:
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/misc/amphib/350-lhd1-mrc/mrc-review.html
A sample of another modeler's build:
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/am/lhd/350-pvb/pvb-index.html

[seadude]

I'm back!    I'm still doing research and gathering resources for this next big project of mine, and if everything works out, I hope to start on it sometime this Fall.

But first, a few questions and pictures. One major thing I've been thinking about is the ship's boats. The U.S. Navy MERCY class hospital ship has roughly 10 lifeboats, 3-6 RHIB's, 2-3 personnel/utility boats, and numerous liferafts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:090411-A-1786S-088_-_USNS_Comfort_%28T-AH-20%29_in_Hati.jpg


Now for an LHD amphibious hospital ship I'm making, large amounts of cargo and patients can be recieved via the well deck by LCAC, LCM, LCU, etc.  But what about having regular boats for transfers, emergencies, etc.? How many should I have and where should I put them?
* I've got about 12 different boats as shown in Pic # 1.
* Pic # 2 shows the balconies/sponsons and the limited davits/cranes I have to put on the sides of the ship's hull.
* Pic #'s 3 and 4 show possible locations (Red boxes) where I was thinking of putting extra balconies/sponsons along the sides of the hull for extra small boats.
* Normally, the rear of an LHD above the well deck gate is where a Seasparrow launcher and 2 CIWS's are located. I was thinking of using this area instead to put some RHIB's and ship's boats.
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/am/lhd/350-pvb/lhd1-36.jpg
* All other pics show possible locations for boats, cranes, etc.
* The worst thing about all this is that I don't have enough davits and cranes to put near all the boats.

Pic # 1


Pic # 2


Pic #'s 3 and 4



All other pics:
Pic # 5


Pic # 6


Pic # 7


Pic # 8


Pic # 9


Pic # 10


Pic # 11


Pic # 12


Pic # 13


Pic # 14


Pic # 15


Pic # 16

[kerick]

Two thoughts that could be of use to you. First is to place as many boats within reach of the deck crane as possible build a rack system to stack the boats. You could double the number this way. Second is when I was looking at lifeboats for a project of mine I came across boats that were stored under a sponson and lowered by winches built into the sponson. People entered and exited the boat at the same level it was stored at.

[Old Wombat]

Hi, seadude!

You want to keep your small boats, especially the RHIB's, away from the propellor wash. So, side mounted balconies a little forward of the stern would be OK for the RHIB's (cut-away alcoves in the hull would be better, keeping them out of the worst of rough seas, but you could build angled splash/sea barriers to do that). The larger & less manoeuvrable boats would go in line with the superstructure, either in davits along the deck next to it (can you scratch-build some?) plus a couple behind the superstructure near the crane (remembering that the crane is also used for lifting supplies & needs some clear deck to put them on) or, similar to kerick's suggestion, put them in cradles along the hull under the flight deck on both sides, with winches on extendable tracks to lift them & move them clear of the cradles (couple of tiny I-beams or, at that scale, a couple of pieces of square/rectangular rod & you're done), they can be accessed via walkways (or hatches?) next to them. Cradle systems are preferred because they mean that the cables, pulleys & winches aren't constantly under strain (under strain they wear out faster) & they are easier to maintain (as maintenance can be done to both the lowering system & the boat with it still in the cradle (rather than having to drop the boat into the water or lift it onto the deck to do maintenance on the lowering system).



Guy

Quick question for kerick: Was that sponson system a shipboard, or an oil rig evacuation system?

[seadude]

I did find these pics, but if I put boats and support equipment/structures on the hull similar to these pics, I think only the RHIB's and small motor whaleboats might be good for this purpose. The larger 2 utility boats and Captain's gig/launches will need some other spots, davits, or something else.

[Old Wombat]

Well, those photo's answered the question to kerick... So, it's all good, dude, I know now!

I notice one of those boats was the captains gig!

I'd be inclined to put your 4 RHIB's on 2 balconies (one either side) near the forward red markers you have towards the stern. I'd then put your 4 lifeboats/whalers forward of the port lift & just aft of the crane (on both sides) with the gig & launch just aft of the 1st two whalers & the utility boats just forward of the aft whalers (all on cradles). Supplemental to these boats I'd put a fair number (12-18?) life-raft cannisters around the edge of the deck.

But then I have been accused of being overly cautious at times..... Other times just plain rash, but I'm figuring this probably isn't one of them.



Guy

[seadude]

Here's a better visualisation (See pic further below) of where I was thinking of putting boats using the Wasp model kit color guide sheet for reference.
* Red triangle represents large crane for handling boats/cargo.
* Green lines represent the 2 large utility boats sitting on deck in front of superstructure.
* Blue lines represent all other possible locations for RHIB's and smaller whaleboats on balconies/sponsons or cradles.
* Yellow lines represent possible locations for boats to sit on deck alongside starboard side of superstructure.
* Orange lines represent locations of boats for the real Wasp and the actual model kit.

If anybody has a better idea for placement of boats and the number of them I should use, you can copy this pic and photoshop other possibilities that I could consider.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/icyhusky/Amphibious%20Hospital%20Ship%20Model/lhdguide.jpg

[Old Wombat]

OK! Getting a better idea of the sizing against the hull I've made a few alterations to my idea.

red = crane & RHIB balcony structures
dk blue = captain's gig
lt blue = launch
yellow = whalers/lifeboats
green = utility boats
purple = RHIB's
orange = life-raft cannisters



Hope the ideas help!



Guy

[seadude]

@Old Wombat:  Your changes look pretty good in your pic, but there's a few more I'd like to make.
* I think I like the red areas for the RHIB's. I may go with that.
* The dark blue area on the starboard side is a bad idea as it is next to too many access ports, hatches, and is below the refueling area.
* I think the light blue area on the port side should stay where the motor launch is originally for the real Wasp.
* The starboard side yellow areas seem fairly ok, but I'm not keen on the port side yellow areas.
* Green areas for utility boats are ok.
* Purple areas for RHIB's seem ok.
* I'm not worried about all the orange areas for liferafts. Those I can work on later.

All in all, it's not too bad. Just the light blue, dark blue, and yellow areas might need changing. I'll have to give more thought to those areas and then get back to you later, maybe with another drawing.

[Old Wombat]

That's cool, dude!

It's all about what makes you happy, I'm just chucking ideas out there for you to bounce off.

I have a thing for life-rafts because they're large-volume people carriers utilising very little shipboard space &, as this is going to be a hospital ship, it's likely, should there be a need to abandon ship, that as many of the non-walking-wounded as possible would be put in the rigid-hull boats & the (larger number of) walking-wounded & most of the crew would take to the life-rafts.



Guy

Edit: Just another thought. If you have the lifeboats & launch/gig near the hatches & have a rail system under the flight deck overhang, you can then use the hatches to evacuate the non-walking-wounded directly into the boats before they are lowered to the water, rather than having to drop them down to boats bobbing around in the waves. It shouldn't be too hard to move the refueling area fore or aft a bit. How that might be achieved, I'm not too sure, but it is an idea.