1/350 LPH-5 USS Princeton

[grayson72]

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]

Here's shots of all the parts:

[grayson72]

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"?

[Cliffy B]

The objects circled appear to be the bases of the radio whip antennae at least from that angle. You can see four attached to them with the forward two looking like cage antennae while the other two are straight whips. That's my opinion anyway.

As far as sanding without destroying detail, I've heard masking tape can help. One thing I've done in the past to get into tight areas to avoid destroying detail is to take those cheap cardboard nail files and cut out thin sections with an x-acto knife. They may not last long but they're really cheap so no big loss. I've also cut small strips of sand paper and then super glued them to a corresponding piece of plastic square stock and used them to get into tight places. Hope that helps.

[grayson72]

Thanks Cliffy, maybe there's two kinds of whip antenna mounts that can go along side the ship then? I didn't think those were them because of this style seen here on the Boxer (Princeton has this style too)

But then here's a different kind on the aft of the Princeton holding an antenna:

[gtbred]

this gonna be cool.

[gistsc]

That is freaking awesome. Looks like you have all the goodies to make one sweet build. Look forward to seeing your progress.

Scott

[gistsc]

I was not aware of this ship or any of the converted Essex class boats. I posted this picture the other day of the current USS Princeton. Its not a cool as the one you are building, but it is cool the name is being carried on into the future. I wish the Navy would use more historical names on the new ships, and stop all the political naming. Bring back the classics I say.

Scott

U.S.S. Princeton CG-59, shot from the flight deck of the U.S.S. Nimitz CVN-68 in 2008.

DSC_3567 by gistsc, on Flickr

[grayson72]

My dad actually got to tour the new Princeton, it was fleet week in Long Beach I think, him and some of his Princeton buddies were standing in line waiting to tour the ship. When the current Princeton captain heard they were there he pulled them out of line and gave them a private tour. Pretty cool! Go Navy

[gistsc]

That's cool, I think the Navy does a pretty good gob of keeping up public relations. I am an officer with the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. We were able to get on the 2008 Tiger Cruise with the Nimitz, and the crew where very supportive of the cadets. We were able to get lots of good training for the kids. The Captain was there to greet us as we embarked on the cruise and he was very willing to help us get whatever we needed.

Scott


DSC_3641 by gistsc, on Flickr

DSC_2639 by gistsc, on Flickr

DSC_2637 by gistsc, on Flickr

DSC_3626 by gistsc, on Flickr

[grayson72]

Here's a modified photo of the port side of the superstructure with all the changes I need to make in order to match the Princeton. I still need to do the starboard side and a separate drawing of the new mast.

As I looked at all the reference photos I realized I was gonna need to do some planning due to so many changes, I figure this way I'll keep everything straight.

[gtbred]

i'll be really watching your build.

[grayson72]

More mods

[Rdutnell]

Awesome!

[grayson72]

Hello all, I'm still making slow progress on this build, I'll post some more pics soon.

I need color recommendations for hull color in the Vietnam era as well as flight deck and hanger deck colors?

Thanks!

[grayson72]

Ok finally made some progress on this thing, some small progress but here it is.

Looking at ones work this closeup reveals a lot of flaws, I'll have to make some adjustments.

[grayson72]

Well it's slow going on this project, life always seems to get in the way and modeling gets deprioritized.

I've managed to do some more scratch building on the superstructure. I think this part of the model is going to take up the most amount of building time, although all those tiny helo's might take the number one spot.

Here's the superstructure with the two covered bridge sections added and the rain channels on the roof drying and waiting to be snipped off. Looks like a tiki hut LOL!

[ArizonaBB39]

I dont know if anyone answered your deck question. From this picture you posted it looks like the deck has been covered in a new covering over the wood similar to what is on current aircraft carriers. I'm sure you have better references since you are building the ship, but I just wanted to point out what I saw based on the picture.

[grayson72]

I decided the strip styring I used for those rain channels was too big so I scraped them off and bought some .01 square stock instead.

[grayson72]

Here's where I am with the superstructure, I can't stop adding details!

It still needs some whip antenna and I'm going to put some more small platforms and both side of the smoke stack for ECM antenna.

I'm not completely happy with how the bridge sections came out but oh well.

Bridge wind deflectors are a whole other level of frustration.