The Ship Model Forum

It is early eighties.
The airwing decals I used were GMM and they are not all Enterprise airwing.
I just let it go and used them.
I also used Trumpeter aircraft and the decals they came with so my airwing is not accurate for some of the aircraft.
Believe me this is such a minor detail. 99.9% of people viewing your model will never know.
I also had a moment of complete brain fade and fitted the No 2 elevator into No 3 and vice versa. By the time I realised my mistake it was glued in place and the elevator cables fitted.(Stretched sprue) So I left it. This was the low point in my build because I got this so wrong. Again if you don't know you won't notice.

My sentiments exactly. I went ahead and ordered GMM's elevator grates. (wow, expensive) and I'm still trying to find the ship set in stock somewhere. I'm not concerned with correct airwing for my Enterprise build. Did you scratch build the hangar deck? I plan to build a full hangar deck on mine.

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James

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/James-Guard/user-index.html

Boomstick, likewise on the cost of the grates, you could try White Ensign for the ship set, they have both their own version and GMMs, I have the WEM set and it looks very good. I am scratchbuilding the hangar deck too and the plans drawn up by Rob McCune are spot on if you have a look. I think they are around page 13 or 14 of this thread. He has also posted some CAD drawings of his work on the Dragon 'Beehive' Enterprise a couple of pages later, they are awsome if you want to do the hangar bay. especially the Island support, blast doors and JES!

Tim, do you know if there are any plans to keep the Big E as a museum or would that just cost too much money, it would be a shame for such a historic ship like her to be scrapped!

They have to scrap her. The nuclear reactors are first generation and they are pretty big. They will need to cut the ship apart to get them out, so there is no hope for a museum ship.

Such a shame Rob but I understand! A big thank you to yourself for your excellent CAD drawings which. I'm using for building the hangar on my 1/350 Enterprise! I can't praise you enough for making my build a lot easier than I thought it was going to be!

Hi Guys,

If I am going to buy one after market PE and decal set for tamiya 1/350 for the current version of CVN-65 (ship part),
which one should it be? GMM or WEM?
which one is better?
Please advise.

The closest decal set I know of for modern Enterprise is the GMM set, for photo etch I have the White Ensign set for both ship and airwing, I don't believe there is much between the two companies sets. However, you may wish to consider Toms Modelworks hose reels which look better than either of the former twos sets and also Toms liferaft racks.

Thanks for the reply, Jockster.
I really appreciate it.

Is this the gmm decals that suitable for the current enterprise:
http://www.goldmm.com/ships/350-8D.htm ?

I also find the PE elevator
http://www.goldmm.com/ships/gms3elvt.htm
however, I think it is too expensive.

I have all the sets you meantion for my Enterprise. The hose reels to my eyes are way better than the ones that come in sets for the entire ship. Not oversized, just goldilocks.

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http://www.f-16.net
http://www.c-130.net

Building:
1/48 Lancaster (HK)
1/350 Akagi
1/350 IJN Kongo

Aladin, yes, that is the most current set of decals available for the Big E that I know of, if you are building your Enterprise as after 1999 then don't waste your money on the elevator set as they were replaced with solid surface ones in pairs between 1996 and 1999/2000. You will get a lot of information and advice from this thread from the various contributors on here. If your version of the Enterprise is really recent, then you are going to have to do a lot of work updating the radars and weapons systems. If you can get your hands on 'Detail & Scale' volume 39 by Bert Kinsey (TAB BOOKS U.S.A. or Airlife Publishing U.K.) and also Ray D. Bean s photo disc (see the WEM site for details) you should have a wealth of information to build her from Launch until present.
Other good avenues are 'Veteran Models' Phalanx and Sparrow weapon Systems (resin replacements), Trumpeter (injection molded aircraft) and 'Starfighter Decals' for both Airwing decals and ship decals (earlier version than GMM).
If you intend to build the hangar deck then check out the drawings by Rob McCune on links shown in earlier pages of this thread. They are spot on for dimensions and details.
Hope this helps, keep checking this forum from time to time as there is always asking questions you will want the answers too.
Regards,
Jockster.

