Aircraft Carrier Group Build (July 07 to July 2010)

Dan,

It appears as though we now have a split vote.  I hope that we do not have to count on florida to figure out what our badge will be.

Group,

Dan has offered us some nice choices for a badge for this group.  Please let your vote be known as it will actually count here.   Really, no electoral college or anything, and no hanging chads.  Anyway, I want the cutoff for the vote to be next Friday (August 24) so that we can start displaying our badge with pride.  Now get out there and vote!

Hehe, that's indea, Durr

Ok, if I really, really have to make a vote, than my vote goes for the first badge, unless of course someone else comes out with better badges. 

More Power Scotty wrote:

Dan, I would prefer that we go with the democratic method of voting, but I would like to make the cutoff for voting next Friday (August 24) so that we can start using the badge.

might i suggest the american way,  vote for a person  who will select a person  who will appoint a study group on the subject, then they will come up with a choice that is not even on the list

this is the american way  

sorry but i had to stick a funny in hear   

Dan,

I would prefer that we go with the democratic method of voting, but I would like to make the cutoff for voting next Friday (August 24) so that we can start using the badge.  Not that I have an issue with folks that want to be unique with their badges, but my experience is that the ones different from the rest of the group are the designs that come in late, or lost out in the group voting.  For consistency, I would prefer that we just use one for the group, but I am willing to listen to the opinions of others.  I could not recognize a hull number on the badge designs, but I thought that the first and second were Nimitz-class ships.  For some reason, the second badge just "speaks" to me.

Thanks for the compliment, and actually, she is the Saratoga, but still a Lexington-class ship.  Yes, it is a Trumpeter kit with a water base included, and that is what I will be posing it on once complete.  That base, along with the pre-WWII airwing led me to purchasing it in the first place.

No problem, Scotty. As for wich badge to use, you're the GB leader, so you decide what system we use.  In some GB's the leader decides on the badge, in others they vote, and in a couple of GB's, people use all of the proposed badges.

Nice little Lexxie, you've got there, is that one of those new kits that come with a waterbase ? 

PS : the first and the second badge depict the same ship ; USS Ronald Reagan, while the third badge is the old Interprise.

I thought that it was going to rain here this evening, so I skipped a bike ride...

and took some photos instead.  As you can tell, I am once again able to download my images.  Here is a shot of the nearly completed hull, island, and smoke stack as well as the flight deck with the first coat of paint (a 1:1 mix of Testors Acryl Wood and Flat White).  In looking at the photo here, the color is showing up much darker than what it really is.  As I took the pictures as the sun was starting to set, this may have thrown things off a bit.

Here is a closeup of the guns along the aft port side as well as the life boat station next to it.  I wanted to show the level of detail that Trumpeter put into this kit. 

Again, I will keep the group posted as I move forward with this build.

Dan,

I am rather partial to the middle badge being a former Nimitz-class carrier sailor, even though I am starting the build with a Lexington-class ship.  Does my vote carry extra weight since I initiated the build?   Just kidding around, whatever the group decides on is good with me.  Thanks so much for making the designs!

Ok, I may not have kit as for yet, but at least I made a start by making a couple of badges that might fit for this GB...

Let me know what you think of it :) 

silentmodeler,

If you want to glue wood strips onto your deck, I would recommend using veneer strips (a very thin wood normally used as an outer covering, or can be cut into shapes for intricate designs), or another source is the thin wooden inserts used in some cigar boxes as a separator between layers of cigars.  There are companies that make wooden flight decks for some of the carriers in 1/350 scale that I have seen at a couple of model shows.  Those directly replace the plastic deck, and would be a bit easier.  If you really want to glue wood to your deck, I would use a thick super glue or epoxy. 

With all of that said, for your ship, I would simply paint the flight deck the appropriate color (by the Doolittle raid, the decks were painted blue) and then you can weather the wood with some wood colors (I used both dark and light shades when I built mine), and steel for weathering the tie-down strips. 

For small scale ships, you will really challenge yourself if you want to replicate everything that is on a real flight deck.  The small deck sections that i have for 1/72 and 1/48 scale aircraft are nicely detailed, and have photoetched parts for the strips, but in those scales, they have to.

