The Ship Model Forum

OK, someone had to do it and I'm the only one crazy enough to do so. I am taking on Merit's new Big E,

My initial solution for over sized hull plating was to cut half of them off


It has been reported that the fit around the hangar deck leaves something to be desired, I agree but some of it may have been caused by my waterlining and not reinforcing the hull.


The forecastle went together fairly easily. I question some of the accuracy, but I would not say I am an expert. I was using what few photos of the Big E are available and a set of General Plans for the Yorktown as built. The two raised platforms running fore and aft are on the blueprints as Catapult machinery access areas, seems like they would not be as open as depicted. There is also 2 extra supports(not seen in this image) that are in the kit but not on the plans. I am also skeptical for the two 50 cal machine guns it calls for. I know they were trying to make her bristle with guns but I think by Santa Cruz they would have removed them all and this might be left over Yorktown engineering.



Here we see the forward section of the flight deck fitted, Starting to look like something. I wanted this to be a pretty straight out of the box build as I am trying to reignite a 3 year modeling slump, but you can see already where I am trying to add missing details like ammo passing chutes on the gun decks. I will probably also go with AM 40mm's as the kits are the wrong style carried by the E and I have heard bad things about the 20's. We shall see as time goes on.


Hopefully better images to come, was using my iPad as I still haven't found my good camera after the move. Comments or concerns always welcome

Matt

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In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Matt,

I'm looking forward to following along with your Enterprise build. Looks to me like you are off to a great start.
Keep the updates coming.

_________________
Gordon


"Then there was one patched-up carrier...."
Vice Admiral Thomas A. Kinkaid

Looks like a nice start, mate! What time period is the kit supposed to depict her?

_________________
Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

I just got the kit myself. I haven't built a model in about 4 years and NEVER built a carrier. So thank you for letting us follow the journey.

Gordon,

Thanks for the words of encouragement, hope to keep it going through to the end


Sean,

It depicts the Big E in her Santa Cruz fit of late 42' after she was fitted with 4 40mm quads but still had the 1.1 on the bow.

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Matt,

Nice start. I'll be following along - looking forward to it.

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Matt,

Looking good so far! I'm glad you are doing the Merit kit waterlined as that is how I will do my Enterprise as well. My Yorktown will be full hull.

Can't wait to see your progress!

TOMLABEL

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Small update,


Been working around the stern, lots of small fiddly bits and continued fit problems. I must also comment on the fact that I have always been a fan of Trumpeter's style of instructions. I always found them to be fairly clear and illustrate things well, but this set is extremely challenging to follow. The diagrams seems smaller and more parts crammed into each step leads to confusion. So dry fit everything to save yourself some heart ache.


This image shows the opening just forward of the fantail, the kit molds this recessed but it was open on the real ship. I used my trusty Dremel and a smaller drill bit to rough it out and then small files to finish it off.



The instructions don't make it clear about this piece, it is smooth on one side and the other side has some large ejector pins marks. I figured since it fit the same way, I would put the smooth side out and not worry about the marks. WRONG!! The pin mark side has to face out, if you look, there are tabs on the top that are differently sized and they will mess up alignment down the line. I hot them with a sanding stick real fast and smoothed them out, but still odd as they are not all covered up by the additional clutter that get's added.



Here we see the fantail coming together, but more fit problems. I may have done this by water lining as looking at a JTNinja's Yorktown build I do not see these gaps.


Also, I realized after I opened those ports in the hull, that the bulkhead piece overhangs about half of the opening. I fixed this by using a course sanding stick to round off the edge which clears the opening.

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Your build is coming along and you are providing some good modeling tips to the up and coming Merit CV6 builder, of which I will be one, so I will be watching and probably building along as you go.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Thanks for the update Matt!!

I think she is looking good!!

TOMLABEL

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Matt, for this piece I looked ahead and found that those horizontal lines are where you place several PE Decks (cant remember the numbers right now, out of town), so they need to face outward. Didn't notice the top tab differences. Also, when working there, the instructions will tell you to use the PE-C21 Ladders. I tried it, and they were way too short. I used the built example on Merit's website, and believe you should use PE-C24 instead there. I looked through the instructions and cant find where else PE-C24 would be used, though I saw PE-C21 was also used on the starboard side of the flight deck. So I swapped them, and PE-C24 looks the right length. Just one of several cases where the instructions where mislabeled.

For hanger deck fitment, I used CA gel and some good clamps on the stern, and worked fine. Didn't work as well near the bow elevator, and had a slight mis-alignment. It happens.

Keep up the great work!

_________________
"Also we will never see a 1/350 late war Enterprise from Dragon due to a paralyzing fear of success...." - Heavy Melder

Lots of unfinished model ships + attention issues = A busy slipway where nothing gets done!

