Aircraft Carrier GB 2016

All these carriers are looking great guys. I do need to step up production on mine too. Hopefully soon! Keep them coming guys!

Been working on the Yorktown for more than a month before I made enough progress for some pictures.

Most of the time was spent working on the fiddly little catwalk railings--measuring and cutting; painting; repainting; fitting them in and trimming; placement and gluing; having them fall off; replacement and regluing; having them fall off; re-replacement and re-regluing; and finally, they stuck in place.  A few spots will need a touch-up with a brush.

The rails are a mixture of WEM's Enterprise/Hornet set and Artwox.

Yorktown carried quite a battery of .50 cal water-cooled MG's, which WEM kindly reproduced in PE.  Unfortunately, they don't fit the catwalks very well, where many were installed on CV-5.  I think the problem is that Tamiya underscaled the kits (info on the web indicates the kits are closer to 1/719 or 1/720 than true 1/700).  In most places, I had to turn the .50's sideways to get them to fit.  In one spot, port and aft, they actually had to overhang the flight deck to get them to point outward.  I might not have bothered with them if I'd known ahead of time--but I guess they look OK.

Aft starboard--a battery of four .50's

Foreward starboard--another battery of four.

Aft port--a battery of three; a single .50 was located further aft on the catwalk, between the 5" mounts and the guntub (for another .50) at the corner of the flight deck.

Progess on the island.  The .50's located there (there were five of them in place) fit better.

Assembled the PE CXAM radar.  I started with WEM's from their Enterprise/Hornet fret, but couldn't get the sides lined up and boxed in, and my last attempt broke apart from too much bending, straightening and rebending.

I had a set of radar from fstar, and it went together perfectly the first attempt.  It's also somewhat smaller than the WEM, which worked out well since the kit is reportedly undersized.

I still have to weather the CXAM and attach a piece of styrene rod as a mounting pole.

Also ahead are the eight 5" guns, eight 20mm's on the starboard side next to the island, and all the 20mm barrels for those molded in shields Tamiya kindly provided.

I found some 3-D printed 20mm's from Blue Ridge that I'm anxious to work with.  They arrived this week, but I haven't unpackaged them to look at them.  

Some nice work there check.

checkmateking02

Most of the time was spent working on the fiddly little catwalk railings--measuring and cutting; painting; repainting; fitting them in and trimming; placement and gluing; having them fall off; replacement and regluing; having them fall off; re-replacement and re-regluing; and finally, they stuck in place.

Looking good there! I'm getting ready to face that part of the build too which I have been putting off and really need to get back on it.

Thanks, Bish and AS.

I've been where you are at, Archangel!   PE can be the great tribulation of ship-buildingl. 

The PE sets in 1/350th scale makes my eyes cross. Think my next build will be doing a 1/32nd A-4E to A-4C conversion which the PE will be easier to handle for these old eyes of mine.

Wow Check, nice work.  Great closeups of your PE installs will help me when I get to that point.  I have been tinkering off and on with the Enterprise over the past month, but nothing exciting, just a bunch of base coats and pre-shading of the deck and the planes.    

AS:  at least, there are no deck rails on an A-4C--I don't think  ?

Thanks, scott.  Lots of preliminary work on these, for sure.  Doesn't make for quick progress.  I haven't even started any planes yet for the flight deck, and the ones on the hanger deck are all but invisible.

Check I love the work you are doing on the Yorktown. Will look great when finished.....Cheers Mark

I officially started glueing parts together on the Enterprise this morning.  

Sounds good, scott!  I've been working on some of the final little fiddly bits.  I'd like to finish up within the next week--I hope!

Here's the packaging for the Blue Ridge 3-D printed life rafts and 20mm's (on pedestals; they also produce a set on tripods).

They come on these odd little "sprues."

Here are the 20's painted up.  Eight of them were positioned outboard of the island, starboard.

Also finished four 1.1" guns, from Paper Lab.

After that, the battery ran out on the camera, so I didn't yet get shots of the last of the life rafts or the 5" guns.

Dang Check,

Those Blue Ridge parts are teasing me, I just primed all my photo etch frets (Tom's Yorktown Class set) and at this moment, looking at what seems thousands of parts for those 20's, all no bigger than a gnat.

Blue Ridge certainly simplified the 20mm situation, scott--from multiple parts down to one!

They were very easy to work with, and I got eight of them installed last night.

Each gun also has a small mounting pin on the base, if you'd want to drill a locating hole. I sanded them off, since I didn't want to drill any holes. I attached them flat to the deck--but the pin might be an advantage is some situations.

The other advantage, I think, is that Blue Ridge's offerings are fully 3-D, so no more flat-sided gun barrels.

5" guns for Yorktown, from Niko

I should be finishing up soon.  I installed these today, along with the island and the 20mm's on the flight deck.  Attached the flight deck crane and mostly now just waiting for the glue to set up.

Here are a few progress pics.  Been scratching my head because the parts on the B tree do not match to what the instructions say, then it dawned on me, the nameplate in the kit says Hornet, so it looks like I got a B tree for Hornet in an Enterprise kit.

USS Yorktown is finished.

First, a shot with a penny on the flight deck for establishing the scale.

A closer view of the island.

And a general "float around.

In the future, I'd like to add some Wildcats and Dauntlesses to the flight deck.

Thanks for hosting the GB, surfsup.  It was a good opportunity to build CV-5 so Enterprise has some company.  I still have Hornet in the stash.

Fair winds and following seas to everyone who is still working.  I look forward to seeing more carriers as they are launched. 

Very nicely done Checkmate! What a great looking carrier.

I really need to jump back on my Russian carrier; it's been sitting too long now. Hopefully soon.

Congrats Check on such a fine looking Yorktown.  Hope to join you soon with her sister and then we would have all three of the ships of this class in this GB.

Thanks, raider.  Have to admit, too, the eyesight isn't as good as it was--and putting in all the little PE parts was a challenge.  But I don't have the space for anything bigger than 1/700 in ships and 1/72 in aircraft, so they are the scales I'm kinda stuck with.  

I appreciate your kind words, Duke.  Over nine months was a long haul and I wasn't always sure I'd do justice to such an honored ship.

Thanks, scott.  It'll be great to see Enterprise and Hornet in the GB.  All of them played such significant roles in WWII.  I'm thinking maybe I'll do up Hornet for next year's 1942 GB--that or USS Atlanta; maybe both, if I'm really ambitious. 

My pleasure Checkmate and you have done a Great Job on the grand Lady.....Cheers mark.

Sadly I'm going have to bow out of this build. I just received notice from the realty agency I'm renting with that the owner wants to sell the house I'm in and I need to vacate by the end of October. So I'm going to have my hands full looking for a new house and packing up etc. etc. Which will give me no time for modeling until I'm settled in again. Boy I do hate moving.

Best Wishes to all here and Happy Modeling

Scott

Sorry to hear this, AS.  Haven't moved in over 25 years, but I remember the disruptions it causes to modeling.  Even after you settle into the new place, it takes a while to get all the stuff unpacked and the modeling arena set up again.

Hope all goes well for you in transition.

Sorry to hear that AS, moving does put a stop to things.  Maybe the next house might have even a better workspace.

Well, nothing exciting to report on my Enterprise build, other than I tried using PE rails from Tom's Modelworks PE set and was not happy with them.  They were just too soft and curly to work with, so I pulled from my stash of WEM and Gold Metal railings and things seem to go easier.