Dan and Bill,

Welcome aboard!  I am glad to see the group is growing in size once again!  As I do not see too many folks building aircraft carriers, I was wondering how well this would go, but being an internet-based group, I was hoping for the best.  I will get Bill added to posting #1 with the Roosevelt, and Dan can let me know his choice once he decides.

I have a coworker who served aboard the Roosevelt during Vietnam.  He was assigned to the helicopters that flew plane guard missions.  I was a Nimitz-class sailor myself (USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Abraham Lincoln), so I hope that you enjoy building your former ship with the group.

Also for Dan, I think that I mentioned back in posting #1 that I am interested in a group badge, so if anyone knows of someone that could help wiht that, or if anyone in the group can help, I would appreciate it.  Although I have some limited computer knowledge, I do not know how folks create the badges for groups (what programs are used, and what size do they start out as).  Anyway, if anyone can help out, feel free to do so.

Traveller,

Nice parts!  I am looking forward to seeing them in place!

Here is the photo-etch!!!

More Power Scotty wrote:

Silentmodeler, I would not mess around with trying to re-scribe lines on a ship model, unless you really feel the urge to do so.  I would also think that rescribing a flightdeck could possibly lead to complete insanity with a person, so please be careful.   To date, the most elaborate flight decks that I have seen were at an IPMS Nationals show where someone had actually glued wooden strips onto the decks of their ships (there were either two or three entries by that person).  The effect was fantastic, but I am sure that it involved more work than I would want to get into with a build personally.

Scotty

I have see some modelers using woods on ships and umm  exactly what kind of wood to use? and how to use the wood on the flight deck?  do i have to recreate the flight deck by using woods or cut piece by piece to put it on the plastic flight deck?  I know that carriers from world war 2 use  long steel tie down between the woods.  let me know  

ill try to research on that one if its too hard for me then ill leave the way it came from the kit. 

Hey guys,

I've been out of the hobby for a while but I'm finally getting me shop set up to build again.  And as an ol flat top sailor this sounds like it's the best place for me to start again.  I haven't built a ship in a loooonnngg time.  So sign me up for the U.S.S. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CV-42)!  She's a MIDWAY class carrier.  I think she'll be a good start for me so when I'm done I can do justice to the 2 ships I served on, the MIDWAY (CV-41) and the SARATOGA (CV-60).  Thanks, Bill

More Power Scotty wrote:

Well, I know that you are out there thinking about joining this group build, why not just go ahead and do it?

 Damn, this is scary, are you sure you're no alien or something ???

Why not go ahead ?  My first reaction was : another GB I'de like to jump in, but I have so many other projects to finish.... on the other hand... November 2008 is still a long way ahead...

Ok, you've got me hooked on this one, I don't know what carrier as for yet.  I'll let you know the subject after I've gone to the DHS (Distant Hobby Shop) which for some reason is always a better shop than the LHS

Dany... 

PS : who's looking for a gb badge ? 

Greetings to all!

The build is now "officially" on!  I would first like to welcome traveller to our group and there is certainly plenty of time for others to jump in as well.  Who produced your 1/350 Russian carrier?  I am guessing Trumpeter, but the dry-fits that I have done on some of their parts in my choice for this build all seem pretty tight.  Good luck, and do not worry about time on this build as I usually spend a lot of time building my carriers.

Silentmodeler, I would not mess around with trying to re-scribe lines on a ship model, unless you really feel the urge to do so.  I would also think that rescribing a flightdeck could possibly lead to complete insanity with a person, so please be careful.   To date, the most elaborate flight decks that I have seen were at an IPMS Nationals show where someone had actually glued wooden strips onto the decks of their ships (there were either two or three entries by that person).  The effect was fantastic, but I am sure that it involved more work than I would want to get into with a build personally.

I am going to attempt to start my build this weekend as I am just about to finish up a Vindicator that I am using for another group build.  As the Tour de france is going to wrap up tomorrow, I should have a little more time to check on the group as we progress.  Have fun with your subject, and please let me know if you have any questions along the way.  Let the build begin!

