As for me, I've been plugging away at all the small PE parts. I completed the 15 quad 40 Bofors mounts, finished the cranes (no pics yet), one more catapult to do, working on the superstructure mast, Mk37 gun directors x 4, Sk2 Radar dish and Mk8 gun director radars x 2 (done). It's taking me forever 

I ordered some 5"/38 twin gun mounts from Alliance Modelworks because I wasn't happy with the one I made up. The periscopes just didn't look good to me so I when ahead and bit the bullet.

Thats an impressive array of PE details!

OMG.......and I can't even get the shears glued up neatly on the 1/72 Gato.  About ready to gift the whole mess to you.

MC those look crazy uniform! Nice attention to detail there for sure. Must have been a whole weekend of work 

goldhammer

OMG.......and I can't even get the shears glued up neatly on the 1/72 Gato.  About ready to gift the whole mess to you.

 

No way man, you've gifted me too much already. BTW, I had to do a little repair to Miss America on Saturday. The Daughter is moving and brougt her over for a little tune up. I fixed the gear, sent her (the plane) through the car wash and gently place her back on my daughter's truck dash while she (daughter) was talkng to her mom and watching the grandkids.

Chris, you have no idea, on second thougt, yeah you do. Yes, I'd say about a weekend.

Steve, I feel your pain regarding the PE, your PE is looking great...

I hope to be showing some major progress soon, but time at the table is just not what it has been lately (spring chores, yard work, and taking care of my son).

Ben

I'm with ya Ben. The wife starts to get a little peved when I'm in the hobby room too much and of course the yard and garden needs tending to. And we're bingeing all 23 Advengers movies so that distracts me as well. Good news, we have 5 left. That'll take us through Sat.

DRUMS01

Steve, I feel your pain regarding the PE, your PE is looking great...

I hope to be showing some major progress soon, but time at the table is just not what it has been lately (spring chores, yard woark, and taking care of my son).

 For sure Ben, weather's nice and its time to get back to work. Have tried to splitsome of it up myself. MC that's how I appease the wife...honey I mowed the lawn and cleaned the carpets downstairs (just outside my model room  )

I did everything with Evergreen and PE pieces I had leftover from the 2 ship builds I've done lately. I'm determined to spend no extra money getting this done. This takes care of the hangar bay! Painting and some small details to add after that, like ladders that would have gotten broken when I tried to spray the "baseboard" color all around those bulkheads lol

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I did indeed win the other kit so whenever that gets here I can redo the superstructure and some other parts and feel better about my progress. I will take the time to see if I can do surgery on the old parts just to see if I might be able to salvage it.

I'm definitely guilty of spending more time in our yard as opposed to the bench. My wife and I love gardening and tending to our yard. It is an enjoyable source of pleasure. It's actually going to the hot side here in Utah so, that gives me a break from weeding duties and more time at the bench.

Now to see if I can get caught up here a little bit with everyone's progress. 

Steve: The 40's look fabulous. Certainly seems to have worth the tedious PE work.

Ben: Love how your motor launches and life boats came out. They are beautifully done and reflect some of your marvelous handiwork.

Mongoose: I am hugely impressed with your paint work. It really turned out incredible looking. The detail and scratchbuilding you're putting out is all amazing.

Scott: The Kansas is becoming a stunning work. Superb work.

Brandon: Fantastic outcome with your painting. It is really sharp and clean and definitely surpasses any decals.

It's not to often you have to buy a spool of something of modeling. This is what 600' of fibre optic cable looks like. That's alot of light!

ive managed to pickup a deck lighting layout So this week ill start drilling a couple hundred holes. Seems numbers in the hundreds come up often on this behemoth.
I'm thinking of leaving the deck in 3 pieces so it can be taken off to really show the aircraft and detail in the hangar bay. Debating that vs keeping the wiring intact. Not sure yet so if you have any thoughts on this let me know.

Holy smoke Chris  How much cable is that monster going to need?

Steve: OMG!!! My hat's off to you for doing all those AA guns!!! 

Mongoose: Oh, that's gonna look great! Looking forward to seeing all that fiber optic cable worked in there. 

Good Lord Mongoose!  Is that for your Enterprise or are you actually trying to wire lighting for a 1/1 scale model of the mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

JOE RIX

Good Lord Mongoose!  Is that for your Enterprise or are you actually trying to wire lighting for a 1/1 scale model of the mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

 

Oh yeah! 
definitely a case where math got the better of me. Never thought it would need this much till I started counting. There are about 180 deck lights, 40 hangar bay lights, plus lighting the the numbers on the island. Model is 38" long and almost all the wires have to go to the bow where there's space to take them under the hangar bay (later I may drill through the stern maintenance area tocut down on the length). So assuming each light takes 2-1/2' of fibre I need 550', yowzers!

