20 year old Revell USS SARATOGA

Thanks for posting. I have 4 "vintage kits, a USS ESSEX, a USS FDR, a USS Hornet and a USS Shang-ri-la, all box scale kits produced in the late 50's/early 60's. You have inspired me to start to build them.

EJ

I had a lot of fun, that's a fact.  When I get ready to redo the deck, I'll have another set of Starfighter decals on hand, and if I'm correct, all I'll have to do to "clear the deck" is wash it well with windex as everything above the sprayed color on the deck, it was all put on top of Future.

Gives me something to look forward to.  Now, back to aircraft, an area that I'm more comfortable with.

Hi Ya'll :

 Listen , I solved the stripe problem with " Extra Thin  " auto  striping tape ! I got it in White , Red , Blue and Yellow .It worked great . You did a darned good job ! I think I built this model in 1970 ! That said ,it sounded like you had fun with it anyway , All problems aside . She looks good !   Model On !  tanker - Builder

Nice job!!!  Keep up the good work!!!

Nice job!  It's actually a lot older than a 20-year-old kit, like over twice that.  You've noted all of the issues that kits from those days can have, but you also had fun building it, and that's the main thing with these old kits.  I'm a nostalgia builder, and that's something I keep in mind, when I build a kit from my youth (I'm not quite as old as this one).

Regarding the arrestor wires, I don't think one or the other represents the crash barrier, I just think Revell probably got the count wrong.  But to us kids, back then, it looked cool as anything!  Same goes for the tie-downs.  I had no idea what they were, when I built my Oriskany, back in the day.  Again--it just looked cool, and I had fun, and was proud of my model, and the Navy.

Well done!

It's not 100% finished, but it's where I'm stopping.

I had in mind to use this model to test some techniques I've seen in FSM, and I'm happy with what I learned about them.

I appreciate all the comments, good and bad, they help as I go along refining my techniques.  If you look close at the port stern corner of the flight deck, you'll see that it still has some of the warp in it.  I think it's about 12 scale feet above where it should be.

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Yup, and as soon as I get the spare $$$, I'll be re-ordering them.

Starfighter Decals has a sheet for Saratoga 1962

Honestly if Revell had gone the route Italeri did with their 1/720 scale carrier kits making the stripes would have been easier.

GMorrison

Right however this can be explained but the photo shows the problem.

The stripes have to be fixed.

If it were me, I would lay some white paint, then make the stripes with tape, then, go over it with the dark gray. Just my dos cientos.

Right however this can be explained but the photo shows the problem.

The stripes have to be fixed.

If it were me, I would lay some white paint, then make the stripes with tape, then, go over it with the dark gray. Just my dos cientos.

Actually the landing area stripes are supposed to be over the elevator except for the starboard border which is supposed to line up with the edge of the deck near the 45 degree angle separating the landing area from the foreward launch area. Look at the pictures of the Saratoga on page 2 of this thread to see what I mean.

GMorrison

I think you need to redo the deck.

The border stripes of the landing area are supposed to line up. About where they are across from the second elevator they get out of sinc.

Shouldn't be too difficult.

Also, the tire marks if that's what they are in the landing area look like brush stipple.

I think you need to redo the deck.

The border stripes of the landing area are supposed to line up. About where they are across from the second elevator they get out of sinc.

Shouldn't be too difficult.

Also, the tire marks if that's what they are in the landing area look like brush stipple.

mustang1989

I HAD this kit!!!! Wow! I wonder how much a kit like this would cost now!!

Heck I still have my Forestall kit unstarted in storage.

Turns out, I burnished them pretty flat.  Once I coat the deck with a flat finish, I think they won't be too noticeable.  I've been working on glueing the flight deck to the hull for the past week.  The deck is slightly warped, so I started at the bow, and am working my way aft making sure that it all fits as tight as it can.  The port aft corner is the last, and the worst of the warp.  Perhaps in another couple of days I'll be able to start wrapping it up.

I'd suggest sanding those spots and re-painting them.  Good luck and keep us posted!!

Still, I press on.  Began weathering the flight deck (by the way, I'm an Air Force Brat, so NAVY stripes can be confusing, we like runways as long as possible....) after finishing the decals.  Put on the first layer of a wash of mostly (what I thought was) thinner and a couple drops of flat black acrylic.

Went to bed that night feeling pretty good about what I had done, but then upon awaking and checking I found the enamel undercoat had wrinkled up in a few places.

Not exactly sure what to do to fix this, even for my low standards, this doesn't work.

She's looking pretty good!  Keep up the good work!!

By the way, FUTURE does NOT protect decals when layering them (one or two on top of another).  More on that later...

I labor on....

The long skinny decals bite.  All I have left to do with them is put the barrier decals on the elevators.

Just a warning to those who adhere to exact replications; I'm lucky to make them look good to me.  There are technical errors molded into the kit that I've not repaired.  The decals aren't placed exactly properly, and there are some deck decals I'm leaving off.

The "sixth" arresting wire, I believe, is actually the crash barrier waiting to raise.  The "fifth", on this deck mold, could be a second barrier as the molding on the deck shows the outline of two trap doors.

I'm getting more and more done...

I like it. I'm with you, not a fan of those long flippin decals.

Progress as I overcome the fear of doing long skinny decals.

And I've even gone further....

The second one is out of focus.  Okay, I know that I didn't point them in the right direction, but they're pretty close to parallel.  Unless one is extremely  somewhat a little picky, that shouldn't be a problem.  The neat little bumps that cover the deck (the tie downs) are cool, but play havoc on the decals, I've been sticking them with a sharp knife and hitting them with decal set as I can.  The trap wires have formed a nice little tent with the decals, I think if I run the point of the knife down the top of the wire, and hit them with more set, they should be fine.  Now, it's obvious to me, if I wanted to make a strict Sara, I'd have to remove two trap wires, and the barrier doors.  I'm not that good, so I'll just keep on truckin'......

I'm thinking that since these decals are so touchy (see the white strip at the stern, it had been in place 48 hours before I touched it with masking tape), I should lay down some FUTURE to protect where I'll have to apply a second, overlapping decal.  Then, when I'm done with the decals, another layer of FUTURE before I start applying filters....  I think.

I got one for free(friend of mine picked it up for $3 at a garage sale),and I got a second one for $10 from the vendor room at a contest.

I HAD this kit!!!! Wow! I wonder how much a kit like this would cost now!!

I'll go look for the article, Allen, but other than replacing the decals with the ones from Starfighter, this build is more or less as it comes out of the box.  The work I did on repairing the flight deck was more than I had planned on, don't know that I'm up for major surgery on the deck.

As far as I know,there is an article on this site explaining the changes you need to make to turn the Saratoga kit into the Saratoga,as the kit is the Forrestal, out of the box.

Starfighter Decals has aftermarket for this kit.

THAT is what they're supposed to be.  Um, that's going to be going where I hadn't intended with this build.

OUTSTANDING pics, sub, thanks.  THAT'S the deck I'm trying to create.  Colorwise and wear and such.