Tamiya Big-E - USS Enterprise 1/350

Elevator number two.

The only difficulty of making these lifts two to four is to remove the plastic surface, taking advantage of the whole structure of the original part of the elevator. Just take a drill 1 mm, 1.5 mm or 2 mm and make several holes, removing the most part. Finally, file up to leave everything to the right thickness and smooth.

So, just paste the part in PE over the structure of the original piece. Then glue the support lattice underneath. Finally, we glue the elevator guide is snapped to the track.

Easy, easy ... but a little slow.

The original elevator part.



The piece with the perimeter of holes



The original piece with the base removed



The three pieces that will form the elevator



The part in PE glued to the original base



Now the complete set with the lattice and the guide



Top view



At the place



Elevators one and two

Hi, in the D&S, despite the pics are not conclusive, the text clear says that the sea could be seen through the grates. It appears that there is no doubt about it. I think that after paint, this effect will be reduced.

Thank you guys to find the right answer.

I 'm building a 1982/83 cruise model.

So, the PE part will be glued over the support, as I already done.

No problem!

Bill

I gotcha, Bill. Please pardon me.

Subfixer,

Since our earlier discussion, several people commented that there must have been a solid sheet under the grating.  None of the links demonstrated anything conclusively either way.  There have been comments about placing a solid sheet under the GMM PE elevator pieces. There are very conclusive photos of the grating in the Detail and Scale book in which there is nothing except the supporting structure under the grated surface of the elevators, at least until the 1990 refit, which the book does not cover.  My comment was intended to clarify this point.

Bill

Senor Jorge is doing a later version, if I am not mistaken. Look at this thread a little closer, we had a long discussion about this and have posted pictures showing both versions.

I just received a copy of Detail and Scale USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) off of ebay.  It seems that A.M. Jorge was correct to do the elevators the way he did.  Photos clearly show that one can look directly through the grated elevators to the sea, and that there was no underlaying solid platform under the gratings, at least until the 1990 refit.  The book stops at that point.

Bill Morrison

Hi, I'm back.

pjratpatrol

Hi 

Its Looking good.

I am currently attempting the same project Im trying the scratchbuilt hanger deck and with LED lighting, I  have the WE PE and will use Trumpeter Aircraft.

Good luck and I will be watching closely 

Cheers 

Hi, thanks.

Yes, scratchbuilt hanger deck will make difference. I saw a lot of them, very very detailed, very very nice. Please, post some pics when you done !

Cheers

knoxb

How's he going to paint the flightdeck with the fishing line/arresting wire in place already?

So what was decided about the grated elevators?...PE set ok or not?  what about putting sheet plastic under the PE grating?

Hi,

I'm no sure, but I'm thinking in using a plastic sheet under the PE part.

Paint flight deck will be easy, as the arrest line does not exists.

But I only will "work" again in july 15 or later.

Thanks and regards,

How's he going to paint the flightdeck with the fishing line/arresting wire in place already?

So what was decided about the grated elevators?...PE set ok or not?  what about putting sheet plastic under the PE grating? or just glueing the PE over the kit part?

Hi 

Its Looking good.

I am currently attempting the same project Im trying the scratchbuilt hanger deck and with LED lighting, I  have the WE PE and will use Trumpeter Aircraft.

Good luck and I will be watching closely

Cheers

Hi folks.

I will be on vocation soon, so I think I won't post anything before 15 july.

Regards.

Thanks guys!  I appreciate your responses to my question!

Bill

You are right, even being grated you must can't see under.

I will need to redo the elevators.

CVN-65 grated elevator:

CVN-75  "solid" elevator:

Well, I have walked the flightdecks of quite a few US carriers over the years, including the Enterprise's and do not recall ever seeing any of the elevators in that configuration, at least in the last 39 years. But early in her career, she did have that type of elevator, it is true. When the change was made had to have been longer than 12 years ago. But if this is the version Mr. Jorge is building, I do not recall.

[edit: After some research, I have determined that the elevators were changed in 1996.]

Here is a picture clearly showing this type of elevator:

From what I have read in the past, Enterprise actually had the grated elevators up until the early 2000's refit.  I beleive that the elevators were designed that way so as to absorb the blast from a nuclear detonation.  feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

warshipguy

Okay . . . as a career submariner who has never been on the flight deck of a carrier, I hate to show my ignorance!  But, are the surfaces of the elevators really grated like that?

Bill

Nope! There is a metal skin (not sure if it is steel or aluminum, probably steel) over the entire surface. I was wondering about why this photoetch is trying to replicate. I thought that was to be a thin plastic overlay and that the photoetch was supposed to rplicate the undersurface. I don't recall even being able to see through the tie-down padeyes for that matter.

Okay . . . as a career submariner who has never been on the flight deck of a carrier, I hate to show my ignorance!  But, are the surfaces of the elevators really grated like that?

