U.S.S.NIMITZ - 1/72 scale

Years ago we went to the Air and Space Museum in DC and they had a HUGE flattop under glass, maybe the Enterprise? This thing must have been at least 10-12 ft. long. I took some pictures of it but can't quite locate them. It was probably 1/72 scale?

Yes, the Air and Space Museum has a 1/72 CVN-65 in the Naval Aviation gallery.

Yes, the Nation Air and Space Museum has CVN-65 in 1/72 scale.

The NASM model of CVN-65 is 1/100 scale.

Somebody in the 80's used to sell a 1/72 fiber glass kit of  the Nimitz,came in 3 pieces along with the deck and island,it use to advertise in FSM all the time

The Nimitz 1:72 is about 5 meters long, a very big one. Yet so small when compared to the Japanese's Yamato 1:10 which is about 25 meters long.

BTW, can anyone underwrite Tojo72's comments with some credible evidences? I just don't believe because the size sounds insane.

Cover feature in the August '87 issue:

http://www.finescale.com/en/Magazine%20Issues/1987/August%201987.aspx

Not sure if it's the same kit that was advertised as mentioned, but it was described as a fiberglass hull in three sections, and IIRC, weighed some 200+ pounds.

Smart person would probably buy a Dilly boat trailer sized for a 17' boat before getting that 1/72 Nimitz.

Applying my calculator, the WL length at 1/72 is 14.4', beam 1.86', draft 0.51'

Multiplying that out, and using a body quotient of 0.65 gives an underwater volume of 8.88 cubic feet, which, using a 63# c.f. is 560 pounds of displacement. (Sorry to international readers, my remembered constants for buoyancy are all in imperial units.)

So, if the hull was about 200#, you'd need another 300# of superstructure, a/c, running gear, batteries, etc., just to get a 1/72 hull to navigational waterline.

(Anyone want to hazard a guess how much a 1/72 Tomcat weighs?  90-95 a/c might be lot to balance up on that flight deck.)

CapnMac82

Multiplying that out, and using a body quotient of 0.65 gives an underwater volume of 8.88 cubic feet, which, using a 63# c.f. is 560 pounds of displacement. (Sorry to international readers, my remembered constants for buoyancy are all in imperial units.)

So, if the hull was about 200#, you'd need another 300# of superstructure, a/c, running gear, batteries, etc., just to get a 1/72 hull to navigational waterline.

I found the aforementioned issue and you're pretty close on those numbers.  It says the empty weight is 200 pounds and the finished model (presumably including motors, batteries, R/C equipment etc) required 285 pounds of ballast to get it to the waterline for an all-up weight of 585 pounds. EDIT: Oops, it says total displacement of 585 pounds, so total actual weight should be even more.

It's pretty much a lifetime project,somebody would be able to tinker with that for decades.If I had the money,I would still lack the attention span necessary to finish it.

My post disappeared?

Phil_H

285 pounds of ballast to get it to the waterline for an all-up weight of 585 pounds. EDIT: Oops, it says total displacement of 585 pounds, so total actual weight should be even more.

I was using round numbers to keep it simple.  Plenty to "rivet count" about, since free-flowing fresh water is considered to displace 63.3 to 63.2 #/cf; filters & purified water (think pools) can go as low as 62.9#/cf.  (Oceanic salt water may be safely averaged at 65#/cf.)

In this case, the all-up weight and the displacement weight will be close enough be of little difference. 

Did have a wacky thought between dreams last night, of collecting up some submarine ballast tank servos, and "flood" her down to LWL.  Which would save on having to tote a couple hundred pounds of ballast around.

Was over in Planes, where there is a post about a flying A380 about 1/48 using miniature gas turbine engines.  While marveling at 2 meters of RC airliner, I started servo counting in my head, and settled on needing a 10 channel RC set.  Which made me think of this post over here, that you could "get away" with only a 3-channel radio for 5 meters of CVN.  (Yeah, right, need sound effects and other cool stuff for a beastie of that size :) )

Been half-noodling if the trailer would have room for a Spru-can, and a Knox or twain to properly deploy . . .

