Launching the USS John C Stennis

She's a beauty, nice work. Threads a good touch. You should post some more pix, esp. close-ups.

Very nice, Maddog. It's also good to see the Bainbridge. We scrapped that booger about nine or ten years ago and miss her here.

Thanks rokket! I'm glad you stopped in to see this. I'll try for a few more closeups; anything in particular you'd like to see besides the arrester cables?

Thanks subfixer, I'm glad to see you here too and I'm glad you like my 'target'. I was so happy to find that kit of the Bainbridge way back at a kit collector's expo. I snatched it up quick! I am hoping to find more kits like her of some of the earlier cruisers and destroyers in that scale or 1/700 scale, although I doubt any more were done.

Thanks again for the comments guys!

Great job, Duke. I too, would like more pixs.

I remember, vaguely, building the Bainbridge as a kid, but God alone knows where the boxes of models ended up. No doubt in a landfill in one of three states by now!

Good job on both of your kits!

Thanks guys! Keep watch here and I should have more pics up this weekend at the latest.

Great job on the build.

Thanks Falcon! Glad to stopped in to view my work.

nice AC maddog.
i did the Big E in 1/350 and RCed it.

X subfixer, Retired MR2
Bushnell/Fulton

ANY closeups, Duke, but maybe some from flight deck and the island.

Forgot to mention this, some might find it amusing...did a search on the John C, to get some more info. Yahoo/Google brought up: "CVN74 aircraft carrier on e-bay!"

Like a ship that has 16 miles of telephone cable, serves 3+ meals a day to a crew of 5,000, and costs $3-4 billion is going to be on e-bay! Computers and marketing are great.

Thanks to everyone that posted. Wingnut, that must have been fun. I considered RC'ing this one, but I don't have anywhere to sail her. Rokket, I can't imagine the Navy selling Stennis on E-bay!

Now, since everyone has been asking for detail pics of my newest aircraft carrier, I've arranged for this little tour. Unfortunately that won't include the Hanger deck since I didn't put one in. Still, I hope you all enjoy this little tour.

Our flight plan will have us flying down the starboard side of the carrier before coming around to land so everyone can take a close look at the deck and island.

Now, would everyone please board the plane.....



We are now on approach to my John C Stennis, and are now passing to starboard. If you look out the left window you'll see a good shot of the Island coming up:



Take a look back and you'll see some of the air wing collected on deck in front of the Island:



We are now crossing the bow of my Stennis; you can see they've cleared the deck for our landing:



Here we are on final approach. "Call the Ball":



Now that we are parked in front of the island ready to debark you can see her Island more closely:



Now we can walk out to the arrestor cables to take a closer look. Our pilot caught the three wire!



Now, let's go in and tour the Island and check out the antenna farm. Afterwards, there will be burgers in the galley for everyone!



Thanks for joining me on this tour of my USS John C Stennis!

So, how did everyone like the tour?

Loved it. I'm trying to talk the better half into letting me do this. The thing I would like to see is detail on the aircraft....not a gripe believe me the ship is AWSOME!!!

what time period are you doing the stennis in as i see tomcats, phantoms, hornets, skyhawks, corsairs or crusaders & a vigalante on the elevator ?

Thanks guys! I'm, glad you took the tour.

QUOTE: Originally posted by 1st_combat_comm Loved it. I'm trying to talk the better half into letting me do this. The thing I would like to see is detail on the aircraft....not a gripe believe me the ship is AWSOME!!!

Yeah, that is something I'll be doing next. I plan on drilling out holes in the intakes of several aircraft that have prominent intakes, as well as paint the exhaust on all these birds. I also will be painting the metal surfaces on the tails of the Phantoms. Anything else would almost be prohibitive as these aircraft were molded so poorly; almost as an afterthought.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ddp59 what time period are you doing the stennis in as i see tomcats, phantoms, hornets, skyhawks, corsairs or crusaders & a vigalante on the elevator ?

Actually, in all honesty, I wasn't really targeting a particular time period as of yet. I was simply filling the flight deck to make it look good for the pics. I did leave off the F-8 Crusaders though, what you saw were Corsairs. Eventually I'll nail it down to a particular time period. I will probably try to get an early to mid service time where there was the greatest variation to the air wing during the transition to more modern aircraft, but I have to do a bit of research to determine what aircraft were present then. The interesting thing about this kit is that they provide so many aircraft including ones that I didn't think ever served on a Nimitz class carrier!

Thanks again for taking my tour!

Duke,

The Stennis is a newer carrier. The first deployment was in early 1998. There were never any A-7 Corsairs, or A-6 Intruders aboard the ship. The only transistion the Stennis has gone through WILL occur after the ship completes its current refit. For the first time the Stennis will operate Super Hornets instead of Tomcats, that's it for any a/c changes.

Cheers,

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mike F6F Duke, The Stennis is a newer carrier. The first deployment was in early 1998. There were never any A-7 Corsairs, or A-6 Intruders aboard the ship. The only transistion the Stennis has gone through WILL occur after the ship completes its current refit. For the first time the Stennis will operate Super Hornets instead of Tomcats, that's it for any a/c changes. Cheers, Mike

Thanks Mike! I guess everything comes off except the Tomcats, Hornets, Vikings, and Hawkeyes. Did they keep the EA -6's? Otherwise it's gonna be a slim air wing!