Bill

Mikeym_us

subfixer:

Just to let you know that the "teeth" in the bow are bridle arrestors. Some older aircraft used to require a wire bridle in their launch configuration. The arrestor caught the bridle as it slung the aircraft off of the flight deck. I believe that only one (I may be wrong on that point as I can't remember for sure from the last time I saw her before her present deployment) is retained on the bow presently and is said to be kept to ensure that the Big E remains the longest ship in the US Navy. I think the USS George Washington still has one, too, making her the longest Nimitz class CVN.

 

I believe your thinking of either the Nimitz or the Eisenhower as both were built in the late 70's and still embarked the F-4 which used the Bridle.

 Numnutz:

Ike:

Vince:

Teddy R:

Abe:

G-Dub:

And the rest, no arrestors.

Following the assembly, it's time for the elevators. The first one I will make will be the cutted one from de deck.

We will need the cutted piece, the support and the PE part.

We will need the side of this cutted elevator

Now we have all that we need

First, I glued the side part to use it as a guide

The support goes to the right place. A test fit is needed because of the marks between the PE part and the support.

Other pics

In place at the ship

subfixer

"Time of the jaguar drink water"  This is a very intriguing phrase, what does it mean? A pause between major events?

It´s an indian expression.

In brazilian ancient times, after 1500's, year of Brazil's "discovery" by portuguese admiral Pedro Álvares Cabral, when the "white people" (portuguese) came to Brazil, the indians watched a lot of them be killed by the onça (Panthera onca - in english I think the better translation is jaguar) because they (the portugueses) came to river margins to pick up water at the same time that the jaguar does. So the jaguar got a free meal.

In other way, the indians knew the jaguar habits and keeped away from the river margins at certain hours of the day.

Here, we use this expression as the "decisive moment", when the things really happen or the eve of the most import events.

That's it. 

Wow! I am watching your build with a lot of interest.  I have one of these kits waiting in the wings and I am getting anxious to start it.  Terrific job!

Bill

subfixer

Just to let you know that the "teeth" in the bow are bridle arrestors. Some older aircraft used to require a wire bridle in their launch configuration. The arrestor caught the bridle as it slung the aircraft off of the flight deck. I believe that only one (I may be wrong on that point as I can't remember for sure from the last time I saw her before her present deployment) is retained on the bow presently and is said to be kept to ensure that the Big E remains the longest ship in the US Navy. I think the USS George Washington still has one, too, making her the longest Nimitz class CVN.

I believe your thinking of either the Nimitz or the Eisenhower as both were built in the late 70's and still embarked the F-4 which used the Bridle.

"Time of the jaguar drink water"  This is a very intriguing phrase, what does it mean? A pause between major events?

Let's see the pics: 


It's time of more critical of the assembly of this model, which is the assembly of the flight deck.  

  The first step is to assemble the metalic structure that will support the deck




Next, mount the arrest cables with nylon line



Pass line through the hole and stretches

 The wire should be stretched to simulate the arrest cable



I dripping a drop of cyanoacrylate (Superglue) at the knot and at the ends

The last step is to cut the line



Make each wire independently, do not try to do both with the same line because it will loose



Final result in part from the stern



 Same thing for the other part: tie, stretch, paste and cut




The centerpiece



Test fitting with the cables already assembled
Note that besides the normal joint space, the pieces are uneven



"Time of the jaguar drink water", getting all the fittings, as with the glue and secure with tape



Fixation with the tapes is very important



Now the most important part, the middle piece with the two  


More fixing





The the stern joint, with a small gap that could not take



And  the bow's joining at the time of bonding was almost 1mm uneven and gave me a lot of work to leave a small gap 

Good explanation. Thanks a lot.

Just to let you know that the "teeth" in the bow are bridle arrestors. Some older aircraft used to require a wire bridle in their launch configuration. The arrestor caught the bridle as it slung the aircraft off of the flight deck. I believe that only one (I may be wrong on that point as I can't remember for sure from the last time I saw her before her present deployment) is retained on the bow presently and is said to be kept to ensure that the Big E remains the longest ship in the US Navy. I think the USS George Washington still has one, too, making her the longest Nimitz class CVN.

After finishing the supports of the elevators, it's time to work on some details of the deck and hull in the bow. I decided to fold and glue the staircase in PE. Never needed to bend PE before. Already noticied that they crumple easily. But you can bring to the position. I used the basis of styrene and details of stairs in PE. It was good. I took a deal to give those two joints of "teeth" in front.

Look at the ladder in PE there

The little piece in place with the base of the original piece

From another angle

The original part

The original piece with the base cutted

The stairs in PE, very small

One more ladder on site

Supporters of the antennas

The staircase in the middle of the brackets

Two more joints to make

Done, but some detail is gone