Hi :

   I did a 1/72 model of the SHELL ORION to operate in real water conditions . This model was 17.45 ft long and had a beam of 6 feet . I used my Bass boat trailer to launch it when I ran it . I had to outfit my radio with six more channels to do this . The ship itself was plywood with fiberglas overlay . I used four trolling motors so it would behave like the real girl which had the Azipod type propulsion system .

     Worked great too . Problem .The batteries .I had to use four 12 volt auto batteries to run this thing just for the motors , a fifth covered the other operating features .I don't know the total weight but it felt as heavy as my RANGER bass boat.

  I promise you ,I will NEVER do that again ! But , it sure was fun seeing this model surging down the channel in front of my motorwhaleboat . Well ,I had to operate it from asea . You know , there were to many houses in the way on shore and I didn't want to tresspass on folks . Besides my lady friend was a good boat operator anyway .       Tanker - Builder          I used the " ballast tank " method to sink her to loaded depth in scale and also I could adjust that for fully loaded and everything in between .

jmcquate

The NASM model of CVN-65 is 1/100 scale.

x2.  The NASM model is 1/100 scale.   It used to be in a fairly prominent position at the entrance to the naval aviation display area.  I was there this past June and it's been moved to another location more out of the traffic flow.  It's been there a long time and could stand some "freshening up".

Mark

Hello, My farther in-law Richard Quinlan was the builder of this model. It was on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler back in 1986,I believe. He took it to events around the Central Illinois area for a few years before donating it to Nimitz museum. Thanks for writing this post. Im glad to hear it is still being appreciated after all these years.

Fredricksberg reamins a beatiful place to go visit, and with a delightful selection of wineries, too.  The Nimitz museum wants a whole day to see, at least for ethousiasts like our crowd.

JKelsh71

Hello, My farther in-law Richard Quinlan was the builder of this model. It was on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler back in 1986,I believe. He took it to events around the Central Illinois area for a few years before donating it to Nimitz museum. Thanks for writing this post. Im glad to hear it is still being appreciated after all these years.

 

Older thread I missed the first time around. Thanks for kicking it up.

Building a model at 1/100 scale is pretty awesome. That suggests scratchbuilding just about everything.

Bill

I remember seeing Richard Quinlan's NIMITZ at an early Chicago RC Hobby & Trade Association show, maybe 1985 or 86.  The following year he brought it to the Wisconsin Scale Boating Association regatta in Milwaukee.  IIRC, it was in a small covered cargo trailer, in sections.  The model wasbol ted together at lakeside and ballast in the form of wtaer filled gallon milk jugs was added.  The fiberglass semi kit was made by a company called Super Ships in Louisiana.  Loyalhanna Dockyard now has the hull molds, and the model is still available.

There are a couple of guys I know that have built or are building 1/96 scale carriers.  One of them is working on a model of the GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77).  There's a group of r/c modelers who get together annually to run 1/96 th and 1/100 th scale ship models.  The event usually takes place in October in Rocky Mount,NC.  This years event has been cancelled.  Here's a video of the 2018 Fleet Run. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ibvFFLKhcg

GMorrison

 

 

JKelsh71

Hello, My farther in-law Richard Quinlan was the builder of this model. It was on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler back in 1986,I believe. He took it to events around the Central Illinois area for a few years before donating it to Nimitz museum. Thanks for writing this post. Im glad to hear it is still being appreciated after all these years.

 

 

 

 

Hello and welcome!  Interesting story! Did Richard have a 17' tow trailer?

 

 

Older thread I missed the first time around. Thanks for kicking it up.

Building a model at 1/100 scale is pretty awesome. That suggests scratchbuilding just about everything.

 

Bill

 

One thing to consider when building a carrier is the air wing. If I had to scratchbuild a carrier, I'd build the ship, and look to the market for the planes. Way easier to build the ship than it is to turn out a dozen or so identical models of 7-8 different plane types. I suspect 1/100 was chosen for two reasons - it kept the size down. And some of the planes were available as 1/100 kits from Tamiya and others, which were not tough to come by in the 70s and 80s.