Well, after a long break from the virtual shipyard, I thought I'd come back and make a new warship for Civ3.

Here's a closeup of the superstructure. First person to correctly identify this ship I am modelling gets a...uh..well nothing. You may be esteemed as a naval scholar here, but probably not.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9418/bridgev.png

Is that a carrier?

USS Albany
http://www.steelnavy.com/images/2003%20August/Albany009F.JPG

You are correct sir.

Best news of the day.

Welcome back, Sir!

Welcome back!
The high deck of this class looks really unique... Will you do a "what if" version with Polaris rockets on the mid-deck?

oh yes, very good news :) a vingrjoe sighting :banana: welcome back old buddy!

That´s great news vingrjoe. :):goodjob:

Alright! Awesome new ships!

Vingrjoe! - & the crowd goes wild! :dance:

:salute: ,

Oz

Welcome back dude.

Alright! Great to have you back vingrjoe... The Artist in you must have his does of CIV Game Unit Creation Time :) Seriously, Good to see you making superb Units here again.

Really great news!

Welcome back, sir. We missed you!

Any news on that beauty?

Meh- I must have missed this :D Looking interesting!

Hey guys,

The day I posted previews was the last day I worked on it.

Holy smokes, I just realized that was over a month and a half ago ! Where the heck does time go ? I kinda figured that would happen when I posted it. I get everyone excited then have to put it off. Believe me, things get busy around here with working opposite shifts of the wife and raising two little ones.

When things hopefully slow down a little with winter coming, I will have some more time to finish this.

Sorry for the delay guys.

That's fine VJ waiting for true works of art is worth the time.

After much delay and other preoccupations beckoning my time, I've finished modelling the Albany. I did not get it exactly how I wanted due to using some very poor blueprints. These ships received quite a few modifications through their lives as CAGs. So, I choose to go with the Albany's configuration when she was recomissioned as a CAG. Now to work I go on the animations.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/758/albanya.jpg

wow! welcome back old buddy! :thumbsup:

Looking Forward to this Beauty vingrjoe :)

This is great news! I was very happy when you started this thread back in Oct 2009 since this class is one of my absolute favourites since childhood (I think I read our school library's old Jane's Fighting Ships to tatters). It simply looks so cool, so futuristic in a 1950/60's manner, and your model does it full justice. Welcome back! :goodjob:

After much delay and other preoccupations beckoning my time, I've finished modelling the Albany. I did not get it exactly how I wanted due to using some very poor blueprints. These ships received quite a few modifications through their lives as CAGs. So, I choose to go with the Albany's configuration when she was recomissioned as a CAG. Now to work I go on the animations.

:bounce::banana::dance:

Overall it reminds me of the little brother to the Long Beach.

Great news!

The best news I have seen in a long time, can't wait to see the animations.

I finished the Default animation and all associated post-production work with it. Here's a preview.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3632/defaultpreview.gif

I finished the Default animation and all associated post-production work with it. Here's a preview.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3632/defaultpreview.gif

WOW! :eek: She is a beauty! Great job with the animations as always!

Oeeeew nice!!

Wonderful news!
Can't wait to see your top quality ship(s) again

Thanks for coming back

vingrjoe...From the Default Preview, this will be another one of your Top Quality Ships :goodjob:
Don't feel rushed to get this Beauty out... then again, I know you prefer to perfect your units and I am sure this one will be :)

So, do you have plans for any other vessels after the Albany is at sea?

Goldflash,

There is many I would like to do, but whether I will get around to doing them is a different story.

Awesome ship

Good to see you back vingrjoe! I look forward to seeing your work. I still use many of your ships in the endless wars that rage on my computer and Civ3.

Peace be with you. ;)

The Albany class were definitely some radical yet incredibly cool looking ships. If you don't mind me asking what reference material do you base your models off of? Actual blueprints, photographs or what?

The Albany class were definitely some radical yet incredibly cool looking ships. If you don't mind me asking what reference material do you base your models off of? Actual blueprints, photographs or what?

I have a photo CD from Ray Bean, which I bought from TheFloatingDrydock.com, I have also collected pictures from the internet of the real ships and models. Lastly I have a set of plans I bought off ebay several years ago...which I'll never do again. The plans are in German, which is not too big of a problem, but the plans are inaccurate. I think soley due to the fact that they are plans for an RC model of the Albany. Next time I will stick to purchasing my plans from The Floating Drydock.

Progress report: I have only the death animation to do now and lastly the sounds.

Progress report: I have only the death animation to do now and lastly the sounds.
Sounds Great vingrjoe... I look forward to your Excellent Unit :goodjob:
... and yes, some models have more value than others :)

I'm in no way trying to be pushy and I mindful of the time and effort you put into creating a single unit but have you given any thought to producing a Baltimore or Boston class cruiser down the line, given that they all shared a common hull with the Albany class? Granted I would imagine that the superstructure is the most time consuming part to render, I would assume that having a common hull to work from would shave some time off.

there's a baltimore class CA floating around these forums somewhere. perhaps not the CAG versions but certainly the non-missile versions.

mrniceguy101,

I don't know if and how much I would even venture into WWII ships. And just as El Justo said, I believe there may be a Baltimore floating (no pun intended) around these forums.

If I recall correctly, there is a Baltimore in El Justo's TCW Fifties scenario.

Wyrmshadow has a pretty good looking Baltimore available for download in the database, I was just curious that since vingrjoe had a common hull to work from in regards to his future Albany unit if he had any plans for future vessels that shared that hull, somewhat similar I suppose to all his different versions of his Iowa class units. I wasn't making a request or anything like that just simple nosiness I suppose.

the modified boston CAGs were beasts :)

the modified boston CAGs were beasts :)

QFT, I always thought they looked like something that got caught in some weird time warp with a WWII era front end and 50s era space age technology plastered on the back end for good measure, definitely some eccentric yet real cool looking vessels.

