1/700 USS Enterprise CV-6

The biggest problem with the Tamiya kit is that the island is too skinny.   Lots of people seem to have overlooked that fact; the company has a fine reputation, and rarely makes mistakes of such magnititude.  But if you compare the model to a photo of the real ship taken from an angle forward of the beam, the mistake is ludicrously obvious - and, to my eye, downright silly looking. 

Fixing this goof is more complicated than it may look at first glance.  The basic island structure can be fattened up with a bit of plastic sheet, but then one confronts such things as the bridge structure, the tripod mast, and the three circular funnel caps, all of which will have to be replaced.  And quite a bit of the nicely-molded detail on the flight deck will have to be altered to make room for the scale-width island.

Other critics have noted that the anti-aircraft gun fit isn't quite right for any period in the ship's history.  I guess that's true, though I can't claim to have sorted out that aspect of the ship myself.

In Tamiya's defense, this is an old kit now and came close to representing the state of the art when it was new (in, if I remember right, the late seventies).  The representation of the 20mm guns, in particular, doesn't come up to modern standards.  (Each of them takes the form of a little blob representing the shield cast integrally with the deck.  The modeler glues the barrel to the shield.  The kit I bought, way back when it was new, offered two alternative ways to make the barrels.  The sprues contained lengths of plastic rod, and a piece of soft wire was included in the box.  The modeler could either trim the plastic rods off the sprue and cut them to length, using a template on the instruction sheet, or use the same template to cut the wire.  The latter option required CA adhesive - which wasn't universally available in those days.)  In the late seventies that was high tech.  (Actually, that trick for making 20mm guns has something going for it.  Guns made that way look a bit on the crude side but, if memory serves, they're the right height - which can't be said about the separately-cast guns in lots of other 1/700 kits.)

Trumpeter does make a 1/700 Hornet.  I've never encountered a review of it, but if it's a scaled-down version of the company's 1/350 kit, it's pretty good.  There were, however, quite a few visual differences between the two ships - starting with the shape of the flight deck forward.  (Tamiya did catch that one in its Hornet kit - but the island in that one is also too skinny.)

The Enterprise would be a great candidate for one of Tamiya's revisions - like what the company did to the Yamato - and, for that matter, what it did to the Missouri and Iowa.  (The latter two were represented in the old, original "Waterline Series" by Fujimi kits, which, though not bad for their day, couldn't stand comparison to the new Tamiya versions.)  If there's any WWII naval vessel that deserves a state-of-the-art kit in 1/700, this is it.

Rod,

Welcome to the forum.

John has explained most of the Tamiya kit's problems structural problems. As far as the "outfitting" of the kit is concerned, you basically have an early war island configuration with a later war gallery deck catwalk and gun mount configuration. The Tamiya Hornet CV 8 kit's island is more "correct" for the Enterprise kit's catwalks. Using a Skywave accessory kit for better 5 inch and 40mm guns, and some photo etch will get you closer to the later war look.

You'll also have to drill out the portholes along the hull fill them with a little plastic rod and then sand them flush. The ship's portholes were welded shut early in the war.

There's more you can do such as adding some sheet to the hull to represent the anti-torpedo blisters added to the ship during her 1943 refit. There's not much of them that shows with a waterline model and depending on how detailed you want to be, you can do without them.

Check the Enterprise Association web site at www.cv6.org. They've got some good photos and I believe they still have a forum, with a modeler's section.

The Enterprise was a wonderful ship. There's good research sources for it. Enjoy your project.

Well actually to make the Enterprise into the 1943 Refit would be more work. try looking at the warship pictorial for the Yorktown class.

All

Thanks for all the input so far.  In the end, I think I should it make a major conversion to the Tamiya kit.  This is a sure way that someone (hint hint) will produce a newly tooled Enterprise in 1/700!!!!

 Regards and remember, "It's just a hobby"!

 Rod

Hello, all,

If you're still trying to decide which fit (time period) to choose to build your Enterprise, I suggest 1941-42, which has been done to death, but is perhaps the most dramatic time, from Pearl Harbor, through Midway, into the beginning of the Guadalcanal/Solomons campaign.  I think that that historical timeframe has become iconic for us, and it has the components that we esteem as Americans-the underdogs, facing overwhelming odds, a supremely confident and capable foe, and it really does seem like a miracle that we were able to wins those early victories.  (If you doubt the iconic nature of the Battle of Midway, just watch "Star Wars", or the original "Battlestar Galactica" again.  In both of those movies, Midway is replayed, and in "Galactica", you have Pearl Harbor and the first four months of 1942 replayed, with Cylons instead of Japanese.  And in "Star Wars", isn't Gold Squadron and their Y-wing fighters really a sci-fi tribute to Torpedo 8 and their TBDs?)

I built the Revell 520 scale Enterprise when I was a kid, and for me, it wasn't so much the accuracy of the kit, as remembering the stories of that greats ship and the men who served aboard her, and flew from her deck.

Regards,

Brad

The Tamiya Enterprise  breaks down like this.

scales out at 1/719. this means all the aftermarket armament pieces will look large on the ship.

hull: pre 1943 overhaul

flight deck: "Santa Cruz" on with mods.

island: to "Eastern Solomons" w/mods.

armament: post 1943 over haul w/mods.

Now combined with Tamiya's Hornet kit you can do just about any Enterprise at any time.

Hornet's flight deck will give you pre-war through "Eastern Solomons" w/mod for "Eastern Solomons".

You can modify the 20mm galleries and catwalks for any time period.

You can combine the Hornet and Enterprise islands for a post 1943 overhaul version of Enterprise.

You can add sheet plastic to the hull for the blisters and have a post 1943 hull.

I chose not to widen the island on my Enterprise. When on the shelf and looking at the model from the side it looks like Enterprise.

Now all you have to do is pick a time period and get modeling.

Gordon

I agree with Grampa 1949 with one addition for a post 1943 version. There was a dual quad 40mm mounting at the port aft boat pocket that you will need to scratchbuild. There is a pic of it after being damaged by a kamikaze plane in 1945 contained in Steve Ewing's book on the "Big E".