Trumpeter 1:700 Saratoga-Done

I have now put the funnel on the deck, and mounted all the ship's boats.

While installing one of the boats, I slipped and let the ship roll over onto its starboard side.  That knocked two PE searchlight stations off the funnel, and I can't find them!  Hope I can find something in my spare PE stuff that will allow me to build new stations.

I am debating whether to put the planes on the deck, or install the remaining PE next.  Both will be fragile.

Nino

Don, I always love your work.  from Airplanes to "Zeppelins", all fantastic.

 

    Any chance you can post some of the rigging Diagrams?  Like many others I have both the Tamiya and Trumpeter kits sittting on shelves.  They need more research.

 

  Thanks.

          Jim.

 

Don Stauffer

Must have made it hard to avoid those wires!

They may have made arrangments to slack those for landing--long base antenna like that would be for getting traffic over transcontinental distances, and less important for FlightOps.

Have a bro who used to fly piston-engined C-2 on oil-fired carriers.  The updraft from the stack with all boilers lit gave aviators plenty of reason to stay away fro mthe starboard side of the flight deck when landing.

Don, I always love your work.  from Airplanes to "Zeppelins", all fantastic.

    Any chance you can post some of the rigging Diagrams?  Like many others I have both the Tamiya and Trumpeter kits sittting on shelves.  They need more research.

  Thanks.

          Jim.

I'm looking ahead to the rigging now- most of which are antennas.  I am amazed at what a rats nest it is.  I know some carriers have masts that lower out to the side.  This has long wire (HF, I assume) antennas going from funnel to rear corner of flight deck, and from mainmast to the front corner of the deck!  No way to lower those!  Must have made it hard to avoid those wires!  Of course, with the speed of that ship, and the slowness of the biplanes, it is not like landing jets, but still!

I have two diagrams, each from a different source, and they both show the same antennas and other rigging, so I assume these are pretty much correct.

Tojo72

Making good progress Don,those little bi planes look tough

 

Tedious for sure.  I ordinarily do not mind rigging biplanes, but in 1:700 I decided to pass on these :-)

There's some good stuff here. 

Subscribed 

T e d

GMorrison

Don, have you ever read about the USN "Fleet Problems" of the 20s and 30s?

Brief overview:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_problem

Saratoga played a central part in most of them, which were largely about defending from attacks of what were then the US strategic interests, like the Gatun locks etc.

In one of them I think Saratoga was "sunk" by aircraft from the Lexington.

On a related topic, I think your ship needs a moored airship...

 

Thanks, that was interesting reading.  I have a book about Adm. Reeves that goes into some of that stuff.  I believe he was featured in an early part of the movie "Task Force."

Don, have you ever read about the USN "Fleet Problems" of the 20s and 30s?

Brief overview:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_problem

Saratoga played a central part in most of them, which were largely about defending from attacks of what were then the US strategic interests, like the Gatun locks etc.

In one of them I think Saratoga was "sunk" by aircraft from the Lexington.

On a related topic, I think your ship needs a moored airship...

CapnMac82

...Finding 1/700 USN biplanes as aftermarket might be comlicated .  Might try Shapeways. 

Trumpeter sells the sets separately.  I've bought additional biplanes for my Sara, as well as sets of WW II aircraft for some other builds.  They should be easy enough to find online.  Squadron offers them, too, through their catalog.

Skywave has sets, too, but I don't know if they are the Trumpeter kits, and therefore, molded in clear plastic, or if they are original to Skywave, and molded in solid color.

I found some planes.  Ordered from Mega Hobby.  Got the BFC planes.  Since putting the planes on the deck will probably be the last step in the build, there will be some time available before I need them.  Coming along nice on the T2Ms.

Don Stauffer

When did Navy start painting top of upper wing yellow?

I think (only think) it was about the 20s--somewhere between Akron and Langley.  (I thin all the Sparrowhawks had chrome yellow wings, maybe, perhaps.)

Finding 1/700 USN biplanes as aftermarket might be comlicated .  Might try Shapeways.

Got the decals finished and applied.  The idea worked fine.

Was almost ready to glue the funnel to the flight deck when I realized I'd better do the arresting gear first.  I am using five mil monofilament (fly tying thread).  What a bear!  I have to keep the tip of my tweezers immaculately clean, and tape a sheet of white paper to the bench to see the stuff.

GMorrison

Yes, and the "D" in MDC is Douglas Aircraft. So I guess Douglas is now a part of Boeing.

Saw a F-18 at Stead Airport stand on it's tail once. Something like that go wrong and the results unfortunatey would be pretty spectacular.

 

 

When they started flying the -15 in St. Louis (a commercial airport as well as the Mac airport), they didn't want to mix the -15 traffic with the commercial and business stuff, so they created what they called a Viking departure.  Immediately after liftoff they climbed at an 87 degree climb angle through the top of the TCA.  I don't know for sure why 87 and not 90, but I am assuming it was to avoid ambiguity in the flight control system.  What is your azimuth of flight when you are climbing vertically.

Yes, and the "D" in MDC is Douglas Aircraft. So I guess Douglas is now a part of Boeing.

Saw a F-18 at Stead Airport stand on it's tail once. Something like that go wrong and the results unfortunatey would be pretty spectacular.

GMorrison

Don, I remember a beautiful B40 model you built some time ago. I bought that kit because I liked yours so much, but I never built it, yet. And my dad, UAL 48 years seniority, passed away.

I'd never heard of the Great Lakes Aircraft Company, where the "G" comes from. That's your part of the world, you probably have. In that era there were literally dozens of companies in every region.

