Help!!

Coming to the end of my 1/700 USS Bataan LHD-5 build. A good pair of fine tweezers , any kind of magnifiers , sharp blades , and a economy size bottle of aspirin. lol. I try to build until my eyes hurt ( no magnifiers ) or I start to get frustrated at the tiny parts for not cooperating. Usually about 1-2 hours. If your building area has carpet, might I suggest putting down a white bed sheet over the carpet to lower the chances of feeding your parts to the CARPET MONSTER. that dreaded creature of many a modeling room . Just my $ 0.02. Happy building, and post pics!

Hi!

    Well , being as how it's waterline she'll be sturdier . I would recommend a wave pattern piece of glass or clear plexi . Glue it down well and go from there .

 The base will stabilize it and give you room to work without the ship moving a lot. If you got the plexi or glass in clear you should paint the bottom of it " Before " you mount the ship . Use lighter to darker washes with Navy blue as your last color.

  This will give you depth . Then glue on the ship with silicon sealer and let that dry and have a ball !   T.B.. 

 

She is a waterline model.

Ok got it.

First thing, figure out your display. If full hull she should have a couple of pedestals. Pick two points that look good, like third points, drill holes and stick some 8-32 bolts down through and epoxy or CA the heads. Mount to a wood base with some spacers. I use a chunk of pine thats got a long row of holes from a lot of use. Nuts on the ends etc.

You really wany to build a ship mounted on a base.

The biggest problem I've had with carrier models is keeping the hull from developing any twist, bends etc. It makes the "flat top", not, when you go to attach the deck and looks stupid. If the hull is mishapen theres no fix except to take it apart and redo it. Trust me on that. Kits these days seem to pack in all sorts of interior bulkheads and stuff, whereas the older carrier kits gave you one big robust hull part. If there's an interior part that can't be seen, don't use it. A lot of times the extra "below the waterline part" is warped. Just clamping stuff together doesn't fix it.

We'll tackle the PE later. It will be the most challenging part of the build.

Im pulling what little hair I have left out over the PE for the Tamiya 1/700 Indianapolis. Put it away for awhile to build the Dragon 1/700 Arizona.

 

bill

Have never done a 1/700 yet (got one on the shelf) but can imagine the PE for that thing, as I'm doing a 1/350 Gato.  A good magnifier, a couple of fresh single edge razor blades for triming and bending PE, or tools of choice. Whatever CA you prefer for attaching it.  Locate and reinstall whatever patience you lost along the way, and pad whatever wall you will want to sling it against, at least twice during the build. 

Do a WIP thread on her, sounds like a nice project.

GMorrison

This will be fun to watch. Is she the Essex class Gemini recovery carrier, or the LHD-1 gator ship? Is that one 1/350 or 1/700?

 

 

It is the 1/700 LDH. I am a car modeler, who does occasional aircraft and helicopters.

What do you normaly build,cars Armor or what? Ships go together just like any other plastic model. There are seams to fill just like airplanes but all in all it all the same. But now you mention photoetch that can be quite a challenge but it can be learned. I say have fun with it and learn from your mistakes. You can find alot of answers at this forum where there are a lot of great modlers in all aspects of the hobby.

 

Bill

kpnuts

The hull goes on the bottom, the decks go ontop of that (sorry couldn't resist)

 

 

Got to stop bringing beverages to the 'puter........

This will be fun to watch. Is she the Essex class Gemini recovery carrier, or the LHD-1 gator ship? Is that one 1/350 or 1/700?

 

The hull goes on the bottom, the decks go ontop of that (sorry couldn't resist) can't help with that specific kit but the most important tools in my resources is pegs and elastic bands for holding the hull together when gluing it.