More Power Scotty wrote:

Before I forget, welcome to the group silentmodeler , how many groups does this make that you have been in with me?

Scotty~ yeah seems like we been in alot of group build.  Guess we have same interest lol.  and check ur pm

heya all

havent been online for long time since i was on my vacation.  I prolly wont get start on my Hornet for couple of months since i have other gbs to finish. 

im wondering since hornet is from monogram   does it need to be rescribe?  since im not very familar with it and wasnt sure how to do it.  since mostly of modelers says that revell monogram need to be rescribe because of raised panel line.   Im not model master yet so bear with me

Hi to all,

Is the Kuzenetsov(350th) OK? It has been an off and on again project for a while. A terrible fit with the hull and fright deck!!! I am currently waiting for the photo-etch to arrive, just to dress it up a bit!!!! I will need as much time as possible to finish it, a year would be great!!!

Darrin,

The Reagan is looking good so far!   I was wondering if there might be some difficulty with folks finding the group when I changed the subject line, and I hope that the others find it as well.  Since we have progressed from the conceptual stage to the "official" group build stage, it seemed more appropriate to have a new line entry. 

I did not know that they had altered the sonar dome on the Reagan, but it does appear to be a bit larger than the ones on my ships (Eisenhower and Lincoln).  Being assigned to the Abraham Lincoln while it was still under construction, I was able to do a lot of exploring around the ship when there were still several empty spaces, and one trip was into an empty sonar dome.  I also recall getting to see the dome from the outside when we were in the drydock during some of the early construction days.

Sturmgeschutz,

That is why it is always good to verify ones information.  I have made the correction to post #1.  I guess that is one down side of using ship names over, and over, and sometimes over again (I think that CVN-65 is actually the 6th "USS Enterprise").  Anyway, thanks for the correction.

More Power Scotty wrote:

All, I have gone in and edited the Subject line for post #1 and made this a group build with dates of July this year to November of next year.

I thought it had dissapeared. Had to use the search fuction to find it.

Here's what I've done to the Reagan so far. Just fitting the bottom to the old Italeri hull. I was going to do waterline, but that would hide one of Reagan's two most distinguishing features, the new bow bulb. I hear it's such a succsess at reducing drag that it will be retrofit to other Nimitz class carriers during dockyard periods.

As you can see, a little putty is required.Click the pics they get bigger.

All,

I have gone in and edited the Subject line for post #1 and made this a group build with dates of July this year to November of next year.  Although I do not plan on dragging out my Saratoga build for that long, I have spent considerable time building carriers in the past (a little over two years on my 1/800 USS Abraham Lincoln).  I also added all of your names and what you plan on building, including scales, at the end of post #1, so let me know if I made any mistakes, or if your project changes.  I will probably wait to actually start my build on the 27th, but please feel free to commence your construction at any time.

Before I forget, welcome to the group silentmodeler , how many groups does this make that you have been in with me? 

Finally, Please let me know if any of you have any questions along the way, as I have built a few carriers in the past, and I do know some "tricks" to make life easier during construction and here are a few that might help.  1) Build the island as a separate entity and put it on towards the end of construction.  2) Decide early whether you will be displaying anything within the hangar bay, as you want that stuff in place before affixing the flightdeck.  This will also determine whether you will need to paint anything in the hangar bay, or if you want to just leave the doors closed.  3) Use dry transfers for the safety lines on the flight deck, if it requires two colors, I apply the white or yellow as a dry transfer, and then use a drafting pen and ruler to fill in the red areas.

deathrattler32,

If you want to go with 1/350 scale and Vietnam war era, I would suggest the Tamiya USS Enterprise kit.  Trumpeter is making some very nice 1/350 scale aircraft kits, so you could backdate the air wing to fit that era.  Sturmgeschutz is building the 1/542 scale Enterprise, and perhaps he could let you/us know what kind of aircraft are included in the kit.  Depending on when you are talking about during the war, you could use A-6 Intruders, A-4 Skyhawks, F-8 Crusaders, F-4 Phantoms, RA-5 Vigilantes, and even the AD-5 "Spads".  If you want to work in 1/700 scale, you should be able to find older carriers with planes from that era in the kit.