Dragon CVL 22 Independence

Thanks Baron.!

jack jack

Baron

I'm not quit sure I follow you on the "interior" colors. If I understand you correctly, your paint the entire aircraft, except for the canopies, with interior color ( green, white, grey etc. ) then paint the exterior colors such as white/grey bottom surface and blue top surface. This gives a clear canopy with green or white interior with a white base and blue surface. Am I correct?

Yes, sorry, I should have been....clearer!    You understand me correctly, though.  On a TBD at Midway, for example, paint the interior green around the cockpit area, then paint the blue and gray over that.  Seen through the canopy, it'll look like there's a real interior.

As I mentioned, the effect is really noticeable on the 1/350 aircraft, but it does work with the 1/700 planes, too.

Hang in there.  My fingers are 60 years old too, but sometimes it seems like the eyes are even older.

Thanks Rick,

You've given me some great ideas. Now if my 60 yr old eyes and fingers can work together it may turn out OK. I purchased quite a few 1/700 kits in my "younger" days and it takes a special challenge to make me go back to them but this may be it. I currently do more 1/350.

Thanks again and happy new year!

Jack

Considering the Dragon 1/700 CVL kits -

I have an Independence kit with transparent deck and hangar sides and PE hangar deck.  And I have a Belleau Wood kit with a grey deck, but still having transparent hangar sides and PE hangar deck.  Both have the hull bottom and nice Dragon aircraft., as well as the original Skywave single TBD and F9F.  Certainly the original Skywave kits do not have clear decks or the Dragon aircraft sets.  The Dragon aircraft in these kits are only TBF and F6F.

I can't speak to the contents of the Dragon USS Princeton or the Revell releases of this kit - don't have them close to hand.

But...  As for clear deck presentation, I do have a suggestion.  A few years back, somewhere on the internet, I saw a 1/700 model of a modern CVN with a partially clear deck.  The builder had masked the painting of the flight deck to leave a rectangular area clear, giving the impression of a cutaway, and he had painted the hangar deck and inside bulkheads very nicely and parked a few aircraft in view.  I thought it looked terrific, and I fully intend to build one that way.  Someday.  Presently, I think it is down below #75 on my list of future projects, but I'm really going to do it!

And keep in mind that some of the WWII carriers carried spare planes disassembled, with the wings on the upper bulkheads in the hangar and the fuselages hanging from the overhead.  Doing all that in 1/700 might clutter a rectangular view into the hangar, but the spare wings might look good.

As for painting the clear plastic aircraft, I agree with the method presented above.  Paint the whole bird, except for canopy, in Chromate Green.  Then paint the blue/ grey over the green.  The green will kinda glow through the canopy, quite nicely.

Good luck on your project,

Rick Heinbaugh

I have the 1/350 it has a regular deck,if you do yours clear it should be very cool

Baron

I'm not quit sure I follow you on the "interior" colors. If I understand you correctly, your paint the entire aircraft, except for the canopies, with interior color ( green, white, grey etc. ) then paint the exterior colors such as white/grey bottom surface and blue top surface. This gives a clear canopy with green or white interior with a white base and blue surface. Am I correct?

jack jack

I was just looking at this kit I've had for awhile and found that the entire flight deck and aircraft compliment are of clear plastic. The kit also includes a photo etched hangar bay floor and walls. Is the reason for including the clear parts to show a "glass" canopy on the aircraft and to detail the hangar bay?

Correct on both points. 

The idea to mold the aircraft is clear styrene is so simple and yet so brilliant.  I wish model companies had figured this out when I was a kid.

Others have already spoken about using the clear flight deck and detailing the hangar deck, so I'll speak to using the clear aircraft.  You can paint them with the interior color, whether green or aluminum, for the yellow wings subjects, then paint the exterior colors.  What you can see through the clear canopy gives the aircraft some depth.  It's even more noticeable in 1/350.  But still, I buy the Trumpeter sets to replace the kit aircraft on my 1/700 Hasegawa and Tamiya kits.  Trumpeter on the flight deck, kit planes into the hangar, where you can't really see much, anyway.  No more painting canopies silver or gray!

You can always choose to paint the flight deck piece, too, if you decide not to do a "Visible Indy".

Amen, jack jack!  The potential is there for a beautiful and fascinating model.

Yours must have come with different aircraft than mine.  If I remember right (which is questionable), about the only appropriate ones would be the Avenger and the Hellcat.  Or did the light carriers operate Wildcats right to the end of the Pacific war?

I do have the 1/700 kit. I am thinking about using the clear deck to show the cutaway but am not sure it can be done convincingly. Then again as long as I like it and want to do it and it's fun I guess it doesn't need to be perfect.

Thanks for the feedback

Jack

I suspect that Jack has a 1/700th kit because I'm not aware of a 350th version that shipped with that (and I helped Dragon design the kit, so shame on me if so). They have done 700th carriers with clear plastic decks, and it was to give the builder the option of having a "cutaway" view. You can paint over the whole thing if you like and not use any of the interior photo-etch, or just leave a portion of it unpainted to show the hangar bay and not the office spaces which are not included, I presume.

Deck gray decks, white bulkheads and overheads (walls and ceilings to landlubbers), and the bulkheads around the elevators in Navy Blue so that the camouflage wasn't destroyed when the elevators dropped down.

If I'm not mistaken, two Independence kits have appeared under the Dragon label:  a 1/700 one that was originally issued by Skywave and Dragon's own 1/35O version.  Which one are we talking about?  

I have the 1/700 one; it doesn't have a clear deck - or any appropriate aircraft.  Just one TBD and one F9F, neither of which ever operated from the ship.  Weird.  But otherwise it's a nice kit.

Mine does not have  a clear deck. I have started some subassemblies like the superstructure but that's about it for now.