building an aircraft carrier to house 1:48 aircraft

sounds like a lot of work ahead of you!

I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but in 1/48th scale, I hope you have either a garage or a warehouse to store the thing in ...

Whatever the dimensions, it should be 1:48 scale.  Put down a piece of paper to represent the flight deck, and put three 1:48 scale planes on it, and see what dimensions you need.  Then, repeat for the hanger deck and put six 1:48 scale planes. It seems very reasonable to me that the size will be dictated by the six planes on the hanger deck, not the planes on the flight deck. I assume you intend to build only a portion of the ship, not a full 1:48 scale carrier. I assume you only intend to depict the hanger deck and flight decks, and only a small portion of each.

Right- if I understand the story Yonaga was just under 1,000 feet long. So your model would be almost 21 feet long. In any case, your ship model scale is 1/4" = 1'-0".

Sounds like a very ambitious project.

What are these books you're talking about?

Where do you intend to source the quarter-scale Japanese AAA guns?  

You can find some German 20s but IJN ...

I would think that you would be better off to do a cross section of her rather that try and build the entire thing.

The USS Midway (now a museum in San Diego Ca) has a 1/48 scale model on the hanger deck made of clear plex, the thing is huge.

Hmm, wonder what the deck-to-deck distance was on Japanese carriers?

Seems like US carriers were 20-25' clear--which would be a workable ±6"--a six-deck island with 12' deck-to-deck would add another 18" of height.  Which would be impressive, if only for all the signal flags one could display.

But, beyond finding IJN weapons in 1/48, it would be getting enough reference photos of IJN hangar decks to "fill in" the "empty spaces."

Hmm, Akagi was 855 x 105'  which is 213" x 26" at 1:48, which would be a sight to see, most of 18' long.  Even at 1/72, that's a big carrier.

It's a heck of an idea, even as small as, say a scale 96'  (24") sectional bit--could probably keep and entire club occupied for some time.  At least until it came time for painting <G>

tigerman

Sounds like a very ambitious project.

What are these books you're talking about?

Here's some info on the books.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=the+seventh+carrier&cp=16&qe=dGhlIHNldmVudGggY2Fycg&qesig=w0v1XJ-4CXyUfmBXnOn5nA&pkc=AFgZ2tk-BttfTBy6rXkfEZzG32Wix1jHQ4l5xPL1jFXmQO5FM6Rv8bFWyO1Xw9LlYuHur1GA0TrP5RBcQmQxmvO7dFUjyYJuQQ&pf=p&sclient=psy&rlz=1R2RNTN_enUS357&biw=980&bih=508&source=hp&aq=0&aqi=&aql=&oq=the+seventh+carr&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=d320757eb127e2ba

Quantrill

I'am wanting to build a fictional aircraft carrier from the seventh carrier books, the YONAGA. I'am building 3 Zero-sens, 3 Aichi D3A's, 3 B5N's. i want to put the 3 Zero-sens on the flight deck and the D3A's and the B5N's in the hanger deck getting worked on and just stored. I'am not sure what size to make it to hold 1:48 plaines in it. I'am going to put all the A.A up 127 millimeter and 25 millimeter guns. If any one has any sugestin's i'am open to them

Now something that size definitely should have a motor put in it!  Heck it could be a manned model like that guy in Maine the built a 30' model of the Graf Spee.

Hmmm ... has reality sunk in on this project?

Probably.

But, if a person built just a section forward of the island of flight and hangar deck, from, oh, the centerline out, that could be a manageable 18-24" wide 6-7" tall, and 12-13" deep. 

A person would still need a lot of plans and references for the items that would be needed--like the inside of the hangar deck bulkheads and the like.  But, it could be achievable.  Daunting, but achievable.

Might be a lot easier to do such a section of a US carrier, if only for the documentation and accessories.

My suggestion, get a beat up boat to base it on and plan to have it enter the water :)