Matt, thanks for the info on the large piece as I would have assumed that the ejection marks usually face inward as with most kits. I was going to ask how you planned on handling the gaps that you pointed out but TJ offered a good solution. Let me know how you proceed as I am still trying to find time to finish up getting the hull to look right.

TJ - thanks for the info on the ladders! I'll be looking out for that one!

TOMLABEL

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Now he tells me Yeah found that issue as well and did the same thing, used PEC-24 which seemed to fit perfectly.

This is why you should remove the adhesive film prior to cutting the PE parts


Another part that leaves something to be desired in the instructions is the open deck/support structure boat storage. This is my interpretation of how it should go, according to the Yorktown's GP's and a couple of photos, I don't feel that this part is accurately shaped. Instead of driving myself nuts on something that will be near impossible to see, I just went with it as close as I could feel was right. You will also note the mangled railing on the PE platforms, more on that later and the beginning's of seam filling using Mr. Dissolved Putty.


Here you see some minor detailing of the gun decks, again per Yorktown's GP's and photos of her battle damage after the Eastern Solomons. I still need to make a 5 inch powder cabinet at the rear of the gun decks, most of this detail is really hard to see once the Flight deck is on.


By Santa Cruz, the Big E had her after flight deck cut down to allow more 20mm's. Merit molded a groove on both sides to aid the models in accurate removal of the unneeded section.


While I was looking at that, it dawned on me that the aft flight deck support truss was not equally called out.


Flip forward a couple of pages you will notice in step 12 that there are 2 pieces cut away to allow for the platforms. Which is a pretty simple fix if you catch it on the front side and not after you have glued the truss down. So that brings us to this, pretty much the end of assembly to the accursed aft end of the ship. The bow went together relatively easy, but the stern was a PITA to get it together. I still have a lot of seems to fill and some more PE that I will add at a later safer date. The PE platforms PE-B7 and PE-B8 had those gnarly rails that did not fit inside of the truss without bending and the 20mm gallery also jacked them up. I honesty could have left the rails off and you wouldn't have noticed because they are almost 100% obscured now especially with the flight deck fitted. I can at least move on to the dreaded Hangar sides now and see what fun lies in wait for me there.



Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Nice work, Matt. Looking forward to seeing more.

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks for posting this great build, I also have this kit in the stash, and cannot remember the last carrier I built -- (1980's ?). Question, in one of your first posts you talk about using "AM 40mm's" instead of the kits. What or whose are those and where can you get them?

Thanks

Randy

Mark, Tom, Martin and Randy,

Thanks for the feedback.

Randy,

AM was my abbreviation for After Market. There are many options out there. I probably will go with L'Arsenal as I have those at hand already. Alliance Modelworks, North Star Models and there are couple more I think all make 40mm quads. Kits aren't the worst I've seen but they have a molded on sheild which the mounts the Enterprise carried did not.

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Thanks. She is looking great, nice clear photos as well.

The torture continues.....

Here we see this nice simple platform piece, seems user friendly enough.......sigh not to be


As this is the side that faces up


What is with the ejector pin marks facing out??? Here is the piece that it goes with



Here I encounter the first of many fit problems, I am so glad that I did not build this as a separate assembly like the instructions tell you to


I did some aggressive sanding in this corner to get it to snug in


More fit enjoyment, now with the flight deck forward, haven't figured this one out yet



I wanted to open some of the shutters, noticed that this piece was scale thick enough to bounce off a shell from the Yamato. So some .40/.25 V-Groove to save the day


Here we see it installed with a piece of quarter stock standing in for the roller housing





Should have looked at the next step. That's why the kit shutter was so thick vs the others. I truly believe she is going to be a great looking build and I know I am griping a lot and if I just poured glue and paint in the box, I wouldn't be a much of a modeler but jeez. This is not a kit for beginners, I both eagerly anticipate and fear for what their Alaska's will hold in store.

More to come, I am almost done with the hangar exterior and then it's onto the interior that can't be too bad. The Island looks fun!

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Hey-
This is not griping, it's spot on! I'm some ahead of where you are on my Yorktown build and I am finding it exactly as you describe. I've said this before on this forum, it looks great on the bench, and will look awesome when it's done, but you really have to plan 10 steps in advance. Agree, not for beginners.

And BTW, thanks for going to the effort of posting your work. Looks great so far!

Phil

Matt, first let me say that she is coming along nicely and your work looks great. I'm glad to see somebody taking up the challenge of a WIP thread on this kit to blaze the trail for the rest of us. Obviously there are some significant fit issues to be anticipated and just as obviously, the instructions leave something to be desired. It strikes me that this is going to be one of those builds that a lot of pre-planning will greatly assist, and that it would be a good idea to totally familiarize yourself with the instructions before applying the first drop of CA to styrene.

Thanks again for taking this on and congratulations on your great work so far. I'm looking forward to following your build closely.

Bob M

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Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!