The Ship Model Forum

grayson72 wrote:Thanks guys, if anyone is interested in doing a conversion like this I'd be happy to share the PowerPoint file. It could be made to work for any scale.

It covers the entire ship at once which is necessary because the port side helo pads are offset from the centerline 4 different times.

The current available decal set for the helo pads, for the Princeton anyway, aren't accurate.

Here's the main shot I used to create them.

grayson72 wrote:And so it begins... I haven't built a plastic ship model in over 20 years so this will be a fun and challenging exercise. I've built many plastic and wood models in the last 20 years just not this particular genre. I focus on Age of Sail wooden ships, 1/32 modern aircraft and 1/72 sci fi subjects.

This will be a gift for my father, he was a Machinery Repairman (MR) on her from 1963-1966, he was 17 when he joined the Navy and had to get my grandfather's permission to enlist. I figure I lucked out that my dad was on a ship that can even be modeled and will be a relatively straightforward conversion build.

I am converting the Trumpeter USS Hancock into LPH-5 USS Princeton, roughly around the time period of 1964. As many of you know she is one of 3 Essex class carriers that were converted to Marine helicopter platforms for the vietnam war in order to fulfill the mission of vertical envelopment of the enemy. These ships went through only minor updates from their original WWII configuration.

I have poured over the internet looking for reference photos and have come up with quite a few that will be very helpful and have purchased several books.
Some details still remain in question however and I hope it will be alright if I ping the many well respected experts on this site for more information.

This is a list of the modifications and additions I have planned so far in order to convert her to the Princeton:
- All anti-aircraft weaponry will be omitted
- 1 Double 5" gun omitted fore and aft
- New Mk37 gun director with Mk25 radar
- Completely new antenna mast built from scratch (using some parts from GMM and IronShipwrights)
- Whip antennae and assemblies built from scratch
- All new era appropriate Helicopter wing (UH-34s, UH-37s)
- Various PE parts from GMM and WEM applied
- Covered sections for the bridge scratchbuilt
- one open 5" 38 caliber Mk30 gun mount with Mk56 gun director radar will need to be added to the port side catwalk area
- Many watertight doors, hatches and ladder locations are modeled on the USS Essex and will have to be moved/removed
- Crew from L'Arsenal and Fujimi added

Known issues:
- The flight deck is too short on this kit
Any other known issues?

grayson72 wrote:I would have preferred to use a long hull kit, however I don't think they make one. I may be wrong though.

grayson72 wrote:I do have a few questions right from the start:

What's your opinion regarding Nautilus Models wood deck for this? If I'm going to paint the deck would it look any better?
Also I'm thinking it would save me from having to fill the seams on the deck due to them being in three pieces.
If no how the heck do you guys fill the seams on the pieces withought completely destroying the deck detail?

Also, can someone please tell me what the heck these things are?. They are black on the Princeton, white on the Valley Forge and non-existant on the Boxer.
Also in the photo can anyone identify which Tilly Crane that is sticking out from behind the dual 5"?

grayson72 wrote:In this shot I'm adding the supports for the forward flight deck safety netting.