Now you have the XB-70 showing up in Boeing ads on tv. Go figure.

 

 

Remember. NAA is now part of Boeing.  In fact, two of the three aerospace companies I worked for (NAA and MDC) are now part of Boeing.

The most spectacular Great Lakes I ever saw was one powered with a turbine engine with a reversible prop!  You wouldn't believe how square the square loops were.  He was diving vertically at low altitude- with prop in reverse as a brake!

Don, I remember a beautiful B40 model you built some time ago. I bought that kit because I liked yours so much, but I never built it, yet. And my dad, UAL 48 years seniority, passed away.

I'd never heard of the Great Lakes Aircraft Company, where the "G" comes from. That's your part of the world, you probably have. In that era there were literally dozens of companies in every region.

Now you have the XB-70 showing up in Boeing ads on tv. Go figure.

This model is shaping up very nicely.

Just beautiful Don. You are a real model builder. 

GMorrison

A little reading describes this.

Martin built a series of bombers for the Navy, the T1M through T4M. They were a main component of air wings on Lexington and Saratoga through the 1920's.

A  three person aircraft, the fuselage was large enough that it had some life in the 20's as a commercial aircraft as well. Right up your alley, Don.

In 1928 Martin sold their Cleveland factory to the Great Lakes Aircraft Company, who then built the aircraft as the TG- series. That company is apparently still around in some form in the acrobatics market.

Your aircraft has a Wasp radial. There's a review of the kit that suggests the instructions make it sound as though the engine has a cowl ring, but it's exposed cylinders. I probably wouldn't bother to wire them.

 

Thanks!  I had thought it looked like a Martin, but had not been able to find pics of the TnM series.  I have the first two finished now.

Don- check with the sellers (about what they accept for payment, most will show it in their ad).   I don't have pay-pal either but buy on ebay quite a bit using my debit card.

A little reading describes this.

Martin built a series of bombers for the Navy, the T1M through T4M. They were a main component of air wings on Lexington and Saratoga through the 1920's.

A  three person aircraft, the fuselage was large enough that it had some life in the 20's as a commercial aircraft as well. Right up your alley, Don.

In 1928 Martin sold their Cleveland factory to the Great Lakes Aircraft Company, who then built the aircraft as the TG- series. That company is apparently still around in some form in the acrobatics market.

Your aircraft has a Wasp radial. There's a review of the kit that suggests the instructions make it sound as though the engine has a cowl ring, but it's exposed cylinders. I probably wouldn't bother to wire them.

Surface_Line

My Tumpeter Saratoga came with TG-2, SBU Helldiver, F3F and BFC aircraft.  Are you saying that the aircraft box in yours had four identical packages of the big torpedo plane?

If not, you can still find the F3F, BFC and SBU on ebay.

 

No box, sprues for planes were in clear plastic envelope- five identical sprues.  I mis-read the type, it was TG-2.  That says Grumman to me, but from what I could find online, Grumman never made torpedo bomber till much later.  Thought at first it could be the TB that both Curtiss and Martin produced, but that had watercooled V engine, these are aircooled radial.

I'll look on eBay, but I do not have a Paypal account.  Anyone know if those other planes are available from any regular hobby distributors?

My Tumpeter Saratoga came with TG-2, SBU Helldiver, F3F and BFC aircraft.  Are you saying that the aircraft box in yours had four identical packages of the big torpedo plane?

If not, you can still find the F3F, BFC and SBU on ebay.

This wasn't in the box?

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/cv/cv-03/700-trump/trumpeter-review.html

I've seen articles where a decent F3F can be made adding an upper wing to a F4F.

Big disappointment yesterday!  The instructions show 3 types of aircraft for the kit.  Opened the package to find only one type, and less aircraft than what the instructions say.

The type included is called a TB-2.  Closest thing I can find is the Martin T-2M.  Can find very little info.  I found one color drawing, profile only.  When did Navy start painting top of upper wing yellow?

I would sure like to include some fighters on deck.  Any source of tween war aircraft in 1:700 scale?

I tried to find info on what air groups the Sara carried pre-WW2, without success.

Also, printer ink came yesterday.  Got the stack stripe printed, now in the 3-day drying period.

I have decided, while waiting for the ink to come, and then for the decal to dry, I'll start on the planes.  There are about thirty of them.  They are clear plastic so I need to mask the canopies before I paint them.  Never built a 1:700 carrier before- those planes are sure small!

modelcrazy

 

Very nicely done so far Don. Have the same Kit so watching with keen interest.....Cheers mark 

gene1

Don, What colors did you use on your bases? I do like them I made base's with smooth water for some Iron Clads I built.

 

I used Dark Blue, on the back of the water (gloss, but because it was on the back it would turn out glossy anyway).  And I used gloss white for turbulent areas atop the bow wave, some of the other waves made by the ship, and the turbulence at the stern.

I really screwed up Thursday.  I had all the photo etch on the funnel, painted the gray, forgot the black stripe!  I should have done the painting before the PE went on.  Now, I cannot mask it because the PE is fragile and I would have to mask over it.  I hand painted the cap, as I intended to do, but am making decal strips.  I will be able, I believe, to use this over the flat areas and do the black on the PE walkways by brush.  But my printer ran out of ink.  Ordered some and it will be here Sunday or Monday.  I need let the stuff dry on the decal paper for at least 3 days before I dullcoat it, so won't be able to do anything on the funnel till I get back from 4th vacation following week.