You said it Jon, the Tamiya kit hose reels are only fit for the bin!! Although I have the White Ensign etch kit for the Enterprise, I bought Tom's hose reels as there are 5 styles of reel and they are slightly smaller than the WEM ones, this also gives me some of the smaller reels I need for the Fantail and Hangar. Niiiiiiiiiice!
Regards,
Jockster.

I've kept up on the Enterprise modifications best I can on page 7. Link:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8817&start=120#p244990

Always looking for updates.

_________________
http://www.f-16.net
http://www.c-130.net

Building:
1/48 Lancaster (HK)
1/350 Akagi
1/350 IJN Kongo

Nice work Jon, although I am now a bit p***ed at having to junk the drop down stern platform I have painstakingly built and hinged! None the less, this is why I am on this forum, so that I can learn and produce a model of the Enterprise that does the big girl justice.
Thank you.
Regards,
Jockster.

P.S. Those are great pics of the fantail, I have been trying to find decent views that have clear detail on the rear JES bulkhead, I must have jumped a page or two when I first read this thread.

Yes, this thread is a gold mine of information.
I am going to read it all first from the beginning.

Thanks for all the advices, Jockster.

What era are you building?

I'm building 1996 cruise, which had only a partial stern platform. I am working on a photo etch sheet to build this structure, but it has been challenging to do well. Also working on some other structures in PE to bring the ship up to modern standards. I'm hopeful that Pontos will also come to the rescue in this area.

I've been collecting information and working on this for 10 years now. I don't want to rush the build. I've started a bit on the airwing. Going to build a 100% complete airwing. Completing all the aircraft before I really get into buidling the ship. Other projects keep bumbing the daunting task of building Big E.

_________________
http://www.f-16.net
http://www.c-130.net

Building:
1/48 Lancaster (HK)
1/350 Akagi
1/350 IJN Kongo

Same as you Jon, 1996, I like the airwing at the time and love Intruders so it seems fitting to to the most up to date version that still had them, trouble is that I also like Seakings (having grown up under the flightpath of HMS GANNET S.A.R.) but I'm not that keen on Seahawks so their might be a bit of 'poetic licence' going on there where there might just be a couple of Seakings gathering dust in the hangar.
Do you know where I can access drawings/photos of the partial dock as I was going to build the version on your link but with only one ladder? Aaaand, if that's not enough, when did the SPN-41 Azimuth tower change from the lattice work version to the solid looking version?
Kindest regards,
Jockster.

It has been a while since I contributed. I was the First Lieutenant at the time when we put on the partial stern dock in 1996 and them expanded it in 1997 based on our operational lessons learned. I have drawings for the original "short" dock that I would happy to share. I also brought on the replacement boat dollies and boats. The boats were brand new and came out of storage early in 1996. Three of the dollies were from the USS America (when she decommissioned) and one from the USS Theodore Roosevelt (when she reduced here boat complement). The original Big E dollies fell into disrepair and were sent to salvage during the early 1990s refueling. But since dollies are ship's equipment and cannot be purchased we had to scramble to find replacements. The month before deployment we had a Navy carpenter modify the boat pads to fit the dollies. The dollies were therefore specific to specific boats. One thing that we also did that was not an alteration was to have fabricated gear storage lockers on the aft end of Sponson 4 for the SEALS. We call them beach houses! I wanted to paint them pastel colors but leadership was not as amused.

I hope that this helps.

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Charles Landrum
USNA 1983
Norfolk, Virginia

I have to express my gratitude to Charles who has helped me tremendously in preperations for building Enterprise for 1996.

Once I get my dock section drawn, I'll send you an image of it for review. My plan was to build it as it looked complete in 1997 and for 1996 you could just cut away what is not required to build the short dock.

_________________
http://www.f-16.net
http://www.c-130.net

Building:
1/48 Lancaster (HK)
1/350 Akagi
1/350 IJN Kongo

That is an awesome post! Thanks for all the research you did. It's sad that ship is leaving the fleet, It's always been my favorite Aircraft carrier.

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So many models... So little time...