1st gen CAG technology at its finest :cool:

The Albany is done.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140053

Download link on page one, post one.

Preview on page 12.

Excellent work, good man, excellent work!

Mrniceguy101 and El Justo, you guys peeked my curiousity when mentioning the Boston CAG conversion. I decided to dig through my books and read up on the Boston and Canberra CAGs. I am strangely drawn toward their looks, and actually debating about making one for Civ3.

http://ussjuneau.net/Raiders/boston001.jpg

They are actually some nice looking ships.

As always, a fine unit! :cool:

CAG1 Boston a BALTIMORE Class heavy cruisers .

Good idea

with best regards
Wotan49
:old:

Vingrgoe,

You certainly wouldn't hear any complaining from me if you decided to go that route, heck I'd probably dance an Irish jig if you did indeed decide to tackle the Boston CAG conversions.

One thing is for sure it would look really cool in El Justo's Vietnam scenario. For my sake let's hope you don't find some other project that steals your attention away. :)

On a more practical note, can you use parts from your other units as a jump off point, such as the hull from your Albany missile cruiser unit and the 5inch gun mounts from your Des Moines cruiser, or do you have to start from scratch each time?

Mrniceguy101,

I definitely can reuse common armament, gunfire directors and radars. I was not totally happy with the Albany hull, but at Civ3 scale, no one would know the issues with it that I am not happy about. Last night I took the Albany and removed all of the topside to have a blank hull to build upon if I choose to pursue this endeavor.

I haver already started scouring the internet for photos and drawings of the two CAG conversion ships.

Hello Vingrjoe,

To aid you in your search for materials here is everything that I have on them.

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston2.gif
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston-1.gif
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston3.gif
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston4.gif
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston5.gif
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston6.gif
These come from US Heavy Cruisers in action Part 2 by squadron signal publications
http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/delta_strife/USN/Boston.gif
The last one is from Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1947-1995

Thank you Delta Strife.

I'm sure you've already been by shipbucket before but in case you haven't they have a pretty good side profile of the Boston, amongst others.

http://www.shipbucket.com/images.php?dir=Real%20Designs/United%20States%20of%20America/CAG-1%20BOSTON.png

Great job on the newest edition to your wonderful C3C fleet! I think a Boston CAG would make another great edition.

USS Kentucky BBG-66

http://www.bb62museum.org/images/Models/kentucky_bbg_fore.jpg
http://www.bb62museum.org/images/Models/kentucky_bbg_aft.jpg

BBG? :confused: Guided-missile carrying battleship??

As strange as that looks, it as actually very close to the proposed 1960 Scheme I BB-G conversion for the USS New Jersey.

I myself prefer the 1954 proposed BBG-1 design for the Kentucky. It appears it would have been similar to the Boston's conversion with leaving the front half of the ship with it's original guns and superstructure.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/USS_Kentucky_%28BBG-1%29_concept_artwork.jpg

As strange as that looks, it as actually very close to the proposed 1960 Scheme I BB-G conversion for the USS New Jersey.

I myself prefer the 1954 proposed BBG-1 design for the Kentucky. It appears it would have been similar to the Boston's conversion with leaving the front half of the ship with it's original guns and superstructure.

I've got a ShipBucket profile of that one somewhere.

What I've always wondered about in regards to all the Iowa missile conversion schemes is what effect removing one or more of the main battery gun turrets would have had on stability and balance. From what I understand each turret weighed the equivalent of a WWII era destroyer, one would think that would have had consequences of some sort. I know from reading Norman Friedman's "U.S. Cruisers" that some of the cruiser conversions had serious stability problems post modernization.

What I've always wondered about in regards to all the Iowa missile conversion schemes is what effect removing one or more of the main battery gun turrets would have had on stability and balance. From what I understand each turret weighed the equivalent of a WWII era destroyer, one would think that would have had consequences of some sort. I know from reading Norman Friedman's "U.S. Cruisers" that some of the cruiser conversions had serious stability problems post modernization.

I think Friedman touches on that subject in his US Battleship book. If I recall correctly, removing the number three turret would have really messed up the ballast among other things. I think a few of my books on the Iowas discuss that subject. I do not believe they could have added enough weight to make up for removing the turret. However, I may be wrong.

BTW, I placed an order to TheFloatingDrydock.com for one set of Boston CAG-1 plans and for one set of plans for the Los Angeles, circa late 50's early 60's. I really like the looks of the St. Paul and Los Angeles in their later years.

I think Friedman touches on that subject in his US Battleship book. If I recall correctly, removing the number three turret would have really messed up the ballast among other things. I think a few of my books on the Iowas discuss that subject. I do not believe they could have added enough weight to make up for removing the turret. However, I may be wrong.

BTW, I placed an order to TheFloatingDrydock.com for one set of Boston CAG-1 plans and for one set of plans for the Los Angeles, circa late 50's early 60's. I really like the looks of the St. Paul and Los Angeles in their later years.

The Baltimore's in their later guises, especially after they had their bridges closed in, were really some nice looking warships. Just really well balanced clean looking ships, it's a shame there isn't anything like that cruising the worlds oceans today. As they say they don't make them like the use to, that's for sure. It'll be really great, to say the least, if you manage to find the time to convert those plans into completed units, I'll probably shi(edited for the children's) Tiffany cuff-links, jk.