1/350 USS Carl Vinson Project.

 Started painting the planes and decided to scratch-build a scaffold for the cockpit. This plane will have it's cockpit open and the scaffold next to it on the hangar deck.

I am just about done with the A-7's for the hangar deck. So in terms of time it takes about 3 hours per aircraft to build, detail, paint and decal. I sealed the decals and just need to install the canopies. Then start the F-14's. Here is a picture of the A-7's having decals put on.

The A-7's are complete and staged in hangar bay 2. The hangar bay is now done. Now on to the F-14's of hangar bay 3.

Your build is looking more and more awesome!  That hanger looks amazing.

Wolfman_63

The A-7's are complete and staged in hangar bay 2. The hangar bay is now done. Now on to the F-14's of hangar bay 3.

 

 

    Wolfman_63,

      You can let out a Howl of Success over this Build. To top it off your Lighting is fantastic. Great job with the Fiber layout.

     By the way, If you crop the Hanger Pic to just the deck and Hanger opening, it looks almost Real!   No complaint but a little more depth of field will make the picture really pop.  And that is as negative as I could ever get on this WIP. Wonderful Job and glad you are letting us watch.

     Nino

this really is an amazing build , not really into this sort of ship , but your build is outstanding .

steve5

 Working on the F-14's for hangar bay # 3. I have the placement and all the planes detailed with the PE parts. Next up is to paint and decal them. Four will be VF-51 and four will be VF-111.

Wolfman_63

 Working on the F-14's for hangar bay # 3. I have the placement and all the planes detailed with the PE parts. Next up is to paint and decal them. Four will be VF-51 and four will be VF-111.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  They look so real you'd think they were asleep.

    Nino

The F-14's for hangar bay 3 are now complete. Here are some pictures of Bay 3 as well as close-ups of the F-14's. Starting on hangar bay 1 next.

Not sure what is going on but it appears some of my pictures from the begining are disappearing. On my phone it shows a gray square and says "URL signature expired"

Not sure what that means. The few other forums I posted photos on still show the photo's.

If you are following and are looking for some of the earlier photo's, I set up an album of the build on Flickr. The album link is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128642409@N05/albums/72157687002588814

Thanks to all for your interest in my project.

Those are some nice looking aircraft.

 Working on the two SH-3 helicopters for hangar bay 1. This one modified to have the sliding door open and rotors folded. Second one will have rotors and tail folded. Had to scratch build the struts. Will post pictures of both in hangar bay once the second is done.

Your work with Fiberoptics is enlightening. ( No pun intended).

 Some questions..

   Did the Helos come with Open doors or did you have to drill'em out?

What do you use to cut the fibers to length (without frayed ends or a Cut finger...)?

 Beautiful and Exacting work. Wish I could...

     Nino

I had to drill/cut out the doors on the Helo's.

I used a sprue cutter to trim the fiber optics. Gives a nice even cut.

Thanks!

Here are the rest of the pictures of the SH-3H helicopters and the start of the S-3A showing the PE details.

The two S-3A's from VS-29 for hangar bay 1 are now complete. Next up us the two EA-6B's.Then I just have the A-6E's and E-2C's to complete.

this much more than a single kit , more like about 50 kits , what a great project , your doing such a great job too .

steve5

Thanks! I will be making all 86 aircraft so it's like doing 87 kits. 

 The two EA-6B's from VAQ-134 for hangar bay 1 are done. Next are the A-6E's from VA-52 then on to the E-2C's. The decals for these are from Star Fighter. I just added the "NL" and the ship/CVW decals. I really wish Trumpeter would make all their planes the same way. These had the canopy molded into the plane. Makes it difficult to decal and seal.

Wolfman_63

 The two EA-6B's from VAQ-134 for hangar bay 1 are done. Next are the A-6E's from VA-52 then on to the E-2C's. The decals for these are from Star Fighter. I just added the "NL" and the ship/CVW decals. I really wish Trumpeter would make all their planes the same way. These had the canopy molded into the plane. Makes it difficult to decal and seal.

 

 That's 1/350?  I'd be lucky to get a 1/72 to look as realistic and then only if I had help on the decals.

Wolfman_63 you have outdone yourself.   I can't wait to see you light it up. Your pictures on the other Hosting sites are fantastic too.

 You should display it in a Library or Museum and give Tours (paid) every Saturday.

No Kidding, fantastic detailing. Thank you for making me salivate.

    Nino.

Had a nice quiet Friday off of work so I spent the day doing the A-6E's from VA-52 for hangar bay 1. The tail and lance decals came out great. All that is left to do is two E-2C's then I can start assembling and detailing the ship.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. The E-2C's from VAW-114 are done. This completes all the aircraft for the hangar bays. Now I can start running the wires for the LED's and assembling the ship. Once I get the main sections together I can start detailing the outside of the ship. Then back to building 62 more aircraft. Anyhow, here are the pictures of the E-2C's. (It helps that I built 1/48 scale models of all the aircraft)

 Last post I said I could see light at the end of the tunnel. Well tonight I wired everything up and did a light check before gluing down the flight deck. Right at 245 hours so far into this build.What you see lit up is 40 LED's and 500' of fiber optic lines. Here is the light check pictures:

Wow, beyond wow. That's manufactured perfection. maybe the Navy could display it at the academy......

what gobears01 said , that is so cool .

Wow. you have a cool plane man, I can't do like you, I just do this, easier and bi glue nor solder required, tab and holes design

This is about the coolest thing that I've seen in a while.

Back to detailing the ship. Working on the catwalks, CIWS, and safety nets. I really like the Veteran Models CIWS parts. They are very detailed and easy to assemble. The photoetch catwalks and safety nets are nice looking. Here are some pictures of the details. Still need paint and add other details to catwalks (hoses and reels, storage boxes, etc.)