Anyone interested in a Kitbash GB?

Jeff Herne wrote:

Like I don't have enough going on...ok...here's my entry... I bet you didn't know, is that the US Navy had drawings of just such a conversion. Using the same basic methods as they did on the Lexington and Saratoga (converted from battle-cruiser hulls in the 1920s), the US actually had drawings done of Iowa-Class converted fleet carriers.

Well Jeff, you could have teased them with the plans from the Spring Styles book at the US Naval Historical Center 

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/albums/s511-cv.htm

Or is that a hold back for future projects

Ed,

This drawing shows twin 5"/38 mountings, but I saw one on the link that projected three triple-mounted 8"/55 turrets.  I think we should hold Jeff's feet to the fire to do that one.

BTW - Jeff ... with the new format, is a badge out of the question, or should I gin one up?  I don't care if we just get three players on this GB ... let's boogie ...... 

Wow, a KB indeed!

Only quibble I'd make (not to set another KB in motion, or the like <wink> honest) would be that there probably ought to be a "flag" bridge, with a "super" flag bridge to go with the regular bridge.  This would follow the command staffing trends in '45.  Also, the quad 40's should all be radar-directed 3"50 DP dual mounts--but dual 40's could go in 1 for 5 or 6 of the 20 mm's, to follow one anti-kamikaze scheme.

There was a call, I seem to remember reading somewhere for "monitors" to support the invasion of Japan.  I want to remember that an Des Moines-class hull was being considered for that.  Now, there's a mental picture.  Probably a Baltimore would have been needed instead.  Another menta picture there.  Like one of the Lex's removed 8" turrets as the secondary, aft, and a salvaged Pennsylvannia class forward . . .

Hmm, how about an American "Moscow"?  Say a Tico front (with vls) and a Tarawa stern? 

Not to mention ... less talk and more kitbashing, please!  I launched my BBM (Monster Battleship), so let's see some of you hot rods put me to shame!

The gauntlet is thrown at your feet ....

Go for it!  The rationale (or lack of it) behind a kitbash is all part of the provenance that adds intrigue and discussion to the effort.  It might be as simple as "my cat destroyed three models at once, so I blended them all together in the Flying Ferrari Tank."  Or it can be a studied treatise in alternative history that asks, "If a meteor strike wiped out most of humanity and melted the icecaps so that the world was flooded over, what kinds of giant warships would the survivors live on so they could keep killing each other?"

Makes for some hairy speculation, eh?

I was actually writing a Sci-Fi book on the above scenario, then Costner came out with Waterworld and I just said "F**k it" and moved on to something else.  I had another about a third done about genetically-engineered spiders made big and weaponized, then Arachnids came out, followed by Eight-Legged Freaks and I trashed that one too.  So I started one from the perspective of a carnivourous dinosaur and it's life story and out comes Walking With Dinosaurs.

So I have one book published by Random House and it's a non-fiction ... go figure.  But I've illustrated about eight done by other writers.

Maybe it's because I usually build a model or two to get the creative juices flowing and it slows me down ... you should see my two-foot Wolf Spider .....