USS NIMITZ

Sorry no call outs but this site has nice large photos of the real deal.

If the Nimitz search page doesn't come up just type it in the search bar and hit go.

E...

Sorry for the delay, but here's the colors from the 1/350 scale Nimitz paint guide:

FS  33438 Light Stone (for the aircraft radomes)

FS 36001 Cocoa Brown (hull antifouling red)

FS 37875 Flat White (aircraft)

FS 37038 Flat Black  (boot stripe, tow tractor wheels, and aircraft)

FS 37375 Light Compass Grey (aircraft)

FS 32160  Orange (tow tractors)

FS 36320 Dark Compass Grey   (Haze grey for hull and superstructure, aircraft)

FS 36081 Gunship Dk. Gray   (Flight Deck)

Now, I'm no expert, so I'm not sure if any of these colors are correct.  They're just what Trumpeter uses.  Hope this helps!

Its an older kit which predates their 1:350 efforts,  when they were still trying to determine what they would do

You learn something new every day - I had no idea Trumpeter was cranking kits out in oddball scales as well as the more common ones.

Bigb123

Speaking of the 500 scale kit - who makes a good photoetch set that could be used on it??

Nothing dedicated to the subject in that scale.  You would have to cobble together railings from Toms or Gold Medal Models and you'ld still be short on class-specific items (radars,  masting, etc.).

1:500 is an odd-ball scale

Speaking of the 500 scale kit - who makes a good photoetch set that could be used on it??

I've got a guide for the 1/350 scale kit that I can use to give you more ideas, but I'm at work at the moment and will have to dig it out when I get home. I"ll let you know what I come up with.

For the Haze Gray of the hull and vertical surfaces I've used both Testors #1138 in the small bottle and Model Master Neutral Gray (FS 36270).

For the deck MM Gunship Gray or MM Engine Gray.

F-4's from VF-74 and VFMA-333 were aboard for the first deployment.

F-14's had replaced the F-4's prior to the the F/A-18's deploying.

If you want to  model a specific time period, you can search for the histories of Carrier Wings 8 & 11 to see what composed the airwing for different time periods.

Mark