TheMongoose

 

 

JOE RIX

Good Lord Mongoose!  Is that for your Enterprise or are you actually trying to wire lighting for a 1/1 scale model of the mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah! 
definitely a case where math got the better of me. Never thought it would need this much till I started counting. There are about 180 deck lights, 40 hangar bay lights, plus lighting the the numbers on the island. Model is 38" long and almost all the wires have to go to the bow where there's space to take them under the hangar bay (later I may drill through the stern maintenance area tocut down on the length). So assuming each light takes 2-1/2' of fibre I need 550', yowzers!

 

I started marking out the flight deck. While waiting for 20 0.5mm drill bits to arrive I've started on the aircraft. Gonna have to be an assembly line for sure

For the 1st go-round I folded the F/A-18 wings. Then an hour later built everything on 1 side of each sprue.

Only 2 of 14 done so far.

And next will start on the viking(?) wing folds.

these are a pain. Have to do them 1 at a time because they break off so easy when folded this far. I think Jazz music might be best for this process. Probably take all day Sat to finish, then primer...did I mention I was out of spray can primer :#(   That's a sad face with a mask on lol no stores that are open near me have the citadel primer I want and it's out of stock online. Ordered from a LHS that's not open but is still shipping. Next week will be big as lots of stuff coming in to keep this going.

Wow! Very nice work on the folding wings. I'm curious though. If the wing folds are so delicate would it not be better to assemble them after the aircraft is cut from the sprue and sanded. I am very interested in your approach there. 

JOE RIX

Wow! Very nice work on the folding wings. I'm curious though. If the wing folds are so delicate would it not be better to assemble them after the aircraft is cut from the sprue and sanded. I am very interested in your approach there. 

 

hmm, yes it still remains an interesting decision. I thought about MC's plastic divider as an option as well as taking them off the sprue. The divider idea is great because it keeps them from getting jumbled together and breaking off the wing folds or other parts like the gear. The final call came down to ease of painting tho. Having struggled with keeping them from blowing away under the airbrush in the past it seemed assembling them on the sprue may be better. I've also had a wheel or two left on the tape when picking them up lol the current plan is then to prime and paint on the sprue, remove them, touch up the two attachment points, then put them in the plastic dividers until it's time to place them permanently.

a long explanation. excellent question as you hit on something that was a struggle to decide. Any thoughts from you guys on how you've done it before?

Carrier planes are a PIA. Your approach seems like it'll work. For items like missles on 1/72 kits, I'll cut and clean attachment points until I just have one left, that way I don't have as much to touch up later. I'm still not sure if that's a better idea than just doing them off the sprue 

Nice job on the wings! I've been looking at some Japanese carrier planes and testing cutting the canopy open, not an easy proposition.

MC and others, hey lets start a discussion on carrier plane cockpits and canopies!
Ive seen blue and black painted canopies. Any others out there that you think look especially good?

There are 1 or 2 builds ive seen with clear formed canopies. Have you seen any methods worth trying out? Ive done 1/32 scale clear forming but nothing this small. Wondering if the same type of method applies. Maybe i can try it and see what happens?

Oh wow those folded wings look awesome Mongoose! 

Never tried clear forming. Trumpeter and some others moldes their planes clear thus allowing a clear canopy. Black doesn't look too bad on modern planes. I hate the silver on WW2 planes but not sure what could substitute.

Any new ideas are welcome

This weekend's work.

I received some new 5" 38 twin mounts from Alience Model Works this weeked and look good. My dog knocked off the kit box onth the floor. I picked up everything I thought but later I heard a crunch. My young Lab found the kit's mount and was using it as a snack. I'm glad I ordered the new ones  I've ordered the SK-2 radar. I just couldn't bend a flat screen of PE into a concave dish without there being a crease The one O redered is more like the wire dish that really was. Looks fun 

I've also ordered the 20mm Oerlikons in 3D. The PE ones just don't have any character.

Gee thanks Steve, those radar dishes give me a migrane. 

Super work! 

I hope you have better sucess with the 20's than I have had.  Everyone has come in with bent barrels, but those were 1/72's.  It's the way they are bagged.

Your PE work is outstanding.

Thanks guys

That is some splendid work Steve. Nicely executed. Those SK-2's should look all that.

My new Oakland kit was scheduled to arrive today but, appears it's still a couple of days out. Been entertaining myself with a 1/700 Aoshima I-1 IJN Sub and lots and lots of yard work.

Fun way to spend you weekend Steve.  I really like all that brass. 

Me, I hauled manure.  With Spring weather, its hard to find time to be at the bench. 

Not much done on the NC yesterday. It was one of those nights where I thought it better to spend it in the living room with my wife. I was able to get some research done though. I believe I'll finish the 5" guns and take one final look at the PE instructions for anything I should add prior to the painting IE ladders, doors.... I'll install the railing after because of the intergrate masking that will be needed. I WILL break them off otherwise. Once I get the new radar It'll be 5-L color so it'll be easy to paint and attach.

MC I'm dying to see that radar On the ship! 

on my end just in the middle of several things. It'll take forever to paint 70 planes. Got the hangar bay bulkheads 7/8 painted, only the boot stripe at the base to go lol the lights came in so I've started the island. Works picking up though so progress has slowed to a crawl. Will post up pics once something is completed